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Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #176

Role-Playing And Giant Robots

Role-Playing And Giant Robots

A Guest Article by J. Kline

I love science fiction and the allure the future holds. Part of that allure is the concept of mecha: combat robots. According to modern physics, they are not only improbable (lack of materials, computers, sufficient power-source, etc.) they're also a lousy investment on the field of combat. They have a high silhouette, less armor, vulnerable joints, and so forth. But reality notwithstanding, the image of giant humanoids clashing energy swords and 55mm gun pods is great.

Of course, that presents one or two (not so) little problems for the GM. How do you hold characters with 50+ tons of destruction in line? And how do you create challenges greater than "go to point X, search and destroy"?

Keep the Players in Line

Military Hierarchy
Perhaps the most likely owner of any giant robot is the military, and they have ways of keeping the players in line. Promotions and medals are positive rewards; kitchen duty and menial labor, coupled with demotions, are negative reinforcers. Additionally, militaries are constrained by the need to appear justified to the taxpayers, political rules of engagement (sometimes conflicting with the reality of the situation), and the bureaucracy that withholds ammunition or runs out of flight suits. Hence, players can be held in check by parts being unavailable, or faulty intelligence, or just the enforcement of off-limit areas.

Secret Societies
The Battle Tech Clans are one of the best examples of how this method works. Players must accumulate honor or engage in duels beforehand to prove they are worthy of going on the mission. If they shoot targets in the back or fail then they receive less potent equipment.

Maybe it's a religious order and you must practice a certain faith or go on a crusade to gain the honor of using special equipment? Of course, if Mr. Big doesn't like you, you'll get the worst mecha possible, and the toughest assignments.

Freelancing
Technically, owning your own mecha should be the least likely option; after all, these things cost millions of credits. The cheapest mecha I've seen cost about 100,000 credits, but that was still about 50 times the average worker's yearly pre-tax salary! If the players are mercenaries or freelancers for some reason, your best bet is to give everything a broken-down cyberpunk feel. Force them to spend so much of their earnings on fixing the stupid mechanical beast and running across known space for parts that they can barely eat!

Mecha Quirks
My stereo refuses to accept commands from the remote when it's pointed directly at the main unit. Instead, I must bounce the infrared beam off the far wall. If a simple stereo can be that temperamental, how about a robot with more parts than we could name? Overheating, misaligned lenses, a funky air-conditioner, slow reaction time, or warning lights that go on and off without reason are just a few of the problems a high-tech robot could face. What if the robots are powered by elemental spirits or operated by an artificial intelligence? It's bad enough that the enemy is trying to kill you, but it's just intolerable when your robot hates you as well.

Go Beyond Search and Destroy

Enemy of the Week
This is by far the simplest and perhaps least fulfilling option to providing new challenges. If continued for an extended time, it results in a campy, "Power Rangers" or "Voltron" feel. Week after week it's single combat and the heroes win. If you're going to introduce something new, try to add a role-playing element. For example, the PCs may try to woo a scientist on the enemy side to give them the secret weakness of the unit, or run across space to learn about a certain bounty hunter and his mecha. If done in a military setting, let the unit run amok amongst normal forces for a while and don't just let the players waltz over it.

During the American Civil war, there were only four ironclad ships in the world at the time of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia (usually called the Merrimack). The other two ships were Warrior in Britain and Le Glorrie in France, neither of which could have crossed the Atlantic. Create a "sink the Bismarck" or unstoppable juggernaut feel, and the players will enjoy winning so much more.

Puzzles
Now I'm not the best puzzle solver, but this is a great challenge. How does a 50 ton mecha get across a broken bridge that can only support 20 tons? How can the PCs transfer a couple of trucks they're guarding across the abyss when the trucks are too heavy to carry?

Further consideration must be directed towards the long-term effect of the challenge. Firing missiles to clear the path uses up ammunition and may alert the enemy, but lifting the rocks will strain the servos and set back your tight schedule.

