BARKING ALIEN: Mekton

Showing posts with label Mekton. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

31 Days / 31 Characters - HINATA 'HELLCAT' NEKOMOTO

As mentioned, there is no way I am going to be able to complete this year's 31 Day Character Challenge by Wednesday. Nonetheless I am going to keep going until I hit the full 31, however long that takes me. I am motivated, enjoying myself, and I at least beat the number of posts I made last January so I'm calling it a win.

Yatta!

Character: Hinata Nekomoto

AKA: Hellcat, Nekomoto-9, N9

Player: Victoria (Can't remember her last name but it was Japanese).

System: Cyberpunk 2020 / Mekton II - Interlock System with Houserules

Additional campaign ideas and mechanics were borrowed from the magazine Mecha Press.

Nature: Short Campaign: Neo-Tokyo Boomrunners: INTERSPEC

Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein

Circa: 1992-93

Origins: Sometime in 1988 I had the idea to run a campaign titled, 'Neo-Tokyo Crimebusters: Freelance Police'. This was a Cyberpunk Action/Comedy inspired by Japanese Anime and Manga such as Appleseed, Akira, Bubblegum Crisis, Dominion Tank Police, and Mobile Police Patlabor. It went over really well, though we only got about a dozen sessions out of it before various schedule changes caused it to dissolve before its time.

You can expect to see a 31 Days /31 Characters entry from this campaign down the line.

Roughly four or five years later I was talking Anime with some friends and we came up with what we thought would be a cool premise for a series. Then it dawned on me that it would also make for a great RPG campaign. The group agreed and we met that weekend to create the characters. To speed up the campaign prep time I resurrected my source materials from Freelance Police. Boomrunners was to be set in the same Neo-Tokyo as Crimebusters.

Backstory: POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING.

This game dealt with some darker and more mature subject matter than my usual campaigns. I used to dip into this type of thing more often but less so as I got older. I was extra cynical in the 90s.

Viewer Discretion Advised.

Hinata is a Nekomoto-9 Pleasure Bioroid, found discarded in a pile of organic refuse with a gunshot wound to the chest. Discovered and called in by Agents of Interspec's Division 3, they were instructed to bring her back to HQ by Chief Medical and Biosciences Expert Dr. Shun Sasaki.

Dr. Sasaki treated the Nekomoto-9, nursing her back to health (which involved quite a bit of bio-engineering repair) until she was awake and able to move about on her own. Healing increasingly quickly after Sasaki's initial treatment, 'N9' proved surprisingly intelligent and knowledgeable. Digging into the doctor's file, N9 discovered he'd had a daughter, Hinata Sasaki, who died a few years earlier in a Boomer rampage. Dr. Sasaki joined Interspec right after. When he found out about her 'investigation', Sasaki wasn't upset at all and was happy to answer any questions she had. This led to a close 'father-daughter' relationship between the two of them, with N9 trusting Sasaki over anyone else in the world. Sasaki in turned asked N9 to honor him by having her take the name 'Hinata'.

Not long after taking on her new identity, Hinata Nekomoto decided to make some cosmetic alterations to look the way she wanted to, instead of having the appearance someone else paid for. Additionally, there was still the mystery of who shot her, why, and what her life was before being found by Interspec (she had no memory of anything before that). Best not to look like someone who was supposed to be dead.

Left: Pleasure Bioroid Nekomoto-9 or N9 / Right: Agent Hinata 'Hellcat' Nekomoto

Hinata applied to join Interspec herself, training for three years before going into the field. Two years after that she was recruited into the 'Boomrunners', a group of Special Agents operating out of Division 3.

Overview: Set in the year 2092, the campaign followed the Boomrunners, a team of crimefighting operatives working for Division 3 of Interspec. Interspec is an Interpol-like organization that battles high powered android, bioroid, robot, and cyborg focused crimes. They are almost always brought in to deal with renegade Boomers (See previous post).

Each member of the five person team had their own special skills and abilities, as well as a unique (custom) powered battlesuit. When in their suits, the team members are usually referred to by a codename or callsign. Hinata Nekomoto, who's callsign is Hellcat, is an extremely talented acrobatic, contortionist, and climber. She is remarkably adept at hand-to-hand combat. Hinata turns out to be a competent detective and has skills in stealth, infiltration, disguise, and seduction.

Adding to her martial arts training, her armored powersuit is equipped with razor sharp claws capable of tearing through most materials easily. They also give her enhanced climbing ability (there are similar retractable ones in the feet). Additional features of the suit include increased leaping ability and a power cord 'tail' that can connect to energy outlets and temporarily super-charge the armor. Like all battlesuit users, Hellcat has increased strength, speed, and a sensor heads-up display.

Hellcat had some additional abilities related to her bio-engineered origins. She had a heightened sense of hearing, excellent night vision, and a regenerative healing factor that only kicked in if she was reduced to 3 Hits or less (which is what helped save her from the gunshot mentioned in her Backstory).

The rest of the Boomrunners team consisted of:

Killjoy: Incredible at reading people. Armed with a Samurai Sword similar to Hellcat's claws.

Lighthouse: Team leader. Excellent detective. Tracker/Ranger type. Laser weapons.

Nightlight: Extreme stealth. Communications, Hacker. Special short-range laser weapon.

Pepperjack: Landmate style Mecha 'suit'. Gattling gun, Missiles, Buckler Shield. Jump Jets.

Lighthouse and Nighlight were brother and sister I believe (the characters, not the players).

Killjoy was a Cyborg.

Highlights:

I really loved how the player, Victoria, gave the character a 'Noir Detective Story' feel while simultaneously completely fitting in to the over-the-top Anime action scenes. She, as well as most of the other characters, also totally bought in to various romantic subplots, even if they didn't all end positively. Their hardsuits could stop high caliber weapons but nothing deflects a broken heart.

