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GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

g e a r s

GEARs is a sci-fi roleplaying game with anthropomorphic (or furry) player characters piloting transformable combat mecha.

It is inspired by the 'real robot' genre of anime, specifically Macross but also Gundam, Patlabor, Eureka 7 and numerous other anime are inspirations, as are other works of science fiction.
The game features a detailed and rich world and setting, where the nations of the planet of Arvara stand on the precipice of war as they clash over ideologies, revelations, and secrets rippling through their society. And underneath it all is the question of where their species came from, what happened to their creators, and what is behind all of the mysterious occurrences, violent incidents, and strange phenomena happening across the world of Arvara.
Strange and shadowy forces are massing across the surface of the planet, utilising their own customised and unusual GEARs - the titular combat mecha - and staging violent and brutal attacks around the planet.
Called to arms and assembled into new Special Operations Combat Teams and equipped with the latest Variable GEARs and equipment, the Black Knights are thrust into the heart of the action, tasked with discovering who and what is behind this, and putting a stop to this war before it threatens to engulf all of Arvara in its' flames.

Their journey will long, fraught with dangers, and each turn on the path will be full of discoveries and revelations. They will fight arduous, grueling, costly, and deadly battles against terrifying foes, and be hailed as heroes - and the things they discover will change Arvara, and perhaps even more.

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This is a reboot, retool, and remake of my original GEARs universe. In a lot of ways it is even closer to what I originally imagined the idea to be.

In it, the player characters take on the role of pilots in a new Special Forces GEAR unit named the Black Knights piloting the first units of transformable GEARs.
The game will be about the characters fighting in this unit, part of the Defence Forces of the Union of Tallorian Free States - the UTFS - which are under the threat of war from the aggressive and dystopian Valdereich Empire, as well as the rise of a disruptive and dangerous terrorist organization, and a nebulous and mysterious unknown threat that seems to be rising across the world from the unknown and locked away Western continent of Arvara.

Game Rules

-Do not bring outside arguments or disagreements into the game. This is a place for fun, relaxation, and good times.

-Be nice to each other; treat one another with kindness. We are all friends, here to have a good time and enjoy ourselves.

-Play in the spirit of the game. Just because you may well have knowledge that means something doesn’t work in the ‘real world’, or could be easily dealt with by some piece of knowledge you have, that isn’t the spirit or feel of the game. Go with what’s written and explained, not with anything else.

-If it isn’t in the background or I don't know about it, it doesn’t exist.

-Your character can be as much of a jerk or asshole as you like, but don’t be surprised when they start getting treated like a jerk or an asshole in-character by everyone else - including the NPC’s.

-Player characters must be V-GEAR pilots in the 4th SOCT Squadron ‘Black Knights’. You may not play an enemy, or a character that isn’t a V-GEAR pilot. Their background must also be as part of the UTFS as a result.

-I understand everyone has other hobbies or obligations such as work, school, family, etc but if you are going to be away for any length of time, some notification would be appreciated.

-Minimum post rate is once per week, and I will be making GM updates once per week, regardless of who has posted or not.

-If you do not post for more than two weeks running without any communication on the OOC or to myself, I will consider you to have left the game - though, if you message me and explain, I’ll write you back in.

-THERE IS NO POSTING ORDER, just don’t spam the thread(s)

-It is not my job to chase you around for posts. If you are interested enough to want to play in the first place, you are interested enough to keep coming back to check the thread. If you’re ‘too lazy’ or ‘can’t be bothered’ to keep checking or coming back, I can’t be bothered to spend my time chasing you.

-This is a sci-fi game. There are no magical creatures, no magic powers, and no supernatural or paranormal powers of any kind.

-Please read the background documents before posting your character. They contain information on the Arvarans and the world they inhabit.

-The game is for an adult audience, so I have no problem with swearing if not used to excess, and the same with adult situations and the discussion or suggestions of sexuality, but there's no need (or desire) for explicit content. Likewise, dark themes and gory moments might also be encountered though again, not to excess.

Setting Info

You can read more about the Spirit of the Game and its' inspirations here

Here is more information about the setting

And here is information about the technology of the setting

Finally, here is some info about the mecha themselves.

Mecha Info

As mentioned, the players are part of the Black Knights, one of five operational Special Operations Combat Teams, units of the UTFS Defence Command (DefCom) formed to use the new V-GEAR in combat.
As the units and their mecha are relatively new, their tactics and equipment are still developing; this is not to say that they aren't operational already, but more that new things are being learned all the time.
As such, there aren't specialised roles in the squadron to begin with, but these can emerge over time as we play, and the technology of the mecha we use develops, and so do our characters. Equally, while the mecha themselves are not individually customised or specialised (to begin with at least), there is no reason why your character cannot still have their own unique set of skills, knowledge, talents or even parts of their background that are of use to the squadron as a whole (being a medic, a hacker, knowledge of other cultures or nations, understanding life on the streets or crime, etc)

Everyone will be piloting the same basic mecha, the VG-0 Phoenix.

There are three models; the S- model will be piloted by my character, who will be acting as the commander of the unit. Other players may choose from the two-seat D- model, and may have an NPC co-pilot, or team up with another player, or the single-seat A- model. Full information on the VG-0 is provided in the link above.

Information on the hi-tech submarine used as a base and mothership for the SOCT units is also available.

