/m/ - Mecha & Tokusatsu

>>18776

>a mercenary group hired by the Powers That Be

My favorite DG album.

Jokes aside, a big rule to remember is not to go too crazy with everything. Try and keep it somewhat grounded.

I can only comment on the battles as I'm not sure what makes for good plot or characters.

Try to think of the robots as normal weapons, don't suddenly bring in some ultra powerful robot that ends up going straight to Super Robot-tier as a boss, instead have an incredibly good pilot.

A good gun isn't automatically going to make you better, what matters is the person welding it. A mech should be the same.

>>18779

Difference in opinion there I guess.

I think a superweapon plot device can be executed well.

>>18781

>Ring of Red

God tier

>>18776

>What makes a good Real Robot story?

>>18777

>>18778

>>Super Piloto

This.

The core of "Real Robot" is that the mecha are just another vehicle, like every other military machine in a forces fleet.

You have logistic support because shit WILL break and need to be replaced eventually, and you pray to the Quartermaster that you'll have what you'll need to fix it when that time comes.

Now, your Grim and Darkness levels will be decided by how replaceable your Player's Characters are in relation to this scheme:

Pilot Mortality will determine your relative Grimness; High Attrition where your Pilots are dying like mayflies is going to be rather Grim, but no risk of casualties means you don't have that necessary contrast.

Meanwhile, how easily pilots get replaced will determine how Dark your setting is; If humans are treated as just another component to the War Machine, a part to be replaced when the time comes, then you're getting really Dark.

Most "Real Robot" settings are actually pretty Dark in this regard, mostly due to their nature as pieces of semi-realistic military fiction.

Even in grandpappy Gundam, Amuro personally wreaking half of Zeon is used by the Federation not as a Wonder Weapon like their propaganda suggest, but rather a diversion to keep the Zeeks distracted while the Feds readied their forces for a counter offensive.

>>18781

Old mecha games have a charm that can never be recreated.

>>18776

That is a nice question you have got here, OP. I'll give you my tips, thoughts and opinions. Some of them may already be written, but I will give my point of view on these, anyway.

1. The whole setting and mood by themselves must be somewhat underwhelming. Underwhelmingly realistic. Everything primarily should be focused on (but not limit its focus to) realism, stoicism, fatalism.

Most of the characters (NPC, players) should not be excepting anything outstanding, but only the worst possible (and something even worse could happen anyway. In "realistic" military science fiction something bad should have a great chance to happen); they should not be hyped too much. Examples of what I mean:

>Huh? One of our squadrons' rookie turns out to be a total natural-born ace that somehow destroyed (finished off) a few (damaged) enemy machines? It would be a shame if this hotshot gets hit by a stray bullet on his next mission (He probably will);

>We've got a special team that tests experimental units in real combat? They are going on a mission tomorrow? Honestly, if they went on our old first-generation robots, they would at least feel more safe. (One day later, half of the prototypes malfunctioned because of the excessive stress during battle; Some test pilots escaped, few got captured, the others died in horror and despair);

>We can choose our loadout with some regulations so that we can conduct operations efficiently:

>I carry little ammo with me so that no lucky hit will make go boon. And I can find myself some more on the battlefield. Maybe even a new gun from my enemy's dead, cold hands. The more the less, as they say (but later I will regret that as I find myself pinned down by enemy marksmen, unable to return fire as close-quarter combat units move towards me);

>I carry lots of ammo with me so that I won't find myself unable to continue combat (but in the end a piece of shrapnel forces its way through the vents right into the ammo box and I die in a dreadful, violent explosion);

>I carry a moderate amount of ammunition. I won't suffer from being out of ammo or getting blown up (and then, during an intense skirmish, I get hit into the ammo storage. The explosion is not that bad, I just got my mechanical manipulator severely damaged. The main problem are the close-quarter combat units that want to finish me off before the marksmen do.

>We can't really choose our loadout. Everything is based on our roles and skills, regulated by standards that strive for most efficiency and survivability of our pilots. Quartermaster gives us what he is ordered to (But later deadbrain bureaucrats and "military experts" make us go into combat in almost unarmed machines for the sake of saving resources and getting bonus money for "efficiency", and we can't do anything but to obey and serve, else we will get shot).

2. Consider Real Robots (I will be referring to Real Robots mostly as to humanoid bipeds) as a distinct type of a military vehicle. By this I want you to consider the following:

>Real Robots should be customizable and modular (just like any modern armored vehicle) to be ready to get prepared to mostly anything: interchangeable legs (horse-like legs to move through swamps or getting some stable ground under hoofs on mountain rocks? Average feet for urban areas? Blocky stompers for assault units? 4 thick legs for reliability and stability while shooting with artillery arms? Tank treads for speed?), weapons, armor, et cetera.

>Real Robots can't just fight on their own. You need infantry support, air support n' stuff. And don't forget about constant check-ups and maintenance, or else the robots won't be reliable and will be very likely to break down.

