ICA generation has come and gone since I and the other members of Saint Mecha drove off the Enemy invasion at the Battle of Tenchii Bridge. Since then the Enemy has remained silent, biding its time and preparing to march once more. Saint Mecha kept a vigilant watch for the day the enemy would reemerge. I alone now stand watch over our tenuous peace. And regrettably, I must now drag others into the battle that Saint Mecha and I were never able to finish.
The Enemy is stirring, the time has come for them to once again seek the eradication of all human life on Mount Sanctum. I cannot stop them alone, and that is why I called on each of you.
You are our future. Bright minded young psychics who can pilot the mecha that will defend us all from the Enemy. You are our freedom. Our chance to finally push the Enemy back and make this mountain live up to its name. You are our hope. The wings on which we will soar to greater and greater heights, carving the name of humanity into the annals of history as the ones who refused to give up in the face of insurmountable odds.
You are Saint Mecha X.
DiscordSettingHidden within the nooks and crannies of the fractured Mount Sanctum lie thirty villages. Their origins long-forgotten, the residents of these villages seek only to survive. But the mountain is a treacherous place. Across the Great Fracture there is an immense danger: The Enemy, a seemingly endless swarm of attackers whose goal seems to be the eradication of humanity. The only thing that stands in their way is the seemingly endless network of bridges that cross the Fracture.
The Enemy side of the mountain is covered with strange black machinery, giving it a deeply ominous feeling.
The mountain is a mysterious place full of long-lost secrets and ancient technologies. The origins of both the Enemy and humanity have been long forgotten, and rediscovering them has always taken a backseat to survival.
Escaping the mountain is generally considered impossible due to the treacherous jungle at its base that spans far and wide in every direction. A few have attempted to explore in flying mecha, soaring to the other mountains in the distance. But as they have never returned, it is impossible to say if they succeeded and chose to flee or simply perished.
CombatCombat will be done in a guided freeform manner. Everything will be RP’d out without any direct interference from mechanical systems, however what is possible will be defined--and in some cases heavily limited--by a mechanical system beneath.
The Enemy will attack like clockwork, giving the players a week between assaults. During this week the mechanical side of the RP will come into play to govern what the players can do to prepare.
The goal of the players will be to prevent the Enemy forces from reaching and destroying a target, usually a village full of innocent people. Some combats may have multiple targets or multiple waves of attackers. A layout of relevant bridges and potential attackers will be provided immediately before each combat. More info
here.
Fights will take place on a system of bridges between the two halves of the mountain, simultaneously restricting and encouraging mobility. They will primarily focus on whatever attachments the involved mecha have equipped and their unique traits, but things such as pilot skill, previous damage, and even the weather will come into play.
Speaking of damage, damage will be sustained in two forms: major and minor damage. Despite the names, these are not measures of severity, but rather situation. Any damage dealt directly by an opponent is major damage and will potentially impact the mecha throughout the rest of the fight. Minor damage, on the other hand, is not immediately noticeable and will only be revealed at the end of combat, impacting the next if it is not repaired.
In addition to sustaining damage, mecha can fail entirely, forcing a pilot to eject. Players will only die if their ejection system is damaged prior to mecha failure, and ejection damage can only be taken as minor damage, meaning a minimum of two fights are required to die. Further, you will rarely experience a total failure without already having a damaged mecha before combat, leaving plenty of time to recover.
When a mecha is destroyed, the pilot will have to find some way to construct a new one and will be unable to participate in combat again until they do.
At the end of combat all players are semi-arbitrarily rewarded EXP based on their performance and Enemy mecha are automatically salvaged for materials and technology.
MechaMecha are large mechanical suits that are designed to traverse rough terrain more freely than traditional vehicles. They’re generally around 18ft (5.5m) tall.
The standard design has a simple T-shaped torso frame. The legs make up about half the height of the mecha and have their knees about 2/3rds of the way up, making for rather short upper legs. The feet are sturdy but flexible boot-like constructs that can easily find stability on rough surfaces. The arms reach halfway down the legs and have the elbows right at halfway. They have large hands made for easily grasping tools.
Armor is primarily placed around the lower legs and arms, as protecting the entire mecha would be heavy. This armor is wide and slanted to make it better at deflecting attacks away from the mecha. There is also a bit of armor placed along the top of the torso, to protect the core and any back attachments, which extends over the shoulders in a pseudo-pauldron.
The pilot is harnessed onto the front of the torso, with a variety of levels, buttons, and pedals protruding around them to allow control of the mecha. A large windscreen covers them from the front, protecting against the elements and enemy attacks both. This windscreen can be retracted to make space for a ladder, allowing the pilot to easily mount or dismount the mecha.