Character Sheet

Characters will be equipped with a standard flight suit, as well as a standard issue side arm, survival knife and the standard DefCom assault rifle, in one of its' variants, and equipped with accessories of your choice.

GEARs Character Sheet

Please delete all text in Italics when filling in the sheet. When your sheet is completed, please post it in the OOC for approval, and then post it in the characters tab.

Name: Name of Character

Callsign/Nickname: Your character may have one, or may start without one and earn it during the game. Note that if you call yourself something grandiose like ‘Deathbringer’ or some such waffle, you probably won’t get called it with any seriousness. Short, descriptive nicknames are far more authentic-sounding.

Age: Minimum 21 years old

Species: Any mammalian or Marsupial species are acceptable; no mythological creatures.

Appearance: Text descriptions or images are fine, as are combinations of both. Info about their clothing and style of dress is also good too.

Bio: A short description of their personality traits, hobbies, outlook on life, etc.

Service Record: A short description of their military service, and what lead them to ending up in the SOCT unit. Try not to make them too over-the-top

V-GEAR assignment: VG-0 model; A or D variant; S- variants are reserved for commanders.

V-GEAR Distinguishing features: Custom paint jobs, kill decals, etc. Can also include any customisations of a similar sort to your characters’ flight helmet.

Personal Theme: A song or piece of music you associate with your character.

All characters will receive a rank once I have approved them.

Once we have got started and things start happening, I will also include a recap of the story so far as part of this post.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

I've had a reread of the intro and I am glad there's not going to be too much 'nit pickyness' of the technological aspects and
I do tend to prefer character driven RPs as well.

Did you want me to ask another friend of mine who may be interested in joining? I haven't known him that long but he was going
to join the RP I was going to set up. Or are you good for numbers at this point?

@VyperPunk

Yeah, the technology is internally consistent and logical enough to make the background solid, which is all it needs to be. It's a fictional game; we're not trying to build working giant robots here. And besides, giant combat robots are inherently flawed as an idea, having them be realistic enough is good enough. It's all just flavour in the end.

Feel free to ask your friend, It'll be good to have more people rather than the minimum, as we haven't had a huge number of confirmed people yet.

As we have the minimum amount, I'll try and get the game up today, or by tomorrow at the latest.

I did have a couple of ideas regarding more specific loadouts/roles for each person, though I will probably go into that more in the OOC once it goes up.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

Really great to have you both confirmed, with me as well (I'll be having my own character as usual), that brings us up to at least the minimum numbers!

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

@Silverwind Blade I see. I'm not sure how Interested I am now. I'll continue stalking the thread and asking questions but I may not join the RP when the time comes, if that's okay with you?

@Kafka Komedy

Fair enough, it's up to you what you want to do after all and you're under no pressure to join or not.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

@Silverwind Blade Okay so it's much more character and plot focused, seeing as how everyone pretty much has the same options in combat?

@Kafka Komedy

Yes, very much so. The mecha are an integrated part of telling that story, and allow for greater expression and interaction for characters, and for some memorable combat and the like, and give opportunities for our characters to get into situations where they can find out things and share experiences, but the idea is that the characters will drive the plot forward as much as the conflict, and that not all of that conflict will necessarily be combat either.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

@Silverwind Blade Damn. that's unfortunate. Will there be any customizability in sort of, optional equipment or anything like that?

@Kafka Komedy

You'll be able to customize the paint scheme to suit your individual tastes, and the warload - being as how they're aircraft as well as robots - can also be swapped out from mission to mission as needed (i.e. different kinds of bombs, missiles and so on), much like any real-world fighter jet.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

@Silverwind Blade So I know you want mainly Macross Mecha but would it be fine to have a Gundam Mecha and just describe the Fighter and Walker forms?

@Kafka Komedy

No; all the mecha used by the PC's will be the same model in one or two variants. I know a lot of people won't be as fond of that, as most games like this have people creating their own machines. But it keeps it a bit closer to the idea of it being an actual military unit as part of a larger force, and also harks back to Macross too, where pilots flew/piloted the same craft.

In the old version of GEARs it made my brain hurt trying to work out why any military organization would have upwards of 6+ different models of any kind of combat machine in service, for the same role, and in the same unit. It also didn't really accurately reflect most of the 'real robot' mecha anime the game was inspired by either.

The players' mecha in this instance of GEARs are based on the VF-0 Phoenix from Macross Zero for reference, as I really like the look and design of it particularly.
When this thing gets off the ground (pun not intended), I have actually written a full guide to the mecha in the GEARs universe as part of the RPG background. Because, you know... that's my kind of thing o.o
It will look like the VF-0 and have some things in common, but will of course be based around the GEARs universe and its' technology.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

This sounds super awesome, I'd love to join!

@Kafka Komedy

And it's super awesome of you to say that! It'd be cool to have you aboard :D

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

That thread from a couple days ago got you thinking, huh?

@Ramzam

I'd been considering it for a while before that, and it kind of tipped me over the edge, combined with returning to my roots and watching a lot of mecha anime lately, which kind of inspired some of the ideas for changes.

Depending on time I would love to be a part of this again.

@caliban22

And if you have time, I would love to have you again! Who am I to refuse the king of the ferrets.

GEARs - Anthro sci-fi/mecha RP in a detailed world

Yeah, I'm hoping we see some old faces, as well as some new ones. It'd be good to have a mix of both.
Really eager that it gets off the ground, as I have a lot of ideas for it too.