Mech Stats:The five basic mech stats are:
- Health: How much damage your mech can take before suffering ill effects.
- Special: How much energy your mech has for special actions.
- Attack: How much damage your mech can inflict. Attack has a focus of Melee or Ranged, picked at creation.
- Defence: How little damage your mech takes from attacks. Defence has a focus of Armour or Evasion, picked at creation.
- Support: How good your mech is at supporting its allies and determines protection against status effects.
Each stat can be Strong, Normal or Weak. Strong stats roll d12s for their actions, Normal d8s and Weak d6s. At character creation you can select your mech’s stats to be all Normal, or 1 Strong, 3 Normal and 1 Weak, or 2 Strong, 1 Normal, 2 Weak.
At character creation you distribute 20 dice among your stats, with each stat requiring at least 1 dice in its dice pool.
Finally, you pick whether your mech's Attack is focused on Melee or Ranged, and whether their Defence is focused on Armour or Evasion. This will affect certain TNs, abilities and actions. For example, attacking with a weapon with the same type as your Attack stat grants +1 success.
The two derived stats are Maximum Health Points and Maximum Special Points.
- Maximum Health Points is based on your Health stat. The number of dice in your Health stat is multiplied by (4 if Strong, 3 if Normal, 2 if Weak) to get your Max HP. When your HP is reduced to 0 in combat your mech isn’t destroyed. However, at 0 HP you become vulnerable to enemy finishers. Being hit with a finisher fully recovers your HP but in return you take Major Damage, which is a trait which applies penalties for the rest of combat. Major Damage cannot be removed but its penalties may be reduced by certain actions.
- Maximum Special Points is based on your Special stat. The number of dice in your Special stat is multiplied by (6 if Strong, 5 if Normal, 4 if Weak) to get your Max SP. SP is used to power various actions and abilities your mech can perform.
Traits:Traits are what makes your mech special compared to everyone else. Traits are divided into four categories. Weapons, Finishers, Actions and Passives.
At character creation your mech has 1 weapon, 1 finisher, 1 action and 1 passive for free, and 4 extra traits to be divided however you wish.
Weapons:Weapons are what your mecha uses to attack things. Every player mech has the two following basic weapons:
Basic Melee [Melee]:Attacking with fists, feet or, in a pinch, trees uprooted from the ground.
SP Cost: 1
Range: 0
Attributes: Movement Allowed.
Basic Ranged [Ranged]:Attacking with basic rifles, pistols or, in a pinch, throwing rocks.
SP Cost: 1
Range: 1
Attributes: None.
You can invest one of your traits to make better weapons for your mech. A player-created weapon has the following stats:
- Type: Whether the weapon is melee or ranged. If the type matches your Mecha’s attack focus, you gain +1 success when attacking with it. Note that some enemies may have extra defences against certain attacks, so investing in only a single type will make it difficult to damage them.
- SP Cost: Starts at 1 and increases by 1 for every extra Attribute you give it. Attacking with the weapon costs this in Special Points.
- Range: Up to how many areas away this weapon can attack at. Starts at 0, meaning that it can only attack enemies in the same area as you. Attributes can increase this stat.
- Free Attribute: Every weapon made from a trait gains either the Movement Allowed (allows this weapon to be used in the same turn as movement) or Range +1 attribute for free.
- Attributes: Extra Attributes increase the SP cost of the weapon by 1 but offer various bonuses. Unless said otherwise, Attributes stack with each other.
Attributes are made up by the player on creation of the weapon, subject to GM approval. The following is a short list of pre-generated attributes, to act as guidelines for making your own.
Example Attributes:Movement Allowed: This weapon can be used in the same turn that this mech uses a movement-based action (Move, Double Move, Trudge, etc, etc). Non-movement allowed weapons cannot be used in the same turn as movement, regardless of the order in which actions are taken.
Range +1: The range of this weapon increases by 1. Can be taken multiple times.
Devastating: Deal an extra 3 damage whenever you successfully hit with this weapon. Can only be taken once.
HP/SP Recovery: Whenever you hit with this weapon, regain 1 HP/SP for every two DS. Can only be taken once.
Debuff: Whenever this weapon hits, until the start of your next turn the target suffers -1 success to a stat, picked at weapon creation.
Area of Effect: Whenever you attack with this weapon you may declare that it is an AoE attack. The SP cost increases by 5 and instead of targeting an opponent for the attack you target an area, rolling against all enemy units within it.
Easy Conditional: Conditional bonuses which are easy to achieve, such as attacking enemies in the same area as you or attacking an enemy on the ground. These easy conditionals grant either +1 success or +2 dice to the dice pool, selected at trait creation.
Difficult Conditional: Conditional bonuses which are difficult to achieve or dependent on the map, such as attacking enemies underwater or attacking an enemy at range 3 or more. These difficult conditionals grant either +2 successes or +4 dice to the dice pool, selected at trait creation.
Finishers:Finishers are awesome attacks which your mecha breaks out in special circumstances to finish off the enemy. Finishers can only be used against enemies with 0 HP and will either destroy them or inflict major damage. Major Damage are debuffs which affect enemies until they are destroyed but hitting an enemy with Major Damage also recovers their HP to full.
Finishers have the following stats:
- SP Cost: Starts at 4 and increases by 2 for every extra Attribute you give it. Attacking with this finisher costs this in Special Points.
- Range: Up to how many areas away this finisher can attack at. Starts at 0, meaning that it can only attack enemies in the same area as you, but can be increased by Attributes. Unlike weapons, the range of a finisher is either 0, 2 or Infinite.
