The Campaign Builder's Guild

So for some reason I've had mecha on the mind. Some people love them, some people would rather the world moved on. So I would like to hear every ones opinion on mecha. Magical mecha, clockwork mecha, steam mecha, realistic mecha, power armor or super advanced mecha. Bio-mecha or Cthulhu-mecha? Lets hear your comments.

Elemental_Elf mentioned in a different thread (the Subgenre thread) about pseudo-medieval mecha, like massive armor. This is used in the anime Escaflowne. I found this was a pretty cool idea. It wasn't remotely possible but it was well done, it had a nice aesthetic and that's always a plus. I think more people should use this kind of thing, it can be really neat I think.

Another thing that is rarely seen is biological power armor. The only place I can recall ever seeing this is in a book, Fallen Dragon. They were well done in the book, and I thought the idea was fantastic. A living exoskeleton with muscles that interfaces directly with your body a living second skin.

I love Gundam, its my mecha show of choice. I always loved the concept of a the Earth Sphere (the Earth, the moon and the 5 Lagrangian points) being the backdrop. In fact, I've always loved the concept of the O'Neil cylinders (space colonies in Gundam) because its such a foreign and yet familiar setting... I've toyed with creating a fantasy campaign setting, set inside an O'Niel cylinder; the people would worship the autonomous computer mainframe that controls the various functions of the station (weather, station movement, etc.). But that is a topic for a different thread...

At any rate, I've created my own Gundam-esque setting called Eddaic Mars but like most things I create, I never finished it.

As for Mecha itself, the best book I've found is d20 Mecha and the various books based off of it. It gives you hard and fast rules to use when developing Mecha for different types of campaigns (from Escaflowne-style Fantasy Mechs, to WWII What If Mechs to realistic Gundam Mechs to the ungodly uber awesome stuff seen in other shows). The inherent problem with Mecha is, like all TTRPG Sci-Fi, there just isn't a large enough market for it to be mainstream.

There are two types of mecha I like. Realistic futuristic versions (power armor and exoskeleton stuff... not the gigantic gundam stuff) are the style I most enjoy. On the other hand, when it comes to steampunk I do like the colossus of steam and twirling gears.

Quote from: NomadicThere are two types of mecha I like. Realistic futuristic versions (power armor and exoskeleton stuff... not the gigantic gundam stuff) are the style I most enjoy. On the other hand, when it comes to steampunk I do like the colossus of steam and twirling gears.

Gundams aren't Colossal! They're like 20 feet tall! That's barely Huge!

Oh I forgot to mention, I love Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex style Mecha... So cute and so deadly! :)

I like things like power armor and ED-209-ish robots. So, I will cast my vote as well for "small and realistic" mecha.

Quote from: Elemental_Elf

Quote from: NomadicThere are two types of mecha I like. Realistic futuristic versions (power armor and exoskeleton stuff... not the gigantic gundam stuff) are the style I most enjoy. On the other hand, when it comes to steampunk I do like the colossus of steam and twirling gears.

Gundams aren't Colossal! They're like 20 feet tall! That's barely Huge!

Oh I forgot to mention, I love Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex style Mecha... So cute and so deadly! :)

20 ft tall? We're talking gundams here. The real world life size models are gigantic.

For example:

Quote from: Nomadic

Quote from: Elemental_Elf

Quote from: NomadicThere are two types of mecha I like. Realistic futuristic versions (power armor and exoskeleton stuff... not the gigantic gundam stuff) are the style I most enjoy. On the other hand, when it comes to steampunk I do like the colossus of steam and twirling gears.

Gundams aren't Colossal! They're like 20 feet tall! That's barely Huge!

Oh I forgot to mention, I love Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex style Mecha... So cute and so deadly! :)

20 ft tall? We're talking gundams here. The real world life size models are gigantic.

For example:

Oops, in my rush to post, I mixed my meters and feet up, lol. My bad :)

I can't tell.  I actually prefer my fighting done up-close and personal, most likely via CG-and-wires wuxia.  A big machine just creates a "separation" feeling and I'm not as invested in the combat.

Are we talking "power armor" as a bulky thing maybe a bit larger than a human?  Or does that actually include "power suits" like Iron Man?  If it's the latter that's the kind I'd most go for because there's still a bit of personality to it.

I think I saw a mecha design in animé that might of been biological: the series Maze has mecha-like giant armor that ropes its operators in with tentacles and just basically looks more bio than tech.

CBT all the way!

(In this case at least, I'm referring to Classic BattleTech. . .)

Iron Mans armor is a type of power armor (would be along the lines of more fantastic types, not that realistic).

Ya I'll agree with Elemental_Elf that Gundams are about 20m tall (~60 feet). Not all that big compared to some others, like Neon Genesis Evangelion (name? its some anime) whos Evas are immense.

Heck yes, mecha thread!

This is my mecha:

Power armor/exoskeletons for life. Gundam Wing-style stuff is just no for me... kind of like almost everything else that has any direct links to anime. :/

I like mecha.  I like Robotech mecha.  I like Gundam Mecha.  I even like the Power Rangers's Megazords, although the Power Rangers TV shows are really bad.

I once ran a Mekton Z campaign based on a kaiju versus mecha set-up not entirely unlike Power Rangers.

Good example of the type of mecha style stuff I like:

I'm not very fond of humanoid-form mecha. I'd rather have something akin to the tripods from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Power-armor OTOH could be very cool if done with the right style.