Mecha HERO?

[Samaritan]

I'm trying to figure out the vehicle rules (I really only ever play superhero and 'character' scale games with HERO) to see if I can do a 'mecha' type game. Giant robots, and all that- either "Shogun Warrior" or "Robotech" style.

 

Curious if anyone's tried this? What have your mecha HERO experiences been?

[Blue]

Re: Mecha HERO?

 

I haven't done this since "Robot Warriors", which made considerable modifications to the old pre-5th edition rules.

 

But I believe there are mecha in either The Ultimate Vehicle or the Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook (I forget which). Both are 5th edition products.

[Samaritan]

Re: Mecha HERO?

 

I haven't done this since "Robot Warriors", which made considerable modifications to the old pre-5th edition rules.

 

But I believe there are mecha in either The Ultimate Vehicle or the Hero System Vehicle Sourcebook (I forget which). Both are 5th edition products.

 

Ult. Vehicle, I think. Haven't picked it up. Anyone think it's worth it for someone interested in the Really Big Stompy Robot genre?

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Mecha HERO?

 

TUV has quite a bit on mecha -- an entire chapter, in fact.

 

Sadly, I understand that this will be more or less the end of mecha from the company (at any rate, Steve has said that the Thorgon Warstrider in Spacer's Toolkit will be the closest thing to a mech the Hero Universe will ever have).

[Samaritan]

Re: Mecha HERO?

 

TUV has quite a bit on mecha -- an entire chapter, in fact.

 

Sadly, I understand that this will be more or less the end of mecha from the company (at any rate, Steve has said that the Thorgon Warstrider in Spacer's Toolkit will be the closest thing to a mech the Hero Universe will ever have).

 

Sad to hear it... unfo, Mekton Z has little in the way of support anymore around here... though DP9's "SilCORE" ruleset is interesting.

 

I just have a hankering for putting some superheroes up against a small army of giant alient robots.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Mecha HERO?

 

There have been quite a few examples of mecha writeups from various sources posted to the boards. Here's a good sampling:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2976

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14174

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125

 

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/OtherGenres/000033.html

 

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/OtherGenres/000033-2.html

 

Note that a few of these were written under 4E HERO System, but the differences as far a vehicle writeups go are usually minimal.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Mecha HERO?

 

The vehicles rules work great for mecha. Simply define the technology of your campaign setting (how do things like Stealth, Radar, Laser, power plants etc work) and away you go. Its not at all difficult, once you iron out the "How do I do this?" after that its simply putting together the mecha.

 

Don't forget to balance things out like Damage Vs Defenses. If you want your campaign to be like Gundam or Macross, where mecha seem to explode like popcorn, then you want the defenses to be low compared to the DC's. If your campaign is going to more Superherioc like Dangaio or Getter Robo, then you are going to want the defenses to be a bit higher, so the mecha can take @ss loads of damage before going down.

 

Remember that 90% of mecha attack forms should be killing attacks. Don't forget to add the does body modifier to NND and AVLD attacks, otherwise they won't be effective against enemy vehicles (they would only do stun damage)

 

And when in doubt, check some of the threads linked above. There are quite a few sample mecha designs around here. They should be a help in getting you started.