So after talking with my primary source of anime and Mech source material, we are getting underway with a mecha team…

So after talking with my primary source of anime and Mech source material, we are getting underway with a mecha team…

So after talking with my primary source of anime and Mech source material, we are getting underway with a mecha team hack. Going to play a little close to the chest about setting and such until it coalesces more, but for those of you who are enthusiasts what source material do you think I should pay special attention to? (Gundam, Votoms, Heavy Gear, Robotech, and MMPR/Sentai Squad shows are already in the discussion)

11 thoughts on “So after talking with my primary source of anime and Mech source material, we are getting underway with a mecha team…”

  1. Battletech!  (+1 for Robotech)  EDIT: Not the obsessive, Star Trek-sized canon, just the idea of rusting mechs that can’t always be properly repaired for lack of parts.

  3. Sentai Squad feels like a bit of an outlier, here. The rest are all Real Robots (in the genre sense, at least) in a military setting. It would absolutely suit what Blades in the Dark is good at, but I’m not sure it’d look like the same game as one built to run Gundam and VOTOMS. 

    As for other source material: Patlabor (police units piloting mechs) and Front Mission (games, not anime/manga) and also good for this.

    I’d say, if you wanted a crash course of what I’d call the most important stuff to see for this, you want:

    Mobile Suit Gundam (movies, three movies): The grand-daddy of them all. It’s probably worth watching the entire series, but the movies compress it fairly well, since there’s a lot of filler. Gives you a handle on what you expect to see in this genre.

    Gundam 08th MS Team (OVA, eleven episodes): Probably the most mundane team-oriented Gundam series, it’s very good and razor-focused on what Blades in the Dark is best at with our protagonists. It’s the One Year War from MSG, but depicting a single mobile suit team on Earth, and their experiences during it.

    Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (OVA, six episodes): This is Gundam at its bleakest and most stark, depicting the human face of war by focusing on a child’s relationship between two pilots on different sides of the war. It doesn’t end well. The Zeon infiltration team would be a good example of a PC team.

    Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Pailsen Files (OVA, twelve episodes): VOTOMS is dense, hard, and difficult to get into. The Pailsen Files are probably the best way to get a food in the door, and anyone making this kind of game needs to see what was, is, and probably always will be the most bones-deep, grittiest Real Robot show on the planet. 

    Macross Plus (OVA, four episodes): It’s called the Top Gun of anime for good reason. It’s extremely accessible, has a great story, art, and music, and is probably the most polished that Real Robots has been (sans Gundam Unicorn, maybe?). It’s just fun, good, and the easiest way to get some Macross in your diet, so watch it.

    Front Mission 5 (game, quite long): This is the best Front Mission, but it’s also one you have to import. If you can’t get it, any of the Front Missions will do, though 3 goes a bit light on the plot (and everything else). It’s a world where teams piloting wanzers (walking tanks) are the new military, and that’s what they feel like, big stomping machines that have presence and power. Good Real Robot stories, and all built around turn-based SRPG mechanics, as you command a unit of wanzers against enemy teams.

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