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Mech RP Interest Check



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Klom89

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For a while now, I've been piecing together a Roleplay that falls under the Sci-Fi/Mecha genre. I got the idea after watching the new Code Geass OVA: Akito the Exiled.

At first, this RP would've had the Code Geass mantle. But, A Geass RP was pitched ages ago by yours truly, and it never got off the ground. Looking back on it, the basic plot I had made was shit. Plus, it was made during an inactive time for the Roleplaying section.

But, the KHI is starting to resume the oodles of activity it had when I joined. (Not quite there, but hey, it's summer!) And I figured I could formulate something new from something old.

What I have so far is a plot backbone concerning the world's nations modernizing to the point of space habituation. (IE: The USA, Russia, Japan, and the like. Perhaps an original nation?) Rather than fight battles with Human soldiers, (Though those occasionally take place as well) mechs and technology replace the guns of old.

Alternatively, perhaps a medevial setting, in which the mechs are powered by magic in lieu of technology; same nation concept, different time period/universe?

Now I'll address the obvious question: Haven't we heard of this kinda thing before? Yes. Yes, you have. And yes, Elements from shows like Gundam or movies like Pacific Rim (Which TBH, I have yet to see) may probably show up here, but every niche has it's roots from something else. Your'e bound to see cliches and the like, though sequence breaking is always encouraged. I am anxious to see any ideas eople can bring to the table, as well. ^_^

I'm hoping to get at least five people in on this, but I'm happy with any number beyond three.
 

Artemis

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As soon as I saw your thread title, a little voice in my head went 'Gundam? GUNDAM! GUNDAM!' and then I read this and the voice got even more excited.

You've got my interest for sure.
 

ChibiHearts249

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It sounds interesting! I've never been in a role-play, but I'm a good storyteller. And tho I've never seen Code Geass, it sounds cool. I grew up with Gundam, tho. I'm interested, sure! Who doesn't wanna drive a mech? I like to call them avatars, too.

As for Pacific Rim, it was pretty cool. The jagers (yay-gurrs) are the mechs, and the kaiju are the monsters.
 

MrFlarion

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I'm interested in the idea. The medieval mech idea especially had an allure to me. I'm willing to help bounce around ideas if we need to brainstorm before setting a story into action. I know I'm new to this forum, but I've done text-based RP many times before.
 

Orion

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I had an idea for a retrofuture alternate history setting a while back, don't know if it's entirely workable with this, though: Drawn loosely from stereotypes, various geographical parts of the world are dominated by cultures using materials and fuels local to the area. Britain uses iron and coal. The nordic areas bronze and electricity. Some sort of still-reigning Egyptian empire has walking stone golems powered by sunlight. And so forth. Just a quick one, but I gotta run right now.
 

Klom89

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I propose some sort of original idea but mecha themed. Like NOT a Code Geass/Gundam/Evangelien RP but something LIKE that style

That was my plan to begin with. I was just listing my inspirations so people would know the style this concept was headed for. Those are the 3 most famous Mech anime outside of Voltron and Super Robot Wars. :3

Orion, That actually sounds pretty tight. Retro-future set a while back? You mean like "modern times with Medieval values" deal? The wording caught me off-guard. XD

Flarion and Naruto, nice to see your interest. And welcome to the site BTW, Flarion. :D

Ok. Now that we have peoples on board, I'll make a Sign-Up after a plot outline is made. My original plan of a multi-nation RP still stands....And Orion's materials concept sounds nice. Any ideas on how to flesh out the plot beyond "We all go to war for the hell of it?" LOL.




Wow, this went from sidelines to front page. O_O I was intent on scrapping this due to lost interest, but if y'all still want in, I'll deliver. :D
 

MrFlarion

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1) We could make the plot more creative by focusing on things like trade and resource extraction instead of war.

2)We could be freelance pilots who work both as mech-fighters and captains of commerce (Kind of like EVE online? Except mech foused maybe)

Just a rough start, anyway. As far as combat goes, first thing that comes to my mind is piracy, but that's been done to death. Space bandits, you get the idea. If there is war, maybe espionage would be more creative to focus on instead of the vanguard.
 

Orion

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Orion, That actually sounds pretty tight. Retro-future set a while back? You mean like "modern times with Medieval values" deal? The wording caught me off-guard. XD
Steampunk is the most common example of retrofuture. It doesn't strictly apply to values and ethics of the times being focused on or techno-enhanced, but there's nothing stopping them from being brought in. Exactly how it would all come together, I don't know, because it doesn't make sense for the world's many ethno-politico-geographical to have access to such technologies without blowing each other up (we are, after all, talking about timeframes from the Ancient Egyptians to a Tesla-ised United States. Some clash-of-realities thing might work, but that also denies any long-standing history the individual civilisations might have.

