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turkishproverb
2008-10-15, 12:18 AM
A couple of Weeks ago, I started 4 Players in a Mekton Zeta Campaign, Set in my own setting (most resembling a child of Patlabor, Cowboy Bebop and Votoms)

The first session was pretty simple, the commander got to choose his team, consisting of 3 players and NPC's (4th player was the commander) and ordering them to A war games simulation, where they proceeded to get some amazing die rolls and last longer than they should have.

The session ended with THem being congradulated on their performance, and yelled at for certain mistakes they made during the game.


I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for plot twists to add later on. Currently it is peacetime, though that may change.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-10-15, 12:31 AM
A couple of Weeks ago, I started 4 Players in a Mekton Zeta Campaign, Set in my own setting (most resembling a child of Patlabor, Cowboy Bebop and Votoms)...<3

Blatantly stealing plots and characters from SRW and Gundam has worked for me (in more than one genre). But more seriously, are the players working for a formal military, or another armed group? What's the general political situation: Original Gundam worldwide government or Gundam 00 (season 1, anyway) nationalism? Technology/level of space exploration (your examples are rather different, at least on the latter)? Basically, what have you established about the world and your PCs' organization?

TheThan
2008-10-15, 12:53 AM
I’m not familiar with Mekton Zeta, but since you’re looking for giant robot plot hooks, here goes


The PCs are caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow the government
The closest rival nation begins to invade
The PCs are caught up in a conspiracy to start an unwarranted war against a rival nation.
Someone has created a new more powerful form of mecha, its up to the pcs to defeat this massive threat.
Someone has created a new more powerful form of mecha, its up to the pcs to steal this technology and make sure the balance of power does not shift.
The pcs/NPC have uncovered ancient technology that leads to the creation of a new more powerful form of mecha.
The Pcs commanding officer is a spy working for a rival nation
One of the PCs falls in love with an enemy mecha pilot
Weird and bizarre aliens invade, only the highly trained pcs stand a chance to defeat this threat
A computer AI, set to replace organic pilots goes haywire and must be stopped.
A computer Ai, set to replace organic pilots becomes sentient and bust be stopped.
The pcs crash land on an alien and hostile world, survival and escape are imperative
The pcs crash land on an alien planet behind enemy lines, they must escape with the vital information they were carrying.
Mechy Von Richthofen is devastating friendly troops, can the pcs defeat this ace of aces?
Moral is low, the pcs must do something about this.
Someone is an imposter
Someone is a traitor; can the pcs sniff him/her out before its too late?
Someone is being accused of being a traitor, can the PCs prove his innocence and find the real traitor?
An important enemy figure is wishing to defect to the PC’s side, can they get to him in time?
Something goes horribly wrong during a routine training/patrol/milkrun mission



Whew, there you go, that should get your brain a working .

turkishproverb
2008-10-15, 01:18 AM
...<3

Blatantly stealing plots and characters from SRW and Gundam has worked for me (in more than one genre). But more seriously, are the players working for a formal military, or another armed group? What's the general political situation: Original Gundam worldwide government or Gundam 00 (season 1, anyway) nationalism? Technology/level of space exploration (your examples are rather different, at least on the latter)? Basically, what have you established about the world and your PCs' organization?

That the PC's Know?

They're working for one of the Official Military Arms of the Government
There is Space travel and commerce, though they don't yet know how far it goes or how advanced it is.
Space mining exists and is heavily used.
Both Civilian police and Military organizations have armed mechs available. The Military ones are (obviously) far more powerful.
The last major war occurred a few years ago, before the commander came to service.

Or did you mean what of the world I wouldn't be willing to change that they don't know?

@TheThan. Wow. Troping, nice.

TheThan
2008-10-15, 01:22 AM
@TheThan. Wow. Troping, nice.


You know, that was totally unintentional, my head just sort of exploded with ideas (still cleaning the mess up off my keyboard). Sure they’re all sort of generic, but if they work for mecha anime, they’ll work for a mecha anime rpg.

I think I might have seen too much anime/scifi in my time...

