My First Opinions of Aether Nexus

I'm very late to the party on this one, so let's have some context. While I haven't written about it regularly for a long time, I remain a huge fan of The Mecha Hack. The reasons for this should be fairly obvious. I've previously backed one Kickstarter for the system, and when I heard Absolute Tabletop was doing another, I'd backed it on principle. It was a fantasy game, not my usual vibe, but they had built up a lot of good will with me, so I went for it. The Kickstarter was funded, which was followed by a lengthy wait, and eventually, my preferred softback edition. I'd had an earlier pdf, of course, but I'm wedded to the dead tree format. So, much later, I had a few train journeys and decided to do a brief write-up.

Let's address the matters of rules and theming. Aether Nexus is a spin-off of The Mecha Hack, itself a variation on The Black Hack. As the word "Hack" implies, this was originally a minimalist ruleset, so minimalist I will admit to not quite getting it at first. Aether Nexus, coming after the Mecha Manual expansion has drifted away from that a bit. I've handled much more confused or bloated systems, Call of Cuthulu or the Power Rangers RPG for example, but this game trades simplicity for character. It's not a generic system this time, it's strongly themed with it's own character, forming part of the somewhat niche fantasy mecha subgenre. Think Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth, and more recently Knights & Magic. An initial annoyance I had here was the tendency for every rules concept to have it's own, reskinned term, this being a game that includes a glossary. Had the setting hued a bit closer to the D&D template, this might not have been an issue, but there's clearly a bit of front loading required. Also, as the game doesn't feature the Tolkien standard fantasy races, I foresee issues sourcing reference images and the like, but your mileage may vary with that one. Don’t use AI.

Mechanically, the game replaces a few rules with more interesting ones. Degrading dice mechanics now trigger on a 1 and the maximum, with that maximum triggering a special ability. Armour now uses such a mechanic, no longer functioning as an expendable HP alternative. Melee and Ranged attacks now key off different stats, while the weapon types have been dramatically expanded. Character progression and money have effectively been rolled into one, with Arsenal points being used to get new skills, stat increases, weapons, and so on. Another thing you can spend Arsenal points on is the party sky ship, which is very much a character in it's own right. I was quite impressed by the chapter, and can see this being transferable to other genres fairly easily. Throughout the above is a big focus on teamwork, with a majority of abilities that benefit the party rather than yourself. This ties into a wider theme of players being magically bonded, also serving as an in-universe justification for magic radios and OOC knowledge. All in all, it seems a complete ruleset that's built on previous successes, although I'm not sure how the game balance will look. I've not had opportunity to actually play this.


I suppose the greatest strength, and weakness, of Aether Nexus is it's theming. As a rulebook, it's consistently gorgeous and well-presented. I love the art in this. I also like the extensive selection of GM tools and charts. Both are vital for building the world Absolute TableTop had committed to. But, there also is a weakness. Magical mecha is a niche within a niche, and they haven't taken the easy route. I don't know if Aether Nexus would have been a better game if it had been more D&D. I'd want to run a campaign before making that call, but I suspect that it may have been more accessible. I would have liked to build on this book, instead I have to work within it's rails, or gut the rules and start again. And I'm confident I could have done that with The Mecha Hack… But then again, I'm a weirdo whom makes homebrew for fun.


I'd sum it up like this. If you like the look of Aether Nexus, and it is very pretty, go for it. It's a complete and well-presented system, that's good at what it's choosing to do. It you're looking for a more generic or sci-fi system though, look up The Mecha Hack instead.

RPG: First Impressions of the Shiver Core Rulebook

So, I won this in a raffle at my local, the Leadbelt Gaming Arena. It was one of those raffles with a choice of prizes, your ticket determining when you'd get to chose from what remained. I mention this as an acknowledgement of bias, as I effectively got something I liked the look of for free, but the choice wasn't entirely mine. I started writing this as a means to figure the game out, but it turned into a review of a sort, so please enjoy this content.

 

Shiver is a tabletop role-playing game made by Parable Games, a Nottinghamshire-based enterprise. Its a system to run games based on horror movies and adjacent media. As systems go, its more narrative than tactical, which is appropriate given the theme. If you can just fight your way out of a situation its not really horror any more, is it? The most direct comparison I can make is to the Call of Cthulhu system, as Shiver is quite capable of Cosmic Horror, but its more of a sub theme. Shiver is not a d100 system either, so the generation of replacement characters when, not if, someone dies is probably gonna go a bit faster. Instead, its a custom d6 and d8 system, with one of those clock mechanics that seem to be popular in narrative RPGs just now. The clock mechanic, called the Doom Clock for self-evident reasons, is the means of increasing tension for players, with bad things happening at every quarter hour. This is a metaphorical clock rather than a real time one, its not about the passage of time, and player actions can accelerate or turn back the clock. I say actions, I mean bodged dice rolls, and the supernatural-adjacent Weird character class tends to do things that advance the clock. Actions themselves are resolved via some very pretty but proprietary dice, and this prompts my first complaint.

Game designers, if you are adding custom dice to your game, please ask yourself a serious question. Is this actually justified by the experience you are trying to create, or is it something that's gonna read like a means to extract more money from players by creating a barrier to entry? With Shiver I'm not convinced that the game is in the former category, and I ended up falling down a rabbit-hole of probabilities that I will spare you from. Resolving actions in Shiver is a matter of having a dice pool, rolling, and picking out the desired symbol from the custom dice, character abilities and circumstances adding or removing dice as you’d expect. Of these two special dice, the d6 is the hardest to justify. The Skill die, once you get right down to it, is a reskinned d6, with no change in the ratio of faces. This feels a touch needless, as in real terms you are looking for a symbol with a 1 in 6 chance of being rolled. You are, as they cool kids say, fishing for sixes with extra steps. God forgive me for a Rick & Morty reference, but its a layer of obscuration for no benefit. With the Talent dice its more justified. The faces are different from a regular d8, offering more and multiple Talent symbols that make passing tests easier, but also generating more Strange results. The use of the Strange skill and dice result is the first wrinkle here. These are usually negative outcomes, and the hardest result to get overall with a Talent die, but this enables the abilities of the party's token Weird character. Its a horror game, Strange things happen, I'm sure you can imagine the kind. Adding further nuance is the Luck mechanic, where Luck results can be banked for use in future tests, as Successes. Finally, if you failed a test, you advance the Doom Clock by the number of Strange results. The overall feeling I get is that you don't want to roll dice if you don't have to, for fear of the consequences, but you will want to go fishing for Luck so you can actually pass tests that you aren't good at. I think that works well for a horror game as a concept, its risk versus reward. This also helps with the theme, as surprisingly the rules mechanic for fear is actually a bit minimal if we just go by page count. So, in general, there’s depth, but I'm not convinced the specialist dice add much beyond surface flavour, while obscuring the odds from the players. But hey, they offer a link to a free dice roller.