Perhaps, at the dawn of civilisation, the world experienced some sort of timeline/potential fracturing, which caused various timelines to branch of, each of which got dominated by a particular civilisation up until, say, the early 20th century. Then, something eventually caused these divergent timelines - or at least very particular slices of them - to be brought back to a world left unscathed by the impact of human civilisation. Maybe it was just the capitals of globe-spanning empires that got dragged across, and the setting is a frontier-exploration story that fades into a border conflicts and eventually war framework. The mechs were never the focus - if anything, they'd be lumbering and basic compared to sci-fi mecha, but the point is that they represent these sorts of ultimate culmination of a civilisations technical prowess - they'd by no means be common, though smaller machines of course would be. That was just my own idea, but you can take it in whatever direction you want.

Ultimately, whatever you do, don't focus hugely on the background and universal mechanics, since most of the time they're just there to establish the world and story, which should be the focus.
 

MrFlarion

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Another example of retrofuturism would be the Fallout games. It might mean the term in a different sense, however. It's kind of like classical science-fiction. Talking robots, positive spin in the most case (though Fallout uses it in irony, dark humor and stuff like that).

If you know what cyberpunk is, Steampunk can be considered the Victorian-age equivalent. Steambot Chronicles, Steamboy, Wild Wild West, those are some series that come immediately to my mind.

I don't like the idea of focusing on political values too much, but I'm open to it so long as it's done well. I just got done having a conversation about Gothic literature, which kind of goes with the Victorian theme. That can be another well of inspiration if anybody's interested.
 

MrFlarion

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[video=youtube;4Mx_dXTgh4s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mx_dXTgh4s[/video]
You can skip around, if you want. Just a basic feel of how Steampunk generally translates in the RPG genre.

If you don't want to watch the whole video, it goes something like: electricity hasn't been invented, and steam is still used as the main source of energy.

The Difference Engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The synopsis of it all explains a lot. It kind speculates what civilization would be like if steam-based technology were still in use and had continuously been pushed. How would this change a lot of everyday features? Appliances we use, and so on. The link at the top is about a fictional computer that was built with the mentioned technology.

Sometimes magic exists, like it did in the RPing video game I just sent, but it doesn't always have to.

[video=youtube;0eAk6oNBSMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eAk6oNBSMU[/video]
 

Orion

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Steampunk is greatly overdone, however, and is only a visual theme really. It's usually thrown into victorian times which has their own class problems and all that, but to make steampunk a mere part of things (such as just one society working with it) can work to take the edge off of continuing its overuse.
 

Klom89

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Steampunk is greatly overdone, however, and is only a visual theme really. It's usually thrown into victorian times which has their own class problems and all that, but to make steampunk a mere part of things (such as just one society working with it) can work to take the edge off of continuing its overuse.

What about a mix of sorts? Electricity has just become discovered as a resource. Rather than use it to power homes and the like, it is relegated, by planetary law, to the development and maintenance of the mechs only, While steam is the common electricity equivalent in societies? Sort of like nuclear power today, minus power plants.

As for the Victorian-class stereotype, the different nations can each have vastly different societies. An odd comparison, but sort of like Mario's various world themes/gimmicks. For example, the US can be heavily industrialized while another nation is more expansionary, relying on natural resources and the like? Of course, there'd be technology-level discrepancies, there.

This also caught my eye: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DieselPunk
 
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MrFlarion

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What about a mix of sorts? Electricity has just become discovered as a resource. Rather than use it to power homes and the like, it is relegated, by planetary law, to the development and maintenance of the mechs only, While steam is the common electricity equivalent in societies? Sort of like nuclear power today, minus power plants.

As for the Victorian-class stereotype, the different nations can each have vastly different societies. An odd comparison, but sort of like Mario's various world themes/gimmicks. For example, the US can be heavily industrialized while another nation is more expansionary, relying on natural resources and the like? Of course, there'd be technology-level discrepancies, there.

This also caught my eye: Main/Diesel Punk - Television Tropes & Idioms
That settles the problem in my mind. I haven't heard of Dieselpunk until now, but it looks really interesting. Along the lines of what you were saying, we can have kind of a mix of both steam and low-powered gas engines.

But how are mechs gonna tie into all of this? What's there main purpose gonna be, even if we get all this political stuff situated?
 

Klom89

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This thing still going on? I can probably help by posting some useful links:

Steambot Chronicles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We could make something more deizel-punk, like Klom said. I've never had any experience with that kind of setting before though.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Legend of Korra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I haven't forgot about this. Busy school week. Humanities, you are not kind. XD

I remember watching Steambot Chronicles. I'm definitely for something along those lines. Different nations could favor different components or different designs that gives them their own edge. Just with a Diesel-Punk skin. Using metal alloys and dfferent steam-engine desigsn and whatnot.

As for why they use mechs? Well.....That could be a toughie. My mind's swirling around an underpopulation sub-plot, (Thus resorting to mechs to fight for them) but since people will probably be RIDING the mechs that may or may not explode in battle, it defeats itself.

https://www.google.com/search?q=die...&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=644&dpr=1
 

Klom89

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Ok, so psuedo-dieselpunk setting established. What about the politics? I know I'm sort of rushing here, but I'm a stubborn dick and I wanna move this along before it fades away into the ether. We can debate the mechs till the Bighorners come home, but without a plot; we can't have them, can we? XD
 
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