Hi all,
I'm seriously running a Robotech game with OVA. The issue comes down to handling the scale of Mecha.
I've had great success running an Appleseed-esque game with powersuits and Landmates. But those operate on a smaller scale that easily overlaps with personal scale effects.
I'm thinking about adding a new level of damage and armor: Mecha Scale. But I don't want to clutter up the simple elegance of OVA. On the other hand if I ramp up armor and then have to ramp up armor penetration of anti-mecha weapons it seems that approach makes things bulky if not cluttered.
What do you guys think?
Best approach to build a Veritech?
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Joe_Mello
- Exalted Amphibian
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When I tried to adapt spacecraft from Tenchi Universe to OVA, I decided to use the Vehicle ability as a baseline scale. +1 would be a personal craft or mech (e.g. a powered armor suit) while +3 is more of a medium-sized cruiser or attack ship. I'd put the SDF at +5 most definitely and the Veritechs at +2 at most using this scale.
As for specs, I treated the vehicles almost as if they're their own character. Their attack rolls are supplemented by the pilots attack skills and any Sensor Check (both if applicable). Weapons are fairly standard, but don't take Endurance, since I treat Health as the first level of ship health (a la Shields) and Endurance as the big, bad, unrepairable damage.
As an example, my main NPC's ship is a +3 Vehicle with 120 Shield and Hull, 2 Defense and +3 Armor. There's a Missile Battery that does 8 DT, but is inaccurate and a Laser Cannon that does 6 DT and no change to the attack roll.
You might also want to check Star Wars d20 or another space-based RPG for guidelines on ship combat, too. I know I'm going to take most of my space combat rules from SWd20
As for specs, I treated the vehicles almost as if they're their own character. Their attack rolls are supplemented by the pilots attack skills and any Sensor Check (both if applicable). Weapons are fairly standard, but don't take Endurance, since I treat Health as the first level of ship health (a la Shields) and Endurance as the big, bad, unrepairable damage.
As an example, my main NPC's ship is a +3 Vehicle with 120 Shield and Hull, 2 Defense and +3 Armor. There's a Missile Battery that does 8 DT, but is inaccurate and a Laser Cannon that does 6 DT and no change to the attack roll.
You might also want to check Star Wars d20 or another space-based RPG for guidelines on ship combat, too. I know I'm going to take most of my space combat rules from SWd20
Joe_Mello: Could you make a common sense roll, please, Ryu?
Ryushikaze: With Smart?
Joe_Mello: Sure
*Ryushikaze rolls*
Joe_Mello: SHE'S DEAD!
Ryushikaze: With Smart?
Joe_Mello: Sure
*Ryushikaze rolls*
Joe_Mello: SHE'S DEAD!
I'll have to take another look at the Vehicle ability.
How you're describing how to handle the vehicles is exactly how I did it with Guges Landmates. Worked beautifully.
I'm thinking about adding just a bit of grit to how I handle mecha.
The plan right now is to break Health and Endurance down into levels. As damage accumulates and a level is whittled away, components of the mecha assigned to that level shut down.
I seriously thought about using Star Wars D20/Saga for handling the details of dog fighting, etc. But to me Robotech feels more fast and loose with a lot of things fluidly happening all at once; streams of missiles, spiraling mecha transforming in mid free-fall, etc.
Instead, I think I'm going to use Father of Dragons' FATE style declarations. That way I can put more of a narrative bent on what happens without precisely quantizing the action down to exact moments in time.
Thanks! You've got me thinking in different directions now which is a good thing.
How you're describing how to handle the vehicles is exactly how I did it with Guges Landmates. Worked beautifully.
I'm thinking about adding just a bit of grit to how I handle mecha.
The plan right now is to break Health and Endurance down into levels. As damage accumulates and a level is whittled away, components of the mecha assigned to that level shut down.
I seriously thought about using Star Wars D20/Saga for handling the details of dog fighting, etc. But to me Robotech feels more fast and loose with a lot of things fluidly happening all at once; streams of missiles, spiraling mecha transforming in mid free-fall, etc.
Instead, I think I'm going to use Father of Dragons' FATE style declarations. That way I can put more of a narrative bent on what happens without precisely quantizing the action down to exact moments in time.