Ultimately, how dice work and when tests are made the domain of the Gamesmaster, or Director as the game insists on calling it, and so only matter as much as you let them. The game tells you that, although not in those words. I'm mechanically inclined as a player, so it matters to me what they do. But lets put that aside for a more important question, what is this book like as a Gamesmaster's resource? And how might things look for players? The answer to both questions involves how the book is presented and organised. Its a very pretty book, featuring nice art with maybe a bit of Mike Mignola influence, and the writers seem to want to provide all the resources you'd conceivably need. The presentation tends towards at least one piece of art per page, with spaced out text. This makes it attractive and accessible, especially in the character creation section. That said, this is a 223 page book as a result, and its split into only 4 chapters. I do like how each chapter has its own index on its first page, but I would probably have broken up the GM-centric chapter 3 into at least two chapters. Its 95 pages by itself. Creating a character is a similar story. The approach there is simple but wide; you have a load of options and can probably create any character you might want in a scary movie fairly quickly. There's no dice rolling for stats, for example, and there's a bit of a D&D players handbook feel to things. I like the Fool class, that looks fun to play as. The character creation section is however 60ish pages long and has its own layout problems. On the plus side, I do like the introductory chapter 1, that does its job well, and there's a starter scenario in chapter 4. Going back to the Dungeons & Dragons comparison again, this is a bit like someone trying to do the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Manual, and a starter set as one omnibus edition. Its all there, but its an unwieldy chonker because things are so spread out.


I do want to run this game when the opportunity presents itself. My group does enjoy a bit of horror, and this looks to be a good system for that. I like its style, and it looks to be very adaptable. On the other hand, I feel there's a simple but sound ruleset being obscured by fancy dice and a bloated rulebook. The dice are a gimmick, and I’m pretty sure you could trim the page count by 30% with a change of presentation. Presentation matters in the first impression, but it stops mattering once you’re using the book every week, and dealing with actual people. You kinda want something more concise at that point. Then again, my favourite RPG is The Mecha Hack, which is shorter than two chapters in this book by some margin. I like to build up from something as a GM, and not getting slowed down to flick through a rulebook, but your mileage may vary. If you're looking for a comprehensive horror game, I think this would be a good choice, despite the negatives I highlight.

Look into it.

Project Tonks: Part 3

Okay, that's three posts now, I suppose that counts as a pattern.

With the scenery done I was chomping at the bit to start on the proto-Tonks. I'd initially thought painting these would be a fairly involved process that would be best done in stages, but I'd blasted through a couple of similar projects, (write-up pending,) with speed. It would be a simple matter of drybrushing metals, and then stippling the main colour. The main thing to keep in mind was the utmost importance of turret rotation, so those areas were masked, and the case of the KV-1, modified. As these were based off toys, some components were die-cast metal, so these went in the dettol. While these were soaking, I worked on the turrets. Like I said, I was eager. I drilled out the gub barrels, added some armour bits, and filled some gaps. As its me, I went rusty again. This sort of thing is my bread & butter, so this totalled maybe 3 hours work over several days, plus drying time. There was some trial and error regarding how many coats were were needed, and how to apply friction to the turret joint, but nothing major. Thus the set was ready for play on Sunday. One thing I probably should mention though is that are supposedly 1:64 scale which makes them on the small side for a Tonk, but it doesn't hurt them as a set.

It was only the one game, I spent most of the Sunday learning how to play Gaslands, but both experiences were fun. I don’t have any deep insights to share at this time, except to say its about careful positioning and carefully chosen actions, but also very rules light. I can see it being playable by four people in under an hour. The picture below shows a highlight.

I've been giving some thought to Stage 3, the scratchbuilt Tonks, stockpiling materials and such. A common technique that I've seen is to repurpose a spray bottle as a turret ring, specifically the clasp that seals the mechanism to the bottle. I've done some exploratory surgery on a couple, and it should work, if maybe oversized. As such, I've sourced some mini spray bottles, out of a travel kit, which might be easier to work with, but we'll see. I've also lucked out with a charity shop find, a bag of plastic Jenga tiles that should be great for hulls. With respects to tracks, I've got a nice selection of discs and beads too. I have considered making my own track links, like I've done on other projects, although the scale is a concern. Regardless of how I decide to do it, the scratchbuild process is likely go relatively slowly, as while I have some time off coming up, it's not something I can speed through like painting.

Up next: the initial scratch Tonks.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

 

Project Tonks: Part 2

Righty week 2, let's see if this can become a pattern.

For the purposes of reference and quicker play if I wanted, I'd cut up some chipboard for use as terrain templates during week 1. I now used these to start making actual terrian. The process here was to make a base of chipboard, layer it up with tinfoil, hot glue whatever terrain piece on top of that, and then use gap filler for the ground. The theme? Junk piles. It's the sort of thing you can easily throw together from your bitz box, although it helps to remember scale. I did think about doing some tonk-traps, before realising I need some seriously tiny girders and I-beams. Thus followed assorted craft paints & washes. As for the colours used? Well, I had an orange which I felt was good for industrial stuff, but then I remembered the colourful nations of the Advance Wars video game series. The art direction in that is fairly Tonks-adjacent, so each terrain piece got a subtle nod to a faction in that game, atop my usual metallics and rust. Overall outcome is good, although the gap filler seems a bit unpredictable when drying.

 

Although, this was during Storm Babet...

Anyways, let's talk about the proto-Tonks a bit. I took them apart to remove the friction motors, something I'm sure I'll find a good use for later, and considered turret rotation. For three of them, I'm fairly confident painting will be easy provided that I mask a few places with blu-tac. The forth, what appears to be a Russian KV-1, needs actual modification. It's turret can't spin 180 without bumping into some die-cast details. As cutting that off would require serious power tools that I don't have, I opted to put in a plastic spacer. It's an ugly job, but it's only temporary, and was a useful intermediate step to learn from. I'll find a better way to do that, be it either turret modifications or a less bulky riser for the turret ring. I was keen to get started on that, but I feel the need to pace myself. There’s no rush.

Up next: Painting and customising the proto-Tonks.

Project Tonks: Part 1

Following the completion of my Orktober Stompa, I was in need of a new project. It helps with my mental health to have something to do, it's why this blog exists, but at time of writing I'm currently 7 weeks ahead with material. When I'm in a good mood, it's often easier to write. So, having gone very big, I decided to go small, namely the miniatures game "Tonks". Like Gaslands, this is a model-agnostic game where you are encouraged to kitbash stuff, namely your Tonk, a roughly 1/72 scale tank model. It's not a full wargame, its free and it's very rules-lite, but offers 4 way tank battle-royals. The game is not hugely well-known at present; the only reason I know about it is that Bill Making Stuff has done a series of videos on it, but it does offer the potential for a long term project. One which I could take down to play at my local gaming venue.

