Jump to content

[OOC] [Sign Ups Open] Tin Age: Monster hunting in the end of the world


Yours Truly

Recommended Posts

Tin Age

What the hell is this?

 

1. A rules lite RP!

2. Set in the future! But shitty and post apocalyptic!

3. Fight giant monsters in mecha!

4. While customizing your mecha with their dismembered remains!

5. To save the world or something!

Theme Song (The Hellion)

Now it came to pass in the two thousand and fortieth year of our lord, in the seventh month, in the seventh day of the month, as I beheld our planet’s moon, and charted it’s journey across our world, that a colleague of mine spied an odd disturbance on its surface, and he called for me, and I saw. It first appeared in the form of a blazing fire, scouring the surface of our papery moon clean.

 

Together we voiced our alarm to the rest of the room, who dismissed our claims, deeming it improbable. But we knew that our eyes had not deceived us, and we continued to stand transfixed to our screens, and we beheld the moon as it revealed itself for what it truly was.

 

They had the likeness of a white horse, great and mighty was it’s countenance, there was a fire all around it. Its eyes shone a light that reached out to the very heavens, scouring it as it rode through the empty space with its counterpart, as they pulled their great burden behind them.

 

We turned our attention to the beast’s burden, and for a moment we saw great beauty, before we saw nothing, and will see nothing forever more. But it was good that we were blinded, before we had seen it fit to turn our attentions to what remained of our shattered moon, and saw what was coming next.


 

Tin Age is a game set at the end of the world, society as we know it is gone, hordes of rejected or reproducing monsters wandering the shattered remains of our world make trips across short distances dangerous at best, and cross continental or sea travel practically suicidal to most. The internet as we know it is a shadow of it's former self, with large swathes of the world constantly on the verge of being cut off once and for all with each Apocalypse event, and most have resigned themselves to doing their best to stay alive today, so that they can struggle to survive again tomorrow.

Unfortunately things are even worse for everyone left out to survive on their own in the wastes, most either turn into horrific mutants from constant exposure to raw ichor and wild magics within the first few months, others die attempting to make the journey to a fortress that would accept them, or vainly searching for a mythical 'safe zone'. The 'luckier' ones are eking out a living as part of a nomadic raider gang, or grouping up to form their very own fortresses! That usually die in the next apocalypse event, if the raider gangs don't get to them first that is.

You are here to at least try and change all of that, to retake the world, and set right what is currently wrong. To this end your group have made your way to the Promethean, an underground facility built into the coastal fortress of Fort Minor that encompasses what used to be Orlando, and you have spent the past year training to become a Stargazer, part of an honestly desperate sounding initiative to beat back the monsters at your walls, and take the fight to the enemy!. Or die trying, I'm sorry I meant, 'die gloriously trying' if we're going off the script.

Chances are good that everyone's fucked anyway in a couple of years though, and while the Stargazer initiative might spark a full out war that might destroy what is left of the planet, it might also you know, end with humanity closing pandora's box and spending the next couple of generations rebuilding, and walking out of this nightmare having learned some aesop about what they can accomplish when they work together to overcome their fears and weaknesses. Either way it couldn't be worse than just dying off in a decade or two anyway right, and if it's any consolation? If this goes horribly wrong, you bloody Stargazers will be too dead to think about how you just ended the world.
 

Setting Premise

 

The Moon is actually a gate to the Greek otherworld. The "Apocalypse" became an yearly thing in the year 2040, always occurring during the seventh day of every seventh month and during it, the Greek pantheon lead monsters out of the Moon and onto the Earth to feed on human souls, and they go back to the Moon after a week.

The Magitech used in the setting is the direct fruit of Apocalypses. Monsters aren't friendly to each other either - they compete to eat humans, and when they bleed, the blood crystallizes on the ground, which can then be refined into magic energy. Magic energy takes the form of a gaseous matter when contained, but it can be molded by the human soul to be turned into traditional spells. Greater concentrations of magic can be used to power heavy machines, and its use and discovery has revolutionized many fields of science.
 
