Chapter 1-Gundam, Launch!

Why are Giant Robots so much fun in a role-playing context?

When I got started writing this, I had a big question-what the hell was I going to call it?

Many names, several of them very rude, came up.  Eventually, I decided upon one- Cinema Robotica, and why what I suggest is Very Useful for anybody wanting to run games with Giant Robots, or with an Anime/manga theme to them.  With sincere hopes, dreams, and the occasional long all-nighter, I'll have one of these out ever two weeks.

And, with this first Cinema Robotica, we take the grandfather of all the military giant robot series, Mobile Suit Gundam, out for a spin.  Mostly because it's a huge classic, mostly because it covers a lot of the various genre conventions of mecha animation.  And partially there's a sentimental reason-I still remember and have the character sheets for Michael Tomino in the Gundam 401 campaign that gave me a bit of immortality as a playtester for Mekton Zeta.

When created in 1979, Gundam very certainly butted up against the Conventions of Giant Robot animation.  Besides classic series such as Astro Boy and similar, many robot shows were barely concealed ads for robot toys of all sorts, some of them in increasingly bad taste and cliches.  When Tomino developed Mobile Suit Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino drew his insprirations from sources such as Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, in which the robots wern't "heroic" or such-but merely items like cars or tanks, the weapons of war.  Add to that a mixture of angst because of Amuro Rey's dealing with the fact that he's become a most efficient killer.  Add a soap opera plot of the main "villain" of the series (Char Anznable), several whiney kids, and a prototype Mobile Suit, you have something amazing.

It's called a classic.

There are many, many good plot synopsis of Mobile Suit Gundam on the web (I personally prefer Mark Simmon's synopsis at the Gundam Project), I'll just summarize here what the events are-in the Near Future, Earth's overpopulation results in a massive colony construction project in space.  These huge colonies, called Sides, hold most of the population of the Solar System in reasonable comfort-but a Earth Federation that created them grows slowly more controlling.  At one of the Sides, Side 3, a popular revolt forms the Zeon Republic under a visionary leader named Zeon Zum Dalkun.  Dalkun believed that humanity's evolution would lead to "newtypes", a form of "higher" human being that would take over the universe.  But, radical forces in the Zeon Republic either have assassinated or "help" an assassin kill Zeon Zum Dalkun and the Zabi family creates a monarchy under their name, and re-name the nation the Zeon Archduchy, and start planning for war.

The Earth Federation has not been sitting on their rear ends as this happens, and starts to build a massive space fleet for a war that both sides know is coming.  And, as the blood purges happen in the Archduchy, a Dalkum loyalist uses both gold and influence to get Dalkun's two children-Arestia and Casper, to Earth and set themselves up as French nobility.  But, in the short air of newly found freedom, a scientist by the name of Y.T. Minovski arrives at Side 3 and develops the item that will change space warfare.

Dr. Minovski's discovery of Minovski Particles allows for two things-compact, light fusion reactors and reducing all warfare (when the particles are scattered) to visual-range warfare only.  And, Zeon engineers create the mono-eyed weapon that will populate Gundam series for decades-the MS-06 Zaku.  And, this weapon, in the war that happens, turns the Federation's proud fleet into so much scrap metal.

Fast forward about six months, as the One Year War rages.  Federation units, forced on the defensive by the power of the Zaku and the Zeon fleet, fight a holding battle to win something-as Zeon forces push on fronts in places like California and Odessa.  Enter the Gundam Mobile Suit.  This weapon will win the war for the Federation-assuming that it can survive long enough to get a mass produced version built.  And this is where Mobile Suit Gundam begins.

Amuro Ray, son of Gundam designer Ten Ray and kid that gets slapped around quite a bit (only rivaling the later Camile Vidan for sheer slappage), manages to get into the Gundam cockpit when his colony of Side 7 is attacked by Zeon forces under the command of the dapper "Red Comet" Char Anznable.  Char, tailing the Federation Mobile Suit Carrier White Base, decides to peform a recon operation on the new Mobile Suits being developed.  The leader of the recon unit, impulsively, decides to destroy the new mobile suits.  And he just about does so, except for one problem-Amuro Ray.  Amuro, performing the World's Fastest Home Learning Course (with the manual for the Gundam on his lap!), destroys the two Zeon Zakus, and manages to fight an even course with the dreaded Char Anznable.  When a missile hits and damages the White Base, it's up to a young ensign, Noah Bright, to bring the ship home, and a young non-military pilot, Amuro Ray, to pilot the Gundam through battles.

As the series progresses, and we get to encounter "monster of the week" Mobile Suits and Mobile Armors, we learn quite a few things, such as the nasty internal politics of the Zabi family, that Char Anznable is actually Casper Dum Dalkun and he infiltrated Zeon to kill off the Zabis one by one and restore his father's legacy (and his sister, Aresta, living under the name Salya Mas, is aboard the White Base), Amuro's discovery of his emerging newtype talents and that these talents make him into a most efficient and capable killer.  But, one major plot point-one they manage to milk part of a second series and a movie out of, is the Char/Amuro/Lalah love triangle.

