YEAR: 2102:
Humanity creates Ethus, a highly volatile but powerful, clean, and unlimited alternative to all energy.
The Utopia corporation take control of the worlds government through their addiction to their new energy.
YEAR: 2123:
Hjertz Automotive creates the first CVF(Combat Vehicle Frames), the huge Mechas are powered by Ethus and cause major damage in any battle they are involved in. Other corporations starting building their own CVF's, the new nuclear bomb for any country looking to wage war.
YEAR 2138:
Utopia loses control of their Ethus generators to a group of freedom fighter organization known as Prometheus, who give the world fire from the gods.... but this fire does not bring peace like they hope. With their fire humanity attacks their neighbors and brings war like none have ever seen.
YEAR: 2157:PRESENT DAY:
From what I can tell North America is now the wild west small cities and towns seem to only last near what used to be Mexico. Besides the Ethus power junctions scattering in the Midwest, America is largely a vacant wasteland.
Actually so is most of the world: the super fortress in South Africa called 'Monolith' is cut off from the world, the last things close to what you could call 'armies' are in former China & Japan, now the 'The Red Monarchy' and their last remaining opponent is 'The Seaboard Frontier' in former Canada. Although they are a very small fraction of what used to be they still harbor the most power in comparison to the mysterious Monolith.
.......But none of it will last............

Overview: Steel Giants is largely a freeform, open world Mecha pilot RP, you will play the role of a Frame Pilot who is currently in the Midwestern Wasteland. You will begin as a team who are asked to do a single job and after that you are left to your own desires on how you would like to continue in the game.(stay in a team, split off into factions, join an army, become a bounty hunter etc). Your frame will be running on an Ethus battery and will need to recharge it once every 48 hours. Your CVFs or 'Frames' will have varying abilities based on points you assign it. Everyone has 15 Units to spend on one of 3 groups: Arms, Armor, and Agility.

Arms designated how many weapons you have and how good they are. So if you choose 20 grenades(2), a submachine gun(2), and a large armmounted cannon(4), you will have 8 units of Arms.
Examples:
Unit 1 class: Pistols, Grenades (Per 10), Small hand Melee weapons (daggers) etc
Unit 2 class: Submachine Guns, Shields , Sword Sized Melee weapons, Arm mounted weapons (wrist launchers) etc
Unit 3 Class: Rifles, two handed melee weapons, back mounted weapons, etc
Unit 4:Heavy Duty Weapons, Large Cannons, MiniGuns, etc

Armor designates how tough your armor really is with a 1 being it is made of wood, and 10 being impregnable.

Agility will determine more than just how fast you are but if you could even fly.
Examples
Units 1-3: Walkers
Units 4-5: Sprinters
Units 7-9: Jump Jets
Unit 10: Full Flight Engines (Major drain on Ethus)

Character Sheets:
You will have you CS in 2 parts, one for your Pilot and the Other for your MechaFrame.
PILOT
Name: (Full)
Age: (15-65)
Height:
Weight:
Background: (choose from: Mercenary, Freedom Fighter, Bandit, Drifter, Bounty Hunter, Refugee, Mechanic)
Bio: (Paragraph minimum, and I have left details of the world quite basic on purpose to give you more room to give a more freeform description, in short, the game's narrative builds around the players characters)
Description: (Text or Pic)

FRAME:
Name: (Factory Names, Nicknames or mix of the Both)
Description: (Pic Only)
Weight Class: (Arms, Armor, Agility)
Weapons Descriptions: (Detail which weapons you have and their unit class)
Additional Notes: (Extra Details on your Frame Go Here)
Past Encounter: (Optional, give a description of a note worthy mission/battle/adventure that this Frame has been on)

These are some examples of my


I will also be making a number of other Hjertz CVF's so let me know if you'd like to pilot one.

PILOT
Name: Joshua Stone
Age: 25
Height: 6'3
Weight: 190
Background: Mercenary
Bio: Stone wasn't a bad guy in his early years, despite all that was happening in the world around him, his was a fairly good guy. It was after his parents died that he started to lose hope but a woman changed that, a lovely, beautiful woman who loved him completely and him her. She two, would end up falling at the hands of a war he felt was never his own. Both his parents and his wife to be were taken from him during a conflict that left death and suffering in it's wake. Josh survived only by sheer luck but from that day forward, he vowed to change things.

