Hello everyone!

9 thoughts on “Hello everyone!”

1. I’ve been day dreaming about Mechs in the Dark for a while now, so I am so here for this.

2. I am writing notes for an RPG about mecha pilots, so I am excited to follow this.

   Your decision to have players roll a combination of traits while in a mech seems dubious, since that many dice will make actions less interesting due to the probabilities involved. How do you reconcile this with the fact that simply being in a mech will change the expected effect of actions taken by a piloting PC?

3. Mark Cleveland Massengale

   There are two parts to this.

   The first (if I am understanding your issue correctly) is that combining Interface with a vehicle action will give the PCs too many dice for failure to be likely. Interface maxes out at two points and vehicle actions max out at two points, so a fully upgraded character isn’t going to be rolling more than 4 action dice which is the same as Blades. A starting character has access to 3 action dice max which is the same as blades. Of course a pilot may choose to put their dots elsewhere.

   The second is that a vehicle doesn’t have to be a mech. There’s a person on the game’s discord considering a teched out hamsterball with the pilot inside. Yes it will still be a different scale which is what you’re getting at (if I’m correct), and I don’t feel that there is an issue with the PCs having access to mech scaled actions. If they choose to bring the mechs on every mission they take then they’ll face responses in kind removing their scale advantage. It’s kind of like the demon example regarding scale/quality in Blades, but in reverse. The enemy isn’t stupid and will find means to counter vehicles which is probably vehicles of their own.

4. Austin Ramsay​ or RPGs. (Rocket Propelled Grenades)

5. Now that I understand that, I feel way differently. How I value my PC vs Mech action ratings are oddly dissonant. PCs can only get 2d on their own? And now, teamwork without the mech is just foolish? (because they would all suffer the consequences if none of our puny dice pools turn up any 6s). I must be a power-bottom if I ever take action without one.

   I am surprised you brought up vehicles, too – since that is what I am looking at as well and I am coming up with very different conclusions.

   Curious why you didn’t just write an ability like that on a PC playbook, probably the Ace, and just leave the basic rules for forming dice pools as is. An ability like Like Part of the Family can expand upon that, but – at first anyways – the players would just roll their own action rating while operating the mech.

   The benefit of being in it would be the boosted effect. “Can I use my giant railgun to kill that lone soldier?”

   “Yes, and due to your mech’s size this task should be Risky for 3 effect. However, due to the factor of you being bigger than them, it is Controlled for 3 effect (or Risky for 4)”

6. +Mark Cleveland Massengale (SaveMeJebu5)

   I think that there was a miscommunication on my part. 11 of the 12 pilot actions have a max of 2 at chargen (3 with the squad ability that adds an extra point), a max of 3 normally, and a max of 4 with the Mastery squad ability.

   This is all the same as Blades.

   The 12th skill is Interface, which has a max of 2 at the start and forever. It is combined with vehicle actions which have a starting max of 1 and an ultimate max of 2.

   So with any action (pilot or vehicle) you roll 0-4 dice based purely on the action rating.

   I split vehicle actions like this because I want the vehicles to have skills that they are better and worse at in a more concrete way than with qualities.

   I’m unsure as to why you feel teamwork is useless.

7. ooooh, ok yea I just misunderstood. However, now my initial sentiment is renewed with regards to the Interface action, and what I thought before is now compounded by the fact that even more dots would be worthless while interfaced with a mech.

   Perhaps an example will help you understand why I am picking on this idea. Assume that there are two PCs fighting inside individual mechs. One of the PCs with 0 dots in Hunt and 2 in Interface engages a target in ranged combat. They roll a base of 2d.

   Then, my PC with 4 dots in Hunt and 0 in Interface also engages in ranged combat. It would seem I am to roll a base of 0d, despite my PC being a Master Hunter.

   PS: I also read the lore about the interface, but I am suggesting to model that fiction differently so your game is robust. IE just assume PCs get basic interface training if they have a mech interface. Then they always roll their rating in the action they take – whether through a mech or not. ezpz

   Further, Teamwork is and should be reserved for characters acting in concert with other characters. However, an ability could allow that, and explain why that special benefit manifests (“mastery of wielding the interface,” for example).

8. Mark Cleveland Massengale

   I see your point however we’ll have to settle on disagreeing about Interface. I feel that the skillset between being a sniper and a tank gunner is sufficiently different for the neither to apply to the other. I also like the mechanical split created by forcing pilots to invest in their vehicles or in themselves as it speaks to the mech media trope of the ace pilot not being combat competent outside of their vehicle, and the soldier being no match for the ace in their element.

   Thank you for elaborating.

   I’m still unclear on your issue with the teamwork rules I have.

9. True, though that ace pilot situation is not mutually exclusive, and neither is the mechanical split you speak of. Both would arise in either rules situation, but in yours the players get an incredible deal, while simultaneously subverting the action dot system (consider how easy it will be to exploit this reliance on Interface for all actions within mechs, freeing up the rest of their action dot choices to cover what they will probably roll during downtime).

   I guess its the way those special rules are worse than not having them, reiterating how robust the current teamwork+vehicle rules are (they typically dont apply). I also notice the way Blades does this provides an opportunity to highlight the Ace Pilot, while wondering aloud Why change that?

   Nonetheless, I suppose I shall do as you wish, and digress. I will try to avoid the subject as I continue to pick this apart.

Comments are closed.