TEXT: 1
  
  2
  Credits
  Author: Juan Herrera.
  Game Design & Development: Juan Herrera.
  Additional Writing: Jason Walther, Roland Kerr, Black Mesa Janitor.
  Editing: Fearghal Casey.
  Art: Starcat Games, Nacho, Yuminari, Lady Barbero, Archivist, Roland Kerr, Ryan Gallagher, Nicole Aniceto.
  Graphic Design: Gabriela Pacheco, Connie Tang, Danny Fish. 
  Stock Art: http://grsites.com http://subtlepatterns.com.
  Layout: Juan Herrera.
  Playtesters: Fearghal Casey, Roland Kerr, Jason Quintanilla, Jason Walther, Benjamin Merrill, Ari Schumer, Transient 
  People, Gzar, Archivist and all of our Kickstarter backers.
  Kickstarter Management: Jason Walther
  Kickstarter Backers: Alexander Coulson, Connie Tang, Ariel Martinez, Benjamin Merril Jr, Fearghal Casey, Ray-
  mond Webster, Salvador del Cos, Guillermo Cáceres Reverte, Alex Norris, devilmaydry, Brandon Carlstead, John 
  Palmer, Alex, Mark S, Stew Wilson, Rémi D’Amours, Matt Shortess, Ben Hale, Markus Viklund, Hunter4242, Jason 
  Quintanilla, Jacob Olbert, PhantasticSoul, locomono9, Andrew Rock, Joshua Crowe, Roland Kerr, Eoin Burke, Ryan 
  H, Gareth Davies, Jared Ritter, Alex Miller-Clendon, Grant Chen, Andrew Drake, Kimberley Smith, Ewen Cluney, Mark 
  Parker, Bobby Agans, Jason, Andrew Fanton, Mitchell Jones, Chris Mitchell, Joseph Ashley, Alexander Slatin, Daniel B 
  Cowden, taichara, Alberto de Jesus, Pablo Palacios, Darzoni, Derek Alligre, Ray Spitz, Ryan Gallagher, codingTorna-
  do, Branden Bogenschutz Sam Starrick, Incandescent Imaginarium, Hobo, Xie Belvoule, Oliver Rowson, Lisa Engel-
  hardt, Captain Pete, David Terhune, Andrea Martinelli, Steven Warble, YP Lim, Pineapple Steak, Marc Tetlow, Michæ l 
  Andrews, Jack Gulick, Carl Talbot, Jœ l Verde, Jonathan McGrath, Borna Pekaric, Ari Schumer.
  This is a work of f ction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of 
  the author’s imagination or used in a f ctitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or 
  actual events is coincidental. 
  Battle Century G is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Interna-
  tional License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. 
  © 2015 Juan Herrera Some Rights Reserved
  Rules Version 1.1
  (That means you may copy and share the text of this book as-is for noncommercial purposes; attributting the 
  author of the original work; and using the same license.)
  
  3
       Roleplaying Game?
  6
       Mecha Genre?
  7
       The Rules of the Game
  8
       What it Plays Like
  9
       Using This Manual
  10
       What you Should Know
  10
       An Example Scene of Play
  11
       Glossary
  12
            Setting Terminology
  12
            System Terminology
  13
  Chapter 1: Playing the Game
  15
       Episodes in a Nutshell
  16
       Scenes
  16
       Character Attributes
  17
       Mecha Attributes
  18
       Advancement
  19
       Genre Themes and Genre Points
  20
       Power Levels
  20
       Tests
  21
       Damage and Defenses
  21
       Advantages and Disadvantages
  22
       Intermission Rules
  22
            General Tests
  22
            Matches
  25
            Intermission Scene Example
  28
       Operation Rules
  29
            Zones and Ranges
  30
            Offensive Actions
  31
            Utility Actions
  32
            Damaging Mecha
  33
            Terrain
  34
            Characters vs Mecha
  35
            End of Operation
  35
            Operation Turn Example
  36
  Table of Contents
  
  4
  Chapter 3: Building the Mecha
  75
       Mecha Construction Summary
  76
       Mecha for Everyone
  76
       Mecha Points
  77
       Attributes
  78
       Areas
  79
       Upgrades
  80
            General
  80
            Active Defenses
  82
            Restoration
  83
            Mobility
  83
            Support
  84
            Extra Areas
  85
            Alternate Forms
  85
            Combination
  86
            Features
  87
        Weapons
  89
            Default Weapons
  89
            Weapon Abilities
  90
            Melee Weapons
  91
            Shooting Weapons
  92
            Beam Weapons
  93
            Alternative Weapons
  94
        Power Level Adjustments
  96
        The Personal Touch
  96
        The Mecha Sheet
  96
        Example of Mecha Construction
  97
  Chapter 2: Writing the Character
  39
       Character Creation Outline
  40
       Character Concept
  40
       Character Points
  42
       Attributes
  43
       Skills
  44
            General
  45
            Miracles
  49
       Traits
  53
            General
  53
            Equipment
  56
            Deathblows
  58
            Anomalies
  59
       Choosing Genre Themes
  60
            Genre Reason
  61
            Genre Typecast
  62
            Genre Bane
  63
       Choosing Genre Powers
  64
            Default Powers
  65
            Champion Powers
  66
            Trickster Powers
  67
            Tactician Powers
  68
       Power Level Adjustments
  70
       Roleplaying Details
  70
       The Character Sheet
  70
       Example of Character Creation
  71
  Table of Contents
  
  5
  Chapter 4: Running the Show
  102
       The Genre Master
  103
       Taking it Easy
  104
       The Course of Episodes
  105
            Season Goals
  105
            Season Length
  105
            Sandboxing
  106
            The Big Bad Evil Guy (or Girl)
  107
            Arc Plot Structure
  107
            Using Themes
  108
            Episode Flow
  109
            Scene Pacing
  110
            Scene Changes
  110
            Tests and Narrative Control
  111
       Planning Operations
  112
            Terrain
  112
            Objectives and Circumstances
  112
            Difficulty and Rewards
  113
       The Supporting Cast
  114
            NPC Tiers
  114
            Grunts, Rivals and Bosses
  115
                 Squad Power Ratings
  116
                 Enemy Features
  117
                 Boss Traits
  118
                 Boss Powers
  119
                 Boss Upgrades
  121
                 Boss Weapons
  123
                 Boss Capstones
  124
            Attribute Templates by Power Level
  125
            Using Enemies
  126
            Allied Reinforcements
  128
       Troubleshooting
  130
       Houseruling
  132
  Chapter 5: Discovering the World
  136
       The World of Battle Century G
  137
           A History Lesson
  137
           Brave New World
  144
           Sonne, Mond and Sterne
  145
       The Game’s Three Scenarios
  147
           The Soaring Dragon Fortress
  148
           The Mobile Battleship Wagner
  153
           The Clarke Foundation
  158
       The Rogues’ Gallery
  163
            Non-Pilot Grunts
  163
            Allies
  164
            Enemy Grunts
  173
            Enemy Rivals
  176
            Enemy Bosses
  182
       Running a Hiryu Game
  187
       Running a Wagner Game
  189
       Running a Clarke Game
  191
       Endgame Ideas
  193
       Do it Yourself
  194
            Enemy Mine
  194
            Ambience and Tone
  195
            Inspiration
  196
  Table of Contents
  
  6
  Battle Century G is an RPG or Roleplaying Game of the anime Mecha Genre. In the following pages you will f nd the rules to the 
  game, tips to get the most out of it, examples of the game in action and, hopefully, an entertaining read.
  Maybe you already know what you’re in for being already an avid roleplayer or mecha fanatic, maybe you have something of an 
  idea of what those two are like. Or maybe all this is new to you and you’re free of preconceptions or aren’t even sure if you’re 
  going to like where this is going to take you. I’d like to think that you will.
  Roleplaying Game?
  You might have the impression that “Roleplaying” requires you to dress up in outlandish costumes and speak in silly accents. 
  To put it in as few words as possible; Roleplaying Games are improvised theater with an element of chance and def ned rules. 
  You can have roleplaying and games separate, but roleplaying games by def nition combine both these traits.
  I make it sound simple but you must be still wondering what the heck is up with all those funny looking dice and the sheets 
  with the numbers. Alright, let’s be more specif c.
  Roleplaying games are much like videogames in that you have a character, called a Player Character or PC, and you will be con-
  trolling their actions to make their story. 
  The main treat here is that there is no limit other to what a PC can do other than your imagination. In most stories you’re 
  something of a spectator watching the characters go through a script. In a roleplaying game you are in control of everything 
  your character dœ s, and there is no script.
  You don’t need much to play a roleplaying game, just a pen and paper to take notes with, plus some dice for an element of 
  excitement. You are not going to need to dress up the part of the characters you will impersonate, and you don’t even need a 
  board and pieces.
  The action takes place in your imagination and you are in charge of narrating it, adding and taking away details much like in 
  any conversation. As long as you have something to write with, paper to write on, at least one die, and a means of communica-
  tion you can play a roleplaying game.
  One of the players will take a special role, that of the GM or Genre Master, and will coordinate the game in a more general 
  sense. Think of the GM’s role like a triple combination between the banker in Monopoly, the referee of a sports match, and the 
  director of an improvised theater session. 
  The GM is in charge of everything that the other players aren’t directing themselves. That means they set the stage and control 
  the actions of the rest of the world. The Genre Master is also the authority that is in charge of making sure the spirit of the 
  rules is being followed and that everyone plays fair.
  But even they don’t get to dictate how the story progresses. All Players, including the Genre Master, use the rules of the game 
  to steer how it will progress. Roleplaying Games generally employ dice to add an element of chance and make things more 
  exciting. Battle Century G uses ten-sided dice, so make sure you own a handful of ten sided dice. You can get them at any 
  Friendly Local Gaming Store. Just Google for one in your area.
  Speaking of dice, from now on in the book you’ll see that ten-sided dice will be referred to as a ‘d10,’ or ‘1d10’ to specif cally 
  refer to a single die. Multiple die are referred to as ‘2d10’ (that means two ten sided dice) or ‘3d10’ (three of them) and so on.
  
  7
  Mecha Genre?
  There are many types of Roleplaying Games out there, and they all do dif erent things. Some are for adventuring within dun-
  geons and f ghting dragons, others put you in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Battle Century G is about imitating your 
  favorite Mecha anime and manga. The thing that makes Battle Century G stand out is that it is about Mecha or giant robots. You 
  must have seen at least one show with Mecha elements for this book to truly speak to you. 
  What the heck is Mecha, you ask? Well, Wikipedia def nes Mecha as the Japanese term for f ctional robots and vehicles, typically 
  combat oriented. And that’s the short story. The long story is that Mecha are humanoid giant robots, piloted by one or more 
  people. Mecha can be weapons of war between humans, ancient mechanical gods that sleep beneath the soil, or marvels of 
  technology created to do battle with giant monsters.
  But why the use of the Japanese ‘Mecha’ instead of the more common localized term ‘Mech’? Because despite their superf cial 
  similarities, Mecha are dif erent from Mechs! Mecha generally emphasize drama over realism, while Mechs are slightly more 
  realistic. Duels between Mecha slowly build up to a climax of super attacks and dramatic speeches, while Mech combat is short 
  and brutal. 
  That is not to say Mecha f ction can’t be realistic. It just generally dœ sn’t bother too much with realism. There are Mecha shows 
  out there that are surprisingly down to earth, instead of bordering on melodramatic. But for every utilitarian bodysuit of armor, 
  there is a galaxy sized robot. Mecha can do whatever you want, you just need to know what that is. Battle Century G gives you 
  the robots and lets you use them as you wish.
  the robots and lets you use them as you wish.
  
  8
  The Rules of the Game
  Battle Century G’s ruleset emphasizes cinematics over real-
  ism, and smooth f ow of gameplay over attention to detail.The 
  three fundamentals of BCG are Big Herœ s, Fast Pacing and 
  Dramatic Plays. 
  Big Herœ s means the Player Characters are badasses on par 
  with any main character from Mecha f ction. The Fast Pacing 
  is because battles never slow down only getting faster with 
  each passing minute. Finally, combat revolves around making 
  Dramatic Plays through f ashy combos, secret techniques, and 
  using weapons inventively.
  You might remember I brought up dice a few paragraphs ago. 
  That’s because conf ict in this game is often (but not always) 
  resolved through dice. Whether you are gunning down giant 
  bugs in the middle of an alien hive, having a practice fencing 
  match with a friend, or talking your enemies into surrender-
  ing: It all works the same way.
  You roll 1d10 and then check your result against the Dif-
  f culty Number (DN) of what you are trying to do. If your 
  result is equal to or greater than the DN then your action is a 
  Success.The act of rolling to determine the outcome of a situ-
  ation is called a Test. You almost always want to roll high; and 
  the higher, the better.
  All Characters have dif erent odds to succeed at dif erent 
  things. A soldier is better at using f rearms than a surgeon, 
  but when someone gets shot, the surgeon is who you will turn 
  to for help. To represent this, all characters add numbers to 
  the result of die rolls. The better your character is at doing 
  something, the higher the value you add and the better the 
  result of the Test.
  Often you will have an Advantage or a Disadvantage to your 
  Tests, these represent factors that make it easier or harder to 
  succeed without bending the odds too much.
  An Advantage lets you roll an additional d10 at the time of 
  making a Test, and you then keep the best (higher) result 
  out of all the dice rolled, discarding the lesser results. A 
  Disadvantage works similarly, but in reverse, you roll ad-
  ditional die and keep the worst (lower) result out of the 
  many presented. That about sums it up.
  You will get a better glimpse of the game’s rules as you start 
  reading the following chapters. Don’t worry if some game 
  terms aren’t explained right away, by the time you are done 
  with the book everything should be clear. If you really want 
  to check out a particular rule, check the glossary at the end 
  of this chapter or the quick reference cheat pages at the very 
  end of the book.
  If you’re ever confused about how the rules work, it helps to 
  keep in mind the following three principles:
  Rulings Trump Rules:
  While Battle Century G is designed to be a relatively airtight 
  rules system, it can’t possibly cover for absolutely every 
  scenario that might come up during a game. You will probably 
  at some point f nd yourself in a scenario not covered in the 
  rules, or perhaps where even the rules defy common sense! In 
  these cases, the GM is encouraged to either make a ruling on 
  the spot so as to uphold the spirit of the rules or to ignore the 
  rules entirely and declare what happens instead.
  To be succinct: If a Player f nds a loophole in the rules that 
  allows them to get away with something that is not fun for eve-
  ryone else, the GM has authority over the manual.
  Specif c Trumps General:
  Whenever the rules text of a character’s special ability contra-
  dicts a general rule of the game, the ability wins. Most PCs will 
  have multiple abilities in their sheets that break the rules in 
  some way. Some are very minor, but others are the thing that 
  can turn a weak character into a powerhouse.
  A good general rule to follow is that, if a specif c rule ever 
  contradicts a general rule, the specif c rule wins. If your only 
  weapon is a sword, but you have a special ability that lets you 
  attack from farther away than usual, then your sword has the 
  reach of a gun or better.
  Always Round Down:
  There is some math in this game, you will need to halve a few 
  numbers every now and then or to take an average of some-
  thing or other. Every single time you end up with fractions, 
  you round down to the nearest integer. Which is to say, if you 
  need to halve 7 you don’t end up with 3.5, nor with 4, but with 
  3 as the result.
  If you ever have to halve something and add or substract from 
  it, you do the halving f rst then follow up with other opera-
  tions. The exception are abilities that say they halve the f nal 
  result, those are always halved at the end.
  
  9
  What it Plays Like
  Each Player will control an individual Player Character, and all of them have Mecha to ride into battle. Unlike in most f ction, 
  there is no main character. Instead, the PCs are an ensemble cast that share the spotlight and drive the game forward in equal 
  amounts. 
  That is not to say they all contribute to the story in the exact same fashion or that they all have the same role. It just means 
  that the story of each PC is just as important as everyone else’s.
  The rest of the cast are known as Non Player Characters (NPCs) and are usually under the GM’s control. The role of NPCs is 
  varied, they might be family, friends, colleagues, protégées, or bosses. But NPCs are also the antagonists, taking the part of 
  throwaway mooks, personal nemeses, and ultimate big bads.
  A typical game session of Battle Century G is structured so that there is some plot, some character development, and then gi-
  ant robots f ght.  Each individual time you and your friends meet up is called an Episode, and the sum of all Episodes together 
  is a Season. A chain of Episodes within a Season that share one or more themes or story elements is called an Arc. Episode 
  Arcs in Battle Century G are important to keep in mind, since in between each Arc characters get to heal from their battle 
  wounds.
  Each Episode is divided into Scenes, which work very much like those from movies, shows and plays. During a Scene characters 
  develop or progress the plot, then proceed to the next Scene when they’re done. Scenes come in two kinds: Intermissions and 
  Operations. The former are Scenes focusing on the Pilots, while the latter are the Mecha action scenes.
  Typically an Intermission Scene dœ sn’t last more than ten to twenty minutes, so you can have multiple of them per Episode, 
  and top it of  with an Operation to end the meetup with a bang.  You can have another Intermission Scene after the Operation 
  to close it of , or you can start in media res (in the middle of the action) and have the Operation f rst. 
  The structure is pretty f exible, and as long as everyone has had their own f fteen minutes of fame at least once during the 
  Episode, there’s no way to do it ‘wrong’.
  Battle Century G switches between second and third person a lot, and will oftentimes refer to your PC as ‘you,’ the reader. 
  General statements about the rules or aspects of them will use the third person, while specif c talk about abilities the PCs 
  themselves may possess will use the second person.
  This is a method that most RPGs employ to help you immerse yourself in your character so that portraying them is easier, not 
  because we think you are your character.
  While being really into your character is a lot of fun for some, this humble game is not going to tell you how much you have 
  to invest into it. With that said, do remember that you are to f ll your PC’s shœ s. A little bit of investment is recommended to 
  make things really stick.
  Roleplaying means dif erent things to dif erent people, Battle Century G has its own style that distinguishes it from the others. 
  The game as a whole works better when you give its style a chance and change the least possible.
  Battle Century is Very Good at:
  -Using it as a generic, streamlined Mecha system that is easily adapted to any kind of game.
  -Gameplay that emphasizes both a smooth f ow of narrative and tactical gameplay.
  -Balancing Character options so that all PCs are good Pilots of an equal power level.
  -Simulating giant robot f ction and other, similarily styled anime or manga action stories.
  Battle Century G is Less Good at:
  -Detailed Mecha customization where you track a giant robot’s weight, fuel consumption, and caliber of guns.
  -Gameplay focusing on the Players having narrative control rather than about the actions of the characters themselves.
  -Tables and charts of randomized ef ects and other game rules that make things dif  cult to predict.
  -A system for standalone or One Shot adventures, more like a movie than a TV series.
  
  10
  Using This Manual
  Battle Century G divides its contents into six chapters. It 
  starts with the general rules of the game, proceeds into what 
  PCs and NPCs can do, and f nishes with a game world ready 
  for use.
  If you want to know the rules of the game and make up 
  your own game world, read the book in order. If you care 
  about character options f rst and foremost, read the middle 
  chapters. If you want to read about the kind of setting Battle 
  Century G supports, start with the f nal chapter.
  The introduction is what you’re reading right now and there 
  really isn’t much to say about it. Just keep in mind that there 
  is a glossary at the end of it in case you want to check out 
  what a specif c term means.
  Chapter One: Playing the Game contains the rest of the 
  game’s proper rules that everyone needs to know. In there you 
  will f nd what Characters can (or cannot) do and the same for 
  the Mecha.
  Chapter Two: Writing the Character is where things start 
  to get going, the chapter will guide you through the steps 
  required in order to make a PC.
  Chapter Three: Building the Mecha meanwhile is about 
  creating a giant robot for your PC to ride. Your Mecha is a 
  character in its own right, so it gets a whole chapter to itself 
  just like Characters do.
  Chapter Four: Running the Show on the other hand is for the 
  GM to learn inside out. Other Players may read it, of course, 
  and they will probably f nd it very useful indeed! It just isn’t 
  expected of them.
  Chapter Five: Discovering the World gives you a few point-
  ers for creating your own Mecha world, and describes in detail 
  three scenarios for setting a game, all taking place in the 
  same world and each with their own characteristics.
  Here is a list of things that you will need for a session of gam-
  ing to go smoothly:
  -Three to seven Players, including the GM.
  -At least one ten-sided die for each person.
  -Copies of the Pilot and Mecha Sheets, one for each PC.
  -Pencils, an eraser, and paper to take down notes.
  ...While this is the optional but recommended list of things 
  you want to have.
  -A quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.
  -Three to f ve hours to play at your own pace.
  -Index cards for passing each other notes.
  -Snacks and drinks.
  What you Should Know
  The manual assumes you will be playing either using the 
  provided world setting or one much like it. The various rules 
  of the game provide examples that borrow content from the 
  world presented in chapter f ve. Rules text sticks to generic 
  terms such as Pilot or Mecha, but the example descriptions 
  will refer to them as Meisters and Gears, respectively.
  Here is a brief summary of the world from Chapter 5: 
  Humanity is in conf ict against not one but two groups of mys-
  terious beings not of this world, and not only that, but against 
  itself as well.
  At the center of it all is Gygravagnite or Element G, the energy 
  source which powers not only the setting’s mecha, but most 
  modern technological implements.
  The extraterrestrials known as the Outsiders seem to have 
  taken an interest in this mineral, and systematically hunt 
  down any major settlements with Gygravagnite worldwide.
  The United Earth Federation and their Gear Armed Forces 
  were no match to them, and rather than face extinction for 
  the entire human race, they chose to help them and keep a 
  tight leash on humanity.
  Only the Revolutionary Unif ed Front stands up against them, 
  thanks in no small part to the technological marvels that are 
  the Mobile Battleship Wagner and the Soaring Dragon Fortress 
  of Hiryu island. Both their phenomenal technology and its 
  procurement remain mysteries.
  Meanwhile, the space colonies are now threatened by the 
  Cryptids. Cryptids are creatures that born seemingly through 
  spontaneous means, assimilating everything around them 
  into their ever-expanding body masses. The Clarke Founda-
  tion both studies and opposes them, with their own brand of 
  biomechanical Gears.
  If you think this bears reading before moving on, skip ahead 
  to Chapter 5. Otherwise, this should be enough knowledge for 
  you to understand the book’s examples.
  You are ready to venture forward into Battle Century G.
  
  11
  Raymond: Blade has tanned skin, matching almond eyes and 
  hair, with the face of someone who is very serious by nature. 
  He’s in BDUs and is clearly well-toned. “I’m Blade Farran, 
  pleased to meet you.” He shakes Maria’s hand f rmly but loose 
  enough.
  Ryu: Okay, my go.  Jef  is excited and a bit nervous, I guess.  
  He’s in a shirt and jeans, and is brown haired too, with short 
  spiky hair.  He’ll greet the professor and captain. “I’m Jef  Gons 
  but just call me Jef .”  He’ll also give Blade a hand trying to 
  make friends.
  Raymond: What is his shake like?
  Ryu: Um, lax I think.
  Raymond: Blade has a strong grip with him.
  Ryu: Ow.  Jef  dœ sn’t show it but he didn’t like that much.
  Raymond: Good.  Ingham, dœ s that count for the develop-
  ment of my Theme as Rival?
  Ingham: Not yet, bully him some more later and we’ll see if 
  you get points.
  Raymond: Will do.
  Ryu: Hey, you don’t have to put it like that!  And... I’m kind of 
  new to this.  Um, am I supposed to be acting when speaking in 
  character?
  Maya: You don’t have to do more than speak in character to 
  act out your PC.  Don’t worry if you’re the shy type, though 
  do try to loosen up!  No one is going to eat you.
  Raymond: Or they shouldn’t. Some groups may not take 
  kindly to those who don’t know the secret handshake.
  Maya: If people started biting each other during play, I’d be 
  pretty intimidated too.
  Ingham: Ahem. Professor Tetsuryuu motions towards a nearby 
  black car, and a suit opens one of the doors for you.   “Come 
  on, I’ll tell you about this island and show you around the 
  base as we get there.”
  Ryu: “Oh, but we just got these.”  Jef  holds up a visitor’s 
  pamphlet.
  Maya: Maria grins. “Those are all wrong, what we’re going to 
  show you is not in a pamphlet.”
  Maya: Maria grins. “Those are all wrong, what we’re going to 
  show you is not in a pamphlet.”
  An Example Scene of Play
  To get you in the mood for the rest of the book, here is a 
  typical game session of GGG.  Even if this book appears intim-
  idating with all these endless pages of rules, through the rest 
  of the book there will be examples of play made using the 
  world setting presented in this book.  In this one, the example 
  is a simple initiation to roleplaying for one of the players and 
  everyone warming up.  There is no battle against f lthy xenos 
  or inf ltration of enemy bases in this example.  The PCs are 
  simply test pilots just now being introduced to each other.
  The players, their PCs and Mecha are:
   -Ingham, the GM;
   -Ryu, as Jef  Gons the test pilot of General Z;
   -Raymond, playing Blade Farran, at the helm of the Black 
  General;
   -Maya, owner of Maria DeSir and her Gran DeSir.
  Ingham: This will be your f rst scene all together, so let’s have 
  you three meet for the f rst time.  Within an hour of arriving 
  to the Far West Gygravagnite Research Institute by helicopter, 
  in your case Jef , or by plane as it is for you, Blade, you two 
  are met by a bearded man in a lab coat and a woman that 
  appears to be about your age at the airport.   You’ve seen 
  him in the news and heard enough to know he’s the reason 
  you are here. Professor Tetsuryuu clears his throat.  “Hello, 
  I’m Professor Tetsuryuu and I am in charge of this place. This 
  here is Maria DeSir.  She will be your acting captain and squad 
  leader.”  He’ll of er a handshake.  Maya, introduce Maria.
  Maya: I’m a tall and long haired brunette with blue eyes and 
  dressed in casual clothes. Maria gives a small wave,   “Hi,” and 
  will also extend a hand.
  
