Magic and Mechas: Mecha Crusade in a Magical Enviroment

[Gospog]

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

Yes, well, I wasn't sure if you were familiar with GW, but thier old Adeptus Titanicus (then SPace Marine) 10mm games did a great job of this.

Even better that Killa Kans for Orks were the Gargants, which were about 300 feet tall! Crews of Gretchin (space goblins) ran around working the machinery of the Gargant, and putting out the frequent fires and explosions.

As you described, each race had thier own "mecha thang" going on. It was very cool (though, of course, extremely expensive, but that's another thread).

 

[Robbert Raets]

Couldn't you design Mecha Components that serve as special 'Arcane Foci' for Mage-Pilots? Or use co-pilot cockpits for spellcasters?

This idea get cooler every moment I think about it. Hmmm..... Warrior-Priests in 50-foot space armor....

Ps, don't play Warhammer myself, but the Tau look mighty k3wl!

 

[Shadow64]

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.

OK - if your going to build a huge mech why not just make some small gates to the elemental planes of fire and water and pretty much make your own little steam reactor. Or go one step further and simply enchant the mech with some elemental energy to animate it (there was a monster in the MM2 that did this, don't recall it's name right now and i don't have the book).

As for the spell casting why not just have runes or something that would shoot out the energies the mage calls forth. Mages casts a fireball somewhere in this things belly and from the right hand shoots a fireball. or something similar. Now, the anime stuff may have this all covered but I haven't seen much of Escaflowne or Neon Genesis.

You could also make the "mechs" like the dragoons from Starcraft. It could be a way for badly injured/almost dead mages to keep fighting for their country/cause. Granted, they have to stay in the mech to stay alive, but at least they are still alive.

Just my thoughts. I do like the idea though, really like it.

 

[Robbert Raets]

....Or go one step further and simply enchant the mech with some elemental energy to animate it (there was a monster in the MM2 that did this, don't recall it's name right now and i don't have the book).

You mean the Nimblewright? That intelligent, really f*ing k3wl fencer golem thingy?

<snip>

You could also make the "mechs" like the dragoons from Starcraft. It could be a way for badly injured/almost dead mages to keep fighting for their country/cause. Granted, they have to stay in the mech to stay alive, but at least they are still alive.

Good idea as well.
Now, depending on the setting Mr. Gnome has in mind, he could either use the 'Vehicles' article from Dragon #294, and call his campaign setting 'Mage Armor'
-or- He can use Mecha Crusade with D20 Modern and call it 'Orbital Arcana'

Just €0.02.

 

[Gospog]

Shadow64 wrote:

You could also make the "mechs" like the dragoons from Starcraft. It could be a way for badly injured/almost dead mages to keep fighting for their country/cause. Granted, they have to stay in the mech to stay alive, but at least they are still alive.

Actually, RIFTS did this in a number of thier cultures, mainly with cyborgs. Very cool idea.

As for the boiler unit, the easy way would be to trap a steam quasi-elemental in it to power it.
I used this idea to power mechanical limbs in my "Buffy the Steampunk Slayer" setting. As an added bonus, this was used for a Strong Hero who could operate (more or less) at 0 HP. When this occurred, it was played like the hero had passed out, and the steam elemental "possessed" her, going on a short rampage! Steam would pour from her nose, mouth and ears for the duration of the effect.

Some nice people in the Monster Forums gave me a link to a 3E conversion for this creature, but I can't seem to find it.

However, I am against powering the boiler unit with magic. I propose the boiler as a conventional means of locomotion should the mech have it's magic nature negated (or dispelled). Thus crippled, the mech could still flee under it's own power.

Wih a huge mech, boiler unit bolted to it's back should be a minor adjustment. This is fantasy, the boiler can be as big or as small as you need it to be.

Thanks for sharing all of these cool ideas. I'm getting totally pumped!!

 

[psychognome]

I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this thread, but unlucky as I am I won't be able to run this campaign anytime soon. I've taken most of your advice into account, and if I ever get around running this campaign I'll be sure to use it.

Cheers!

 

[Impeesa]

Or you could make all mecha powered by a small magic item that serves as a conduit to the universal source of magical power, and have the mecha be almost sentient, like an intelligent item with empathic communication. And there would be enhancements that would amplify the magical power of the pilot..

Yeah, I liked Xenogears, how can you tell?

--Impeesa--