[Reality Blurs] MECHAGENESIS

[True20Chick]

As scooped on langaming.net...

She roared down the highway, free and clear… or so she thought. She heard the distant scream of a police siren rapidly approaching behind her. Muttering curses, she checked her rear-view mirrors. Behind her, dodging cars to the left and right, a heavily modified police coupe blared its siren, lights flashing frantically. It was difficult to see her pursuer, as she was weaving in and out of traffic herself, but she saw enough of him to know that she couldn’t outrun him. She couldn’t risk a confrontation with him on this crowded freeway, either, or even activate her stealth module. It would be too dangerous to the already startled drivers around her. She cursed again. This was the last thing she needed.

Scanning the road ahead of her, she saw an off-ramp free of civilians and decided to make her move. She zipped across three lanes of traffic, ignoring the horns and rude gestures of the drivers she darted past in order to take the fight away from traffic. “You’ll thank me later!” she shouted.

Near the top of the off-ramp she slammed on the brakes, kicking up a great cloud of smoke as high-performance tires screamed and fought for grip. She swerved into a bootlegger turn, nearly rolling over as she skidded to a stop perpendicular to the ramp. Suddenly sparks of energy crackled over the surface of the car, the chassis extended, rotated, unfolded arms and legs.

Ghost rose to her feet, bringing her quantum energy blaster rifle to bear on the police coupe. “Goodbye, Rundown,” she whispered as she squeezed the trigger.

MECHAGENESIS
The Earth has been invaded by the Legion, an army of extraterrestrial shape-changing robots bent on galactic domination. They are opposed by the Global Defense Corps, brave humans who sacrifice themselves each and every day to preserve humanity, but they are not alone. You are a member of the Alliance, a valiant cadre of exiled robots who once fought them and lost. Now, you must muster every resource at your disposal to rise up once again and drive out the invaders and end the scourge of Legion once and for all. The time of Mechagenesis is now!

MECHAGENESIS: The True20 Robotic Roleplay Sourcebook is proudly brought to you by Reality Blurs! Release date: June 2008 for PDF, speculatively October for print.

[True20Chick]

Ghost
Function: Spy.
Quote: Now you see me, now you don’t… now you die.
Description: Ghost is a specialist in subterfuge, and is not fond of combat. As a spy, she feels that if you’re involved in a fight, you’ve failed as a spy. Unfortunately, the state of warfare that now exists on Earth since the arrival of the Legion frequently pushes her into unavoidable combat situations. She tackles the obstacles stoically, however, knowing from the loss of the Alliance foothold on Artifex that the cost of inaction will be devastating to Earth. She prefers to fight on paved ground, since natural surfaces often give away her position with clouds of dust and foot impressions. Such terrain is not something to which she is accustomed, since there’s nothing like it on Artifex.
Abilities: Ghost can angle small crystals embedded in her metallic skin to warp light in such a way as to become invisible. This gives her an excellent tactical advantage in combat, but also enhances her abilities as a spy. She tends to remain in alt form, invisibly zipping around a battle zone to go where she feels she is most needed at a given moment. In primary form she wields a blaster rifle.

Quantum Reserves (Conviction): OOO
Role: Large mechagen Expert 1
Speed: 40 ft.
Abilities: Str +1, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +0
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+7), Bluff 4 (+4), Computers (+6), Disguise 4 (+6), Drive 4 (+11), Intimidate 4 (+4), Jump 4 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 4 (+6), Notice 4 (+6), Search 4 (+6), Stealth 4 (+6)
Bonus Feat: Firearms Training
Favored Feats: Attack Specialization, Greater Attack Specialization
Feats: Quick Draw, Skill Focus (Stealth), Vehicular Combat 2
Upgrades: Increased Acceleration, Increased Vehicle Form Speed 2, Special Power Focus
Power: Int, effective total level 2, rank 5, fatigue save 11, power bonus +10; Light Shaping (invisibility only)
Traits: Built-In Radio, Damage Reduction (4/quantum energy), Energy Resistance 4, Imbued Attacks, Living Machine, Morph
Combat: Attack +2 (−1 size, +3 Dex), Damage +2 (unarmed) or +6 (blaster rifle), Defense Dodge/Parry +2/+0 (−1 size, +3 Dex/+1 Str), Initiative +3
Saving Throws: Toughness +9/+5 (+2 size, +3 Con, +4 DR/ER), Fortitude +3 (+3 Con), Reflex +5 (+2 base, +3 Dex), Will +2 (+2 Wis)
Virtue: Loyal; Vice: Vindictive

Gear
Blaster Rifle: Base damage +3 +1 size +2 extra = +6; Extra Damage +2 (2), Increased Range +100 ft. (2), Longarm (+1); Cost 4.