Naww.

turkishproverb
2008-10-15, 01:24 AM
Well, most would work for a mecha RPG. But I was more curious specifically what I should do after a couple more war games style fights happen.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-10-15, 01:53 AM
I think the best plot hook, assuming you want combat and a wide variety of options, is an attack by some unknown group on something the characters are meant to defend (their home base or some other point in their area of operations). Could be terrorists, could be freedom fighters (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ZetaGundam), could be aliens (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuperDimensionFortressMacross), could be terrorists posing as freedom fighters posing as aliens (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MartianSuccessorNadesico). Up to you, but a nice surprise fight to establish a threat would work quite well.

Kioran
2008-10-15, 02:50 AM
Bring in the.......Infantry. You know, as a sideplot. In most Mecha shows, there are always some Infantrymen around, to be squashed by the mechs and show how awesome a mecha is. Have one of the PCs meet an Infantryman/woman of the appropriate gender, with possible romantic consequences.
Next step: Invoke scenes where the infantry (through judicious application of det-packs, RPGs and anti-tank rifles) actually do damage to mecha they manage to ambush at close ranges.

Then, turn on the heat: Turn a scenario into a rout (or very difficult battle, if you're not that mean), and have the PCs Infantry love interest field promoted by killing the superior off-screen, and have her/his voice suddenly appear on the intercom chatter. Revealing that the Infantry is currently located between a rock and a hard place™

I wanted to do that for a while now......:smallbiggrin:

turkishproverb
2008-10-16, 05:15 AM
Bring in the.......Infantry. You know, as a sideplot. In most Mecha shows, there are always some Infantrymen around, to be squashed by the mechs and show how awesome a mecha is. Have one of the PCs meet an Infantryman/woman of the appropriate gender, with possible romantic consequences.
Next step: Invoke scenes where the infantry (through judicious application of det-packs, RPGs and anti-tank rifles) actually do damage to mecha they manage to ambush at close ranges.

Then, turn on the heat: Turn a scenario into a rout (or very difficult battle, if you're not that mean), and have the PCs Infantry love interest field promoted by killing the superior off-screen, and have her/his voice suddenly appear on the intercom chatter. Revealing that the Infantry is currently located between a rock and a hard place™

I wanted to do that for a while now......:smallbiggrin:

Hrm...not a bad idea.

Ashtar
2008-10-16, 06:43 AM
There's a few things I have used:

(In peacetime - Space) PCs are asked to escort a decomissioning ship which is then hijacked by pirates to use as a mobile base.
An enemy appears during a training exercise, leaving them with inadequate weapons or weapon systems which must be reconfigured on the fly.
(Politically charged) Send them as peacekeepers for a peace conference and shake it up by kidnapping one of the negociators. Of course, in a multiple sided conflict, everyone will blame everyone else.
(Survival Horror) Remote location loses contact - PC are sent in. Could be a rogue computer (HAL, will you open the door? Shodan, please don't kill humanity.), a virus, cabin fever, sabotage, etc...
Field testing new toys/suits is also a great classic.
And obligatory unplanned reentry in the athmosphere in something not always sufficiently protected.
Tensions between different units inside the military leads to interesting R&R (Rest and Recreation) periods which include stealth and getting the others into trouble. Can YOU steal the French regimental flag from their mess hall?


Also, I wish my players would like sci-fi, but they always moan and groan and go back to fantasy. Kudos to you and your group!

Darrin
2008-10-16, 12:13 PM
They're working for one of the Official Military Arms of the Government
There is Space travel and commerce, though they don't yet know how far it goes or how advanced it is.
Space mining exists and is heavily used.
Both Civilian police and Military organizations have armed mechs available. The Military ones are (obviously) far more powerful.
The last major war occurred a few years ago, before the commander came to service.


Here's some ideas for a macross/yamato/gunbuster mashup campaign I was noodling around with a little while ago:

The PCs are fighter pilots on a capitol ship stationed around some backwater frontier world. 1st mission: respond to a distress call from a mining freighter. PCs swoop in, and either are dealing with some space pirates or a mutiny crew, but the bad guys are suffering from some kind of "ruby madness", a mildly debilitating disease caused by dust particles from the communication crystals that the mining freighter is carrying. Then, a huge alien armada swoops in, overwhelms the defense forces with "psychic shockwave" weapons that either stuns or brainwashes humans to mindlessly obey them, and blows up the colony planet.