The deities made it very clear to humans that this would be an yearly "sacrifice." In response, after the 1st Apocalypse event, humanity gradually started to abandon many of their settlements and instead concentrated in major fortresses, backed by an entire nation's wealth, quickly inventing Magitech powered automatons to continue harvesting resources without the need to risk their human population, or needing to have a large human population outside of the fortress to support the fortress who supports the people living outside of the fortress.

Over the years the Apocalypse gradually became the yearly exam of human military technology for every nation on the planet. Those who can fend their fortresses from the Apocalypse successfully will survive, while those who can't will just disappear from the face of the planet. And of course that means less countries are still up and running on the planet.


In spite of this, with every passing Apocalypse, some fortresses are overrun, and the population continues to shrink. It seemed that one day the Final Apocalypse would arrive, ending humanity once and for all.  So while surviving the Apocalypse is still important, the remaining superpowers on the planet have a new goal in mind - conquering the moon and sealing the Apocalyptic gate once and for all.

 

Standard Operating Procedure (Game System + Part Catalog)

 

1. Rules of Engagement (Combat System)

Outside of what is needed to assemble your mecha, Tin Age is a very rules light game, with the only stats needing to be tracked in combat being Current Power (CP) and Power Generation (PG), almost every single part on your mecha except for any reactors it might have requires a set amount of power to use in a round, including your mecha’s movement parts.

Current Power is a measure of how much...power your mecha has in reserves and can route through it’s systems to keep itself and any parts you have up and running, every mech starts a fight with 3 Current Power in reserve.

Power Generation is a measure of how much power your mecha’s reactors produce every round, which is determined by just adding them all together and subtracting the power cost on a necessary movement part, such as a four legged mecha with jumpjets having the cost for their legs subtracted from their power generation at the start of each round, because they're pretty obviously walking on them.

What this boils down to is that you have a single resource pool to manage, and that every single action you perform on top of moving requires an amount of said resource listed on the part itself to use, want to fire your machineguns at the giant monster? That’s -1 power from your pool, want to run faster with your legs? That’s another -1 power, and just using them to move regularly in the first place already cost you -1.

It’s a simplistic system, and there are very few if any dice involved with how your actions actually shake out. And note, there is no HP or anything equivalent to it in this game, it’s a chunky salsa system, and you’re fighting giant monsters in what are basically larger suits of power armor, either don’t get hit in the first place, or invest a lot of what you have into armor to just not die when it happens. The enemy is stronger than you individually, and a whole lot better equipped, but if you’re good? If you work together with your team to take down that rampaging monster? Then you might just survive, kill the bastard and get to see how that cool flaming sword he was using to tear through mountains like a hot knife through butter works, and get something like that for yourself. It’s as simple as that.

 

2. Fit Out (Mecha Assembly System)

Assembling a mecha is easy as well, pick a chassis from the ones in the Parts Catalogue, and fill out the slots it has with anything you want really.
Want to have a nuclear beyblade that works off of the thief chassis and moves around using an internal gyroscope to slice and dice people with scrap metal armor repurposed into deadly blades? Sure, why not. Want to make a gas fueled giant ram with 16 legs? The Wizard’s got you covered. Do you literally just want to make my life miserable and pretend that this is a game about jet fighters? Well a creative man would fluff his scrap metal plating as bladed wings, and then use jump jets and gyroscopes to propel your laser firing monstrosity through the skies.


Just remember, every single part costs one slot unless otherwise stated, and that you only generate 1 unit of power each round from whatever pathetic generator it currently has up and running, unless you add even more reactors to boost it along a bit, Since I mean sure, sure your character has a burning soul of justice, that’s all well and good, but could you use a burning soul of justice to power your house for a day?.

 

3. Parts Catalog

All of the parts that have been discovered/made are listed in the following data doc, which will be updated regularly by myself and anyone who volunteers to do so.