Thanks! You've got me thinking in different directions now which is a good thing.
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Joe_Mello
- Exalted Amphibian
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:50 pm
- Location: Here and There, Now and Then
I tend to house rule traits that allow you to buy more traits (eg Vehicle, Transformation, et al) and basically treat them as a benchmark.
As for giving levels to HP and ED, you could use Tough and Vitality as indicators, although I still like having Health as a measure of shield. Once you get down to ED only, your extra Vitality could help indicate "major damage." For example, if you had +4 of Vitality, (therefore 120 points in total), something could blow when you get down to 80, 40, 20, and 10. Those numbers first derived from losing your base 40, and then the marginal Vitality bonus. (It makes sense mathematically, but it's hard to explain.)
I'm using SW simply because the nature of my game requires larger-scale craft than Veritechs, so there will be need for everyone on a ship having the same turn.
As for giving levels to HP and ED, you could use Tough and Vitality as indicators, although I still like having Health as a measure of shield. Once you get down to ED only, your extra Vitality could help indicate "major damage." For example, if you had +4 of Vitality, (therefore 120 points in total), something could blow when you get down to 80, 40, 20, and 10. Those numbers first derived from losing your base 40, and then the marginal Vitality bonus. (It makes sense mathematically, but it's hard to explain.)
I'm using SW simply because the nature of my game requires larger-scale craft than Veritechs, so there will be need for everyone on a ship having the same turn.
Joe_Mello: Could you make a common sense roll, please, Ryu?
Ryushikaze: With Smart?
Joe_Mello: Sure
*Ryushikaze rolls*
Joe_Mello: SHE'S DEAD!
Ryushikaze: With Smart?
Joe_Mello: Sure
*Ryushikaze rolls*
Joe_Mello: SHE'S DEAD!
In the revised OVA, there are rules for "scale" that cover this situation. For the full text, you'll have to wait, but here's the basic idea:
Two characters/vehicles/items/things of different scales will result in a +5 bonus to one or the other.
A world-class runner with +3 Quick is not a match for even a slow - 1 Car. The car gets the advantage and the +5 bonus.
This same runner is much more maneuverable than this car though. He gets the +5 bonus in a contest of, say, avoiding a cart of watermelons in the road.
Make sense?
I'm still hammering out how scale difference work for things like Armor, Health, and etc. So keep on with any ideas you all may have.
Finally, vehicles in general will be getting an overhaul in the revised game. So hopefully it will make playing without the intended mecha supplement more feasible.
Two characters/vehicles/items/things of different scales will result in a +5 bonus to one or the other.
A world-class runner with +3 Quick is not a match for even a slow - 1 Car. The car gets the advantage and the +5 bonus.
This same runner is much more maneuverable than this car though. He gets the +5 bonus in a contest of, say, avoiding a cart of watermelons in the road.
Make sense?
I'm still hammering out how scale difference work for things like Armor, Health, and etc. So keep on with any ideas you all may have.
Finally, vehicles in general will be getting an overhaul in the revised game. So hopefully it will make playing without the intended mecha supplement more feasible.
Well, the idea is that if it's NOT a whole lot, you should not be using scale anyway. It's to represent things that are outside of each others league. If we were talking about +2 bonuses, you might as well keep that car as a +5 Quick.
I also want to keep it simple. 5 is easy to remember because it's the Ability cap. It's like giving you a capped Ability in addition to your natural level. Seems to make sense, at least.
I also want to keep it simple. 5 is easy to remember because it's the Ability cap. It's like giving you a capped Ability in addition to your natural level. Seems to make sense, at least.
Makes total sense. Someone on foot is going to get smoked in a race with a Veritech in Valkyrie mode.Clay wrote:Well, the idea is that if it's NOT a whole lot, you should not be using scale anyway. It's to represent things that are outside of each others league. If we were talking about +2 bonuses, you might as well keep that car as a +5 Quick.
I also want to keep it simple. 5 is easy to remember because it's the Ability cap. It's like giving you a capped Ability in addition to your natural level. Seems to make sense, at least.
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FrankJScott
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