Many of Hinata's subplots were about questions of identity as much as trying to unravel her origins. We explored some deep ideas. How did N9 end up where she was and who she was really? What was her life like before someone tried to kill her? Why do I keep saying 'her' life? Isn't she me? Aren't Hinata and N9 actually the same person; why does it feel like that's not true anymore? Was N9 ever really a person; was she her own entity or was she just a doll who someone bought then grew tired of playing with?

One great fight I recall had Killjoy, Lighthouse, and Hellcat fighting a Boomer who had disabled Pepperjack (Nightlight was in a nearby basement tracking a signal that had hacked the Boomer). The teamwork was top notch, with Nightlight hacking the hack and throwing off the Boomer's sensors as Hellcat flipped and spun around the big brute occasionally rending a cable or other component. At some point she squatted down, balanced on the Boomer's arm as it began to shift the limb into a machine gun. Hellcat does a backward somersault/leap off the arm, damaging it with her feet claws, and creating an opening for Killjoy to charge in a slice off the arm with his sword. Super Cyberpunk Anime Badassery!

Game Info:

It's been so long that, as with many of these entries sadly, I just don't have those character sheets anymore. It was primarily a Cyberpunk game, with Mekton II used for many of the Mecha elements and some tweaking to make it all fit together. In addition, I used articles in Mecha Press Magazine that covered Bubblegum Crisis and other Anime to get things to feel just right. Interestingly, the second issue (and one or two later ones I think) had an original mini-RPG called Techno Police 2100 AD, which was surprisingly close in concept to the game that preceded Boomrunners and set the stage for the world.

This was also one of the games, maybe the first one, that used my alternative 'Humanity' mechanic as mentioned in this ol' post on Blade Runner. The basic idea being that while Humans who replace their organics parts with cybernetics are in danger of losing their Humanity and Empathy, Androids and Bioroids (similar to Replicants) start with with very little Empathy/Humanity and are trying to gain point in it through life experiences. While the goal is to be 'truly Human', it can also result in moments of desperate, passionate or panicked outbursts. A true Human can feel anger, fear, and sorrow but paramount above all else, they don't want to die.

Roy Batty would approve.

Notes:

Hinata is a gender neutral Japanese name that means Sunflower or 'Facing the Sun'. As for Nekomoto, Neko means Cat, while moto refers to a Book or 'true words'.

Dr. Shun Sasaki. His name means 'Talented and Wise'.

The battlesuits of the Boomrunners, the term Boomers, and many other aspects of this setting were lifted (then customized) from Bubblegum Crisis and its many spin-offs. I would say that IP was the single biggest influence on the game.

In the Bubblegum Crisis universe, 'Boomer' is a derogatory term for what is more property called a Voomer, an artificially created bio-mechanical life form. Voomers may be designed to be maids, waiters, soldiers, or any other vocation.

If one malfunctions and goes on a murderous rampage it is dubbed a Boomer. Some people call all Voomers Boomers, implying they believe every single one is destined or at least likely to go crazy.

In this campaign only the term Boomer was used and these beings were almost exclusively created for combat related jobs. Other vocational roles were filled by androids, bioroids, and cyborgs.

The bright yellow hair Hellcat has while suited-up (See image below) is a hologram. It can be altered or deactivated on command.

Legacy:

Its been a very long time since I've thought about this character or her campaign, partly because its been a long while since I've felt particularly inspired by a Cyberpunk Anime or Manga. Certainly not enough to dig out my almost 30 year old notes on the subject.

Now, with recent Anime titles like Metallic Rouge and Pluto, it may be something to consider revisiting in the not too distant future.

If you have some free time after school, how about joining our club and ya'know, saving the world from evil? Great! You can learn all about it from club Vice-President ICHIKO YORUHIME.

Barking Alien

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

31 Days / 31 Characters - GARETH OF OLLWOOD

Obviously I am way behind on the 31 Day Character Challenge and based on my work and life schedule so far I am highly unlikely to be able to complete it in the allotted time.

That said, I am still really into the project and discussing ideas for Japanese Pop Culture Entertainment related TRPGs. My reminiscing and research this month has been extremely inspiring for my creativity.

As a current favorite Anime series would say, expect this endeavor to continue 'Beyond the Journey's End'.*

Character: Gareth of Ollwood

AKA: Gareth Ollwood, Prince Regan of Fornia, The Bizmark Knight

Player: David Concepcion.

System: Mekton II with additional Houserules

Nature: Short Campaign: Mechanical Fantasy Bizmark

Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein

Circa: 1987-1988

Origins: David Concepcion and I have played a lot of games together and several of them were Mecha related. If you'll recall, Dave played A.J. DeLorca, the chief protagonist (essentially) of our MACROSS: The Blue Dragons campaign.

After seeing several episodes of Mecha Anime that dealt with Fantasy or vaguely Medieval era settings, I whipped up an idea for a game with a similar premise. Eventually, with the help of my friend Nelson Marty, I wrote out a comic book story titled 'Mechanical Fantasy Byzumtine' that explored this idea. Nelson drew the pages for the comic and we used it as a submission to our high school's annual Art Festival.

I'm forgetting something...Oh yes! Dave! I shelved the idea after the Art Festival, unsure exactly what I wanted to do with it. About a year later in 1987, R. Talsorian Games came out with Mekton II, a new edition of their Anime/Manga inspired Giant Robot RPG. After running a few one-shots to test it out (Mekton II is quite different from its predecessor), the idea came to me to revisit Mechanical Fantasy Byzumtine. My thoughts instinctively turned to running it with Dave.

Cover layout for the Mechanical Fantasy Byzumtine Comic Book story.

