Wednesday, March 11, 2015

FATE Inspired by Battletech: Non-canon Examples

So now I'm making 'mechs that aren't canon or which were originally made with the FATE rules. It's not enough to create 'mechs from Battletech; a good system can go beyond that. At the very least, I want it to go beyond that.

Cobra IIC
This little guy is certainly made with the Battletech rules. It's from the 3087 setting I kinda half-made a while back and tried to run with the guys. The Cobra IIC is a signature of 'mech of The Federated Hellfire Territories, a mixtech chassis that sports a pair of Clan Streak LRM 15's as its central weapons.

Tech Level: 11

Skill Points: 11
Skill Maximum: 4
Equipment Points: 11
Aspects: 4

Skills
Ruggedness: 1
Maneuver: 4
Accuracy: 5*
Electronics: 1

Aspects
High Concept: The Dancing Death
Trouble: Cutting Edge Design
Aspect: Long Range
Aspect: Missiles
Aspect: Jump Jets – Can invoke this aspect when trying to climb slopes or jump over obstacles.
Aspect: National Unit – A player may invoke this aspect to acquire this 'mech or related repair components if they're especially well connected with the Federated Hellfire Territories government.*

*A unit may rise above the skill cap by turning an aspect into a non-combat aspect.

Equipment Points
Ammo Points: 4
Neural Interface: 4

Stunts
Sandblast: A pair of Streak LRM 15's definitely qualify.
Strong Firepower


Running Back
I want a fast, hardened bullet. Not quite the old Evileye but something that's got more speed and armor than weapons.

Tech Level: 9
Skill Points: 9
Skill Maximum: 3
Equipment Points: 9
Aspects: 3

Skills
Ruggedness: 3
Maneuver: 3
Accuracy: 1
Electronics: 2

Aspects
High Concept: Battlefield Messenger
Trouble: A Rare Gem – The Running Back is a design that's sparsely distributed among a few units. It's rarely attached to a larger command and its specialty components are hard to find.

Aspect: Red 100 Stealth Baffle
Aspect: Prowler System
Aspect: Constituency Array

Equipment Points
Structure: 4

Stunts
Fightin' Hands
Coil Chassis Package
Tough as Rivets
Zebra Stripes
Engine Boost


Top
per
So the Running Back had nothing but structure & maneuver based abilities. What if we went the other way and made a glass cannon that can bury itself knee-deep in its own ammunition?

Tech Level: 6
Skill Points: 6
Skill Maximum: 2
Equipment Points: 6
Aspects: 2

Skills
Ruggedness: 0
Maneuver: 0
Accuracy: 3
Electronics: 3

Aspects
High Concept: Mobile Oppression Fortress
Trouble: Composite I Armor
Aspect: Classic Design (Non-combat)
Aspect: Ballistics

Equipment Points
Ammo: 3

Stunts
Buckler Integrated Fire System
Strong Firepower
Satellite Uplink

Of course, there's no way to tell how any of these will actually play until I get a stable of them together, have players pick them out, and run a game, but I can't even get a Star Trek game wrapped up, so that's a bit of a pipe dream.

I've really like doing this, but I think this is the end of the road for right now. I've also realized that I no longer have my 'mech designs online. I do have my old Xanga blogs, so I'm thinking of using Thursdays to post the old designs--with a directory. 

Hopefully, that'll be something for folks to enjoy instead of a slippery slope into the sarlacc pit of Battletech (no offense).

Part 1: Intro & Skills
Part 2: Aspects & Trouble
Part 3: FATE Points & Stunts
Canon Examples

1 comment:

SkilTao said...

Probably best to keep prep light in any case. (It's not like you're building a /tabletop war game/, after all.) Some generics across all factions, a couple signature designs for factional flavor, and let players fill more out as interest warrants.