Anyone know a good mecha system?

[Sam Fisher]

Thinking of starting a Gundam type game and was wondering if anyone knew a good RPG system to handle Mechs? Have seen a few Savage World conversions but I’m not a fan of their vehicle system anyway and it is fairly awkward with Gundam style mechs. Anyone got any ideas?

[Lysander]

I've never played a mecha campaign myself, but I believe there are GURPS supplements for it.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Well, what kind of Gundam are you talking about?

Anyhoo, for the mecha fan I always recommend Bliss Stage. It catches the "bleakness of war" from Mobile Suit Gundam and does an excellent job of capturing the themes from a lot of old school mecha anime.

[Sam Fisher]

was going to go for a style simular to Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

was more looking for a general system than an actual "Gundam game" thanks i'll have a look at the systems thanks a lot.

[Oracle_Hunter]

was going to go for a style simular to Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

Mechwarrior, then.

Squad-style combat, militarist-style design, venerable rules.

In the alternative, Heavy Gear.

[GunMage]

You might want to take a look at Heavy Gear. I'm not familiar with the 3rd edition of it (the current one) but the second edition is fantastic, and remarkably simple when compared to other mecha games, like say Mekton or Battletech. On that subject, Mekton is great for it's random character generation alone. My last attempt at a character in that system had something like 12 identical siblings, along with some other crazy stuff.

I also cannot recommend Bliss Stage enough, it is an excellent game that needs to be played by more people, but it is also extremely rules light and ground heavily into it's setting which you may not want.

[Sam Fisher]

i'll check out them two then was looking for more of a combat system for it rule light can sometimes take away too much from that.

[dsmiles]

I'll throw in a recommendation, here. I recommend staying well away from BESM. It says it does Mecha, but it really doesn't do it well.

[Tyndmyr]

I'll throw in a recommendation, here. I recommend staying well away from BESM. It says it does Mecha, but it really doesn't do it well.

I'd like to echo this sentiment with regards to D20 future. The mecha rules are...terrible. I tried to fix em once, and came to the conclusion that scrapping them all was the only reasonable way out.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I'd like to echo this sentiment with regards to D20 future. The mecha rules are...terrible. I tried to fix em once, and came to the conclusion that scrapping them all was the only reasonable way out.

For some rules sets, nuking them from orbit is the only way to make them better

[Knaight]

Mecha Aces is notable for having actual good mecha rules, that can work for Gundam level mechs*.

*Otherwise, I'd suggest Battletech, but there is absolutely no way it will work for those.

[Oracle_Hunter]

*Otherwise, I'd suggest Battletech, but there is absolutely no way it will work for those.

Nah, 8th Mobile Suit Team is much more Battletech than, say, G-Gundam or Wing. Heck, it is even more "real robot" than Mobile Suit Gundam.

Never heard of Mecha Aces though. Will have to give it a peek.

[Knaight]

Nah, 8th Mobile Suit Team is much more Battletech than, say, G-Gundam or Wing. Heck, it is even more "real robot" than Mobile Suit Gundam.

My point exactly. Gundam's mech fights are closer to aerial dogfighting in speed than a couple of lumbering tanks taking pot shots at each other, which is what Battletech practically is (though tanks don't tend to have limbs blown off or suffer explosion due to overheating in ammunition bays).

[Oracle_Hunter]

My point exactly. Gundam's mech fights are closer to aerial dogfighting in speed than a couple of lumbering tanks taking pot shots at each other, which is what Battletech practically is (though tanks don't tend to have limbs blown off or suffer explosion due to overheating in ammunition bays).

Hmm. I hadn't thought about the pace of combat, but IIRC most of 8th MST was a squad of dudes fighting like infantry.

[Sam Fisher]

What systems would work for a more fast pased type of Gundam game simular to Wing?

[Knaight]

If it's Wing you're going for, Mecha Aces is even better suited than expected.

[Winter_Wolf]

Mekton Z and its expansion Mekton Plus are specifically branded and marketed as "anime mecha role-playing". Mekton Plus is entirely optional, and introduces a lot of over-the-top stuff and rules for psychic abilities. You could probably write your own rules for psi and do a better job, though. I know I heavily homebrewed the psi for the brief game I ran.

I actually like the mechanics of the system (uses Interlock rules). I believe it's mostly d10 based, but I'm too lazy to go dig it out of the pile of books in the other room to be sure.

[Galt_Devil]

Could also try out cthulhu tech. We haven't done mecha combat in it in my group, but the system is generally pretty awesome.

[blackseven]

Can you really run Bliss Stage without the relationship/personal angst part of it?

Bliss Stage is solidly built on Evangelion and mecha shows in its vein (angst, esoteric plots, etc.) Post-Eva Gundam works do show much influence from Eva, but even they don't put the primary emphasis on it.

I'm not sure Bliss Stage is the right system for what I assume is an "action-focused" campaign.

[Solaris]

I'll throw in a recommendation, here. I recommend staying well away from BESM. It says it does Mecha, but it really doesn't do it well.

I'd like to echo this sentiment with regards to D20 future. The mecha rules are...terrible. I tried to fix em once, and came to the conclusion that scrapping them all was the only reasonable way out.

It's not that the turd won't polish, it's that there's a hell of a lot more polish needed than is actually worthwhile. BESM is fun for the game where nobody takes it seriously - thus a bad, bad plan for what the OP wants.
I've always looked at d20 Future as an idea book - it's not a supplement in and of itself, as it's hardly workable if taken as a whole, but you can mine it for resources to adapt (or perhaps change around completely) to make work. It's certainly less than ideal.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Can you really run Bliss Stage without the relationship/personal angst part of it?

No, since that's fully half the mechanics

Bliss Stage is not a tactical wargame. At its heart it is a storytelling system that models the traditional themes of mecha particularly well. I would run a MSG-based game using Bliss Stage before anything else if for no other reason than the actual "tactical dimension" of that show was terrifyingly slim. 8th MST is an exception to the traditional style of Gundam show in that the emotional elements are merely part of the story, rather than driving it.

That said, if you want to run 8th MST you probably want a different system.

[Gamgee]

Jovian Chronicles is pretty good. Definitely on the hard science side, though not too firmly.

Edit
It is definitely on the real robot spectrum.

[Ashtagon]

Suggestion:

Players have their mundane character, which follows the normal D&D style race/class rules.

Mecha are built as follows:

* All are "human". Optionally, allow "dwarf" or "halfling", or something more exotic. GM call.
* Acceptable classes are fighter, rogue, possibly others, but strip out the weird bits and refluff as needed. For example "warlock" would have eldritch blast as a built in "nova cannon"; "binder" mechs might be fluffed as transformers.
* Mecha take 1/10 damage from mundanes. Mundanes inflict 1/10 damage on mecha (or pick your own scale factor).
* Certain attacks should fail when used across the divide or against mecha. For example, mecha-rogue sneak attack only works against other mecha. This is very much in the realm of GM call.
* If the pilot has to eject, he assumed to have lost 1/2 (or pick your own scale factor) the hp his mecha has lost, down to a minimum of 1 hp. You can't kill a pilot ever by breaking his mecha, although you might trap him inside it when you destroy it, necessitating a heroic rescue.