Art by Nelson Marty

Reworking things a little I decided to set a new story in a different part of the same world. I pitched the idea I had to Dave, whose concept for a character really painted a picture of what the campaign would be about. As with other campaigns we'd done together, it was mainly a one-on-one RPG initially, just him and me, until others got wind of the game and joined in as either semi-regulars or guest stars.

Armed with Mekton II and a host of Medieval Mecha Anime under our belt, Dave and I set out to take on the world of Rith!

Backstory: Gareth was a young orphaned minstrel and actor in the town of Ollwood, a large settlement not far from the City of Angels, capital of the Kingdom of Fornia. He was born with rare Gray-Green eyes, a sign of one who has a great destiny ahead of them.

The only other person in all of Fornia to have such eyes was none other than the Prince himself! Prince Regan Angel, young heir to the kingdom, had the same sign of greatness. Hmm. Similar hair too. They're about the same height. Huh. Wonder if that will come up later?

When the Kingdom of Nev declares war on Fornia and the King is murdered, it is up to Prince Regan to lead the nation to victory against its dreadful enemy. Prince Regan had no intention of ruling as king however. He sought revenge for the assassination of his father by directly going into battle in his family's legacy Mecha Knight, the Bizmark! Of course, there was no way his court would let him do that as they needed a king. What's a brave, angry, impetuous young Prince to do? Simple! Switch places with Gareth of Ollwood, drafted into the Fornian Army to fend off the Dark Desert Order of Nev.

And so our campaign followed Gareth (really Prince Regan) as he fought his way to becoming a better person, a true leader, and the secret component to unlocking the ancient power of Bizmark, one of the nine Sacred Paladins (extremely powerful Giant Robots. The aforementioned Byzumtine is another).

The Bizmark, one of the Nine Great Sacred Paladin Mecha.

Overview: The overall 'narrative' of the campaign was inspired by elements of the Shakespearian play 'Henry V', as well as numerous ideas from various Mecha Fantasy Anime. Regan, disguised as the commoner soldier Gareth, works his way through the ranks to fight alongside the noble knights of Fornia. In the process he goes from vengeful, undisciplined young man to a hero and honored leader. Meanwhile, the real Gareth plays the role of Prince Regan with the help of the Chamberlain, who figures out the ruse early on. However, it is revealed that the Chamberlain might be influencing the 'Prince' to his own benefit.

Map of The Kingdom of Fornia,

On the Western Coast of Amera, World of Rith.

Meanwhile, other Player Characters popped in and out as various interesting and odd people that added to the setting's lore and the story's intricate plot. Among the ones I remember best include.

A Mercenary working for the Kingdom of Nev who is convinced to switch sides.

A Knight Captain of the City of Francis, who leads Gareth to a secret island fortress.

A Wizard, imprisoned on said island fortress, joins Gareth to find an mythic artifact.

An Elf, one of the last on Rith, allies with the heroes to battle one of the major villains.

The Highlights:

I remember cool story elements and general battles but stand out moments are hard to recall. It was a short campaign of maybe two dozen sessions or less and it was so long ago. Hmmm.

I do recall one awesome session where Gareth and two other PCs were fighting a half dozen members of the enemy army including a leader with a custom weapon or something. The heroes were searching through the ruins of the ancient city of Diego in Southern Fornia hoping to find a relic that could protect a Mech with a 'Magic Shield' (in others words, a Force Field). Suddenly the enemy showed up with the same idea.

Unfortunately the battle woke a huge Dragon; yep, a freaking Kaiju scale fire-breathing monster. The enemy commander teamed up with the PCs to battle the gigantic beast using the Force Field Belt he'd discovered moments before it appeared. After a conversation about honor and one's legacy with Gareth, the guy sacrifices himself to give the PCs an opening to slay the creature. Pretty fantastic 'episode' I must say.

Game Info:

The game information regarding this campaign is long since lost but I can recollect a few details and speculate on others:

Gareth of Ollwood (really Prince Regan Angel of Fornia)

Age: 20

Stats

7 Intelligence

7 Cool

8 Reflexes

7 Attractiveness

6 Tech Ability

8 Luck

6 Movement Allowance

7 Body

10* Mana - Latent

Skills and Levels

Awareness 3

Basic Repair 3

Etiquette 3

Dodge 5

Hand-to-Hand 3

Investigate 3

Leadership 3

Mecha Piloting 7

Mecha Fighting 5

Mecha Melee 7

Mecha Gunnery 3

Melee 7

Partial Plate Armor: 5 Points of Stopping Power.

Long Sword: 1D6+1

I forget what the specifics of the Ritters (Giant Robots) were but generally they were Medium Striker grade Mecha with Striker grade armor. They were armed with Swords (standard 2 Kill Melee Weapons) and Shields.

The Bizmark on the other hand was a Heavy Striker Mech with Heavy Striker armor. It was quite fast, maneuverable, and could make extraordinarily high and/or long leaps.

The Sacred Mech's weapon was a Bastard Sword that did 4 Kills of damage. Once Gareth unlocked his true potential, and therefore that of the Bizmark, the Sword could perform an extra special effect on a Critical Success. In addition to double damage (which we had all Crits do), the Bizmark's strike would reduce the damage of an opponents attacks, their movement/speed, and any special abilities by -2. The effect was cumulative. If Gareth Crits on an attack and then Crits again three attacks later in the same combat, the opponent is at -4 and so on.

Notes:

As should be obvious by now, the 'Medieval Fantasy' setting of the World of Rith is actually a distant future, post-apocalypse Earth. Technology reached great heights before the fall of civilization, with giant robots, hover vehicles, and in-system space travel having all been achieved.

Fornia is of course California, with our key character hailing from the region of Los Angeles. The real Gareth comes from Hollywood/Glendale. Other important locations in the game were San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, Anaheim, and San Diego.

