Have all of my money! Savage Robotech is official

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Wow! I wonder how that affects any good will from Palladium.
 
I know for a fact it doesn't. Kevin talked about Robotech at the open house. Besides just the RTT mess, Palladium is at a point that they have to focus on their core product lines.


Savage Worlds gets the benefit of the old grognards that value the Robotech IP and general Savage Worlds fans that like the system.
 
Given that Harmony Gold's license expires in two years, not a chance. Not a fan of Savage Worlds myself, but I'd kill for an adaptation of the Macross universe to Warbirds.
I love Warbirds! I can see the sci-fi rules working for the dogfights. The way they make the fighters could work with mecha as well.
 
The preorders for the core book (Macross era) and Action Deck are up at battlefieldpress.com; scroll down if you seem to get a blank page at first. Expected to ship late April. They say they hope to cover all four eras over the next two years, but it depends on sales figures.
 
I love Warbirds! I can see the sci-fi rules working for the dogfights. The way they make the fighters could work with mecha as well.
After I saw that post I checked out warbirds, and I have to agree completely. In fact, I'm going to push it on my old robotech GM for when I get back up into his neck of the woods this summer. Thanks for the tip.
 
Waiting for a print version. I didn't want to pre-order. I'm not a fan of PDFs.

But then this requires Adventure Edition, doesn't it? So, I'd still be waiting for that print book to be released.

Honestly, I'm kinda meh on the whole thing whether it be Savage Worlds or the system used for the other upcoming Robotech game. I may have finally burnt myself out on Robotech. It's a shame I waited for so long for Robotech to be on something other than Palladium's system, and then when it finally happens it's just been too long for me to have any remaining enthusiasm.
 
Honestly I picked it up and wasn't too impressed.

I think the biggest issue I have with most of the games like this is that it assumes you are playing a broad variety of character types from the series... but I don't feel that is how most players want to play the game. Who wants to be the bridge bunny when they could be a veritech pilot?
 
Honestly I picked it up and wasn't too impressed.

I think the biggest issue I have with most of the games like this is that it assumes you are playing a broad variety of character types from the series... but I don't feel that is how most players want to play the game. Who wants to be the bridge bunny when they could be a veritech pilot?
Exactly. This has come up in a few other threads, but I think I would have to say to my players, "we're doing a mecha squadron, make characters accordingly." This is what I did for SW: Age of Rebellion where everyone was some kind of fighter pilot (pilot, hotshot pilot, commander, etc.) in a Y-wing squadron and still one player wanted to be a commando. He ended up being a Y-wing gunner and was not happy about it.
 
The problem is that because the system is designed around "everyone is playing different types of characters" that when you just make 1 type with it, there isn't very much mechanical difference. All the mechanical difference is baked into playing vastly different types of characters.

There isn't the nuance of "this pilot is better at defending, while this pilot is great with rockets, and this pilot is great at tight manuevers" etc.
 
First, thank you for the heads up on the sale Picaroon.

second, I will stop being a fan of Robotech Rpgs both old and new on the day their is a Gundam tabletop Rpg book that is readily available in english.
 
Yep, I'm always looking for that Holy Grail of a mecha game that has it all.
 
It's honestly hard. I have such specific desires for a mecha game, and no game seems to do it all.

1. It has to assume all players are going to be pilots. I find that without this, there isn't enough diversity in mechanics if you play all pilots.
2. Pilot skill has to matter. A lot of systems are based around just building the mech as a separate character from the pilot, but I feel like this makes it impossible to run stuff like Robotech where players all have the same kind of machines and it is pilot skills that make them different. Also, if Heero Yuy jumps in a Leo, he's still going to kick your ass, cause he's Heero Yuy.
3. Mecha combat has to feel different from personal combat. I hate the "just scaled up personal combat" thing. It doesn't feel right. It should feel bigger somehow. Stronger movement, able to soak up a lot more damage. Damage actually just behaving differently in general (disabling systems, etc.)

Battle Century G fails #2, but I find that still works for a Gundam game since 99% of the time players will be in their own special Gundam. You have to do some adjustments though if they jump into another model so that it feels like the pilot matters.

The closest to perfect I've encountered is Silhouette (especially Jovian Chronicles), but it can be a little overcomplicated.
 
It's honestly hard. I have such specific desires for a mecha game, and no game seems to do it all.

