Gundams and a new take on mecha in PbP

[roryb]

Yeah, Fate is not easy to run in pbp. It took me a long time to get the feel of it and cut down on the back-and-forth negotiation. Now, I enjoy running Fate. Finding enough players hasn't been a problem on MW for me, but there are certainly fewer players than other popular systems.

Here's a short Robotech hack I did for FAE. Some of this I believe I got from another fan-made source, and some of it involves my own contributions. I can't remember which is which:

Robotech Hack for FAE

Scale

Using the Scale Rules from the Fate a System Toolkit, p. 67, we get:

Size	Example	Bonus Consequences
Small	radio-controlled drone, miniaturized human	none
Medium	human	none
Large	car, glider, cyclone armor	mild
Giant	standard veritech mecha	moderate or 2 mild slots
Gargantuan	ultra-giant monster mecha, small frigate	mild, moderate
Titanic	capital ship	mild, moderate, severe

Characters

Characters are designed as per normal rules, and should have aspects for interpersonal relationships and motivations rather than just “fighty” things.

Mecha

Mecha adds a number of aspects, including a concept, a potential weakness, an aspect associated with any convertible modes (fighter, guardian, battloid), and a budget of 1 refresh plus 1 per size class greater than Medium.

Refresh can be spent to create stunts to reflect its systems, including weapons, armor, sensors, or modifications.

The character uses his skills or approaches for rolls, as well as stress and consequences. However, each size grants an additional consequence attached to the vehicle.

In addition, weapon systems can be spent for one free invoke per session, gaining an out of ammo aspect.

Sample Characters and Mecha

VAF-6 Alpha Fighter

Transfigurable Combat Fighter Mecha

Fighter Mode. Maneuverable High-Speed Dogfighter
Guardian Mode. Hybrid Mechanized Gunship
Battloid Mode. Low Speed Anthropomorphic Heavy Combat Mech

Size. Giant

Standard Stunts.

• Weapon System – GU_xx 35mm Tri-Barrel Gun Pod. +2 to Flashily create advantages when creating cover fire.
• Weapon System – Short Range Missiles. Twice per scene, +2 to Forcefully attack targets at least one zone away.
• Armor System – Ablative Shell. Gain an additional mild consequence slot.

Bonus Consequences. mild, moderate

VR-052 Battle Cyclone

Frontline Heavy Assault Riding Armor

Armor Mode. Super-Strong Agile Power Armor
Cycle Mode. Mobile Speedster Bike

Size. Large

Standard Stunts.

• Weapon System – T Model: EP-40 Forward Mounted pistol. +2 to Quickly attack unarmored targets.
• Weapon System – Short Range Missiles. +2 to Forcefully attack targets at least one zone away. This creates the out of ammo aspect on this system with one free invoke.

Bonus Consequences. mild

VFB-1A Veritech Fighter Beta

Transatmospheric Assault Battlemech; Heavy Long Range Weapons

Fighter Mode. Powerful Thrusters
Guardian Mode. Sacrificed Firepower for Speed
Battloid Mode. Slow, Ultra-Heavy Battloid

Size. Large

Standard Stunts.

• Weapon System – MM-40S Super Multi-Missile System. Once per session, Forcefully attack all targets within a zone without splitting shifts.
• Armor System (2) – Reinforced Armor. Gain two additional mild consequence slots.

Bonus Consequences. mild, mild, moderate

NPCs

Enemy mecha are treated just like Nameless NPCs in Fate Core, or mooks in Fate Accelerated. However, the scale extra still gets placed upon the NPC, with or without the extra consequence, depending on the importance of the encounter.

Full NPCs will be rare, but can be statted like regular PCs. Most full NPCs will be complicated rather than enemy pilots.

Some example units:

Invid Trooper (Gurab)

Alien Armored Flying Crab-Mecha; Sensitive Eye Sensor Array; Titanium Claws

Size. Giant
Good at (+2). flying at moderate speeds, hovering, rending with claws, resisting fire
Bad at (-2). tactics

Bonus Consequences (optional). moderate

Invid Shock Trooper (Gurab)

Alien Armored Flying Crab-Mecha; Sensitive Eye Sensor Array; Titanium Claws; Plasma Gun Pods

Size. Giant
Good at (+2). flying at moderate speeds, hovering, rending with claws, shooting, resisting fire
Bad at (-2). tactics

Bonus Consequences (optional). moderate

I think the same original creator had a Fate Core version with skills, but opted over to FAE, which I think is fitting. Having similar characters like an all-pilot team makes skills a bit less meaningful. It looks I decided to handle the ammo bit by crossing off a weapon system for an invoke-like benefit in exchange for an Out of Ammo aspect.

If you want to use a stress track, I might give a standard of maybe 4 1-shift boxes for a Large vehicle, adding 2 more for each step above, or 2 more for a stunt spent on additional ammo...you could go with separate tracks for different types of weapons, or allow energy based weapons to be used indefinitely but have no stress track. Each box could be checked for a +1 benefit until someone is out. Extra damage would be a good thing, because larger vehicles have extra consequences, meaning you'd probably need to do more than the normal amount of damage to take out enemies, especially larger ones.

