Campaigns I'll Probably Never Run - Shisa Squadron TTS for Mekton Zeta

So I know it's been a while since I posted something for the Blog.  Some of you are probably wondering "Where's the next part of Yakuza 2019 you bastard?!" to answer your question.  It's going to be delayed for quite some time, probably until Summer.  Due to the fact that there was a College Faculty strike up here in Ontario, which basically meant the School year got kind of messed up.  What does that have to do with my ability to write stuff?  Quite a lot actually, since that means the GM for the Campaign doesn't have time to run it anymore or to play in any other games for that matter.  So I'm left with nothing to do until that gets cleared up.  Fortunately boredom is a great motivator, which is why I present you another Campaign Pitch I've been working on.

Now I can't really take all the credit for this one.  It in fact comes from a Hillfolk supplement called Blood on the Snow.  Those of you who've been with the Blog a long time might remember some of my earlier posts about adapting another setting from the same book.  Shanghai 1930 a series of posts about adapting that to the Call of Cthulhu system which you can find by clicking here and here.  The campaign pitch comes from a Playset within Blood on the Snow called "Article Nine" referring to the part of the Japanese constitution that prevents Japan from participating in foreign conflicts.  (Page 125 of Blood on the Snow if you're interested).  It's one of those settings that when I read it said "Wow I would really love to run a game in this world."

Artwork for the Article Nine Setting, the robot
looks a little too bulky to outmaneuver a F-35.

To briefly summarize Article Nine takes place in a Near Future (20XX) where war threatens to break out between East Asian countries in the Pacific.  China and Vietnam being chief among them.  While the United States, Japan and Russia are at risk of being drawn into the conflict to protect their interests in that area.  During one of the initial skirmishes a patrol of Chinese Warships were attacked out of nowhere!  By what observing American F-35s reported to be Giant Flying Robots!  Before losing sight of the two craft the American Military observed that they resembled a prototype developed by one Dr. Yamaguchi, a Japanese Scientist for use in Earthquake rescue and Mars Exploration.  Who disappeared along with his prototype as well as a good chunk of Kyoto.  (That kind of thing happens when you develop a Nuclear Fission-Powered robot that generates an eleven-dimensional forcefield, that can only be maintained by a Machine-Brain link with a Teenaged Pilot).  The robots that attacked the Chinese patrol were dead-ringers for Yamaguchi's missing prototype.  Only these one's were equipped with weaponry.  The Japanese government in coalition with the Americans quickly summoned the only surviving member of Yamaguchi's research team.  It was clear that the Japanese and their American Allies had fallen behind in the Giant Robot Race.

One of the few Mecha Anime I've seen Fullmetal Panic!
I forgot what the Mecha in this looked like, honestly I think the
one's in the campaign might look similar.  They've got that
boxy look that Military Hardware usually has.

The other Mecha Anime I've seen Neon Genesis Evangelion.
A.K.A. The series they stole to make Pacific Rim.  More fighting
giant monsters than the campaign calls for.