Throughout the early adventures, Gareth/Prince Regan pilots a standard Mecha Solider called a Ritter, one of about two dozen such robots in the Army of Angels (the 'King's Army' from the capital). The Knights of the Order of Angels use the superior Mecha Knights called Templars. Other city-states have their own armies and Knight Orders, mostly consisting of the same two types. All serve the King of Fornia of course.

The armies and orders I recall are: the Army/Order of the Black Mouse (Anheim), Army/Order of The Golden Gate (Francis), and the Army/Order of The Redwood (Sierra, North Eastern Fornia). The Dark Desert Army and Order of the Kingdom of Nev (Nevada) use different Mechs.

Elves, Dwarves, and various monsters of myth and folklore existed but were exceptionally rare. All were likely the results of genetic engineering and subsequent mutations. There were some clues as to the presence of 'Demons' that may or may not have been aliens.

Magic was in truth a combination of highly advanced technology and psychic phenomenon. The later was rarer than rare, giving things a bit of a Pendragon or Lord of the Rings feel. The world was fantastic but one hardly ever saw fantastic things. Spells and Dragons were assumed to exist but most people had never seen them in their lifetimes.

Legacy:

Sadly, this game was never truly finished. For whatever reason we got delayed or distracted and ended up leaving it for other worlds and ideas.

As noted in my previous post, I am looking towards running a Medieval Mecha game in the near future. Perhaps we'll revisit Rith and see what Gareth of Ollwood - or Prince Regan if you prefer - is up to.

Can you get more Anime than a Cyberpunk Battlesuit Catgirl? If you think so you can take it up with HINTATA 'HELLCAT' NEKOMOTO!

Barking Alien

*A reference to the excellent Fantasy Anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

31 Days / 31 Characters - CRIMSON CYCLONE CYBERO

Crimson Cyclone Cybero was a character my buddy Aldrin originally created for a game we only ran a single session of and then couldn't seem to get around to scheduling. I think his original name was Crimson Hurricane and he was a homage to DC's Red Tornado. He was randomly rolled up for a Villains and Vigilantes game with the premise that the PCs were a team of international heroes. Crimson Hurricane represented Myanmar (Burma at the time) but it might also have been the Indochina region. Buzz really liked him and wanted to use him for this other game so I said sure, since I liked him too.

Character: Crimson Cyclone Cybero

Cybero is pronounced sigh-BEH-row.

AKA: A Secret Identity (that I don't recall).

Player: Aldrin 'Buzz' Aw

System: Mekton RPG, 1st Edition and Villains & Vigilantes, 2nd Edition kitbash.

Nature: Short Campaign: Super Savior Cybero

Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein

Circa: 1985-1986

Origins: I spent some time over one Summer with my Dad and where he lived he got foreign language TV stations if you messed with the antenna and channels a bit. I discovered and was able to watch Kamen Rider in Spanish and Ultraman in either Chinese or Japanese (depending on the day). I think I was also able to catch one of the Sentai programs as well.

Sometime after running my first 'campaign' of Mekton (if you could really call it a campaign), I wondered if there was a way to take parts from R. Talsorian's Mecha game and glue them into the Superhero RPG that was 2nd Edition V&V in order to run a Tokusatsu RPG. It worked! OK, it worked 'cause I made it work and probably fudged some things. Maybe a lot of things. We got a good game out of it didn't we?

Backstory: When Doctor Simon Date invented the Cybero Circuit, a revolutionary Organic Computer far ahead of its time, he completely changed the field of cybernetics overnight! Unfortunately, the benefactor funding his research was secretly Catastrophe-X, leader of the would-be world conquering organization 'Armageddon Genesis'.

With the help of his assistant Sana and his daughter Sadako, Dr. Date had just enough time to complete his three Super Cybero Savior projects and escape with them before X's minions arrived. Now, protected by this trio of cybernetic superheroes, the group tries to take down Armageddon Genesis and defend all mankind!

Overview: The campaign was very episodic, with each session following a basic format; either Armageddon Genesis would send agents to capture or kill Dr. Date or his Daughter and the PC heroes would have to protect them - or - the heroes would hear reports of a peculiar crime or occurrence and go to investigate, uncovering some scheme by AG to take over the planet.

The villains would consist of a half dozen to a dozen faceless goons and 1-3 'lieutenants', more formidable opponents using Super Weapons and Armor or else being Super Cyborgs themselves.

As far as the PC good guys we had:

Protector Cybero Paladin - Blue, White, Gold - A normal but skilled young man wearing an 'Iron Man' type Powered Armor. He had Super Strength, near Invulnerability, a multi-setting Raygun and a Power Sword that delivered stunning blasts. The Cybero Circuit gave him mental control over the suit - he can change the settings on his weapons with a thought for example. He was basically our Captain America/Superman boy scout.

Cybero Midnight Mask - Purple, Black, White, Gold - was a cyborg whose enhancements were undetectable until he donned his special mask. Midnight Mask's cybernetics gave him 3x the strength, speed, and agility of a normal Human. He was equipped with numerous crimefighting gadgets like a tricked out Motorcycle, Throwing Disks, Shock Tonfa, Smoke Bombs, and Power Inhibitor Handcuffs. The Cybero Circuit activated his cybernetics and let him remote control his motorcycle. Midnight Mask was our cynical and grim detective in the vein of Kamen Rider and Batman.

and last but not least...

Crimson Cyclone Cybero - Red, Black, Gold - is a full android and he was built before Dr. Date realized his work was being funded by a Supervillain! The prototype designs were shown to Catastrophe-X in his secret identity and as such were copied by Armageddon Genesis to create some of their powered minions. However, the good Doctor kept tinkering and eventually created a unique sentient machine. His primary power is Super Speed, able to travel so fast he appears to be a blur of red light. He can also move quickly, not just run quickly, giving him the ability to perform multiple attacks and catch or deflect projectiles. Crimson Cyclone can also use his speed to build up wind, creating powerful gusts and striking like a 'living' tornado. His Cybero Circuit allows him to transform into a normal looking person and he does have emotions. His personality is split; in battle he is a cold, calculated, and no non-sense, though still heroic and honorable. Out of combat he is like a child, a Data-like Pinocchio learning to be Human. A little Silver Surfer is in there as well.

