Battle Century G: The Mecha RPG

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

Balfnaught1 Kloudy QizPizza UnassumingBoxCat
Moving this to an official thread since it looks like we have some interest.
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Explanation from the interest check for those just peaking in:

Looking for anyone interested in playing through a campaign of a little known system called Battle Century G. It's a fairly simple system Built around the idea of trying to easily emulate anime style mecha battles ranging from the more realistic stuff like Gundam to the More Super Robot end such as Mazinger or Gurren Lagann.

The creator has provided both the core book and the expansion for free in the form of system reference documents as seen here:

Core Rulebook:
Battle Century G System Reference Document.pdf

Expansion - Battle Century Z:
Battle Century Z System Reference Document.pdf

As well as fillable character sheets for easy use:
Battle_Century_G_Character_Sheet_Fields.pdf

So you can give those all a look through if you're interested.
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As for our Campaign, players would take on the role of inhabitants of Nemea City, the technologically advanced capital of the island nation of the New Cyclades. Once a private enclave for the eccentric rich and scientifically minded, the islands have become what may be the last refuge of the entire human race.

15 years ago a mysterious alien force known as the Chthon appeared without warning, annihilating humanity wherever they went and leaving horrific monsters called Telkhine in their wake. Only the New Cyclades, under the direction of their Mysterious leader, Dr. Xi Fang, made the effort to save as many of the refugees as they could before sealing themselves away from the world behind an energy barrier that only the Doctor himself seemed to fully understand.

But now Dr. Fang has disappeared, and the barrier he created is failing. In response, the organization Oracle, those who have dedicated themselves to deciphering Fang's work and understanding and defeating the Telkhine and their Chthon masters, have called upon a handful of individuals (The players, obviously) seemingly at random to pilot a set of new prototype machines known as the "Nemean Engines," cobble together from bit's of Fang's work in the hopes that they create a weapon capable of saving humanity from its impending doom.

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I would be GMing and can provide a discord server for if this get's going. I'm also free to answer any questions about either the system or the setting at any time. Looking for a group of 3 to 5 not counting myself.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

UnassumingBoxCat

you can probably get by with just a basic knowledge, but I would recommend giving at least a cursory glance to a few show if only to get a feel for some of the typical tropes as the system absolutely revels in them.

On the whole this campaign is intended towards the "Super Robot" end of the spectrum (Which is to say, mechs that function more like superheroes than tools of war)

A few really good examples of shows to check out would be: Gurren Lagann, New Getter Robo or Getter Robo Armaggedon, Shin Mazinger Z Impact!, Evangelion, or Rahxephon. I'd definately recommend checking out a few episodes of at least 1 of those series to get a feel.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

Balfnaught1 Kloudy QizPizza UnassumingBoxCat

Beyond that, have any of you got the chance to download the books and/or give thoughts towards the concepts for either your characters or their robots?

 

[QizPizza]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS
I'm not sure if the books cover this, but do different weapons have different damages? I may have overlooked it skimming through the books.

Also, could we have custom weapons, say, a giant battle axe with a burst weapon attacted, or does that system not support that?

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS
I'm not sure if the books cover this, but do different weapons have different damages? I may have overlooked it skimming through the books.

Also, could we have custom weapons, say, a giant battle axe with a burst weapon attacted, or does that system not support that?

It's a really simple system so most customization is assumed to be fluff.

All damage comes from a mecha's might stat plus a 1d10 roll during combat.

The weapons provided are mainly meant to be presented as functions rather than the actual weapons themselves. I'm not sure if he explains it in the SRD but in the Full version he devotes a whole page to it.

For example: If you're using a giant Axe you'd probably want to use either dueling blade or chain blade depending on which effect you feel lines (I'd go with chainblade as it evokes sheering away armor) or beam saber if it's an energy weapon.

Then take riot weapon (shotgun effect) or assault rifle (or beam rifle or incinerator as the beam alternates)

Then when equiping the weapons during creation just put them both in the "arms" section under areas and name them accordingly. Them being part of the same weapon is just fluff for when you're describing the mech or how it fights.

Example Effect:
Name: Giant Axe/ Type: Melee, Non-Beam/ Effect: Chain-blade (pg. 91)(I recommend always putting the page number so you don't forget)

Then:
Name: Burst Weapon (Or something like Giant Axe: Burst Mode if you want to highlight that they're one and the same.)/ Type: Shooting, non-beam/ Effect: Riot Weapon (Pg. 92)

Hopefully any of this makes sense.

 

[QizPizza]

It's a really simple system so most customization is assumed to be fluff.

All damage comes from a mecha's might stat plus a 1d10 roll during combat.

The weapons provided are mainly meant to be presented as functions rather than the actual weapons themselves. I'm not sure if he explains it in the SRD but in the Full version he devotes a whole page to it.

For example: If you're using a giant Axe you'd probably want to use either dueling blade or chain blade depending on which effect you feel lines (I'd go with chainblade as it evokes sheering away armor) or beam saber if it's an energy weapon.

