Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Useless Piles of Scrap Rusting Away In The Martian Sun--The Early Years

An unfortunate cousin of Noisms Theorem of Character Gen Length and Player Cautiousness seems to be that the more time spent drawing a PC the less time you get to use it.

Which law made me somewhat wary of all the time I spent designing and drawing mechs for his Pendragon of Mars game--allegedly starting in 15 minutes.

However, it's no fun to play a game about space knights piloting giant robots unless you know what the giant robots look like, so I went ahead and did it...
I wanted to use this old mech--it's actually a drawing from life I made of a homemade mech I built for
Anarchist 40k but once I got ahold of the design rules for this game I started making close-combat mechs, so...no cannons
Each knight gets 4 mechs (like 4 horses). Clockwise from top left: Courser/Palfrey, Sumpter/Packmech, Courser/Palfrey, Charger/Destrier. The last number in the code refers to the weight of the mech--which I gather comes up a lot in combat. The other numbers to the total points used and the points used on weapons.
The idea of the one-armed palfrey on the bottom right is it's 19 tons and optimized for speed, so its only weapon is this nasty chewing-up fanblade thing in its chest. We used Mekton Zeta for the robot design rules--so that thing is, in game terms, a saw. It runs up to other mechs and feeds their heads into the devouring chamber--I hope.
Another old sketch--I figure this is maybe what my PCs martian homeland looks like.

Everybody has to have a coat of arms-it's in the rules.
This is kind of an alternate Palfrey. I figure it fits together kinda like an Adeptus Titanicus--cylindrical legs and stubby arms.

Close up of one of the Palfreys--in Mekton, beast-shaped mechs get bonuses to speed and close combat so I figured I kinda had to, since my guy hasn't got a lotta points in ranged weapons.
Another drawing of the destrier. Patrick recommended the name WREXLICH.

Some chess-themed mechs from an old sketchbook
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7 comments:

  1. “You really, absolutely, definitely, indisputably do not need a detailed character background before play begins. In fact, all you really need is a name, a class, stats, and some equipment, and you're good to go - because within five minutes of the game beginning you will without fail find your character beginning to take on a personality of his own. This strange and almost mystical emergence of character through play is one of the best things about the hobby, and it amazes me that people have been so determined, for decades, to kill that concept.”

    Monsters and Manuals Blog, 21 October 2011

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Noisms two statements don't really conflict with each other.

      In the one you quoted, he said you don't _need_ a detailed character background.

      And you don't _need_ one (and, in fact, in Pendragon of MArs you don't really have one).

      That doesn't mean it isn't fun or worthwhile to do it for some games.

      Delete
    2. Huh, you posted the same thing on my blog... and Noism's. Do you just go around pasting that quote whenever people mention character creation?

      Delete
    3. Think he's broken?

      Try turning Clovis off and then on again.

      Delete
  2. I roll dice, I write down numbers, I record equipment, I think up names... but nothing really gels into a "Character" for me until I draw him.

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  3. The Wrexlich image is total awesome.

    ReplyDelete