  12
  Glossary
  Setting Terminology
  Board: The acronym for the Broad Operations Assessment 
  and Reaction Device, and sometimes called ‘AI Drone’ in place 
  of their abbreviated name: a Board is a war machine entirely 
  controlled by a computer and supervised by an of  cer who 
  oversees entire groups of them at once.
  Clarke Foundation: The organization in the space colonies 
  tasked with investigating and stopping Cryptid activity. On the 
  surface, they produce nanomachines for medicinal purposes, 
  but they also f eld Gears that are half machine and half alien 
  monster to combat the Cryptids.
  Cryptid: The unifying term for the strange creatures seen in 
  the Far West Archipelago and now in the space colonies. Said 
  to be behind the disappearances in Neo Easter II before the 
  arrival of the Outsiders.
  Far West Archipelago: A chain of islands that rose from the 
  pacif c in the years after the Ring of Fire Tragedy, it is cur-
  rently the heart of the resistance opposing both the UEF and 
  the Outsiders.
  Gear: An abbreviation of General Enforcement Anthropomor-
  phic Robot that replaced the original name in all but the most 
  technical of texts. Gears are the one true mobile weapon that 
  maximizes an individual soldier’s power.
  Gear Armed Forces: The UEF’s primary armed forces, almost 
  entirely consisting of Gears and support for them. It is strong-
  est in the American continent where Boards are less prolif c 
  and most Gears are manufactured.
  Glory: The UEF’s next-gen line of Gears, of which only a few 
  exist. All are assigned under a single squad to hunt down and 
  destroy the resistance’s Wagner.
  Gygravagnite: Gygravagnite is a self-replicating mineral which 
  is highly radioactive and unstable, and a crucial element to 
  the technology in the new world. Usually called Element G 
  or by the specif c form it takes after being processed and 
  ref ned, such as Type-R or Type-G.
  Hiryu: A small island west of the Outsider mothership. It is 
  the new capital of the Far West Archipelago after it seceded 
  from the UEF, as well as the f rst and last defense line stop-
  ping the Outsiders from wreaking havoc on the rest of Asia 
  and Oceania.
  Meister: The name given to the pilot of a Gear to distinguish 
  them from the operators of other combat vehicles. Some still 
  refer to them to as pilots or drivers colloquially.
  Outsiders: The Alien invasion force that wiped out most of 
  the spacenoids and got the UEF to surrender in barely over a 
  day. These giant monsters occasionally leave their mothership 
  at Neo Easter II to analyze and tear apart mankind’s Gygravag-
  nite-based creations.
  PsAICon: Short for Psychic AI Control. This system lets 
  Meisters control Gears by running their own brain impulses 
  through an AI that interprets them as inputs.
  Revolutionary Unif ed Front: The RUF, or simply ‘the Gue-
  rilla’, is a group with the goal of taking down the UEF’s regime 
  and counterattacking against the Outsiders.
  Ring of Fire Tragedy: The event that shook the foundations of 
  the world in 2027. It is still unknown whether it was a natural 
  megathrust earthquake, the consequence of an impact event, 
  or something stranger.
  Safe Zone: The cities built by the UEF to keep the civilians 
  where they could see them and to stop them from standing 
  up against the Outsiders.
  Soaring Dragon Fortress: The base of operations for the 
  Hiryu’s guerilla ef orts, producing top of the line Gears capa-
  ble of standing up to individual Outsiders.
  Solar Space Alliance: The primary rival of the UEF before 
  they were decimated by the Outsiders. The few remaining 
  colonies of the Verne cluster keep to themselves and don’t 
  meddle in the af airs of Earthnoids and Outsiders.
  Subjugation: The name for the series of events involving the 
  Battle of the 23 Hours, the surrender to the Outsiders, and 
  the reorganization of UEF territory.
  United Earth Federation: The organization that replaced the 
  UN as a peacekeeping organization and grew in power from 
  there. They would be the rulers of the Earth if not for the 
  Outsiders.
  Verne Military Police: The Colonies’ other peacekeeping 
  organization. They use Boards rather than Gears.
  Wagner, Mobile Battleship: The world’s f rst f ying battle-
  ship, sporting such technologies unseen before such as true 
  Antigravity, self-aware AIs, and advanced stealth technology. It 
  is the RUF’s f agship and continually battles against the GAF.
  
  13
  System Terminology
  Action: Something a character dœ s that takes up a consid-
  erable amount of time, spending their Turn. Actions usually 
  require Tests. Sometimes they don’t, though.
  Advantage: A circumstance that gives a character better 
  chances of success at a Test. An Advantage lets you roll an 
  additional die and keep the better result of the two rolls.
  Ally: Any other character or Unit that is friendly to yours. You 
  may designate who is and who is not your Ally at will.
  Area: Where Upgrades and Weapons are allocated to or held 
  by a Mecha. If an Area is Maimed, all Upgrades and Weapons 
  stored in it stop working.
  Attribute: The statistics that ranks a Character or Mecha’s 
  basic features. Attributes are the foundations that the rest of 
  the character is built on top of.
  Character Points (CP): You spend CP to purchase Attributes, 
  Skills and Traits for your PC. This represents what a character 
  has learned, how much they have trained, and their general 
  improvement over the course of the Episodes.
  Damage: What happens to a Character or Mecha when their 
  Defenses can’t hold Enemies at bay. Taking Damage is bad. 
  Try not to take Damage.
  Defeat: Take too much Damage and you will be Defeated. 
  Being Defeated usually means being knocked out unconscious, 
  but it could mean anything that incapacitates your Character 
  temporarily.
  Defense: The DN that your Enemies have to beat in order to 
  hurt your Character or Mecha.
  Dif  culty Number (DN): The value you check against to see 
  whether your Test succeeds or not. A result equal to or higher 
  than the Dif  culty Number is a success, while a lower result 
  means failure.
  Disadvantage: A circumstance that makes it considerably 
  harder for any character to perform Tests. A Disadvantage 
  forces a character to roll twice on a Test and take the worst 
  result of the two dice rolled.
  Duel: What happens when one Unit Engages the other in close 
  quarters combat. Units in a Duel are so close to each other 
  that it is hard to attack either of them without harming the 
  other by mistake.
  Enemy: Any other character or Unit that opposes yours; you 
  may designate anyone else as an Enemy at any time. Try not 
  to be too much of a traitorous prick.
  Experience Points (XP): A measure of a PC’s growth as a 
  character. A PC gains XP at the end of an Episode and for 
  every time they gain XP they also receive the same amount of 
  CP and MP.
  Genre Master: The game’s arbiter. A player with the special 
  role of directing the supporting cast, intervening when there 
  are rules disputes, and keeping the game f owing from one 
  Scene to another.
  Genre Theme: One of the running motifs that a PC has and 
  develops through the course of the Episodes. Themes grant 
  their owners Genre Points when they are roleplayed.
  Genre Points: PCs and the strongest of NPCs possess Genre 
  Points, which serve as fuel for Genre Powers during Opera-
  tions. Once a Genre Point is spent, it is gone, but you refresh 
  them at the beginning of every Episode and can temporarily 
  earn more through roleplaying.
  Genre Powers: A Genre Power is a unique and powerful abil-
  ity that requires Genre Points to use. Exclusive to PCs and se-
  lect few NPCs, they are some of the most powerful individual 
  abilities in the game.
  Initiative: A Character or Unit’s place within a given Round’s 
  order, The highest Initiative gœ s f rst and from there it pro-
  gresses down to whœ ver has the lowest.
  Intermission: Scenes that take place between Operations 
  are called Intermissions. They generally do not have Mecha 
  combat in them, though they sometimes include Mecha for 
  other purposes.
  Maim: When one of the Areas belonging to the Mecha is 
  Maimed, the Upgrades and Weapons it holds are disabled.
  Match: An Intermission Scene in which characters are com-
  peting with each other, usually in a violent way. A Match will 
  last until only one side of the conf ict remains.
  Mecha Points (MP): You spend MP to purchase Attributes, 
  Upgrades and Weapons for your Mecha. These represent how 
  a Mecha is augmented and how the Pilot gets better at using it 
  through the course of the Episodes.
  Move: The act of moving a Zone when you take your Action. 
  Technically Movement occurs before the Action proper. That 
  means you can get close to someone and hit them in the 
  same Action, but if you want to hit them and move away in 
  one Action you’ll need a weapon that can attack at range.
  
  14
  Non-Player Character (NPC): A bit of a misnomer, since the character is controlled by the GM who is also a Player, but it is dif-
  ferent enough from ‘real’ PCs to warrant a simple distinction by name.
  Operation: A Scene revolving around combat between Mecha.
  Player Character (PC): A character that is controlled by a player, as their avatar inside the game world.
  Plot Armor: A character’s security blanket. Plot Armor has three Layers, and their gradual loss from taking Damage places a 
  character closer to Defeat. Try not to let that happen.
  Power Level: A way to measure how strong a PC is in comparison to the average NPC.
  Range: A weapon’s ef ective reach, measured as Minimum and Maximum Range. A short Maximum Range means it may only be 
  used in close combat, while a high Maximum Range could let you shoot targets beyond the horizon.
  Round: The period of time that covers everyone getting a Turn going by the Initiative order. Once everyone has had a Turn, the 
  current Round ends, Tension increases by 1, and a new Round begins.
  Scene: A short time period enough to cover one plot point, or a transition between two plot points. Usually Scenes end when 
  the PCs move from one location to another, a dramatic entrance or departure takes place, or there is a ‘timeskip’ between cur-
  rent events.
  Skill: A character’s theoretical and practical know-how of an individual subject. Characters trained in a Skill gain an Advantage 
  when using it to perform Tests. Characters can be Specialists or Generalists when it comes to skills, and this will def ne when 
  and how they gain an Advantage to a given Test.
  Tension: A bonus to various Tests made during Matches and Operations that is equal to the number of Rounds that have tran-
  spired thus far. Tension represents battle fatigue and the escalation of violence in prolonged conf icts.
  Terrain: A given section of the battlef eld during an Operation, divided into Zones. Terrain sometimes has properties that help 
  those who stand on it, or that complicate things for them.
  Test: The act of rolling 1d10 plus modif ers (if any) against a given DN. This usually requires an Action.
  Trait: A quality of a PC that is not part of their Attributes nor Skills. Many Traits grant Advantages to specif c Tests, but several 
  also have entirely unique abilities.
  Turn: Any one character’s chance to do something with their Actions during a Round, as assigned by the Initiative order.  Turns 
  are divided in Phases to help the character’s controller make decisions and narrate its outcome.
  Unit: Used to refer to both a Pilot and their Mecha as a single entity in the game rules.
  Upgrade: A single ability possessed by a Mecha, usually bending the general rules of the game at least a little.
  Weapon: The of ensive counterpart to Upgrades. All Weapons grant Advantages to their use in dif erent circumstances.
  Zone: An abstraction of the distance that a Character or Mecha can Move through quickly. If your Character is inside a house, 
  each room is a Zone. If your Mecha is running through a city, then each block is a Zone.
  
  15
  
  16
  Episodes in a Nutshell
  Every time the group gets together to play is called an Epi-
  sode. Episodes are divided into Intermissions (when the Pilots 
  shine) and Operations (when the Mecha come out). Usually the 
  GM sets the very f rst Intermission Scene by gathering the cast 
  of characters with a common goal.
  Perhaps the characters are supposed to undergo training 
  together, or they might have to inf ltrate Enemy territory to 
  secure supplies, or perhaps everyone is on guard duty. 
  The Scene should go on until it is declared f nished, usually 
  after everyone has said they have f nished what they wanted 
  to do with it.
  After this f rst Scene, the GM should either move them all 
  to another common Scene for the group, or ask the Players 
  themselves if they would like to call for a Scene. If the PCs are 
  training together it should be the former, and if they are split-
  ting up to inf ltrate better the latter.
  This can be in any order. Going clockwise from the GM’s per-
  spective is usually a good idea if there isn’t a consensus on 
  who should go f rst.
  At some point things will begin to slow down as the Scenes 
  come to a close. That is the cue to switch from Intermission 
  to Operation and board the giant robots.
  Before the Operation proper starts though, the players should 
  be informed of who they are f ghting and why, where and 
  when the battle will take place, and any special conditions for 
  victory and defeat. I recommend a short Scene for a quick 
  brief ng detailing the Operation in-character.
  The Operation itself is an action Scene and is much like those 
  that can happen during Intermissions, but it has slightly more 
  complex and formalized rules. It dœ s boil down to a pretty 
  simple premise though: Where there are giant robots, they will 
  f ght.
  By default an Operation ends when all enemies have been 
  wiped out or after they retreat, however there can be other, 
  more varied objectives that can mark a mission’s success 
  besides destruction of all enemies.
  After that you might want to have one last, very short Inter-
  mission just to wrap up today’s events, perhaps debrief ng the 
  Pilots and letting everyone make a closing statement of some 
  kind.
  To summarize, an Episode of Battle Century G is very much 
  like an episode of your typical Mecha anime, but one nar-
  rated by a group. For the full experience, cracking jokes at 
  characters being goofy and passing snacks around the table is 
  recommended.
  Scenes
  Most Scenes are Intermissions, in which PCs take center stage 
  and help progress the story forward. Mecha are nothing with-
  out their Pilot, so the Pilots get more screentime. 
  Scenes begin with the GM describing when and where it is 
  taking place, but sometimes Players can be involved in setting 
  the stage as well. If a Scene takes place in the house of a PC, 
  the Player who controls said character should get to call the 
  shots describing the place and who may be invited inside.
  Battle Century G’s Scenes are much like those from a play.  
  After the stage has been set by the GM everyone assumes 
  their roles as Characters and set out to roleplay them, with 
  the GM controlling the rest of the world - the scenery, NPCs, 
  and other such minutiæ .
  Scenes requested by Players might be related to the initial 
  Scene of the Episode, but don’t have to be necessarily con-
  nected. Other Players may also participate in Scenes called 
  by Players if the GM and the other Player agree this is reason-
  able.
  Players will have to speak in character. Which is to say, they 
  need to be mouthpieces for their PCs and maybe do some 
  acting or funny accents if they feel like it.  Instead of saying 
  what your character dœ s, you should say that you do it when-
  ever possible. And so on.
  Scenes do not necessarily occur in real time. A single scene 
  may take up to an hour of playtime but only consist of ten 
  adrenaline-fueled minutes, or it could summarize hours of 
  hard work with just f ve minutes of play time.
  Scenes often have a specif c purpose in mind, which basically 
  means that everyone has gathered at that specif c location to 
  get something done. Characters might be trying to f x up their 
  Mecha, or simply getting together for a game of poker. Scenes 
  should have a clear goal in mind like “I want to repair my 
  Mecha” or “Let’s bet and see who wins”.
  Sooner or later you will need to f gure out whether the char-
  acters get what they want or not. Sometimes they win, some-
  times they lose, and sometimes they scrape by just enough to 
  make things work out.
  That’s where the rules come in. Characters are measured in 
  what they can do and how well they can do it through their 
  Attributes, which are used to perform Tests.
  
  17
  Awareness
  Awareness keeps someone attuned to their surroundings, 
  making one perceptive and memorious of small details. It also 
  gives an empathic understanding of other people, telling the 
  truth from lies through body language alone.
  A character with high Awareness can predict and read the 
  actions of others and is dif  cult to surprise. Those ungraced 
  with a good Awareness tend to blunder into traps – both the 
  literal and f gurative type.
  Willpower
  Willpower is a combination of a character’s toughness, com-
  posure and morale. It helps them stand their ground against 
  things that wish they rather didn’t. Willpower means pushing 
  through adversity to get your way.
  Characters with high Willpower keep their head cool in the 
  face of danger and resist blows that would have have knocked 
  out the average person. Characters with low Willpower can’t 
  stand f rm in the face of horrifying alien monsters.
  Resources
  Resources represents how well grounded a character is from 
  an economic and social standpoint. It dœ s this in the form 
  of connections, material wealth, and the general stability that 
  modern life in a city demands.
  Those of high Resources have people eager to do them favors. 
  Low Resources means having no one to turn to in a time of 
  need and little in the way of a Plan B after a series of unfortu-
  nate events leave you without a home and a job.
  Fitness
  Fitness measures a character’s physical ability. Fitness is the 
  Attribute you use to pull of  feats of raw strength, gymnastic 
  f exibility, and long-term endurance. Fitness makes you very 
  good at traditional heroics like knocking out bad guys.
  The character with high Fitness lives a healthy life and is 
  probably something of an exercise nut. The character with low 
  Fitness is likely skinny, overweight, or perhaps even physically 
  handicapped in some way.
  Intellect
  Intellect handles being knowledgeable plus a dose of worldly 
  awareness. Intellect dœ s not correlate directly to education, 
  as a character might just have poor book learning abilities but 
  still have enough wits to spare to trick others.
  Characters with high Intellect tend to be critical and objective, 
  some outright believing that knowledge is power. Those with 
  low Intellect tend to barely know enough to get by, and aren’t 
  very curious about learning new things either.
  Charm
  Charm helps a character perform well socially. The empathic 
  character can tell exactly who to talk to, how to talk to them, 
  and surprisingly has the tendency to make more friends than 
  enemies.
  The high Charm character is savvy at the social arts and the 
  one to whom others can’t help but pour their life stories. The 
  low Charm character tends to be ignored at best and despised 
  at worst for being a mix of brash, oblivious and annoying.
  Character Attributes
  Attributes describe in very rough terms the raw talents of a character. They measure a character’s physical and mental apti-
  tudes, as well as their social standing. They are the fundamental building blocks of a character, and you add details about your 
  character on top of them.
  Attributes are measured in a scale from 0 to 10, and the higher the number the better the Attribute in question.
  
  18
  Might
  The Attribute that gives you ef  cient targeting systems and 
  raw of ensive power. Might gauges just how good the Mecha is 
  at making other Mecha explode, or how good it is at subduing 
  them with no harm done to the pilot.
  A Mecha with high Might will have an easier time landing hits 
  on targets and punching through their armor, whether the 
  punching is literal or f gurative. Conversely, low Might makes 
  for Mecha that should stay away from the front lines.
  Guard
  As the counterpart to Might, Guard makes your Mecha harder 
  to damage through a combination of evasive maneuvers and 
  tough armor. A Mecha with high Guard is very dif  cult to hurt.
  With high Guard you are not just resilient, but seem invinci-
  ble once you have a forcef eld equipped. A low Guard Mecha 
  should avoid being the center of Enemy attention and needs 
  allies to provide cover for them.
  Threshold
  Threshold is the second half of making a giant robot that can 
  withstand an assault. It represents how sturdy the Mecha is 
  and how well it holds against damage after its defenses have 
  been breached.
  With a high Threshold rank, Mecha can hold their own against 
  even the mightiest of blows with relative ease, making a sus-
  tained barrage necessary to destroy them. With a low Thresh-
  old rank, Mecha don’t have much of a safety net and a single 
  mistake could doom them to an explosive fate.
  Energy
  Energy is consumed every time the Mecha uses certain 
  abilities, like energy barriers or beam weapons. Mecha will 
  replenish their Energy reserves constantly, the Attribute just 
  measures their total output.
  With high Energy you can use all sorts of equipment and can 
  use more of them at the same time. Poor Energy reserves will 
  render most special equipment unusable or at least make 
  them perform suboptimally.
  Systems
  Sometimes you use your Mecha for things that require a 
  touch of precision and technical know-how, such as manipu-
  lating small objects with your huge metal hands, decoding en-
  emy communications, or managing f re suppression systems.
  Above average Systems makes for versatile Mecha that may 
  use support equipment competently. Below average Systems 
  might not seem like much of a problem, but it reduces the 
  range of many weapons and the ef  ciency of some upgrades.
  Speed
  To no one’s surprise, giant robots are faster than people. The 
  method dœ sn’t matter, you might f y, run, or f oat around if 
  you so desire, but this Attribute is what gauges it. Speed also 
  handles the Mecha’s reaction times to the pilot’s commands.
  High Speed is what lets Mecha break the speed of sound and 
  draw their guns before their rivals even know they are there. 
  Low Speed is the trademark of robots that move only slightly 
  faster than a regular person and never get to shoot f rst.
  Mecha Attributes
  Like their Pilots, Mecha have their own Attributes. These are more limited in nature, because giant robots are f ghting machines, 
  and that is what their Attributes revolve around. Measuring how good an individual Mecha is at blowing stuf  up or how fast it 
  can f y is more important than measuring how pretty it is or what kind of fuel the engine uses.
  Mecha Attributes are also measured from 0 to 10.
  
  19
  Advancement
  After every Episode your PC is granted a few Experience 
  Points (XP) by the GM. XP is used to measure how much a PC 
  grows and develops over time, improving their natural talents 
  and learning new ones. Mecha also get stronger as the story 
  advances, through enhancing existing equipment and installing 
  new parts.
  Whenever you gain XP you should note down the amount and 
  add it to your XP total in your character and mecha sheets 
  to keep track of it. That way you can check just how far your 
  character and mecha have come.
  But XP don’t really do anything on their own. Instead, when-
  ever you gain XP you also gain the same amount of 
  Character Points and Mecha Points. Character Points may 
  be used to augment your PC’s Attributes and get new Skills or 
  Traits. Mecha Points are spent on your Mecha’s Attributes and 
  on new Upgrades or Weapons.
  To put it simply, your XP can be used to power up your Pilot 
  and your Mecha in equal measure. The process of learning 
  new Skills, installing new Upgrades, or whatever it is you are 
  spending your points on is entirely abstracted for simplicity’s 
  sake. 
  You may roleplay testing out new weaponry or practicing an 
  art you want to learn. Or you could simply have your pow-
  erups occur of screen, it is up to you. Just make sure the 
  GM has an idea of what it is you are trying to do with your 
  character’s progression, so they can guarantee your new toys 
  will see use.
  Here is a handy list to Attributes and what each value rep-
  resents. These things should be easy to notice and readily 
  observable by characters who get to know each other a little.
  Rank 0: Crippled
  An Attribute this low makes for a character with a noticeable 
  handicap. They might be missing body parts, they suf er a 
  mental illness, or something as dire.
  Rank 1 or 2: Poor
  The character is either impaired in that attribute or really 
  dœ sn't have any scrap of natural talent. Usually they also 
  don’t care enough to put in the ef ort and improve either.
  Rank 3 or 4: Mediocre
  The character is unexceptional, and, while they're not par-
  ticularly bad, they're easy pickings in a competition against 
  someone who knows what they're doing.
  Rank 5 or 6: Good
  The character either has a solid natural talent or has trained 
  themselves considerably. Their skill level is enough to stand 
  out from the crowd.
  Rank 7 or 8: Notable
  The character is distinguished among peers in the same f eld 
  for their abilities and likely practices them often. They are 
  obviously exceptional, and everyone who knows them is aware 
  of their expertise.
  Rank 9 or 10: Outstanding
  The character has achieved a level of capability only obtain-
  able through impressive natural gifts and extensive practice. 
  Not many ever reach this point, and those who do are usually 
  widely recognized for it.
  Rank 11 and Beyond: Legendary
  The character is a genius the kind that is born once every 
  several centuries. If put to use, such a level of ability will earn 
  its owner a place in the history books.
  If an Attribute gets to the Legendary level, it should become 
  relevant to the story somehow - The Character is a record-
  breaking master of their domain after all, that should get them 
  noticed!
  
