Mec & Matrimony, part 1
Jun. 28th, 2009 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subplotkudzuLack of gaming is making me crazy, so I'm working on my Jane Austin Giant Robot mash up game. I'll be slowly posting the world, themes and rules set as I work them out. Please feel free to comment.
Mech & Matrimony Rules Journal
A game of Regency Romance and Giant Robots
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good Mecha must be in want of a husband.
Welcome to the world of Chancery, a colony world of the Earth Parliament. With the crash of hyperspace, and the loss of FTL travel Chancery's has developed into a cluster of powerful nation states that maintained their advanced weapons and colonies under their gentle dominion. The greatest of the nation states is Albion, whose island home shields it from its continental rivals. Troynavant, most commonly known as "the Town", is Albion's political, industrial and financial center, which makes it the center of the world.
Therefore, the best way to build a mental map of Chancery is to picture an archery target. Draw a line down the middle of it: things on the right are preferable to things on the left; things in the center are preferable to the things outside. The center circle is Albion - right is the good parts of the city, left is Cheapside and the industrial complexes. The next circle are the Duchies - right are the placid fields and hills, left is the rockier terrain and some less savory but still important families. The third circle represents the less genteel parts of Albion, with the minor lords, squires and yeoman - to the right are farms and commerce with the continent; to the left are miners, fishermen and deep sea ports. The fourth circle indicates the continental nation states, with the right being artistic Agincourt and religious Patera (the more civilized of the continentals) and the left being slumbering Bella, brooding Metternich and the unbecomingly commercial Guilders. The final circle represents the colonies - to the right are Albions, to the left are everyone else's.
To be clear: this backstory is just an excuse for an almost England with a regency era equivalent that will contain the Sci-fi elements of Giant Robots. Humans got to this world and now can't leave it (or talk to any other human colony); giant robots are very powerful and can easily defeat non-mecha troops, but Chancery's limited capacity to fabricate replacement parts means they also must be protected, giving us a rationale for pre-Napoleonic combat with gentlemen's rules rather than battles to the last bloody bullet. The mecha are also used to handle affairs of honor inside each nation state: the equivalent of dueling, always to first blood. Don't stress too much over the particulars.
Goals and Themes
This game's goal is "getting it". The heroines of Mech & Matrimony want to get married. They hope for love, but must consider their family's status and their limited options, or risk spinsterhood, penury or positions as a governess. Later on I will produce a companion game, Mecha & Machinations, or "keeping it", which will focus on the politics and intrigue between the families of Albion, being either the PCs or their children after the events of Mech & Matrimony, but for now the trick is finding a good husband who can support you and your giant robot. Remember that all the other noble women have giant robots too - likely better than yours.
Mech & Matrimony has a couple of core themes. The first is that of Obligation and Sacrifice. Being the mech pilots noblewomen hold the honor of their family line as much as do the men, and as such are bound by a web of social rules and obligations. They are expected to sacrifice certain things, perhaps even true love, for the sake of their family's fortune and honor - to truly "win" the game with a love match requires threading a very delicate needle. The game mechanics are designed to support this, giving players the option to change negative outcomes by permanently sacrificing their character's personal advantages.
Even the giant robot combat must be in obligation to the family honor: if you grow so angry that you climb into your mech and reduce your sneering provocateur to smoking patch on the ground then you have cost your family its mech, and therefore everything. You have an incredibly powerful weapon in your hands, and every reason to not use it. Pilots are directed to use it by their fathers or husbands (another reason to find a good husband - getting into the number of fights you prefer).
The second is that Suitors have Secrets. The heroines of Mech & Matrimony don't have scandals in their past (to be properly Austinian their main disadvantage is that they are poor, and must avoid scandal if they are to have any place in polite society). Few of their suitors, however, will be all that they appear to be. All men are mysteries. Discerning those with pride in the best sense from those who are the worst of libertines is the game's main mystery aspect (there are no murderers to ferret out or world conquerors to stop in Mech & Matrimony). The main combat aspects are, obviously, giant robots. The main social aspects are socially limited romances and confidences with your sisters (and other women).
Mech & Matrimony Rules Journal
A game of Regency Romance and Giant Robots
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good Mecha must be in want of a husband.