What I am planning to do then is a series of diary style articles as I explore the world of Tonks, with the overall aim to build and a refine a Tonks set. This will run along side my usual posts, until either this comes to a natural conclusion, or I just get distracted by something else, whichever happens first. It might not be a weekly thing, but I think it will be something good to do in the run up to chrimbo. The basic plan is as follows.

Stage 1, Prepare Gaming Materials: the basic collecting of all the bits you need to play Tonks. This means printing rules, making basic tokens, and acquiring playing pieces.

Stage 2, Prepare scenery and proto-Tonks: having acquired some suitable toys to use as Tonks, the next step is to paint them up and do scenery. As a Tonk requires turret rotation, I'm mindful of the potential for paint/glue mishaps, so I want to refine a technique before moving on to...

Stage 3, Scratchbuilding & heavy kitbashing Tonks: having got a feel for things, the next step is to make 4 very individualistic Tonks from the ground up. Additional or improved scenery would also fit here.

Stage 4, Tonk-Destroyer: As a victory lap, make a tonk with a hull mounted cannon.

So where do things stand as if part 1, then? Well, I currently have some cheapo tanks, for use as playing pieces. These are the same make as my recent Grot Tanks, and are on the small side for this, but otherwise fit the Tonks vibe very well. One of them needs some modification to do a full turret spin, but hopefully that’s an easy job. Printing the rules has also been achieved, although that was a trail, as my printer is acting up. It can either start working properly, or it can be stripped for parts.

Up next: Scenery and trying out the game maybe.

The Mecha Hack: Campaign Tips for Beginners

Well, by the time I post this, I will have just finished my campaign. A long, winding, but ultimately satisfying learning experience with friends. And I thought there was an article in that, so here we are. An article about how to run a campaign as a gamesmaster. Enjoy.

The approach I took

My basic idea when running the campaign was to treat each gaming session as a single episode of a mecha anime, i.e. there's gonna be a fight, the role-playing is in the run up, and how they handle the fight. Initially, I attempted to map out multiple paths, but this never survives contact with actual players. The best you can do is present the scenario, and have clear behaviour/objectives for NPCs. It is not your job as a gamesmaster to present a script for the players to follow. As I learned, I went from being a particular world-builder to being an enabler. It is your job to present a good time. How you achieve this is up to you, but there are two points I like to keep in mind. The first is that you shouldn't protect people from reasonable consequences of their actions. If they go in unexpected directions, roll with it, but if they try anything overtly suicidal, warn them. The second thing, and the mirror of the above, if its awesome or funny, just let it happen. We're talking about giant robots here, don't be serious for its own sake.

So, enough philosophy, let's have some practical advice on how to run a campaign.

Creating the Setting

It's entirely fine to use the rulebook setting for your campaign. There's rich seams of conflict and political commentary to mine. If you don't? Well, you can just take a stock genre dynamic and build from there. That's what I did. I loosely based my antagonists on the infamous Titans group and SCP fiction, thus guaranteeing that I would have a proper bunch of bastards who could generate any amount of weirdness. I then created a regular military for them to patronise, The Militia. Then, because consistent tone is something that happens to other people, I then created a bunch of feline criminal stereotypes called the Neko Pirate Mafia. Yes, that was a joke that got away from me, and I regret nothing. Do up maybe two pages of notes, on three factions and their dynamics, but don't write to much. Just the starting point. It's up the players set the tone after all.

 

Creating NPCs

You will probably need 3 or 4 recurring non-player characters, not counting antagonists. Given the mecha genre, these will likely be some variety of mission control, mad scientists, and engineers. You don't need to stat these, but it helps to have something to hang a personality on. Pictures and accents can help the players fill in the gaps you feel that your acting can't fill. Recurring antagonists are slightly simpler in that they just have to survive contact with the party, and/or be smug. If in doubt, just copy a Gundam character, and claim its a reference.

Selecting Enemies

I've written about balancing fights before, but outside of major events like boss fights, you can afford to keep it simple. Have the HD of the enemies match the average party level, and aim for them to slightly outnumber the players. This allows for a fairly brief but effective encounter, where everyone will likely get to contribute without being murderised in the first round. Try to avoid taking too many different enemy types in the same encounter, as this can create additional work for you and the occasional unexpected mini-boss squad. Once the party reaches higher levels, you have to be creative, but by that point you should have an idea what you are doing.

Talking to your Party

It's generally a good idea to chat with your players to figure out what they like and make sure you are on the same page. I know this is basic social interaction, something I personally struggle with, but it's easy to miss someone when you have half a dozen giant robots stomping on stuff. Make a point if at least asking everyone privately what they might want from the sessions. It shows you care, and it could give you free material.

 

Planning the first few sessions

Now, its usually unwise to produce a detailed plan for a campaign several sessions in advance. Players will do unexpected things, and forget any clever foreshadowing you might have put in. At most, have an end point to end for, but not a path directly there. The start of a campaign is however a bit different, players will need a bit of time to find their feet, and learn how the game works. With this in mind, the first session can be scripted to a large extent. Make a point of ensuring each character can introduce themselves, and learn how the rules mechanics. Name drop the factions, and lay on the themes. Then, over the following two sessions ease then into the status quo. Which your party can break or otherwise place their mark on.

Writing an individual session

Generally, I would recommend trying to follow the style of mission presented in the Mission Manual book. Be as concise as you can, but always include a summary of NPCs, and a sheet featuring the stats of the enemy mecha. If using a stock mission, you don't need as much prep, but still have the statblocks to hand, and a covering sheet for stuff specific to your game.

Idea seeds and drop-in missions

There are times when things overrun, somebody drops out or otherwise things go a bit pear-shaped. Again, the Mission Manual is handy here, but if you've crafted a setting yourself, its material may need adapting. As an alternative, brainstorm some ideas for missions, real simple concepts, no more then two sentences long. Then put them in a list, with any rules you need, and break it out when you need it. Some of my better ideas started this way.

Wrapping things up

I don't claim to be any kind of expert on this stuff, but I do try to learn from experience. Hopefully, the above is of use for you, or at least entertaining. If you have anything to add, please comment below...