Knowing that the world was already crippled, he couldn't save the world, but he could decide who lived and who died by his hand which now sported a steady position. He got up with some nasty folks, did a few jobs and earned his way up the ladder until a raid on a Ethus distribution center landed him in the cock pit of the formidable and silent killer, "Ghost". He never looked back, moving forward and putting rounds down the barrel of his weapon at whomever he deemed fit. Or whoever paid enough. His funds went to revolutionizing his mech and putting it in the top ten as far as distance shooters are concerned.
Description:


FRAME:
Name: Stealth Class CXT-11 (Goes by name of Ghost)
Description:
Weight Class: Arms=5 Armor=3 Agility=7
Weapons Descriptions: Modified Specter GXM Sniper Rifle ((Class 3)) Deployable Wrist Blade for CQC ((Class 2))

Additional Notes: (Extra Details on your Frame Go Here)
Past Encounter: (Optional, give a description of a note worthy mission/battle/adventure that this Frame has been on)

PILOT
Name: Angus Brown
Age: 24
Height: 6'
Weight: 210
Background: Mercenary
Bio: Angus's Father was a tank gunner when the wars broke out and he couldn't understand what his mother meant when she told him he would see his father anymore one day. A list of men tried to take his fathers place after that but none of them would be his father, none of them were anything like his father. He was strong and brave while the pretenders acted sophisticated and charming. Angus would brood and never accept who ever tried to put themselves at his mother's side till the day she passed on quietly from illness. After that he was on his own, became a thug, and eventually joined a few of his gang in a mercenary corp. Whether it was luck that put him in that CFV or some heavenly intervention that gave him the short straw Angus was stuck with J9, the Frame with 'only one gun'.

At the time none of them had any canisters to use so J9's best close range feature was the free hand. But even without the canisters J9 and Angus were a lethal pairing and managed to make Ace before any of the others in his gang. It was during an ambush that Angus discovered the canisters when a J8 attacked them with it's spray and nearly melted their SMG. For the most part a J8 and J9 are very much the same machine, but the J8 lacks certain safety features put into the J9, such as a lock a loaded canister to keep it from being removed by other Model J Frames. It was exactly that lack of safety features that allowed Angus to gain the upper hand and start using the chem's in combat. Angus proved himself a worthy warrior and earned some reputation for ripping a canister right out of another Model J, eventually taking his name and reputation to work freelance in the Midwest where protection is always needed.

Description:

FRAME:
Name: Hjertz Model J9 - R055 "J9"
Description:
Weight Class: 6 Unit
Weapons Descriptions: J9 carries into battle at all times his heavy caliber SMG, mainly because it acts as his left hand but also because of its ability to also act a sprayer of chemical acid or fire via canisters attached to the gun. Acid is designed to melt the metal of a CVF and while it may not destroy the frame it can easily disable a weapon or expose an internal part. Flame canisters were originally designed as a way to clear bunkers and wipe out infantry on the ground, today it is more commonly used to distort gun barrels and cook pilots stuck in their cockpits.

Notes: When emptied a canister must be removed and replaced by another within J9's chest compartment before he can use the chem-spray function on his SMG again. The combination of either gun play or chem-spray make J9 a deadly foe in medium to close range and his free hand allows it to use melee weapons given the right circumstances. J9's SMG unfortunatly gets in the way of ANY chance at using long range equipment and is thus unable to return fire on frames too far out. During j9's canister reloads his chest compartment filled with volatile acids and pyrotechnics is exposed and one well aimed shot may spell disaster for this CVF and his Pilot.

Hjertz manufacturer built and sold CVF's to many during the wars and continued to sell their stock until their factories shut down. Hjertz would develop 5 Models for their CVFs: Model H "The Sniper", Model K "The Warrior", Model A "The Cannon", Model J "The Hunter", and lastly Model P "The Tank". Hjertz Model J's were designed with the intent of using CVF like squads of Infantry, fighting together as a group and being versatile for many situations and terrain. Later models like the J8, J9, J10 scraped the needing a team to be effective and rather make them super soldiers within their range.

Past Encounter:

Well I am a sucker for Mech stuff. This counts! Count the Avan in!

