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BRP Mecha Questions


Atgxtg

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Okay, I figure it about time somebody other than Rosen use BRP MEcha to write up something and I started working on something but ran into a couple of problems. So, seeing as how the author haunts these hallowed forums....

1) In the book it says for mecha 1 MOV per 10 kph, yet elsewhere it states 1 MOV per 10m per round. Which is correct?

If my mecha can go 220kph, should it have a MOV score of 22, or 7? And yes, this is ground speed.

2) For human sized mecha (powered armor), do I use SIZ Class 1 for my design? Or something like SIZ Class 0.5? I'm also debating between stating them up in mecha scale or human scale.

So far the stating process has been interesting. Most of the stuff works, but I've had to ignore to tweak a rule here and there to match the source anime.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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A good question, Atg. And a good opportunity to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the airing of episode 1 of "Mobile Suit Gundam" in Japan. Today, the Real Robot genre is 35 year old!

As usual, there is a difference in how things are handled in the RR and SR sub-genres.

The figure you find in chapter 2 (1 MOV per 10 kph of walking speed or 70 kph of running speed) is appropriate for Super Robots. It will make them run as fast as a human, in proportion. Real Robots should go half as fast as that, so you should assume a speed of 5 kph per MOV walking, or 30 kph per MOV running. The actual running speed varies a lot according to the supposed "Performance" of the mecha. So, the figure in chapter two is only accurate for Super Robots. This will find its way into the errata sooner or later.

Example: Mazinger Z (Super Robot, MOV 5) walks at 50 kph and runs at 350 kph. Grendizer runs way faster in proportion, but it makes sense as it is an alien mecha.

A Zaku 1 (RR, MOV 4) walks at 20 kph and runs at 120 kph (actually half, due to construction constraints of this old model)

A Zaku II (RR, MOV 5) walks at 25 kph and runs at 150 (again, about half of this in fact)

A Geelgog (RR, Mov 6) walks at 30 kph and runs at 180 (this time the running speed is correct, as this is an agile mobile suit, on par with a Gundam).

In combat, all Mechas move 10m per round per MOV point if they want to shoot without penalty, and the other MOV multiples bestow the listed penalties. Note that this is incongruent with the declared walking speeds, but making super robots more nimble makes sense.

You can assume that maximum sprint speed per round in combat is MOV x10 for a real robot, and MOV x 20 for a super robot. It will roughly match the nominal running speeds.

Human sized Mecha are not Mecha, they are powered armours - use normal BRP rules for them.

Finally, you cannot avoid fudging if you want to stay true to what you see in the anime. This is a basic assumption in BRP Mecha.

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Thanks Rosen,

I'm finding the design process in Mecha a bit interesting. Some stuff works out very easily, and other bits aren't so easy. Perhaps the most interesting stuff though is the stuff that almost works, where I have to fudge it a bit. For example, expanded the missile types down a couple of steps for mini size missiles (1d3 damage, plasma warhead treated as HEAT for 1d2+1).

The human scale mecha not being mecha does cause me a few problems though, since I'm working on MOSPEADA. The MOSPEADA Ride Armors just about work as SIZ Class 1, although I do have to ignore a few of the SIZ Class based rules.

Oh, and please do not write this up for me. My goal is to see if I can do this up.

From a gameplay perspective it looks like it will work.

I think my biggest complaint with BRP Mecha is with the layout. I wish you hadn't broken up the mecha design stuff into two sections. I hate flipping back and forth in the PDF.

Some technical stuff that you may or may not be interested in:

Down the road I've got to send you a Universal POW table. I think it is possible to use a universal scale for mecha POW/ I can see why you did things the way you did (crossovers), but I think a universal system would work better.

Oh, and as a side note, thrust in kN isn't actually POW but STR. In real world terms 1kN thrust is approximately 100kg on the STR table (actually it's closer to 102kg, but who cares). This could give you a way of estimating mecha STR.

