Crothian
First Post
I'm really surprised there has been very little if any discussion of this setting on these boards. Well, maybe not I can't say I was thinking much of it but I was wrong. I was thinking "Oh, fantasy mechs and fighting Dragons...whoop dee doo!!" It also sounded very anime to me, which was also completely wrong. However, as I am actually getting a chance to read through the books I have to say that this is damn cool. And I'm not a mecha fan. Aside from a little Robotech I played 8 years ago, I shy away from the mecha. Even in my Rifts game (and with all the problems Rifts has, it has some damn cool mecha) I played other things. The first thing one should know about Dragonmech is that is more then just mechs; a lot more.
The game has an apocalypse, a rediscovering of ancient history, a war of gods, and an alien invasion. There is a lot going on here. The short of it is that the moon has for some reason come very dangerously close to the world. This has caused debris, meteorites basically, to rain down from the moon onto the world with devastating results. This is the first part of the apocalypse, and it lasted for a hundred years or so. Very very bad. To make matters worse there are a lot creatures on the moon, called oddly enough Lunar creatures. The most powerful is the Lunar Dragons and these guys are a bit more powerful then the terran variety. But the great part with the lunar creatures is that they seem very alien, a good job of making them different and not just wacky strange was done.
The big picture is the Lunar Gods are at war with the terran gods and the Lunar Gods seem to be winning. I haven't read a lot on this aspect but it is mentioned in quite a few place. The people have in some degree turned away from the god who failed to protect them from decades of falling rock. I can't really blame them.
The dwarves though (the heroes of the piece, perhaps) rediscovered the ancient art of mecha. They now build them and fight the Lunar creatures. But they also have constructed huge ones that serve as walking cities. But not everyone relies on the Mecha, there are some non mecha using civilizations and nomads out there. The game supports lots of different play styles, I was really surprised at the thought they went to to make this happen.
The art in the book is really impressive. The pictures of mechs are more then just pictures; they have a good feel to them. This isn't a safe and fun world to live in. It is dangerous and has huge potential for adventures assuming you don't get eaten by the Lunar Dragons.
Some of the ideas in here are just cool and not ones I'd seen before. Like the water in many places rises 30 feet so cities are partial underwater for part of the year. And the cities are built to be able to not interrupt life and trade and business. Even if I don't play in the setting there are some great city and places ideas and concepts for me to borrow.
Now, I've only read the main book and part of the full setting book, Second Age of Walkers. There is great setting info in the main book, but the detail and further ideas in the Second Age of Walkers is great as well. There is also a Mech Manual, a monster book filled with mechs; and Shardsfall Quest, and adventure in the setting. I hope to get these read tomorrow. The books have been a good read and the art looks consistent through the books.
I'm still not a mecha fan, and as I read I keep coming up with ideas to play this with out the mecha being used as much. I like that, let the players depend more on themselves then a very powerful suit of armor. Actually, they can be rather weak and strong. The mechs have options and versatility.
At any rate, it is an impressive setting.
The game has an apocalypse, a rediscovering of ancient history, a war of gods, and an alien invasion. There is a lot going on here. The short of it is that the moon has for some reason come very dangerously close to the world. This has caused debris, meteorites basically, to rain down from the moon onto the world with devastating results. This is the first part of the apocalypse, and it lasted for a hundred years or so. Very very bad. To make matters worse there are a lot creatures on the moon, called oddly enough Lunar creatures. The most powerful is the Lunar Dragons and these guys are a bit more powerful then the terran variety. But the great part with the lunar creatures is that they seem very alien, a good job of making them different and not just wacky strange was done.
The big picture is the Lunar Gods are at war with the terran gods and the Lunar Gods seem to be winning. I haven't read a lot on this aspect but it is mentioned in quite a few place. The people have in some degree turned away from the god who failed to protect them from decades of falling rock. I can't really blame them.
The dwarves though (the heroes of the piece, perhaps) rediscovered the ancient art of mecha. They now build them and fight the Lunar creatures. But they also have constructed huge ones that serve as walking cities. But not everyone relies on the Mecha, there are some non mecha using civilizations and nomads out there. The game supports lots of different play styles, I was really surprised at the thought they went to to make this happen.
The art in the book is really impressive. The pictures of mechs are more then just pictures; they have a good feel to them. This isn't a safe and fun world to live in. It is dangerous and has huge potential for adventures assuming you don't get eaten by the Lunar Dragons.
Some of the ideas in here are just cool and not ones I'd seen before. Like the water in many places rises 30 feet so cities are partial underwater for part of the year. And the cities are built to be able to not interrupt life and trade and business. Even if I don't play in the setting there are some great city and places ideas and concepts for me to borrow.
Now, I've only read the main book and part of the full setting book, Second Age of Walkers. There is great setting info in the main book, but the detail and further ideas in the Second Age of Walkers is great as well. There is also a Mech Manual, a monster book filled with mechs; and Shardsfall Quest, and adventure in the setting. I hope to get these read tomorrow. The books have been a good read and the art looks consistent through the books.
I'm still not a mecha fan, and as I read I keep coming up with ideas to play this with out the mecha being used as much. I like that, let the players depend more on themselves then a very powerful suit of armor. Actually, they can be rather weak and strong. The mechs have options and versatility.
At any rate, it is an impressive setting.