The Mecha Hack: Five Thoughts on Game Balance

“Action Economy" is a term I recently picked up from The Animated Spellbook, and basically refers to how in Dungeons & Dragons, in a fight, the side with the most actions tends to win. The Mecha Hack shares DNA with that game, so similar phenomena can be observed. The difference is that enemies and players are not subject to the same rules. Enemies have to move then attack, which is represented by the player rolling to avoid damage. Players however get a choice of two actions, in any order, but with a "stamina" mechanic. This, and abstractions like initiative and range bands, often mean that players can simply overwhelm the enemy before they can act. That may indeed be how you like the combat, but that doesn't work if you want them to have a boss fight. I've found that merely taking a higher level foe doesn't necessarily address this issue. You can get a bullet sponge that tanks the damage the party can dish out, and hit very hard, but its a purely statistical threat, not an intellectual one. This article is about how to present more of a challenge. I find that fights in The Mecha Hack should be quick, or mechanically interesting, so here's some things to consider.

1: Damage Die are Static

Now, probably the most important thing to keep in mind when designing an encounter is that the maximum damage is set at character creation, they only get more accurate by themselves. If a D6 damage die character wants to hit harder, they need to get better weapons, or modules that do a lot of damage. For example, two popular modules in my campaign were Missile Barrage and Energy Modulator. The latter is a straightforward upgrade to a damage die, but Missile Barrage is a more nuanced solution in that it can handle multiple targets, and also reliably put 10 damage on something. As a result, merely giving a foe more HP is not the same as making it more threatening, it makes them more time-consuming. If the foe you are presenting is meant to be a juggernaut, this is fine but perhaps not for the hyper-agile dude in the high mobility custom? This does however present a good way to mess with your players, instead of merely having a big number, have some damage reduction, ideally a randomised one. This will encourage players to try less conventional attacks, which usually require a reactor roll or similar cost.

2: Do the Math

Perhaps falling into the “kinda obvious” category of advice, its a good idea to keep track of what your players can do, either through back-ups of their character sheet, or just keeping track of what their HP is. If you are an obsessive nerdling like myself, its possible to mine this data for use in a boss encounter. A metric I've used is to calculate what the average damage is from a single basic attack, I.e. what a player can do without incurring an additional cost. If you're concerned that a party just might wipe-out their foes on the first turn, simply figure out that number for each player, total it up, then pick a foe that can take that number. Also be aware that a foe of a higher level applies a penalty to both a players attack and defence.

3: Find the Weakness

Part of what makes the Brawler and Hybrid chassis so effective as fighters is because they favour Power and Mobility, AKA “punchy stat” and “dodgy stat”. If you want to challenge such players, and maybe make the support characters feel a bit better, throw in attacks that test other stats. Many enemies have a Recharge attack that does this, but pushing Presence or System for a main attack can take a hitty player off-guard.

4: Changing the Action Economy

OK, so, the players act more often than enemies, but this need not be the case. There are enemies whose attacks can effect more than one player, although Aces tend to be more flexible. I've often found myself using whole teams of Aces, as a catch-all representation for elite units. In any case, having an enemy that affects multiple players at once is a good way to keep them engaged.

5: A Word on Swarms

Its very tempting to view swarms as a time saver, especially if you want hordes of disposable mooks in play. And, they are. There is however a degree of subtle implications that arise from how HP is now treated. For example, if a foe has significantly more HP than a player attack, a swarm die actually makes it more fragile. I made this mistake when attempting to save on headspace in a complicated battle. Say you've got an enemy mecha with 16HP, and under normal circumstances, you might expect them to withstand 3-4 attacks before they get taken down. A 1d4 swarm die however would mean that every non-critical attack has a 50% chance of wiping out such an enemy, while a 1d8 would be 25%. While it is possibly for a lucky player to do 16 damage in one attack for the same effect, its a less than 1% chance. The net effect of all this is that Swarms are less predictable in a fight than regular foes, because its always a dice roll, and you need to account for that.

Wrapping Things Up

Most of the above probably comes under the heading of “duh” for experienced games-masters, but I hope you found something useful in my ramblings. TL:DR – Don't just use bigger numbers unless you are in a hurry.

Creative Writing: Tales of the Danger Magnets

Here's the thing. I've been running a mecha campaign lately, and if I'm timing this post right, its coming to a climax about now. It was however a “season 2”. What started as a series of loosely connected one-shots became its own universe and baggage. And then I got two new people playing. So, I wrote some stuff, and now you get to read it. Isn't that fun?

New Player Introduction

Hello, new player, welcome to season 2 of my Mecha Hack campaign. Before we talk about how your character will be created and join the game, I felt some small preamble was needed to set the tone. You know not what you are getting into. 

 

OK, so imagine your generic, giant robot, space future. Its a distant binary star system called Romulus and Remus, where due to some quirk of subspace, lost spacecraft would be drawn. It was originally colonised by shipwrecked crews. Eventually, more permanent settlements were established, and the planets terraformed, but weirdness would still periodically come out of hyperspace portals to cause trouble. This prompted the foundation of the “Peacemaker” group, whom basically operated a bit like a rapid reaction force meets SCP, whom favoured black uniforms and black paint-jobs. The Peacemakers grew in power from a team of specialists into an army unto itself. For some reason this was not considered sinister. Perhaps it was the systems sizeable Neko population distracting people. I mean, people love cats, but uplifted, 3 foot tall, intelligent cats with thumbs? People probably went deaf from all the squeeing. And were then badly mauled because your average Neko hates being patronised. Where was I? Oh yes, the party. So, the party were a team of test pilots under Professor Diana Lovelace, known as the “New Texas Test Team”, after where they tested, and later the “Danger Magnets”, because reasons. They were involved with testing of new mecha prototypes, and promptly found themselves in a stock gundam plot. Then they found themselves encountering some strange eldritch monster, only to be conscripted into the Peacemakers by a dude they happened to rescue. He was First Lieutenant Austin “Thunderclash” D'Arcy, charismatic, handsome, and multi-talented. The actual star of the show. What a guy. Some adventures followed, suggesting that the Peacemakers weren't all they appeared, and the Test Team seemed to have a fan/stalker in the form of a stealth battleship which could inexplicably turn invisible. Then plot happened. 

 

The party was hired by one Madame Webb, whom is a long story, to track down an alien spacecraft that might enable her to rejoin her race of spider-aliens. As the party are protagonists as well as being roleplayers, they didn't get very far, but they did stumble on evidence that the Peacemakers were faking alien invasions as a means to secure funding. Lt Thunderclash appeared to silence the party, whom, disbelieving their situation, found themselves utterly outclassed. Then Lovelace remembered that their mecha could combine into one even bigger robot, having neglected to mention this previously. They'd all been drinking, it was a night, OK? Thunderclash quickly became an expanding cloud of debris, along with the rest of his team, and the players were now wanted criminals, but this was OK, because that battleship that been following them turned out be friendly. He was called Ironsides, and wanted them to join his roaring rampage of revenge against the Peacemakers. Which was nice.