Reward unusual thinking
Modern tanks have one high velocity cannon for dealing with most targets and some heavy machine guns for light targets. Very few have missiles, grenade launchers, shrapnel bombs, etc. It's a well-proven military maxim to stick with one effective weapon. So why shouldn't the players stay with one attack? Overheating and ammunition limitations are the two easiest limits, but how about style? Or maybe the light lasers can hit small targets with no penalty? I allow mecha hand to hand combat to injure the pilot as he's thrown about the cockpit allowing my players to capture enemy mecha battered, but intact.

Background

Establishing a character's history is always important, and more so in a mecha game. Do their parents encourage them to find a safer job? Is their sister a pacifist on her campus? Did their grandfather die in the last war? Mecha (usually) can't solve personal problems. One of the best sessions I ever ran involved a mecha pilot meeting a Spanish girl and protecting her, going so far as to break into the apartment of her abusive ex-boyfriend.

Storyline

Give the players a world to explore. Let them be a small part of things and build up. Have them begin ostracized to a broken down ship on the outskirts of the empire, fighting pirates. Then they find a pirate ship ripped apart, everyone aboard dead. Find clues to this mystery that hint of a mecha elsewhere, but one never seen before (e.g. organic spines lodged in meter thick walls). Or perhaps their powerful mecha has a hidden AI that reveals the plans of a secret organization ready to conquer the planet. Create a world that must be explored and prodded.

Tone

A plasma cannon and a giant bastard sword have the same end effect on the target, but the feeling is a bit different: instant white hot annihilation versus a chivalrous duel in close quarters. Do their wingmen die, despite their best efforts, or are the NPCs lucky SOBs who waltz through a bullet storm and crack jokes all the way? Can the players be killed, or does fate favor them? Remember, there are no sunny days in a cyberpunk campaign.

Technology

Personally, I prefer the technology to be well explained and probably well understood: a high school recruit with 18 months of training can repair the robot. Then again, you could say all the robots are animated dragon skeletons brought to life by a guild of necromancers. Robots that are hard to understand and repair give an air of mystery or suspense. On the other hand, if every PC can soup up their steed then desired upgrades become more common. What about the computers: childish AIs or business suit holograms?

Personification

Yes, you read that right. It's quite possible for a robot to be lost yet for the pilot to survive, meaning they can fail but still try again. However, you must look at how this fits into the story. In Macross, the SDF-1 was nearly a character, serving in the face of great odds, and it would eventually become the center of a city bearing its name. On the other hand, military robots are just general issue equipment, and if one is lost, it can be replaced. It is possible to create a sense of imminent death by damaging his robot, but not him.

Closing Thoughts - Some Mecha Settings

30 tons of Vietnam mud
The characters are soldiers in a politically unpopular war far from home in an inhospitable environment. Your laser ports and targeting camera are constantly blocked by mud, the enemy fires rockets at your knees from the underbrush, and one stray missile could cause a massacre of innocent civilians. Robots are not well suited for this environment, but can usually be made to work. However, woe be it to the pilot of number four; it can be 105 degrees in the cockpit with no air conditioning!

Knights in shining power-armor
It was hopeless! The goblins had tunneled under the wall, trolls were smashing through, and every time one of our friends fell, he rose as an undead horror bolstering our enemy's ranks. And then this - giant - came. It was nearly the size of a castle battlement; its silver hide reflected the fires like a crystal in the sun. It drew a mighty sword and cleaved the biggest of the enemies in two. It saved our kingdom! I hear it's run by some magical source, but you'll need to buy me another drink first.

SWANSS- Special Weapons & Armor National Security Service
The Suspect is a Caucasian male in his late thirties, believed to be in possession of a type-7 Prometheus unit and a stolen class G weapon system. You are advised to approach the warehouse with extreme caution, but there are no known hostages. The subject is wanted for several counts of robbery and non-lethal force is preferred.