French Revolution Mecha RP?

[Psyga315]

This idea’s mulling over my head for a while. I was figuring of making a Mecha RPG set during the French Revolution.

The basic ideas are:

• The story is set one month after the public assassination of King Louis XVI and his wife. The killer of the two is a masked man by the name of Jacques, leader of the Jacobins.


• It’s also set in an alternate universe where France built giant mechas the size of buildings called Navirezes, though they only used them for navel travel.


• The Jacobins hijacked some of them and converted them to war machines used to terrorize all of France and plant the seeds to bring about the Reign of Terror.


• On top of that, clergymen begin to speak of a curse that is about to be born: A curse that Joan of Arc placed on the English when she was burned at the stake. The curse would be that in the future, select few French will develop powers to control the elements known as Revolutionaries and that the first one would be born from the fires she died from.


• The reason they say this? Jacques had been reportedly been setting fires with no more than a simple hand gesture on his own Navirez.


• Sure enough, reports come from all over France that certain people have begun to manipulate certain elements around them. Some have joined Jacobins, believing the English have corrupted France in their hundred year war and others fight to save France from the Reign of Terror.


• With war fast approaching, France’s navy converted what Navirezes they had into their own war machines and have begun to select people to pilot them to fight the Jacobins.

Ideas that aren’t set in stone yet:

• If the RPG will just have one faction or two factions like my previous RPGs.


• The tone of the RPG (I’m thinking Awesomeness overpowering Darkness, if that makes sense… As in think more Gurren Lagann and not Evangelion).


• Whether to make the PCs all Revolutionaries or just have it be a rare thing (like, only one Revolutionary for every five normal humans).


• Whether to allow for historical characters like Napoleon to be playable in the RPG or to allow for fictional characters like Charles Darnay to be playable in the RPG. Might not go for it, since for the former, it might have so many nails dug into the horseshoe that history’s pretty much fucked from the word go and the latter because I don’t think I want to make it a crossover.

The idea’s a work in progress, hence the interest check.

[Rin]

I will need to do a bit of research into the French Revolution but interest anyways.

[Raineh Daze]

Perhaps.

I mean, I'm basically intrinsically interested in playing what would go on to be their most famous general, but.

[Psyga315]

Rin said
I will need to do a bit of research into the French Revolution but interest anyways.

I doubt you'll need to research a lot. I myself will just crib a few things from Sparknotes and the like and from there dramatize and actionize the events. Basically Sengoku Basara for the French Revolution.

[Zero Hex]

Yeah, sure, why not, mecha are always good. Stepping away from the standard real robot "gundams with a lot of guns" approach to a mecha RP is even better. Some commentary on the things that aren't set in stone and whatnot:

-For factions, I suggest having all the players be part of the same group, while inter-PC conflict can be fun I find that having to keep track of and managing two groups each with their own plots, stories, etc can complicate matters for the GM and players alike. Which group, I dunno. Maybe hold a player vote?

-For the tone, yes, a more super robot-style roleplay is good, because if you look around basically every mecha RP seems to stick to what can be more or less defined as "the real robot genre" something fierce, and while that's all well and good, having some a different style to the mecha would be real nice for a change.

-If by "revolutionaries" you mean the people who can manipulate elements, I'd suggest leaving that up to player choice, with the caveat that if someone chooses to not be one, they should not be screwed over because of it. Something like having to specifically construct Navirezes to channel the abilities which means they sacrifice other functionality (armor, physical power, mobility, you get the drill) for it. A fairly typical squishy sorcerer vs brawny fighting man divide for balance purposes. I'm sure other people can come up with other ways to balance this.

-As for characters, I'd lean towards original characters only. I'm sure someone'll be offended by this, but from my experience people tend to be bad at accurately portraying existing and well-defined characters in a convincing manner, and then there's the whole bit with fucking with historic characters which may or may not eventually become important plot-wise. sides a story about the unknown heroes and soldies behind the curtains of history has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

[Psyga315]

Zero Hex said
Yeah, sure, why not, mecha are always good. Stepping away from the standard real robot "gundams with a lot of guns" approach to a mecha RP is even better.

From how I image it, it'd probably be Real Robot with swords and melee weapons (gunpowder is hard and expensive to make for giant ship-transforming robots), with the Super element coming in the form of the Revolutionaries.