Parts Catalogue

 

Personnel Files (Character Sheet)

 

1. Pilot Certification (Pilot Sheet)

Character Name: (No real guidelines here, just think of names that probably won’t get you bullied in school)
Age: (Yes falling into the cockpit exists, yes this game is heavily inspired by Greek and other ancient world mythology, no you’re not going to be a 12-14 year old who gets laid all the time, you’re not the hound of ulster.)
Sex: (I don’t care about what your character’s biological sex is, this is for what they identify as, the other thing shouldn’t come up much anyway.)

 

Appearance: (You know what goes here, and you should know what doesn’t go here.)


Personality: (This is based on Greek myth, so feel free to play a dickish gloryhound who screws over the rest of the party both OOC and IC, see how far that gets you)

Specialization: (Name one field of study or activity your character is particularly good at or interested in, usually something they picked up in their old job. Preferably this section contains something that can be boiled down to either a sentence or a two-three word phrase)

 

2. Assembly Line (Mecha Sheet)

Callsign: (What everyone else has to call your mech in combat, think of this as a short version of what your mecha is actually called if you need a longass name for some reason)


Appearance: (Just something to give me a better mental image of your mech’s colors, and how it’s parts are placed around it’s chassis)


Chassis: (What Chassis did you choose?)

 

Power Generation: (How much power does your mecha generate each round with it’s generators?)


Parts: (Write down what your parts are, complete with descriptions of any modifications that you made to it)

 

History/Design Principles: (I've said that there's nothing really stopping you from designing a mecha that's just 16 legs, a reactor, and a ram, that was a lie, tell me why anyone would even consider making a mecha like yours here.)

 

Credits

 

@IntSys for helping me turn my ideas into a viable setting premise to work off of.
@Empiricist for being there and listening to all of this and helping refine it to something that's a lot more coherent, and also for suggesting the system we ended up using in the first place.
@Hal Henderics for deciding to sit down and help generate pretty much almost every single part that you find here instead of doing something more productive.
And the people who wrote and made the games, movies, and other media that inspired this to be made in the first place, thank you for all of your hard work.

Interested in joining in on the fun? Just hop on Our Discord Server and incessantly ping me, I'm UlrichVonLucian.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Example Mecha Sheets

Bagwyrm, Literally a truck

 

Callsign: BAGWYRM
Appearance: It's.....it's literally a dark green truck with six wheels, a large armored cargo area in the back with a rear facing retractable winch and a machinegun mounted on the top, looks like one of those old fashioned WW2 military trucks, has a star and everything on the front.


Chassis: Thief
Power Generation: +2

 Parts:
HC Battery
Quality: Mundane
Power: +2
Description: It's an electric truck, maintaining supply lines for consistently producing gasoline was rough in the early years, and the Bagwyrm was designed to quietly solve this issue., the solar powered battery being chosen due to it's extraordinarily high capacity, and due to the far less noticeable whine an electric motor produces when the engine is running. Has a tendency to burst when damaged

 

Wheels
Power: -1
Description: The first Bagwyrms had nothing but an admittedly durable set of six self sealing wheels to propel them through the shattered, but still manageable landscape of the new world to save on cost, eventually being retrofitted with tire treads as the years went by, and the distance between fortresses grew ever harder to traverse. Has some of the best suspension in the business.

 

Machinegun
Power: -1
Quality: Mundane
Description: A light machinegun mounted on a turret placed on the top of the vehicle, it was deemed sufficient to handle most threats a group of Bagwyrms would be expected to encounter, and was chosen mostly for it's low cost, and plentiful ammunition.

History/Design principles: The first apocalypse event was much smaller in scale, and while many freeways, airports, and sea ways were damaged when the monsters came, the Second Apocalypse seemed intent on causing the decline of humanity, bringing with it the first monsters threatening enough to reproduce, and continuing to damage the roadworks system that was still being repaired in the first place; the governments of the world were aced with a new problem.

 

This only being the second apocalypse event, the grand and sprawling fortresses we know of today were yet to be assembled, and humanity still relied on production facilities far far away from major population centers to provide them with food and other necessary supplies, which just doesn't work in a world where actual monsters of myth and legend roams the world, attacking the often defenseless caravans whenever they found them.