  20
  Power Levels
  So exactly how much stronger is a character with more XP 
  than another? Battle Century G has six dif erent Power Levels 
  to measure the relative strength of characters. The general 
  rule is that for every 30 XP a PC earns they go up a Power 
  Level. 
  But a high Power Level also has its own special Benef ts: All 
  Characters have a number of Genre Powers equal to their 
  Power Level, and at the beginning of every Episode their 
  starting number of Genre Points reverts to their Power 
  Level.
  Level 0: Faceless (0-30 XP):
  Who are you again? Little to nothing sets you apart from 
  the crowds of mooks and extras, and your Mecha is nothing 
  special either.
  Level 1: Talented (31-60 XP):
  You are full of potential and well on your way to making a 
  name for yourself. You are still getting used to your Mecha, 
  but it is clearly better than the norm.
  Level 2: Heroic (61-90 XP):
  You have earned a name as someone of considerable skill. 
  Your Mecha has improved its performance cosiderably and, 
  thanks to you, is now showing its true power.
  Level 3: Elite (91-120 XP):
  You are now a master of your domain or a true jack of all 
  trades, with your Mecha reaching the expected peak of power. 
  A mid-season Upgrade is imminent.
  Level 4: Mythical (121-150 XP):
  As a mover and shaker yourself, you are admired by allies 
  and feared by enemies. Your Mecha is by now an early next 
  generation model, or at least the practical equivalent.
  Level 5: Godly (150+ XP):
  You and your giant robot are considered utter badasses and 
  weapons of mass destruction, capable of shutting down entire 
  armies by yourselves.
  Genre Themes and Genre Points
  If Attributes def ne what the characters are like, then their 
  Themes def ne what their life revolves around. Themes will 
  give shape to a PC’s wants and failings, their relationships 
  and beliefs. They're not necessarily objectives or personality 
  traits (though they can be), instead they're more like patterns, 
  cliches, or leitmotifs that your PC will explore through the 
  course of Episodes.
  There are three types of Themes, and all Player Characters 
  have one of each. We will check the Themes specif cally later, 
  for now we’ll just go over how they work.
  Whenever one of your Character’s Themes complicates things 
  for you, contributes either to character development, or 
  advances the plot, you are awarded a Genre Point for your 
  ef orts. Genre Points can be used to activate special abilities 
  during Operations called Genre Powers.
  Your starting number of Genre Points each Episode is 
  equal to your Power Level but there is no upper ceiling for 
  how many you can stockpile, although they are reset back to 
  your Power Level when a new Episode begins.
  A PC may earn a Genre Point through roleplaying Themes on 
  their own initiative, but situations that make Themes relevant 
  can be instigated by the GM, other players, or come up en-
  tirely unplanned and by coincidence. Sometimes the charac-
  ter is not aware or agreeable to these developments, such as 
  when confronting their biggest f aw and failing to overcome it, 
  but the owning Player gets the points for going with it anyway.
  Themes naturally change over time. A character’s convic-
  tions pursued too strongly can become no dif erent than their 
  vices. A weakness that is solved with the help of someone else 
  turns into a bond between them. 
  Other times, though, you just aren’t having fun with your 
  Themes. If you don’t like how the Themes you’ve chosen 
  are playing out, you can change them during the downtime 
  between Episode Arcs -- Think it over and give them a last 
  chance before doing the change.
  Note that all characters start with at least 100 XP they may spend on anything. The default XP that everyone starts with dœ s 
  not count towards Power Levels. Level 0 is better reserved for very special types of games, and the recommended starting 
  point for groups of new Players is Level 1. If you would like a game where the Characters are considerably better than the aver-
  age person, start at Power Level 2.
  Generally speaking, games should take the PCs up one or two Power Levels from the one they started in. There is no need to 
  have the PCs reach Level 5, it is just there as an option in case you need it. Indeed, at Level 5 everyone is so powerful that the 
  game can get a bit dif  cult to handle. Generally speaking, you should not go over Power Level 3 unless you know most of the 
  game’s rules by heart, otherwise there’ll be too much new stuf  to handle.
  
  21
  Tests
  Battle Century G adds an element of chance to narratives in 
  the form of dice. This keeps things exciting, since you never 
  know for certain if you’re going to succeed or fail at any given 
  task. Rolling dice to check how you do is called a Test.
  But here is an important rule of thumb: Most things you do 
  as a PC will not be Tests. You only roll Tests when an ac-
  tion’s outcome would have signif cant consequences. Only roll 
  dice if what a PC is doing puts them in danger or someone 
  else is trying to stop them. Cleaving robots in two with your 
  sword is a Test, crossing the street is just a thing you narrate. 
  Got that? Alright, moving on.
  To perform a Test you f rst roll 1d10 then add the corre-
  sponding Attribute to the result, then compare it against 
  the Dif  culty Number of the task. 
  If your result is equal to or higher than the Dif  culty 
  Number, you have succeeded at what you were trying to do 
  -- though that dœ s not necessarily mean you got to have your 
  cake and eat it too, you might have only just barely managed 
  to avoid catastrophic failure.
  Here is a list of example Dif  culty Numbers for use with a 
  variety of Tests. Note that these are just examples, and many 
  Tests will have a DN that is not a multiple of 5.
  DN 5 Easier in Fiction than Real Life:
  Capturing the attention of a crowd, shooting blanks with a gun 
  accurately, crafting a Molotov cocktail.
  DN 10 Leave it to the Experts: 
  Finding shelter in the wild during winter, disarming a bomb, 
  seducing someone for information.
  DN 15 Really Impressive Stuf : 
  Kicking open an apartment door, distracting the big bad with 
  a monologue of your own, inf ltrating a military prison.
  DN 20 Against all Odds: 
  Winning the olympics, restoring data from a formatted hard 
  drive, bringing someone back from the brink of death.
  Damage and Defenses
  All Pilots and Mecha have a Defense sub-Attribute that pro-
  tects them from harm. To strike at a Pilot or Mecha, you must 
  beat their Defense DN with with your Test.
  Defense is a combination of ref exes, ability to read the moves 
  of others, and quick thinking. For Pilots its value is equal to 
  Awareness plus 5, and for Mecha it is their Guard plus 5.
  Whenever a Test made to hurt either a Pilot or Mecha is made 
  and it surpasses the DN, the character in question suf ers 
  an amount of Damage equal to by how much that roll 
  beat their Defense.
  If you only match their Defense with your result, you deal no 
  Damage. Some abilities in the game will have special ef ects 
  on striking a target, like setting them on f re or stunning them 
  momentarily. For the purposes of these abilities, just matching 
  their Defense with your Test is enough, even if you don’t do 
  any Damage otherwise.
  All Pilots have a Plot Armor sub-Attribute, representing how 
  much Damage they can take before the lights go out. Plot 
  Armor is measured in Layers, of which every Character 
  has three. These slowly track Damage as it progresses from a 
  bruise to a f esh wound to a broken bone. Each Layer of Plot 
  Armor can withstand an amount of Damage equal to your 
  Willpower.
  When you take Damage you remove a number of points 
  from the topmost Layer, and once it is out of points you 
  move on to the next Layer of Plot Armor. Losing each Layer 
  has a chance of you going down with it, getting progressively 
  harder until the loss of the third and last Layer pretty much 
  guarantees your defeat.
  For Mecha, the amount of Damage they can withstand is 
  equal to their Threshold Attribute. This works much like 
  Plot Armor dœ s, except they have four Threshold Levels and 
  they lose limbs of their body instead of having a chance to be 
  knocked out early.
  The rules for both will be explained in detail later.
  Damage dealt to either track is not permanent, and will heal 
  with time, so instead of erasing your values just note down 
  how much you have left.
  
  22
  Advantages and Disadvantages
  Many, many things can contribute to or deteriorate your odds 
  of success, from having a pair of extra hands helping you 
  f x your car faster, to terrible weather making it very hard to 
  navigate during a storm. 
  Having an Advantage means you can roll two dice instead 
  of one, and keep the better of the two as the result.  Mul-
  tiple Advantages will all add another die to the roll, making the 
  average results of your Tests that much better. 
  Having a Disadvantage means you roll two dice but keep 
  the worse roll of the two, and they stack just like Advantages 
  do, making Tests with multiple Disadvantages suf er terrible 
  odds.
  Should a Test be af ected by both Advantages and Disadvan-
  tages at the same time, each instance of both will cancel 
  out until the balance is broken.
  A single circumstance generally dœ s not add more than one 
  Advantage or Disadvantage to a Test, but multiple sources - 
  such as bad weather and having a fever - will.
  Players may trade in their Advantages for a bonus of +2 to 
  the result. The GM may also trade away a single Disadvan-
  tage a PC is suf ering to raise the DN by 2. Four Advantages 
  would grant a +8, and being under three Disadvantages means 
  the GM can up the dif  culty by a total of 6, and so on.
  Generally speaking, you want to use your f rst one or two 
  Advantages to better your odds as extra dice, but Advantages 
  after that should be converted into a f at bonus. 
  Note that when you have an Advantage you keep the better 
  result, not the highest one. That means you can choose to 
  keep a lower one if it would be more benef cial to you. Some 
  rules behave dif erently when you roll an odd or even result, 
  and others hurt the user if the result of the Test is too high, 
  so getting to choose is important.
  In the same fashion, and when dealing with one or more Dis-
  advantages, should the GM think that a higher result is worse 
  for your character they can make you take it instead of the 
  lower one.
  Tests made when you are trying to af ect more than one 
  character at once can end up with a dif erent amount of Ad-
  vantages or Disadvantages for each target. When that happens 
  you should convert the extra Advantages or Disadvantages to 
  a +2 bonus or a +2 DN increase.
  When using abilities that set the result of rolls to a specif c 
  number, you should automatically convert Advantages and 
  Disadvantages to f at modif ers as well. 
  Intermission Rules
  While there are many types of Test, we’ll start with those 
  that can be used during Intermissions. They might be used, 
  sometimes, during Operations, but that is the exception rather 
  than the rule.
  Skill Tests
  The most common type. After describing what your PC is try-
  ing to do, the GM will assign a Dif  culty Number to the task. 
  You select an Attribute that will help the PC at the activity 
  in question, then roll 1d10 plus the Attribute. You gain an 
  Advantage to the test if you are trained in an appropriate 
  Skill, and after the roll you compare the result with the Dif-
  f culty Number of the task.
  If your Test result is equal to the DN or higher, then you have 
  achieved what you sought to do. If not you will have to try 
  again, and should that be impossible, look for another way. 
  With that said, there might be dire consequences for failure. 
  Depending on what you were trying to do you may suf er 
  the amount you missed the DN by as Damage, so don’t go 
  around juggling knives because it is all fun and games until 
  someone loses an eye.
  Contested Tests
  Contested Tests are used when you are in a direct competi-
  tion against another PC or NPC but are not trying to harm 
  each other. Racing each other or trying to win over the same 
  audience, for example, would be Contested Tests.
  In a Contested Test you both roll at the same time, and the 
  one who rolls the highest result is the winner. If you were 
  tied, you might continue Testing until the stalemate breaks.
  Contested Tests do benef t from Skills, if the participants have 
  any that are applicable. Though do note that generally you 
  both will be using the same Attributes and Skills, you can still 
  try to chase someone on foot while they are riding a vehicle, 
  which both use dif erent Skills. Advantages and Disadvantages 
  should be granted to both participants as appropriate.
  Characters involved in a Contested Test can choose to forfeit 
  and admit their opponent as the victor at any time.
  
  23
  Mixed Tests
  Sometimes what you’re trying to do isn’t so simple or 
  straightforward to require only a single Skill, or even a single 
  Attribute. Sometimes what you’re trying to do even requires 
  multiple dif erent actions in quick succession.
  These actions are usually unique and fairly dif erent from 
  each other, ranging from trying to shoot pursuers while riding 
  a motorcycle across a chasm, to sneaking your way behind a 
  guard and backstabbing them fatally.  During those times what 
  you use are Mixed Tests.
  A Mixed Test is, quite simply, two (or more) Tests rolled at 
  the same time using the same dice, averaging your Ranks 
  in the appropriate Attributes and doing the same for any 
  Advantages or Disadvantages as well.
  The DN to beat in these instances is that of the most dif-
  f cult task of the two. Remember that any fractions you end 
  up with are always rounded down.
  Help Tests
  Help Tests take place when you try to aid a friend who is 
  about to perform a Test of their own. Lifting someone up to 
  help them climb a fence and being someone’s wingman are 
  both applicable examples. 
  For a Help Test you Test the corresponding combination of 
  Skill and Attribute of what this help would entail, but don’t 
  compare it against the DN itself. Instead you simply try to 
  do your best to help someone else as they contend with the 
  task’s DN with your aid.
  Your friend will gain an Advantage to their own Test for 
  each multiple of 10 that you meet with your Help Test. 
  Granting more than one Advantage may overshadow the guy 
  who was supposed to actually get work done.
  Extended Tests
  Extended Tests require constant applied work or let you try 
  time and time again to earn a better result. They are much 
  like regular Skill Tests except you may continue rolling after 
  the f rst attempt to reverse a misstep or just to improve your 
  existing success.
  The GM may impose a limit on the maximum number of 
  times you may take your chances, or simply state that 
  every roll takes a considerable amount of time for your char-
  acter that they cannot quite af ord to waste.
  Extended Tests can carry dangerous consequences just like 
  Skill Tests, and failure in those circumstances will deal Dam-
  age to you for each attempt.
  Some Extended Tests are simple enough you could try your 
  luck at them for however long you wanted to until you got 
  them right -- Possibly bringing up the question of why would 
  you bother with the Test in the f rst place.  However, others 
  take considerable more time than a Character can af ord to 
  waste with perfectionism. Here is a list of recommended time 
  spent between the rolls of Extended Tests:
  1 Minute or less (Simple): 
  You probably shouldn’t bother rolling this unless there’s a 
  considerable chance of irreparable failure, injury or similar.  
  Examples include picking a lock or driving a vehicle.
  1 Hour (Challenging): 
  Tasks like these will usually take an entire day to get them just 
  right, or you can spend a handful of hours to get the gist of it. 
  Researching a tough subject or f nding food and shelter in a 
  forest are appropriate examples.
  1 Day (Intense): 
  These are tasks you quite simply just can’t do without spend-
  ing considerable time throughout one or more weeks.  This 
  could be anything from asking around town for clues about a 
  case to taking part in a continental rally.
  1 Week (Exhausting): 
  By this point what you are doing is probably better handled 
  of -screen, such as writing a best seller or building your own 
  house from the ground up.
  Characters may take extra time to improve their odds of get-
  ting things done right. By taking double the suggested time 
  to perform the Test, you gain an Advantage to it. By tak-
  ing quadruple as long to do the Test, you instead gain two 
  Advantages. Taking longer than that for a single Test is just 
  wasted ef ort and provides no additional benef t.
  
  24
  Healing Tests
  Your damaged Layers do not need you to tend to them, but 
  you can still give them a hand to grow back faster.
  Healing Tests are almost always done through the Medicine 
  Skill. Before the roll you must announce the Layer of Plot 
  Armor you intend to heal, and will only heal that Layer if you 
  succeed. The same Layer may not be treated again by anyone 
  until the Episode Arc is over.
  You may heal the f rst Layer of Plot Armor on a result of 
  10 or more, the second with a 15 or more, and you need a 
  20 to heal the third.
  Equipment Tests
  You can temporarily obtain Equipment, as in the Traits with 
  the same name, through the Resources Attribute. This will 
  usually require a Scene to go and look for such goods, or at 
  least a break in the action to give you enough time to do so.
  You need a result of at least 10 to acquire Equipment with 
  a Cost of 5, and a result of 20 to get Equipment with a 
  Cost of 10.
  Your wallet is not bottomless, though! After a successful 
  Equipment Test, further Resources Tests during the same 
  Episode are at a Disadvantage.
  This temporary Equipment lasts only until the end of the cur-
  rent Episode. After that it breaks, you return it to the rental 
  shop, or it just gets lost in your attic. 
  Attribute Tests
  Not everything the PCs attempt will have a Skill associated 
  with it.  This is usually the case for tasks that rely solely on a 
  PC’s innate abilities and lack any kind of formal training.
  Sample Fitness Tests: Arm wrestling (DN Contested Fitness), 
  Breaking down a wooden door (DN 10), Bending prison cell 
  bars and lifting closed gates (DN 20)
  Sample Intellect Tests: Memorizing the specs of a giant 
  robot in a hurry (DN 10), Checking whether or not you know of 
  an obscure piece of trivia or not (DN 15), Knowing where to go 
  to learn more about an obscure piece of trivia (DN 5).
  Sample Charm Tests: Making a good f rst impression (DN 5), 
  Getting the gist of what someone is saying in another lan-
  guage (DN 10), Putting on your best poker face (DN Contested 
  Awareness)
  Sample Awareness Tests: Getting a quick feel for someone’s 
  disposition (DN 5), Interpreting what a piece of abstract art 
  actually means (DN 5), Gauging distances between shooting 
  targets (DN 5)
  Sample Willpower Tests: Resisting the ef ects of a heavy 
  alcoholic drink (DN 10), Keeping yourself calm after witnessing 
  a mass murder (DN 15), Begrudgingly f nishing mountains of 
  boring paperwork in record time (DN 5).
  Sample Resources Tests: Picking up or planting rumors on 
  someone without leaving a trace (DN 10), Obtaining a highly 
  sought original Gunboy f gure in perfect condition (DN 15), 
  Bribing someone (DN Contested Willpower Test). Most Re-
  sources Tests will cause you to suf er a Disadvantage to their 
  own kind for the rest of the session.
  
  25
  Matches
  Matches take place when the conf ict in a Scene escalates to the point that  two or more characters get overtly violent with 
  each other, usually lasting until at least one of them has been rendered unconscious or worse. A Match is subdivided in Rounds 
  that keep track of how long the Match has taken. Rounds are divided into Turns, with one Turn per every character involved 
  in the Match. During their Turn, a Character takes an Action. Anything of importance that happens during a Turn should be 
  narrated by the player responsible for said event or by the GM.
  Matches also introduce a new rule: Tension. Tension represents the dramatic rise in stakes during the ebb and f ow of combat, 
  and it dœ s so as a bonus to all Of ensive Tests during a Match.
  Tension always starts at 1, and increases by 1 at the end of every Round, so by the second Round Tension becomes 2, and 
  so on. Tension is a bonus to any Tests made to harm others, so a Tension of 5 during Round 5 adds a bonus of +5. Tension 
  makes battles that start out slow evolve into a frenzy of super attacks over the course of time, and allows attrition to defeat an 
  enemy that was initially invincible.
  Match Structure
  Step 0: Surprise
  When a Character gets the jump on another, like during an ambush, there is a Surprise Round with a Tension of 0 before the 
  Match proper begins. The attacking character gets a Turn during this Surprise Round before the defender even gets a chance to 
  roll for Initiative, and they have an Advantage to any Of ensive or Disruption Tests against those surprised. If multiple characters 
  benef t from surprise, they go in whichever order they see f t.
  Step 1: Establishing Initiative
  Determine who gœ s f rst with a Mixed Awareness and Fitness Test from each participant. The result will become the Character’s 
  Initiative for this Match, and it represents how fast they can act in comparison to other characters. Once everyone’s Initiatives 
  are all rolled, order them from highest to lowest and note their order down. Allies may trade their Initiatives with each other at 
  the beginning of a new Round if they both want to do so.
  Step 2: Setting Tension
  Set Tension to 1 before the beginning of the f rst Round. Tension rises at the end of each Round by 1. Whenever any Character 
  performs an Of ensive Test, they add the current Tension as a bonus to the roll.
  Step 3: Starting the Round
  Once Round 1 begins, Characters begin taking Turns following the order of Initiative from highest to lowest, and from fastest 
  to slowest. Each Character has a chance to take an Action during their own Turn. Turns are divided into three Phases, so we’ll 
  tackle each part of a character’s Turn in order.
  Step 4.1: Beginning Phase
  During the Beginning phase, the Player decides what their Character will do and how. They may also do things that are simple 
  enough to not require using up a whole Turn or roll any Tests. Talking  to each other, readying a f rearm, and taking a few steps 
  are good examples of things you can do in the Beginning Phase. Once the Player is done with these and has decided on their 
  Action for the Turn, the Action Phase begins. Also any abilities activated during a Player’s Turn that have a duration of one 
  Round will end at the beginning of their next Turn.
  Step 4.2: Action Phase
  As part of taking their Action for the Turn, the PC may Move from one adjacent Zone to another, but the movement takes place 
  before the rest of the Action, not after. Most Actions require you to roll Tests. When all Actions have been resolved by the rules, 
  proceed to the End Phase.
  Step 4.3: End Phase
  After Characters take their Actions, the ef ects of said Actions are to be narrated and described. When a Turn ends, the charac-
  ter with the next highest Initiative starts their Turn, and the sequence continues until the Round has ended.
  Step 5: Ending the Round
  When the Round f nishes, Tension increases by 1 and the order of Initiative resets back to the f rst Character. You do not have to 
  reroll everyone’s Initiatives. Repeat Steps 3 through 5 as necessary until the Operation has ended.
  
  26
  Buildup
  You take your time to improve your next Of ensive Test. 
  Choose a target, your next Of ensive Test against the chosen 
  target gains two Advantages.
  Even if you continue to Buildup, you will not gain benef t from 
  it after the f rst time. If you take any other Action before at-
  tacking them, you lose the benef ts of Buildup.
  Delay
  Choose any other Action and another Character’s Initia-
  tive. You take your Action right after that Character’s 
  Turn. You don’t need to specify how you want to use your 
  Action, you can say you want to Attack but not who you will 
  Attack, for instance.
  Disrupt
  Instead of trying to overpower your fœ  from the get go, you 
  interfere with their game plan and make it harder for them 
  to f ght back. Pinning someone down or shooting to provide a 
  friend with cover are good examples.
  You make an Of ensive Test as normal but you only deal 
  half the usual Damage you would do. If you at least meet the 
  DN, then the Enemy suf ers a Disadvantage to all Tests for 
  a Round.
  Maneuver
  You don’t want to hurt anyone... Or at least not right here and 
  right now. For the time being, you’d rather just not get hurt 
  yourself.
  Choose an Attribute you could use to Attack in these 
  circumstances. You increase your Defense by an amount 
  equal to that Attribute for a Round. You may give this De-
  fense bonus to an Ally within the same one instead of keeping 
  it for yourself. Multiple Maneuvers do not stack together, using 
  only the highest Defense bonus of the bunch.
  Run
  You pick up the pace and hustle, moving as fast as you can 
  manage. Move two Zones instead of just one. You don’t 
  need to roll any Tests, and you don’t have to Move in a 
  straight line either.
  If what you want is to escape from the Match you should just 
  use a Contested Athletics (or equivalent) Test. Otherwise your 
  pursuers can just Run themselves to keep up forever.
  Zones
  Everything must take place somewhere. The areas where 
  Matches take place are called Zones; a Zone is essentially 
  a small area people can move in and out of in just a few 
  seconds. For instance a house is broken into individual rooms 
  and hallways, each of which is a Zone.
  Zones might have an ef ect on the Match, in the form of 
  Advantages (you know the place well) or Disadvantages (it is 
  dark and you can’t see anything) or a mix of both (you are 
  wrestling an alligator underwater) though usually there are no 
  special rules in place. 
  Characters may only use Of ensive or Disruption Tests against 
  other Characters in the same Zone. You can move from one 
  Zone to another next to it as part of any Action. 
  Match Actions
  These are the special things you can do during a Match, but 
  they are not the only things you can do. If you need to do 
  do things that don’t involve trying to hurt someone else or 
  defend yourself, you can still do those as normal.
  Only Of ensive Tests benef t from Tension, the ones made 
  with the Attack and Disrupt Actions.
  When using an Of ensive Test you can Move towards the 
  target or circle around them. You can also stand still, but 
  they don’t let you go backwards or otherwise increase 
  distance between you and your target.
  Attack
  Sometimes things inevitably come down to violence, and that’s 
  what Of ensive Tests are for. Of ensive Tests are used during 
  Matches after Initiative has been rolled, and are much like 
  a Skill Test except that the DN to beat is equal to the op-
  ponent’s Defense.  
  If you are lucky, talented, or both then you inf ict Damage 
  and cause them to lose Plot Armor equal to the amount 
  you passed their Defense DN by. 
  If you just barely meet the DN, then it dœ s not have a visible 
  ef ect even though narratively speaking, any onlooker will real-
  ize it should have.
  Attacks are not always physical, Plot Armor represents physi-
  cal and mental health after all. A psychic assault will also 
  cause harm. Traumatic experiences may paralyze a character 
  with fear, make them pass out, or worse.
  