- Attributes: Extra Attributes increase the SP cost of the Finisher by 2 but offer various bonuses.
- Recommended Damage (Optional): The types of major damage this finisher inflicts and the penalties they give. See the section on mech combat for more explanation.
Attributes are made up by the player on creation of the finisher, subject to GM approval. The following is a list of suggested attributes to keep in mind and limit them to similar power levels.
Example Attributes:Movement Enabled: This finisher can be used in the same turn that this mech declares a movement-based action (Move, Double Move, Trudge, etc, etc).
Range Increase (First): The range of this finisher increases to 2. Can only be taken once.
Range Increase (Second): The range of this finisher increases to Infinite. Can only be taken after Range Increase (First).
Amazing Pose: If you successfully inflict major damage with this finisher, all allies in the same area are inspired and gain +1 success to all rolls until the end of the next turn.
Area Debuff: If you successfully inflict major damage with this finisher, all enemies in the same area are debuffed and lose -1 success to all rolls until the end of their next turn.
Absorption: If you successfully inflict major damage with this finisher, mitigate a piece of major damage on your mech which has not been mitigated yet. Its effects are mitigated until the end of combat.
Actions:In combat every mech has the same set of basic actions but you can use traits to create more actions to perform. Actions thus encompass a broad range of potential effects given what the players wish to accomplish when creating this type of trait.
Actions have the following stats:
- AP Cost: Using this action costs this in Action Points. You have 2 AP per turn, so most actions will have a cost of 1 AP. Some particularly strong actions will require 2 AP.
- SP Cost: Using this action costs this in Special Points. Some actions will have a flat cost while others will have dynamic costs.
- Range (Optional): Up to how many areas away this active can be used at, if applicable.
- Effects: What this active does when used.
- Augmentation (Optional): The action that this one changes or improves upon, so that you can add on additional effects onto it. Only relevant for certain actions.
Note that the same action cannot be used multiple times in a turn.
As mentioned before, effects are made up by the player on creation of the action, subject to GM approval. The following is a list of extra actions to keep in mind and limit them to similar power levels.
Example Actions:Double Attack:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 2x.
Range: Weapon’s.
Effects: If you have already used an attack action this turn, you can use this action. Attack an enemy like normal but any SP Costs are doubled.
MegaGuard:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 0
Augment: Guard
Effects: Until the start of the next turn or after this mech moves, the area this mech is currently in counts as Difficult Terrain for enemy mechs. Additionally, enemy units cannot move out of the area this mech is currently in until the start of the next turn or after this mech moves.
Cheap Heal:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 0 SP
Range: 0
Effects: Roll Support vs 0. Every DS heals yourself or an ally in range by 1 HP.
Regular Heal:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 3 SP
Range: 0
Effect: Roll Support vs 0. Every DS heals yourself or an ally in range by 2 HP.
Mitigate Damage:AP Cost: 2
SP Cost: 10
Range: 0
Effect: Mitigate the effect of major damage from yourself or an ally in range. Its maluses are halved for the rest of combat. You cannot use this on a piece of major damage that is already mitigated.
Energy Burn:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 3
Range: 1
Effect: Roll Support vs target’s Support. Every DS reduces the target’s SP by 2.
Recharge:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 0
Range: 0
Effect: Roll Support vs 0. Gain 1 SP for every DS.
Recharge Ally:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 3
Range: 0
Effect: Roll Support vs 0. Every DS recovers 1 SP for you or an ally in range.
Single Debuff:AP Cost: 1
SP Cost: 3
Range: 1
Effect: Roll Support vs Support against an enemy. Every 2 DS reduces a stat, picked at creation, by 1 until the end of their next turn.
Area Debuff:AP Cost: 2
SP Cost: 7
Range: 1
Effect: Roll Support vs Support against an area. For every enemy in that area, 2 DS reduces a stat, picked at creation, by 1 until the end of their next turn.
Passives:Passives are effects which are always active on your mech without needing any actions or abilities to use them. As such they generally don’t cost any SP but have smaller effects than weapons or actions.
Example Passives:
Adaptable: This mech’s defence focus changes to Adaptable. When attacked it always counts as the more favourable focus, Armour or Evasion, for reducing damage.
Amphibious: This mech ignores the Difficult Terrain trait and the attack malus from Enclosed X for water areas. Additionally its targets do not get the defense bonus from Enclosed X if they are in water areas.
Emergency Responder: When using a movement-based action, Move, Trudge, etc, etc, this mech can move two extra areas. This extra movement can only be used to end up in an area with an allied mech under 50% HP.
Reduced Action Cost: Reduces the cost of a specific action, including player-made actions, by 1 AP. Can be taken multiple times but cannot reduce the cost of an action below 0 AP.
Flight: This mech is capable of flying. When using any movement-based action (Move, Double-Move, Trudge, etc, etc), this mech can begin to fly or stop flying if it is already flying. While flying it ignores any traits that an area has, positive or negative. A mech can only change its flight state once per turn, regardless of how many movement actions it uses in that turn.
Generator: This mech regains SP at the start of its turn equal to a tenth of its max SP, rounded up.
Easy Conditional: Conditionals which are easy to achieve, such as being the only friendly unit in an area or being attacked by a melee weapon, grant either +1 success or +2 dice to a stat, selected at trait creation.
Difficult Conditional: Conditionals which are difficult to achieve or dependent on the map, such as being underwater, grant either +2 successes or +4 dice to a stat, selected at trait creation.