The fact that the American government's solution to this problem was to simply design, produce, and distribute tougher trucks armed with machineguns and warn people to start travelling together from now on was....begrudgingly accepted as being the most economical short term solution, it's adoption caused food and other necessary supplies to travel across the states once more, and the truck derisively referred to as 'The Bagworm' would continue to be in service for the years to come.

ENYA. First Among Warriors

 

Callsign: ENYA

Appearance: Appearing to be a towering rose colored dome headed soldier with an array of redundant red dot cameras around the front of it's body, The ENYA appears to be a veritable fortress with it's heavy, 400 mm chobham armor plates welded over the Warrior chassis's already impressive armor, and shorter than usual legs with impressive amounts of stability. 

Chassis: Warrior
Power Generation: +2

 

Parts:
Micro Reactor
Power: +3
Quality: Mundane
Description: The ENYA contains a tiny nuclear reactor, having been chosen for it's relatively high efficiency and long lasting nature. Has a minor issue with leakage when overly damaged, which can turn into a major issue relatively quickly.

 

Mechanized Legs
Power: -2
Quality: Mundane
Description: These stout and study legs were designed for increased strength and stability over other legs of it's kind, and while the heavy knee plate restrict's it's movement range and raw speed considerably, it was deemed necessary for the task it was designed to perform.
Either way being able to maneuver more dynamically is helpful, making melee weapons more accurate.

Armor Plating
Quality: Mundane
Description: Highly Resistant 400 mm chobham armor plates, welded into place.  The addition of possibly excessive armor was deemed necessary to prevent the destruction of other mechas of higher value, which is great and all for them, but the fact of the matter is that it has been proven to unnecessarily restrict the mecha's movements, which is a fault that has led to the death of its pilots more than once. Good for blocking damage, or poorly used as a durable melee option.

 

Autoshotgun (Slug)
Power: -2
Quality: Mundane
Description: Seemingly tacked on to the design as an afterthought, the Medium Autoshotgun the ENYA carries is a deadly weapon indeed, when used as a club, as due to a production error, the slugs tended to experience a sheer drop in accuracy outside of incredibly close range, which does wonders for the already slow moving ENYA's chances of winning in a ranged engagement. On the bright side, its still a really well made club that's big and loud enough to call monsters over.

 

History/Design principles: Quite literally the first among warrior chassis mechas, its introduction almost led to the warrior chassis itself to be retired, owing to it's high pilot turnover rate, the mech itself moving about as quickly as you'd expect a walking fortress to move, and the fact that it's main armament might as well have been a long trombone containing hopes and dreams for how often its rounds landed outside of danger close ranges. The fact that it's pilots often died protecting the far less durable thief chassis mechas and led to an influx of ichor and monster parts flowing safely back to the Promethean was it's saving grace.

The Unremembered Lady of the Sky, Codenamed Monica

 

Callsign: MONICA
Appearance: A sleek and futuristic looking silver and red mecha with an ample amount of curves (for better aerodynamics) in it's walker form, it's two pairs of wings are quite a sight to behold when unfolded, and it's head has been lovingly sculpted and modeled after the designer's...well. It is quite a different beast in it's jet fighter form.
 
Chassis: Archer

Power Generation: +2

Parts: 
Jumpjet
Power: -2
Quality: Mundane
Description: An actual jet engine modified to serve as a pair of jumpjets while on foot, it is used to both propel the Monica through the air, and to provide the mecha with enough space to transform back into Jetfighter mode whenever needed. Fitting it's nature as a prototype, the jump jets equipped in the Monica are affixed to one of two directions, and cannot be used to quickly launch it in any direction but up when it is in walker mode.
 
Machinegun
Power: -2
Quality: Mundane
Description: A medium sized machinegun firing high caliber armor piercing rounds, it was designed to serve as both a hand mounted machinegun in walker mode, and to pop out a bit below of the mecha when it is serving as a jetfighter.
 
Scrap Metal
Quality: Mundane
Description: Serving as the bladed wings of the Monica, this mound of scrap metal is light enough to allow it to fly through the air, and yet durable enough to not shatter into a million pieces if it rakes the sides of a monster. It is kept folded up when the mecha is in it's walker mode, only unfolding to allow the mecha to cut through the air more gracefully when it activates it's jet engines.
 