Then take riot weapon (shotgun effect) or assault rifle (or beam rifle or incinerator as the beam alternates)

Then when equiping the weapons during creation just put them both in the "arms" section under areas and name them accordingly. Them being part of the same weapon is just fluff for when you're describing the mech or how it fights.

Example Effect:
Name: Giant Axe/ Type: Melee, Non-Beam/ Effect: Chain-blade (pg. 91)(I recommend always putting the page number so you don't forget)

Then:
Name: Burst Weapon (Or something like Giant Axe: Burst Mode if you want to highlight that they're one and the same.)/ Type: Shooting, non-beam/ Effect: Riot Weapon (Pg. 92)

Hopefully any of this makes sense.

Thank you, that makes sense.

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

I know what I want to do for my Pilot, and I've got 4 concepts for the mech. The Pilot is a hacker/gamer who goes by his tag TerraByte. The mech so far is one of 4 things: a claymore-toting bucket of bolts called the Highlander, a small stealth/assassin type called the Snake, a walking artillery battery called the Lion, and a generalist combat walker called the Doombot.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

I know what I want to do for my Pilot, and I've got 4 concepts for the mech. The Pilot is a hacker/gamer who goes by his tag TerraByte. The mech so far is one of 4 things: a claymore-toting bucket of bolts called the Highlander, a small stealth/assassin type called the Snake, a walking artillery battery called the Lion, and a generalist combat walker called the Doombot.

The pilot is cool.

We're definitely going to have to work on those mech names though.

I'll probably have everyone decide on a naming theme for the machines so that they all kind of mirror each other.

Also, all the Nemean Engines (the mechas you guys are piloting) are pretty new, so I'm not sure even the worst among them could be classified as a "bucket of bolts". Although maybe you could say it was cobbled together from the frame of an older pre-wall mech and retrofitted with some of the newer N.E. tech as a test bed for the models that followed. Which would probably serve the same purpose.

Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

Balfnaught1 Kloudy QizPizza UnassumingBoxCat

Oh boy. So I only gave the SRDs a basic skim through before I provided them here but suffice to say I didn't realize exactly how much stuff got redesigned in between beta and the full release. It isn't unplayable but don't bother spending any points just yet since the values are all wrong. I'll provide the redone base templates a little later when I get the chance.

That being said, the Basic BCG pdf is like 10 bucks if you have it, otherwise I'll try to figure something out in the mean time.

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

I just had the thought: is there any particular power level we're supposed to start at?

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

I just had the thought: is there any particular power level we're supposed to start at?

Power level 1

100 points for basic constuction plus 30 for starting at PL1

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

Gotcha. Thanks! I think I've settled on the light & speedy type vehicle, with this one also functioning as R&D's (and Terra's) playground for various gadgets. I want to name it something along the lines of the Fanged Serpent, just because I plan to load this thing with counterintelligence and shenanigan-machines. Does that sound good?

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

BattleCenturyG_TerraByte_Finished.pdf

Alright, here's my finished character sheet. I haven't done the Typecast or Bane, since my understanding was those were meant to be done once everyone's concepts were complete.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

BattleCenturyG_TerraByte_Finished.pdf

Alright, here's my finished character sheet. I haven't done the Typecast or Bane, since my understanding was those were meant to be done once everyone's concepts were complete.

Looks good at a glance. Though he seems to have more stuff than he should. I'll run the math a little later just to check, sometimes it comes out wierd.

I would recommend spacing the weapons out a bit, otherwise there's a chance you'll loose everything the moment you loose a threshold. Maybe put the assault rifle in the head, Have it function like a more advanced version of the normal vulcans or something to that effect. But other than that all good.

And yeah, don't worry about Typecast or bane, those have more to do with inter-character relationships which we can't really do yet given you're the only one.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

BattleCenturyG_TerraByte_Finished.pdf

Alright, here's my finished character sheet. I haven't done the Typecast or Bane, since my understanding was those were meant to be done once everyone's concepts were complete.

Alright, I did the math. Your point values are a little off.

For your character you're currently coming in at 170 in total
110 for stats
35 for skills
25 for traits.

I'm assuming the issue is mainly trying to figure out how the costs for stats work since that's what trips up everyone the first time around. Basically each time you go up a level you pay the exact number of points as the level you're going up to (Going to level 1 is 1pt, going to level 2 is 2pts totaling at 3 and so on.

Fitness: 5 = 15pts
Intellect: 9 = 45pts
charm: 4 = 10pts
Awareness: 5 = 15pts
Willpower: 5 = 15pts
Resources: 4 = 10pts
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Similarly your mech is clocking in at 180pts in total
110 for stats
70 for weapons and upgrades

Might: 7 = 28
Guard: 5 = 15
Threshold: 4 = 10
Energy: 6 = 21
Systems: 5 = 15
Speed: 6 = 21

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

Huh. I guess I missed some points spent. Really sorry, I'll fix it as soon as I can.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

Huh. I guess I missed some points spent. Really sorry, I'll fix it as soon as I can.

No problem. There's no rush. I'm just glad I caught it now rather than later.