Zero Hex said -For factions, I suggest having all the players be part of the same group, while inter-PC conflict can be fun I find that having to keep track of and managing two groups each with their own plots, stories, etc can complicate matters for the GM and players alike. Which group, I dunno. Maybe hold a player vote?

Yeah, I think you're right about just having the players be part of the same group. All my other RPGs have gone with the PC conflict thing, and with this being the "and now for something completely different" RPG, I feel like having only one faction seems to be a good idea.

Zero Hex said -For the tone, yes, a more super robot-style roleplay is good, because if you look around basically every mecha RP seems to stick to what can be more or less defined as "the real robot genre" something fierce, and while that's all well and good, having some a different style to the mecha would be real nice for a change.

Yeah, I think this is going for more Super Robot tones where cynicism can take a hike whenever awesomeness kicks in. Where you can do the impossible and see the invisible. Mind you, cynicism is still there (it's not called the Reign of Terror because everyone was greeted with fluffy puppies and bright rainbows), but it's not going to be a sudden whiplash.

Zero Hex said -If by "revolutionaries" you mean the people who can manipulate elements, I'd suggest leaving that up to player choice, with the caveat that if someone chooses to not be one, they should not be screwed over because of it. Something like having to specifically construct Navirezes to channel the abilities which means they sacrifice other functionality (armor, physical power, mobility, you get the drill) for it. A fairly typical squishy sorcerer vs brawny fighting man divide for balance purposes. I'm sure other people can come up with other ways to balance this.

Hm... That could work. I brainstormed the idea that, since the Navirezes are essentially primitive mechs (like, the first ones to be made), they'd have the same amount of vision as a tank or probably just give tunnel vision, so they'd be crap for someone who would, say, light things on fire since they need to actually look at the thing they're setting on fire. Another idea could be that, because the Navirez's cockpit is super tight (again, think tank), using your powers inside the mech is a bad idea. Both ideas lead to the conclusion that, in order for a Revolutionary to use their powers, they have to get out of the Navirez (not all the way, they could just pop out of the mech's hatch) but doing so would make them an easy target. The trade off is, obviously, that the Revolutionary is able to use their powers. I have thought of a plot hole for this already (if they can't be able to use their powers with the Navirez, why bother piloting them in the first place?) and the only justification I can come up with is because even outside the Navirez, it could give them better defense than if they're without one, as they're just a second away from the mech to just retreat back in and wait for a moment to strike.

I'll take the custom Navirez idea into consideration, though. It'd be cool to see the Ace Customs that the heroes and villains would use for their Navirez. Considering giving them a unique name: Ramirez.

Zero Hex said -As for characters, I'd lean towards original characters only. I'm sure someone'll be offended by this, but from my experience people tend to be bad at accurately portraying existing and well-defined characters in a convincing manner, and then there's the whole bit with fucking with historic characters which may or may not eventually become important plot-wise. sides a story about the unknown heroes and soldiers behind the curtains of history has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Hm... Perhaps. History has essentially screwed up the moment France was able to make mechas (since that would imply they had advanced technology), so ripples could shake up the flow of time enough where the previously important players of the Revolution are now either warped beyond who they were or were simply demoted to just witnesses in the battle. There are some historical characters I have in mind of using.

I'm still on the fence about allowing historical characters to be playable, just allow them to be NPCs, or have no mention of them whatsoever save for nods, though I'm leaning towards the former two, since it just wouldn't be the French Revolution without people like Robespierre or Jacques.

[Raineh Daze]

It's not really the French Revolution if you cut out literally everyone from the French Revolution.

[Zero Hex]

Indeed, but those characters don't necessarily have to be controlled by players and, usually, it's best if they're not from a GM perspective. Otherwise you get shit like, I dunno, a submissive shotacon Napoleon or some other Nasuverse-style complete character mishandling, to the point where it's the character in name only. And then there's the issues in giving established and important characters to something as unpredictable as a player.

Anyway, for the mecha, you might want to look a bit into Escaflowne. The show itself is a fairly boring slog through a teenage girl's love triangle with two pretty men more often than not, but the very underused mecha are pretty damn great. They're these weighty titans, capable of swift or precise motions but overall heavy-feeling ground stompers controlled by strapping the pilot to a clockwork contraption inside a cramped cockpit with little vision from which they have to coordinate the machine's motions, which they control by straining their own bodies to boot. This here is a pretty good look at how the machines function and their overall style sans any manner of spoilers, I think it should fit what you're looking for.