>Real Robots are not good in everything. They may excel at maneuverable combat in urban areas, rugged terrain, mountains. They may: use covers, strafe, lie down, duck, sit, crawl, jump, roll. They may be good for fire support, scouting, ambushing, divert actions, probably even spreading chaos and terror if you give them flamethrowers and a wacky paint job. They probably could be used in direct combat for the sake of the Real Robot genre. But there are still types of vehicles that do certain things better than Real Robots.

>Real Robots' main strength lies in their versatility that is based on their modular structure, and the possibility of customization may let them to be the fire support for almost anything (insulate then from water, give them a powerboat instead of legs and you will get yourself a carrier battle group unit; augment their legs with landing gear, give them light aerodynamic armor, install more jets and thrusters and you will get an air support unit and so on).

>>18785

3. Single ace heroes in overpowered robots don't win the fights, the battles, the campaigns, the wars. Only trusty technology, good command, leadership and teamwork does. If that certain Real Robot story is not striving to be too dark, then battle spirit will have some value in it, too.

4. So, as partially stated by me above, a good Real Robot setting is an underwhelming military sci-fi setting.

As the "sci-fi" part that has "mecha" in itself is being here most likely for action, awesomeness and aesthetics, I recommend to focus on the "underwhelming military setting" part to answer your question.

What exactly makes a good Real Robot story?

I think it is the difference between the characters and the world they live in.

I don't mean that it's the difference between the main characters' piloting skills and cannon fodder's piloting skills, luck, charisma, intelligence or talents (these are not unwanted; these are optional (they even might be plot devices)).

I mean the difference between the characters' mentality and the rest of the cast's mentality. That difference is better not be too large, but it should characterize them as complete persons. And it should not objectify all the characters to whom the focus of the story goes to and all of the non-relevant characters. That difference should make characters' stories interesting and worthwhile.

It is probably barely worth a reminding, but just consider each character as a person with its story, emotions, experience, thoughts, ambitions, hopes, fears, tastes, weak and strong sides (that come from something). Make even the cannon fodder or plot devices "people". If you don't really want to go very deep with that for lots of characters (and that is fine), just show certain details or quirks of theirs during that little amount of time when the story's focused on them (of course it is necessarily not to make every sentient being a special snowflake. That would be terrible in many ways).

Characters' mindset might not be "complete" and "finished" from the start. Just like in most Real Robot media, the characters will probably must have to develop themselves (or developed/pushed for development) through their inner world and the outer world.

And don't forget about proper character interactions. Can something be a substitute for a crude but heartwarming roasting between two brothers in arms? How much content, sense and moral can be fit into a dialogue between a young soldier and experienced commander about morals, the point of war, the point of fighting? Persons' interplaying is a major part of storytelling, too, as it gives us information about the general mood of characters and "the world" at the certain points of story.

TLDR: forget about the "mecha" part for a while and read some good military fiction.

5. If you've got free time, check these articles. You could probably find something useful there: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealRobotGenre http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/WriteAHumongousMechaAnime

Just don't follow these tips too strongly if you don't want to, and have a good time.

>>18786

>3. Single ace heroes in overpowered robots don't win the fights, the battles, the campaigns, the wars. Only trusty technology, good command, leadership and teamwork does.

>>18790

Yeah, again your player characters should be one part of a greater war machine.

If they were regular Infantry, that'd make them something alongs the lines of a 3/4-man Fireteam, but since we're using Giant Robots it's probably going to be a Platoon of 3/4 MECHA.

Your Player Characters are probably going to be the sole Operators and Pilots of said machines, likely starting at the rank of Sergeant, while you as the Game Master will have to act as all the Non-Player Character roles as the rest of the Company (The Military Unit the PCs Operate under) as well as managing everything else.

>As the "sci-fi" part that has "mecha" in itself is being here most likely for action, awesomeness and aesthetics, I recommend to focus on the "underwhelming military setting" part to answer your question.

Well I disagree about it being "Underwhelming."

Sure, plenty of Military Science Fiction is how incredibly boring it is to be in the Space Army, but that's because ACTUAL Military life is 60% Waiting for shit to happen, 39% Hurrying to get to said shit, and 1% Action.

You have to remember OP is trying to run a GAME, thus epic heroic feats of martial prowess and strategic importance are going to be an occurrence.

love it like in VOTOMs when a pilot gets his ride shot out from under him over and over. harkens back to real life ace pilots and tankers, who would sometimes be repeatedly "de-horsed"

>>18835

>You have to remember OP is trying to run a GAME

You are right. Though I wrote down my thoughts about the Real Robot genre in general, I added

>Just don't follow these tips too strongly if you don't want to, and have a good time.

So OP would not really make his game super-realistic and would not make it feel mundane, annoying and boring to play.

>>18790

Unicorn is a terrible example of real robot.

The Psychoframe justification doesn't really make more sense than the excuse used by the other UC shows, and the main characters always get gradually better, only killing mooks with underpowered suits at first.

Banagher's newtype powers just go into the retard zone in a excessively short span of time

Sage for somewhat off topic