1. It has to assume all players are going to be pilots. I find that without this, there isn't enough diversity in mechanics if you play all pilots.
2. Pilot skill has to matter. A lot of systems are based around just building the mech as a separate character from the pilot, but I feel like this makes it impossible to run stuff like Robotech where players all have the same kind of machines and it is pilot skills that make them different. Also, if Heero Yuy jumps in a Leo, he's still going to kick your ass, cause he's Heero Yuy.
3. Mecha combat has to feel different from personal combat. I hate the "just scaled up personal combat" thing. It doesn't feel right. It should feel bigger somehow. Stronger movement, able to soak up a lot more damage. Damage actually just behaving differently in general (disabling systems, etc.)

Battle Century G fails #2, but I find that still works for a Gundam game since 99% of the time players will be in their own special Gundam. You have to do some adjustments though if they jump into another model so that it feels like the pilot matters.

The closest to perfect I've encountered is Silhouette (especially Jovian Chronicles), but it can be a little overcomplicated.
We're in the same club, EmperorNorton EmperorNorton . I thought the same thing about Jovian Chronicles. Let us know how it goes with Battle Century G.
 
1. It has to assume all players are going to be pilots. I find that without this, there isn't enough diversity in mechanics if you play all pilots.
However, retain robust capabilities for people who don't wanna play pilots. Otherwise you have MechWarrior. Which made me unhappy :tongue:
 
I know th Kickstarter was a disaster, but does anyone know how the gamplay was for Robetech Tactics? I'm also always on the look out for a good Mecha game, and I'd settle for a good Mecha combat system that I can attach a Roleplaying system to. I love BattleTech, but it has it's own unique flavour - mechs are slow, lumbering weapon platforms. I'd like a system that handles the faster more cinematic mecha combat of anime.
 
I know th Kickstarter was a disaster, but does anyone know how the gamplay was for Robetech Tactics? I'm also always on the look out for a good Mecha game, and I'd settle for a good Mecha combat system that I can attach a Roleplaying system to. I love BattleTech, but it has it's own unique flavour - mechs are slow, lumbering weapon platforms. I'd like a system that handles the faster more cinematic mecha combat of anime.
I got it just for the minis. They are pretty sweet, but never checked out the rules.
 
I don't have Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, but I did get this Robotech supplement. So, just a few cursory comments.

The introduction worked. I feel the author and I have something in common. While I never lived in Singapore, we definitely bond over Star Blazers. We also watched Robotech out of the same Dallas station. Like his experience, the air time and the opening bell of high school presented challenges which needed to be overcome to enjoy the adventures of Rick and Lisa.

I started noticing that many of the humans have the Attractive edge. However, Max, one of the few characters to explicitly be called attractive flat out, doesn't have it. It's of no real consequence, but I thought it was funny.

Considering the drama surrounding the most recent Palladium Books Macross sourcebook and the stats for the Tomahawk/Excaliber, I found it amusing the Tomahawk is stated in big bold font that it is a SINGLE PILOT machine. All the mecha are like this, but the Tomahawk was the first I noticed this format on.

Overall, I have to say the book felt like a beat for beat remake of the original 1986 Robotech Macross book by Palladium. It felt like the same thing, but with a few extra bits tossed in and for a different rule system. This extends to the quick section of text detailing the Zentraedi, the random mission generator, and the short combat adventure in the back. It has that same, "Here's all the mechs, go play Robotech" sort of vibe to it that the original book did. I don't necessarily fault it for that. I simply observe that's how it feels.

I had already seen the art in this book in the Robotech Attack on the SDF-1 board game. While it's recycled, and it's faux anime stuff, it's not just recycled/traced design lineart. So it has that energy that a new Kevin Long piece had BitD. And, of course, being full color improves the presentation immensely. It's nice to finally see a Robotech RPG book look like something produced this century.

There's still that Palladium obsession with exactly what kind of missiles your mecha is carrying. The only custom rules which really stood out were rules for missiles, as well as a rule to emulate the kind of "Riding the Wind" (as the Windermerians of Macross Delta call it) of later Macross installments call it. (which ironically has no basis whatsoever for being in Robotech).

I like it. I mean, I can't really claim otherwise, right? For years, I've said all I really want is Robotech on another system with better presentation. That's what this Savage Worlds supplement is. It really does feel like the 86 book converted to Savage Worlds. I can't fault it for that.

I have a sudden urge to play Macross.
 
So, still reading this, and looking at the Adventure Edition rules.

What makes Max any harder to hit in his VF-1 than Minmei driving it?

As I'm currently understanding it, the base target number for anyone to hit in ranged combat is a 4 or better.

