NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kannik" data-source="post: 9704270" data-attributes="member: 984">Woohoo for getting bit by the BT bug once again!  That's happened to me as well, though my opportunity to play has been mostly nonexistent.  I did at least buy a proper case to store my minis, after housing them in a shoebox, with self-cut slabs of foam from some unknown source, for the past 30 years.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" />  Who are the PCs?  One possible addition to your list are mercenaries.  Yeah, that sounds very BT, but it could be more of a Soldier of Fortune magazine kind of deal, actual professional (and often individual, but could be a band of) mercenaries hired by the manufacturers, or maybe by the AI itself, or maybe by the military as they're not yet sure if these walking tanks are a good idea and they don't want to risk their soldiers/bad PR/the parliament's wrath if things go south.  They might have been fighting in that region already, or maybe they got a better offer to transfer to this new warzone.  After that, soldiers and test pilots both sound quite plausible.  A super sports league (where the idea of a mech was developed, perhaps?) also could work, though why would those celebs choose to go to the front.  Unless they were tricked... "I was told this was going to be a movie role!"As you say, the classic mix of origins might be the best way forward, as it can make for some interesting interpersonal interactions as different intentions and different views of the situation (duty, patriotism, excitement, money, etc) come to the fore. But why stay together?  Stuck deep within hostile territory and all being bright enough to understand that sticking together will give them the greatest chance of survival is one (and could give rise to them forming "friendships" over time).  Bonding with the mecha might work.  Zoids Chaotic Century/Guardian Force definitively fits within many anime tropes (the genius kid pilot who saves the world being 13, for example), but to me it comfortably stradles the line between "hard" mechs and "soft" mecha (more like Macross and some of the other Zoids series) or "fantasy" mecha (combiners, etc).  While most treat their Zoids as machines (despite them originating from actual metalic lifeforms), a few recognize them as living beings and do form connections with them that lead to heightened ability.  It might be depenent on your group whether they find this detracting from the "hard" military feel or not.  And if not, it might be another interesting difference between characters (some who believe it, some who don't, and/or some who manage to achieve said bonding while others don't) that could lead to some cool RP.Opposing Factions?  There is the classic 'twist' where the same AI ends up being the one controlling both sides... and is the real villain at the end.  Too clasic that the trope has become cliché?  Maybe... but then you've noted the group is already being dropped hints that their is an AI controlling them/their orders, and making things theatrical rather than tactical.  What better way to be theatrical than to be sure you're controlling both sides of the conflict?  (The enemy commander was just an AI hologram all along! And only shown to us/broadcast to our social internet!  The opposing country never saw it at all/saw different footage!)  Could also lead to the group teaming up with the "opposing" force in order to take down the AI, and lead to themes of unity and shared humanity that is present in many of the mecha based animes.  Out of Combat time?  Spycraft is always a good bet, as could be puff pieces for the media ("day in the life of", "going to the beach") since the AI is about marketing/crafting a particular narrative.  Might be worthwhile to check in with the group to see if they're commited to mecha action or more to a conflict story that has mecha in it.  If the former they may chafe at too much out-of-mech action.  If the former, especially if the AI is pulling the strings, it could very well lean into Bond-like storytelling where far-flung locales and mission types feel completely legit.  Also might be good to see what kind of gameplay loop you want to set up, ie, go with something more meta-driven (like many Fate in the Dark games) where each session/adventure explicitly beings as being part of an assigned mission, or more "realtime" flow between sessions.  The latter might more easily allow characters to investigate their own actions/investigations... but then if you have a GM turn/Player turn kind of structure from Mouse Guard (and other Burning Wheel games?) or The One Ring, then that also gives them explicit opportunity and authority to instigate things (while also allowing them to develop their characters in non-mission related ways as well).  What would I want to see in a mech campaign?  Two types of campaign come to mind:  One is tight-knit small unit action/focus.  It may be newly formed, or a mix of old and newcomers, or whatever, and it doesn't have to be "important" as a unit, but this kind of baseline "we're already commited to the bit and will support each other because it's who we have and it's what we do" can pay a lot of dividends at the gaming table.  I've done campaigns like this in Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles, and it's not entirely dissimilar to a Star Trek kind of situation (though the crews and context there are larger).  The unit also acts like it's own kind of PC inside the larger unit of the army/conflict, with all the "interpersonal" (again if we view each unit as an individual) opportunities that can happen there as well as the machinations of the war machine vs the people (and the broader context of what's behind the conflict)The other is almost the exact opposite starting point, with a band of pilots and experts whose paths cross and who end up forming a band of friends in the midst of the conflict but also outside of the direct influence of any of the players in the conflict.  This allows the group both atonomy but also some level of "objectiveness" to see the roots of and to affectuate the end of the conflict.  They may end up allying with those on each side who wishes to bring things to a resolution.  Maybe there is a big baddie that is forcing the conflict.  Or there was a misunderstanding.  I think both of these could work for your AI driven campaign idea;  different avenues for the PCs to operate and uncover things, and different focus for the relationships, both in-unit and external.Clearly this has piqued my interest... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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