This looks so cool. I've got some things to do, but I'll think of character sheet while I'm out.

Interested.. Shall work on a CS soon..

PILOT
Name:
''Inquisitor Sigismund'' Sigis Krieger

Age:
35

Height:
195cm

Weight:
75kg

Background:
He is the most devilish drifter you'd ever encounter.

Bio:
The legend of Sigismund is that of a demonic entity wandering the wasteland without end, without any other purpose but to kill and make altars out of the wreckages, grabbing hold of the ethus he comes across whenever no one's there to witness it and dissapear as he melds in with the distant environment. However in the actuality of things Sigismund the inquisitor of the devils wishes is actually a beautiful woman, clad in a fine dress, her appearence is that of a saint in womanly appearence, the name Sigismund translates to Saint's Guardian, depending on how you interprent it, Sigis is the saint which her alter ego, that of a bloody hell knight protects from the praying eyes of others. Her life has always been split in two, she and herself have always played together since they were young and have managed to survive alone, gain a reputation and gain respect enough to recieve the Executioner whom Sigismund loves beyond bonds.

Description:

---

FRAME:
Name:
INQ.UIS_001 ''Executioner'' Custom

Description:



Weight Class:
10

Weapons Descriptions:
- 4 weight points:
The handheld railgun system of the Executioner is mostly without equal, the weapon has streaked many executions through the day and it's even been named Vanquisher of the Sane. It's auto-loader system which is connected to the back located ammunition storage which inturn gives the railgun an unparalled killing capability, whilst the risk of overheating is very much an issue the Executioner therefor displays it's unique characteristics, the machine is driven by two independent reactors, one in the lower body and one in the upper, when firing the railgun repeatedly or in warm environments the lower bottom reactor (the legs section) switches off it's power generation and instead turns into a heatsink, it removes the ability to move the lower body however it allows the weapons to opperate at maximum potential.

- 6 weight points:
Two shoulder mounted artillery pieces, whilst the word artillery is used they are very much the same as grenade launchers, the six barreled units placed on the shoulders of the Executioner bring their ammunition from the ammunition storage also, however not through an auto loading mechanism. They either use explosive or corrosive ammunition types, they are used simultaneously to provide a ''fire storm'' or ''corrosion storm'' effect.

Additional Notes:
The frame is actually quite well armored, however the armors actuall appearence and it's actually weight, density and protective power are far from different, the armor itself appears to be like any other medium level armor, however the armors weight, it's density and it's weapon supression power are incredible, and it also makes the Executioner unable to walk at quicker speeds then 15km/h, any normal pilot would become insane, however Sigismund is patient, and it is the reason why he is able to stand the incredibly slow movement speed of this titan.

The camouflage cloth which nearly encompasses the entire machine is imbedded with radar supressing fibers, this makes the stealth function more viable and less possible to end up killing Sigismund, especially with his agility disadvantages. The only way possible to spot the Executioner is with the eye itself, however the only way you'd spot him from far away would be if you saw his iconic 'Devil Eye' eye sensors staring at you, and as you'd figure, that'd be quite the hectic situation, however if he sees you and let's you see him he won't kill you, because he'd already recieved the chance to.

Even with the twin-reactor configuration of the Executioner power consumption is still an incredible issue, that is the exact reason that Sigismund turns off the second reactor when in combat and turns off the first when wandering the wasteland. He cannot shoot and walk at the same time, because it would overpower his reactors capabilities, even when they were as high-end as they are.

Past Encounter:
An Ethus exchange performed in the early days of the Wandering Demons existance would burn Sigismunds legend into the sand of the wasteland for a long time. Far out in the wasteland terrain, 7km from any type of hilly terrain, there was a gathering of seven machines, between the two groups were two transport trucks filled with supplies. Thirteen humans surrounded the truck, both from the two groups, the left truck was filled with Ethus and the other was filled with weaponry and ammunition. Unbeknownst to the two groups was that 7km~ away there was a patient and silent watcher. Suddenly, within the window of 15 minutes beyond the point of exchange the two had exchanged vehicles and started to group together with eachother, then, suddenly the soaring shouts of grenades flying through the air came from above them, without any time to react almost the entire gathering was on fire and the mechs were in disarray, unorganized and surprised they fell one after one like dominos. Suddenly three more mechs come across the horizon in the distance 15km away, they would've ambushed the other party. ''I sentence you to death, unprideful behaviour in an honorable exchange, first degree sentance.'' Sigismund stated to no one in particular. The Vanquisher of the Sane fired it's fifth shot piercing through two mechs at the same time, the third one managing to avoid the impact and witnessed the metal rod burry itself in the ground behind his two destroyed allies. Without much questioning everyone retreated, the Ethus had managed to remain untouched, Sigismund also ended the engagement with six further kills to carve into the wall of the cockpit.