Lalah Sun, Zeon's most powerful newtype, is testing out a new weapon for the Zeon Archduchy-the Elmeth.  This weapon is deadly because the pilot can control six remote "bits" without jammable radio signals, using the new psychcom system.  Char, either cynically or from highest motives (take your pick) adopts Lalah and becomes her mentor.  But, as Amuro closes, he runs into Lalah and literally the two have a mind-expanding newtype experience so powerful that it leaves the two totally changed.  Then, Char and Amuro get into battle-Char in his new red Gelloog and Amuro in the newly modified Gundam G-3.  In an effort to stop the two from killing each other, Salya and Lalah both try to take the two combatants apart-with tragic results. Amuro dodges the Core Booster that Salya is piloting, Lalah's Elmeth gets the beam naginta of Char's Gelloog right in the cockpit as she gets in the way.  The end result is that for the rest of the series, Char has a rallying cry to fight Amuro-avenging Lalah Sun (whom Char blames Amruo for her death).  As time goes on, Char develops an almost pathological hatred for Amuro on the basis of this one event, and even goes so far as to start a war to get Amuro back into battle to see which one of them is the best.

So, what does Gundam offer the average GM?  A whole lot of concepts and ideas and general plot hooks.  A lot of the things that were done in Gundam were considered ground-breaking (and now are considered classic), and are worth reviewing-

• Soap Operatic Plots-One history teacher taught me, and I quote, "all history is just soap opera.  Most of it isn't even good soap opera."  Betrayals, back-stabbing, romance, confusion-all of these are good things to make use of.  A GM that figures out things like "if Villain X fails, what will Villains Y and Z think?  Do?  Act?" will be able to spring some very nasty surprises on the players.  Especially if he....
• Bringing Them All In On The Game-It seems like everybody in Gundam has a sub-plot going for them.  Amuro and his steady efforts to become "military."  Bright Noah's efforts to figure out how to win the war without getting himself or his crew killed.  Salya Mas's attempts to find out what her brother is doing and save him.  These and dozens of other plots await a player character that isn't aware of what's going on.  A player likes playing a kill-crazy maniac?  Sic on him the son/daughter of one of the enemies he's killed, with a new and more powerful mecha every couple of episodes-and he knows why he's being singled out for such treatment.  Another player is a ladies' man?  Get thee to a nunnery-or at least a female character that doesn't like being played or decides that she wants to keep him-and will cheerfully kill anything even remotely approaching competition.
• It's Not The Biggest Guns That Win Things-For about forty-eight episodes, Amuro Ray pilots a Gundam.  That's it.  The biggest modifications to the Gundam are the magnetic coating and improvements to the beam rifle.  Meanwhile, Amuro's opponent Char goes from his Zaku to a Hygog to a Gelloog to the monstrous Ziong-and even then the Ziong merely clips the Gundam and blows an arm and the head off.  How does Amuro win?  By out-thinking the enemy, and using everything he had to his advantage.  Players that out-scheme and out-plot their enemies should be justly rewarded-and they should be encouraged to do so.
• How About After The War?-So, you've just thrown the biggest, bloodiest conflict since World War I on your players.   They won, skin-of-their teeth barely, but they won.  So, what happens afterwards?  Imagine these grizzled veterans coming home to discover that what they fought for was about "more of the same", a SS-like organization is formed, and problems the war was to address were merely pushed off to the back burner.  You have the basis of Zeta Gundam, the sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam-and perfect fodder for older players in the same campaign world and bringing new players in.  A good novella to read on the subject is Eric Flint's "From The Highlands" in the Worlds Of Honor #3 collection, especially the interactions of Victor Cachat and Kevin Usler.  Or a book on the French Revolution, on how quickly the new politicians turned on their own to secure their own power bases.

Playing up the concepts here takes some preparation-but they can be done.  Knowing your game world-and setting up a lot of "behind the scenes" preparation is essential.  A good eye to the "blood and guts" details of war, especially in descriptions to players, is important-they have to feel as if the blood and dirt and mud coat them every day in the conflict they fight.  GMs should be prepared to take copious notes-a laptop or a good notebook are essential and they should make sure to know what each player knows.

And, the game is not about battles-most adventures should have one to two battles, max.  And, even then, they're small and tight affairs, almost intimate.  At most, the players will have one or two cheap enemy mecha ("scrubs") to battle, then they get onto the main event!  Most of the game is role-playing-character interaction, character understanding, and advancing the Plot along.  And, don't fear taking a player outside or away from the other players to give him a bit more info on his character is doing-or what he is doing.  

Okay!  The first Cinema Robotica is done; and in two weeks, we'll have a second.  So far, I'm undecided-I'm considering either Cowboy Bebop or Armored Troopers VOTOMS, and votes are always welcome.    See you in two weeks!

Cowboy Bebop | Mobile Suit Gundam | Neon Genesis Evangelion

Parallel Universe Dual

BIO

Jonathan Souza has been a confirmed mecha nut since he first saw Robotech.  While his watching materials have improved-his love of robots and metal have always been total.  He seeks a woman of 20-30 years of age, single, and as big a fan of giant robots as he is-he still seeks for her, but believes that he may just have to get a woman and turn her onto mecha anime.  He's also looking for work, please hire him immediately.

mailto:[email protected]

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Created on April 15, 2001.