Max has the Ace edge, which gives him a bonus on piloting rolls as well as the ability to use Bennies to Soak. As I'm understanding it, this would provide him a bonus to use the Evade action, but that action would only be usable against Missiles as the energy weapons Zentraedi commonly use do not state they can be evaded (and the rules state that the ability to evade must be explicitly listed).

Max has Battle Trained, which allows him to swap initiative cards with allies. While that can certainly prevent him from being shot, it doesn't make him harder to hit.

He also has Fly Anything. This gives a further bonus to piloting rolls. Once again, great for Evade when that action is available, but not useful against particle beams fired by Battle Pods.

As I'm currently understanding it, Max would ideally have to operate in a team of Wild Cards who each draw an initiative card. Then he would have to grab the highest initiative card dealt, hope that it was higher than any Zentraedi Pod group, and then attack as many as possible at once, hoping to dispatch all of them before they get to act.

Any Pod which gets to shoot at Max is going to hit him 50% of the time, and then it's down to Max trying to Soak the damage.

The only things I've found which could improve this from the character skill perspective are the edges Dodge and Combat Acrobat. So far these are the only things I've found which apply to the basic Ranged target number. But I'm not sure if they should apply to Mecha combat.

So yeah, against missiles, Max is going to pop that Evade action and have multiple stacking bonuses on top of a high pilot skill. But against regular fire, that Evade action and his pilot skill are irrelevant.

I'm kind of ignoring speed, because Max is shown in the show to do most of his fighting in Battloid (unless he's fleeing missiles, which is when he shifts to Jet mode). I'm obviously not accounting for range. But have I got the gist of it?

Thoughts?

A last minute realization, Max doesn't have Zero G training according to his write up, so he suffers penalties for fighting in space according to the rules. Also, the write up for the VF-1 Valkyrie inherits the Palladiumism that it allegedly can't fly in Battloid mode (even though it is shown doing so in the animation). Also, Pods have been made much, much, MUCH faster in space, capable of 11K+ KPH speeds in space, and now able to easily run rings around Valkyries in Jet mode or even with a Super Pack as if they're standing still.
 
SW is not my rpg rule system by choice. Neither is PB rules either. Out of the two I would choose SW every time.

Even though I found Paladium rulset inadequate to emulate the feel of the anime. I gave them a pass at first. First attempt at the time of PB doing an rpg based on the anime and one could see it was a labour of love.

Second edition comes along and it felt like both PB and by extension Kevin S. Could not give an absolute damn trying to fix what needed to be fixed in the first edition. Instead tripling down. The combat vehicles were given extra MDC the weapons did not. Solike me if you hated whittling away every opponent MDC it made that worse.

Yes I could houseful yet it's not my IP and job to do. I should be able to use RAW as is as much possible. Since we will not see an updated version of any of PB in the next century. All we have is the SW version.
 
Second edition comes along and it felt like both PB and by extension Kevin S. Could not give an absolute damn trying to fix what needed to be fixed in the first edition. Instead tripling down. The combat vehicles were given extra MDC the weapons did not. Solike me if you hated whittling away every opponent MDC it made that worse.

It goes even deeper than that. But that would be best under a completely different topic.
 
The whittling of M.D.C. comes up a lot and, at least for the Macross Era, I always rationalize reducing the M.D.C. of battle pods by 25-50% due to the Zentraedi's lack of engineers and generally poor skill in repair.

It makes the players feel cool to bust up a couple of pods in a single combat round.

My apologies for derailing a thread about the Savage Worlds.
 
Exactly. This has come up in a few other threads, but I think I would have to say to my players, "we're doing a mecha squadron, make characters accordingly." This is what I did for SW: Age of Rebellion where everyone was some kind of fighter pilot (pilot, hotshot pilot, commander, etc.) in a Y-wing squadron and still one player wanted to be a commando. He ended up being a Y-wing gunner and was not happy about it.
Honestly I have no sympathy for the player. It seems to me like you were being very clear about the direction and theme of the game and they deliberately made a choice that didn't fit very well. It's like wanting to play a carpenter in a dungeon crawling game and getting mad because your character becomes the party torch bearer.
 
Honestly I have no sympathy for the player. It seems to me like you were being very clear about the direction and theme of the game and they deliberately made a choice that didn't fit very well. It's like wanting to play a carpenter in a dungeon crawling game and getting mad because your character becomes the party torch bearer.
No sympathy here either. If I say we're playing Daredevil/Batman-type urban vigilantes and you spend all your points on water-breathing powers and take the weakness that you have to submerge every 60 minutes or start dying, you made your bed and now you get to lie in it.
 
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