It's been a little while, hasn't it? I gave up on this blog a few years ago, but I'm going to try and bring it back. Maybe.
I like mecha. Sadly, my only experience with it in the RPG space is Lancer, and that game has a really cool setting and three-hour combats in which no PC dies - simply unacceptable to a Zeta Gundam fan like myself. Still, I ran a Lancer campaign and it was pretty fun :)
That held until I found Amaril's The Cavalry. I looked at it, thought it was good, and brutally hacked it apart before starting a game at my university's club about a team of terrorists in a near-future Spain, with an ongoing war between Fascist Britain, the European Union, and the Communist League of West Africa. Here's the ruleset I'm using, roughly
The Setting
It is the year 2079. The US and China have destroyed each other in a nuclear war. Now, the Mediterranean is torn asunder. A new technology, the Neural Link, has changed the shape of warfare - neurally linked AFVs can carry the same weapons as a traditional tank (if less armor and ammunition,) while requiring only a single operator. Of course, there is a catch - the experience of Neural Link piloting is extremely mentally taxing. To minimize the risk of what is euphemistically termed "dysmorphic combat impairment," the Neural Link is used primarily in the mechanized combat frame, or "mech" for short. These are humanoid war machines, capable of acting as substitute bodies for the pilots for the duration of their mission - but enhancing their mental and physical capacity. Ace pilots can fight with inhuman reaction speeds, and even the grunts can bring a beating to bear. Now, combat frames are used by every kind of military, from the richest industrial powers of India to Spanish and Italian paramilitaries fighting proxy wars
Skills
You’re a capable frame pilot and semi-professional soldier-terrorist. Your other skills are likely not relevant to the campaign - assume customer service, manual labor, or administrative work.
Combat
Everyone has a base of 1 action. This action can be spent to move up to your MOVE (the number after the slash, in the case of mech pilots,) fire one weapon (or one pair of twin-linked weapons,) initiate a strafing run with an aircraft, reload a weapon, or something else. Hexes are 100m. Mechs can move the distance before the slash for free if they don’t use their action to move.
A vehicle has four defenses: Evasion, Jamming, Insulation, and Hardening. When a vehicle attacks another, it rolls 1d6 and tries to get above the target’s most appropriate defense. Evasion is used against standard attacks, Jamming against guided missiles, Insulation against NBC or EMP attacks, and Hardening against hacking. Obviously, you can only attack people within range. A vehicle with no Processing is immune to attacks vs. Hardening, as it has no computer.
Infantry get automatically hit unless they use their action to take cover. If the hex they’re in has only Light cover, they get hit on a 4+. If the hex they’re in has Heavy cover, they get hit on a 6+. Infantry have 3 base HP. If they’re reduced to 2 HP, they’re injured and have a -1 on all actions. If they’re reduced to 1 HP, they can’t move and will bleed out without medical attention (x in 6 chance of death when first aid is received, where x is the number of rounds elapsed.) If they’re reduced to 0 HP, they’re dead.
Repairs
Repairing a system requires 1 day, 1 competent mechanic, a repair kit, and 1 unit of SPARE PARTS. Ammo, armor, computers, frames, batteries, and generators cannot be repaired.
Buying Shit
Buying shit is difficult unless you’re a real military (you’re not.) To buy anything (or at least the kinds of things you’re going to buy,) you need a decent relationship with an arms dealer. Fortunately, in an age of war, these are plentiful. If you don’t have an arms dealer, you can find one with 2d6 days of searching.
Once you do have an arms dealer, it ain’t easy. Sometimes, it takes time to find the stuff you need. Roll 2d6 on the following table:
Overland Travel
You can move 6km/hr per point of MOVE over rough terrain, or 15 km/hr per point of MOVE over roads.
Aces
Once you become an ace (i.e. 5 vehicle kills,) you get a second action each round. This only works in neural-link vehicles.
To avoid making this post unduly long, here's a price list.
I'll be back in a bit with a Lancer hack for this