Three of the major inspirations for Crimson Cyclone Cybero

(Left to Right) Android Kikaider, Joe from Cyborg 009, and The Red Tornado

The Highlights:

It is difficult to recall many of the game's specific moments. It was so long ago, a campaign of no more than a dozen sessions, probably less, and there were so many other games going on at the time. Even so...

I recall one really good session where Sadako, Dr. Date's daughter, had been kidnapped by the bad guys and ransomed. Armageddon Genesis would return her if Date handed over the blueprints for the Cybero Circuit, otherwise she would be killed at dawn! The heroes discovered the location where Sadako was being held and went to rescue her but it turned out to be a trap! The real Sadako was hidden somewhere else and the one at the place the PCs went to was an android duplicate. Worse yet, one with Magnetic Powers!

The battle was extremely difficult, as Crimson Cyclone and Protector Paladin fought the Iron Maiden (her code name) while Midnight Mask sneak into the place where the true Sadako was held. MM had to fight through a bunch of goons and traps all on his own before being confronted by a major lieutenant. Meanwhile, the other two PCs had a tough time being Metal Heroes against the Mistress of Magnetism.

What turned the tide was when Crimson Cyclone started to ask her why she was doing this, fighting against another android such as himself. She replied that it was her programming and what she was designed and built to do. CC got all existential on us, discussing what it meant to be an Artificial Intelligence and whether the fight was logical if you were going to think like a robot or decent and compassionate if you were going to think like a true living being. As she starts to get second thoughts about her role in all this, the villains signal that they're going to blow up the base with Cyclone, Paladin, and Maiden inside it. Cyclone appeals to her better judgement once more and convinces her to work with them to get free.

Just as Midnight Mask and his opponent duel to a standstill, Crimson Cyclone, Protector Paladin, and Iron Maiden blast through the ceiling to come to MM's aid. The heroes, including Sadako, depart after defeating their enemy and Cyclone asks Maiden to come with them. She declines as she must discover who she is now and what her purpose is but she assures them they'll all meet again.

Game Info:

After running a lot of Villains and Vigilantes and then a lot of Mekton, it just struck me that if you mixed these together you could cover those Metal Hero series style characters. Now, how did I do it? What did it look like? Beats me...

It was a long time ago and I don't think I ran any other games with this particular kitbash. If I remember correctly, it was mainly Mekton with the powers from V&V stapled on and adapted to work with the former. Somehow.

Notes:

This was one of many games I ran between the mid-80s to the mid-90s that was initiated because I just really wanted to run a game about whatever the heck I thought was cool that month. Most of the time this worked because I was playing with people who also thought those things were really cool. I also had a number of people who didn't care to know anything before being introduced to it during play. I miss those days. Everyone now needs a 10 page write-up on the world background and mechanics in order to even consider playing a suggested game. Seems our sense of adventure only extends to our characters in their settings and not to the players in the real world. Sigh.

Thinking back, I wonder if the rules I stitched together actually worked or whether we all just agreed to pretend they did. It was an unholy mish-mash to be sure but it made sense to us at the time and I guess that's all that matters.

Doctor Date's name is pronounced Dah-TEH. It is a Japanese family name that means Intelligent

I forgot to mention, one ability all three PCs got from their Cybero Circuits was to instantly change into their 'costumes'. Midnight Mask's Cybero Circuit was on his belt and activating it summoned his mask/helmet to him. Once putting it on he fully transformed. Protector Paladin's was on his wrist I think. Crimson Cyclone's was in the center of his chest a la Tony Stark's Arc Reactor.

Legacy:

As mentioned under 'Origins', Crimson Cyclone was first created for a V&V campaign featuring international superheroes. He has since appeared or been mentioned in that capacity in various Supers games I've run over the years. More often than not its a name drop when discussing what Superheroes are around or available in the area of Southeast Asia.

I've always liked this character and still do, though I haven't thought about him in a while. I am sure some version of him is out there in the Multiverse somewhere, defending Humanity while still trying desperately to fully understand it.

Not unlike myself I suppose.

From live action Superheroes to Space Opera Anime - tag along with dangerous DEE HOSHIYORU and face the Cregurian!

Barking Alien

Thursday, January 4, 2024

31 Days / 31 Characters - AKI RUSH

Some Japanese Tabletop RPGs are intrinsically 'Japanese'; understanding and appreciating the premise of these games requires knowledge of and an affinity for Japan's culture and storytelling devices.

Others are just universally freaking AWESOME!

Imagine a setting that combines Cyberpunk, Giant Robots, NASCAR Racing, and Space Travel. Sounds like a fun premise for a game, right?

Character: Aki Rush

AKA: 'Go Psycho' (a pun on the Japanese word 'Saiko' meaning Maximum or Ultimate)

Player: I forgot his name. A friend I'd made through work I believe. So sorry I can't recall.

System: Mobile Racer Championship

Additional rules from Metal Head, Mekton, and Cyberpunk. See Origins for details.

Nature: Short Campaign: The Off-world Colonies 5000.

Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein

Circa: 2010-2011. I think. Pretty sure.

Origins: Mobile Racer Championships is an RPG that came out in monthly installments published in Hobby Japan Co. LTD's RPG Magazine from sometime in 1997 to sometime in 1998. Unfortunately I don't have exact dates in this respect. I have several issues featuring the game but sadly no where near all of them (More on that in a moment). Each installment added to and expanded both the rules and the setting.