[Malkavian Grin]

This is very useful! Thank you for this info! I think I'd want a stress track for ammo to indicate it being helpful but that it's a finite resource. Otherwise every attack is just flavor and has no meaningful impact.

For instance, a beam saber vs. A rifle vs. The special beam cannon that clears the area of all minor units (a la Wing Gundam).

[roryb]

Sure. To me, that sounds like a special stunt that defines those two weapons...one gets a bonus to destroy mooks while the other gets a bonus to creating an advantage of placing "in My Sights" on a single target...this can also be played in conjunction with an ammo track, which I think can be very fun.

Mechanically, yes. It can seem like there is not difference when playing a game like Fate. But I think the whole idea of permissions is a great tool...because you have a particular weapon, you can do these things, but with that other weapon, you can't. Add create an advantage, and stunts that kit out certain weapons or systems (like a weapon able to bypass armor), and you have lots of meaningful detail to encourage or discourage certain actions. Of course, as with all Fate, it really only works if everyone has a similar idea.

[Malkavian Grin]

I think i should look at how you run your solo FATE game to see how it all plays out. Much like Powered by the Apocalypse, I love the system but don't have quite the experience to run then well yet.

[roryb]

20 minutes ago, Malkavian Grin said:

I think i should look at how you run your solo FATE game to see how it all plays out. Much like Powered by the Apocalypse, I love the system but don't have quite the experience to run then well yet.

I haven't dug into mechanics much yet in that very beginning adventure. I had major Fate noob suck for quite a long while. If you want, I can run a few short encounters for you solo style to give you more of a feel (regardless of which system you pick for your gundam game).

[Malkavian Grin]

Hmmm interesting idea! Let me see what old characters i have I'm the bank so i don't spend a whole weekend on a new one lol.

[roryb]

Just ping me! Finding an old favorite character with interesting abilities can be a good exercise trying to grok a system too.

[Neopopulas]

It might be worth looking at some Fate hacks. There is Tachyon Squadron which is more about fighter pilots than mecha but could be adapted. There is Mecha vs Kaiju, which i have (and is currently .99c on Drivethrough) but haven't had a chance to look too deeply into.

You COULD also go thr split route and literally use two systems, like FATE for one and Lancer or M&M or anything else for another. Or have two entirely separate Fate characters, one pilot, one mecha.

[Malkavian Grin]

8 hours ago, Neopopulas said:

It might be worth looking at some Fate hacks. There is Tachyon Squadron which is more about fighter pilots than mecha but could be adapted. There is Mecha vs Kaiju, which i have (and is currently .99c on Drivethrough) but haven't had a chance to look too deeply into.

You COULD also go thr split route and literally use two systems, like FATE for one and Lancer or M&M or anything else for another. Or have two entirely separate Fate characters, one pilot, one mecha.

When FATE was brought up initially, I thought "what if you just have another list of aspects when in the mecha and another list when out of it?"

My worry is having tactical combat in a system like Lancer take like two weeks to get through.

[Neopopulas]

I'm dying to play Lancer but everything i hear about it basically says that same thing, that its very tactical and needs a HUGE map to play

[roryb]

Having two sets of stats to distinguish characters in and out of mechs is certainly an option.

[MrBelpit]

I know I kinda brought FATE into the conversation, and I'm about to continue talking about it, but I promise I'm really really not married to it. I can adjust to any system that isn't Campaign for North Africa-scale super-grognard.

 

That being said, someone ran some PbP Gundam games using modified FATE rules at Sufficient Velocity (here and here). The second game only came to a halt because the GM, rather than the players, abruptly disappeared, but it otherwise seemed to work alright. It helped that the players generally understood that their characters' aspects shouldn't just be fighting abilities or whatever, and each character was extensively workshopped before approval to match the roleplay's intended tone and feel. It might be worth peeking at it as another case study of using FATE for a mecha PbP roleplay.

 

In particular, I thought the alterations to the Skills list made it more Gundam-y, especially in the second game.

Edited October 23, 2023 by MrBelpit (see edit history)

[Malkavian Grin]

@MrBelpit Oh, interesting. Thank you for the links!

You've all given me a lot to think about. I think, ultimately, I'm wanting to aim for something that feels good, with still a level of uniqueness and customization, but without the slowdown of most tactical combat when played on PbP. I'm aiming for the smoothest experience possible in the format given.

My goal is for snappy decisions when fighting rather than taking three days to figure out if you should move 4 vs. 6 meters forward and to the left.

I personally really like the idea of zones and the way FATE handles obstacles; a broken down car can be cover, but it'll cost a zone of movement to go around it--unless you do some flashy move to slide over the top; an asteroid in the same way can be cover and would require movement around it, but one big blast too many and suddenly you've got difficult terrain filling part of the battlefield and no cover; a dust-storm reduces visibility and in some cases even communication range, etc.

Further help from zones is that the battlefield can be whatever size we need--a crowded room to the moon's orbit--without much fuss in the way of scale.

This all being said means FATE is quickly rising to my list of top choices for system.

To everyone who has played Mekton Zeta:

What is your experience with smoothness of gameplay in PbP format? How bogged down does it get when it comes time to start chucking dice? I have minimal experience playing it because both games died before we got far.