Basic mecha as described above typically have three colors. An infrastructure color, usually greyscale as painting the infrastructure is inefficient and doesn’t add much. A primary color, which is used for the main armor plating and some larger pieces of infrastructure. And a secondary color which is used for detailing and decals.
Mecha always have a power source, infrastructure type, and armor type. No mecha can be constructed without all three of these components.
Each mecha also has a unique trait that sets it apart from the others. This trait can be virtually anything, from a general design philosophy to a specific piece of technology. For example, a mecha intended to be better for aerial combat might have a general design of having thinner armor and fins attached to its arms and legs, or it might have a pair of large air intakes attached to each shoulder. The possibilities are fairly limitless, although mecha traits are not usually massively impactful. Traits are there to give mecha specialization and a sense of uniqueness, not to massively strengthen the mecha.
Attachments are the tools and weapons that mecha use to become a viable threat on the battlefield. Attachments come in Back, Hand, and Leg types. Some attachments may require multiple slots to equip, for example a two-handed weapon would have its type listed as “Hand+Hand.”
Back attachments are the most versatile, ranging from small armor plates to help protect against attacks from behind to complex flight systems with high speed engines and built in weaponry.
Hand attachments are typically weapons or other combat tools. Although some are attached to the back of the arm or even the elbow, they are still considered hand attachments and occupy the slot.
Leg attachments are generally related to mobility or armor. And like Hand attachments, may be applied in multiple locations on the leg or foot, but will still take up the leg slot.
Attachments are the main manner through which mecha can be improved, and building new, more powerful attachments is key to holding off the Enemy.
Headquarters is not a specific location, but merely whatever base of operation Saint Mecha X is working from. However, that does not mean HQ can simply be neglected. Moving to a new headquarters is guaranteed to be dangerous and will likely result in a loss of resources.
Due to its importance, headquarters can be fortified using HQ attachments. It can also be damaged and require repairs. The Enemy will generally bring much more firepower when actively targeting the headquarters, making it important to fortify if an attack is suspected.
At the start of the RP Saint Mecha X is headquartered at
Sanctum Lighthouse.
Between combats, players will be given time to perform a variety of actions that cost AP. For convenience, these may be done at any time between combats. Actions may be posted immediately and RP’d out after, posted as they are RP’d, posted after being RP’d, or posted at any time and not RP’d at all. AP is refreshed after each combat and cannot be stored, any unused AP will be scrapped.
Players may use their AP to do tasks for other players as well, and in fact it’s expected and will generally be more efficient than everyone doing all actions for themselves.
Each mechanical action will have an AP cost tied to it, and each type of action has a connected skill that reduces the cost of actions of that type by 1 AP per stat point, to a minimum of 1. One skill point is gained per level, and may be allocated freely to any skill. Each action type will be covered on its own later.
Players gain a level every time they reach 100 EXP. EXP will be granted after each battle based on performance, and exactly how much is gained will be somewhat arbitrary. Ejecting will immediately cost one full level and half of your current EXP, as well as preventing you from gaining any EXP for the battle in which it happens.
Max AP is equal to 2*level, although RP events may result in arbitrary reductions or increases to max AP at the GM’s discretion. Your total number of skill points is always equivalent to your level. The maximum level is 15.
The mountain is rife with useful materials, if only someone takes the time to mine them. Mining requires a working mecha and an attachment useful for digging as well as enough AP to spend time on it.
Due to the GM attention required, mining attempts should be resolved OOC (in the crafting channel) before being posted in the thread.
There are many levels to the mountain, although at the start only level 1 will be accessible. The AP cost of mining is equivalent to the level you choose to mine on minus your miner stat, with a minimum of 1 AP per dig. Each mining attempt will cause a d100 to be rolled, with the result determining drops based on the following table:
- 1-30: Common material
- 31-50: Common technology
- 51-70: Uncommon material
- 71-80: Uncommon technology
- 81-90: Rare material
- 91-95: Rare technology
- 96-99: Artifact
- 100: Level unique item (becomes artifact once the unique is acquired on that level)
Breaching deeper levels costs the same AP as mining there, but can only be attempted when a sufficiently powerful mining attachment is available (determined via GM arbitration). Deeper levels will have the same table, but the actual drops will be of increased value. The deepest mining level is level 30.
Crafting is a somewhat complex system done in two stages. First, the details of the crafting will be resolved OOC (I’ll set up a specific Discord channel for this), then the craft will be given an AP cost which can be used to perform the craft IC.
Crafting can be done through two methods: Experimental crafting, and goal-based crafting.
