2010 S.H.P.C Tom C. Jr. [ SUPER ROBOT WARS D20] A comprehensive guide to running & playing a tabletop role-playing adventure featuring Japanese style giant robots. © Inspired by Banpresto co.'s Super Robot Teisen™ franchise. P a g e | 1 Contents A word from the Author........................Pg.2 Credits....................................................Pg.2 Chapter I: Preparing For Adventure......Pg.3 What will I need?.........................Pg.3 Building an Adventure.................Pg.3 Chapter II: Definitions...........................Pg. 6 Chapter III: Getting Started...................Pg.8 Chapter IV: Races...................................Pg.10 Humans........................................Pg.10 Balmarians...................................Pg.12 Deckhadarian...............................Pg.13 AI..................................................Pg.14 Cyborgs........................................Pg.15 Chapter V: Classes..................................Pg.16 Soldier..........................................Pg.16 Mercenary....................................Pg.18 Engineer.......................................Pg.19 Field Medic..................................Pg.21 Scientist.......................................Pg.22 Chapter VI: Constructing your Mech.....Pg.24 Super Robots...............................Pg.24 Real Robots.................................Pg.25 Hybrids........................................Pg.25 Transposers.................................Pg. 26 Fighters........................................Pg.26 Attack Properties.........................Pg.30 Chapter VII: Building Attacks.................Pg.31 Attack Types................................Pg.32 WP Costs......................................Pg.37 Additional Functions....................Pg.37 Chapter VIII: Feats & Seishin.................Pg.43 Feats............................................Pg.43 Seishin..........................................Pg.45 Seishin by Class............................Pg.47 Chapter IX: Mechanics & Gameplay......Pg.49 Filling in the Spaces.....................Pg.49 Flow of Mech Combat.................Pg.50 Chapter X: Final Notes............................Pg.52 Extra: Defense of Archis.........................Pg.53 P a g e | 2 A word from the author Few things have ignited our imaginations and pushed the limits of our dreams as much as Japanese giant robots. I remember my days as a child watching shows like Power Rangers and VR Troopers thinking they were very American shows, but I learned that by either influence or direct import, these shows were very much rooted in Japanese pop culture. It was not until years later, during my teens that I discovered shows like Gundam, Evangelion and the Big-O which sparked a whole series of new passions, ideas and dreams in my heart and mind. Then, sometime early in the new millennium, I was introduced to Super Robot Wars by a co-worker of mine when I was employed at the Path Mark grocery store in Jersey City, NJ. That was, by far, the turning point that would make me realize just how much I loved the idea of massive mechanized defenders of the peace. It is with these inspirations that I now offer to take you , the reader; through the same course of awe inspiring feats of mechanized bravery that I enjoyed for so long. In this guide, you will find an easy to play, yet incredibly detailed system for tabletop role playing that allows you and your friends to either create your own, or re-create some of the famous giant robots seen in anime, videogames and other media. Thank you, and enjoy~ Thomas L. Claridge Jr.- _____________________________________________________________________________________ Credits Executive Designer Thomas L. Claridge Jr. Co-Designer Robert J. Walsh Combat Algorithm Design Nick Baird Executive Consultant Joseph Wilson Q/A Testers Thomas L. Claridge Jr., Robert J. Walsh, Richard A. Stewart, Amy Sala, Gino Cogliati Super Robot Teisen Original Concept Banpresto Co. d20 Tabletop RPG System Original Concept Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson Original Art / Cover Art Branden Caspers / Banpresto Co. P a g e | 3 I. Preparing for Adventure "He who fails to plan, plans to fail" Before any great journey into the unknown, it's a good idea to prepare yourself for anything and everything that could come your way. This section well help you do just that. What will I need? Wondering what you'll need in order to play SRWd20 without a hitch? Well look no further. The following checklist will ensure your survival! (Or prolong it at any rate...) Required Items A note book: What's an adventure without any documentation? Ideal for DM's who wish to pre-plan their adventures for their players, but also useful to players who want to keep notes. It can also be used for making maps, drawing grids if you're too cheap to buy graph paper... any number of things! Blank pages are your friend. Pencils: I prefer these over pens