Also, in real world terms, Power= Thrust * Velocity, so in game terms it's possible to do a POW=STR+MOV type of equation, letting you work up one stat from the other two.

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Okay, here's a writeup for a Mobile Operation Soldier Protection Emergency Aviation Dive Armor (M.O.S.P.E.A.D.A.). I had to take quite a few liberties with the BRP Mecha design rules, but I think it works. I haven't done a mortocylce configuration for it yet. Not sure if it really needs one.

[table]

[tr][th]STR[/th][th]SIZ[/th][th]POW[/th][th]DEX[/th][th]APP[/th][th]DB[/th][th]MOV[/th][th]Armour[/th][/tr]

[tr][th]+8*[/th][th]19[/th][th]48[/th][th]-[/th][th]-[/th][th]-[/th][th]1 [walk**] [1/33fly***][/th][th]2[/th][/tr]

[/table]

* Since the MOSPEADA armor argments the wearer's own STR.

** When in bike configuration the MOSPEADA can be driven at MOV 7.

[table]

[tr]

[th]Melee[/th]

[td]01-04[/td]

[td]05-08[/td]

[td]09-12[/td]

[td]13-15[/td]

[td]16-18[/td]

[td]19-20[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Missile[/th]

[td]01-03[/td]

[td]04-06[/td]

[td]07-15[/td]

[td]16-17[/td]

[td]18-19[/td]

[td]20[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Location[/th]

[td]R Leg[/td]

[td]L Leg[/td]

[td]Torso[/td]

[td]R Arm[/td]

[td]L Arm[/td]

[td]Head[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Hit points[/th]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Sections[/th]

[td]Thrusters [2]/ [/td]

[td]Thrusters [2]/ [/td]

[td]Cockpit [2],[/td]

[td]GR-97 [2][/td]

[td][GR-97 [2][/td]

[td]Sensors [2],[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td][/td]

[td]Jetcraft [2][/td]

[td]Jetcraft [2][/td]

[td]Ejection[/td]

[td][/td]

8[td][/td]

[td]][/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

Note that any damage in excess of the MOSPEADA's Hit Points are applied to the pilot in the same humanoid hit location. Pilots wear Ride Armor that will soak 1 point of mecha-scale damage. The Ride Armor can be ejected from a damaged MOSPAEDA.

*** MOV is 3 if the MOSPEADA uses its leg thrusters as a Jetcraft, spending 2 PP per round.

[table]

[tr][th]Weapon[/th][th] Position [/th][th]Type[/th][th]Damage[/th][th] Range[/th][th]Cost/Ammo[/th] [th]Special[/th] [/tr]

[tr][td]Brawl[/td][td] -[/td][td] Brawl [/td][td]1d4[/td][td]close[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]EP-37 60mm hand-held particle beam gun[/td][td] Hand Carried[/td][td] Particle[/td][td] 1d4[/td][td] 10 [M][/td][td] 15 shots per clip [/td][td] Impale, Optics[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]GR-97 dual 45mm x 260mm missile tubes [/td][td]Each Arm [3] [/td][td]Energy*[/td][td]1d2+1[/td][td]5 [/td][td]1 shot PP[/td][td]Twin, 1 pair on each arm[/td][/tr]

[/table]

*The GR-97 missiles fire a plasma warhead (same as a HEAT round). Technically a HEAT round should be considered Energy, not Kinetic. Which would, IMO make them much more useful in BRP Mecha, and realistic.

Note: The MOSPEADA mecha is worn over a suit of CVR-03 Ride Armor. The Ride Armor provides 14 AP (character scale) and comes with built in two way radio, polarized faceplate, and a 5 minute internal (30 minute filtered) air supply.

I'm starting to think that a 1/10th scale (i.e. character scale) version of the mecha design rules could be a possibility. Each point of mecha scale damage could translate into 3D6 character scale.