No offense but your proposed idea for the powers and mechs makes the two things kind of unwieldy and oddly incompatible, since you need to stop and very openly expose yourself to use your abilities in spite of rather than because of your mech, not to mention it'd be something that has no relation to the Navirez, which I gather are something of a central aspect of this whole thing. Not to pat myself in the back or anything like that but I feel custom-made Navirezes designed so the Revolutionary can use or even amplify his powers via (insert fantastical mechanism related to the nature of Joan's curse here) would be a nice way to further link pilots to their units and make them more than just regular warmachines.

[Psyga315]

Zero Hex said
Indeed, but those characters don't necessarily have to be controlled by players and, usually, it's best if they're not from a GM perspective. Otherwise you get shit like, I dunno, a submissive shotacon Napoleon or some other Nasuverse-style complete character mishandling, to the point where it's the character in name only. And then there's the issues in giving established and important characters to something as unpredictable as a player.

Trust me, if I go with the middle route and have the Historical Characters be NPCs, they wouldn't get the Nasu treatment, or at least nothing as crazy as that. Not sure for the first route of Historical Characters be PCs.

Zero Hex said Anyway, for the mecha, you might want to look a bit into Escaflowne. The show itself is a fairly boring slog through a teenage girl's love triangle with two pretty men more often than not, but the very underused mecha are pretty damn great. They're these weighty titans, capable of swift or precise motions but overall heavy-feeling ground stompers controlled by strapping the pilot to a clockwork contraption inside a cramped cockpit with little vision from which they have to coordinate the machine's motions, which they control by straining their own bodies to boot. is a pretty good look at how the machines function and their overall style sans any manner of spoilers, I think it should fit what you're looking for.

Upon watching the video, yeah, I would say something like that would work for the Navirezes.

Zero Hex said No offense but your proposed idea for the powers and mechs makes the two things kind of unwieldy and oddly incompatible, since you need to stop and very openly expose yourself to use your abilities in spite of rather than because of your mech, not to mention it'd be something that has no relation to the Navirez, which I gather are something of a central aspect of this whole thing. Not to pat myself in the back or anything like that but I feel custom-made Navirezes designed so the Revolutionary can use or even amplify his powers via (insert fantastical mechanism related to the nature of Joan's curse here) would be a nice way to further link pilots to their units and make them more than just regular warmachines.

Yeah, I think you're right about that with the flaw of the Navirez working with the Revolutionary. Fortunately, I thought about your idea of custom mechs and began to work an idea to them, complete with some fluff.

The Jacobins, when they took the Navirezes, heavily dismantled some of them. While sacrificing the parts that allow transformation from Navirez to ship and the heavy armor, it allows the Revolutionaries to use the Navirez to its full potential with their own powers, like channeling fire through the mecha's hand. Joan's curse could allow them to have pseudo-motion control, since part of the dismantling meant taking chunks of the cockpit out to make room for the Revolutionaries. These new mechs are given the name Ramirezes, after an angel of God named Ramiel, who could melt mountains into nothing with a well placed thunder beam. It'd make sense for the Jacobins to draw from Christian elements given the whole Joan of Arc angle that Jacques gave them.

In short: Ramirezes are lighter and allow for Revolutionaries to use their powers without even leaving the cockpit, but they're unable to transform and aren't able to take a lot of hits like the Navirezes.

[Jedly]

I'm interested. I remember studying the French Revolution last year, so I've got some knowledge stored somewhere in my conscious.

[Jerkchicken]

Sounds cool

[Napoleon]

why must you ruin everything i love

[Dblade26]

Clearly I need to sign up as some version of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

[Psyga315]

Napoleon said
why must you ruin everything i love

Because Internet. Everything you love, everything all of you love, will be ruined for you, no exceptions.

Speaking of, I have the signup complete and ready to go, but due to circumstances, I am unable to post it until Monday the earliest where I'll have a good chance of responding to the sheets, as I will be busy on the weekend.

[Psyga315]

Surprise, we're starting signups now!