 

[QizPizza]

Here's what I got, tell me if there's anything wrong:
Dropbox - Battle_Century_G_F.pdf

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

Here's what I got, tell me if there's anything wrong:
Dropbox - Battle_Century_G_F.pdf

Gave it the runthrough, everything checks out. Though, It's kind of funny that he's this heroic genius test pilot who also happens to look so terrifying that he can give people nightmares just by looking at them too hard. Maybe that could tie into his Bane when we get to that.

UnassumingBoxCat

I feel like I should point out though that you guys have really similar character concepts. To the point that you're both geniuses piloting fast but fragile machines filled with parts that can't easily be replaced.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing however, it could play into your typecasts and backgrounds, i.e. maybe one of you sees the other as a rival, maybe you're former partners in crime. There's some stuff you could do. Though I would recommend comparing notes a bit to make sure you guys aren't coming off as too similar.

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS I've been considering changing his Mecha's concept for a bit, and I might change his character too. If I did, I might have him focus on the "gamer" aspect, maybe have him be a well known streamer. The mech would be changed to be a massive tank-like ranged combat monster, like a massive quadruped artillery unit. Seeing as I seem to have an animal theme going, I'd probably name it the King Crab, for its multi-legged design and slow-yet-powerful nature.

EDIT: Here's what I've got as a sort of briefing on the King Crab:

The K1NG-R.emote A.rtillery B.attery, also known as the "King Crab" is an experimental Gear design contained under the Nemean Engines project. It is built based off the pattern of Gears colloquially called the "Destroyer" class. Outfitted with heavy artillery batteries, an HML, and an as-yet-untested TBG (Targeted Black Hole Generator), the Crab is outfitted with an impressive array of weapons. However, this does come with a drawback. In order to allow for sustained fire of its primary weaponry, the Crab has many magazines and ancillary energy storage installed under its surface plating. These magazines would theoretically be vulnerable to accidental detonation when placed under stress, although testing so far has remained inconclusive.

EDIT 2: What sort of games would be popular around the time that this story starts? I think as a streamer he'd be dedicated to one game, I just dont know what games are around at the time of the story.

 

[QizPizza]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS . I'm was think that his genius makes my character seem condescending and perhaps an overall cold personality that makes him so intimidating. I guess you can also say that his bluffs are well thought out enough that people actually take him seriously.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

Balfnaught1 Kloudy QizPizza UnassumingBoxCat LyssiNae

Not for the game but relevant none the less!
Giant Robot fight in 10 minutes!

Twitch

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS I've been considering changing his Mecha's concept for a bit, and I might change his character too. If I did, I might have him focus on the "gamer" aspect, maybe have him be a well known streamer. The mech would be changed to be a massive tank-like ranged combat monster, like a massive quadruped artillery unit. Seeing as I seem to have an animal theme going, I'd probably name it the King Crab, for its multi-legged design and slow-yet-powerful nature.

EDIT: Here's what I've got as a sort of briefing on the King Crab:

The K1NG-R.emote A.rtillery B.attery, also known as the "King Crab" is an experimental Gear design contained under the Nemean Engines project. It is built based off the pattern of Gears colloquially called the "Destroyer" class. Outfitted with heavy artillery batteries, an HML, and an as-yet-untested TBG (Targeted Black Hole Generator), the Crab is outfitted with an impressive array of weapons. However, this does come with a drawback. In order to allow for sustained fire of its primary weaponry, the Crab has many magazines and ancillary energy storage installed under its surface plating. These magazines would theoretically be vulnerable to accidental detonation when placed under stress, although testing so far has remained inconclusive.

EDIT 2: What sort of games would be popular around the time that this story starts? I think as a streamer he'd be dedicated to one game, I just dont know what games are around at the time of the story.

1). That sounds good. Though I'm personally not a fan of quadrapedal mechs as far as design goes, but that's on you. As for the names, what would you guys think of an astrological theme (Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, etc.)? Although it's up to you whether "King Cancer" is an improvement.

2). Looks good. Is the TBG a weapon?

3). that's up to you. It's a post apocalyptic megacity in a world where more than 99% of mankind may have just disappeared. So MOBAs are probably still popular.

 

[SAIGO-NO-HEATS]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS . I'm was think that his genius makes my character seem condescending and perhaps an overall cold personality that makes him so intimidating. I guess you can also say that his bluffs are well thought out enough that people actually take him seriously.

Eh, I think that "Cold" in that respect would fit better as a Bane than as a trait, and "condescending genius" works better as a typecast as opposed to being a full on trait.

Anomalies are more that something is really weird/unsettling about your character. Nightmare in particular is that your character is so unsettling that they can't really function in normal society.

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

SAIGO-NO-HEATS Yeah, the TBG is my way of representing the Oblivion Buster weapon type. The boosted version is more like a massive vortex cannon that spews black hole out the front, consuming everything in its path. I still think I prefer King Crab; King Cancer just sounds really weird. Maybe that can be a bit of a running joke among the party that I refused naming convention. And yeah, sounds like he's probably a League player.