personally. What else will you use to write? The blood of your enemies?! Calculator: This guide requires math with some large numbers and multiplication by decimals to work certain things out properly. Sure you COULD do it in your head, but I bet your players would start to get grumpy if a single round of combat took forty-five minutes... A copy of this guide: If you DIDN'T have one, and still somehow have gotten this far, you're Batman. At any rate, all the rules to play by this system are in this book and...it's free. Go get a copy. Players: I suppose you COULD play with yourself, but you may go blind. Dice: At least two, twenty-sided dice per player, two six-sided, two eight, a ten, a percentile a four and a twelve. Lots of stores have them for sale for cheapo prices. Or you could just ask your buddy Rich. He's got a bag big enough to clog Hoover Dam with. An Adventure: This COULD have gone in the recommended list seeing as there have been times where my friends and I would just do mock up battles gladiator style... but I suppose the point of this guide is to promote actual role-playing so, whip up a world and get ready. Recommended Items A Grid: This game, like most tabletop RPG's, features combat on grid-based maps. This gives you a visual idea of your surroundings and the terrain involved during battle. Figurines: Or any kind of representation for yourself on the aforementioned grid. Obviously it would be difficult, BUT not impossible to get some custom made figures that match your robots description but...my friends and I use extra dice personally. An Artist: Every friend groups got one. It's of course, not necessary but, it may be nice to have someone who can draw your character or their mech for visual reference. Right? P a g e | 4 Snacks: An adventure, or 'campaign' can go on forever. They're normally divided up into sessions which can last hours. If you're afraid you may pass out and knock your little diabetic head on something, grab a soda and some corn chips. A basement: To bury the bodies of those aforementioned comatose friends of yours. But not really... Any place will do. A library, friends dining room. More or less, a place to play that won't get the police called on you. If you have all, or at least most of the items mentioned above, you'll be ready to explode your way into sci-fi fantasy soon enough! But before you begin, one of the required items I noted has to be dealt with. Building an Adventure So you've got your friends together, all your materials are lined up nicely and Rob finally got out of the shower. You're just about ready to start, and you, as the DM, open your mouth to say the first lines to the opening of your campaign when you suddenly realize...you have no campaign. Well, you might as well sign that organ donor card now, because odds are you won't be leaving that room alive. To prevent your untimely demise, this section will guide you through the necessary steps to create an adventure. As a bonus, at the end of this book; you'll find a pre-made, ready to play adventure that I smashed together using the mecha series I've been working on for a while entitled: Metal-Messiah. Sure, you can use it but- nothing beats a home brewed cup of win. So let's get started. The Basics What does an adventure consist of? Many parts to be honest, but usually the Earth or 'insert custom planet here' is in some great peril and your players have to save it. Generally, there is some sort of struggle that you guide your players through as they use their wits and prowess to overcome whatever you throw at them. But how do you start? What would be a good adventure to begin with? And furthermore, what KIND of campaign do you want to run? Well, since I just LOVE check lists, I'll provide some basic info with one, that you could use to help kick start that atrophied brain of yours. Setting With this system in particular, it's a good idea to make things set in either a modern, or futuristic world. With that in mind, here are a few basic settings you could work with. Home world entering space age: This is more or less the setting I used for Metal- Messiah. The planet Earth is finally perfecting space travel when 'something' goes horribly wrong. Post Apocalyptic: Yay, thousands of nuclear war heads turned everything into a barren waste land over night. And you without your sun block...tut tut. Anyway, the colonial pockets of humanity left are either violent, violated or vigilantes. Perhaps your players are a police force stepping in to bring order. Or maybe the order that already exists is corrupt, and your players wish to rush mankind back to a golden age. Who knows? Space, the final frontier: Unlike the first setting I listed, perhaps humanity is already far advanced and space travel is used as recreation. Colonies popping up all over the place. Maybe your players are mercenaries from Mars, or a band of Jupiter Ring bandits hired by the military for...something.