Magic and Mechas: Mecha Crusade in a Magical Enviroment

[psychognome]

You can probably guess what this is about. I'm about to mix magical elements with the rules from Mecha Crusade. My question is, how would you handle the mixing of magic and mechas? Would you use d20 Modern rules (basic and advanced classes, and all) or would you just go basic D&D with Mechas added in for taste?

The idea is that magic is a very common force in this game... think of wizards in mechas casting spells with somatic components, and the mechas repeating the movements. In a way you could consider mechas being nothing more than really advanced armor.

I can imagine dwarves with short, stout mechas equipped for battle, while elves would have quick and lithe mechas capable of all sorts of neat manouvers. And orcs, well... think of big pieces of metal front-loaded for close-combat.

Whaddya think? (other than "Dude, what the hell is he smoking?")

 

[NiTessine]

I've been thinking of something like this, myself... A while ago, I was plotting a d20 anime/steampunk campaign, and decided that the setting would not be complete without guymelefs, the fantasy mecha from Vision of Escaflowne. Neither the campaign nor my plans for fantasy mecha ever got off the ground, and I never really even got around to working on the mechanics... I was basing it on the core D&D rules. At the time, I didn't yet have the Mecha Crusade. Now I do, though I haven't read it yet.

However, if I were to ever get around to using mechas and magic... Well, it would depend on a lot of things. First, the tech level of the setting itself. In an Escaflowne-style fantasy setting, where the mecha would be steam-driven, magical, or remnants of an ancient civilization, I'd use Dungeons & Dragons rules... In a modern of futuristic setting, I'd use D20 Modern. In a futuristic setting, Dragonstar could also probably contribute something.

Then there's the question of whether they are the very core of the campaign, with all characters having mecha of their own, or a campaign where mecha are in the background, sorta like tanks or planes when the characters are all infantry.

And finally, there's the thingy about how much work you're actually prepared to do with the campaign. The Mecha Crusade rules are designed for D20 Modern. Adapting them to Dungeons & Dragons would take a bit of work.

Hmm... That's a long post, and says so little... Oh well.

 

[Gospog]

Psychognome,

First off, I think that this is a fantastic idea!

The idea is that magic is a very common force in this game... think of wizards in mechas casting spells with somatic components, and the mechas repeating the movements. In a way you could consider mechas being nothing more than really advanced armor.

Well, if you've read the Mecha Crusade rules, you'll see that the Mecha are treated basically as giant suits of armor, so you should be good to go there.

What worries me is your wizards casting while in thier Mechas. Wizards get a stiff penalty for casting in armor. If leather armor induces a 5% chance of failure, what will the risk of failure be while piloting a walking tank?

I think the idea of casting mechas is totally cool, don't get me wrong. But is everyone going to play a wizard? If not, who would want to play a fighter and get the same mecha, but no spells? Is game balane a concern for your game?

An alternative might be to have spells cast on the mecha themselves and make the whole suit of armor a sort of magic item.

Enemies would target mecha with Dispel Magic attacks the way you'd use an Ion gun on a droid in Star Wars, or and EMP pulse ina modern game, to knock out electronics.

As for rules system, if you're going to tap Mecha Crusade as a resource, go with D20 Modern. I tried to run Mecha Crusade before I got D20 Modern and the results were dissapointing. (the characters were totally underpowered)

Good luck with your game. Please post any results. This sounds like a fun project!

Gospog

 

[NiTessine]

What worries me is your wizards casting while in thier Mechas. Wizards get a stiff penalty for casting in armor. If leather armor induces a 5% chance of failure, what will the risk of failure be while piloting a walking tank?

I think the idea of casting mechas is totally cool, don't get me wrong. But is everyone going to play a wizard? If not, who would want to play a fighter and get the same mecha, but no spells? Is game balane a concern for your game?

I would solve this by making mecha feats available to fighters as bonus feats, or perhaps making a Mecha Casting feat for wizards, which would lessen the spell failure chance while piloting a mecha, and the mecha could give spell failure chances of... say, 10% for Large, 20% for Huge, 40% for Gargantuan, and 80% for Colossal.

Yeah. I think that should do it.

 

[Pagan priest]

I just can't see the spell failure percentage as being any less than 100%, and that only for a specially designed Large mecha. For the Huge size and up, it would either be impossible or the mage would have to open up the cockpit to get a clear line of effect out of the mecha. I suppose that in a Huge or larger mecha, a mage could cast a spell on himself, but he would have to let go of the controls, so the mecha couldn't even be moving...

 

[NiTessine]

I just can't see the spell failure percentage as being any less than 100%, and that only for a specially designed Large mecha. For the Huge size and up, it would either be impossible or the mage would have to open up the cockpit to get a clear line of effect out of the mecha. I suppose that in a Huge or larger mecha, a mage could cast a spell on himself, but he would have to let go of the controls, so the mecha couldn't even be moving...

I was going with the thinking that the mecha would be magical, not just a big suit of armour. Perhaps I've just taken too much influence from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Escaflowne, but in my mind, the magical mecha would be much like an EVA or an Ispano guymelef, in that they are more than machines, and form a sort of bond with the pilot. So, like psychognome said, the mecha would be repeating the somatic components, as the mage worked his magics from within.

 

[Gospog]

NiTessine,

I like the way you think!

Also, I was thinking about the means of locomotion for the mechs.

Magic is fine to power them , but they may want to have steam power as a "back-up".

What if someone dispels the magic that powers the suit? Fire up the boiler, so the mech can at least run away!

Still, this does bring up one of the points Pagan Priest made, that there would have to be internal controls for the mech.

Hmmm.....

 

[NiTessine]

Hmm... Point.

In both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Vision of Escaflowne, the mecha were sort of extensions of the pilot's body. The pilot moved his arm, and the mecha's arm moved. There were pretty much no controls beyond that, as the pilots' arms were kinda tied up. Evangelion had radars, though, I think, and the EVAs were voice-controlled, to a degree. Their weaponry consisted of two big and heavy fists, really big and heavy swords, and machine guns the size of Howitzers.

Now, about the steam... That'd require the mecha dragging along a really big steam kettle, which would get quite coumbersome, and would be a vulnerable point unless armoured heavily and made even more cumbersome.

It might be a racial thing. Elven mecha would run primarily by magic, dwarven and gnomish mecha by steam. Human mecha would mix the two freely, and orcish mecha... Umm... Waaagh energy, I guess.

 

[Gospog]

Ork Mecha

and orcish mecha... Umm... Waaagh energy, I guess

No way! I can see a team of kobolds in the bowels of the mecha running on a treadmill to power the mecha!

 

[NiTessine]

Or possibly goblins. Hmm...

Now, continuing on the cultural mecha thing... I think the Warhammer 40.000 miniatures have some good ideas on how mechas of different races would look like. Eldar Wraithlords for elves, Ork Dreadnoughts and Killer Kans for Orcs, Space Marine Dreadnoughts for dwarves... Human mechas, I think, would look more like the traditional anime mecha. Gnome and halfling mechas would be either Large or Colossal, depending on whether the manufacturer was going with the Big Folk, Small Folk mentality, or overcompensating... The cloaking device would, naturally, be a gnomish invention.