Mekton, published by R. Talsorian Games, is the oldest mecha RPG around. The original Mekton was a tactical game, released in 1984 as a boxed set. That year also saw the release of a softcover RPG using a custom system. Later editions switched over to the Interlock System, used by many other R. Talsorian products, and the most recent edition, Mekton Zeta, was released in 1994. Despite being almost two decades old, Mekton Zeta has maintained a dedicated fan following, and is still considered one of the best mecha RPGs available.
The System
Mekton Zeta uses the Interlock system, which uses d10s and d6s. The basic task resolution mechanic is Stat+Skill+Modifiers+d10, against either a fixed difficulty or another character's roll. Combat has tactical boardgame elements to it, with movement measured in hexes and references to facings and attack arcs, but these are easily to handwave away and conversion data from hexes to meters is given. There are two different scales in the rules: human-scale, which people and smaller mecha operate on, with 1 hex equaling 1 meter, and Mekton-scale, for larger-size mecha, with 1 hex equaling 50 meters. Weapons have rolled damage at the human scale, but switch to static values at Mekton scale. There are also rules for cross-scale combat, for humans or smaller mecha going up against normal-sized mecha. Interesting combat options include rules for missle salvos, dismembering enemy mechs, and picking up small-scale mecha and throwing them at your enemies, amongst other things. There are also rules for falling/collisions and fire or electricity damage, but these are quite brief (but useable), and the focus is clearly on combat here.
Character creation is quite different from normal point-buy or class-based systems. The process is semi-random, and starts by rolling for options on a lifepath chart. This determines your family background, friends and enemies, your current love life, and even your character's look and personality. After that you determine your character's stats by rolling for them, rolling for the number of points you spend on them, or simply receiving a set amount of points. After this you receive a set number of skill points to spend on various skills. When that's done, you have a 16 year old character base, and have two options. The first option is to play a Professional, an older, more experienced character. For every 2 years older than 16, up to the age of 30, a Professional picks a Profession and gets to choose skill bonuses from that profession. Every profession choice also comes with a roll on a random events table, with some careers more dangerous then others. They also earn money for each stint in a profession, which they use to buy gear. The other option is to play a Rookie, a younger, more inexperienced hero. This is done by choosing one of several templates, which give several bonus skills, some free starting equipment, and a small amount of cash to buy extra gear. There's an obvious power imbalance between Rookies and Professionals, but over time it evens out as the Rookies receive an XP bonus. The GM section also includes rules for making aliens, by matching advantages with disadvantages before proceeding through the lifepath system as normal. There are also rules for psychic characters in the companion, Mekton Zeta Plus.
The Setting
As a toolkit RPG, Mekton Zeta has no single established setting. The GM chapter includes guidelines on how to come up with a setting and a plot for your game, and gives plenty of advice on running anime-style games, from how to set the tone and theme to how NPCs should act. The back of the book also includes two settings-in-brief for the GM to expand as they please: Algol, a distant human colony where the three planetary powers are engaged in a fragile alliance against alien invaders, and Imperial Star, a space opera style setting with a galaxy-spanning empire to adventure in. Each setting vignette has one mecha statted out as an example, and leaves the rest to the GM.
Many of the published supplements for Mekton Zeta have included settings in various stages of detail. The first Mecha Manual included several brief setting descriptions, with a handful of mecha for each one, while the second Mecha Manual focused entirely on the Invasion Terra setting, first mentioned in the Mekton Wars scenario book. Invasion Terra is a Robotech-esque setting where 22nd-century Earth is invaded by humanlike aliens after humanity's genestock. Also available is the Starblade Battalion setting book, set in the future of Talsorian's Cyberpunk 2020 game, where an independant group of soldiers are trying to stop the ongoing war between two extremist factions. Both Starblade Battalion and Mecha Manual 2 include several statted-out mecha and vehicles for the GM to use, reducing the amount of prep work.
The Mecha
Despite being a mecha game, aside from the example mecha for the settings in the back, Mekton Zeta only includes half-a-dozen mecha in the book. This is because, being a toolkit system, they wanted as wide a variety of mecha available as possible, so they put a mecha construction system right in the core rules. Occupying a fifth or so of the book at 30 pages, the system is reasonably simple while still allowing for a wide variety of builds. After you have a mecha concept, you begin by buying the neccessary servos, or various body parts: torso, arms, head, legs, wings, etc. You also choose a weight class for each servo; heavier classes can take more damage and have more room for extra systems, but your final weight affects your speed, maneuverability, and how costly flight systems are. After you've chosen your body, you decide how much armor each section has. Again, you have to balance protection against weight. After that you choose your subassemblies: sensors, crew space, weapons, and miscellaneous options. Weapons are chosen from a chart of various weapon types, including missles, beam weapons, projectile weapons, and both normal and energy melee weapons. All systems take up space and have weight, and once you fill all the spaces on your servos, you can't add anything else. After this step, you calculate your final weight. At this point, you can add flight or hover systems, or make your mecha transformable. Once that's done, you calculate your ground speed and maneuverability, and write everything down on the sheet. Everything, from servos to weapons to transformation options, also has a cost in CP, which serves as a power comparison between different mecha and a general benchmark of ability. A GM could set a CP limit and let the players make their own mecha, if they wished. There are also scaling guides to make smaller mecha or giant starships.
However, if the options in the core book aren't enough, Mekton Zeta Plus contains a massively expanded version called the Mekton Technical System. Clocking in at over 100 pages, the MTS elaborates on every single step of the process. Subsystems are provided for designing each type of weapon to your precise specifications, and extra options are added for everything from cockpits to sensors to powerplants. There are rules for cloaking devices, remote drones, add-on armor, teleportation, psychic foci, combining mecha, and much, much more. They even expand the scaling system to enable the creation of human-sized power armor, or regular vehicles, or hand-held weaponry. There is literally no type of mecha you cannot make with the MTS, if you're willing to spend the extra time fiddling around with all the options.
My Opinion
It's easy to see why so many people think this is one of the best. The rules are pretty streamlined and easy to understand, the system can handle a wide variety of game styles, and character creation is a fun little process that will always have some surprises in store for the player without completely robbing them of choice. The mecha creation system is fun and easy, unless you add in Mekton Zeta Plus, in which case it becomes really, really fun and markedly less simple. The only real downsides I can see from my read-through is that some people just won't like that much randomness in their character creation, and some GMs may balk at all the effort that can be required to make every mecha for a setting. These are relatively minor issues, however; the randomization is mostly fluff, with only a single table that has actual negative effects on the character, and the simpler mecha construction in the core rulebook can do enough to get a game going. Overall, I'd say it's a fantastic game that hits all the right notes for mecha gaming goodness.
Mekton Zeta and its supplements are available in print at R. Talsorian's online store or as PDFs at DriveThruRPG.
Next up: Hexgrid-based tanks-on-legs goodness!
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