  27
  Damage and Defeat
  Plot Armor is subdivided into three Layers. When you take 
  Damage, it gœ s to the f rst Layer. When a Layer cannot 
  take any more Damage, you lose that Layer and the Layer 
  immediately below it is the one to receive Damage after-
  wards, and so on. 
  When losing a Layer, you must Test Willpower against a DN 
  of 10 for losing the f rst Layer, a DN of 15 for the second 
  layer, and a DN of 20 for the third Layer. Failing any of 
  these Tests means that you are defeated instantly.
  Should you pass your last Test, you may continue going on 
  until you take Damage again, at which point you will have to 
  make another DN 20 Test. Damage to your Plot Armor heals 
  naturally over time.
  The f rst Layer of Plot Armor restores all of its points 
  between Scenes, the second Layer dœ s so between Epi-
  sodes, and the third Layer heals between Episode Arcs.
  Proxies
  Sometimes you don’t take the damage, but an object in your 
  possession dœ s, like your car when you’re being shot at dur-
  ing a chase scene. In these cases you do battle using Proxies. 
  A Proxy uses your Attributes, Skills, Traits and everything else 
  that could reasonably apply to an object under your control.
  You perform the Match just as you would any other, but you 
  don’t suf er the ef ects of damage yourself at f rst, instead 
  you have a fourth Layer of Plot Armor to represent your 
  Proxy. Damage applies to the Proxy until its single Layer of 
  Plot Armor is destroyed, at which point the object in question 
  remains unusable until the end of the Episode.
  Proxies may benef t from Heal Tests (though they use Skills 
  like Craftsmanship instead of Medicine) having a DN of 5 to 
  do so, though f xing up an individual Proxy may only be done 
  once per Episode - More than that is asking for the items to 
  break down for good.
  It is inevitable that at some point that two or more characters roll the exact same Initiative and their controllers will not easily 
  agree on which of them should go f rst. Make them them roll another d10 and whœ ver has the highest result gets to move ear-
  lier, repeating the process if they are tied once more - just make sure you do not add the new results to the previous initiative 
  rolls by mistake. If it is only two Characters then just f ipping a coin to see who gets to move earlier is simple enough.
  Rolling individually for every NPC can get bothersome when there are large numbers of them involved. If you want to save time, 
  you can just roll for all NPCs at once - then modify as appropriate considering their Attributes.
  Characters duking it out with their f sts can f ght until one 
  restrains the other, one of them passes out, or even until 
  death. There is no strict def nition of what it means to ’defeat’ 
  someone, other than them not being able to inf uence the rest 
  of the Scene. The outcome that is most reasonable, and most 
  in line with the rules in general, is for the defeated charac-
  ter to be knocked out temporarily. The rules do not actually 
  make it explicit that anyone actually dies from taking Damage 
  in general, not even if they have already been Defeated and 
  are at the mercy of a much greater fœ .
  This means that technically all characters are, technically, im-
  mortal. A PC that messes up big time will continue to live, but 
  they will have to deal with the consequences of their actions, 
  being injured for a long streak of Episodes.
  But such a Character might not be able to move from their 
  hospital bed, or be locked in a mental institution. This means 
  they will require Scenes designed around them. The group 
  will have to work with the owner of the PC in question to keep 
  them engaged and prevent them from getting bored. 
  This should not be seen as a punishment handed down from 
  the GM, but as a chance for the PC to develop and come back 
  a stronger person - And maybe try not to make the same 
  mistakes in the future. If playing through that sounds too 
  boring, then consider retiring the PC temporarily (perhaps 
  even giving them up for dead) and adopting another Character 
  until the original returns triumphantly several episodes later. 
  The f ip side of this is that it also applies to NPCs, and unless 
  the GM clearly shows the bad guys explicitly dying ‘onscreen’, 
  they could very well be still alive and plotting their revenge as 
  early as the next Episode.
  
  28
  Intermission Scene Example
  Ingham: The results from the simulation are posted.  Jeff, you're at the very bottom.
  Ryu: Ouch. Oh well that can't be helped, I did lose after all.
  Raymond: Blade shows up. “That was the worst I've seen this week.”
  Ryu: Oh here we go again. You know what, Jef  is tired from this crap: “Do you practice that charming attitude every day too or 
  is it just a natural talent of yours?”
  Raymond: “Your evasive maneuvers are those of an amateur.  Your left is open with every move.”  He's as smug as ever.
  Ryu: That dœ s it. Jef  f nally snaps and lunges at him.  Initiative roll... 8, and I average Fitness and Awareness then add it to the 
  result, yes? That makes 12.
  Maya: This should be good.
  Ingham: You guys show me how well you've learned the rules and handle it on your own.
  Raymond: Sure. I rolled a 3, I add 6 to it but it dœ s not matter. I guess you got the jump on me.
  Ryu: I'm untrained in Combat so I take my Fitness... And I have no Advantages, right? 6 Fitness plus a roll of 3. I punch for 9, I 
  guess.
  Ingham: Remember that Tension starts at 1.
  Ryu: A total of 10 it is then!
  Raymond: My Defense is 11.  So you're a point shy.
  Ryu: Aw. Your go then. Jef  rushes in angry and throws a careless punch to Blade's face.
  Ray: Blade is trained in Combat at the Master Level, though his Specialization is in swords, of which he has none on hand, so 
  he just gets one Advantage. I rolled a 5 and a 9, keeping the better of the two, plus my 6 Fitness, and 1 Tension. All this makes a 
  total of 16 coming at Jef . What is his Defense?
  Ryu: Just 9. Oh man, that means I took 7 to the face.  Just enough to down me one Layer. Is it my go again?
  Maya: You need to Test your Willpower and get at least 10, or you might lose right now.
  Ryu: Ah, right. Okay, I got a 13, so I could keep going... 
  Raymond: Remember that this Damage to your f rst Layer will go away at the end of the Scene. But any further Damage taken 
  from now on will stay for longer.
  Ryu: I see. Go ahead and narrate then.
  Raymond: Blade succinctly blocks Jef ’s arm and gives Jef  a square, well-placed sock on the left side of the face for his trouble.  
  “See what I’m saying? Your left is completely open.”
  Ryu: Okay, this dœ sn’t look like I’ll last long enough to turn it around.  How about we negotiate?
  Raymond: ...How so?
  Ryu: Blade dœ sn’t beat up Jef  senseless, and Jef  listens to what Blade has to say... But! Only so that he can beat him at his 
  own game.
  Raymond: Heh, that is good enough for me.
  Ryu: Well then, Jef  falls on his butt and shoots a glare at Blade.  Then jumps up and tries to hit Blade once more because he 
  clearly did not get the message the f rst time.
  Raymond: Blade is going to hold and restrain him, then push him down to the ground again. “You don’t know your own limita-
  tions!  All you know how to do is charge and go for a direct attack.” Having said his piece, he turns to leave. “Idiots that f ght 
  carelessly will only slow the rest of us down.”
  Ryu: Frustrated and disappointed that he can’t even get out of his lock, Jef  is going to lie there and think about this for a while.
  Raymond: Blade has nothing more to say so he takes his leave.
  Maya: Nice!  Don’t you think they deserve a reward for this, Ingham?
  Ingham: Indeed. One of Blade’s themes is ‘Jerk Rival’, isn’t it? That certainly f ts.  Gain a Genre Point, Ray.
  
  29
  Operation Rules
  Operations are like Matches that involve giant robots, but with a few special rules of their own. The term Unit refers to both 
  Pilot and Mecha as one entity during Operations. Player Character Units are usually Allies. All Units that are Allies with 
  each other are collectively called a Squad.
  Mecha are superior to regular characters in almost every way. They can cover multiple Zones per Turn whereas the Pilot can 
  hardly do one in that timeframe, they withstand attacks that would more or less vaporize a regular person, and are generally in 
  a league of their own. This is why they, for the most part, operate on rules that are similar but separate to those of the PCs. A 
  Pilot’s Attributes, Skills and Traits have no bearing on Operations, the grand majority of the time only their Genre Powers 
  will be relevant.
  Step 0: Choosing Equipment
  Units with Combinations or Alternate Forms must choose how they will deploy. This step dœ s not always apply, and it takes 
  place before the Operation proper begins, hence it is “Step 0”.
  Step 1: Establishing Initiative
  Determine who gœ s f rst by having each Unit Test Speed, and use the result is the Unit’s Initiative. The highest Initiative 
  number gœ s f rst, with the order of play progressing to the next highest number and so on. Units may freely trade their 
  Initiative results with friendlies at the beginning of a new Round.
  Step 2: Entering Formation
  At the start of an Operation each Unit enters formation, if there is a Base Unit it deploys f rst, usually at the edge of the bat-
  tlef eld. Other than Base Units, which always receive priority, the Unit that takes its turn f rst is also the f rst to enter forma-
  tion, the same is true for the second Unit, and so on until all Units have taken their place. Squads with a Base Unit may either 
  deploy a number of Zones away from their Base Unit no higher than their Speed or dock inside of it. If there is no Base Unit, 
  each side usually starts at the edge of the battlef eld.
  Step 3: Setting Tension
  Set Tension to 1 before the beginning of the f rst Round. Tension rises at the end of each Round by 1.  Whenever a Charac-
  ter performs an Of ensive Action that necessitates a Test, they add the current Tension as a bonus to Might Tests.
  Step 4: Starting the Round
  Once Round 1 begins, the Initiative Order proceeds from highest to lowest, giving each Character an Action during their own 
  Turns. Turns are divided into three Phases, so we’ll tackle each part of a character’s Turn in order.
  Step 5.1: Beginning Phase
  During the Beginning phase, the Unit refreshes all Energy spent and decides how they will act this turn. This means 
  they decide what they will do and how. They may also use abilities that do not require an Action to be performed, such as the 
  use of Setup Genre Powers. Once the Player is done using abilities and has decided on their Action for the Turn, the phase ends 
  and the Action Phase begins. A Unit with multiple abilities that do things ‘at the beginning of a Turn’ can choose the order in 
  which they happen. Also any abilities activated during a Player’s Turn that have a duration of one Round will end at the begin-
  ning of their next Turn.
  Step 5.2: Action Phase
  As part of taking their Action for the Turn, the PC may Move a number of Zones equal to their Speed Attribute before 
  the Action proper takes place, but not afterwards. Actions generally require Tests, and after resolving the Test you are to 
  proceed to the End Phase.
  Step 5.3: End Phase
  The Player and GM describe and narrate what has taken place during the Turn. When a Turn ends, the character next in the 
  Initiative order starts their own Turn, and the sequence continues until the Round has ended.
  Step 6: Ending the Round
  When the Round f nishes, Tension increases by 1 and the order of Initiative resets back to the f rst Unit. You do not have to 
  reroll everyone’s Initiatives. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 as necessary until the Operation has ended.
  
  30
  Zones and Ranges
  Battle Century G abstracts distances and treats all Mecha as 
  if they were roughly the same size. Very large or very small 
  Mecha are represented through f avorful distribution of At-
  tributes. For example, a small and fast Mecha would have high 
  Guard and Speed but low Threshold and Might. 
  But back to terrain and movement. Every meaningful lot of 
  Terrain during an Operation is a Zone, a designated area with 
  no clearly def ned range – it can represent a whole city block 
  or the insides of a warehouse. It only needs to be a distance 
  your Mecha could reasonably cover to strike at someone in 
  melee in a few seconds. This means you do not have to actu-
  ally measure specif c distances in meters. 
  You can do it, but it works better if you leave it to the im-
  agination. If you want to use a map such as a Chess or Hex 
  board, each square or hex is a Zone. If you want to treat them 
  like a f xed distance you should use a number easy to remem-
  ber, like making each Zone ten square meters or something 
  like that.
  Unlike their Pilots, Mecha can move farther than a single Zone 
  every Turn, and Mecha Weapons can strike at targets in Zones 
  reaching far beyond the one they’re standing in. A Mecha’s 
  movement speed is measured by their Speed, while the reach 
  of their Weapons depends on the Weapon itself and some-
  times on the Mecha’s Systems.
  Mecha can provide cover for each other. This means Weapons 
  may not target through Zones occupied by Enemies 
  to reach other enemies behind them (but they can target 
  through Zones occupied by Allies - those just get out of the 
  way). You must make your way around them or try to break 
  through enemy lines by moving into the same Zone as the 
  Unit providing cover, or past it.
  Multiple Mecha can occupy the same Zone with no noticeable 
  ef ects other than being very close to each other.
  Actions vary greatly on how much time they should reason-
  ably take and there is no arbitrary time limit of how long a 
  Turn lasts. Assume that generally a Turn takes somewhere be-
  tween 5 to 10 seconds and that a whole Round is somewhere 
  between 30 seconds to one minute.
  Likewise, taking an Action is an abstraction. Taking a single Ac-
  tion to attack with a sidearm dœ s not mean the gun f res only 
  once, just that you will deal Damage once by the rules.
  You should feel free to describe that one sidearm attack as 
  using several shots, or leading your enemy in a specif c direc-
  tion then nailing them with the last bullet, or emptying all 
  of your ammo at them then spending the rest of the Round 
  reloading. Do whatever you want through the narration as long 
  as you don’t change what happens within the rules, and it 
  makes enough sense.
  The listed Actions are not by any means a def nitive list of 
  the things anyone is limited to doing, just the ones with sup-
  port from the rules. Actions with less impact than these are 
  possible. Examples include taking a few steps to look around, 
  switching a held Weapon for one in its holster, and of course, 
  talking.
  Talking dœ s not require the use of an Action, nor is there a 
  limit to when you may talk - it can be at any point during 
  your Turn or during another's. As always, however, please 
  exercise common sense and try not to engage in a ten minute 
  long discussion about the f ner points of Roman politics in the 
  middle of battle.
  In the same way, just because most guns in the game don’t 
  have a stated amount of supplied ammo, it dœ s not mean 
  that they may be f red for hours and hours on end. The rules 
  of the game are guidelines for fair play and for what might 
  make a better experience, they are not the physics of the 
  game world and you should never treat them as such.
  
  31
  Actions
  There are many types of Actions and most of them are avail-
  able to everyone, the ones restricted to specif c equipment 
  are described later in the corresponding section listing all 
  Mecha abilities.
  You can only take one Action per Turn. As part of any Action 
  you may Move a number of Zones equal to your Speed 
  before the rest of its ef ects.
  Offensive Actions
  These are the bread and butter of Mecha combat. Whenever 
  the rules reference attacking someone, they are talking about 
  these, all of which involve a Might Test - except Aiming, that 
  one dœ s not count as an attack. When attacking you can only 
  pick targets within your Weapon’s Range. Of ensive Actions 
  only let you Move towards the target or to circle around 
  them, they don’t let you go backwards or otherwise 
  increase distance between you two. Of ensive Actions may 
  also be used without making any Movement as well.
  Only Of ensive Actions benef t from Tension.
  Attack
  To Attack you Test Might against the target’s Defense (or 
  the Defenses of all targets, when you are using something like 
  a Blast weapon). If you pass, then you deal the amount that 
  exceeds the DN as Damage, causing the Enemy to lose that 
  much Threshold.
  Aim
  You take your time to make your next attack more precise. 
  Choose a Weapon and a target, your next Of ensive Action 
  gains an Advantage to the Might Test with the chosen 
  Weapon against that target.
  If you continue to take Aim, you will not gain further benef ts 
  after the f rst Aim Action. If the target ever becomes invalid 
  for the chosen Weapon before you make your shot, or you 
  take any Action that is not to continue aiming before the shot 
  is made, then the benef ts of Aiming are lost.
  Assist
  You make someone else’s job easier by distracting and med-
  dling with a common fœ . Choose a target and an Ally, then 
  attack the target at a Disadvantage.
  Your chosen Ally gains an Advantage to their own Might Tests 
  against that target for a Round. If you would not be able to 
  Attack the target with said Weapon, or you would not need to 
  make a Test to do so, you can’t Assist with it either. 
  Weapons with the Blast, Burst or Line abilities cannot Assist.
  Suppress
  You disrupt the opponent’s plan of action by drowning them 
  in covering f re, entering a grapple to pin them down, or 
  otherwise using a Weapon in a non-standard way to provide 
  support rather than going in for the kill. Attack an Enemy, 
  halving the f nal amount of Damage you would have dealt. 
  Suppression attacks are never at risk of hurting a friendly Unit 
  that is in a Duel.
  If you pass the Might Test, the Enemy will be impaired with 
  one Disadvantage to all their Of ensive Tests for a Round. 
  Additionally, should the Enemy Move with their next Action, 
  they take the other half of the Damage you would have 
  dealt to them.
  Should you inf ict enough Damage to Maim an Area, you 
  choose which Area is Maimed. If this would Destroy the En-
  emy, you may also choose to spare them and disable their 
  Core instead.
  Engage
  You choose one Enemy and attempt to single them 
  out from the battle at large to have a Duel with them. You 
  must Attack using a Weapon from Range 0, which is to say, 
  while in the same Zone as the target. You may Move in posi-
  tion f rst and Engage with the same Action.
  Whether you actually deal Damage to them or not, both of 
  you are now engaged in a Duel. You may not Engage a Base 
  Unit unless you are a Base Unit yourself.
  Units in a Duel are locked at range 0 and may not Move with 
  their Actions normally. At the beginning of their Turn they 
  may make a Contested Speed Test against their opponent. 
  The winner gets to Move both participants in a direction of 
  their choice for a number of Zones equal to the lowest Speed 
  between either of them.
  Anyone who tries to attack either of both engaged Units will 
  have to Test Might against both of them at once, like when 
  using a Blast Weapon. If the result of the roll is an odd num-
  ber they hit their Ally, but an even result lets them hit their 
  Enemy. If the Might Test fails against one duelist but not the 
  other, then the one with the lower Defense is the victim.
  Attacking any other target than the one you are locked in 
  a duel with will give your opponent a free Of ensive Action 
  against you. Weapons with the Blast, Burst or Line abilities 
  cannot Engage, but they can be used during a Duel and will 
  not trigger an extra attack from your Duel rival as long as 
  they are the target of the attack.
  Butting into the Duel is impossible - there is just too much 
  going on. The only way to help break up the Duel is to destroy 
  one of the participants. Similarily, the only way to break out 
  of a Duel is to Disengage or to see that your opponent is 
  destroyed.
  
  32
  Boost
  You accelerate as much as possible in one direction, ideal for 
  charging and pulling back. Move two times your Speed with 
  this Action instead of the regular movement rate. Boost 
  dœ s not require you to Move in a straight line.
  Maneuver
  You make yourself a hard target by taking cover, releasing 
  chaf , or launching dummy balloons similar to your Mecha. 
  Choose one of Systems or Speed. You increase your De-
  fense by an amount equal to that Attribute for a Round. 
  You may give this Defense bonus to an Ally within 1 Zone of 
  Range from you instead of keeping it for yourself. Multiple Ma-
  neuvers do not stack together, using only the highest Defense 
  bonus of the bunch, and Docked Units may not Maneuver for 
  others at all. 
  Delay
  Choose any other Action and another dif erent Unit’s 
  Initiative. You take your Action right after that Unit’s turn. 
  You don’t need to specify how you want to use your Action, 
  you can say you want to Attack but not say which Weapon 
  you will use, for instance. Delaying counts as an Of ensive Ac-
  tion if you use it to take an Of ensive Action.
  Disengage
  You can escape from a Duel you’re in and return to the main 
  battle, moving your Speed away in a direction of your 
  choice.
  No Tests are required, but this still uses your Action for the 
  turn, making for a stalling tactic at best against a fœ  bent on 
  engaging you one to one, unless you have friends to watch 
  your back.
  Dock
  If your Squad has a Base Unit within Move Distance, you may 
  dock inside it. You may redeploy as a normal Action after-
  wards coming out within a Zone of the Base. Units will move 
  with the base wherever it gœ s and they cannot be attacked or 
  damaged until the base has been defeated. 
  A Docked Unit can expose itself and take Actions, even Of-
  fensive Actions, without having to undock f rst. If they do, 
  they still cannot be targeted but are now vulnerable to Blasts, 
  Bursts, Lines and Extreme Terrain for a Round. Even if they 
  choose not to expose themselves again with their Action after-
  wards, they will trigger Extreme Terrain at the beginning of 
  their next Turn.
  Utility Actions
  Utility Actions let you Move in any direction. Mecha can do a lot more things than the handful of options presented here, but 
  these are the ones you are more likely to need rules for.
  
  33
  Damage and Maiming
  A success with your Might Test will inf ict Damage much in the 
  same way that Of ensive Tests do during Intermissions. And a 
  Mecha's Threshold works close to how Plot Armor dœ s for the 
  Pilot. Mecha have four Levels of Threshold, whereas Pilots 
  have three Layers of Plot Armor.
  All Damage that reduces the defender's Threshold down 
  one Level will Maim one of the defender's Areas, disabling 
  any Upgrades and Weapons installed there. The af ected Area 
  is dependent of the total amount of Damage that was dealt, 
  where an odd number of Damage will Maim an Area of the 
  defender’s choice, and a total that is even will Maim an 
  Area of the attacker’s choice.
  Areas that have already been Maimed cannot be chosen 
  twice. In the case that a single instance of Damage would take 
  down multiple Levels of Threshold, the defender and attacker 
  alternate who gets to choose.
  When the Damage that causes a Maim is inf icted by the 
  environment or by the damaged Unit themselves, then they 
  choose the Area that will be Maimed.
  However, like any good protagonist, they will f ght more 
  f ercely the closer they are to defeat. The f rst time that a 
  PC loses an individual Level of Threshold during an Op-
  eration, they gain a Genre Point.
  When a Mecha loses all four Levels of Threshold and has all 
  of its non-Core Areas Maimed, it is destroyed, and the Core 
  ejects immediately. All Damage taken is repaired away be-
  tween Operations and Maimed Areas are likewise restored to 
  normal function.
  The Core
  The Core is what holds the Mecha’s critical systems, such as 
  the very Pilot riding it. Generally the Core is a cockpit with jets 
  installed, but the smaller Mecha have a suit of powered armor 
  instead.
  Cores lack all Upgrades, even Internal ones, and the Pilot 
  should retreat on the double after ejection because it of ers 
  minimum protection from enemies.
  The ejected Core still has Attributes, but they are all halved. 
  It has no Threshold and no Weapons. All Damage dealt to the 
  Core is also dealt to the Pilot.
  A Pilot may choose to Eject at any time before their Action 
  during their Turn, placing themselves 1 Zone away from their 
  Mecha’s location. A Mecha without a Pilot can still operate with 
  its most basic AI, keeping half of its original Attributes, but is 
  automatically disabled the moment it takes a single point of 
  Damage.
  Grunt Mecha always fail to eject and their Pilots explode vio-
  lently with their robots. In the case of a Pilotless Mecha such 
  as an AI Unit or a giant monster there is no Core and they are 
  completely destroyed.
  The only way to spare AIs and Monsters would be with the 
  Suppress Action, in which case the creature (or robot) is inca-
  pacitated and will not be a threat any further unless somehow 
  repaired or healed.
  So what, exactly, dœ s it mean that an area is “Maimed”? The gist of it is that the Area has been damaged in such a way that 
  anything installed there can no longer be used – But dœ s not actually represent the limb being chopped of .
  The idea is that anything installed on the Legs can be rendered nonfunctional, but dœ s not make the Mecha topple over and 
  remain a useless piece of scrap metal for the rest of the Operation. If it did that, every battle would devolve into shooting each 
  other's feet and that would get old fast. In the same fashion the Torso can be crippled without the entire thing blowing up auto-
  matically.
  With that said, you can go with the loss of entire limbs if it works for you -- Gears powered by Gygravagnite can hover in the air 
  for short periods of time when they lose their legs, so that option is f ne if you go with the game world in Chapter 6.
  This description is usually up to the person who makes the choice of which Area to lose, but must take into account any previ-
  ous descriptions from the other Player. You tried to parry a blade and it cut of  your Mecha’s f ngers, you tried to jump out of 
  the way of an explosion and it caught your legs, you ducked under the giant energy beam but weren’t fast enough to save the 
  head. Some descriptions will be more obvious than others, be creative. 
  When you lose one of your Areas you will want to sacrif ce one that will not be of much use for the rest of the f ght, and when 
  you Maim an opponent you should go for the most threatening or important Area. The narration will often make this obvi-
  ous, like when your opponent shoots lasers from their eyes or tries to crush you with a giant claw. In cases where it is not so 
  evident, you can either guess or use a Genre Power to peek at the enemy rules.
  
