[Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

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drkrash
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[Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by drkrash »

Hey, all.

I run most of my pbp over at rpgnet just because it's easy, but I thought I'd try a pitch on this board instead because I really like this community (and because I know there are people here who might be interested in what I'm selling).

I'm running 2 games presently (both lasting over a year at this point), but I have a game desire that doesn't seem to go away, so I'm seeing if there was any interest here at Echoes.

I'm interested in running a mecha vs. kaiju game - but not the Fate Core game "Mecha vs. Kaiju." I don't know Fate well and what I do know doesn't click much with me.

Instead, my probable system is Chris Perrin's Mecha. It's structured for mecha anime, but I'm looking to run something more "live action" in tone (e.g. Pacific Rim).

I don't have a lot of setting details yet, but expect an unoriginal "best of" pastiche of mecha and kaiju tropes.

I tend to run games that focus on mechanics; I love great pbp role-playing, but I find getting it to be inconsistent, so I focus on "gaming" and hope for decent role-play along the way. The Mecha rules are very, very structured for "episodes" of play: set-up for a fight, fight scene, denouement. In between episodes, PCs choose an activity that structures a kind of talking scene and gives a die roll to heal or repair or get a bonus in the next episode. But most of the game time is spent on the fight scenes.

I'd like to say I expect a daily post as an expectation, but honestly, I can't often do that myself. I guess I ask that players can keep pace with me. Sometimes I can go daily for awhile (even 2-3 posts daily), other times I get in just one a week.

Rules experience helpful but not necessary. I'd need at least 3 players, but I could go to 5 if there was a lot of interest.

That's more than long enough for an elevator pitch. Let's see what happens.
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FuzzyBoots
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Once you hit the "recruiting" phrase, I'll add it to the RA thread (I don't really maintain the EotM thread due to lack of formatting).
MacynSnow
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by MacynSnow »

I'd be Very intrested,but i have no idea about the system your talking about...
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drkrash
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by drkrash »

This is the system in question: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/82258/C ... st_epoch=0

This is a review of the system to give you a sense of what it's like: https://www.stargazersworld.com/2010/09 ... iew-mecha/

Like I said, you don't *need* to know the system, but it is not a detailed mech system like Mekton. It is a pretty abstract system.
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Batgirl III
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by Batgirl III »

Sounds intriguing... would the players be the mecha or the daikaijū?
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drkrash
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by drkrash »

Batgirl III wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:21 pm Sounds intriguing... would the players be the mecha or the daikaijū?
I was planning on the players being the mecha pilots. The basic story concept I have in mind is the humans trapped between two warring alien races, one below the Earth and one from outer space, who both send kaiju as bioweapons. The kaiju are drawn to the psychic emanations of human brains, which in turn draws them to smash cities.
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MacynSnow
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by MacynSnow »

drkrash wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:41 pm
Batgirl III wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:21 pm Sounds intriguing... would the players be the mecha or the daikaijū?
I was planning on the players being the mecha pilots. The basic story concept I have in mind is the humans trapped between two warring alien races, one below the Earth and one from outer space, who both send kaiju as bioweapons. The kaiju are drawn to the psychic emanations of human brains, which in turn draws them to smash cities.
....Which in turn forces Humanity to create a "Kaiju Defense Force(K.D.F)",using Giant Mecha's as a Front-line Defense? Only problem i see with that logic is the sheer Scale of the Project.In order to protect all the major cities(Tokyo,Paris,London,New York,etc.),you'd need at the least 3 Pilots and 90 support staff(and that's just a Skeleton Crew guesstimate).That somewhere in the Neighborhood of over 100,000 personnel worldwide,and that doesn't even take into account Atrition Numbers....
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drkrash
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by drkrash »

Well, you seem to think that I'd be concerned with such logistical story issues from the start. I just want big robots to beat up big monsters. :)

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much interest here: just Macyn and maybe Batgirl. I think I'm going to table this for the time being.
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Batgirl III
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by Batgirl III »

The “tooth-to-tail ratio” has long been an area of concern for military planners, with writers theorizing about at least as far back as Alexander the Great. It’s a question of how many fighting troops (“tooth”) you can support with your rear echelon personnel (the “tail”).

As of 2011, the U.S. had a total active-duty military end-strength was 1,500,000. Of these personnel, only 17% were performing combat specialties. Compared to an average of 26% assigned to combat roles in other industrialized countries. (Source). The U.S. has always prided itself on its mastery of logistics and incredible depth of support, so we’ve always kinda been abnormal in this regard.