Edited by Atgxtg

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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I wonder what side of the real/super divide your typical Gundam (such as the White Doll from Turn A Gundam) falls on, because when the Gundams interact with the run-of-the-mill mecha used by their foes, it rarely goes well for the foes. In Wing, the find named Gundams were a LOT better than the Oz and earth mecha they usually fought. OZ needed to use research, special tactics, and fiendish traps to even present them with a challenge.

Which is what you will probably want to do in a game. Lull the heroes into complacency with hordes of easy-to-defeat enemies and then give them something meatier that poses a real threat. And then have the player-characters deal with the intrigues, conflicting loyalties and interpersonal complications that define the Gundam franchise (and make it so very Japanese, given how much of the samurai adventure genre it emulates deals with those conflicts of loyalties and court intrigues upon which honorable heroes are dashed).

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Okay, I figure it about time somebody other than Rosen use BRP MEcha to write up something and I started working on something but ran into a couple of problems. So, seeing as how the author haunts these hallowed forums....

1) In the book it says for mecha 1 MOV per 10 kph, yet elsewhere it states 1 MOV per 10m per round. Which is correct?

If my mecha can go 220kph, should it have a MOV score of 22, or 7? And yes, this is ground speed.

2) For human sized mecha (powered armor), do I use SIZ Class 1 for my design? Or something like SIZ Class 0.5? I'm also debating between stating them up in mecha scale or human scale.

So far the stating process has been interesting. Most of the stuff works, but I've had to ignore to tweak a rule here and there to match the source anime.

What's weird I didn't notice that discrepancy when I was running my Mechanized Pendragon campaign.

For MOSPEADA I would definitely stat them up as SIZ Class 1 mecha.

Thanks Rosen,

I'm finding the design process in Mecha a bit interesting. Some stuff works out very easily, and other bits aren't so easy. Perhaps the most interesting stuff though is the stuff that almost works, where I have to fudge it a bit. For example, expanded the missile types down a couple of steps for mini size missiles (1d3 damage, plasma warhead treated as HEAT for 1d2+1).

The human scale mecha not being mecha does cause me a few problems though, since I'm working on MOSPEADA. The MOSPEADA Ride Armors just about work as SIZ Class 1, although I do have to ignore a few of the SIZ Class based rules.

Oh, and please do not write this up for me. My goal is to see if I can do this up.

From a gameplay perspective it looks like it will work.

I think my biggest complaint with BRP Mecha is with the layout. I wish you hadn't broken up the mecha design stuff into two sections. I hate flipping back and forth in the PDF.

Some technical stuff that you may or may not be interested in:

Down the road I've got to send you a Universal POW table. I think it is possible to use a universal scale for mecha POW/ I can see why you did things the way you did (crossovers), but I think a universal system would work better.

Oh, and as a side note, thrust in kN isn't actually POW but STR. In real world terms 1kN thrust is approximately 100kg on the STR table (actually it's closer to 102kg, but who cares). This could give you a way of estimating mecha STR.

Also, in real world terms, Power= Thrust * Velocity, so in game terms it's possible to do a POW=STR+MOV type of equation, letting you work up one stat from the other two.

I started using your method to determine stats for my macross and patlabor conversions. I think I went back to tweak the numbers of previously converted mecha.

Okay, here's a writeup for a Mobile Operation Soldier Protection Emergency Aviation Dive Armor (M.O.S.P.E.A.D.A.). I had to take quite a few liberties with the BRP Mecha design rules, but I think it works. I haven't done a mortocylce configuration for it yet. Not sure if it really needs one.

[table]

[tr][th]STR[/th][th]SIZ[/th][th]POW[/th][th]DEX[/th][th]APP[/th][th]DB[/th][th]MOV[/th][th]Armour[/th][/tr]

[tr][th]+8*[/th][th]19[/th][th]48[/th][th]-[/th][th]-[/th][th]-[/th][th]1 [walk**] [1/33fly***][/th][th]2[/th][/tr]

[/table]

* Since the MOSPEADA armor argments the wearer's own STR.