  34
  These aren’t the only kinds of Terrain you can use, indeed 
  there are as many with an amount of special qualities as large 
  as your imagination allows. A particular battle could take 
  place very deep underwater, where everyone suf ers more 
  Damage from pressure the further they advance and Beam 
  Weapons suf er a Disadvantage, all this in addition to the rules 
  for Dif  cult Terrain.
  Maybe you want to have an æ rial battle instead, Units would 
  need f ight capability or to stay Docked within a f ying Base 
  Unit through all of it. It is up to the GM how complex they 
  want to get. When using custom Terrain the GM should state 
  how it interacts with abilities that depend on Terrain like 
  Antigravity and if Systems or Speed Tests can do anything to 
  mitigate any debilitating conditions.
  3D environments such as underwater and outer space de-
  serve particular mention, as they can get really bothersome to 
  manage, particularly if you use maps instead of the abstract 
  Zone method since 2D maps obviously don’t handle elevation 
  or depth well.
  To help with this, you should def ne an arbitrary height as the 
  ‘ground’ level, and Units positioned above or below relative to 
  that altitude should have a 1d10 next to them to set how many 
  Zones away they are from it.  You can even use dice of dif er-
  ent colors to help mark those who are higher or lower than 
  the ground level.
  Units that are directly above or below another can be trickier, 
  you can squeeze whatever you are using as a token in the 
  same spot easy enough, but, when multiple Units start to do 
  that, things can get messy fast, so for the sake of simplicity 
  try not to let it get that far.
  Likewise, you could make it so that Antigravity and their ilk 
  enable a Unit to move upwards, instead of using the abstract-
  ed rules for bypassing defensive formations and the disregard-
  ing of ground-level terrain.
  If you choose to use 3d movement as part of your Terrain in 
  areas like space or underwater, you should likewise allow it to 
  let you ignore enemy defensive formations in the same way 
  Antigravity dœ s.
  The abstract method is presented as the default because it is 
  faster to play with and most Units really have no use for being 
  higher than a single Zone away from the battlef eld. 
  Should a Unit fall back down to ground level from high up 
  in the sky, they suf er 1 Damage per Zone they were above 
  ground level beyond the f rst. 
  A fair warning: Crying for ‘realism’ as an excuse to snipe from 
  way up in the sky is simply bad form. Don’t do that.
  Terrain
  Operations must take place somewhere, and every locale is 
  dif erent: from f at featureless plains to f oors made of lava. 
  Being able to take advantage of the Terrain can change the 
  outcome of a battle before anyone even realizes how im-
  portant it is, so make sure that you know where it is you are 
  going to be deployed and how it af ects your Unit.
  There are f ve default types of Terrain, and through modifying 
  and combining them, more can be made.
  Plain
  The most basic and simple kind of battlef eld. Plain Terrain 
  ranges from everyday meadows and outer space to outright 
  Boss Platforms™ . It is best described by its own lack of ben-
  ef ts or hindrances. Plain Terrain has no special rules.
  Difficult
  Rocky and uneven hills, deserts that clog your Mecha’s joints 
  with sand and strong currents that leave your giant robot 
  waist deep in water. These are all good examples of Dif  cult 
  Terrain, known for how much it complicates the lives of those 
  trying to cross it. Units Halve their Speed while they are 
  within Dif  cult Terrain. This means that for each Zone of 
  Dif  cult Terrain you attempt to cross, you have to spend two 
  units of movement instead of one.
  Defensive
  Defensive Terrain is distinguished by having a lot of cover 
  for Units, making it comparable to the Mecha equivalent of 
  war trenches. Examples of Defensive Terrain are most urban 
  settings, deep jungles, and asteroid f elds. Defensive Terrain 
  protects Units in it with a Disadvantage against all Might 
  Tests against them.
  Extreme
  Extreme Terrain covers a variety of hazardous environs that 
  are deadly to both people and giant robots. Examples of 
  Extreme Terrain include magnetics storm and erupting vol-
  canœ s. A Unit that begins or ends a Turn within Extreme 
  Terrain must Test either Systems or Speed against a DN 
  of 10 plus the current Tension. Should they fail the Test, 
  they then take the amount they failed it by as Damage. 
  If they begin and end a Turn within Extreme Terrain, each 
  instance threatens them separately.
  Impassable
  The f fth basic type of Terrain represents things like skyscrap-
  ers or asteroids, things that you can use as cover but
  sometimes are also in the way. You may not move or shoot 
  through Zones of Impassable Terrain. Most battlef elds have 
  Impassable Terrain around the edges. If you would ever be 
  forced to move against Impassable Terrain, the movement 
  halts and you take Damage as if you had crashed into 
  another Unit. 
  
  35
  Characters vs Mecha
  The entire point of having Mecha is that trying to match them 
  in power without one of your own is a futile ef ort.
  After all, if you didn’t need your own giant robot to take out 
  another, the game would not revolve around them.
  Using Advantages and Disadvantages is not enough to cover 
  just how overwhelming a Mecha-scale enemy is when you 
  don’t have your own. Mecha trying to shoot hapless hu-
  mans have it easy, they Attack as normal but any Damage 
  they would deal to a Pilot-scale target is doubled. Charac-
  ters also make an Of ensive Test as normal to strike at Mecha, 
  but any Damage a Character would do to Mecha is halved, 
  and furthermore Deathblows have no ef ect on Mecha at 
  all.
  As you can see, the only hope for Characters lies in not get-
  ting hit at all, but Tension will make that race a hard one to 
  win. They should aim to blitz Mecha into submission, or run 
  away and hide before Tension bonuses make that impossible.
  End of Operation
  By default an Operation ends when one team has had all of 
  its Units (or its Base Unit) destroyed or Retreat. There can be 
  other, more varied objectives that can mark a mission’s suc-
  cess besides destruction of all enemies though. But those are 
  up to the GM.
  Players can also end a mission prematurely by retreating 
  (because they think they are going to lose or for some other 
  reason) through Live Another Day or Boosting away until they 
  reach the edge of the battlef eld.
  In fact, escaping from combat is not dif  cult at all. PCs can 
  choose between losing face retreating or f ghting to the very 
  end. But the same gœ s for any NPC with Genre Points and 
  high defensive Attributes. 
  Skirmishes should build up until there is too much at stake 
  for either side to retreat. But it dœ s mean that there should 
  be another incentive for victory other than survival. If your 
  only real objective is to live through today’s encounter, then 
  all you have to do to “win” is retreat at the beginning! Ideally a 
  battle would have meaningful consequences whether PCs win 
  or lose.
  Let’s say you do not want to do any of these obviously useful 
  things like “Firing Missiles” or “Taking Cover” and instead you 
  want to do something fancier. Something like rescuing civil-
  ians, retrieving an escape pod, or even picking up a disa-
  bled Mecha. For the most part those things should be Utility 
  Actions, perhaps making use of a Might or Systems Test if 
  necessary, but in general shouldn’t be too hard.
  But things can always get more complicated. Such as, for 
  instance, when a PC wants enemies to drop their weapons 
  and stop f ghting. Obviously, this cannot just be a thing you 
  solve through just a simple Test (if you could do that, why 
  bother f ghting at all?) but it should remain possible for the 
  characters that really, really want to spare someone else’s life 
  without having to beat them into submission f rst.
  Persuading Enemies to stand down and stop f ghting (or to 
  retreat before they are shot down) is a Utility Action with a DN 
  of 20. You gain an Advantage for each Power Level you have 
  over theirs, but also suf er a Disadvantage for each Level of 
  Threshold they have intact. Only one Enemy may be af ected 
  per Test and it may only be attempted once per Enemy - the 
  group as a whole only get one shot at talking any of them out 
  of a battle, so make it count.
  Some Enemies, like alien monsters and AIs, simply cannot be 
  convinced out of a f ght. Named NPCs with their own motiva-
  tions can either be easier to pacify or outright impossible to 
  reach, depending on circumstances.
  
  36
  Operation Turn Example
  Ingham: And the General Z crumbles in defeat, Jef  is down for the count. Looks like it is up to Maria now. The Outsider turns to 
  face the last Gear standing.
  Maya: Maria takes a step back defensively and checks on Jef 's vitals.
  Ingham: Jef 's passed out but he'll make it. The Core ejected before the machine started to go down in f ames.  
  Ryu: Aw man... I'm going to be stuck in the hospital for a while, aren't I?
  Ray: You should have retreated when I told you to do so.
  Maya: “Command, how long until Black General is up and running again?”
  Ingham: They patch you to the technicians “The armor is no good, it can't take another hit...” And the next thing you hear is 
  frantic yelling from the bridge “The Outsider's Gravagne Field is at 10%, Type-G f uctuations are stabilizing!”
  Ray: That Absolute Barrier is going to be hard to crack if you let it refresh. Blade slams a f st at one of the monitors in his cock-
  pit “Damn it!”
  Ingham: Your boss tells you as much. “Maria... You have to f nish it. Now.”
  Maya: “Easier said than done...” Maria grimaces and... Okay, let me think for a bit, the Gran DeSir isn't very strong of ensively 
  so this is a bit of a problem.
  Ingham: Take your time.
  Ryu: Why don’t you grab a big f nisher with Mid-Scene Upgrade?
  Raymond: True.Techniques have double Tension, one of those might just do the trick right now.
  Maya: Hmm... Okay, Ingham, Remember how I was going to get the Gran a Zweihander next Arc? I f gure I’ll just grab it right 
  now.
  Ingham: Sure thing. Ask for it in-character.
  Maya: “Command... Requesting the Double Crescent!”
  Ingham: “It is not complete, Maria, we haven’t f gured how to keep the vibro-blades from shattering using a weapon of that size 
  yet!”
  Maya: “If today is our lucky day, they’ll shatter inside the body of that thing, Sir.”
  Ingham: “Very well. Launch one of the  Skysplicers with the Double Crescent, immediately!”
  Maya: Maria boosts upwards to catch the giant weapon dropped from the delivery plane. The Double Crescent is big, almost 
  as long as the Gran itself is tall, with two blades shaped like a crescent moon on each end. The Mecha plummets downwards at 
  the enemy!
  Ingham: Roll your Might.
  Maya: Double Tension, right? I got a 8, plus my 4 Might, we have 12, and this is Round 7 so... Doubling that adds up to 26! How 
  dœ s he like that?
  Ingham: Dealt 10 Damage to be exact, and that’s more than enough to take out its entire last Level of Threshold. The weakened 
  f eld can’t stop the giant weapon from cutting into the Outsider’s chest and carving all the way through. The blades shatter, as 
  promised, at the same time the top half of the dead monster falls inert to the ground.
  Maya: “Now this is one prototype that made the cut.”
  Raymond: That was awful.
  Ingham: I should dock you XP for that.
  Maya: You know you love it.
  Ryu: I was useful!
  
  37
  It has been a long time since then, so I don’t remember all of what I should. I re-
  gret that. But I couldn’t risk writing this down then. At the time, I was a young 
  man. I just wanted an opportunity to make my name somewhere, and get away from the 
  whole mess with my life and livelihood intact. I had always hoped that some day, 
  somehow it would come out on its own. But it never happened.
  So I’ll tell you myself. Because it’s been too damn long, and if they want to kill me 
  they can get in line with Cancer. When I die, this shouldn’t die with me.
  My aunt on my father’s side was Henrietta Tallman. That name doesn’t mean much any-
  more, but in her day she was an accomplished physicist and metallurgist. She had pub-
  lished a paper on theoretical high-energy environments, and the equally theoretical 
  materials they could create. I never read it.
  But when the biggest discovery of the century happened, she got a phone call and was 
  off to the FWA. My father had been an honest man, but not a very successful one. Hen-
  rietta’s position on the Gygravagnite research team pulled our whole family up out of 
  the gutter. I guess I owe her for that, even if I was too young to remember.
  And then it was 2045, and she was gone. It was all so sudden, and my father didn’t 
  take it well. But we had been left well off, and benefited greatly from her will. 
  Years later, I graduated with a degree in African Studies and set out into the world. 
  There was some property down in the United Pacific, just outside of Manila, that had 
  passed on to us in Henrietta’s will. We had used it as a vacation home once or twice, 
  and father had always been looking for a reason not to sell it. So I moved into it in 
  the sixties, and started looking for work there.
  That was when we found the safe. We had been in the house maybe three times since my 
  aunt died. It was very well hidden. I only found it by accident when I was setting 
  rat traps, four months after I moved in. And what was inside was raw Element G. It 
  goes without saying, I thought of how valuable it was. Not about the risk involved, 
  or what had happened to the man it was named after.
  The real problem was the book. My Aunt’s journal. I thought that it might contain 
  some stale but important research notes, taken from one of the original researchers 
  firsthand. I thought that this might be worth just as much as the Gygravagnite, maybe 
  more to the right buyer. I was right. God, I wish I wasn’t.
  I read the journal. More skimmed then read, I should say. I was looking for parts re-
  lated to her Gygravagnite research, to make sure there was something worth selling in 
  it. I was a dumb kid who didn’t have the physics or metallurgy background to under-
  stand half of the stuff she talked about.
  
  38
  But I remember enough of it. I remember that one of her friends at the research labs 
  was a Russian Neurosurgeon. I wish I had written down the name. Started with an R, 
  I think. I had thought it strange that a Neurosurgeon had been called in to study 
  rocks. I remember reading that my aunt’s friends had disproved the meteor impact that 
  everyone thinks caused the Ring of Fire Tragedy. Something to do with distribution 
  patterns. It worries me that people still don’t know about that.
  The strangest part was the last entry. I know what you think when you hear that, like 
  it’s going to end with her stopping mid-sentence and with there being blood on the 
  page. There is nothing like that.
  But she talks about Gygravagnite being... wave something. It knows when you are look-
  ing at it, and how you are looking at it, and it changes. It changes based on how you 
  feel when you look at it, even. I didn’t believe a word of it. I thought the journal 
  was worthless. If I had gotten half a chance, I might have even thrown it away.
  But then the suits came. It only took them maybe five hours after I finally opened 
  the safe. They showed up, told me that the contents of that safe were a matter of na-
  tional security and made it clear that I was never to think of it again.
  I was scared. Even now, the timing seems just so damn strange. That stuff had been 
  sitting in that house for years, and they had never come for it. But the moment I 
  opened it up, it’s like they knew. Which makes me sound like a crazy old man, but 
  it’s what I believe.
  I tried to go back to my normal routine but the fact that they came for the book made 
  me think that it might not be so bogus after all. I couldn’t shake the feeling that 
  someone was watching me, or going through my house when I was not home.
  I didn’t feel safe anymore, so I started looking for someplace else. And the more I 
  looked, the more it hit me what the contents of my Aunt’s journal really meant. How 
  much the government was really keeping from us. I didn’t feel safe on Earth anymore, 
  so I sold the house and moved up to space the first chance I got.
  A lot of people wanted on to the space colonies in those days, but I managed to buy 
  my way up to a management position in Lagrange 3, and then the SSA happened, and 
  things went on from there. To say I got lucky is an understatement.
  Looking back, I feel guilty for keeping this all to myself up until now. Looking back 
  on everything that has happened in the last 20 years, and all the lives that have 
  been lost, I can’t help but feel that maybe if I had told the world what I knew soon-
  er things might have gone differently. I just wish I knew more to tell.
  
  39
  
  40
  Character Concept
  Unless you are the GM, to play Battle Century G you will 
  need to create a Player Character. All Player Characters pilot 
  Mecha. Perhaps you pilot for honor, duty, or love. Maybe your 
  aptitude is the result of your endurance, psychic powers, or 
  enhanced genes. The reasons don’t matter: Your character will 
  sortie to participate in Mecha combat.
  Before all the rules comes the PC's Concept, a single phrase 
  describing the core of your character. This phrase needs to 
  describe who they are and what they do. Good examples are 
  "Royal Secret Agent" and also "Charismatic Antihero."  Don't 
  get lyrical or go overboard with details, but don’t make it too 
  simplistic either. For example, a Concept of "Genius" is just as 
  bad as "Fifteen Year Old Girl With a Physics Ph.D that Always 
  Wears Blue, has Blue Hair, uses Blue Lipstick, and Laughs Way 
  Too Loud at her own Jokes."  Instead of all that nonsense, use 
  something like: "Eccentric Girl Genius."
  Since PCs are all Pilots, they don’t need to make piloting part 
  of their concept. Only include piloting in the phrase if you 
  want it to be a very important part of what makes the char-
  acter unique, such as “Cocky Ace Pilot” or “Carefree Mecha 
  Repairman.”
  Above all, it has to be a concept that you want to play with for 
  a while and won’t regret later. All PCs grow and change over 
  time but you will be playing with yours as-is for a while, so 
  put some thought into it for your own sake.
  A Concept can be spot-on or somewhat open-ended. Both 
  have their own pros and cons so don’t feel bad if yours looks 
  like it is too short or too long, just avoid making it too much 
  like the ‘bad’ examples from above.
  PC concepts are not a science - it dœ s not even have an 
  impact on your PC’s performance. Concepts exists to help you 
  focus your creative energies and gives the GM and other play-
  ers a hint of what to expect from your PC.
  Character Creation Outline
  Your PC is built of a combination of both things that make 
  them powerful and things that make them fun to roleplay. 
  The recommended order to create a character below tries 
  to streamline the process as much as possible. Feel free to 
  ignore it, or to retrace your steps in the middle of it until you 
  feel satisf ed with what you’ve got.
  Check with your fellow Players and GM every now and then 
  while creating your character to make sure it f ts the game 
  they intend to run. Make some changes if you think it would 
  be necessary, and do not hesitate to ask any of them for help 
  if you are unsure of how a rule works or if your ideas are 
  good.
  Step 1: Concept
  The f rst thing you need to f gure out is what kind of Charac-
  ter you’d like to Roleplay. Just a short sentence will do. You 
  can decide on who they really are as you go along.
  Step 2: Character Points
  Your PC has 100 Character Points (CP) which you can spend to 
  assign Attributes or purchase Skills and Traits.
  Skills and Traits build upon the base Attributes, being less 
  general and more specif c about what they represent. Don’t 
  forget to calculate the Character’s Defense and Plot Armor 
  after doing this too.
  Step 3: Genre Themes and Powers
  Go a little bit deeper into who the character is and what 
  you want to do with them during the game, by selecting one 
  Theme for each category: a Reason, a Typecast, and a Bane. 
  Roleplaying these Themes will grant you Genre Points. You 
  can use the Genre Points gained during play to become much 
  stronger during battle, breaking stalemates in your favor and 
  saving allies from the brink of death.
  Step 4: Power Level Adjustments
  If your Power Level is above 1 then you have extra CP to spend 
  on more Attributes, Skills or Traits. The amount of CP avail-
  able is your Power Level times 30.
  Step 5: Finishing Touches
  Write everything down in your character sheet. This section 
  also has a questionnaire for you to provide your PC a number 
  of little quirks and perks. These may not have an impact on 
  the rules of the game but help shape them as a human being.
  If you're stumped for Concepts, take a look at the following list of examples.  Don't just use them as they are, but instead take 
  them as inspiration and give them your own twists until you f nd something you are satisf ed with:
  -Cocky Ace Pilot
  -Aristocratic War Hero
  -Military Brat
  -Aloof Big Brother
  -Eccentric Girl Genius
  -Optimistic Young Prodigy
  -Carefree Mecha Repairman
  -Charismatic Antihero
  -Captain Mom
  -The Strongest Cyborg
  -Everyday Salaryman
  -Android Ninja Maid
  -Dutiful Modern Samurai
  -Grizzled Veteran
  -Angry Space Marine
  
  41
  Ingham: Everyone, your Concepts. Ryu, Go.
  Ryu: A def ning phrase, alright... Um, Pilot of the Strongest Super Robot!
  Raymond: I'm fairly certain you need something better than that.
  Ingham: I'll allow it.
  Raymond: ...Really?
  Ingham: Having the world's most powerful Mecha dœ s not make a character perfect, it will attract the attention of groups that 
  are much stronger in union and just because the Mecha is considered powerful it dœ s not mean the Pilot himself can draw out 
  its full power.
  Ryu: Alright!
  Ingham: In exchange, I want you to think about why he would have this Mecha, how he uses it, and how it af ects his daily life.
  Ryu: Alright, can do.
  Ingham: Raymond?
  Raymond: Veteran Super Soldier.
  Maya: That was fast.
  Ingham: Elaborate further.
  Raymond: He was trained from childhood to pilot a special Gear built for the purpose of f ghting the Outsiders and has been 
  doing so for years.
  Ingham: Good, Maya?
  Maya: Bear with me here, but I'm thinking a Runaway Space Princess.
  Ingham: I am bearing with you here.
  Raymond: I expected better from you.
  Ryu: You guys are so judgmental.
  Maya: The Outsiders destroyed several space colonies, and one of them happened to be ruled by an aristocrac nobility. My 
  character was trusted with the machine said to be the protector of the royal bloodline before being sent to Earth as everything 
  went in f ames. She dœ sn't really like f ghting but understands she has to. Dœ s it sound better now?
  Ryu: See? Maya dœ s not disappoint when it comes to this stuf .
  Ingham: I like it, I presume that was the quick version of the story and that you can write me ten pages if I ask.
  Maya: You saw right through me.
  Ingham: Good, we'll make use of the rest later. A word of advice for other GMs, encourage your players to f esh out their char-
  acters and work with them to f nd them a place in your game. If something dœ sn't sound like it will f t, don't say "No" instead 
  say "Yes, but-" and include a catch you can use to make it work.
  Raymond: ...Are you talking to yourself?
  Ingham: That will remain a mystery of the ages. We are moving on from this subject.
  
  42
  Character Points
  Characters can do anything, but not everything, and each thing they can do has a price in Character Points (CP). All Player 
  Characters have 100 Character Points to spend improving themselves. Creating a Character who is average in all matters 
  costs just a few points, but an invincible superhuman needs a lot of CP. You can spend your CP on three things: Attributes, 
  Skills and Traits. This chapter will teach you all there is to know about those. Don’t worry if you end up with leftover CP, you 
  can spend it later during the course of the game but they don’t count towards your Power Level.
  The Four Templates
  If you’re just starting out or want to make the process faster you can use one of the four templates in this page: The brash 
  youngster full of potential, the smartass who works better alone, the team sweetheart that keeps the group together, and the 
  mentor f gure hardened by years of experience.
  The templates are worth 100 CP in Attributes, Skills and Traits combined. Each one of them a dif erent stereotype that serves 
  as a foundation for more complex characters. You can use them as presented, as a base you can modify, or as an example to 
  guide you. The Skills and Traits themselves will be def ned a few pages later, though their names should give you a good idea 
  of what they do. To modify them you can swap one of their Attributes with another from the same template, trading numbers 
  around until you get something that works for your character. You can also swap their written Skills or Traits for others that 
  have the same CP cost. 
  Note that these templates do not take Power Levels into account. If your Power Level is of at least 1 you’ll need to spend some 
  CP yourself. Remember that each Power Level is another 30 Character Points.
  The Coordinator
  You are a person of profound idealism, of unbreakable faith 
  and a mind set towards the deeper matters of life. Life is a 
  journey, and you are both its sojourner and a guide for those 
  that f nd themselves astray. Sometimes you come across as 
  naive or overly sensitive, but you are intrinsically positive and 
  genuinely like people. And people like you for that.
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  2
  4
  6
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  3
  4
  4
  Skills: Diplomacy, Presence.
  Traits: Attractive, Leadership
  The Professional
  Your hard work and dedication makes you an asset to any 
  team. You are demanding from others, but only because you 
  understand that doing so is your role to play. With a strong 
  sense of duty and resolute convictions, you often butt heads 
  with those that don’t care about authority and the greater 
  good as much as you do.
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  4
  4
  4
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  4
  4
  4
  Skills: Humanities, Investigation.
  Traits: Common Sense, Danger Instinct, Jack of all Trades.
  The Prodigy
  You have a happy-go-lucky optimistic approach to life that 
  makes you you easy to get along with. You’re not one to back 
  down from a challenge or afraid from getting your hands 
  dirty. Some say that you’re impulsive and irresponsible, but 
  you like to think that you’re a free spirit that works best un-
  der pressure.
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  6
  3
  4
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  3
  6
  3
  Skills: Athletics, Combat.
  Traits: Hard Work and Guts.
  The Ace
  You are a critical thinker with a knack for learning things 
  quickly and a need to learn even more, thanks to your love 
  for perfection. Your goals are ambitious, because there is 
  nothing you cannot do if you set your mind to it. Now if only 
  you could add those mysterious so-called ‘people skills’ to 
  your ever expanding toolset you’d be perfect.
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  3
  7
  2
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  5
  5
  2
  Skills: Electronics, Sciences.
  Traits: Genius.
  