Mobile Racer Championships logo scanned from the April 1998 issue of RPG Magazine, No. 96

Recolored by me.

I loved everything about the concept and the artwork inspired me even further. I really wanted to run the game but I was unable to find all the issues I needed to create a complete game. Luckily, I noticed many similarities between the system and setting and that of the Japanese TRPG Metal Head, also from Hobby Japan. Hmm. On further examination, MRC seems like it might be a spin-off of Metal Head's post-corporate war milieu. With the help of some friends I was able to splice Metal Head into Mobile Racer Championships, filling any gaps with the first editions of R. Talsorian's Mekton and Cyberpunk.

Backstory: Following the death of his father in a racetrack accident, a very young Aki wanted nothing to do with mecha, racing, or his father's legacy as an Off-World Colonies Champion. That's until he was 18 and received a message from his dad's old partner and mechanic Tetsuo Smithson which said that the senior Rush's death was no accident! Instead, he was murdered in connection to the father's service during The Corporate Frame War. Aki didn't even know his dad had served in the war!

Aki took a year off from school, traveled to the Colony World where Tetsuo was located and spent the next year learning everything he could about Mobile Racing. Meeting two other Frame Drivers with connections to the situation, the four men and a female manager formed a racing team to solve the mystery and win The Off-World Colonies 5000!

Overview: Following the Corporate Frame War, the Earth, the Solar System, and the various Off-World Colonies were divided up among the remaining major Megacorporations, Humanity found itself in a situation not unlike that post World War I, with lots of trained pilots and their planes but no real use for them. Far too many qualified Frame Pilots and Mobile Frames (Mecha) were still around with nothing for them to do. This lead to many people trying to find work and doing so as Deep Sea Miners, Construction Workers, Firefighters, Mercenaries, and Colonial Militia. Even so, unemployment and Mobile Frame crimes became rampant.

To remedy this situation, a group of Sports Entertainment Megacorporate concerns created the sport of Mobile Racing; high speed contests were former 'Heavy Soldier' Battle Frames are converted into fast moving, agile Racer Frames to outrun and outgun each other to the delight of fans across Human Space.

25 years later...

The campaign started en media res, with the three PC Drivers and their Mobile Racers blazing down a racetrack on a desolate moon (desolate except for the hundreds of fans cheering from the seats above the track). Rolling randomly for their positions, Aki 'Go Psycho' Rush was the furthest ahead of his team but third place out of a dozen on the course. Through some seriously tricky and 'visually' exciting maneuvers, two of the PCs moved into position to block attackers from targeting Aki. Aki went full throttle and straight up tackled the second place Racer INTO the first place Racer, badly damaging both. Unfortunately, his Mech was also damaged, allowing the fourth place Racer to get really close. The two then competed to finish the final lap first, with Rush just barely crossing the line ahead of his opponent.

The win results in a massive payout to a local bookie who then gives the team some key information that leads them to the next clue or revelation. This became the basic pattern; win a race or do a favor for a contact, get a clue, and learn the next piece of puzzle. Sometimes they'd have to sneak in to a place to help someone, that would give them a clue, then they'd have to hurry back to the track in time for the next race. Mixing it up were little character development moments between the various Player Characters and NPCs.

Unfortunately, the campaign ended on a cliffhanger, with the PC team finding Aki's father alive but in Suspended Animation for some nefarious purpose. So bummed we never got to the end of the story.

The Highlights:

Aki and the gang didn't win every race and when they lost they had to get creative in order to accomplish their goals. After losing on race to an attractive female competitor, the team's bad boy/smooth talker tried distracting her so Aki could sneak into her Mobile Racer and download a map from it. He stops just before doing it, walks back to where the race winner and his pal are talking, and he confesses their scheme to her. He also apologizes profusely, leaving his buddy dumbfounded and her amused.

She asks why they need the map, Aki tells her honestly, and she decides to just give it to him. She then kisses his cheek before sashaying away. Aki turns red while the 'ladies man' dies of embarrassment. Sooo Anime.

In another session Aki is sure to lose, lagging behind the lead Racer with his speed dropping due to a busted leg. Using another member of his squad as a jumping off point, Aki hops up and then leaps his Mech through the air to land on top of the Racer ahead of him. Aki's Mech basically rides the other one piggyback, then tumbles off to cross the finish line first. Hilarious and nail biting at the same time.

Game Info:

Ugh. I can't find any of my notes for this. Haven't been able to for years and trust me, I've looked. I'd love to run another Mobile Racer Championships campaign. I could probably convert it over to my homebrew Mecha System Variant game but I'd be missing one key component. THE key component to be honest.

The game had a mechanic for figuring out who was in what place in the race at the end of the first lap. Then, you would take action to speed up, overtake another racer, attack another racer, and other moves. There was a also a neat 'speed resource management' system to figure out who would win purely by speed and driving. Of course, every action taken by PCs and major NPCs would throw this calculation off, which was the point.

Notes:

The players loved the setting so much they participated in its world-building. One guy kept designing racetracks. A couple of them kept coming up with Megacorporation logos to sponsor decals on the mecha like tthose all over modern race cars. The lot of them kept suggesting other civilian/commercial uses for the Mobile Frames. Everywhere we went the player would say the farms must have Farming Frames, the news channels should use News Satellite Frames, the Cyberpunk city had to have Sanitation Frames, etc.Very fun.

Legacy:

I haven't tried to run MRC game in 12 years or so. Not being able to recall the racing mechanics is a big part of why. If I could figure out or find a system that gives the same feel of speed, tension, and excitement as the original game I would definitely give it another go.

Ho there fellow adventurer! Journey with me to the world of Forcelia and traverse the continent of Alecrast as to reach the Western City-States known as The Ten Children. Our guide throughout these perilous lands will be none other than BOON BRUSHBORN! Verily!