As the PCs scramble back to their capital ship, they start to suffer the effects of this "ruby madness"... mildly annoying if treated with medication, but nothing life-threatening. As the capital ship mounts a suicide mission against the alien armada, the PCs discover that "ruby madness" makes them immune to the alien psychic weapons. A desperate gambit presents itself: can the PC squadron use their immunity for a death-star-style trench run on the alien capitol ship? Well, duh, of course they can: ka-BOOM. Aliens withdraw in a panic, but elsewhere they have entirely destroyed or captured every human warship. Earth is almost overwhelmed, but is forced to activate an experimental planetary shield that phases the entire planet into some kind of alternate hyperspace dimension.

This leaves the PCs and their capital ship as the only free human ship in the galaxy, and the captured mining freighter as the only source of ruby dust that can counteract the alien psychic weapons. Suddenly, a mysterious broadcast overwhelms the capital ship's communications array, originating somewhere near the galactic core. The garbled message tells the humans that the ruby crystals on the now-destroyed colony world were a piece of an ancient superweapon designed to defeat the evil psychic aliens, and if they can get to these coordinates in the galactic core, they can pick up the last working superweapon in the galaxy and use it to free their homeworld.

The last free human ship sets out for the core. The aliens, feeling a little smug, send a token force after them, but the rest of the armada spreads through the solar system and/or colonies, consolidating their gains, as they try to figure out how to de-phase and then invade Earth. The humans set off on a long cat-and-mouse chase to the galactic core, a series of hyperspace jumps that for some strange reason keep dumping them near stellar/planetary anomolies, hostile alien worlds, etc.

* Can they track down this superweapon and get back to Earth in time?
* Who sent the message, and are they really trying to help the humans?
* Why, exactly, are these evil aliens so hell-bent on conquering Earth?
* Seriously, broadcast this annoying pop-singer's new hit single, and the aliens will just surrender? You really think that will work?

Kioran
2008-10-16, 04:43 PM
You said they were already military? A little info on the tech-level of your campaign would be helpful, but I'll presume the TL is slightly advanced but not really over the top distant future.
I'll also assume you'll want a quaint little campaign, not nailing down the big meta plot just now. So, my suggestion for an easy scenario for the opening salvo of a war campaign:

- The PCs are sent on a Recon mission. The PCs country of origin and it's rival nation are yet in peacetime, but uneasy rumors are brewing
- Of course, they are caught in a surprise attack :smallsmile:
- However, this time they are on a "secondary theater": The main atack has been launched elsewhere, and they hear about it on the intercom before the ambush at their location gets them
- Now, they can either try to find, fight and sabotage the opponent (give them the opportunity to do some stuff by succesfully using some of their secondary skills, finding enemy installations, storming or trashing maybe a few buildings, or uploading a small virus to temporarily disable the surveillance)
- Open up the fight by having them fight mooks in inferior mecha, possibly with shorter range so they have to close with the PCs and catch some fire in the meantime
- After they scratch of a few of the mooks, they get the order to fall back to aid in the defense of a small nearby city
- simultaneously, bring in some reinforcements, including 1-2 henchmen (supporting role villains), with the henchmen in slower mecha, albeit with some kind of longer ranged weapon with which they can harass the PCs
- Now the PCs have the primary goal of getting out of dodge, and the secondary goal of destroying as much of this enemy force as possible. The henchmen will hang back and probably retreat once their mecha are more than lightly damaged (your call), however they will try to score hits on the PCs if they delay to attack the mooks, which are rushing in to fight
- Give the enemy no weapons capable of taking out servos in a single hit (unless they crit - and even then, heavy damage is probably better)

Anyway, this adventure gives you a plothook for the follow-up with the Infantry - those guys are waiting at the nearby city and support the defense; You can then show them in action in the beginning of the next module, and "hook up" a PCs during an interlude of downtime.....

anyway, have fun!