  43
  Fitness:
  Fitness is useful for circumstances that need raw strength, 
  quick ref exes and physical endurance. With Fitness you can 
  climb trees, drive a motorcycle, and break down doors. Fit-
  ness is the primary Attribute used to f ght other Characters 
  and contributes to your Initiative during Matches.
  Intellect:
  Intellect is the Attribute for circumstances that need training 
  in one or more technical skills as well as broad knowledge of 
  theoretical sciences. With Intellect you can hack computers, 
  perform f rst aid, and decode ciphered messages. Intellect is 
  important because it governs a lot of Skills. 
  Charm:
  Charm is the Attribute that lets you make friends and inf u-
  ence people. With Charm you can give rousing speeches 
  and earn the trust of someone you’ve just met. Charm is an 
  important Attribute because it lets you talk your way out of 
  problematic situations before they get violent.
  Attributes
  After picking a Concept, it is time to assign Attributes. Your PC may not start as The Very Best At Everything, so you will have 
  to prioritize some Attributes over others. It should be easy as long as you know your PC’s strongest and weakest points. Or you 
  can have a character who is decent at everything but they’re just not the best at anything either.
  Attributes start at Rank 0, but you can increase their Rank by spending CP. But one point dœ s not mean one Attribute, oth-
  erwise you could start with 10’s in all six. Instead, each Attribute starts at 0 and to increase its Rank you must spend a 
  number of Character Points equal to the Rank your Attribute will reach. This means that increasing your Fitness from 0 to 
  1 costs one Character Point, and it is two Character Points to go from 1 to 2, and so on. And because to get a 2 there you must 
  f rst earn a 1, the total cost in Character Points is of 3.
  Rank
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Cost
  1
  3
  6
  10
  15
  21
  28
  36
  45
  55
  Costs get progressively more expensive because being average at most things is easier than being really, really good at any one 
  thing. Having one or more Attributes at 11 or higher is possible but prohibitively pricey and not recommended unless you are 
  sure that you know what you are doing.
  You can have one or more Attributes at 0, but that means the character is handicapped in some way. But it dœ s let you play 
  more unique character concepts, such as a brilliant scientist who happens to be blind. If you want characters with big strengths 
  and big weaknesses, there you go.
  For your convenience here is a quick reminder of what each Attribute dœ s:
  Awareness:
  Awareness is useful for Scenes that need sharp senses as well 
  as instincts. With Awareness you can spot someone tailing 
  you, investigate a crime scene, and notice someone is lying. 
  Awareness is a key defensive Attribute because it adds to your 
  Defense and to your Initiative.
  Willpower:
  Willpower is used in instances that require patience and sheer 
  stubbornness. With Willpower you can keep your head cool 
  while you’re being shot at or face to face with a giant monster. 
  Willpower is not just the source of your Plot Armor, it lets you 
  keep going after you’ve lost it.
  Resources:
  Resources handles assets external to your character like 
  money, contacts and status. With Resources you can get other 
  people to do your work for you or even let your money do 
  the talking. Resources can substitute for other Attributes in 
  the right circumstances, making it very useful.
  
  44
  Reading Skills
  All Skills are written in the same format, For your reading 
  convenience, here is everything you should know about their 
  descriptions.
  Skill Name
  Immediately below the name is a brief summary of what the 
  Skill is about, what it can be used for, and what kind of Char-
  acters would f nd it useful.
  The second paragraph details the Attributes you usually would 
  Test when using the Skill in question.
  Possible Specializations: A few examples of how you may 
  Specialize with this Skill. Specializations are not limited to the 
  presented ones, they are just examples.
  Possible Advantages: Example circumstances during which 
  your Character would have an easier time, gaining an Advan-
  tage to the Test.
  Possible Disadvantages: As above but reversed, describing 
  circumstances in which you’ve got it harder and thus suf er a 
  Disadvantage.
  Sample Tests: A few typical (and sometimes not-so typical) 
  appropriate Skill Tests, including the Dif  culty Numbers and 
  type of Test necessary. There are near inf nite uses for every 
  Skill though, these are just a demonstration.
  Skills
  Skills are the combination of the knowledge and training in 
  a character has in a specif c f eld. They are more narrow in 
  focus than Attributes and def ne expertise with more person-
  ality. The way Skills work is rather simple, when you make a 
  Test belonging to something covered by one of your Skills you 
  gain an Advantage to said Test.
  A Specialist Skill is just like a regular one, but it works only for 
  a single subject within the Skill’s portfolio. Specialists only 
  gain an Advantage when using that skill’s chosen Spe-
  cialization, receiving no benef t from it otherwise. You can be 
  trained in the General or the Specialist version of the same 
  Skill, but not in both. Learning the ins and outs of any one 
  Skill and training to be a Generalist costs you 10 CP, while 
  training as a Specialist only costs you 5 CP.
  The Resources Attribute is the only one with no Skills. This is 
  because it can be used to replace nearly any Skill you do not 
  have, as long as you have enough money, friends, or political 
  power to back it up.
  In Rules terms this means you can Test Resources in place 
  of another Attribute and Skill combination to have some-
  one else do your work, but being successful will inf ict a 
  Disadvantage to all further Resource Tests for that same 
  Episode. Resources alone can only get you so far. Money runs 
  dry and friends have problems of their own.
  The use of Resources depends on having enough time to 
  actually go look for help or to call for it. Some urgencies might 
  place a Disadvantage to the Test, while others make the use of 
  Resources outright impossible. You can use Resources in place 
  of Craftsmanship to have someone else f x your car during 
  the weekend, but you cannot use it to defuse a bomb that is 
  about to go of .
  One aspect of Mecha f ction - and most f ction in general - that dœ s not often agree with reality is the portrayal of skillsets in 
  both theoretical and practical knowledge.
  In f ction, most Characters are masters of their f elds to a ridiculous degree. A person who is "good at sports" will be good at all 
  of them at once, the brightest member of the team is an omni-scientist who can juggle most types of applied and theoretical 
  sciences, and someone with contacts will have a network that can conjure favors like they’re magic.
  Sometimes this kind of thing is closer to reality. Soldiers are not taught how to f re a gun without ever touching on how un-
  armed combat works, for example. In most cases though, this is not how real skillsets work. A chef is not a master of demoli-
  tions, the tech support guy is not necessarily a hacker, and a chessmaster should not be commanding real armies.
  Battle Century G leaves you to choose how you want to go about things. You may keep the generalist approach and enjoy 
  all the benef ts of the game’s broadly def ned Skills or you may choose to use Specializations for a lower CP cost, but have a 
  harder time when you’re not using your specialty.
  
  45
  Combat
  Combat represents brute strength, well-honed marksmanship, 
  and practical knowledge of strategy and tactics. Two people 
  engaged in a f sticuf  will use Combat to determine the winner, 
  but so will two generals trying to control their troops more 
  ef ectively than the other.
  Fighting benef ts from Fitness rather than Intellect, while the 
  more strategic uses of Combat will use the latter instead.
  Possible Specializations: Chess, Gentlemen’s Duels, Revolv-
  ers, Strategy, Swordsmanship.
  Possible Advantages: Being on stimulants, attacking from 
  surprise, attacking from the high ground.
  Possible Disadvantages: Taking on someone armed while 
  unarmed, shooting targets under cover, f ghting with one-hand 
  behind your back.
  Sample Tests: Attacking another with a physical weapon (DN 
  Defense), engaging another in a chess duel (DN Contested 
  Combat), breaking down a rotting wooden door (DN 5).
  Deception
  The art of bluf  ng, encompassing fast-talk, convincing lies, 
  and a fair degree of acting skill. Note that putting up an act 
  that dœ sn’t actually do anything but get other people’s atten-
  tion is the domain of the Presence skill instead.
  Deception generally uses Charm, though Intellect can apply 
  in the case of more technically elaborate and impersonal 
  scams such as forgery.
  Possible Specializations: Bluf  ng, Disguises, Forgery, Intimi-
  dation, Seduction.
  Possible Advantages: Victim is desperate for what you have 
  to of er, impersonating your identical twin, conning someone 
  full of themselves.
  Possible Disadvantages: Your face was on the news recently 
  as that of the culprit, faking an accent in a language you 
  barely know, trying to fool a wide audience.
  Sample Tests: Convincing a guard that you just forgot your ID, 
  running a pyramid scheme scam, empty threats and intimida-
  tory bluf s (All DN Contested Awareness).
  Athletics
  Encompassing one's physical f tness and training of the body, 
  Athletics applies to all those situations in which a strength and 
  endurance are both required. Characters trained in Athletics 
  can get away from assassins climbing fences, long-distance 
  jumping from one rooftop to the next, or just plain outrunning 
  everyone.
  Athletics Tests use the Fitness Attribute unless the Test is 
  about theoretical knowledge instead, which use Intellect.
  Possible Specializations: Acrobatics, Climbing, Parkour, Run-
  ning, Swimming.
  Possible Advantages: Stimulants, high performance bike, 
  playing on your ‘home turf.’
  Possible Disadvantages: Trying to climb a sheer slope, run-
  ning around debris, swimming against the current.
  Sample Tests: Jumping from one rooftop to another (DN 10), a 
  foot chase (DN Contested Athletics), crossing the English Chan-
  nel (DN 15).
  Craftsmanship
  The common Skill for painters, masons and engineers. Those 
  with this Craftsmanship are able to create and repair physi-
  cal objects, knowing how to tackle larger projects like those of 
  architecture or engineering. Craftsmanship Tests are usually 
  Extended.
  Craftsmanship requires Charm when used to create a work of 
  art, uses Intellect when planning more complex projects, and 
  Fitness when you’re just otherwise working with your hands 
  to f x or craft something.
  Possible Specializations: Carpentry, Chemistry, Cooking, 
  Demolitions, Pœ try.
  Possible Advantages: Quality ingredients, a reference library, 
  specialized equipment.
  Possible Disadvantages: Distracting noises, an improvised 
  work area, terrible base materials.
  Sample Tests: Building a tree house (DN 10), engineering a 
  deep space probe (DN 15), winning a Pulitzer (DN 20).
  General Skills
  
  46
  Diplomacy
  Diplomacy expresses a sincere desire to win someone over. It 
  can be used to calm down an angry person, rally a crowd to 
  follow your lead, or seduce someone you fancy, but the inter-
  est in doing so must be genuine. Because Diplomacy has the 
  interests of both parties in mind, you should only require a 
  Contested Willpower Test when the other party stubbornly re-
  fuses changing their views against all logic. Failing the Willpow-
  er Test dœ s not necessarily mean they are convinced, they 
  could just be giving up the discussion temporarily because 
  now they are mad.
  Diplomacy almost always uses Charm, though Intellect may 
  be used to drone on about exactly why you are right. You may 
  also use Fitness to physically intimidate others, for their own 
  good of course. The f rst alternative is harder to pull of , how-
  ever, and the second is just as likely to cause you additional 
  trouble rather than help.
  Possible Specializations: Etiquette, Haggling, Intimidation, 
  Peace Talks, Seduction.
  Possible Advantages: Target is easily bribed or blackmailed, 
  the other person trusts or fears you.
  Possible Disadvantages: Trying to sweet talk multiple people 
  at once, convincing someone who dislikes you, terribly inap-
  propriate clothing.
  Sample Tests: Getting a few free drinks from someone you 
  just met, making an emotional appeal to the jury, negotiating 
  for a cease-f re (All DN Contested Willpower).
  Finesse
  Employing f exibility and hand-eye coordination over muscle 
  power and resilience, Finesse is the Skill for pickpocketing and 
  juggling small objects or for walking on a tightrope.
  Finesse always is paired with the Fitness Attribute since slip-
  ping out of manacles or picking a lock demands more physical 
  dexterity than anything else.
  Possible Specializations: Balance, Escapism, Juggling, Lock-
  picking, Pickpocketing.
  Possible Advantages: An object easy to palm, quality break-
  ing and entering tools, target is distracted.
  Possible Disadvantages: Handling large objects, restrictive 
  clothing, watchful paranoid eyes on object of choice.
  Sample Tests: Diving for cover when a f ref ght breaks out 
  (DN 5), cautiously stealing a purse (DN Contested Awareness) 
  cracking open a state of the art safe (DN 15).
  Electronics
  This Skill distinguishes those who know how to use electronic 
  gadgets of all sorts.You may use Electronics as a replacement 
  for other Skills when a computer could do all the work for 
  you. This will almost always take more time than if you did so 
  yourself, though.
  Unless you’re using electronic equipment to communicate 
  with someone else - in which case you would Test Charm - 
  Electronics is an Intellect based Skill.
  Possible Specializations: Artif cial Intelligence, Communica-
  tions, Computer Hardware, Hacking, Military Technology.
  Possible Advantages: Access to a supercomputer, task is eas-
  ily automated, excellent internet connection.
  Possible Disadvantages: Computer is old or otherwise sub-
  par, the task is tedious and the computer easily screws it up if 
  left on its own, slow internet connection.
  Sample Tests: Looking up simple information (DN 5), hacking 
  a system that another is guarding (DN Contested Electronics), 
  programming your own personal assistant NPC (DN 20).
  Humanities
  The social and behavioural sciences -- Those that study 
  people. Humanities as a Skill is used to research a subject, 
  appraise an antique, and similar tasks that require broad 
  knowledge of such subjects. Training in Humanities dœ s not 
  necessarily make a character older, they just know more. 
  Humanities is only for theoretical knowledge, for example a 
  therapist needs real people skills to go with their book learn-
  ing, such as Diplomacy.
  Humanities will use the Intellect Attribute for all Tests.
  Possible Specializations: Archeology, Economics, History, 
  Law, Psychology.
  Possible Advantages: Access to a government database, 
  campus library, or a custom internet search engine.
  Possible Disadvantages: Trying to research an unusually 
  obscure topic, uncooperative client or patient, identifying an 
  object in very poor condition.
  Sample Tests: Identifying a Picasso original (DN 5), f guring 
  out whether a case has a legal standing or not (DN 5), deci-
  phering an ancient text (DN 15).
  
  47
  Investigation
  The investigator gathers information and f lters what is true 
  or useful from that which is false or background noise. You 
  may use Investigation to notice a secret passage in the creepy 
  mansion, or to bar-hop and ask if people have seen a miss-
  ing child. Investigation takes time and is about trial and error, 
  where Diplomacy is more straightforward.
  Investigation uses Awareness at all times, since it is less about 
  f nding new information (which you obtain through other Skills) 
  and it is more about interpreting details over a period of time.
  Possible Specializations: Contact Calling, Crime Scenes, 
  Dream Analysis, Interrogation, Puzzles & Riddles.
  Possible Advantages: Unrestricted access to area, gear and 
  databases, a team to help you notice things or bounce ideas 
  of  of.
  Possible Disadvantages: Subjects are unwilling to aid you, 
  looking for impossibly small objects or clues, dealing with 
  planted evidence.
  Sample Tests: Fishing for information from your contacts (DN 
  5), following a paper trail (DN 10), reading the body language 
  of a captive enemy (DN Contested Deception).
  Medicine
  The old and proud tradition of keeping other people alive and 
  in good health. Medicine also comes with knowledge about the 
  capabilities and limitations of the human body and mind. The 
  most obvious and common use of Medicine is to diagnose and 
  treat illnesses whether they are physical or mental, but you 
  can also combine it with Craftsmanship to do pharmacy work.
  Medicine needs Intellect in both its theoretical and practical 
  applications.
  Possible Specializations: Diagnostics, Forensics, Pharmaceu-
  tics, Psychotherapy, Veterinary.
  Possible Advantages: Helpful assistants, Stable and coopera-
  tive patient, Access to family medical histories.
  Possible Disadvantages: Treating a patient who is in criti-
  cal condition, uncooperative, or with multiple contradicting 
  symptoms.
  Sample Tests: Diagnosing a patient (DN 5), First aid (DN 10), 
  Eye surgery (DN 15).
  Presence
  Sometimes all you want is to make sure you get people’s 
  attention, and Presence dœ s exactly that. When you want to 
  impress others with a performance of song, fast talk, or to 
  make sure people are listening to the elaborate speech you 
  wrote, you use Presence.
  Presence draws from Charm the grand majority of the time. 
  Intellect applies when trying to confuse people with jargon or 
  buzzwords. Fitness can also apply to do performances with 
  athletic tricks, often paired with Finesse.
  Possible Specializations: Carousing, Greek Drama, Playing 
  the Guitar, Speeches, Technobabble.
  Possible Advantages: Rehearsed previously, appreciative 
  public, plenty of money to make merry with others.
  Possible Disadvantages: Terrible ambience, poor quality 
  microphones or other such equipment, unfriendly public.
  Sample Tests: Telling a very good joke (DN 5), Distracting oth-
  ers through fast talk (DN Contested Awareness), performing a 
  very dif  cult musical piece (DN 15).
  Sciences
  The scientist is a character who pursues one or more of the 
   “hard sciences”. This Skill corresponds to activities like solving 
  a mathematical problem, identifying a rare breed of animal, 
  and reciting the table of elements by memory. Much like with 
  Humanities, Sciences is not necessarily indicative of an older 
  character, though it dœ s cause more eye rolling when given to 
  young characters.
  Sciences will use the Intellect Attribute for all Tests barring 
  the most exceptional and unlikely of circumstances
  Possible Specializations: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, 
  Mathematics, Physics.
  Possible Advantages: Supercomputer on request, Quiet work-
  ing space, Lots of reference material.
  Possible Disadvantages: Subject matter of research is ob-
  scure, Analyzing a sample in poor condition or contaminated, 
  Dealing with impossible geometry the human mind cannot 
  comprehend.
  Sample Tests: Identifying a strange animal (DN 5), Accurately 
  predicting the weather for the next day (DN 10), Figuring out if 
  and when a meteorite is going to make impact (DN 20), 
  
  48
  Stealth
  The stealthy character excels both at  not being seen and at 
  hiding in plain sight. Stealth can be used to camouf age or 
  hide yourself, but also to shadow someone while concealing 
  your presence in a crowd. But before you ask, a character 
  with Stealth cannot just disappear from view without actually 
  hiding f rst.
  Stealth is a Fitness based Skill, for obvious reasons, and it 
  would require an unusual scenario for that to change. Often 
  Stealth is used in Mixed Tests, along with the action that is at-
  tempted to be taken stealthily.
  Possible Specializations: Camouf age, Crowds, Shadowing, 
  Silent Movement, Smuggling small objects.
  Possible Advantages: Poor lighting, distracted target, sound-
  less environment such as a vacuum.
  Possible Disadvantages: Distinguishing clothes, noisy equip-
  ment such as body armor, paranoid target.
  Sample Tests: Sneaking up on someone (DN Contested 
  Awareness), concealing a gun (DN 5), concealing a gun from a 
  check (DN Contested Awareness).
  Survival
  Survival is a broad skillset representing the ability to fend for 
  yourself without many of the commodities of modern life. 
  This can cover a wide set of subjects, from knowing what to 
  eat and where to sleep, to guessing the weather for the day, 
  and even staying on the good side of wild beasts.
  Survival is usually related to Intellect, though if it is used to 
  pacify animals will use Charm.
  Possible Specializations: Animal Handling, Foraging, Hunting, 
  Meteorology, Navigation.
  Possible Advantages: Domesticated animals, camping equip-
  ment, personal in-depth knowledge of the area.
  Possible Disadvantages: Hungry or scared animals, no equip-
  ment whatsœ ver, unknown area.
  Sample Tests: Scavenging food and water (DN 10), getting ani-
  mals to ignore you (DN 10), using the sky to f nd the way (5).
  Vehicles
  This Skill is for operating all sorts of vehicles that aren’t giant 
  robots. Not only can you sail, f y or drive, but may also per-
  form maintenance on your machines.
  Vehicles depends on Fitness when you are operating the ma-
  chines to move around, and Intellect when you are working in 
  your garage or equivalent.
  Possible Specializations: Helicopters, Motorcycles, Planes, 
  Sailboats, Tanks.
  Possible Advantages: A top of the line vehicle, luxury or 
  otherwise high quality tools.
  Possible Disadvantages: Driving through rocky terrain, tool-
  box is incomplete or tools are in poor condition.
  Sample Tests: Tailing, escaping, or being in pursuit of one or 
  more vehicles (DN Contested Vehicles).
  Other Skills
  If you want something dif erent from the Skills in the list, then 
  you may make up your own and discuss with the GM what 
  areas of expertise this new Skill would cover. Some branches 
  of Sciences or Humanities that do not have an obvious skill 
  for their applied use could merit being their own Skill. Profes-
  sions using Craftsmanship, Athletics or Survival could also be 
  good candidates.  
  Keep in mind not all custom Skills are viable in every game. 
  A Skill to represent your talent as an attorney is not going to 
  be very useful in a game about guerilla warfare without some 
  creative thinking. And just to keep things sane, try not to 
  make more than one custom Skill for a Character.
  For the purposes of piloting giant robots no Skill is needed. 
  Piloting ability is integrated into the statistics of the Mecha 
  itself.
  Battle Century G wants to represent the Mecha Genre as 
  a whole and there are a myriad of ways in which you can 
  control Mecha. The rules separate a character’s talents during 
  Intermissions and Operations, and it is up to you to def ne 
  what makes you a good Pilot.
  
  49
  Miracle Skills
  Miracles are more or less superpowers. They can be anything 
  from ESP to mutant powers to nanomachines powered by 
  your blood. With them you can change the environment, your 
  own body, and even the minds of others. Their ef ects range 
  from the subtle pull of gravity to the f ery brutality of pyroki-
  nesis.
  But of course, power comes at a price. Miracles have a side 
  ef ect harmful to the user, from a painful headache after try-
  ing to read someone’s thoughts to your own act of pyrokinesis 
  exploding in your face.
  Miracles work like Skills do, with an exception. Each use of 
  a Miracle will deal Damage to your Plot Armor by 1 plus 
  another point of Damage per each multiple of 5 you meet 
  with the result of your Test.
  Miracles are more open ended and broad in what they can do 
  than most Skills. You may purchase Miracles with CP the 
  same way you do Skills, but a Specialization costs 10 CP 
  and generalist mastery of a Miracle is 20 PP.
  The ef ects of Miracle Skills take an Action to manifest and 
  require another Action every Turn if they are to be maintained 
  at length. Unless otherwise noted, if you are using a Miracle 
  Skill, you cannot be using a mundane one in the same Test.
  Unlike with regular Skills, if you are not trained in a Miracle, 
  you may not use them at all. You either have superpowers or 
  you don’t, there is no middle ground.
  Electricity
  The Electricity Miracle has both subtlety and raw power. It can 
  recharge a cell phone and operate a computer with a thought, 
  and of course it can zap bad guys left and right. All these uses 
  require the target to be within line of sight.
  Electricity uses Fitness to throw lightning bolts all over the 
  place, and Intellect the rest of the time. It may also be used 
  in combination with the Electronics Skill.
  Possible Specializations: Fitness Tests, Electronics Tests, 
  Other Intellect Tests.
  Possible Advantages: Cooperative weather, High-conductivity 
  materials, Anything that would make an Electronics Test 
  easier.
  Possible Disadvantages: Target is surrounded with lightning 
  rods, Low-conductivity materials, Anything that would make 
  an Electronics Test harder.
  Sample Tests: Recharging a cell phone battery (DN 5), Shoot-
  ing a lightning bolt f rom your f ngertips at someone else (DN 
  Defense), Charging the local atmosphere with a few hours of 
  lightning (DN 15).
  Force
  Similar to the psychic power known as Telekinesis, the 
  Force Miracle controls kinetic forces between objects, and 
  essentially controls local gravity. Force may be used to call a 
  weapon to your hand, pin someone against a wall, or even to 
  temporarily f y. Force af ects targets within your line of sight.
  Force has multiple uses, the subtler approaches 
  will use Intellect, while throwing objects or people around 
  needs Fitness to aim all that kinetic energy properly.
  Possible Specializations: Fitness Tests, Intellect Tests.
  Possible Advantages: Local gravity is in your favor, subject is 
  cooperative, object is very light or has little mass.
  Possible Disadvantages: Local gravity is working against you, 
  trying to ref ect bullets back to their source, object is heavy or 
  has a large mass.
  Sample Tests: Gently moving an object or willing person your 
  size in a single direction (DN 5), Flying freely at your normal 
  speed (DN 10), Lifting someone of  the ground and throwing 
  them against the wall (DN Defense).
  Fortune
  Fortune is the ability to manipulate the threads of fate through 
  good or ill luck. It is a subtle power, making the user seem 
  to have an uncanny intuition for who to ask for assistance or 
  where to look for Macguf  ns. The blessings of Fortune let you 
  f nd exactly who or what you need at the perfect time. You will 
  discover rare items on a garage sale, catch people when they 
  would be most desperate to owe you a favor, and run into 
  your biggest fans whom you never even knew until just now.
  Fortune will enhance Resources Tests with an Advantage 
  and makes it a Miracle Test. It dœ s not take an Action to acti-
  vate. A success earned through Fortune dœ s not make further 
  Resources Tests made during the same Episode to suf er any 
  Disadvantages.
  Possible Specializations: Equipment Tests, Other Tests.
  Possible Advantages: As regular Resources Tests.
  Possible Disadvantages: As regular Resources Tests.
  Sample Tests: As regular Resources Tests.
  