Barking Alien

Friday, March 19, 2021

MSV - The Origin

In 2009, Game Designer Jim Clunie created a game for a 24 Hour RPG Challenge called Extended Mission. I originally found the game through the website 1KM1KT but as of now neither that site nor Extended Mission seem to exist. I will update this if they become available one more.

A rules-lite, resource management game, the focus was on playing satellites trying to get information about an abandoned Earth for the Humans living on Mars before their batteries ran out and/or they burned up in Earth's atmosphere. I was intrigued and inspired by the system and concept and began to tweak the rules to work with an idea I'd have for years; a game in which players would play Artificially Intelligent robots.

The result was something I initially called Extended Mission Expanded. I ran it for several sessions and those sessions were pretty damn great. I forget why it ended. Scheduling most likely, the ultimate enemy of good games.

From there I made some changed and pushed the game even further, thinking that if it could handle robots of the Star Wars Droid and WALL*E variety, maybe it could handle Giant Robots. Maybe, just maybe, I had a potential Anime/Manga Mecha game on my hands that could solve what I felt/feel is the key issue with the Mecha games that have come out so far...

They aren't, generally speaking, very Anime like.

Before I get into that though, let me finish with the origins of my new RPG. Where was I? Ah yes...

Over the years that followed I tinkered with the game further and further, eventually transforming it from Extended Mission Expanded to Extended Mecha and finally its current incarnation - Mecha System Variant or MSV*.

Now here's where I give my unpopular opinion:

While there have absolutely been some awesome Mecha RPGs over the years, especially Mike Pondsmith's seminal game Mekton, most American Giant Robot games focus too heavily on tactical, wargame oriented combat. Pages and pages are dedicated to range, armor, damage, and the specific mechanics of missiles vs lasers, size and weight, and other such details that don't really matter.

That's right, you heard me, these things don't matter.

Very few Anime or Manga make a distinction between different weaponry beyond what that do. Is the opponent in range? Don't pull out a hex map and measure the distance - they don't do that in the medium. Are you and the target on screen at the same time? Was the enemy approaching before a jump cut to the hero? In either case, they're in range because that allows for action. You shouldn't slow down a Mecha Anime game with crunch and I feel that's exactly what most Mecha games do.

There are no hit points in Anime. Mecha rarely loose armor points, though sometimes their armor gets blown off. Animation and Comics are visual and visceral and they focus on what happens, not on abstractions. Gundam robots don't take 3 points of damage, they lose targeting or visual sensors. When the EVA-01's arm is cut off the important thing for the audience to know is that the pilot, Shinji, is afraid and in terrible pain, not that it adjusts his hit modifiers.

To this end I set out to produce a Mecha game with no hit points and armor that reduces the level of negative events. I wanted rules that added drama and built to climaxes. It was important that the action move the story and vice versa, avoiding action for actions sake. This doesn't mean action isn't a major element of the game; far from it. Mecha Anime and Manga are solidly a subgenre of Action Adventure. It's just that the goal in making this game was to create sessions where you can see and feel what is going on in the game and not spend too much time calculating numbers. Decisions you make are character, story, and scene driven and less tactical in nature.

30 Minute Mission Alto Custom

by ICHI [いち]

At least that's the plan.

Here goes nothing...

Barking Alien

*The name MSV actually comes from a series of books put out in Japan called 'Mobile Suit Variations' which detail designs and variations on those designs for robots featured in the Universal Century and One Year War timelines of the franchise.

Many of the designs never appear in any Gundam series, having been created purely for merchandising (models kits mostly) or for a planned series that was cancelled. Nonetheless, as the books were put out by Bandai/Sunrise - the company that owns Gundam - and designed by the writers and artists of the series, all the Mobile Suits in these books are considered canon.

I used to collect these whenever I found them and loved pouring over the various designs again and again. When I started thinking up names for my own Mecha game, MSV was the first thing that popped into my head and it kept coming back. Defining it as Mecha System Variant, an alternative to traditional Mecha RPGs, sealed the deal.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

31 Days / 31 Characters - JET 'OHANA' KAHELE

Wow am I behind.

Real life and my ongoing gaming pursuits - of which there are many - have gotten in the way of yet another of these online challenges. To be honest with you dear readers (and I always am) I'm pretty bummed.

However, I am not giving up! Not only will I keep going but even if I don't do 31 Characters by January 31st, I will continue afterwards and complete this even if it's well into February. I am enjoying doing this and the characters, not to mention the players who played them in many instances, deserve to been seen.

With that...

This next character is notable for a few unusual features. First, he is only the PC of mine to appear on the list. Second, he is the only one so far who didn't make it. He died. He was not the most in-depth character I ever had by a long shot and he didn't stand out with a fantastic backstory or anything. He was just fun to play, likeable, and went out a hero.

Character: Jet Kahele

AKA: Lieutenant. Jet 'Ohana' Kahele

Player: Adam Dickstein

System: Mekton II - House-rules and Modifications to more accurately reflect setting.

Campaign: Mobile Suit Gundam 0088: Sign of the Times

Gamemaster: Cory? Cameron? Damn. I forget. I think it was Cory.

Circa: Late 1991

Origins: This one is interesting. While working at the uptown Forbidden Planet (a popular Sci-Fi Book/Comic Book/Toy store in NYC), I became friends will a customer named Cory who was really into Japanese Anime and Manga, especially anything Mobile Suit Gundam related. As I too am a big Gundam fan, we got along really well.

At some point Cory's friend was going to run an RPG campaign using Mekton II and set just after the events of Zeta Gundam. The fellow, Cory, and I all loved Zeta Gundam and had been largely disappointed in its sequel Double Zeta or ZZ-Gundam. We much preferred Gundam Sentinel, an illustrated novel that came out around 1987, with a story set between Zeta and Double Zeta. The Gamemaster's story was also set at this time and kind of ignored Double Zeta, making it a sort of alternate history.