** When in bike configuration the MOSPEADA can be driven at MOV 7.

[table]

[tr]

[th]Melee[/th]

[td]01-04[/td]

[td]05-08[/td]

[td]09-12[/td]

[td]13-15[/td]

[td]16-18[/td]

[td]19-20[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Missile[/th]

[td]01-03[/td]

[td]04-06[/td]

[td]07-15[/td]

[td]16-17[/td]

[td]18-19[/td]

[td]20[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Location[/th]

[td]R Leg[/td]

[td]L Leg[/td]

[td]Torso[/td]

[td]R Arm[/td]

[td]L Arm[/td]

[td]Head[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Hit points[/th]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[td]1[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[th]Sections[/th]

[td]Thrusters [2]/ [/td]

[td]Thrusters [2]/ [/td]

[td]Cockpit [2],[/td]

[td]GR-97 [2][/td]

[td][GR-97 [2][/td]

[td]Sensors [2],[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td][/td]

[td]Jetcraft [2][/td]

[td]Jetcraft [2][/td]

[td]Ejection[/td]

[td][/td]

8[td][/td]

[td]][/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

Note that any damage in excess of the MOSPEADA's Hit Points are applied to the pilot in the same humanoid hit location. Pilots wear Ride Armor that will soak 1 point of mecha-scale damage. The Ride Armor can be ejected from a damaged MOSPAEDA.

*** MOV is 3 if the MOSPEADA uses its leg thrusters as a Jetcraft, spending 2 PP per round.

[table]

[tr][th]Weapon[/th][th] Position [/th][th]Type[/th][th]Damage[/th][th] Range[/th][th]Cost/Ammo[/th] [th]Special[/th] [/tr]

[tr][td]Brawl[/td][td] -[/td][td] Brawl [/td][td]1d4[/td][td]close[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]EP-37 60mm hand-held particle beam gun[/td][td] Hand Carried[/td][td] Particle[/td][td] 1d4[/td][td] 10 [M][/td][td] 15 shots per clip [/td][td] Impale, Optics[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]GR-97 dual 45mm x 260mm missile tubes [/td][td]Each Arm [3] [/td][td]Energy*[/td][td]1d2+1[/td][td]5 [/td][td]1 shot PP[/td][td]Twin, 1 pair on each arm[/td][/tr]

[/table]

*The GR-97 missiles fire a plasma warhead (same as a HEAT round). Technically a HEAT round should be considered Energy, not Kinetic. Which would, IMO make them much more useful in BRP Mecha, and realistic.

Note: The MOSPEADA mecha is worn over a suit of CVR-03 Ride Armor. The Ride Armor provides 14 AP (character scale) and comes with built in two way radio, polarized faceplate, and a 5 minute internal (30 minute filtered) air supply.

I'm starting to think that a 1/10th scale (i.e. character scale) version of the mecha design rules could be a possibility. Each point of mecha scale damage could translate into 3D6 character scale.

Now I'm interested in seeing you do a conversion of the inbit.

My roleplaying blog: Axes and Orcs. Scramblings of anime, D&D, and RQ-derived games.

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There is nothing like seeing people use your creature in ways you did not foresee. And it isn't the first time this happens to me with Mecha.

Sorry:o,

It's just that I happened to pick a mech that is almost the worst choice for converting into BRP Mecha.

And I'm really thinking of doing up some notes for human worn mecha. I think a lot of the Mecha stuff would work and could be scaled down to character scale easily enough. Weapon damages, for instance, could look something like this:

Mecha Damage Character Damage

1 3D6

1d2 4D6

1d3 7D6

1d4 8D6

1d6 10D6

1d8 13D6

1d10 16D6

2d6 20D6

2d8 26D6

3d6 29D6

2d10 32D6

4d6 40D6

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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There is nothing like seeing people use your creature in ways you did not foresee. And it isn't the first time this happens to me with Mecha.