 

Then, more stuff happened, as the players attempted to clear their names as well as violently murder any space-fascists they ran into. They also helped out some miners and went to a convention, as you do. Various plot things happened, with mounting evidence that the players were part of a time paradox, via some mysterious artefacts known as Paradox Crystals. Things got real when the players found out about the other Peacemaker side project, which involved harvesting brains for use as mecha components, the reveal of which triggered a civil war. The brain harvesting and Paradox Crystals were incidentally what allowed Ironsides to exist, the poor guy is a brain in a jar, controlling an entire battleship by himself. The players returned to the Texas Colony, rallying allies as they went, in an attempt to rescue the stolen brains, only for recurring antagonist Brave Halibut to escape with them, leaving behind new prototype mecha to fight, the Gemini. The tragedy was people used to make these mecha no-longer really existed. Their brain hemispheres had been separated in order to operate a pair of machines, networked as one. Things then escalated, as Militia forces and the party attack the Peacemaker HQ. It turned out Ironsides had a robot mode, and he made an entrance for the party. In the following battle, the full nature of the time paradox was revealed, as the party decided to destroy the Paradox Crystals they found, and disappeared in an explosion of timey-whimey bullshit...

Ok, you got all that? Good. It probably doesn't matter now as the party has found themselves in a strange new world.

 

Mecha Hack Season 2: A Prose Preview.

The planet Losonia, in the year 20,004 of the old calender. It is a bright summer day, with the occasional picturesque white cloud. Mega-fauna flock around the numerous circular lakes. Farmers work the fields with giant machines, occasionally opening fire on a passing giga-duck. Cities bustle, formed from the ruins of earlier times. Vast hills, on closer inspection, turn out to be the ivy covered remains of spacecraft and artefacts from the early days. No spacecraft fly from Losonia any more. None have visited for generations. The locals stopped caring a while back, history has degraded into myth, and the city-states feud over the few bits of salvage-tech that remain. And also, there is a big problem people are trying to ignore. But, hey, at least the weather is nice.

Underground, there is no weather of course, but there is an atmosphere. The kind where duplicitous men consider their next fraud, while marks wait nervously. Father Maxwell and his assistant Dougal walk though the ancient catacombs, built during the earliest days of settlement. Dougal asks nervously “Will this work, Father?”, obviously struggling with something. Maxwell shrugged, “If we are worthy, God will help us. Have they all paid up?”. Dougal nodded. The faithful were a mix of people, some human, some nekos, some stupid, some in mourning, but all desperate. Dougal was dimly aware that he had joined a cult, one of many that had sprung up in last in few years, persisting well into the new millennium. He world hadn't ended, but the strange Moonites had attacked, and then attacked at the next full moon, and then nothing, only to strike at the full moon 3 months later. Nobody could stop them, nobody knew what they actually were, just that they came with the Moon, to slaughter and steal. Dougal was not quite as eloquent as that of course, but that was what he understood.

These catacombs were considered a National Heritage site, but Maxwell had put in the paperwork for today's event, closing it to the public. As they walked, they passed museum displays of various things, providing context for the big draw: The Murals. Painted at least 20 millennia previously via techniques lost, these displayed events from the first settlements and beyond. As you walked further, the further back you went. The pair hurried past encountered Apocalypse Wars 7, 6, 5, 4 was closed for restoration, 3, 2, and eventually 1. Then finally, the originals depicting events from the first settlement. Maxwell only glanced at the first one, but Dougal was more easily distracted. It portrayed a complicated battle, featuring the Warrior King Thunderclash, and his loyal ally The Liberator, in battle against the hated Peacetakers. A thought struck him, “Father, if we can summon Heroes from Legend, why not Thunderclash? He was surely the greatest of them?”. Maxwell stopped, thought for a moment, and remembered how the Loremaster answered that one. “Thunderclash died honourably to save us all, he has earned his rest. The Liberator was lost, cursed, trapped beyond time. We can help them, and then they will be honour-bound to help us.”. Dougal nodded, and hurried to catch up.

The Church of the Liberator Ascendant began to assemble in front of a mural with the descriptive title “The Liberator frees the Miners”. It was a full body shot of a vast robot aggressively wielding a drill, while lesser machines and human figures prostrated themselves around it. While Dougal greeted The Faithful and handed out the programmes, Maxwell wondered to himself how accurate the image actually was. Surely, they had scaled the mural to the size of this cavern, The Liberator could not possibly have been that big. But his was not to question, it was to “believe”. This had been a profitable scam so far. He began the service. It was fairly rote at this point, he'd done dozens of these, and it always went the same. Doctrine, doctrine, how The Faithful would be spared, a quick hymn, more doctrine, the chant, the failure of the chant as people were unworthy, the collection plate, and then, same time next Tuesday. After about 2 hours, they got to said chant: “Liberator Tumblemass, Tumblemass Liberator.”. Maxwell was very careful not to show on his face what he thought of the chant, but the Loremaster had been very definite about using it. Ten solid minutes of those four words, slowly increasing in tempo and gusto. There's a joke about modern music in there somewhere. As the chant progressed, people started missing the beat, prompting the Father to gesticulate, trying to get them back into rhythm. Then there were gasps, a cry of profanity, and a crunch from directly behind him. Maxwell, paused, and looked, as the chant stopped completely. The mural was shattering. Big slabs of it falling away, one smaller bit catching Dougal on the nose, whom didn't step away in time. A mechanical hum filled the room, and Maxwell blurted out the only thing he could think to say: “The Liberator Comes! It has come to save us all!”. 

 

What he actually thought was, "Holy shit, it actually worked!".

 

The Mecha Hack: Modding the Engineer

 

 

No, not this engineer, but it is cool. So, sometimes one article flows naturally from another. Following on from my review of the Mecha Hack Chassis/Pilot selection, I got to thinking about the Engineer. The Engineer is fine for one-shots, but declines in usefullness during campaigns, and I should really have noticed that. My campaign has two. What follows is a discussion of this problem, with rambling commentary on the history of such things.

 

Context: The Origins of Hit Points and Party Healers

Hit Points, aka HP, like the entire Mecha Hack ruleset, have their origins in the original Dungeons & Dragons game circa 1972, influencing any RPG you care to name. The term is a fairly abstract measure of how a character might withstand injury, not how difficult they are to harm, or which bone is broken, but how much they can take before they drop dead. In first edition this was literally the case, although it's been common since to have some kind of "they're bleeding to death, somebody help" mechanic. Hit Points can be somewhat binary as it means characters function either at full capacity, or at deaths door, which other systems try to address, but that's outside of the remit of this article. This dynamic combined with magic being a thing gave rise to what the Engineer technically is: a party healer. To go back even further, Dungeons & Dragons, was based on a fairly serious wargame called Chainmail, and this can still be felt in the rules even now. D&D is ultimately a physics engine for fantasy combat, rather than purely a roleplay thing. As such having a party member whom can do immediate and effective triage is vital. Having a Cleric around to heal is so common that it's a consistent balance challenge for games of this type. It's a safety net, both for the party and the games master, but a chore for the person playing it. See also: designated healers in Final Fantasy and Stimpacks in the Fallout franchise as an aversion of the concept.

