Gundam 00 Hero

[Michael Hopcroft]

I've had some trouble building mecha in HERO for some reason (one of the thing that's delayed my writeup of Rayearth) but I'm very interested in the "sympathy for the devil" concept of the new Gundam franchise entry Gundam 00. Like Gundam Wing before it, this new series features heroes who are viewed as terrorists by most of the world -- with more than a little justification, as they are using super-weapons to fight a war against war itself.

 

So while designing the mecha may be secondary, the problem may be how to run a campaign in a setting like that (with three global superpowers in Orwellian perpetual conflict until this interloper tries to stop them) and how players can determine which side their PCs are really on. On one hand the endless warfare is causing endless suffering among those caught in the middle and is of questionable value or desirability; on the other does anyone have the right to attempt to impose a peace upon the unwilling powers?

 

It's a dilemma that is not limited to mecha series; after all, James T. Kirk did try to convince the near-deific Organians to mind their own bleeping business and let him go ahead and wage war on the Klingons, who were even more eager to go into battle.

[Jhaierr]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

(As an aside, how very strange that you post this tonight, as I was just now going to the boards to browse for combining mecha stuff.)

 

Do you have the Ultimate Vehicle? It covers creating mecha quite well!

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

(As an aside, how very strange that you post this tonight, as I was just now going to the boards to browse for combining mecha stuff.)

 

Do you have the Ultimate Vehicle? It covers creating mecha quite well!

 

Not really. Its very basic. Almost too basic when it comes to mecha. There's so much more that can be done with Hero, its frightening. Mecha really need a book all to themselves.

 

What I want to know is, what exactly is it you've had trouble with? Is it balancing out the Mobile Suites against one another? Is it attacks vs defense? Is it the specifics of the internal equipment?

 

Mobile Suits in and of themselves tend to be fairly basic mecha, but then again if this is a Super Mobile Suit show like Gundam Wing, they're probably a lot more complicated than the typical U.C. MS's.

 

There is an old thread around here somewhere where I wrote up a Gundam from Wing (the Wing Zero Custom). I'll try to dig it up and link it here. Maybe it'll give you a bit of inspiration.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

Not really. Its very basic. Almost too basic when it comes to mecha. There's so much more that can be done with Hero' date=' its frightening. Mecha really need a book all to themselves.[/quote']

 

Except that Steve doesn't like them. They don't make sense (and flying gals in capes with D cups do?), and from a military standpoint he's right. They sure look cool to many eyes, though.

 

What I want to know is, what exactly is it you've had trouble with? Is it balancing out the Mobile Suits against one another? Is it attacks vs defense? Is it the specifics of the internal equipment?

 

Mobile Suits in and of themselves tend to be fairly basic mecha, but then again if this is a Super Mobile Suit show like Gundam Wing, they're probably a lot more complicated than the typical U.C. MS's.

 

There is an old thread around here somewhere where I wrote up a Gundam from Wing (the Wing Zero Custom). I'll try to dig it up and link it here. Maybe it'll give you a bit of inspiration.

 

Actually, the thread was supposed to be about handling the social and moral dilemmas presented by the premises of Wing and 00. In other words, whose side is better to be on in a situation like the advent of Celestial Being (or, for that matter, the revolt of the Gundams in Wing).

[Pyre-Archer]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

In other words' date=' whose side is better to be on in a situation like the advent of Celestial Being (or, for that matter, the revolt of the Gundams in Wing).[/quote']

 

The Maganac Corp. Can't go wrong with them ;-)

 

Based on my limited Gundam experience, 'your own' seems to be the side that the main characters gravitate to. In Wing, most of the 'established' factions (Oz, UESA, White Fang, Sanc Kingdom) tended to take extreme positions that didn't work in real life or, worse, tended to blow up the people they were claiming to protect. The Main characters/PCs, who may start in one of the factions, wind up being caught in the middle of the whole war, see that neither side has it right, and try to take on both, usually with varying degrees of success. It's usually hard to see, at least to me, if there is one really 'evil' side in Gundam shows. 'War in my pocket' (IIRC) underscores that nicely. Outside the suits, both mech pilots are nice enough people to the main character (a kid who thinks war is cool). When the alliances show, though, it's fighting, brutal, bloody fighting.

 

Haven't seen 00, so I can't say how things work there. In SeeD, FWIW, it's all about extremism; a small knot of mostly isolated maniacs on both sides is keeping the war going (okay, and one nihilistic nutcase), and the main characters form their own group to stop the fighting.

 

As to the whole mobile suits in HERO thing: it's just powered armour, only lots bigger...And come on, who doesn't want to see Foxbat Gundam versus Seeker Zaku, round 1?? Even if it's just so that the PCs can take both down in the next session, like Mr. Long knows all good HERO players should do?

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

And come on, who doesn't want to see Foxbat Gundam versus Seeker Zaku, round 1??

 

Foxbat in a mecha is an alarming prospect. His tendency to waste phases posing would be even worse in a cockpit....

[Pyre-Archer]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

Foxbat in a mecha is an alarming prospect. His tendency to waste phases posing would be even worse in a cockpit....

 

Making him perfect for a G Gundam parody ;-) "Rise, Shining Foxbat Gundam!" (snaps fingers)

 

But to get back on topic...Imposed peace rarely works, no matter who's writing the rules. In most (not just Gundam stories, just look at Kingdom Come) stories, you wind up trading one tyrant for another and the cycle of war continues.

 

I'd better stop, I'm starting to get preachy...it's never fun when I get preachy, logic gets all hissy at me and storms off in a huff.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Gundam 00 Hero

 

Making him perfect for a G Gundam parody ;-) "Rise' date=' Shining Foxbat Gundam!"[/i'] (snaps fingers)

 

But to get back on topic...Imposed peace rarely works, no matter who's writing the rules. In most (not just Gundam stories, just look at Kingdom Come) stories, you wind up trading one tyrant for another and the cycle of war continues.

 

That was exactly the theme of the Gundam Wing OVA series, Endless Waltz; the deranged daughter of one of Wing's main antagonists revives the old conflict a few years after it was supposedly settled. Although she was defeated, it was clear that things would continue to happen to threaten the new order (such as it was).