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Kid Jake
2014-11-13, 10:35 AM
Some players have approached me about running a mech game for them but to be totally honest that's a genre that's never really interested me (I mean, I love the concept of giant fighting robots as much as the next guy; but I usually find it boring in practice) so I've never bothered to look into it. I'm nothing if not accommodating however, so I figured I'd add at least one mech game to my roster. Preferably the bestest one.

So Playground, what's your favorite giant fighting robot game? Which one has the slickest rules, the best customization options or just the best damned fluff?

Aresneo
2014-11-13, 12:36 PM
My group likes Mekton Zeta for anime styled mecha games and Battletech for walking tank style mecha.

Mekton has been out of print for years but a new edition is supposed to be coming sometime soon. The older editions have a ton of customization for the mechs but lacks any real balance for player characters.

Battletech has the advantage of having thirty years of continuous support with little rules changes. The problem is the rpg version uses the wargame for mech combat so you need to pick up at least two of the rulebooks to start, then additional books for unit stats.

Tengu_temp
2014-11-13, 01:14 PM
Mutants and Masterminds + Mecha and Manga splat. An extremely versatile system, well-suited for cinematic play, and since character building is effect-based, you don't have to fiddle with dozens of various subsystems to get your mech to do what you want. As a bonus, M&M is a pretty awesome system in general, so you'll be able to use it for many things, not just mecha games.

One downside is that it's an open system without an established setting, so aside from some prebuild examples, there's pretty much no fluff - you're supposed to build that yourself.

Kid Jake
2014-11-13, 01:41 PM
My group likes Mekton Zeta for anime styled mecha games and Battletech for walking tank style mecha.

Mekton has been out of print for years but a new edition is supposed to be coming sometime soon. The older editions have a ton of customization for the mechs but lacks any real balance for player characters.

Battletech has the advantage of having thirty years of continuous support with little rules changes. The problem is the rpg version uses the wargame for mech combat so you need to pick up at least two of the rulebooks to start, then additional books for unit stats.

Hadn't heard of Mekton Zeta before, but it looks interesting; I'm going to try and track a copy down.

Battletech was the first system to pop into my head when they suggested mechs, but having never played it I wasn't sure. Hearing that we'd need multiple books to really get it working though, I think we'll look for something else.


Mutants and Masterminds + Mecha and Manga splat. An extremely versatile system, well-suited for cinematic play, and since character building is effect-based, you don't have to fiddle with dozens of various subsystems to get your mech to do what you want. As a bonus, M&M is a pretty awesome system in general, so you'll be able to use it for many things, not just mecha games.


Heh, it seems like Mutants and Masterminds (2e particularly) is my go to system for everything nowadays, even tried a surprisingly smooth Shadowrun conversion once. Just wasn't sure how it stacked up to other giant robot games since I've never really explored the genre much.

Tengu_temp
2014-11-13, 04:09 PM
Heh, it seems like Mutants and Masterminds (2e particularly) is my go to system for everything nowadays, even tried a surprisingly smooth Shadowrun conversion once. Just wasn't sure how it stacked up to other giant robot games since I've never really explored the genre much.

It's all pretty much about realizing that from Japanese mecha, real robots are upscaled action heroes and super robots are upscaled superheroes. And since M&M does both well, it's no surprise it does well with mecha too.

Battletech is good for simulating Battletech - it's for western-style mecha that are pretty much tanks on legs. Mekton Zeta has all the fiddling with subsystems that I was talking about, it has some mechanical issues due to using the crap Cyberpunk 2020 system (Reflexes is the only stat that matters in combat, for example), and it's heavily rooted in Macross and Gundam and not very good at doing settings not inspired by them - forget about creating modern super robots with it, for example. But if those don't sound like big problems to you, it's worth giving it a try.

There's also Giant Guardian Generation, a rather simple system that's blatantly inspired by the Super Robot Wars series of video games. It's free, and that's the best I can say about it; I love SRW, but I'm not a fan of this system.

Kid Jake
2014-11-13, 04:25 PM
I'm not exactly sure what they want out of a mech game, but it does seem like M&M can deliver regardless; with the added benefit of me not having to learn a new system to make it work...

Amaril
2014-11-13, 07:00 PM
For anime-style mecha, my go-to system is Giant Guardian Generation (http://tk31.blogspot.ca/p/downloads.html). I find it strikes just the right balance of complexity and ease-of-use, and it can easily work for any game within the general style of mecha anime. I don't generally play much with western 'mechs, so I'm not as equipped to advise if that's what you're looking for.


There's also Giant Guardian Generation, a rather simple system that's blatantly inspired by the Super Robot Wars series of video games. It's free, and that's the best I can say about it; I love SRW, but I'm not a fan of this system.

Oh, hey, didn't see you there. Well, to each their own, I guess.

Kelb_Panthera
2014-11-13, 08:07 PM
Just curios. What do you guys who are more familiar with the TTRPG version of this genre think of D20 modern + D20 future?

Tengu_temp
2014-11-13, 09:29 PM
Just curios. What do you guys who are more familiar with the TTRPG version of this genre think of D20 modern + D20 future?

They're not very good for their intended purposes to begin with. They're even worse at representing a mecha setting.

Extra Anchovies
2014-11-14, 08:49 AM
I'm a fan (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/archetypes/paizo---summoner-archetypes/synthesist) of Pathfinder. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/aegis)

Well, not quite mecha; closer to power armor. Whatever.

Hunter Noventa
2014-11-14, 09:20 AM
For anime-style mecha, my go-to system is Giant Guardian Generation (http://tk31.blogspot.ca/p/downloads.html). I find it strikes just the right balance of complexity and ease-of-use, and it can easily work for any game within the general style of mecha anime. I don't generally play much with western 'mechs, so I'm not as equipped to advise if that's what you're looking for.

Oh, hey, didn't see you there. Well, to each their own, I guess.

GGG is good, the creator is trying to Kickstart (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ggwp/battle-century-g-a-cinematic-and-tactical-mecha-rp?ref=nav_search) the production of an improved version as well.

Valefor Rathan
2014-11-14, 09:45 AM
Metkon Zeta's advantage - the whole game can be run with a single d10.

Broken Twin
2014-11-14, 10:27 AM
What edition is the Mecha & Manga splat for?

Kid Jake
2014-11-14, 12:01 PM
What edition is the Mecha & Manga splat for?

Second edition.