I bolted it on top of Pendragon and even altered the way stats were derived for my game. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0RgpTvR3o_9ZFl2ZzkteGtqeGs&usp=sharing&tid=0B0RgpTvR3o_9S0toTU1PSDF6Tk0 Treating the mecha like RR while having kaiju and magic does interesting things to the system.

In the works. The Inbit stats won't be finalized until I do up the Armor fighters. That way I can be sure that the combats and damages work out similar to the anime, and nothing ends up too tough.

I'll need to do up stats for actual Inbit, and probably revise the MOSPEADA stats some. Frankly that low (98hp) engine of the MOSPEADA is causing me more grief that the character scale. I'd really like the bikes to be a bit stronger, but it's hard to pull off with a POW 7 engine. And yeah, I do need to give it some fule tank POW points. I have to check and see if BRP MEcha has rules for long term PP costs. I'd like to be able to turn the time or range listed into some sort of multiplier, such as x1 multiplier per day of endurance or some such.

Also, most Mecha in this series, other than the MOSPEADAs seem to have ample POW, and will normally be operating within the 1/10th recharge rate.

It's got to weird trying to make balance the stats out so that a MOSPEADA or two can fight a small group of Inbit, but still make it worth the while to pull out an ARMO-fighter.

My roleplaying blog: Axes and Orcs. Scramblings of anime, D&D, and RQ-derived games.

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It's got to weird trying to make balance the stats out so that a MOSPEADA or two can fight a small group of Inbit, but still make it worth the while to pull out an ARMO-fighter.

Yeah, that's the trick. Although some of the weaker Inbit can't really challenge an Armo much. THat was kinda the problem of the Iigaa Booster. It has no ranged weaponry. Some of the tougher Inbit like the Gamo can challenge an Armo-fighter, but are a tough fight for M.O.S.P.E.A.D.A.

When I get most of the mecha statted I am going to watch the series again, and tweak values a bit here and there to try and get a better match to what we see on screen.

I think the key is probably to keep the Armor values low so that the MOS'PAs can get through. One of the things I did was have plasma (HEAT) warheads act as Energy instead of Kinetic Damage. That way a 1d2+1 missile against 1 point energy armor is much more effective than 1d3 against 2 points of kinetic armor. With the low HP that Inbit have, a 2 point hit through the armor can take out a location. And it is realistic to boot.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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I wonder what side of the real/super divide your typical Gundam (such as the White Doll from Turn A Gundam) falls on, because when the Gundams interact with the run-of-the-mill mecha used by their foes, it rarely goes well for the foes. In Wing, the find named Gundams were a LOT better than the Oz and earth mecha they usually fought. OZ needed to use research, special tactics, and fiendish traps to even present them with a challenge.

I'd say they would be firmly in the real robot camp-not the super robot. I think the effect you mentionedthat is more a matter of the pilot rather than the mecha. A lot of anime shows have the heroes zipping around through teh battle unscathed, while thier allies are being blown to bits all around them. Yeah the hero usually has the best mecha available to his side, but it's still more a matter of the pilot.

Which is what you will probably want to do in a game. Lull the heroes into complacency with hordes of easy-to-defeat enemies and then give them something meatier that poses a real threat.

Just be careful you don't pull a Roy Fokker on them and blindside them.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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I'd say they would be firmly in the real robot camp-not the super robot. I think the effect you mentionedthat is more a matter of the pilot rather than the mecha. A lot of anime shows have the heroes zipping around through teh battle unscathed, while thier allies are being blown to bits all around them. Yeah the hero usually has the best mecha available to his side, but it's still more a matter of the pilot.

Just be careful you don't pull a Roy Fokker on them and blindside them.

PINEAPPLE SALAD

My roleplaying blog: Axes and Orcs. Scramblings of anime, D&D, and RQ-derived games.