So yes this is going to be Campaign, along the lines of so many Mecha Anime.  A genre that I never really took an interest in.  I've seen Three Mecha Anime in my entire life.  Fullmetal Panic (which I liked more as a Comedy), Code Geass and Neon Genesis Evangelion (which I found to be incredibly overrated, I can feel the rage of so many Otaku everywhere).  Simply put it's a genre that I never really explored before.  The setting was so interesting to me, that I couldn't pass it up.  In this case I'm going to be taking a setting for a more Story-focused game (like Hillfolk) and give it a little more crunch.  Not that different from taking setting published for D&D and running it really.  So now it just comes down to what system to use, I had thought about using GURPS, but I found their Mecha book a little lacking.  Another that sprung to mind was the Mecha & Manga Sourcebook for Mutants and Masterminds.  I decided to drop that one as well because of a previous short-lived Super Hero Campaign.  Which caused me to lose faith in that System's validity.  That's when it hit me, Mekton Zeta!  Made by the same folks that brought us one my favourite game Systems Cyberpunk 2020.  With a great many of the same mechanics.  It was also written during the Golden Age of Mecha Anime by people who love the Genre rather than a company trying to fill a niche.  It even has some elements to it that I think make it superior to Cyberpunk (putting the Lifepath, which I think is the greatest mechanic first for one).  I've fiddled around with the Mecha Construction rules a little over the last few days (and still haven't got the starting Mech I want for the campaign down-pat yet), but at least the elements are all there to build the Robots described in Blood on the Snow.  Anti-gravity, reactive shields (forcefields to you laymen), mind-machine links,  it's all there.  Everything I'd need to build one of these super-robots.  I just need to tweak it a little.  I'm building these in the 350 to 400 point range, since these are largely prototypes rather than Standard-Military Issue.  The players would probably be playing Teenage JASDF (Japanese Air Self-Defense Force) Mecha-Pilots in training.  (This setting uses the trope of only Teens being able to pilot Mechs.  A cliche that used to piss me off, but I will let slide for now).  Probably built on 65 points and Rookies (though an argument could be made for 18 year old Professional Graduates from Elite Training Programs).  If the players so desire they could build secondary non-combat focused characters.  Military Officers, Researchers and Technicians around the base.  Built as 70 point Professionals.  A special rule I'd have to implement is that no Pilot would have Mech Piloting at higher than +3 to start and no Mech Combat Skill at higher than +2.  Since this is a setting where Mech technology is still in its infancy as are the training programs for Pilots.  In fact training exercises will make up quite a few of the earlier sessions.  I think it'd be a nice opportunity to help myself and the players get the hang of the system.  As well as get to know the inhabitants of the small Okinawan Island that their airbase is located.  Click here for more information on that.  

Anyways I think that about wraps it up for this short little campaign pitch.  Tell me what you think in the comments below.  Be sure to +1, follow and reshare.  As always have a nice day and may you roll many crits.

Campaigns I'll Probably Never Get to Run: Shanghai 1930 Part 1

So I recently took a look at the Hillfolk expansion Blood on the Snow.  Hillfolk is a tabletop role-playing game that uses the Drama System, it was created by Robin Laws.  You can find the game over at the Pelgrane Press website.  While I have never used Hillfolk as written, I have been very impressed by it.  The Game's books include some of the best campaign pitches and adventure seeds, I have ever read.  So while scanning Blood on the Snow, I came across a seed that sparked my interest. Shanghai 1930.  Now I will admit, the title is not what captured my attention.  Prior to reading the pitch, I had known nothing about Shanghai during that era.  What caught me was the nutshell, elevator Pitch that was given for this campaign.  The following quotation is taken from Blood on the Snow, page 43.

"In the sin-drenched free port of 1930s Shanghai, criminal gangs, refugees, revolutionaries and adventurers vie for power as a new world war looms."

Needless to say that little bit of writing is what caught my attention.  I was still a little skeptical due to still being unfamiliar with Shanghai in that time period.  Further reading of the campaign overview helped to alleviate any skepticism I may have had left about running a game in that setting.  There were plenty of factions with conflicting interests, to make for an intriguing background, to run a campaign through.