Context: In the Mecha Genre, is there a comparable role?

Short Answer: no. Long Answer: almost certainly no. There's enough mecha shows out there for someone to make a counter-argument, but you don't see a robot get repaired as part of a 6 second combat round. Repair and maintenance is a fairly big deal, but usually happening off-screen. That's what the hangar crew and/or the super scientist are for. I suppose it would make the robots less impressive if they could be repaired in seconds. The only real example I can think of this are the occasional repair-bots you see in the Super Robot Wars games, but that tends to be a gameplay thing, not a source material thing. Then again, how often do you see people in more action-oriented media take a moment to apply a healing spell? Note: not games, non-interactive media. Generally, you don't, because its boring and makes the stakes smaller. Same with most mundane injuries. Either it gets glossed over, or it's an actual plot point. Giant robots exist in a binary between OK and exploded, although heroes may occassionally be battered and broken badasses.

The Engineer

Serving as one of the original 4 pilot types, an Engineer is one of the two ways to heal your mecha outside of a rest action. This takes the form of a 1 to 2 trade of Armour Points to HP, as a use action. This starts out as a useful but scarce resource, pairing well with the Titan chassis, but is devalued over time. The ability does not scale with character level, meaning that while other pilots stay useful, the Engineer is only useful when you have 10ish HP. For comparison, the only other source of repair, mid-fight, are Repair Nanites. This fixes 1d4+1 HP, but are a single use item you have to buy. The net effect is to make rest actions, aka hangar time, the main way to restore HP, like in animes.

How might we fix it? Should we?

I feel a case can be made that players shouldn't be on repair duty mid-battle. That's passive and dull for a game about shooty-robo-boom-boom. Mind you, we want the Engineers to feel useful and engaged. After some discussion with my players, I offered them the following options to make things more fun for them, replacing or modifying the original Quick Fix ability.

Nano-Smith Ability: When using Repair Nanites, add 1d6 to the result. During downtime, you may convert a single Scrap consumable directly into 1 Repair Nanites, rather than the normal rate of exchange.

Bodge-Job Ability: As a use action, reduce your AP by 1 to restore d6+ 1 HP to a close mecha. If you restore the maximum amount, that mecha then rolls its Reactor Die.

Quick Fix Ability - Modification: As a use action, reduce your AP by 1 to restore 2 HP to a close mecha. You may spend multiple AP at once in this way. (I.e. 5 AP becomes 10 HP restored on the target.)

The overall intention here was to make repairs a hard decision rather than an easy one. Nano-Smith bolts on to an existing consumable, making it more powerful, but ultimately is something players pay for. Bodge-Job is an improved version of Quick Fix, but has a side effect if they heal too much. Both options have a wide spread of potential results, as opposed to the flat bonus of Quick Fix, so using them are a gamble. Alternatively, if players want to stick with the rulebook, we can make Quick Fix scale up. Job done.

If you end up using these rules, do let me know how this turns out.

The Mecha Hack: How to handle Macross?

The Macross franchise is a fairly influential mecha series known for its transforming jet robots and weaponised idol singers. In the West, its known more as the good bit of Robotech, but let's not get too far into that mess. I don't feel the need to rant about the famously litigious Harmony Gold just now. Here's a video clip.

 

Now, let's say you wanted to run a RPG of that. You can quite reasonably use any of the transformation based modules in The Mecha Hack ruleset, but the thing is, Macross tends towards aircraft-based realism. In fighter mode, a Valkyrie moves at supersonic speeds, with the battlefield being a rolling road across continents. In gerwalk mode, you've got what amounts to an attack helicopter with arms, but still trucking along at three hundred miles a hour plus. Finally, the Battroid form doesn't really fly too much, but it can still run faster than is legal on a motorway. There is a fundamental disconnect between the scale of each mode, which may operate very differently in space or in an atmosphere, AND pilots can switch mode to get a tactical advantage. So, how would you attempt to depict that, without falling into a pit of complexity completely at odds with a “Hack” game? This is what I came up with.

 

The Core Concept of a Variable Fighter 

In a battle scene, the Gamesmaster will describe the battlefield and which of the three modes would be “dominant”in it. A mecha would gain the benefits of that mode, rather than having to declare and manage their own transformations.


Fighter Mode : Supersonic

In this form, a mecha can make two moves as a single action. Also, if you roll a 20 when attacking with Missile Weapons, you may reroll it.


Gerwalk Mode: Multi-vectored thrust

In this form, when taking Mobility tests to avoid attacks and dangerous terrain effects, if you roll a 20, you may reroll it.


Battroid Mode: Defensive fire

In this form, a mecha has Advantage to defend against Missile Weapons. It also gains 3 points of temporary armour, which replenishes at the next rest.


Transforming in Combat

While a given combat will feature a dominant mode, players can opt to change form temporarily to again the benefits of that mode. As a Use action, a player may opt to change into a different mode, gaining all the appropriate rules from that moment, replacing what they had before, until they act in the next Moment. Alternatively, a player may opt for an Emergency Transformation, assuming they are not currently prevented from taking actions, I. E overheat. This is an exception to the normal limits on actions, and the player must immediately take a Systems check. If successful, their mecha changes form as above. If they failed, their mecha does not change, and as suffers Disadvantage on the next dice they roll, commonly the attack they were trying to avoid.



A word on THE NEED FOR SPEED and splitting the party

As mentioned, while all modes can fly to some extent, there is a marked difference between them with respects to their speed. The above rules assume the players are trying to function as a Squadron, and keeping pace with each-other, but this may not the be case. If a player chooses to be the odd one out and stick with a form that either outstrips or falls behind the other players, this will split the party and the GM will have to compensate, I.e. slowpoke skips a Moment.


Missile Weapons 

Due to their aircraft roots, most mecha in Macross have access to guided missiles, often in huge amounts. There's a trope about it. This can be in conflict with more conventional aspects of the show, as to be a mecha is to be humanised, but missiles kill you from yonks away with a button press. So, we want missiles to be dramatic, but not overpowering. With this in mind, missiles should have a restriction on their use, i.e. a Reactor Roll or treated as consumable items. I have also made them work off the System stat below, as I feel it adds a bit of nuance and represents the automated nature of guided missiles quite well.


