Mecha Madness/Kaiju Chaos

Mecha Madness/Kaiju Chaos 

Savage Worlds

By 

Dustin Smith

This game references the Savage Worlds game system,

available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com.

Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are

copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission.

Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or

suitability for purpose of this product.

So you want to run a Mecha versus Kaiju game in Savage Worlds?
Friend, you're in luck. A lot of my players debate this issue back and forth. They say “Savage Worlds isn't good for Mecha” or “Use the Sci-Fi companion there are rules for using walkers.”

And I say you don't need any of that.

You see, it's all relative. A Size + 10 monster fighting a size + 10 giant robot is the same as a regular sized monster fighting a regular sized robot, they're just bigger.

So here are some simple rules for creating a Kaiju/Mecha race.
1. Build a character as normal, yes build a normal character. It's now a monster or robot suit

2. Give it the special abilities of Heavy Armor and Heavy Damage

3. When a Mecha or a Kaiju fight, the rolls are the same, they are relatively the same size. The only time this changes is when you consider damage from regular sized sources. In this case, add a Zero.

A Toughness of 5? To a regular sized person, that's a toughness of 50.
A Pace of 6? To a regular sized person, that's a pace of 60.
Roll damage of 2d8 is a 4? To a regular sized person, it's a 40.

There is no need to complicate this!

You just have to consider how things are relative in these situations.

Now I know some people want to pick apart every detail, so let's answer some questions:

Q: “What about the army? What about Tanks and Planes?”
A: Use the stats for Swarm from the Deluxe core book, they are relatively the same size as insects to a normal person.

Q: “What if my Kaiju is looking to find a single regular sized player”
 A: They can't, the regular sized person is just too small. Can you find a single distinct ant in an anthill?

Q: “What if they are in a vehicle?” 
A: They're still too small, but in this case try an area of affect attack. They need to maneuver out of the way with a pilot/drive/ride check.

Q: “In Savage Worlds you can kill a tank with a fork, seems like regular people could just shoot the monsters with guns” 
A: No they can't, forks don't do heavy damage and neither do handguns. The bullets and the silverware just bounce right off.

Q: “But movie and TV monsters can fly/swim/shoot lasers” 
A: So give them the special ability to do so. Review the Powers and Bestiary section of the core book. (Chapters 5 and 7)

Q: “But I need more crunch than this!”
A; Go grab some cereal! You really don't need to complicate things by adding more math, play the game have fun!

Well, I hope that answered a few questions about running a Mecha/Kaiju game in Savage Worlds, I look forward to seeing you all enjoying yourselves out there. Keep it fast, furious, and fun

-Dustin