The Mecha Hack: Super Robots & Combiners

Generally speaking, my interest in the mecha genre comes from two angles. My default is the intellectual, armchair general kind of way. You'll see this in the rambling introductions to my gunpla articles, I like the worlds and history they live in. When you get right down to it, a good mecha anime is a good story. My inner child however simply loves the wonder of giant robots, and my numerous neuroses can be calmed by a show that tries to be awesome and hot-blooded. Such things are usually typified by the Super Robot genre, a concept which is known in the West, but perhaps not consciously, or by that name.

What is A Super Robot?

Super Robots represent the original form of the Mecha genre, with its own conventions and tropes. As the name implies, these are robots that are akin to superheroes, as opposed to Real Robots like Gundam, which aim for realism as a design motif. This distinction was popularised by the Super Robot Wars series of games, which features massive crossovers between numerous mecha franchises, and is more of a spectrum than a hard line. Remember, Real Robots were an evolution of the Supers, and there can be a lot of overlap. If a mecha looks and behaves like something out of Power Rangers or Gurren Lagann, has powers as plot demands, and does not attempt realism, its probably a super robot. If a mecha looks like a mass produced item that follows a consistent internal logic, it's probably a real robot. Pacific Rim is a pretty good example of the middle ground between these two extremes, the Jaegers being highly individual monster wrestlers, but with a logistic angle like a battleship. Alternatively, Gundam Wing is for most intents and purposes a real robot show, but the titular Gundams are so overwhelmingly lethal they might as well be supers. More generally, super robots aim at young kids as opposed to the teens reals aim for, although the idea has been around long enough that deconstructionist works and gritty reboots are a thing. Fashions ebb and flow, don't they? Put another way, if a real robot show is like a Christian Bale Batman, a super robot show is the Adam West Batman. And yes, people can get defensive about that, and then go and hire Ben Affleck.

Playing with Super Robots

The Mecha Hack and its Mission Manual are generally quite good at handling Super Robots as is. The influences are very much worn on their sleeves there. Kaiju can be left as is, or reskinned as "Robeasts", and classes like the Colossus and Vanguard are pretty much there already. Things can however be taken further. The sample class below is an example of how. Here I've taken the view that a super robot is a close range fighter, reliant on its modules for ranged attacks. As super robots are fundamentally built for punching, I've treated the fists as light melee, rather than unarmed or improvised. You may wish to add "eye beams" or similar as a ranged weapon. Meanwhile, the Chassis Abilities play to prominent genre staples, namely courage/guts and stock animation attacks. For the full effect, make it so enemies can only be defeated by a Finishing Move. The primary influence here is my personal fave, Gaogaigar, which has an article pending BTW.

Super Mechanoid Chassis

Hit Die D10 Damage Die D10 Reactor Die D6

Levelling

Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Power and Presence. At levels 3, 6, & 9, gain a new module

Starting HP

1d10 + 4.

Proficiencies

All melee weapons, Heavy Armour.

Starting Equipment

Comlink, Bare Knuckles (Light Melee Weapon), Heavy Armour.

Heroic Courage

As a use action, test Presence to regain 1d6 HP and reset your Reactor Die to 1d6. You may not attempt this if you are undamaged and/or have a Reactor Die at its maximum, but you may do so the turn after Overheating.

Finishing Move

As an attack action, test Presence to inflict a Finishing Move to a single Close enemy. If that enemy is at 33% HP or less, it is destroyed, otherwise it suffers 2D8 damage. Roll your Reactor Die twice.

Super Robot Modules

Rocket Punch: As an attack action, test Power to inflict 2d6 damage on a single Near or Far Enemy. Roll your Reactor die.

Giga Drill: As an attack action, test Power to inflict 2D4 damage on a single Close or Near enemy. If the target is Close, the damage is 3d4 instead. Roll your Reactor Die.

Alternate Rules for Combiner Mecha, Featuring the Lovelace Liberator

I'm going to tell you a little story. So, its the time of the first UK lockdown, and I'm desperately trying to find something to do. One of those things ended up being the “New-Texas Test Team”, a Mecha Hack Campaign for assorted groups, which eventually was whittled-down one party of good friends. It might have been the smartest thing I ever did. One man, he knows who he is, asked about combining, and my response was basically “I'm not saying no, but there's not rules for that, lemme come back to it later.”. Because I aim to please, I made this the focus of the mid-series climax. Simply, a character had dared the resident mad scientist, Diana Lovelace, to put in a gestalt mode, but forgot to due to an off-screen drinking binge. This eventually is revealed several weeks later when the party faced an otherwise unbeatable foe, combining to form the Lovelace Liberator. There was theme music, and everything. This was my first ever attempt to write and play with my own homebrew rules for the Mecha Hack, and looking back, it was a bit of a bodge. I ended up revising pretty quickly. TBH, I now feel I was unduly harsh in my Mission Manual review when I said the Combiner rules lacked oomph. They seem quite functional, and I'd use them for “Symmetrical Docking” style, Fusion Dance, two-part combiners. However, you may wish like I did for a combiner to be an event. A high point. Something with its own distinct rules. So, here's some guidelines as to how.

1. The combined form has its own character sheet, with pilots operating as Mecha Crews, see page 38 of the Rulebook.

2. A combined form should have a minimum of 100HP, 20AP, 2d8 Damage Die, 1d10 Reactor Die, while Mobility is capped at 10.

3. It should have the Chassis Ability “ALL YOUR POWERS COMBINED: As a special action, any and all pilots may choose to activate an chassis ability or module from their individual mecha, the effect lasting until the start of their next action, and benefiting the whole combiner. Triggering this ability does not count towards the action limit, but the Chassis Ability or Module you activate otherwise functions as normal.”

4. It should have the Chassis Ability “EMERGENCY COOLDOWN: Should it Overheat or loose its last HP, the combiner instead immediately separates into its component parts, i.e. the party. Individual components have their reactor die set to 1d4, with HP at GM discretion. Combination may not be attempted for the rest of the scenario.”

The feel I was aiming for here was “big punchy thing, but players have to collaborate”. Such a Combiner might have as many as six actions a turn, enough to muller most foes, but would run through its Reactor Die pretty quickly. Therefore players have to pace themselves, possibly spending actions on “ALL YOUR POWERS COMBINED” to maximise the attacks they make.

If you do end up using any of this, do let me know how it turns out.