Dogfighting, Hostile Mecha, and Battlefield Effects 

It is generally assumed that Variable Fighters can only be targeted by ranged attacks made by other similarly airborne mecha or dedicated anti-aircraft weapons. Also, there's a tendency for Valkyries to have a significant numerical disadvantage, versus factions like the Zentradi. As such, the attacks made by other things like spaceships, Destroids playing defence, vast Regult mobs, and land-based vehicles are probably best represented by either the swarm rules(1), or battlefield effects with names like "Flak Curtain" or "Bullets in Every Direction".


A Sample Class

I'm not trying to do a total conversion here, more an intellectual exercise. If you want to have some of the more out-there aspects of Macross, you'll have to do this yourself. I chose the VF-11B due to its relative simplicity and archetypical features. Its based loosely on the Scout class, as I feel d8s and d10s are probably better used on heavier or more elite aircraft. This could be adapted easily into mainstay fighters like the VF-1 and VF-171, or more conventional “heroes” like the VF-19 or VF-25. If you find it simple, remember that this is a minimalist game system, and players get a lot more options due to the transformation. You don't have to model all the things, just the bits that are flavourful, and this ends up being four times more complex than any class in the rulebook anyway. For context: here is a video of the VF-11B in action, where it largely used up its lifetime supply of awesome, and yes, the voice is Bryan Cranston.

The Shinsei Industry VF-11B Super Thunderbolt Class
Hit Die d6 Damage Die d6 Reactor Die d6

Starting HP

1d6 + 6

Weapons and Armour

All handheld weapons, shields, FAST Packs, and the Protect Armor System.

Levelling Up

Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Mobility and System. At level 3, gain access to the Protect Armor System in special missions. At level 5, submit your Application for a better plane...

Starting Equipment

30mm Gunpod with Bayonet (Light Ranged Weapon), Shield (2AP, Battliod/Gerwalk only), FAST Pack Missile Bays, Comlink.

Design Features & Weapons

FAST Pack Missile Bays- As an attack action, test System. If you succeed, deal 4d4 damage, divided as you choose between enemies at Near/Far range. Then roll your Reactor Die.

Protect Armor System

Damage Die and Reactor Die both become d8, but the variable fighter remains locked in battroid form, and has Disadvantage on Mobility Tests. It replaces its usual equipment with “Protect Armour (10AP), large reactive armor shield (5AP), GU-XS-06 Long-Range High-Piercing-Round Gun Pod (heavy ranged weapon), FAST pack Missile Bays, Heavy Missile Pod, Comlink”. The equipment can be purged with a Use Action, reverting the variable fighter to its normal state, i.e d6 Reactor Die, other equipment at GM discretion.

Heavy Missile Pod - As an attack action, test System. If you succeed, deal 3D8 damage to a single Near/Far target. Then roll Your Reactor Die.

And finally: Macross isn't about killing people

Yes, I know, 1200 odd words so far purely about effectively modelling aircraft-based robo-warfare. But we now need to address tone. Individual instalments differ in focus, but Macross largely does not do nihilism or War is Hell, and if anything has themes of finding common ground over shared culture. Music is always there, a usually positive force balancing out the destructive ones. This is an area where Presence Tests and actual roleplaying is needed, so keep this in mind when running such a game. Also, Macross was originally planned as a comedy, so by all means, be goofy.

Footnote

1) Which are still unpublished at time of writing. Come on, Mission Manual.

Dogs of War: a “Rollerblade Good” Modification for The Mecha Hack

So, this article started as another attempt to stave off boredom. My Mecha Hack campaign was running ahead, my blog was also running ahead, and I was otherwise atop of my chores. Lest I fall into another deep dark hole of anxiety, I decided to set myself another task, see if I could adapt my old favourite animes into The Mecha Hack. That was around the time I was writing my mini-review of the system, and after some faff, I decided to apply the same minimalist approach as the rules proper. That's making the simplest possibly change to get the effect I want. And what I ended up doing was a take on the “Rollerblade Good” sub-genre of Japanese robots. Mecha of this type are often relatively small, and rely on foot wheels for sudden bursts of straight-line speed. Examples include Martian Successor Nadesico, Ghost in the Shell, Front Mission and Dreampod 9's Heavy Gear series of games. The codifier for this is probably Armored Trooper Votoms, a somewhat obscure 80's work otherwise notable for treating mecha as utterly disposable. I'm gonna insert a video clip of that now, I hope remains up it.

OK, so, putting the bleak stuff to one side, how would you run something that in The Mecha Hack? Here's what I came up with.

Dogs of War: a “Rollerblade Good” Modification for The Mecha Hack

1) All combat is to performed with a grid map, see Tactical Distances on Page 6. All mecha gain access to the new “Turbo Heels” action.

TURBO HEELS: as a move action, immediately move 12 (Far) squares of movement in a straight/diagonal line, ignoring Opportunity Attacks. Note: This is subject to terrain.

2) The normal classes are replaced with the three following below.

BULLDOG

A variant of the Terrier designed for close range combat in urban environments. Relatively tough, scrappy, although operating time is compromised.

d8 HIT DIE

d8 DAMAGE DIE

d6 REACTOR DIE

STARTING HIT POINTS

1d8 + 4

WEAPONS AND ARMOR

All armor, all weapons, shields

LEVELLING UP

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

STARTING EQUIPMENT

Basic radio, Knuckledusters (light melee weapon),shorty rifle (light ranged weapon), shield (+2 AP), light armor (+3 AP)

CHARGING STRIKE As Rulebook

COUNTER! : After resolving a melee attack against this mecha, it may immediately spend 1 armour point to make a melee attack back, as an Opportunity Attack.

TERRIER

The standard Trooper seen on thousands of planets, in their hundreds of thousands. Fast, powerful, and a good performer in all things except pilot safety.

d8 HIT DIE

d8 DAMAGE DIE

d8 REACTOR DIE

STARTING HIT POINTS 1d8 + 4

WEAPONS AND ARMOR Light armor, all weapons, shields

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

STARTING EQUIPMENT Basic radio, Knuckledusters (light melee weapon), Long Rifle (light ranged weapon), shield (+2 AP), light armor (+3 AP)

RELIABLE When you roll a 20 on a test, you can choose to reroll the die. You must use the new roll.

AGILE As a move action immediately move 6 squares (Near) in straight/diagonal line, then change direction to move 6 squares in another unbroken line. Note: this is subject to both terrain and opportunity attacks.

MASTIFF

A heavy class of Trooper, intended for the most intense battles or countering enemy tanks. Big, tough, and faster than it looks, the Mastiff relies on its defensive machine guns against melee attackers.

d10 HIT DIE

d6 DAMAGE DIE

d6 REACTOR DIE

STARTING HIT POINTS 1d10 + 4

WEAPONS AND ARMOR All armor, all weapons, shields

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

STARTING EQUIPMENT Basic radio, Bazooka (heavy ranged weapon [+2 attack and damage]), heavy armor (+5 AP)

DUAL MACHINE GUNS As a ranged attack action, test power to inflict D6 damage on a target. Range is 6 squares (Close/Near).