Welcome to the world of Chancery, a colony world of the Earth Parliament. With the crash of hyperspace, and the loss of FTL travel Chancery's has developed into a cluster of powerful nation states that maintained their advanced weapons and colonies under their gentle dominion. The greatest of the nation states is Albion, whose island home shields it from its continental rivals. Troynavant, most commonly known as "the Town", is Albion's political, industrial and financial center, which makes it the center of the world.
Therefore, the best way to build a mental map of Chancery is to picture an archery target. Draw a line down the middle of it: things on the right are preferable to things on the left; things in the center are preferable to the things outside. The center circle is Albion - right is the good parts of the city, left is Cheapside and the industrial complexes. The next circle are the Duchies - right are the placid fields and hills, left is the rockier terrain and some less savory but still important families. The third circle represents the less genteel parts of Albion, with the minor lords, squires and yeoman - to the right are farms and commerce with the continent; to the left are miners, fishermen and deep sea ports. The fourth circle indicates the continental nation states, with the right being artistic Agincourt and religious Patera (the more civilized of the continentals) and the left being slumbering Bella, brooding Metternich and the unbecomingly commercial Guilders. The final circle represents the colonies - to the right are Albions, to the left are everyone else's.
To be clear: this backstory is just an excuse for an almost England with a regency era equivalent that will contain the Sci-fi elements of Giant Robots. Humans got to this world and now can't leave it (or talk to any other human colony); giant robots are very powerful and can easily defeat non-mecha troops, but Chancery's limited capacity to fabricate replacement parts means they also must be protected, giving us a rationale for pre-Napoleonic combat with gentlemen's rules rather than battles to the last bloody bullet. The mecha are also used to handle affairs of honor inside each nation state: the equivalent of dueling, always to first blood. Don't stress too much over the particulars.
Goals and Themes
This game's goal is "getting it". The heroines of Mech & Matrimony want to get married. They hope for love, but must consider their family's status and their limited options, or risk spinsterhood, penury or positions as a governess. Later on I will produce a companion game, Mecha & Machinations, or "keeping it", which will focus on the politics and intrigue between the families of Albion, being either the PCs or their children after the events of Mech & Matrimony, but for now the trick is finding a good husband who can support you and your giant robot. Remember that all the other noble women have giant robots too - likely better than yours.
Mech & Matrimony has a couple of core themes. The first is that of Obligation and Sacrifice. Being the mech pilots noblewomen hold the honor of their family line as much as do the men, and as such are bound by a web of social rules and obligations. They are expected to sacrifice certain things, perhaps even true love, for the sake of their family's fortune and honor - to truly "win" the game with a love match requires threading a very delicate needle. The game mechanics are designed to support this, giving players the option to change negative outcomes by permanently sacrificing their character's personal advantages.
Even the giant robot combat must be in obligation to the family honor: if you grow so angry that you climb into your mech and reduce your sneering provocateur to smoking patch on the ground then you have cost your family its mech, and therefore everything. You have an incredibly powerful weapon in your hands, and every reason to not use it. Pilots are directed to use it by their fathers or husbands (another reason to find a good husband - getting into the number of fights you prefer).
The second is that Suitors have Secrets. The heroines of Mech & Matrimony don't have scandals in their past (to be properly Austinian their main disadvantage is that they are poor, and must avoid scandal if they are to have any place in polite society). Few of their suitors, however, will be all that they appear to be. All men are mysteries. Discerning those with pride in the best sense from those who are the worst of libertines is the game's main mystery aspect (there are no murderers to ferret out or world conquerors to stop in Mech & Matrimony). The main combat aspects are, obviously, giant robots. The main social aspects are socially limited romances and confidences with your sisters (and other women).
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-29 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-29 09:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-29 10:26 am (UTC)Notice I didn't say "defeat." I said "reduce to a smoking patch on the ground." the PCs aren't allowed by the society to say "I don't have to take being mocked by this guy - I waste him with my mech!" As in Austin, they start with limited social power and the sense of adversity doesn't come from constant physical threats but from social ones - the sense of victory for the campaign as a whole has to be due to social achievement rather than having a bigger gun.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-29 02:35 pm (UTC)