  50
  Matter
  Through this Miracle a character is able to manipulate solid 
  objects with a touch. They can be anything from complex 
  metallic alloys to a raw chunk of uranium. Doors can be rein-
  forced, swords can be sharpened... And yet turning lead into 
  gold remains impossible. As a general rule doing anything to 
  objects that are large, complex or huge in mass will be ludi-
  crously dif  cult to achieve. Matter may only reshape things, it 
  cannot create something out of nothing.
  Intellect will let you improve anything of solid substance, 
  break it down or reshape it. It can add an Advantage to uses 
  of the Craftsmanship Skill and reduce the required time for 
  Extended Tests by one category (from one Week to one Day to 
  one Hour to one Minute to Instantaneous) at the cost of one 
  Disadvantage per tier you’d like to decrease. Matter has no ef-
  fect on living beings, at most it only works on dead tissue, and 
  if you use it on anything electronic the object will break.
  Possible Specializations: Craftsmanship Tests, Other Tests.
  Possible Advantages: Object to be transformed is similar 
  in function and origin to the one you desire, Object you are 
  trying to break is very light, of simple structure, or has little 
  mass.
  Possible Disadvantages: Transforming one object into 
  another that shares little or nothing with it, Trying to break 
  an object that is heavy, of complex structure, or with a large 
  mass.
  Sample Tests: Granting any one item an Advantage to all 
  tests made with it for a Scene (DN 5), Breaking down rein-
  forced steel (DN 15), Anything that you could use Craftsman-
  ship for.
  Phantasm
  You possess the power to craft illusions and mirages that 
  can be just as convincing as the real thing. You must concen-
  trate and visualize what you want - or don’t want - others to 
  perceive. Your illusions are no more or less than implanting 
  sensory perception into the victim so thoroughly that the 
  ef ects might as well be real. Phantasms may be projected 
  within your line of sight.
  Phantasm Tests make use of Awareness and need to beat 
  the Defense of onlookers to be believable. At the cost of suf-
  fering a Disadvantage, Phantasm may be used as a mental 
  attack, crafting an illusion so realistic others will feel it real 
  (like shooting someone with an illusionary gun) and they will 
  suf er Damage like with any Of ensive Test. You can also use 
  it defensively, this way you take a Maneuver Action (using 
  Awareness) that inf icts a Disadvantage to anyone who at-
  tacks you for each multiple of 5 met with the result.
  Possible Specializations: Of ensive Tests, Defensive Tests, 
  Other Tests.
  Possible Advantages: Appropriate environment, victim is in a 
  suggestive state, user spends considerable time visualizing the 
  phantasm before manifestation.
  Possible Disadvantages: Unbelievable conditions, victim sus-
  pects something is wrong, user has dif  culty concentrating.
  Sample Tests: Imitating another’s looks and voice, changing 
  the writing on a letter (Both DN Defense), creating an illusory 
  copy of you to act as a decoy (Special, see above).
  ship for.
  
  51
  Phasing
  You can turn yourself partially insubstantial to pass through 
  solid objects like a ghost. This means you can walk through  
  walls or let speeding cars go through you without harm. While 
  in this state you can ef ectively make yourself nearly immune 
  to anything that threatens you. You can choose which parts of 
  you are substantial and which ones aren’t too, so you won’t 
  fall through the f oor or suf er other side ef fects.
  Phasing requires a Fitness Test. No matter the result you can 
  always choose to let things af ect you as normal while this 
  Miracle is active. Defending yourself via Phasing is a Ma-
  neuver Action (using Fitness) but then you Test Fitness to 
  inf icts a Disadvantage to anyone who attacks youfor each 
  multiple of 5 met with the result. You cannot protect allies 
  with a Maneuver enhanced through Phasing.
  Possible Specializations: Defensive Tests, Other Tests.
  Possible Advantages: Substance is very small, very soft, or 
  not a solid.
  Possible Disadvantages: Substance is very hard, a composite 
  material, or moving at fast speeds.
  Sample Tests: Passing through objects (DN 10), defending 
  yourself from enemy attacks (Special, see above).
  Probing
  The most basic use of this Miracle is reading the minds of 
  people and communicating with them telepathically. But it can 
  also manipulate others with the art of suggestion, playing the 
  role of the whispering devil sitting on their shoulder. You must 
  have line of sight with the subject.
  You can send telepathic messages in the form of a voice, 
  text or images through Charm. The next type of Test is one 
  of Awareness versus a Willpower Test from the subject to 
  read their surface thoughts. Finally, you may also Test Charm 
  against Contested Willpower to plant thoughts inside some-
  one’s head. Repeated failed attempts, unsubtle questions, and 
  generally suspicious uses of this Miracle will provoke suspicion 
  on the subject, and once they become paranoid they will start 
  to look for someone to blame. You better be sure they will 
  think it is your fault whether there is any actual evidence to 
  their claims or just a gut feeling.
  Possible Specializations: Telepathy, Mind Reading, Sugges-
  tion.
  Possible Advantages: Subject is unconscious, has good rea-
  son to do what you are suggesting or to think about what you 
  want to ask them. 
  Possible Disadvantages: Subject is very focused on the task 
  at hand, decidedly against the suggestion, or even of exploring 
  a question.
  Sample Tests: Reading another’s mood, f nding out what 
  accomplishment another person is most proud of, giving a 
  sleeping victim nightmares (All DN Contested Willpower).
  Sight
  Your Extra Sensory Perception provides you with subtle clues 
  about specif c things and warns you of impending danger, but 
  it dœ s so in odd manners. Perhaps you feel a certain pres-
  sure from important people, or you can hear the ringing of a 
  bell when something is threatening you, or maybe information 
  comes to you during lucid dreams.
  Sight adds an Advantage to any Awareness Test and makes it 
  a Miracle Test. It dœ s not take an Action to activate.
  Possible Specializations: Investigation Tests, other Awareness 
  Tests.
  Possible Advantages: None.
  Possible Disadvantages: None.
  Sample Tests: As Help Tests.
  
  52
  Somatics
  Somatics strengthens your body with superhuman power for 
  a few moments. With it you will punch holes into concrete, 
  outrun vehicles, and shoot targets blind.
  The use of Somatics adds an Advantage to any Fitness Test. 
  and makes it a Miracle Test. It dœ s not take an Action to 
  activate.
  Possible Specializations: Of ensive Tests, other Fitness Tests.
  Possible Advantages: None.
  Possible Disadvantages: None.
  Sample Tests: As Help Tests.
  Raymond: You want your character to have at least one of 
  Combat, Diplomacy, Electronics and Investigation. While you 
  can get by without having most Skills, doing so without these 
  is considerably harder. Other Skills handy to have around 
  include Deception, Medicine, Stealth and Vehicles. 
  Maya: The latter are slightly less universally useful than the 
  former, but supplement them very well. Ideally there should 
  be someone in the group trained in one of each of the above. 
  Teamwork makes everyone’s life easier! but you have to be 
  careful with relying on your team too much, they will not be 
  always there to help you out.
  Ingham: My motto is “Divide and conquer.”
  Raymond: You also want to generalize and not Specialize, 
  because you get a lot more bang for your buck that way.
  Maya: And when there is no PC in the group that can get the 
  job done, having a PC with a decent Resources Attribute can 
  help f nd an NPC who dœ s.
  Ryu: I wish you’d let me shoot lightning bolts. Or f reballs. Or 
  straight up force blasts.
  Ingham: We’ve talked about this. In this particular game you 
  are herœ s, but not super herœ s.
  Raymond: Right, Miracles are a whole dif erent issue. If they’re 
  allowed, then Probing, Matter and Somatics all are very 
  versatile while having a tremendous impact. Phantasm, Force 
  and Electricity can also do a lot with very little, but are more 
  prone to failure or require a more sustained ef ort to get the 
  job done.
  Ryu: If I write you a ten page essay explaining how my 
  character is psychic like I’m sure Maya did can I at least have 
  Temperature?
  Maya: I have no idea what you are talking about.
  Ingham: Let me clarify. You will not start with superhuman 
  abilities, but after some experiments with Outsider bits you 
  might get a chance-
  Ryu: Oooooh.
  Ingham: -for a price.
  Maya: You say it like it is supposed to not make it sound even 
  more fun.
  A few select Miracles have multiple Specializations, but many 
  only have one. That dœ sn’t mean you can only Specialize 
  one way, it means you should come up with Specializations of 
  your own instead.
  Most Miracle Specializations are based on their function. Be-
  cause they are ef ects-based, they let you use a Miracle only 
  for utility or combat or some other use depending on what 
  suits your character more.
  A character with a focus on Intellect can use Electricity with 
  a specialization on Electronics while one with Fitness is more 
  interested in using it to zap enemies with lightning bolts.
  There is one major exception to this: Temperature. By default, 
  the Temperature Miracle has Cold and Heat as options to spe-
  cialize in, which are source-based and not ef ects-based.
  The reason for this is because it makes more thematic sense 
  to divide Temperature users into f re and ice. Feel free to use 
  “Of ensive Tests” as a Specialization instead.
  Temperature
  This Miracle controls the unseen thermal forces around your 
  person, but dœ s so according to your mood. If you are calm, 
  it is easier to make the environment cooler and if you are 
  excited, then heat proves simpler to generate. You need to be 
  within an environment with oxygen in order to use this power, 
  and it will not work even in a partial vacuum. 
  For as long as you are in proper conditions, you may use 
  Charm to inf uence your surroundings, generally no further 
  than your current Zone. This Skill can burn or freeze others, 
  but it will require the environment to provide a bonf re or 
  windy frost to draw power from. Attempting an Of ensive Test 
  in an improper environment will be at a Disadvantage. You 
  may create these conditions on your own, but you need to 
  stop maintaining the ef ects to make your attack, ef ectively 
  using them up.
  Possible Specializations: Cold, Heat.
  Possible Advantages: A suitable environment (a sub zero 
  room or one on f re), being in the proper emotional state 
  (soothing or violent) or af ecting materials that react easily to 
  temperature (nitrogen or f ammables) according to the desired 
  ef ect.
  Possible Disadvantages: Improper environment, emotional 
  state, or materials for the ef ect you are trying to achieve.
  Sample Tests: Making people feel uncomfortably hot or cold 
  (DN 10), creating the conditions for an Of ensive Temperature 
  Test (DN 15), creating a bridge of ice to cross a lake or melting 
  a steel door (DN 15).
  
  53
  Traits
  Further down the customization spectrum you have Traits, 
  representing the PC’s natural gifts, personality, or lifestyle. 
  Because some Traits are more useful than others, they have 
  varying CP Costs. You will f nd each Trait’s CP Cost in pa-
  rentheses under its name.
  Traits are separated into various categories. The f rst few you’ll 
  see here are General Traits. Later you’ll f nd special Traits with 
  their own rules like Equipment and Deathblows. Some Traits 
  are meant to be used with certain Skills, and cannot be used 
  without being trained in them. If you are only trained in a 
  Specialized verstion of the Skill, it must be a relevant one to 
  its use.
  Certain Traits say (Specialist) next to their names, these 
  are very similar to Specialized Skills in that you have to 
  choose a topic of the options presented (or come up with 
  your own). These Traits may be taken multiple times, but 
  every time you must choose a dif erent Specialization.
  Reading Traits
  Like with Skills (and nearly all abilities in the game), Traits 
  share a similar written format. There are many types of Traits, 
  and some will have slight dif erences here and there, which 
  will be noted in their description.
  Trait Name
  The Trait’s Type (And Cost)
  Ef ect: What the Trait dœ s in rules terms is listed in regular 
  text. Depending on their Type, some Traits also carry ad-
  ditional rules not listed here. General Traits don’t have any 
  specif c rules to themselves.
  What the Trait represents within the narrative is italicized 
  below its rules text. Feel free to play around with the sugges-
  tions here and change them to your liking, as long as what 
  you end up with still makes sense with the rules.
  General Traits
  Animal Person
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: All Charm and Awareness Tests gain two Advantages 
  when dealing with animals friendly to humans and a single 
  Advantage otherwise.
  You understand and read animal behavior exceptionally well. 
  This makes handling domesticated (or domesticable) ani-
  mals a simple task, turning you into an ideal animal trainer. 
  With that said, trying to make friends with a swarm of angry 
  wasps is still a terrible idea .
  Common Sense
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode the GM may discreetly inform you 
  that you are about to act on an idea that is not very well 
  thought-out or give you a clue as to where you should go next 
  if you are stumped for ideas.  You should probably pay atten-
  tion when they do that.
  You are fortunate enough to possess that which is the most 
  uncommon of all senses. You question things that other 
  people take for granted and make well-grounded decisions 
  thinking with your feet f rmly on the ground.
  Danger Instinct
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: You gain an Advantage to Awareness Tests made to 
  Contest someone else’s use of the Deception or Stealth Skills.
  Better safe than sorry.  Some call it gut instinct, others call 
  it attention to detail, and while there are those that would 
  go as far as to call it paranoia, you don’t really care what 
  it’s called as long as it continues to keeps you in one piece. 
  Remember your mantra: better safe than sorry.
  Entertainer (Specialist)
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: You gain an Advantage during Craftsmanship, Humani-
  ties or Presence Tests about the subject of your chosen type 
  of entertainment.
  You are an artist at heart. You can make others experience 
  the full range of emotions between thrill, joy, sadness and 
  fear. Sometimes, you even inspire nothing short of awe.
  Possible Specializations: Beethoven, Ice Skating, Landscap-
  ing, Murder Mysteries, Stand-Up Comedy.
  
  54
  Make Do
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: You may negate up to one Disadvantage from Tests 
  using improper tools or no tools at all.
  You are used to working without all that fancy expensive 
  equipment and can make the best of what you’ve got, and 
  are better suited to improvising than most.
  Polyglot
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: When presented with a Language other than your 
  mother one for the f rst time, do a DN 10 Intellect Test. If you 
  pass, you are f uent in that language. This dœ s not work with 
  languages that are supposedly dead or alien.
  Though the world at large still uses the English Language, the 
  benef ts of being able to speak multiple languages in the age 
  of information should not be underestimated.
  Sphere of Influence (Specialist)
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Resources Tests made to pull strings or deal with peo-
  ple of the chosen area are at an Advantage.
  You have a history with people coming from a certain back-
  ground or with a specif c line of work, and your inf uence 
  extends further there. They might be friends, associates, or 
  just people you have dirt on. It dœ sn’t matter.
  Possible Specializations: Weapons Black Market, High Soci-
  ety, Prosecutor’s Of  ce, Pharmaceutical Companies, Profes-
  sional Translators.
  Superior Immune System
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may turn a failed Willpower 
  Tests made to resist diseases or drugs into a success.
  You don’t remember when was the last time you caught a 
  cold and you’re pretty sure you’ve never had a hangover. 
  Weapon Expertise (Specialist)
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: When performing a test relating to knowledge of or 
  combat using the chosen weapon, you gain an Advantage.
  There is a single category of weapons that you are a guru in, 
  and you know everything there is to know about their craft, 
  maintenance, use and history.
  Possible Specializations: AK-47, Composite Longbow, Chemi-
  cal Explosives, Katana and Wakizashi, Revolvers.
  Gamer (Specialist)
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: This Trait gives you an Advantage when experience 
  with your obsession of choice would be benef cial. Such as 
  when you’re indulging in your hobby.
  You’re just good enough at playing chess, poker or trading 
  card games to make a living from tournaments, but your tal-
  ents could be useful elsewhere. Who can say when the Presi-
  dent is going to need someone in their cabinet well versed in 
  the strengths and weaknesses of the Manticore?
  Possible Specializations: Æ gis of the Old Ones, Chess, Go, 
  Super Gear Wars, Texas Hold’em.
  Gumshoe
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may turn a failed Humanities, 
  Investigation or Sciences Test into a success.
  You always f nd any information that you need. Or at least, 
  enough clues to point you in the right direction. Maybe you 
  don’t get it right out of the gate, but you try hard and that 
  always leaves you with something.
  Ingenious
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may gain two Advantages to the 
  use of a Skill that is being applied in a way that is inventive or 
  of  the wall.
  Creative dœ s not even begin to describe you. You are always 
  doing things that no one else would even consider, because 
  coming up with new solutions to old problems is its own 
  brand of fun!
  Intimidating
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Attempts to make people afraid of you (generally with 
  the Diplomacy or Deception Skills) are at Advantage.
  You’re scary. There is something in the way you look at 
  people, and the tone of your voice can send chills down their 
  spines.
  Jaded
  General Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may turn a failed Willpower 
  Tests made to resist being frightened or revulsed into a suc-
  cess.
  You are largely desensitized to things that others would f nd 
  shocking or worse, and you’ve probably had more than your 
  fair share of awful circumstances. Cynicism and a nihilistic 
  outlook on life are complementary to this ability but not at 
  all obligatory.
  
  55
  Attractive
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: You are at an Advantage when using Diplomacy, De-
  ception or Presence with someone who could be attracted to 
  your character.
  A really good fashion sense and a charming personality 
  compliment your natural good looks. Whether you like it or 
  not, people are drawn to you.
  Comrade
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: You know a friendly NPC created using the rules for 
  Rival NPCs - They are like any PC but without Themes. 
  Comrades represent recurring, named characters willing to 
  help out a a PC, like friends, acquaintances and contacts. 
  Allies are not part of the main group for a reason: They have 
  their own motives and lives, and for every time that they 
  lend you their help they will expect you to give them a hand 
  in turn. They may or may not have their own Mecha. and 
  thus Genre Powers, and both you and the GM should sit down 
  and discuss their Attributes, Skills and Traits. Comrades of 
  your Comrades have no loyalty to you and designing them is 
  entirely up to the GM.
  Genius
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: You may substitute any other Attribute with Intellect 
  for the purposes of a Test, and if successful you may not use 
  this Trait again during the same Episode.
  There is no limit to what your cunning is capable of. Through 
  inventiveness and careful analysis, you can quickly f nd novel 
  approaches to old tasks, allowing you to get the most job 
  done with the least amount of ef ort.
  Hard Work and Guts
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may choose to ignore any and 
  all Disadvantages you would suf er for a single Test.
  The power of human determination is a marvel to behold You 
  are at your best under the worst pressure, and rising to meet 
  a challenge when most wouldn’t. It is not that you are imper-
  vious, but instead you choose to continue f ghting.
  Living Database
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: If your character could reasonably have been exposed 
  to some factoid or experienced something in the past that 
  you as the Player don’t know about or remember yourself, the 
  GM should refresh your memory about it.
  Your memory is a thing of wonder that has been further 
  cultivated by extensive learning. Obscure names, dates and 
  other minutiæ  rarely escape you and you are able to recall 
  events with near-photographic detail.
  I was Here all Along
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may Test either Stealth or De-
  ception against a DN of 15 to reveal that you were present in 
  a Scene that did not include you. You were either in hiding or 
  disguised as an unassuming background character as appro-
  priate to the Test in question.
  You are sneaky, everywhere yet nowhere, and generally in 
  places someone else wishes you rather weren’t.
  Jack of all Trades
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may choose a single Skill and 
  gain training in it until the end of the current Scene.
  Maybe you’re an exceptionally curious person, a voracious 
  seeker of knowledge, or you’ve had enough part time jobs 
  you know a little bit of everything. Odds are it is a combina-
  tion of the three.
  Leadership
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: You may Test Charm and Presence once per Episode 
  to grant a number of other Characters up to your Power Level 
  an Advantage to all Tests until the end of the current Scene, 
  plus another for each multiple of 10 you meet with the Test. 
  Multiple uses of Leadership by dif erent Characters will not 
  stack together, only the highest result will be used.
  People look up to you. You can inspire and motivate others 
  even if they barely know you. Maybe you’ve got a gift for 
  words and a magnetic personality, or maybe you’re just plain 
  terrifying and people are more afraid of disappointing you 
  than losing their lives.
  Psychic Power
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: You reduce all Damage taken from using your Miracle 
  Skills by half.
  Miracle users are already scary enough, but the ones that 
  have strengthened and honed their talents further - through 
  science, discipline, or stranger means - are closer to mon-
  sters than human beings.
  Spirit of Steel
  General Trait (10)
  Ef ect: You may substitute any other Attribute with Willpower 
  for the purposes of a Test, and if successful you may not use 
  this Trait again during the same Episode.
  If you don’t succeed at f rst, try again harder. If it hurts, you 
  get up again and ask for seconds. There is nothing to look 
  forward to but victory, because failure is not an option.
  
  56
  Equipment
  Managing inventories is a task so slow that it is even a chore 
  in computer games, where all it takes is a few clicks.  Imagine 
  how much of a chore it can be if the PCs have to go out and 
  restock supplies every Episode, managing their money and 
  making sure the bills don't go unpaid.  Worse, when it comes 
  to buying mundane ítems, which computer or house or cell 
  phone model should you go for?
  These are valid concerns in real life, but they will also rarely 
  af ect the game meaningfully. On the other hand the futuristic 
  gadgets, weaponry and vehicles of science f ction are pretty 
  cool. Battle Century G won’t make you track down the boring 
  stuf , just the cool toys.
  A PC with a stable income is assumed to have a dignif ed way 
  of life, enough to cover their basic needs and splurge on a few 
  luxuries here and there. Unless it is relevant to the plot that 
  they are in f nancial trouble, they should always have money 
  for food, medicine and the electricity bill.
  All tools with similar roles are assumed to be the same for the 
  purposes of the game’s rules.  All cars drive the same and all 
  guns shoot the same.
  A Character trained in a Skill is assumed to have what they 
  need to do their jobs. A nurse should have access to at least a 
  f rst aid kit, a computer technician to their laptop, and a stunt 
  driver should have one or more things to drive. In case of 
  doubt, address with your GM just what your PC has on hand 
  or can request.
  Anything else that you want to have, especially if it would 
  get you out of a jam, requires a Resources Test to see if you 
  either have it on hand or if you can buy it.
  Otherwise, the rules here deal with Equipment that is special 
  enough to be worth purchasing it as a Trait. Equipment may 
  also be obtained through roleplaying and creative means such 
  as Resources or borrowing it from an Ally, but it gœ s away at 
  the end of the Episode. It stops working, gœ s missing, has to 
  be legally returned to its owner, or something to that ef ect. 
  Unless you have purchased your Equipment as a Trait, it 
  is not going to be a permanent feature. If you do purchase 
  Equipment with CP and the item is consumed on use, breaks 
  down, or has become otherwise useless, it can be replaced 
  with a new one (or repaired back to function) between Epi-
  sodes.
  Multiple Equipment Traits that grant Adantages to the 
  same Skill do not stack. You can still benef t from other sec-
  ondary ef ects, but you only get Advantages to Skill Tests from 
  one of them at a time.
  Body Suit
  Equipment Trait (5)
  Ef ect: You are immune to the harmful ef ects of vacuums, 
  poison gases and radiation. The Body Suit will also impair any 
  attempts to physically harm you with a Disadvantage, and 
  grants an Advantage to Willpower Tests made when resisting 
  extreme temperatures.
  The Body Suit is the name given to the smaller and more 
  practical versions of astronaut suits used these days by work-
  ers in the SSA. These are sealed and will protect the wearer 
  from the dangers they face while working outside the colony 
  itself. The Body Suit provides 12 hours’ worth of air supply 
  and the obligatory waste disposal system that you need to 
  work in space for any length of time.
  Ether Drive (Specialist)
  Equipment Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Choose a Miracle Skill and one Specialization when 
  you take this Trait. You may use said Miracle’s Specialization, 
  though without any Advantages to Tests. The Ether Drive will 
  act as a Proxy taking the Damage in your stead.
  After endless testing, the Clarke Foundation has found a way 
  to weaponize the harvested organs of Cryptids. They will not 
  admit what the items are, but their origin is obvious to any-
  one who has dealt with the original creature in the past. Its 
  not like they put much ef ort in trying to disguise alien eyes 
  as ‘experimental lenses’ anyway.
  Possible Specializations: Force (Of ensive Tests), Phantasm 
  (Invisibility), Somatics (Healing), Temperature (Of ensive Tests: 
  Fire), Temperature (Disruption Tests: Freezing)
  Masterwork Tool (Specialist)
  Equipment Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Choose a General Skill when you take this Trait. All 
  Tests made to perform the chosen Skill with this item on hand 
  are at an Advantage.
  You are usually considered to have what you need to use 
  your Skills, but it is possible to acquire inherently superior 
  equipment that makes things so much easier. 
  Possible Specializations: Performance-enhancing drugs (Ath-
  letics), Damascus Sword (Combat), Surveillance Bugs (Investi-
  gation), First Aid Kit (Medicine), Survival Kit (Survival).
  