Mechanized Legs
Power: -1
Quality: Mundane
Description: The Monica's legs are slender and graceful just like those of it's namesake, often being folded up in a hiding place near the rear of the jet fighter unlike it's name sake, but capable of maintaining an almost unrealistic amount of grip on something....also like it's namesake. These legs allow the Monica to save on power when it travels across the land, and prevents the mecha from being completely crippled if it's wings are overly damaged.
 
Micro Reactor
Power: +3
Quality: Mundane
Description: The less said about where the reactors are placed on the walker form, the better. It still has a tendency to... You would be best to avoid damaging it.

 

History/Design principles: Named after the wife of a US army general (That the designer was sleeping with), the MONICA boasts the ability to operate as a close fire support jet fighter, and a two legged walker mech with an amount stability that was unmatched for it's time. Unfortunately the designer had chosen to model the mecha's face with features that reminded the general of his wife, and after realizing that the mecha was actually named after his wife during it's prototype's unveiling, the designer was promptly let go from his job, and the mecha itself was never put into mass production.

Destroyer Class, 'BUREN'

 

Callsign: BUREN
Appearance: A sinister looking stark white mecha with light brown accents, this fire breathing, gas guzzling, monster slaying mowchine's capable of setting the entire battlefield on fire with it's napalm based gas engine flamethrower, injecting air into the blood vessels of anything it manages to bite down or stab through, or just, shoot fire into the victim's flesh. It stalks across the ground on it's eight legs, having been designed to look and walk like a spider, after an all too clever technician realized that the quad legs they had used hydraulics to get around everywhere...just like a spider.
 
Chassis:  Wizard
Power Generation: +4


Parts:
Quad Leg Arrangement (2x)
Power Cost: -4 in total
Description: The engineers insisted that some sane options be created.  This set of eight legs have been modeled after that of a spider, sacrificing some of it's stability for further reach and flexibility, and the ability to make terrifying leaps with it's hind legs to thrust directly into the opposition.

 

Micro Reactor X2
Power: +3
Quality: Mundane
Description: A teeny tiny nuclear reactor.  Has a tendency to... You would be best to avoid damaging it.

Gas Engine (1x)
Power: +1
Quality: Mundane
Description: An incredibly common gasoline powered engine, the entire engine has been modified with the addition of a supercharged air compressor to launch massive gouts of flame liberally at it's targets from one of it's many firing ports, placed on where a Spider's mouth would be, it's fangs, and through the syringe of the front most legs.
 
Air Compressor
Power: -1
Quality: Mundane
Description: This is literally just an air compressor, by itself it can be used to blow away dust clouds, wipe away gunk and blood from your mecha’s visors or cameras, or to just, suck in air if you’re into that. This integrated air compressor system is designed to feed massive amounts of air through the BUREN's extensive ventilation systems, allowing it to breathe out gouts of flame through it's many ports, or to simply inject air.

Scrap Metal
Quality: Mundane
Description: A particular emphasis being placed on the BUREN's front most pair of legs in order to give it a hidden pointed syringe to stab through it's target, and some nice and shapely fangs for it to clamp down with.

The Space Below Is Reserved For Accepted Characters:

El Thor

Spectator

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Spoiler

Character Name: Dominic Michael
Age: 20
Sex: Male

 

Specialization: Soccer Sports Player

 

Appearance: Bronze Skinned and clean shaven, Dominic cuts a clean figure.


Personality: Passionate and angry at the world, he wants nothing more than to make those bastards pay for what they did to the beautiful continent of South America.

 

El Thor

Spoiler

Callsign: El Thor

 

Appearance: This two legged mecha has gigantic crackling capacitors on it's legs, and gigantic thrumming microreactors on it's back.  it is painted white and yellow, with jagged thunderbolt stripes painted along its legs.  The flash of light emitted when it kicks a target is so bright, it was compared to a bolt of lightning from an angry god.  Considering the Olympians are right out, the Norse Pantheon seemed like a more suitable source for a name.