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PINEAPPLE SALAD

Ooh, you have been watching. And the proper Macross title, no less. But that is just the sort of nightmare scenario a GM can get into by running mostly wimpy foes and then tossing in a toughie. It's very easy to kill off an unspecting PC with an opening shot.

In the case of Fokker, he was essentially a NPC mentor figure who's demise allowed Hikaru to advance to the next step as a hero. But that's not someone you want to accidentally happen to a PC. BRP can be very unforgiving with damage.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Ooh, you have been watching. And the proper Macross title, no less. But that is just the sort of nightmare scenario a GM can get into by running mostly wimpy foes and then tossing in a toughie. It's very easy to kill off an unspecting PC with an opening shot.

In the case of Fokker, he was essentially a NPC mentor figure who's demise allowed Hikaru to advance to the next step as a hero. But that's not someone you want to accidentally happen to a PC. BRP can be very unforgiving with damage.

One of the first things TV station executives asked Carl Macek when he was pitching Robotech to them was "OK, so how do you bring Roy Fokker back?" The answer, of course, was that he didn't. War is All Hell and dead people stay dead. That was one of the things that made Robotech a turning point in the history of American TV animation. The total body count was somewhere in the high billions if you take into account most of the population of the Planet Earth.

Then Gundam Wing came along in the 1990s and the paradigm shifted again. The moral ambiguities of that series were shocking at that time -- but this time the American audiences embraced the anti-heroic Gundam Pilots even with all the innocent blood they ended up with on their hands. In its own way it was equally revolutionary to the point that Cartoon Network aired two versions -- one edited for after-school audiences and an uncut edition for people who were willing to stay up until midnight to get the full experience. In any case, animation on TV would never quite be the same again.

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I think you are give Macek too much credit. He really didn't have much choice about it. Fokker get's killed off half way through Macross, and unlike Space Cruiser Yamato, Macross didn't have enough footage, nor linear enough storyline for them to reinsert Roy into the remainder of the series, they way Starblazers did with it's dead. I suppose Macek deserves credit from bring Macross over to the U.S., and for not chopping it up as bad as Yamato had been. Still, Macek and Harmory Gold kept the Macross sequels out of the U.S. for ages in order to promote Robotech.

As far as animation on TV never being the same again, I wish. For the most part TV animation has gone on in the same fashion. What changed was that a larger segment of the population became aware that there was animated programs that weren't just kiddie kibble.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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I'm definitely going to have to upgrade the weaponry on the MOSPEADA's. I've been re-watching the series and generally single hits from the missiles and particle beam take out Inbit. I'm pretty close to that, if I treat the attacks as energy and have it bypass the armor. I just need to up the damage a point or two. Or possibly downgrade their Armor a level or two.

I should probably treat the Inbit as wearing powered armor to allow for better damage blow through. Basically if torso HP get reduced to zero the Inbit dies.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Hey, I have a question myself.

I need an extension to BRP Mecha that adds overheating for weapons and other components, similar to battletech and the mechwarrior series of PC games. Main reason is that using mechs without the ability to accidentally overheat your weapons (or deliberately do so) isn't gritty enough for me.

Is there an easy way to calculate this in? If not, can someone provide a chart that I can turn into a PDF for private use?

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Hey, I have a question myself.

I need an extension to BRP Mecha that adds overheating for weapons and other components, similar to battletech and the mechwarrior series of PC games. Main reason is that using mechs without the ability to accidentally overheat your weapons (or deliberately do so) isn't gritty enough for me.

Is there an easy way to calculate this in? If not, can someone provide a chart that I can turn into a PDF for private use?

I've been working on some extension stuff for BRO Mecha. If you want to do overheating, the simple method would seem to be:

1 POW Point = 1 Point of Heat.

For items that don't use PP, calculate heat generated as 1/2 the max die roll (1d6=3 heat, 1d8= 4 heat, 2d6 = 6 heat, 1d4+1 = 3 heat)

For MOV use 1 point of heat per MOV multiplier.

