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View Full Version : Looking for a system for 'Kaiju Friends'



Durkoala
2019-10-28, 05:01 PM
Lately, I've been wanting to try to run a game. Or to expand on that, I've been wanting to try to play in a game that's a lot like the 1998 Godzilla cartoon, enough that I'm willing to put on the GM hat and make it happen if I have to.

Now, this isn't a recruitment thread. I have no idea what sort of system will fit the kind of gameplay and mechanics I want: at the moment, Mutants and Masterminds 3rd edition is the only one that I have some experience with and looks like it might halfway work. Monsters and Other Childish Things has been suggested by a friend, but I don't know it very well. Does anybody have any good suggestions for something that:

-Lets a bunch of humans or similarly puny beings aid a giant ally in a fight against a giant foe? For the full Godzilla experience, this would be an NPC beast, but a mecha piloted by one player with the others acting as support would also be excellent.
--Gives the puny humans autonomy to have their own smaller-scale adventures, such as fighting lefterover parasites from the big Kaiju or trying to campaign for increased budget for their giant buddy.

-Has a combat system with some flexiblity and showmanship, for cool environmental kills and interesting interactions with monster abilities like flight.

-Lets you implement weaknesss for the monsters, such as being vulnerable to electricity or confused by ultrasonic waves. I don't want every fight's solution to be 'just punch it'.

-Isn't too hard for a first-time GM to learn or use.

-Isn't super expensive and is available in pdf. I can shell out some money for this, but the less, the better. I also don't have much physical space availble to me right now, so physical books are out unless they're very small.

I can proabably manage with something that doesn't meet all of these points (except maybe the last one), but, obviously, the more of them that there are, the better. Thanks in advance for any help!

TripleD
2019-11-02, 08:24 PM
A bit outside its usual purpose, but "Kids on Bikes" may work for this.

The system is meant to emulate 80's-esque kids adventure films ("E.T.", "Stranger Things", "IT", etc.). Despite the name, there are rules for kids, teen, and adult characters.

What makes me think this may work is that KOB has something called "The Powered Character". Basically a member of the group who has supernatural or exceptional powers of some kind (e.g. "Eleven" from "Stranger Things" or "Sloth" from "The Goonies"). Now the problem with having these kind of stories is the question of who gets to play that character? The "goofy sidekick" is fun to watch, but the player stuck with them is probably going to feel some resentment towards the person who can light things on fire with their mind. The Indiana Jones RPG was infamous for this problem: only one person got to be Indy, the rest were stuck as the side characters.

KOB solves this by having everyone control the powered character. In your game no one would have to fight over who gets to control the king of monsters. Instead, each player gets two traits written on cards. For example, "atomic breath", "hates planes" or "fiercely loyal to child in group". Whenever the player feels it is relevant to the story, they can activate their trait and tell what the powered character, in this case a Kaiju, is doing based on the trait they are referencing.

The pdf is cheap (just $10 at DriveThroughRPG), plus the system is rules-light and easy to learn. The problem is that it is more of a storytelling system. Combat is very abstract; there are no rules for hit points, positioning, etc. When a powered character uses their (supernatural, not mundane) abilities you roll 2d4 against a value between 1 and 8. If the role matches or beats it's a success. They can also only use their ability seven times before needing to rest.

Obviously this takes a bit of oomph out of playing a ten story monster. The system is easy to tweak though, so you could easily add in some extra combat mechanics for the monsters if you wanted. I'd recommend "Chris Perrin's Mecha" (incidentally, also $10 at DriveThroughRPG"). It is also a story-focused, relatively rules-light game, although focused on giant mech combat. While you couldn't port it 1:1, it has some great ideas for how to have city-wide combat of mass destruction in a rules-light game.

Son of A Lich!
2019-11-02, 11:47 PM
M&M is always my first recommendation, but especially when it comes to cartoony action.

Secretly I've wanted to use M&M for Power rangers, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-OH!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Sharks, C.O.W. Boys and Mario Kart all merged and rolled up into a single chaotic cataclysmic epic that involves fighting Kaiju ranging from Radioactive Clowns to giant Dinosaurs that lock doors around them.

I miss being a kid where all Television was desperately pleading for me to beg my parents for Toys...

...

I probably should get that looked at by a professional...

Jesara
2019-11-03, 01:34 AM
not the Best answer, but check out Mokole from Werewolf the Apocalypse?

Durkoala
2019-11-05, 09:05 PM
A bit outside its usual purpose, but "Kids on Bikes" may work for this.

The system is meant to emulate 80's-esque kids adventure films ("E.T.", "Stranger Things", "IT", etc.). Despite the name, there are rules for kids, teen, and adult characters.

What makes me think this may work is that KOB has something called "The Powered Character". Basically a member of the group who has supernatural or exceptional powers of some kind (e.g. "Eleven" from "Stranger Things" or "Sloth" from "The Goonies"). Now the problem with having these kind of stories is the question of who gets to play that character? The "goofy sidekick" is fun to watch, but the player stuck with them is probably going to feel some resentment towards the person who can light things on fire with their mind. The Indiana Jones RPG was infamous for
this problem: only one person got to be Indy, the rest were stuck as the side characters.
[...]

That sounds very good, I'm definitely going to have to check that and the mecha game out. Thank you!


M&M is always my first recommendation, but especially when it comes to cartoony action.

Secretly I've wanted to use M&M for Power rangers, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-OH!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Sharks, C.O.W. Boys and Mario Kart all merged and rolled up into a single chaotic cataclysmic epic that involves fighting Kaiju ranging from Radioactive Clowns to giant Dinosaurs that lock doors around them.

I miss being a kid where all Television was desperately pleading for me to beg my parents for Toys...

...

I probably should get that looked at by a professional...

Mutants and Masterminds is a system that I already have some familarity with, and I've done a bit of idle wondering about kaiju builds in it, so I'm glad there's a vote of confidence for it.



not the Best answer, but check out Mokole from Werewolf the Apocalypse?

I had a brief look, but that just seems to be a group of werereptiles and not what I'm looking for at all. Am I missing something?