Alt Form: Sports Car
Character Scale Speed: 245 squares per round.
Surface Scale Speed: 49 squares per round.
Air Scale Speed: 4.9 squares per round.
MPH: 245 mph.
Maneuverability: Good, +4 bonus on Drive checks.
Acceleration: 52.5/10.5/1.05.

Priorities
1 – Alt Form; Sports Car.
2 – Gear; 4 points.
3 –Special Power, level +0; Light Shaping (invisibility only, +1 priority boost)
4 – Upgrades; 4.
5 – Abilities; 8 points.

[True20Chick]

Rundown
Function: Fugitive Pursuit.
Quote: You can’t run from the inevitable.
Description: Rundown is a loose cannon in the Legion ranks, dangerous to Alliance ‘bots and sometimes even his own team. He is, however, extremely good at what he does — chasing down and ruthlessly destroying Alliance ‘bots — so Centurion keeps him around. He cleverly adopted the alt form of a police cruiser, allowing him to move at high speeds through human communities without drawing the wrong kind of attention.
Abilities: In primary form Rundown wields a powerful quantum energy autoblaster carbine. Despite his speed, accuracy, and lethality, his primary weakness is his singular weapon. It is powerful, certainly, but if removed from him he is left defenseless. In alt form he can reach top speeds of 245 miles per hour, and is agile enough to swerve in and out of traffic with ease. In either form, he can manipulate the sequence of flashing lights on his police light bar to mesmerize an opponent.

Quantum Reserves (Conviction): OOO
Role: Large mechagen Warrior 1
Speed: 40 ft.
Abilities: Str +3, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +0
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+7), Drive 4 (+15), Intimidate 4 (+4), Jump 4 (+7), Notice 4 (+5), Search 4 (+5)
Bonus Feat: Firearms Training
Favored Feats: Elusive Target, Sneak Attack
Feats: Attack Focus (blaster rifle) Point Blank Shot, Vehicular Combat 2
Upgrades: High Performance, Increased Acceleration, Increased Maneuverability, Increased Vehicle Form Speed 2
Power: Int, effective total level 1, rank 4, fatigue save 11, save Difficulty 12; Suggestion
Traits: Built-In Radio, Damage Reduction (4/quantum energy), Energy Resistance 4, Imbued Attacks, Living Machine, Morph
Combat: Attack +3 (−1 size, +1 base, +3 Dex) (+4 with autoblaster carbine), Damage +4 (unarmed) or +7 (autoblaster carbine), Defense Dodge/Parry +3/+3 (−1 size, +1 base, +3 Dex/+3 Str), Initiative +3
Saving Throws: Toughness +8/+4 (+2 size, +2 Con, +4 DR/ER), Fortitude +4 (+2 base, +2 Con), Reflex +3 (+3 Dex), Will +1 (+1 Wis)
Virtue: Determined; Vice: Rash

Gear
Autoblaster Carbine: Base damage +3 +3 extra +1 size = +7; Autofire (2), Extra Damage +3 (3), Increased Range +50 ft. (1), Longarm (+1); Cost 6.

Alt Form: Sports Car
Character Scale Speed: 245 squares per round.
Surface Scale Speed: 49 squares per round.
Air Scale Speed: 4.9 squares per round.
MPH: 245 mph.
Maneuverability: Perfect, +8 bonus on Drive checks.
Acceleration: 52.5/10.5/1.05.

Priorities
1 – Alt Form; Sports Car.
2 – Gear; 6 points.
3 – Special Power, level +0; Suggestion.
4 – Ability scores; 7 points.
5 – Upgrades; 5.