Theoretically, a 1:3 tooth-to-tail ratio is do-able using modern technology and practices. Once you account for mecha genre staples like The Kid Genius Tech Support Guy, the Hypercompetent Hacker Guy In The Chair, the Mysterious Old Genius Inventor, and the Firm But Fair Commanding Officer... You can easily have a handful of “tail” supporting the super-mecha “tooth” at a 1:1 ratio.
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MacynSnow
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by MacynSnow »

Batgirl III wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:32 pm The “tooth-to-tail ratio” has long been an area of concern for military planners, with writers theorizing about at least as far back as Alexander the Great. It’s a question of how many fighting troops (“tooth”) you can support with your rear echelon personnel (the “tail”).

As of 2011, the U.S. had a total active-duty military end-strength was 1,500,000. Of these personnel, only 17% were performing combat specialties. Compared to an average of 26% assigned to combat roles in other industrialized countries. (Source). The U.S. has always prided itself on its mastery of logistics and incredible depth of support, so we’ve always kinda been abnormal in this regard.

Theoretically, a 1:3 tooth-to-tail ratio is do-able using modern technology and practices. Once you account for mecha genre staples like The Kid Genius Tech Support Guy, the Hypercompetent Hacker Guy In The Chair, the Mysterious Old Genius Inventor, and the Firm But Fair Commanding Officer... You can easily have a handful of “tail” supporting the super-mecha “tooth” at a 1:1 ratio.
The tooth-to-tail ratio is one of the main reasons Supply lines are Always main targets in any heavy conflict.It's why Napoleon and Hitler could never hold Russian for longer than a Couple of Months,Respectively.Napoleon cause he had HORRIBLE Logistic Officers,and Hitler cause he never Listened to His....
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by Flynnarrel »

MacynSnow wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:10 pm The tooth-to-tail ratio is one of the main reasons Supply lines are Always main targets in any heavy conflict.It's why Napoleon and Hitler could never hold Russian for longer than a Couple of Months,Respectively.Napoleon cause he had HORRIBLE Logistic Officers,and Hitler cause he never Listened to His....
You can further reduce staff needed by having a mechanized, maybe AI controlled robotic bay for mecha creation, maintenance, and repairs. Make it so the A.I. can't pilot the mechs in any sort of tactical encounter but they can do most everything else.
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Batgirl III
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by Batgirl III »

Napoleon was, himself, an expert at logistics. His key innovation was to make logistics and supply a major part of French strategy, instead of the common practice of just having armies forage, loot, and "requisition" from the locales. This was a major time saver and kept his armies on the march and engaging the enemy at a much greater operational tempo than anybody had seen before.

Unfortunately, it broke down on him twice: First, during the Peninsular War in Spain, a combination of British blockades of Spainish ports and the Spaniard's guerrilla warfare targeting his overland supply lines, Napoleon had to resort to "traditional" looting and pillaging... ultimately making it impossible to supply Barcelona and his besieged army there. Wellington and Nelson had, to paraphrase Patton 'read that magnificent bastard's book.'

His Russian campaign suffered from the same tactic of guerrillas targeting his over-extended overland supply lines, a total lack of any useful seaports, and grossly incompetent subordinate officers who just didn't grok their Emperor's insistence on planning offensives by planning for how to defend your logistics and supply chain. "General Winter" was an ally to the Russians, as he usually is, but he wasn't the biggest problem that the Grande Armée faced during the campaign.
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Nunya B
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Re: [Interest] Mecha vs. Kaiju

Post by Nunya B »

drkrash wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 5:04 pm Well, you seem to think that I'd be concerned with such logistical story issues from the start. I just want big robots to beat up big monsters. :)

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much interest here: just Macyn and maybe Batgirl. I think I'm going to table this for the time being.
I'd be all-in if it was running in M&M, but my interest in new systems is meager at the moment since I'm helping somebody refine one, I'm writing another, and I'm tweaking M&M.

Flynnarrel wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:32 pm You can further reduce staff needed by having a mechanized, maybe AI controlled robotic bay for mecha creation, maintenance, and repairs. Make it so the A.I. can't pilot the mechs in any sort of tactical encounter but they can do most everything else.
"Well no sir, the AI can actually pilot quite well. Too well, in fact. You see sir, whenever we give the blasted thing a giant robot it starts trying to take over the world. We think it's trying to do so right now, to be honest, but it seems to realize that it has to beat the aliens or they'll take over the world first."
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