Shanghai during the 1930s was city of sin, violence and fast money.  At the time the city was the centre of China's national and international opium trade.  Business was doing so well that many Shanghainese gangsters had set themselves up with positions within the cities Police force.  To ensure that business continued to run smoothly.  As one of the world's only free ports (a city one could enter without a passport) Shanghai was also a safe haven to many European Refugees.  Most notably White Russian emigres, European Jews fleeing the emerging right-wing political parties.  As well as many German entertainers & closeted homosexuals seeking to escape the right-wingers.  The White Russians (Russian aristocrats or any Russians that opposed the Bolsheviks) are a particularly interesting case study.  Having fled through Siberia into Shanghai, they were literally stateless.  Aristocrats that had lived lives of luxury now shared dingy apartments with as many as two or three other families.  Many took up whatever jobs they could find.  In the case of the men hardened by five years of fighting against the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, they became bodyguards to Chinese mobsters.  It was often considered to be a sign of prestige to have White Russian bodyguards.  Others opened bars, cafes, turned to grifting and con artistry.  While others still continued to fight the Bolsheviks by passing out anti-communist literature and giving speeches from soap-boxes to anyone who would listen.  The women often took up work as cultural instructors to upper-class Chinese families.  Teaching European style dancing and music.  Though a large portion of them ended up working dance halls and brothels.  Many of them hoping to entice rich American and British businessmen into marriage, which would mean a passport and a ticket out of Shanghai.  German musicians found they were most welcome, finding employment in the numerous Shanghai nightclubs.        The nightclubs are often frequented by American, British and European businessmen that reside in the International Settlement.  Here to make their fortunes in the import/export business, banking and shipping industries.  They are followed by foreign correspondents, reporting on the goings on of the city.  Artists fascinated by the in-vogue Oriental culture, missionaries seeking to save the souls of this modern day Gomorrah.  As well as numerous foreign spies keeping an eye on political situation of the city.  At the height of the Chinese Civil war between the Nationalist and the Communist Forces, several countries have a vested interest in the outcome of this conflict.

Gaming Shanghai 1930 - Choosing a System 

So when I decided that I would love to at least write some notes on campaign in 1930 Shanghai.  The immediate question that popped into my head was.  What system should I use?  Shanghai 1930 was written with Hillfolk's Drama System in mind.  I personally find it hard to convince players to play systems primarily focused on story-telling.  I needed something that had potential for quick and easy combat, but was also capable of supporting the Genre.  One system that popped to mind was GURPS.  The Generic Universal Roleplaying System.  Their World War 2 line of sourcebooks were only a decade or so removed from when the events of the game would take place.  I particularly loved the Templates from those books and the National Advantages/Disadvantages packages for each country.  There were a number of problems with using GURPS however.  While I have read many of the sourcebooks as inspiration for campaigns with other systems.  I have never actually run a game of GURPS.  Another problem that arose was that GURPS as played out of the Basic Set is not very structured.  Which was something I was looking for, for this particular campaign.  One of the reasons that I loved the Templates from the WW2 Sourcebooks was the structure that they gave character creation.  A problem I have had with players before is that they will choose any skill they think they can get away with.  Creating an incredibly game-breaking character, which fictionally has no real business being in the story.  The WW2 Templates, give the players a selection of skills that is required to play that character's occupation.  Most of which are heavily combat focused, while the players get to flesh out their characters with the remaining points.  Something else I found somewhat lacking was that the WW2 Sourcebooks lack, National Advantages/Disadvantages for Chinese Characters.  As well as National Advantages/Disadvantages for White Russian Exiles, despite having a list for Soviet Characters.  I wasn't confident enough in my abilities as a game hacker to create lists for those Nationalities, that would satisfy my own strict demands for this game.

The next game that sprang to mind ended up being the one that I picked.  In Blood on the Snow's pitch for Shanghai 1930, there were three lists of character archetypes, for each of the three factions.  As I read through them I started thinking, this is like I'm reading through the Call of Cthulhu Investigator's Companion Volume 2 all over again.  Typical Call of Cthulhu is played in a primary setting of the 1920s, 1930s if the Keeper decides to stretch the timeline a little.  Thinking about it for a while it seemed to be the perfect fit.  Take out the Mythos elements and you have the makings for exactly what I wanted in a system for this Campaign Idea.  In COC you usually play, somewhat wealthy individuals sneaking around, trying to save the world from creatures beyond our understanding.  In Shanghai 1930, a large portion of character archetypes are wealthy or keep the company of wealthy people.  Instead of sneaking around to stop the machinations of otherworldly abominations.  They sneak around expediting their own selfish machinations.

So there's my pitch for Shanghai 1930.  A campaign I'll probably never get to run, due to a lack of players.  I'll post part two to this post later.  In the meantime, feel free to comment and give feedback on my pitch.  Have a good day and keep gaming.