Obviously I am way behind on the 31 Day Character Challenge and based on my work and life schedule so far I am highly unlikely to be able to complete it in the allotted time.
That said, I am still really into the project and discussing ideas for Japanese Pop Culture Entertainment related TRPGs. My reminiscing and research this month has been extremely inspiring for my creativity.
As a current favorite Anime series would say, expect this endeavor to continue 'Beyond the Journey's End'.*
Character: Gareth of Ollwood
AKA: Gareth Ollwood, Prince Regan of Fornia, The Bizmark Knight
Player: David Concepcion.
System: Mekton II with additional Houserules
Nature: Short Campaign: Mechanical Fantasy Bizmark
Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein
Circa: 1987-1988
Origins: David Concepcion and I have played a lot of games together and several of them were Mecha related. If you'll recall, Dave played A.J. DeLorca, the chief protagonist (essentially) of our MACROSS: The Blue Dragons campaign.
After seeing several episodes of Mecha Anime that dealt with Fantasy or vaguely Medieval era settings, I whipped up an idea for a game with a similar premise. Eventually, with the help of my friend Nelson Marty, I wrote out a comic book story titled 'Mechanical Fantasy Byzumtine' that explored this idea. Nelson drew the pages for the comic and we used it as a submission to our high school's annual Art Festival.
I'm forgetting something...Oh yes! Dave! I shelved the idea after the Art Festival, unsure exactly what I wanted to do with it. About a year later in 1987, R. Talsorian Games came out with Mekton II, a new edition of their Anime/Manga inspired Giant Robot RPG. After running a few one-shots to test it out (Mekton II is quite different from its predecessor), the idea came to me to revisit Mechanical Fantasy Byzumtine. My thoughts instinctively turned to running it with Dave.
Cover layout for the Mechanical Fantasy Byzumtine Comic Book story.
Art by Nelson Marty
Reworking things a little I decided to set a new story in a different part of the same world. I pitched the idea I had to Dave, whose concept for a character really painted a picture of what the campaign would be about. As with other campaigns we'd done together, it was mainly a one-on-one RPG initially, just him and me, until others got wind of the game and joined in as either semi-regulars or guest stars.
Armed with Mekton II and a host of Medieval Mecha Anime under our belt, Dave and I set out to take on the world of Rith!
Backstory: Gareth was a young orphaned minstrel and actor in the town of Ollwood, a large settlement not far from the City of Angels, capital of the Kingdom of Fornia. He was born with rare Gray-Green eyes, a sign of one who has a great destiny ahead of them.
The only other person in all of Fornia to have such eyes was none other than the Prince himself! Prince Regan Angel, young heir to the kingdom had the same sign of greatness. Hmm. Similar hair too. They're about the same height. Huh. Wonder if that will come up later?
When the Kingdom of Nev declares war on Fornia and the King is murdered, it is up to Prince Regan to lead the nation to victory against its dreadful enemy. Prince Regan had no intention of ruling as king however. He sought revenge for the assassination of his father by directly going into battle in his family's legacy Mecha Knight, the Bizmark! Of course, there was no way his court would let him do that as they needed a king. What's a brave, angry, impetuous young Prince to do? Simple! Switch places with Gareth of Ollwood, drafted into the Fornian Army to fend off the Dark Desert Order of Nev.
And so our campaign followed Gareth (really Prince Regan) as he fought his way to becoming a better person, a true leader, and the secret component to unlocking the ancient power of Bizmark, one of the nine Sacred Paladins (extremely powerful Giant Robots. Byzumtine is another).
The Bizmark, one of the Nine Great Sacred Paladin Mecha.
Overview: The overall 'narrative' of the campaign was inspired by elements of the Shakespearian play 'Henry V', as well as numerous ideas from various Mecha Fantasy Anime. Regan, disguised as the commoner soldier Gareth, works his way through the ranks to fight alongside the noble knights of Fornia. In the process he goes from vengeful, undisciplined young man to a hero and true leader. Meanwhile, the real Gareth plays the role of Prince Regan with the help of the Chamberlain who figures out the ruse early on. However, it is revealed that the Chamberlain might be influencing the 'Prince' to his own benefit.
Map of The Kingdom of Fornia,
On the Western Coast of Amera, World of Rith.
Meanwhile, other Player Characters popped in and out as various interesting and odd people that added to the setting's lore and the story's intricate plot. Among the ones I remember best include.
A Mercenary working for the Kingdom of Nev who is convinced to switch sides.
A Knight Captain of the City of Francis, who leads Gareth to a secret island fortress.
A Wizard, imprisoned on said island fortress, joins Gareth to find an mythic artifact.
