Mecha Pen And Paper Game

[Bharg]

Do you know any good Mecha P&Ps? Science Fiction, Steam Punk etc...

[Prime32]

Mutants & Masterminds has a supplement, Mecha & Manga, which covers them.

For something closer to D&D there's Dragonmech, but I don't know much about it.

[Anterean]

The "World of Warcraft" rpg have Steam Armour rules in "More Magic and Mayhem" supplement, which could be incorporated into Dungeons and Dragons 3.x as it is a d20 system, if that is what you are looking for.

If it is a good idea or not to do so, well I won´t be judge of that.

[Bharg]

Is there also any more Gundam like stuff?

I can't find very detailed info about Mecha & Manga.

[WorstDMEver]

R. Talsorian's Mekton game (sort of a mish-mash of Robotech, Gundam, others), Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear (mainly powered armor, nothing real big that I recall), d20 Future has Mecha rules. As for the 'good' part, all of the systems are playable but you'll have to judge the quality for yourself.

[Attilargh]

There's an old game called Mekton Zeta that draws much of its inspiration from real robot shows like Gundam and Macross. At a glance, the rules seem fairly complicated, but on the other hand, it seems to allow one to build any mecha they wish.

[Drascin]

It depends on where you stand on the Super Robots versus Real Robots argument.

For fantastic, superheroic mecha dancefighting with beamswords, ala the higher powered Gundams or every Super Robot show ever, Mutants&Masterminds will generaly suffice, and do pretty well, especially with the Mecha&Manga supplement.

When you want more detailed and realistic, Mekton Zeta is more likely to be up your alley, with rulesets that take into account movement modes and weight and all that. I've heard Mekton be called "tabletop Armored Core" sometimes, and the comparison is apt .

[Oslecamo]

For something closer to D&D there's Dragonmech, but I don't know much about it.

Focuses on vitorian-steampunk slow cubersome mechas and keeps insisting on how hard they're to use with things like slave-powered mechas to take care of all the systems and how it's pretty much impossible for bigger mechas to dodge.

Thankfully they also include the clockwork golem wich is actualy quite agile that togheter with some special options allows you to represent your anime mecha relatively well. Heck half the ilustrations of the book (including the cover) wouldn't out of place in your average mecha anime.

It also allows you to put mechas inside your mechas (the biggest ones are city sized, BIG cities) so you basically have an humanoid battleship wich can then launch smaller mechas to board the enemy. Yes there's also rules to board and assault your oponent's mecha. And drills are available as weapons. I've actualy seen someone state TTGL with dragonmech!

It also includes an evangelionish campaign seting where lunar dragons come and destroy most of the surface, untill dwarves develop giant robots to fight them back, and all other races copy the idea and start developing their own giant robots.

EDIT:And now that I'm re-checking it also has chainswords.

Must...Resist...Urge...To start dragonmech campaign...

[The Glyphstone]

Um........Battletech?

[Tengu_temp]

I'm running a real robot game in Mutants and Masterminds right now and it works really well. I prefer M&M with M&M over Mekton Zeta for all mecha, no matter the genre. Mekton Zeta uses Cyberpunk 2020's mechanics, which I really don't like, and is an eighties/early nineties game, with all the faults that come with it, including obsession with random elements during character creation and rules that don't even pretend to be very balanced. If you want to run a Mekton Zeta game, get ready for having to houserule a lot of things - replacing the standard 1d10 roll with 2d6 is a common practice.

Um........Battletech?

Not really fitting the criteria the OP is looking for. The mecha in Battletech are more like tanks on legs rather than the more humanoid, in both appearance and capabilities, Gundams.

[Tome]

CthulhuTech has two different types of giant robot. The real robot style Mecha, or the Evangelion inspired Engels. It might be worth looking into if you're looking for an Eva-style game, but I haven't played it myself. Seeing as how the game is a Mythos setting and directly takes inspiration from NGE, it's fairly dark.

There's also the fanmade Adeptus Evangelion rules for Dark Heresy, which allow you to play out NGE based games using the Dark Heresy rules. It's pretty good.

Exalted also features mecha, called Warstriders, on the basis that giant robots are awesome, and therefore have a place in Exalted. Their mechanics aren't the best, however.

EDIT Genius The Transgression is another fanmade line that can probably handle mecha, this time for the nWoD.

[The Glyphstone]

Not really fitting the criteria the OP is looking for. The mecha in Battletech are more like tanks on legs rather than the more humanoid, in both appearance and capabilities, Gundams.

I missed his second post, where he specifically asked for Gundam robots. The OP just mentioned Mecha P&Pm which Battletech really is the ur-example of. It's not at all suitable for anime-style giant robots though.

[Tengu_temp]

Actually, while both Battletech and Mekton debuted as wargames in 1984, a Mekton RPG was also released in the same year, while Battletech had to wait two years for the first edition of Mechwarrior. So Mekton was really the first mecha RPG.