Got room for one more?

Name: Jack Conway
Age: 17
Height:6'2"
Weight:200
Background: Refuge/Bounty Hunter
Bio: Jack Conway was born on a research facility in the middle of the Wastes. For years he was tested on to make him a great Frame Pilot. For years he was tortured and turned jaded over the years. He did have his older brother Nathan with him at least. So he was not as alone as it seemed. One night everything changed. The facility was attacked by an organized group of bandits, Far more organized than usual for a group like them. The older brother took Jack and placed him the GOLEM frame to save him. Unable to do anything Jack swore he would use the mech to kill as many bandits as he could. Finding him would not be to hard. Follow the trail of dead Bandits and you would find the Golem and its young pilot.
Description:


FRAME:Name: CR-7300 Golem Class
Description:

Weight Class:Arms: 5 Armor 3 Agility 7
Weapon: Shoulder Mounted machine gun ((Class 3)) and Short sword ((Class 2)). The former is to be used in far away confrontations and the sword in case the enemy gets close.
Notes: The Golem class Mech is designed for fast moving attacks and mobility. This Mech was designed to be as fast as possible short of giving in flight engines. In times of when speed is required the armor can be modified to give the GOLEM more speed. The other modification to it is a Kinetic power system that can give the mech a bit more power from its movements. The Frame is designed to be fast and needs a pilot just as fast.
Past Encounter: There have been tales on the wind of a Frame that moves like lightning attacking bandits. No one has seen the pilot of this mech and many have tried. The tales all started about two years. Stories of camps being destroyed in a matter of minutes.

We need your exact cost for the various weapons, How many points a pack of grenades are, how much an SMG is, how much shoulder mounted rockets are, And in my case, how much a sniper rifle would be. With that being said, how much or is there no cost, for special munitions, I want to have an assorted array of bullet types for a given scenario but don't know how much this stuff will cost.

Garrison said
We need your exact cost for the various weapons, How many points a pack of grenades are, how much an SMG is, how much shoulder mounted rockets are, And in my case, how much a sniper rifle would be. With that being said, how much or is there no cost, for special munitions, I want to have an assorted array of bullet types for a given scenario but don't know how much this stuff will cost.

The way I see it, it breaks down like this:

Unit 1 class: Pistols, Grenades (Per 10), Small hand Melee weapons (daggers) etc - One item from this category is one (1) point

Unit 2 class: Submachine Guns, Shields , Sword Sized Melee weapons, Arm mounted weapons (wrist launchers) etc- One item from this category is two (2) points

Unit 3 Class: Rifles, two handed melee weapons, back mounted weapons, etc - One item from this category is three (3) points

Unit 4:Heavy Duty Weapons, Large Cannons, MiniGuns, etc - One item from this category is four (4) points

but that's just my thinking. I could be waaaaaaaaaay off.

I'm interested, will have my bio up in a tad

I know you're taking the weapon costs verbatim from Iron Demons but I'd like to suggest some changes. Personally, I'd split melee weapons into 3 categories: one handed, two handed and giant.

-One handed weapons are all melee weapons meant to be used in a single hand like some swords, handaxes, knives and daggers and so on and they all cost a single point. Why would anyone go with a knife when they can get an axe, sword or whatever for that same point, you ask? Because knives are smaller, which means they're easy to conceal within the mech's frame for a surprise backup weapon and they're also easier to handle and more reliable in very close quarters, where larger weapons would be rendered ineffective by the lack of room to set up a proper swing or thrust.

