Mekton

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Mekton

Mekton is a role-playing game made by the same guys who did Cyberpunk 2020 which centers on the conventions of mecha anime and science fiction (although it can easily enough be adapted to other genres like police drama or high fantasy). It has seen several editions since its introduction in 1984, the most recent, Mekton Zeta (メクトン Z; a reference to the seminal mecha anime series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) being first published in 1994.

Mekton is batshit crazy

As you read through the most recent book (Mekton Zeta Plus), it might seem as a normal, if modular, RPG. The weapons seem a bit silly but well within the bounds of what you see in your Japanses animes. There's energy weapons, projectile weapons, missiles; just like BattleTech except there's also shields and more melee weapons. There's all sorts of modifications to be found, ranging from drones and extra armor to EWAR and ECCM. But around the time you hit the Thought Control rules (plugging your brain directly into your mech) you might start to suspect there's something going on. Then you hit the rules for Lightspeed and Teleportation, where you realize this is not just a real robot game. Then you hit the Transformation and Combiner rules (including turning into motorcycles and what the guy in Not-Voltron's left leg does when they're in the big robot form).

And then, Stupid Mekton Tricks.

This pulls out all of the Anime stops. Hammerspace, merging with your Mekton, super jumping skills, hijacking other Mekton, absorbing and reusing parts from other mechs you just tore off, transforming into buildings, gadgets, guns (yes, there are specific rules for building Megatron), rules for super-deformed Mektons including the new "Kawaii" and "Kowoi" stats and even for building yourself a moe robot waifu.

So in other words, you can build a robot girl who leaps across the battlefield and turns into a gun to hijack kawaii enemy mechs by holding their pilots at gunpoint, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann style. Yes, you just read that.

As such, it is STRONGLY adviced that GMs cleary define the do's and don'ts, lest you get a batshit crazy game consisting of several mechs that should not exist, alone or in a group.

No, scratch that. Do it. Give your players the book, a number of points and let them go to town. Then DM that shit. It will make for the most memorable game of your life.

Editions of Mekton

  • "White Box" Mekton (1984)
  • Mekton (1984) - softcover book using a custom percentile-based task resolution system.
    • Roadstriker (1986) - rules for human-scale transformable vehicles and power suit mecha, more advanced transformable mecha design options, and a police drama adventure
  • Mekton II (1987) - converted Mekton to run on the Interlock System, later used in Cyberpunk 2020. Cover art by Ben Dunn.
    • Mekton Techbook/Mekton Technical System (MTB/MTS) (1991) - a major conversion of the mecha-building system of Mekton
  • Mekton Zeta (メクトン Z) (1994) - general update and improvement of Mekton II
    • Mekton Zeta Plus (メクトン Z プラス) (1994) - general update and improvement of the Mekton Techbook
  • Gundam Senki (2000) - Japanese language Mobile Suit Gundam RPG using the Mekton system. Scheduled for US release, release date unspecified at this time.

Official Settings

  • Algol - A "grab bag" setting in an alternate universe, mixing many different styles of anime together. This setting originated with the first edition of Mekton, but fell into disuse after line editor Michael MacDonald left R. Talsorian. Algol was the default setting for Mekton and Mekton II, and remains in Mekton Z for legacy purposes. Algol is a long-lost human colony of the Bendar Galactic Empire, where the various factions are locked in a cold war and must deal with an impending ice age and the possible return of their ancient alien enemy, the fearsome Aggendi lizard warriors.
  • Mekton Empire - A space opera setting taking hints from Captain Harlock, Gundam and Voltron, set in the distant Bendar Spiral Galaxy. It added rules for playing aliens (including non-humanoids), space combat, psionics and creating new alien creatures.
  • Jovian Chronicles - A heavily Gundam-inspired licensed setting created by Dream Pod 9, set in the 23rd Century. This would later become a separate game using Dream Pod 9's Silhouette System.
  • Invasion Terra - A Macross-like setting in the future of 2105. Inasmuch as there is a default campaign setting for Mekton Z, this is it.
  • Imperial Star - Very similar to Mekton Empire but set in the Milky Way Galaxy.
  • Quicksilver Blues - Unreleased as of 2004 (complete since at least 2000). As of 2005, Quicksilver Blues is being reworked into a new and separate role-playing game called "Era³" by its original developers, Atomic Rocket Games.
  • Starblade Battalion - A Gundam-like setting, set in the far future of the Cyberpunk 2020 world (AD 2180).

Notable Fan Settings

Because Mekton has a relatively low amount of official support, and because it is designed as a universal "tool kit" role-playing system rather than being themed around a particular anime series (though fans of the system note that it is decidedly skewed toward "hard SF" type mecha anime, like Gundam and Macross), many fan settings have appeared for it since its release. Some of the most notable are indicated below.

I guess you're gay now

It is possible for your character to be outed as homosexual during character creation (one of the "friends" listings is "ex-lover," and since you roll gender for your friends randomly...)

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