[Jyrnn]

Well there's the Robotech RPG from the early 90's but not many people nowadays like the Palladium game system. There the same crew that did Rifts.

If your not attached to any particular setting or want to make your own Mecha-verse than Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM) might suit your needs. It is an extremely flexible tri-stat system with all the quirks of anime fan-service built in. Its very involved on the GM's end.

The 3rd edition of the game is available only in pdf format because the company (Guardians of Order) went bankrupt when they were trying to make a Song of Ice and Fire rpg for G R R Martin. I think it can still be picked up at the whitewolf web store for pretty cheap.

[Tengu_temp]

I'd advise against BESM, there's nothing it can do that Mutants and Masterminds with Mecha and Manga can't do better. BESM is less balanced, requires more effort on the part of the DM to create a workable game, and finished characters usually have much less options in the actual gameplay.

[Hunter Noventa]

We've been playing a very Super Robot Wars-esque game with bizarre hybrid of Shadowrun, d20 and Palladium rules. It's worked fairly well so far to be honest. I can get you the details if you want them.

[Oslecamo]

I'd advise against BESM, there's nothing it can do that Mutants and Masterminds with Mecha and Manga can't do better. BESM is less balanced, requires more effort on the part of the DM to create a workable game, and finished characters usually have much less options in the actual gameplay.

That's why you should pick BESMd20 wich can be combined with your standard d20 material! Ok, still unbalanced, but if you can deal with d20, you can deal with BESM d20

[Tengu_temp]

BESM d20 is a result of the fad of converting interesting and unique games into the d20 mechanics, often destroying all that was good about them, such as Deadlands d20 or Call of Cthulhu d20. I have no experience with it myself, but from what I heard most people who played both it and the original BESM consider it... not very good.

[Bharg]

Thank you for your many answers on the topic, but I think I just found what I was looking for when I started the thread.
I looked at several of the here mentioned previews, preview rulebooks, including Mutants & Masterminds, as well as the supplement "Mecha & Manga", of which I think that it comes closest to what I hoped for when I started looking for Mecha PnP.

I hope it's not too hard too understand? Features fine artwork, and, on top of that, it's possibilities regarding everything non-mecha (anime in general for instance - even the girly stuff) are great, and will imho be a great addition.

[Oslecamo]

or Call of Cthulhu d20.

Somewhat strange, since I've heard plenty of good stuff about CoC d20, to the point it's even recomended in oficial d20 books.

I have no experience with it myself, but from what I heard most people who played both it and the original BESM consider it... not very good.

I've heard mixed opinions. If you don't care that much about balance and enjoy fireworks it can be a good adition, in particular because you can combine it with standard d20 material.

And heck, someone actualy made an homebrew Touhou supplement for BESM d20! There's clearly people who greatly enjoyed it!

[Darakonis]

Got the perfect one for you:

Mecha Crusade.

It's based on d20 Modern.

Peace,
-Darakonis

[Tengu_temp]

I hope it's not too hard too understand? Features fine artwork, and, on top of that, it's possibilities regarding everything non-mecha (anime in general for instance - even the girly stuff) are great, and will imho be a great addition.

It's not that complicated as far as open systems go, but it's still pretty complex in comparison to class-based games where picking a class and race for your character is half the work. And it's recommended that the DM oversees character creation, to make sure everyone stays on roughly the same powergaming level. Running a mech-based game requires some extra effort too, since you need to stat the mecha out.
The gameplay in itself is simple, though. It's fast and based on d20, so anyone who played DND shouldn't feel lost.

[jamroar]

R. Talsorian's Mekton game (sort of a mish-mash of Robotech, Gundam, others), Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear (mainly powered armor, nothing real big that I recall)

Dream Pod 9's giant mecha RPG is Jovian Chronicles. (which used to be a Mekton campaign setting, IIRC).

[Oracle_Hunter]

Bliss Stage

IMHO, it best captures the themes and feel of Mobile Suit Gundam and has a very "anime" feel to it.

Of course, it's much less about Battletech-style mecha-building, but it captures an aspect of the genre that you aren't going to see in any other system.

[Tengu_temp]

Bliss Stage is more of a dark Super Robot deconstruction, like Evangelion or Bokurano.

[Drascin]

I'd advise against BESM, there's nothing it can do that Mutants and Masterminds with Mecha and Manga can't do better. BESM is less balanced, requires more effort on the part of the DM to create a workable game, and finished characters usually have much less options in the actual gameplay.

Indeed. I actually broke my first campaign of BESM without even intending to do anything particularly strong. M&M is not exactly the paragon of balance, but at least they have most of the broken stuff marked as "potentially dangerous", which is nice to a new DM.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Bliss Stage is more of a dark Super Robot deconstruction, like Evangelion or Bokurano.

Have you seen Mobile Suit Gundam?