What happened next was that at the last moment, like the day before their first session, the guy panics and says he isn't ready and can't do it. He eventually calls the campaign off completely and apologizes to everyone, gripped by some kind of 'stage fright'.

Cory had been so looking forward to the game and was really disappointed. The next day he offered to take over the campaign and run it himself so that A) all the work the first fellow did wouldn't go to waste and B) the players who were really excited about it wouldn't be upset. The guy said yes and asked if he could be a player. Cory said sure and then asked me if I would like to join in.

You see...Cory had never GMed before and said it would help to have someone there who had played and ran Mekton before and knew Gundam especially well. I jumped at the chance.

Backstory: As I mentioned in the opening preface, there isn't a long and brilliantly written history about this character prior to his first appearance in the campaign. He basically just shows up with the conceit that he is friends with the lead pilot and knows a lot of the deck crew, engineers, and other 'working class' personnel aboard the Earth Federation Mobile Suit Assault Carrier Llamrei.

We learn over the course of the campaign's two dozen or so sessions that he is from Hawaii on Earth (though not which island in particular) and that he largely joined the military because he had to. His parents wanted him to get a real job and stop loafing about all day surfing and having fun. His father in particular wanted him to learn responsibility, discipline, and leadership skills.

Like everything else in his life, Jet took this in stride and still found a way to enjoy himself. For example, he and a bunch of engineers rigged a way to 'air surf' by placing a surfboard in a low gee section of the ship and then engaging exhaust fans. His makeshift surfboard has the word 'Ohana' painted on it, which is how he got his nickname.

Overview: Throughout most of the campaign, Jet is a voice of calm wisdom and light hearted positivity for the band of Mobile Suit Pilots operating between Earth and an outer O'Neil colony called 'Logres'. Though the situations were often violent and dark, I feel like Jet grounded the team and made it clear what they were fighting for, especially when that wasn't easy to see.

Another thing I really liked about him was that he added warmth and humor to the campaign without resorting to sarcasm and snappy, one-liners. I had felt that wasn't quite right for the character and almost too easy. I wanted him to lighten the often heavy mood but in a more genuine, organic, and perhaps subtle way.

Jet Kahele's Customized

MSA-005s 'Strike Methuss'

The Highlights:

Sadly, Jet's greatest moment was also his last.

In the final session of the game the PCs were in serious trouble on account of some bad intel and awful rolls. The pilot of our prototype mech, the Gundam 'Excalibur' (a sort of hybrid Zeta Gundam and Gundam Mk. II - Cory and I collaborated on the design and even built a plastic model of it) as well as the Mobile Suit itself, had taken severe damage. Most of the rest of the team was pinned down in Sol's asteroid belt by enemy fire.

Fast and maneuverable, I had avoided taking major damage thus far in my MSA-005s 'Strike' Methuss. As the enemy reloaded their ammo or recharged for another attack, I transformed my mech into 'Fighter Mode', dodging behind asteroids to avoid opposing Mobile Suits. I flew my Methuss below the plane of the 'battlefield' and then climbed to reach the Excalibur. Flying past it, I fired my lasers to get the Enemy Ace Pilot our fearless leader was facing to back off. Coming down into the fight from 'above' were three lesser Aces, 'Lieutenant Level' opponents there to back up the main villain.

Transforming back into a humanoid robot, I grappled all three enemy Mobile Suits and continued rocketing upward with everything the Methuss had. I ended up slamming all four of us into an asteroid which then collided with the Enemy Command Ship. This was followed by a Boom. A really big Boom. The Boom lead to several smaller Booms and a final Super-Boom that consumed the three enemy mechs, Jet and his Methuss, and more than a third of the command vessel.

Jet died buying the squad leader, his best friend, some much needed breathing room as well as taking out three opponents who could have caused him additional damage, making what he did next unlikely to happen or succeed.

The Excalibur, without the Enemy Ace and his Mobile Suit in our hero's proverbial face, was able to access his super-charged, prototype Beam Saber, eject it into his good hand and go absolutely Miyamoto Musashi on his opponent. Not only did this turn the tide of that duel, it inspired everyone else to think they could actually win the day.

And they did.

Legacy: Lt. Jet 'Ohana' Kahele was posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor. The other PCs had a kind of 'Irish Wake' funeral for him which was pretty awesome.

Honestly, I haven't thought much about Jet or used him since this campaign nearly thirty years ago. It wasn't until I was trying to think of more of my own characters to use for this challenge that his name and story came back to me. That isn't a slight against the quality of the character or how much I enjoyed playing him mind you. He simply, for whatever reason, never came up again.

Now that could be because he died. Granted, I can recall quite a few characters I would call 'memorable' who didn't survive their campaigns, including my very first PC ever. It's just that, I wonder if we are more prone to re-tell tales of those that survived.

Game Info: Jet Kahele's character sheet is long gone, possibly even one that I never got back from Cory, the GM of that game. The same is true of the Mecha record sheet for his Mobile Suit. I don't recall anything too exceptional about his stats or skills except that he had high scores in Cool and Technical Ability, decent Luck and Reflexes, and an average Intelligence.

Look here for the specs on the standard MSA-005 Methuss from Zeta Gundam. Jet begins the campaign with one of these but it is customized over the course of the series to feature even more thrust, improved maneuverability, only four standard beam sabers, a shield, and a 'Beam Bayonet' that extends out of a casing on top of his left forearm; the device is hidden underneath his arm-mounted Laser Gun and feeds off the same power supply.

Next up, we return to Aerth yet again to meet The Winghorn Guard's resident Pirate Hero, JORVAN STARSBYNIGHT and learn the secret of his successful career. Cheating!

Barking Alien