An Elf, one of the last on Rith, allies with the heroes to battle one of the major villains.
The Highlights:
I remember cool story elements and general battles but stand out moments are hard to recall. It was a short campaign of maybe two dozen sessions or less and it was so long ago. Hmmm.
I do recall one awesome session where Gareth and two other PCs were fighting a half dozen members of the enemy army including a leader with a custom weapon or something. The heroes were searching through the ruins of the ancient city of Diego in Southern Fornia hoping to find a relic that could protect a Mech with a 'Magic Shield' (in others words, a Force Field). Suddenly the enemy showed with the same idea.
Unfortunately the battle woke a huge Dragon; yep, a freaking Kaiju scale fire-breathing monster. The enemy commander teamed up with the PCs to battle the gigantic beast using the Force Field Belt he'd discovered moments before it appeared. After a conversation about honor and one's legacy with Gareth, the guy sacrifices himself to give the PCs an opening to slay the creature. Pretty fantastic 'episode' I must say.
Game Info:
The game information regarding this campaign is long since lost but I can recollect a few details and speculate on others:
Gareth of Ollwood (really Prince Regan Angel of Fornia)
Age: 20
Stats
7 Intelligence
7 Cool
8 Reflexes
7 Attractiveness
6 Tech Ability
8 Luck
6 Movement Allowance
7 Body
10* Mana - Latent
Skills and Levels
Awareness 3
Basic Repair 3
Etiquette 3
Dodge 5
Hand-to-Hand 3
Investigate 3
Leadership 3
Mecha Piloting 7
Mecha Fighting 5
Mecha Melee 7
Mecha Gunnery 3
Melee 7
Partial Plate Armor: 5 Points of Stopping Power.
Long Sword: 1D6+1
I forget what the specifics of the Ritters were but generally they were Medium Striker grade Mecha with Striker grade armor. They were armed with Swords (standard 2 Kill Melee Weapons) and Shields.
The Bizmark on the other hand was a Heavy Striker Mech with Heavy Striker armor. It was quite fast, maneuverable, and could make extraordinarily high or long leaps.
The Mech's weapon was a Bastard Sword that did 4 Kills of damage. Once Gareth unlocked his true potential and that of the Bizmark, the Sword could perform an extra special effect on a Critical Success. In addition to double damage (which we had all Crits do), the Bizmark's strike would reduce the damage of an opponents attacks, their movement/speed, and any special abilities by -2. The effect was cumulative. If Gareth Crits on an attack and then Crits again three attacks later in the same combat, the opponent is at -4 and so on.
Notes:
As should be obvious by now, the 'Medieval Fantasy' setting of the World of Rith is actually a distant future, post-apocalypse Earth. Technology reached great heights before the fall of civilization, with giant robots, hover vehicles, and in-system space travel having all been achieved.
Fornia is of course California, with our key character hailing from the region of Los Angeles. The real Gareth comes from Hollywood/Glendale. Other important locations in the game were San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, Anaheim, and San Diego.
Throughout the early adventures, Gareth/Prince Regan pilots a standard Mecha Solider called a Ritter, one of about two dozen such robots in the Army of Angels (the 'King's Army' from the capital). The Knights of the Order of Angels use the superior Mecha Knights called Templars. Other city-states have their own armies and Knight Orders, mostly consisting of the same two types. All serve the King of Fornia of course.
The armies and orders I recall are: the Army/Order of the Black Mouse (Anheim), Army/Order of The Golden Gate (Francis), and the Army/Order of The Redwood (Sierra, North Eastern Fornia). The Dark Desert Army and Order of the Kingdom of Nev (Nevada) use different Mechs.
Elves, Dwarves, and various monsters of myth and folklore existed but were exceptionally rare. All were likely the results of genetic engineering and subsequent mutations. There were some clues as to the presence of 'Demons' that may or may not have been aliens.
Magic was in truth a combination of highly advanced technology and psychic phenomenon. The later was rarer than rare, giving things a bit of a Pendragon or Lord of the Rings feel. The world was fantastic but one hardly ever saw fantastic things. Spells and Dragons were assumed to exist but most people had never seen them in their lifetimes.
Legacy:
Sadly, this game was never truly finished. For whatever reason we got delayed or distracted and ended up leaving it for other worlds and ideas.
As noted in my previous post, I am looking towards running a Medieval Mecha game in the near future. Perhaps we'll revisit Rith and see what Gareth of Ollwood - or Prince Regan if you prefer - is up to.
AD
Barking Alien
*A reference to the excellent Fantasy Anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.
No comments:
Post a Comment