-Two handed weapons would be melee weapons that are still generally within a reasonable size (scaled up to the mechs, obviously) but require two hands to wield, like larger swords, polearms and whatever else people might like. These cost two points, no problem here, right? Bigger means an extra point, but seriously, they're not that large, they're reasonably sized, there's historical precedents.

-Giant weapons are all those ridiculous, Buster Sword sized shit that physics and people who know how weapons work hate to death but fictional works love because they're cool. Sometimes. When people aren't cracking jokes about overcompensation. Anyway, these go for 3 points because they're massive, require more effort to carry around and swing and deal more damage because they really are that large.

And then you do something similar for shields. 1-point shields are smaller round or heater shields that don't cover the whole body, 2-point shields are larger shields that more easily cover the entirety of a mech without having to move it as much and then 3-point shields are the massive tower shields and shit like directional energy shields that basically protect the unit from harm coming at them from whatever direction they're pointed at.

Interested

Mucho interest. Since everyone else is posting CS' already, I'd like to ask. Would a shotgun be placed under 3 or 4 in arms?

Black Plague said
The way I see it, it breaks down like this:Unit 1 class: Pistols, Grenades (Per 10), Small hand Melee weapons (daggers) etc - One item from this category is one (1) pointUnit 2 class: Submachine Guns, Shields , Sword Sized Melee weapons, Arm mounted weapons (wrist launchers) etc- One item from this category is two (2) pointsUnit 3 Class: Rifles, two handed melee weapons, back mounted weapons, etc - One item from this category is three (3) pointsUnit 4:Heavy Duty Weapons, Large Cannons, MiniGuns, etc - One item from this category is four (4) pointsbut that's just my thinking. I could be waaaaaaaaaay off.

I see what you're saying but sniper rifles are a finicky breed of rifle so I was wondering what class or cost they would fall under and even if it's as simple as falling under the rifle category which is class 3, I still need to know about the different ammunition. I want various rounds, explosive, perhaps shocking, corrosive, a round that once fires break apart like a shuttle and hits the target with multiple tracking devices so as to be unnoticed. Stuff like that. What I'm looking for is whether I can just say I have these things or if I have to pay for them with my units. A chart would be best but I understand you can't do those but just a post listing weapons and other assorted items and their exact cost's would be a great thing. I have to agree with Hero Zex's melee weapon system, it's nice and clean. Also, for those that already completed their CS, please write out your Arms=X Armor=X Agility=X where X is the number of points in it, it looks better and makes it easier to read for everyone, not just Weight class. I'm only saying this because I don't want to make my guy too similar in points to anyone, that's just me though.

I literally just remembered this but I am making a sniper with the call sign of Ghost, I was wondering if there are or could be any kind of cloaking device for purchase. I'm not trying to be OP so if you move it would be pretty much worthless but if stationary like a sniper most commonly is, it could provide some decent concealment. I suppose this is really just a cosmetic thing though because thermals would pick him up if they were close enough but perhaps having thermal capabilities could be a purchased item as well. I don't know, I might be over thinking it but I was literally thinking of a story similar to this but instead of mech's, I was gonna do space ships and the people would be like bounty hunters in space or something and we would do a point based system to build our ships. If you would like suggestions or my help on developing a list of items and their cost's, please let me know, I'll even PM you the list you can post it if you don't want me as like a co-GM. This would also mean that as we do stuff in the RP, perhaps we score some currency, steal it, get paid to do something, whatever, and then spend it on new upgrades.

When the OP said shields, what came to mind for me was something to the effect of shields in Borderlands, Bioshock Infinite, Halo, etc., not literal shields...

I do kinda like Zex's idea for weapons, but I feel like that's going too in-depth for something as small as that. When people are running around with sniper rifles, a sword-and-shield mech will be next to useless...

Clearly you've never played Armored Core, where a good blader will tear you a new one. What, you didn't think melee weapons wouldn't be devastating as fuck, did you?

Considering my mech is designed for speed and with a sword things would be deadly.

In all reality... No. There's a reason military forces have men armed with guns, not swords. I can understand the viewpoint of 'AW HELZ YEH LAZR SORDS', being viable, but it still doesn't make much sense when that sword-toting mech can easily be gunned down before they get within 50 yards...

(I'm assuming Armored Core is a video game, in which swords would be blatantly OP, similar to the knives in CoD, because they would otherwise be useless)