[MdavidJ]

SWEET!

[True20Chick]

Tres sweet!

The blue 'bot on the left of the cover is CELERION, the heroic leader of the exiled Alliance mechagens. His alt form is a high-tech supersonic jet fighter.

The red 'bot on the right is CENTURION, the villianous leader of the Legion. His alt form is a massive twin-barreled tank.

MECHAGENESIS is mostly metallic crunch, with some flavor at the end briefly detailing the default setting of an Earth at war with an invading force of morphing robots.

It has rules for making giant, morphing robots that can turn into cars, weapons, technological devices, animal shapes, and even buildings. It contains a simple system for designing futuristic weapons, vehicle combat (naturally!), and special powers based on the core True20 powers.

It even has rules for combining multiple robots into a larger humanoid robot with even greater strength and power.

The rules even allow for a player to run a robot or a human.

[MdavidJ]

That cover is hot.

Anthony Cournoyer is an awesome artist.

I can't wait to grab this.

[True20Chick]

He's doing the interior artwork as well. I like his style. I can't wait to see his depictions of the sample characters in the book.

BTW, there are 5 Alliance 'bots and 6 Legion 'bots fully statted out, but there are actually more stat blocks than that because some of them have robot companions.

[MdavidJ]

So I take it this is a toolkit?

Maybe I missed that somewhere...?

[razorwise]

This is not a toolkit, but the first in the line of Mechagenesis products. Think of it as a Player's Guide, if you will, with rules on character creation and some basic setting materials and other information to kick off a campaign.

Regards,

Sean

[True20Chick]

I ran a quick Mechagenesis game this past Saturday that was quite a succes! The players got into character, and realy enjoyed having characters that could turn into cars.

Highlights of the game:
1. A character playing Wings, a bot with a motorcycle alt form, needed to get across the battle zone in a hurry to help an ally, so she revved up to full speed in motorcycle form and made a daring jump across a gully.

2. A character playing Spoiler, a bot with a Lamborghini Countach alt form, was badly injured after being ganged up on by giant bugs (several Hurts and a few Wounds). He morphed to car form and sped away fro the fight. Just as the other characters were harassing him about fleeing the battle, he pulled a bootlegger turn and rammed a giant bug in car mode. He splattered the bug, but got hurt pretty bad in the process (Disabled himself, to be exact). His sacrifice did help out Roadtrip, however, a pacifist scientist with an RV alt form who was having trouble in battle.

3. A character playing Airlift, a bot with a helicopter alt form, rescued a band of humans from the giant bugs. He missed out on most of the fight, but got kudos for saving the people.

4. In another scenario, Airlift flew in, transformed to robot mode in mid-flight, and did a Bull Rush to push Backlash, a villainous backhoe mechagen, over a cliff. His timely intervention saved Duster, a dunebuggy, from being beaten to death by the enraged Backlash.

5. In the same scenario as #4, a player running Redline (the same player who had run Spoiler in the previous scenario) foolishly tried to take on the villainous Ground-Pounder in single combat. Redline is a Corvette. Ground-Pounder is a massive steamroller. The outcome of that battle was fairly predictable. Redline did keep Ground-Pounder busy enough that he was unable to engage some of the other characters, however.

6. Wings, the motorcycle, has some companion robots (Digit, a monkey and Shard, a hawk) that she can direct in combat while she is in robot form. For some reason, the big enemies they were fighting could not make a Toughness save againt Shard's talons. On three occasions, enemies that the heroes were having trouble with failed their Toughness saves against Shard's fairly weak attacks.

Awesome game. If you have players who can get into the idea of it, it will rock!

[MdavidJ]

This sounds like alot of fun.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

I'm really looking forward to this.

[The Bane]

Erm, When, Where, and How can I get this?! It looks awesome!

Best,
The Bane

[True20Chick]

It's in the final read-through and layout, and Sean is finalizing the art order. Anthony is a very quick pen, so we're still on target for a late June release for the PDF.

We're looking at October for print.

[JadedBrush]

this is cool on so many levels.

[The Bane]

Is 15 June considered 'Late June?'

Ok, I realize it isn't, just wanted to post my fanatical interest at the moment.

Best,
The Bane