 

History/Design Principles: A testbed for low-armor mecha in a period of metal scarcity, Electric Discouragement was the two words of the day when this mech was designed, originally, the Capacitors were only designed to coat the entire mech with a low grade electrical field, however, it was discovered that by overcharging two capacitors with the power of two microreactors, enough electricity could be made to more strongly discourage monsters.  After that, the addition of a Gyroscope to enable better close range combat was a must.

 

Chassis: Wizard

 

Power Generation: 6 (-1)


Parts:

 

Electrical Capacitors X2
Power: -3
Quality: Mundane
Description: CLEAR!, these electrical capacitors can be used to electrify basically any of your mecha’s systems really, allowing you to transform your lasers into futuristic electro lasers, turn your autocannon into an autorailgun, create electroreactive armor, or just to punch people with an additional electrical shock, the possibilities are endless!.
 

Micro Reactor X2
Power: +3
Quality: Mundane
Description: A teeny tiny nuclear reactor.  Has a tendency to... You would be best to avoid damaging it.

 

Mechanized Legs
Power: -1
Quality: Mundane
Description: The lab boys insisted, and the engineers begrudgingly accepted, this pair of legs are dexterous, but not the fastest.  Being able to maneuver more dynamically is helpful, making melee weapons more accurate.  This pair of legs is modified with Electrical Capacitors and a massive gyroscope, building up a charge for a viscous, yet balanced, ungodly kick.

 

Gyroscope
Power: -4
Quality: Mundane
Description: The engineers insisted some sane options be created, a Gyroscope will allow your mecha to rotate itself more easily, and self-right.  Comes in two flavors, normal, and extreme. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Frederick "Freddie" McBride

Spoiler

Character Name: Frederick “Freddie” McBride

Age: 23

Sex: Male   

Appearance: Light-skinned, with short brown hair and no beard. Short and a bit on the pudgy side, but he can still fit in a driver’s seat just fine.

Personality: Friendly and polite (almost to the point of brown-nosing), but curious and persistent (asks a lot of questions and isn’t satisfied until he gets answers).

Specialization: Writing reports and paperwork.

Spectator

Spoiler

Callsign: Spectator

Appearance: The gun the mech is equipped with has a large camera attached - clearly not a part of the weapon’s initial design. The whole thing is almost entirely white, with red stripes on the sides and BNN logos painted on the most prominent places (Cockpit, Sides of turrets, Sides of Chassis, etc.). If one looks closely enough, they might notice the multiple, smaller cameras placed in various positions all over the vehicle.

Chassis: Wizard

Power Generation: +1/turn

Parts:

Micro Reactor: Freddie seems to think that having a mounted nuclear reactor fitted onto his mech is just fine so long as he avoids getting hit. Time will tell if he is correct. +3 Power

Medium Machinegun: This one has a camera mounted onto it so Freddie can shoot photos and videos as he shoots monsters. Power -2

Air Compressor: Freddie insisted on having these fitted to keep his cameras clean. Power -1

Ultra-Shocks: Particularly handy for Freddie, as he has an unfortunate tendency to send his vehicles off of edges.

Heavy Wheels: The engineers insisted that some sane options be created. These ones can be changed into treads to handle rougher terrain, and the wheels themselves are capable of surviving almost anything Freddie can put them through. -2 Power/turn

Armor Plates: White, with red stripes and a red BNN logo painted on.

History/Design Principles: Intended as an all-terrain scout vehicle, its gun is mainly intended to fend off whatever dangers it might encounter when rushing into the unknown, and it’s got armor to survive monsters and careless driving alike. Freddie slapped some cameras onto the thing alongside an air compressor to keep them somewhat clean, and now he’s ready to go!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both El Thor and Spectator are accepted so hooray for that, gonna try and write up some ideas for what the first mission will be soonish, but I'm not going to lie, chances are this game will be moving to the bay12 forums soonish unless we get a sudden influx of players, since a game with only two players is kind of depressing for me, even if it is still neat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...