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Transformers meets Robotech


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So my wife bought me Human Alliance Sideswipe for Christmas (I tell people it's because of my love for Corvettes in general and the Stingray in particular, which is part of it, but mostly Transformers are COOL) and started thinking about a character that was an android that transformed into a Motorcycle... Well I don't need to take you through the whole chain of thought, but ultimately it ended with "Wouldn't it be cool if the PC's piloted Transformers like in Robotech"

 

So I started thinking about that and was hoping people could help me flesh out details of the game.

 

Here's what I have so far: The pilots won't always be in their vehicles. They'll have to be competent without them.

 

Assume I don't know who my players would be.

 

Yep so that's about where I am. Here are things I'm trying to work out:

 

  • Vehicles - Right now I want the players to design their own vehicles, but I'm not sure how. I mean I want there to be choices, some vehicles will be large and armored but slower, compared to the light fast ones. I know the rules allow for such thing, but I'm not as familiar with vehicle rules as I am with Character rules, will the math work out the same? I mean if I say you have X points to build the vehicle, will it cost the armored giant more? I'd rather avoid this. I may not be able to have set rules. I may have to be REALLY involved with the vehicle building to make sure they all balance out.
  • Flying - I want the PC's to be able to have a flying vehicle, but I don't want them ALL to fly. I mean why would you take a car when you could go to Jet mode for speed and Robot mode for ground "Stuff". Do you think that I need to make flying vehicles more expensive or put detractors on them, or will human diversity win out (yeah flying is more advantageous, but playing a Tank would just be COOL!)
  • Changing Type - In the Transformers movie, they were able to "scan" a vehicle and use that. I was thinking of allowing that ability, but they couldn't change "class" (land had to be land air had to stay air) and just making it cost extra.

Writing this I came up with the character had to pay for advances in his vehicle. All the players start out with a Land vehicle, and have to pay extra to make it Air, sort of like the better weapon perks for Dark Champions. I could take it further and make it exactly like the Equipment Pool of DC, the PC's could pay extra to increase the amount of points they have to build their vehicles. This would (I hope) have the effect that the PC's would have to make a choice, have a great vehicle, be a great pilot, or be a great agent outside the vehicle or balance the 3.

 

Ideas, suggestions, comments?

 

P.S.

Another awesome toy, is those Nerf Dart guns, they are just so much fun, yes, yes I am 36 years old and still play with Transformers and Nerf Dart guns that doesn't make me a bad person.

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Re: Transformers meets Robotech

 

I would emphasize that while jets are superfast, they don't turn on a dime. In hot pursuit on city streets if the rice rocket robot makes a hairpin turn, the jet is going to overshoot and take forever to make the turn. You'll probably have one person who wants to split the difference for flight and manueverability and play a copter transformer. Also while a carbot can fit in a garage, a jetbot is going to need a hanger because of the size restrictions. A cyclebot might actually be able to fit through a doorway.

 

If you have 5 players I'm guessing you'll have one cycle-bot, one musclecar-bot, one constructicon, one copter-bot and one jetfighter, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

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Re: Transformers meets Robotech

 

Sure, you have to do two things though:

1) Help me build the darn thing. Help me figure out what rules I need and how to make everything work.

2) Get the Navy to stop moving me across the country every 4 months. :D

 

I do a lot of driving (oddly enough about every 4 months) and during that time I do a lot of thinking. That's where most of these ideas come from. I doubt I'll ever do anything with them or even finish working through the details (See my other thread I'm still mulling over). I may start blogging them to keep track of them just in case I get some time just to see if I finish anything.

 

Killer Shrike and I worked together on a small part of his MetaCyber game, and it was really fun bouncing ideas back and forth like that. We did it with Google Docs which was pretty handy. If someone wanted to help out with one of these ideas and keep me motivated an on track, who knows what could happen.

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Re: Transformers meets Robotech

 

If it actually works out that way it would be awesome' date=' I'm just afraid I was missing something and one would be much more attractive than another. My other fear is that the Jet Bot decides to be a Harrier so he can hover as well as go mach 3.[/quote']

 

More Harriers get wrecked taking off and landing than from enemy action; it's slow and tricky and you're crazy vulnerable when doing it. It would look cool though.

 

Maybe make the plane guy be a big, lumbering C-130 or B-52 beast? He can be the team transport.

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Re: Transformers meets Robotech

 

More Harriers get wrecked taking off and landing than from enemy action; it's slow and tricky and you're crazy vulnerable when doing it. It would look cool though.

 

Maybe make the plane guy be a big, lumbering C-130 or B-52 beast? He can be the team transport.

Most Harries aren't actually an AI robot either :P

 

That brings up the next questions: Should the vehicles be AI's? Should they be usable without their human driver? My initial thoughts are yes there is an AI in it with it's own personality, but they can't do anything without the pilot except talk to him, advise, things like that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: Transformers meets Robotech

 

Most Harries aren't actually an AI robot either :P

 

That brings up the next questions: Should the vehicles be AI's? Should they be usable without their human driver? My initial thoughts are yes there is an AI in it with it's own personality, but they can't do anything without the pilot except talk to him, advise, things like that.

 

Which then puts Team Knight Rider to the mashup, which cheesiness of the TV show aside, is an excellent flavor to add.

 

When I pondered a TKR game, each player had their own character, but would play someone /else's/ vehicle.

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