Experimental crafting involves arbitrarily smashing two or more items together without any regard for process. Such crafts will always have some sort of result that combines traits of all involved items, but the player will have little control over it and many will have dice rolls involved. The AP cost for an experimental craft is paid up-front, and low AP crafts will generally have lesser results.
Goal-based crafting is much more refined, but also much more effort. The player must not only bring materials to combine, but suggest how they can be combined. This needn’t be rigorously scientific, merely specifying that a component known to generate intense light be combined with a component known to make a good gun barrel is enough to make a laser gun. Essentially, this sort of craft involves asking, “if I combine x with y, does it make z?” If the answer turns out to be yes, then an AP cost will be provided and the craft may be performed any time the materials and AP are available.
Crafting is performed using both materials and technology, with the latter generally being more useful but harder to work with. Some artifacts may also prove useful once their properties are discovered.
All damage received will come with a short description of what the damage is and a repair cost. All repairs will cost AP, but some may also require materials. The AP cost of repairs may be mitigated through the Mechanic skill, which reduces the cost of all repairs by its value, down to a minimum of 1 AP per repair.
When the correct materials are not available, attempts may be made to substitute new materials. The is done through the crafting system, and may use the full extent of that system. Goal-based crafting here must always be done with the intent of fixing damage, and will never result in anything new. However experimental crafting can create new and unusual results, although whether or not these are good or bad is left to chance.
In the course of the RP, the players will likely stumble onto ancient artifacts. These artifacts can reveal the mysteries of the mountain, human history, and perhaps even give clues about the origins of the Enemy. Some artifacts could go so far as to prove useful for crafting, the possibilities are near limitless.
There’s only one problem: Artifacts are mysterious themselves. Understanding their origins and purpose requires that they first be researched. Each artifact has a research counter, and research is complete when the counter reaches 0. Reducing the counter takes an action, the AP cost of which depends on the artifact but can be reduced by the researcher stat, to a minimum of 1 AP per research. An artifact with a counter of 10 and a cost of 3 would take a minimum of 10 AP and a maximum of 30AP, depending on the researcher’s skill.
Artifacts need not be researched all at once. Once a research counter has been reduced, it will not increase again. Work on an artifact may be conducted over great lengths of time as necessary.
All mecha pilots are psychic as a prerequisite, but not all psychics are created equal. The baseline for mech pilots is a minimal psychic resonance that grants a small sixth sense. This allows them to connect more deeply with their mecha and sense its movements clearly as if it were an extension of their bodies.
Most mecha are also attuned to the specific psychic signature of their pilot, increasing this resonance and preventing theft.
But this is not the limit of psychic power, the human mind is extremely powerful and one can go much deeper. But training psychic potential is far from easy and it takes time to nurture and grow.
Psychic power doesn’t have an associated AP action, and may initially seem to be worthless. But given time, this mysterious power may eventually become a powerful asset for the wielder.
You will be expected to actively maintain your own character sheet with accurate stats, attachments, and damage. To this end, you are not required to maintain the sheet in the OOC. So long as an up-to-date version is always linked in the OOC, you may use whatever tools you please.
Name: [The name of the character. Japanese/faux Japanese are encouraged. Western name order]
Personality: [What kind of person the character is]
Appearance: [What the character looks like. Spiky hair required (not actually)]
Level 1 (0 EXP)
- Miner: [Reduces the AP cost of digging for resources]
- Inventor: [Reduces the AP cost of crafting new items]
- Mechanic: [Reduces the AP cost of repairing]
- Researcher: [Reduces the AP cost of studying artifacts]
- Psychic: [Has an unknown effect]
Mecha Name: [Should have some level of positive christian significance. The easiest is using the names of famous saints]
Mecha Appearance: [Feel free to just use the basic mecha design and only list colors. This isn’t especially important]
Trait: [The unique trait of the mecha]
Power Source: Power Core
Infrastructure: Steel
Armor: Intractium
Equipped Attachments: [You start the RP with one attachment]
Name (Type): [The name of the attachment and what locations it can be attached to]
Description: [What the attachment’s function is. Your initial attachment should be extremely simple]Damage:
[Any damage sustained should be noted here. Damage to specific attachments should instead be noted with those attachments]
Yuta Takata, pilot of the St. Barbara
Lee Ito, pilot of the Zaqiel
Tsukiko Mochizuki, pilot of the Our Lady of Sorrows
Kaji Habishi, pilot of the Gobnait's Flock
Hiro Meijō, pilot of the Seraphiel
Shiki Shingen, pilot of the Memory of the Righteous
Ren Hakuryuu, pilot of the St. Aquinas
NPCsSensei ShirouEnemyBasic Enemy