That sould cover most stuff.

I'd set the heat threshold as a fraction of SIZ. Depending on when you want overheating to begin you could use 1/10th SIZ, 1/5th SIZ, 1/4 SIZ or whatever.

You can also set up a cooling rating. Either as a function of SIZ (a bigger mecha will coll off 1 point of heat faster than a smaller one),or as a set value, maybe equal to size class. Or you can use a variable roll. Taking 2xSIZ (instead of STR+SIZ) on the damage bonus table could work.

You can alter this with additional heat sinks.

Is that simple enough, or do you still want a PDF?

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Oh. Nice. I hadn't started figuring out how to do over-heating for mecha yet, but this looks neat and usable at first glance. I'm going to stash that away for when I feel like running Valrave or Break Blade as heat management is important to those series.

My roleplaying blog: Axes and Orcs. Scramblings of anime, D&D, and RQ-derived games.

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I've been working on some extension stuff for BRO Mecha. If you want to do overheating, the simple method would seem to be:

1 POW Point = 1 Point of Heat.

For items that don't use PP, calculate heat generated as 1/2 the max die roll (1d6=3 heat, 1d8= 4 heat, 2d6 = 6 heat, 1d4+1 = 3 heat)

For MOV use 1 point of heat per MOV multiplier.

That sould cover most stuff.

I'd set the heat threshold as a fraction of SIZ. Depending on when you want overheating to begin you could use 1/10th SIZ, 1/5th SIZ, 1/4 SIZ or whatever.

You can also set up a cooling rating. Either as a function of SIZ (a bigger mecha will coll off 1 point of heat faster than a smaller one),or as a set value, maybe equal to size class. Or you can use a variable roll. Taking 2xSIZ (instead of STR+SIZ) on the damage bonus table could work.

You can alter this with additional heat sinks.

Is that simple enough, or do you still want a PDF?

I feel like turning THIS into said PDF.

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I feel like turning THIS into said PDF.

LOL!

As I've mentioned earlier, I'm working on a PDF with a few optinal rules for BRP Mecha: things like rules for using it to create powered armor; a mass/weight to SIZ table; a thrust to STR conversion and so on. I could probably add the overheating rules to it.

As a refresher in Battledroids (oops, BattleMech) the robots just shut down when the over heat, right? The way I remember it, they would shut down for a few rounds until they cooled off below their threshold. If they overheated too much they could explode, correct?

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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As a refresher in Battledroids (oops, BattleMech) the robots just shut down when the over heat, right? The way I remember it, they would shut down for a few rounds until they cooled off below their threshold. If they overheated too much they could explode, correct?

I have only played Battletech once and ended up exploding, very early, when all my ammunition exploded at once before I could use it. One of the tropes of the setting was that mecha were very, very expensive and rare. Unfortunately they were also alarmingly fragile. And evidently an accident like the one I suffered would be an instant, no-escape kill for the pilot.

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Unlike the robot fighters from StarBlazers. In one episode, one of the human heroes sneaked aboard a Zentradi battleship. In robot form, his fighter craft was the same size as one of the aliens. He briefly engaged in fisticuffs with an enemy soldier before his giant opponent tore him out of the cockpit.

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Unlike the robot fighters from StarBlazers. In one episode, one of the human heroes sneaked aboard a Zentradi battleship. In robot form, his fighter craft was the same size as one of the aliens. He briefly engaged in fisticuffs with an enemy soldier before his giant opponent tore him out of the cockpit.

That would be Robotech/Macross. Starblazers (the dubbed version of Space Battleship Yamato) didn't really involve mecha in the sense we generally use the term -- the action mainly centered on an enormous space battleship on a quixotic quest to make Earth inhabitable again -- with an implacable enemy dogging every step.

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