Pitch: Mecha vs. Kaiju

Originally published August 18, 2014

Mondays are when I typically post a series on different items, characters, or something else from my games. I can't decide what to write at the moment so I am going to pitch several of the campaign ideas floating in my head over the next several weeks. Let me know if anything interests you and I'll write more about it.

Mecha vs. Kaiju

There are things you can't fight - acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, you can finally fight the hurricane. You can win. ~ Pacific Rim

History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of men. ~ Blue Oyster Cult

You are members of an elite fighting force, trained in the use of Mecha, giant combat robots armed with the latest weaponry. Your mission is to defend your country and perhaps the world from the giant monsters called Kaiju that threaten to destroy it.

The specifics of this game remain to be set. What country do the player characters defend? Where are they based? What year is it and how long has the invasion been going on? Where did the monsters come from? What are the Mecha like?

Theme: Facing Your Fears. The Kaiju have always been physical representations of what we fear from radiation (Godzilla) to pollution and disease (the Host). Having Mecha means having a way to defeat those monsters. The characters are in a position to fight problems too big for any one person to deal with.

Mood: Bloody Aftermath. Unlike superheroes (who also tread the same ground), the characters are only human. While they can destroy monsters with their tools, inside they are as vulnerable as anyone else. The trauma of war leaves many victims and not just the ones who fell on the battlefield.

Inspirations: Pacific Rim, various Godzilla movies, Neon Genesis Evangelion

System(s): Microscope to establish the common history of the world since the arrival of Kaiju and the establishment of your team. Fate Core augmented by stunts and material from Mecha vs. Kaiju for the actual action.

Combats would be along the lines of the Michael Bay level of cinema. By which I mean explosions, giant robots, and lots of collateral damage. Drama would remain free of that sappy Hollywood romance (realistic versions available on request).

Commentary

Like many of my recent campaign concepts, this is really several games in one.

The first would be a relatively standard game of Microscope that allows us to collaborate on the history of the world, what the nature of the Kaiju invasion is and how the overall mission is fairing. I figure the brackets of the timeline would be 'The First Kaiju Wave' while the end would be "United Mechanized Defense Force Comes Online'. The virtue of shared world creation is that I wouldn't have to explain the history of the setting to the players since we would create it together.

The next mini-game would be a standard Fate group character creation where we would define the player characters and the initial adventures that link them together. I'm a firm believer in group character creation.

Finally we would reach the campaign proper: a Fate powered game of military operations, group dynamics, and personal psychology.