MORE DAKKA When you roll a 1 on a damage die, you can choose to reroll the die. You must use the new roll.

3) Use the following replacement modules only.

Light Missile Pod

As an attack action, test System. If you succeed, deal 4d4 damage, divided as you choose between enemies at Far range. Roll your reactor die.

Heavy Missile Pod

As an attack action, test System. If you succeed, deal 3D8 damage to a single Far target. Roll your reactor die.

Shaped Demolitions Charges

As a use action, plant a Charge. Roll your reactor die. On your turn, as a use action, deal 2D10 damage to 1 enemy within close range of the mine. The charge is then destroyed.

Auxiliary Machine Gun: As a use action, test Power to inflict 1D4 damage on a target. Range is 12 squares (Near/Far).

Expanded Stowage

Increase your reactor die by one die type.

Camo-netting

You have Advantage on Mobility Tests to become hidden.

Lucky Furry Dice

Once per session, gain advantage on a single roll.

Distinctive Paint Job

Gain Advantage on Presence Tests to intimidate/impress, Disadvantage on attempts to hide or otherwise go unnoticed.

What do you think? Any good?

The Vision of Escaflowne in The Mecha Hack

Okay, here's an article that percolated while running a game of The Mecha Hack. This might even be a series, who knows.

Anyways. Released in 1996, The Vision of Escaflowne is a highly regarded anime that I should probably write more seriously about. Its currently available on All4. It was fairly unique at the time for taking the whole mecha concept and placing it into fantasy style fiction. It can also be viewed as something of a trope blender, mixing concepts usually aimed at Japanese boys with those aimed at Japanese girls, hence the intro.

Yes, Escaflowne is the rare mecha anime whose lead is both female and a non-combatant. And neither quality should be as rare as they are, TBH. But, obviously it does still have robot punching, with the mecha of the series designed like extensions of knightly plate mail, mimicking the movements of their wearers, while powered by a dragons heart. So here's a combat clip. Perhaps not watch all of it, if you want to avoid a minor spoiler.

The Zaibach Mecha

On first impression, adapting Escaflowne to The Mecha Hack should merely be a matter of changing names. Or just using the regular Black Hack. However, the series does feature the highly advanced Zaibach Empire, whose mass produced "guymelefs" have invisibility cloaks , flight capabilities, metamorphic weaponry, and flamethrowers. I.e. the baddies from the clip above. Running from them, and finding a countermeasure to them, is a significant part of early episodes. Mechanically, this would be an easy fix for a player character, just use the stock Scout, but as enemy? This would probably be a huge issue for a low level party, and require a more considered to approach to running a battle. This could easily take on a horror angle, as players would be continually paranoid, always fearing their deaths from an unseen foe. Below are some possible stats to use, or you can ignore this issue and create a more generic setting without them, for more “knightly” combat.

Alseides HD 4

Invisible: Starts the battle hidden, revealed after an attack.

Backstab: Adds 1d6 damage to attacks when hidden.

Flight: If not hidden, Ignore difficult terrain; reach far locations in one move

Liquid Metal Attack: Mobility, Close or Near, 1d8.

The Mods

So, to make a quick and dirty approximation of Escaflowne, apply the following changes to The Mecha Hack.

1) No ranged weapons or modules without explicit GM approval.

2) The Brawler class is unchanged.

3) The Striker class looses REACTOR CHARGE and gains SIDESTEP - When making its first move action in a turn, it does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.

4) The Scout class is limited to Zaibach characters only.

5) The Titan class replaces is ENERGY SHIELD with the Grappler module as a freebie.

What do you think?

RPG Mini-Review: The Mecha Hack

Like a lot of people, because of you-know-bloody-what, I've been trying webcams lately. No, not the kind you pay for. Nor the ones you charge for. In your dreams, BTW. No, the ones where you play a game. A Role Playing Game. No, not that kind of roleplay. Let's start again.

So, in my latest attempt to stay sane, I've been running online RPG games. And because its me, it involves giant robots. Its a little side interest of mine that's been bubbling away in the background for decades. I've wanted to play a giant robot RPG for years, but never found someone to run one, other than me, so I've ended up collecting a few rulebooks. The most recent thing to catch my eye was today's review subject, The Mecha Hack. This, as I understand it, is a modified version of “The Black Hack”, a bare-bones take on ^5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. That sounds like the Kevin Bacon game, but what The Mecha Hack does is take possibly the most fundamental RPG mechanics, I.e. going into a dungeon and wrecking face, and apply them the matter of piloting a robot and wrecking face. You can build a character in 5 minutes, a party in 30, have the outline of a scenario in 10, and have couple of fights in 1 hour. Baddies are boiled down to an attack and a life bar, for example, and you get a huge great list of them. And there's a great many charts to help. You can have a campaign up and running in an afternoon. Its pretty elegant stuff, although I did run into a few oddities and “oh, they mean that” moments as I adjusted to things. The most obvious is that you “roll under”, but the most significant of these is that games treats man and machine as the same thing mechanically. Well, you do get a pilot type and a chassis, for 16 combinations, but the former is mainly a special rule for the latter. The word I want to stress here is “minimalist”, you don't get a lot, but you get what matters. And possibly the greatest name generator chart in human history.

Now, this means The Mecha Hack is not a deep experience. Not only are most things abstracted to an extreme, so replicating some styles of robot is hard, the rules do not cover events outside of combat. Well, there's half a page or so on that last point, but its not the kind of game that walks you through a character's history as you create one, or deals with social matters. That's gonna be a deal-breaker for some, although I suppose you could hybridise this with Fate/Fudge and come out OK. My personal opinion though is that the best bits of any RPG session is when players improvise something, and the absolute worst is when you have to spend a long time working out if something out is rules legal. This lack of depth is not a bug, its a feature. The thing about keeping things this simple is that it doesn't take much to make it interesting with a few tweaks. This has freed me up to concentrate on the stuff that's fun about planning/running a game; world building, endless references, stupid jokes that only amuse me, and developing scenarios for people to play. This simplicity has also proved a boon for online play, as there's no infrastructure needed beyond the video call. Using tactical maps would require something like Roll20, of course, but otherwise its gonna stuff you have as a gamer. And once players get into it, there's plenty of meaningful decisions to make in combat. That said, my only problem with system is that the abstract movement can be hard to visualise in my head, so maybe maps are a good idea?

So, to wrap up this mini-review, The Mecha Hack is a good bit of inexpensive fun. If you want to get gaming in a hurry with minimal fuss, I can recommend it. Especially if you decide to take “inspiration” from things like Pacific Rim and Gundam.