  57
  Backup Bodies
  Equipment Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode Arc you may wipe all Damage to 
  your Plot Armor in between Scenes, or devoting a Scene 
  specif cally to doing so. If you died, this creates a clone of 
  yourself from before you got hurt.
  A highly experimental and morally shady device nicknamed 
  ‘The Cloneforge’ by Clarke technicians. Eligible operatives are 
  installed with a memory chip that records their digitized DNA, 
  knowledge bases and personalities. This data can be used 
  to restore a dead or missing Operative to life with a copy of 
  their original body. Through weekly data dumps, valuable 
  Operatives can be restored to life even if their chips are lost. 
  All backups think that they are the original, unless the origi-
  nal chip containing memories of their death is used. A Clone-
  forge is not actually all that dif  cult to use, it can even be 
  set to create a new backup using stored memory chip data 
  should the user fail to come back after a while. Provided you 
  have a suf  ciently large basement and ludicrous amounts of 
  money to pay the preposterous power bills, you could have 
  your own - not that the Foundation would willingly allow it.
  Flight Pack
  Equipment Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you can f y with complete freedom 
  of movement until the end of the current Scene. You f y at the 
  same speed you can move on the ground and can reach an 
  altitude of up to 1 Zone from ground level.
  A winged jetpack that lets you move in three dimensions 
  without requiring a running start or the favor of the winds. 
  Verne’s Military Police uses the Icarus-Class suits of power 
  armor with these installed.
  Miniature Chemical Weapon
  Equipment Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Activate this item to make everyone within the Zone 
  Test Willpower against a DN of 20. Should they fail the Test, 
  they then take the amount they failed it by as Damage. If they 
  don’t escape the Zone before a Round passes, they will have 
  to Test again. You can throw this and immediately f ee in the 
  same Action. The gas lasts a Scene.
  One of the most dangerous and illegal things a character 
  could carry on themselves. These Miniaturized and super-
  concentrated breakable orbs pack enough nerve gas to 
  kill an entire apartment room in seconds. The containers 
  are small enough to f t within an earring, a watch, or other 
  similar innocuous object. Anybody who is not careful when 
  buying -let alone using -this will be paid a visit by a number 
  of very nice people dressed in black.
  Personal Facility (Specialist)
  Equipment Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Choose two General Skills when you take this Trait. For 
  as long as you are within this Facility, any Tests related to the 
  task it was designed to facilitate involving said Skills gain two 
  Advantages.
  Now you too can have your own of  ce staf ed with compe-
  tent assistants or secret basement laboratory. You are free 
  to design what this Facility is for and what it contains, within 
  reason. Skull-shaped fortresses are rarely available.
  Possible Specializations: Library (Humanities and Sciences), 
  Workshop (Craftsmanship and Vehicles), Artif cial Intelligence 
  Research Laboratory (Electronics and Investigation).
  Range Booster (Specialist)
  Equipment Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Choose a Skill you can use to make Of ensive Tests 
  when you take this Trait. You can now make Of ensive Tests 
  against targets up to two Zones away from you. If you have 
  another piece of Equipment to boost the corresponding Skill, 
  both are combined into a single item.
  Bringing a gun to a knifef ght might tarnish your reputation 
  but it might also save your life. 
  Possible Specializations: Sniper Scope (Combat), Drone Con-
  trol System (Vehicles),Psychowave Amplif er (Miracles)
  Superior Proxy (Specialist)
  Equipment Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Choose a General Skill when you take this Trait. This 
  Proxy is applicable when using the chosen Skill. A Superior 
  Proxy also grants an Advantage to all Tests using it and im-
  parts a Disadvantage to all Tests trying to damage it.
  You’ve got a toy that is waaay better than the norm. Maybe 
  it is a highly customized motorcycle with integrated weapons, 
  a suit of powered armor. Maybe it is an AI Sidekick inside an 
  USB drive who dœ s all the hacking and snooping into other 
  people’s f les you could ever need.
  Possible Specializations: Combat Armor (Combat), Hacking 
  Laptop (Electronics), Battle Tank (Vehicles)
  
  58
  Deathblows
  How a Charcacter f ghts is not really all that important to the game’s rules. You can use a gun, or whack people with a war fan, 
  or use electric yo-yos and it all means the same thing. Most of the time, anyway. Deathblows are the thing that spices up com-
  bat, they are special techniques that add unique ef ects to the results your regular Combat Test. Before rolling an Of ensive 
  Test, you may call out a Deathblow to grant the Test in question its ef ects. Deathblows usually apply to Combat Tests, 
  but you can make use of them with anything that intends to take out someone else’s Plot Armor.
  A Deathblow represents you putting extra ef ort into your assault to make it more ef ective. It can be can be anything from 
  deciding you want to unload your whole cartridge at once to chucking your melee weapons at some poor sap. The f rst time 
  you use an individual Deathblow during an Episode, it works normally. After their f rst use, the Test suf ers a Disadvantage 
  for each time the Deathblow was used that Episode. You may apply multiple Deathblows to one Test, but Disadvantages will 
  stack. Mecha are immune to Deathblows, they just have no ef ect on giant robots.
  Called Shot
  Deathblow Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Passing the Of ensive Test inf icts that Enemy a Disad-
  vantage to all Tests for a Round.
  Hit them where it hurts and make it harder for them to hit 
  you back. Blow that sword of  their hands, sweep their legs to 
  knock them down, or throw sand in their in the eyes.
  Distraction Move
  Deathblow Trait (5)
  Ef ect: Passing this Of ensive Tests will grant your Allies an 
  Advantage to all further Of ensive Tests against the same 
  Enemy for a Round.
  Nets, chains, and f ashbangs all are good ways to serve as 
  both a distraction and enabler for others.
  Finishing Blow
  Deathblow Trait (5)
  Ef ect: If your Of ensive Test would force the Enemy to Test 
  Willpower in order to avoid defeat, they suf er a Disadvantage 
  to said Test for each Layer of Plot Armor they’ve lost.
  You strike vital areas with the intent to end the battle right 
  now. This turns otherwise debilitating blows into lethal ones.
  Forbidden Secret Art
  Deathblow Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Passing this Of ensive Test will deal the Enemy an ad-
  ditional amount of Damage equal to the current Tension.
  A favorite of swordmasters worldwide. No combat style is 
  complete without a move so lethal it causes fœ s to collapse 
  just when they thought they survived the worst.
  Sweeping Assault
  Deathblow Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Your Of ensive Test may target all Enemies in the same 
  Zone instead of just one.
  You attack multiple enemies at once, switching your rif e into 
  the good old spray n’ pray mode, or maybe you get fed up of 
  playing nice and resort to explosives.
  True Strike 
  Deathblow Trait (10)
  Ef ect: Your Of ensive Test dœ s not suf er from any Disad-
  vantages that would aplly from internal or external reasons, 
  except those from repeating your Deathblows.
  You have learned to focus your mind’s eye, using your sixth 
  sense to f nd an opening where the other f ve can’t.
  Maya: Traits are a great way to spice up a character, expanding who they are as a person and what they can do through the 
  rules. Many of them are really cheap so there’s little to lose in getting them just to broaden your character’s horizons, even if 
  they won’t come into play as often as some Skills do.
  Raymond: Deathblows can be used with Miracles. Characters with no Fitness can still wipe the f oor with their enemies through 
  Charm with Temperature and Awareness with Phantasm.
  Maya: If you’re not sure you can keep track of everything that is going on or want the GM to of er you a tip every now and 
  then, Common Sense and Living Database can make your life a lot easier. Gumshœ  can do the same, though its scope is lim-
  ited to Investigation Tests.
  Ryu: I... I need Spirit of Steel. And Hard Work and Guts.
  Raymond: The Traits with a Cost of 10 CP tend to turn around the outcomes of Scenes on their own. They are worth their 
  weight in gold, so don’t hesitate to take them if they look like they belong with your Character.
  Ingham: Comrade deserves a special mention here. All PCs are expected to have NPCs they are on a good relationship with, 
  because that is half the point of the Resources Attribute, but they might not always be there to help you out. What makes 
  Comrades special is that they will not die, betray you, or be removed from the game without your consent. In essence, you are 
  purchasing them with CP as an insurance policy.
  Maya: The trio of Jaded, Danger Sense, and Superior Immune System can go for long periods of time without seeing use, be-
  cause you don’t control when that would happen. As a general rule, Traits about doing things are more useful than Traits about 
  things happening to you.
  Raymond: Both Weapon Expertise and Masterwork Tool work fantastically together, giving you a +4 to your Might Tests when 
  you’ve got your special Weapon with you. I intend to do this with Blade, and to eventually have all Deathblows. 
  Ryu: Sounds like you’re your own Bushido Warriors scenario.
  
  59
  Technobane
  Anomaly Trait (0) 
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may disable any modern piece 
  of machinery or electronics no larger than yourself in your 
  presence, causing it to malfunction or outright breaking it 
  for the duration of a Scene. All Tests using the Electronics or 
  Vehicles Skills, or those involving Equipment Traits are at a 
  Disadvantage.
  Gygravagnite reacts to your presence, and it dœ s not like 
  you. Simple modern appliances tend to malfunction around 
  you, and you have a small degree of control over your 
  ‘power’. You can release the Element G equivalent of a short-
  lived EMP by concentrating on doing so. Thankfully, you do 
  not have any ef ect on anything bigger than yourself, such as 
  a Gear.
  Wild
  Anomaly Trait (0) 
  Ef ect: You gain an Advantage to all Awareness Tests and uses 
  of the Survival Skill in the wild. You may speak with Earth 
  animals, translating sounds they make into simple and short 
  sentences in your head - think “Master is angry” or “Timmy 
  fell down the well”. This grants you an Advantage to interac-
  tions with them. All Tests using either of Intellect or Resources 
  that don’t f t the previously mentioned criteria are at a Disad-
  vantage.
  Ever since the f rst Cryptid sightings, there have been reports 
  of ‘wild childs’ in some of the lesser populated islands of the 
  Far West. They are said to have an uncanny ability to survive 
  in the wild, in spite of radiation, and communicate with the 
  little wildlife that remains in the area.
  Miracles and Anomalies may or may not be allowed depending on the game’s setting. A gritty war drama would not be much of 
  one with characters who can f y, regrow missing limbs, and read enemy thoughts.
  More than that, they should be true to their names and be rare things outside of the norm. Rare and unique superpowers stop 
  being special when every PC and NPC has them, after all.
  All being said, they do have a place in the Mecha Genre. The provided game world setting in Chapter 5 has a few hooks to 
  include psychics and mutants in your game too.
  Cyborg
  Anomaly Trait (0) 
  Ef ect: You are immune to damage from of vacuums, and 
  most toxins or illnesses. plus you do not need to eat or sleep 
  - though doing so dœ s helps you keep your sanity. You suf er 
  a Disadvantage to the use of Charm with any Test, as well as 
  to any Awareness Test made to contest Diplomacy or Deceit.
  Despite being part machine, you pass of  as a regular human 
  pretty well. You have a solid edge over regular f eshfolk as far 
  as survivability is concerned. Unfortunately, your augmenta-
  tions have the unintended side ef ect of making you both less 
  able to connect to others, and more vulnerable to emotional 
  manipulation.
  Nightmare
  Anomaly Trait (0)
  Ef ect: As an Action, you may make an Of ensive Charm and 
  Presence Test against the Defense of any number of charac-
  ters in your presence. Any one character may not be af ected 
  by this more than once per Episode Arc. Any uses of Charm 
  for purposes other than intimidation are at a Disadvantage.
  There is something terrifying about you, a combination of 
  unsightly deformities and being really creepy. Whatever the 
  reason, you can strike fear into the hearts of children and 
  adults alike. All it takes is a very suggestive look, but f ashing 
  a smile with two rows of pointy teeth will work too, should you 
  have those.
  Undying
  Anomaly Trait (0) 
  Ef ect: At the end of a Scene in which you took Damage past 
  your f rst Layer of Plot Armor, you are fully healed back to 
  normal. But for each Layer beyond the f rst healed this way 
  you suf er a Disadvantage to all Tests for the rest of the Epi-
  sode.
  You are more than just dif  cult to put down, coming back 
  from the dead and regenerating all your wounds within 
  minutes of them happening. Sadly, this is an extremely pain-
  ful process, and the bigger the wounds you have to heal the 
  more you will wish that you didn’t have this ‘gift’.
  Anomalies
  In a similar vein to Miracles, Anomalies are Traits for those characters who can do things that should by all means be impossi-
  ble. Unlike other Traits, Anomalies do not cost any CP, but they have a hefty downside to them.
  
  60
  Choosing Genre Themes
  Now that you know what your character is like and what they 
  can do from spending all that CP, you need to take a step 
  back. Look at who they are, who they have been until now, 
  and who they want to be in the future - or who they don’t 
  want to be. Through the following section you will need to f g-
  ure out what def nes your character, their wants and failings, 
  their relationships and beliefs.
  If you’re making a character by yourself, then you should 
  consider halting the process right now. The next step will be 
  at the very least dif  cult to do without knowing what kind of 
  game you will be in and what group of characters you’ll play 
  with. A lot of the fun in this step is f guring out what will make 
  for the most fun group dynamics.
  Genre Themes, or just Themes, are the core of what your PC’s 
  life revolves around when of  the battlef eld. They’re the pat-
  terns, cliches, or leitmotifs that your PC will explore through 
  the course of the Season, willingly or not.
  Genre Themes come in three kinds: Reasons are the PC’s 
  personal motivation, Typecasts are how your PC acts 
  within their group, and Banes represent your PC’s most 
  fatal f aw. You need one of each for your PC.
  Whenever you roleplay in a way according to your PC’s Genre 
  Themes and it advances the plot, makes scenes more inter-
  esting, or doing so puts you in trouble you gain a Genre Point.
  The more a character struggles to overcome the trials and 
  tribulations in their way, the more Genre Points you get. 
  Themes are a treat for you, the Player, even if they tend to be 
  a complication for the Characters themselves.
  
  61
  Example Reasons
  Here are a few Reasons to use as a starting point, they are 
  pretty simple and require only one word. They also include 
  how they might develop and earn their owner Genre Points in 
  the course of play.
  Justice: 
  You act out of a deep personal sense of what is right and 
  wrong. This may entail making a few enemies out of people 
  you have no need to cross, resisting generous of ers to look 
  the other way, or even getting into trouble with your superiors 
  or peers for following your convictions.
  When Jill learned that Bob had been selling her Mecha’s 
  spare parts on the side, she walked up to him with every 
  intention in the world to beat him up. She changed her mind 
  after learning that he was doing so to af ord expensive medi-
  cation for his family, deciding to keep quiet about this matter 
  to her superiors instead.
  Curiosity: 
  Your inquisitiveness overwhelms your sense of self preser-
  vation, leading you often into danger. This can range from 
  walking into every obvious trap the GM ever lays to toying with 
  things until they break.
  Husni had a living alien brain and needed a computer power-
  ful enough to upload it to. He eyed HQ’s mainframe and bit 
  his lip. What is the worst that could happen?
  Vengeance: 
  You are seeking revenge against another - a person or a group 
  - that has slighted you. You would gladly walk into a trap if it 
  gives you a chance to settle the score, your own well-being is 
  a secondary matter to making things even.
  His best friend was dead because of her, and Tonah swore he 
  would never forgive the woman. He sacrif ced the only chance 
  the team had to parley with the imperial army, and f red the 
  f rst shot.
  Duty: 
  You f rmly believe in your faction and what they stand for, and 
  are honorbound to prioritize their best interests. Examples 
  range from defending their name, to standing up for them 
  against bad odds and even willingly taking the fall for them as 
  a sacrif cial pawn,
  Yamato had given up his family, his name, and his heart to 
  the General and The Cause. Now the man he so looked up to 
  asked of Subject Z to give his life in an impossible mission. 
  Yamato’s heart had doubts, but Subject Z accepted.
  Genre Reason
  Every hero has their quest, every champion has their cause, 
  and every PC have has their Reason. PCs must have some-
  thing that they care deeply about and strive hard to preserve, 
  maintain, or change. 
  A Reason is the thing that comes to mind when things look 
  bleak and makes PCs grit their teeth and stand up one last 
  time to keep f ghting. Maybe they f ght for Love, maybe it is 
  for Money, maybe even for Kittens. 
  Point is, a PC has something that keeps them going and drives 
  them forward. It can be a tangible goal (To avenge their family) 
  or something abstract like a personal code (To uphold the 
  truth over all else)
  Discuss your idea for a Reason with the GM and make sure 
  it has a place in the game. A PC will earn Genre Points from 
  their Reason generally through their own actions in standing 
  up for what they believe in. Or failing to stand up if it is one of 
  the less honorable Reasons.
  Ingham: Ryu. Tell me what your character cares about and 
  what dœ s he want to do.
  Ryu: Fighting the aliens.
  Ingham: I need more than that.
  Ryu: Er, I’m not really sure... 
  Raymond: Right after he warned you to think about things.
  Maya: Come on, it isn’t all that dif  cult. How did he get the 
  most powerful super robot?
  Ryu: Um, it was a birthday present...?
  Raymond: I can’t believe this.
  Ingham: From who?
  Ryu: His... grandfather? Who was a genius super scientist.
  Ingham: And where is his grandfather now?
  Ryu: ...The aliens got him? The robot was the last gift he had 
  for his grandson.
  Ingham: So why dœ s your character pilot, aside from just 
  f ghting the aliens?
  Ryu: Because the robot is a memory of his grandpa that he 
  wants to keep with him and use to protect people.
  Ingham: Now that is better. Your go, Raymond.
  Raymond: He’s a soldier, he follows orders.
  Ingham: It needs to be something he cares about deeply. Dœ s 
  he care about his duty that much?
  Raymond: Yes.
  Ingham: Then we will work with that. Maya.
  Maya: Yes, she would like to return to and rebuild her home-
  land, the colonies in Lagrange 2.
  Ingham: As I thought. Ideally, Reasons are tied to the game’s 
  primary objective and the defeat of the group’s common 
  enemies, but have potential for situations where conf icts of 
  interest take place between the cast of PCs.
  
  62
  Genre Typecast
  Typecasts are what a PC brings to their Squad. The role they 
  play in the team. The components that make up the dynamics 
  of the group as a whole. 
  Is the PC friendly to and attentive of allies? Would they rather 
  be left alone? Do they assertively establish themselves as de 
  facto leaders and demand respect? 
  The Typecast can be a general attitude with the entire group 
  (“I am your leader”) or a specif c relationship with one mem-
  ber of the group (Being in love with another PC). 
  Consult with the other Players to see whether the Theme will 
  be ef ective or not. As long as a Theme causes interesting 
  things to happen, you still get a Genre Point. They don’t need 
  to have happy endings, either.
  Raymond: My character is very proud and will demand to be 
  acknowledged as the better soldier. Failing to meet his stand-
  ards will earn you his ire.
  Maya: I was thinking the princess would be older than the rest 
  and would see you two as little brothers to try and keep in a 
  tight leash.
  Raymond: That should be amusing to see.
  Ryu: ...Really, my character’s rival is a jerk and the chick is a 
  nag?
  Maya: Would that be a problem?
  Ryu: ...No, I think it is just like anime. I guess I’ll play a 
  hotblooded guy who just wants to be treated with respect 
  Ingham: Not enough yet, I want something that can lead to 
  conf ict between the characters.
  Ryu: How do I do that?
  Raymond: Do we need to explain every little thing? Should I 
  make a chart detailing every little step of the way to roleplay-
  ing an interesting character?
  Ryu: What the hell’s your problem? Did you take an extra 
  dose of jackass pills this morning?
  Raymond: ...There you go, that’s how.
  Ryu: ...Oh.
  Ingham: Proof of Concept.
  Ryu: Yeah yeah I get it, har har.
  Ingham: Typecasts are a form of social contract between the 
  group, though usually the characters themselves don’t agree 
  on the terms of exchange proper. You are looking for a bal-
  ance of agreeability and annoyance between everyone when 
  they’re together. 
  Raymond: Honest enmity or devoted friendship are okay, 
  but it is better if the relationships develop over time because 
  that’s what gives the most Genre Points.
  Ryu: If that’s what you’re doing dœ s that mean you’re role-
  playing a Tsundere?
  Raymond: Soon... Deer?
  Maya: And now I have my next fanf c.
  Ingham: It is funny because it is true.
  Example Typecasts
  Typecasts are dif  cult to get right on your own. The given 
  examples focus on only one side of the relationship and don’t 
  quite show how other PCs would react to them, which is often 
  the most fun part.
  Authority: 
  You are - or think you are - a born leader, and will direct this 
  troupe of unruly jerks to success even if it is the last thing 
  you do. Chances are that you adopt a bossy tone with the 
  rest of the PCs, and tell them what they should be doing more 
  often than they’d like.
   
  After that terrible display of teamwork in the last live training 
  exercise, Dominique would not let them have a day of . Early 
  in the morning, she was banging on everyone’s doors so they 
  would all have a few additional simulator rounds.
  Rivalry: 
  You feel an intense rivalry for a certain other PC, and foiling 
  her plans while proving your superiority makes every day that 
  much more enjoyable. This may be a real feud or one that 
  you play up for your own entertainment.
  Sandro was showing of  his maneuvering skills in front of 
  Soledad again. Carlos would not let this stand, even if his 
  Fighter form was still in testing and it could end up with him 
  going down in a blaze of stupidity.
  Love: 
  You are quite simply charmed by the PC next door, with all 
  the corn that implies - and will act like a complete idiot for 
  their sake. You can misunderstand their words and actions, 
  overreacting accordingly, or be a reasonable human being and 
  deal with the troubles of commitment.
  Altair was dumber than a bag full of bricks, but they didn’t 
  make their vows for show. If his ‘brilliant plan’ was to raise a 
  ruckus and draw the ire of the Mother Hive, then Vega would 
  go with him and help buy time for the others. He is not get-
  ting rid of her, whether he likes it or not.
  Greenhorn: 
  You are the new kid on the block and will try waaaay too hard 
  to impress everyone else so they stop seeing you as a rookie. 
  When Mamoru of ered to be of assistance in any way neces-
  sary, Tatsuya f gured he could use someone eager to do all 
  the paperwork in his stead. Poor Mamoru thinks that this will 
  surely get him recommended for a promotion. His hard work 
  HAS to be recognized, right?
  
  63
  Genre Bane
  Achilles' Heel is more infamous than Achilles' own deeds. 
  Much like Achilles himself, all PCs too have a fatal f aw that 
  threatens to be their end. This is their Bane.
  A Bane can be a f aw of character (Drinking addict) a medical 
  condition (Terminally ill), or an external factor (Hated by the 
  repair teams). Keep in mind that this is something you want 
  brought up, so choose a Bane you are comfortable roleplaying 
  a number of times.
  Consider what you think The PC’s worst problem could be, 
  and maybe even think about what is the worst ending their 
  story could have, then discuss it with your GM to agree on 
  how they will make your PC’s life that much harder.
  Since Banes are generally brought up by the GM and not the 
  player, whatever the Bane is, it should get the better of the PC 
  whenever it comes up during an important situation. If it dœ s 
  not, the PC dœ s not get a Genre Point.  By the same logic, 
  the Bane should only come into the story when it would be 
  meaningful. Otherwise it is just a repetitive annoyance and it 
  is less fun to roleplay.
  Ryu: Do I need to have a Bane?
  Raymond: If you don’t, you miss out on Genre Points, and 
  that makes you weaker than not having it.
  Maya: If you feel it will make your pilot vulnerable and lose 
  control of what they can do, then remember that herœ s rise 
  to the challenge after falling down and shine their brightest 
  when it is dark.
  Ryu: I guess you’re right, I’m just not sure... oh, I know. What if 
  his drawback is that he is too good?
  Raymond: ...This is preposterous.
  Ryu: No wait. Like, he’s too brave and dœ sn’t back down from 
  a challenge to prove himself or his grandpa’s work. That’s 
  good, right?
  Maya: That works well with everyone’s Typecasts.
  Ingham: Yes. It is approved, Ryu.
  Raymond: Hmm, okay. As I’ve already mentioned, my charac-
  ter has an attitude, but this is because he dœ sn’t really know 
  any other way to deal with people.
  Maya: So you’re tying your Typecast to your Bane?
  Raymond: You could see it that way, I suppose.
  Ingham: You will have to roleplay that twice as hard to make 
  them both worth those Genre Points.
  Raymond: That’s okay with me.
  Ingham: Very well. Maya, your go.
  Maya: My character is idealistic despite her age and a bit 
  naive, she dœ sn’t want to hurt other people.
  Ingham: Good, good. Banes are meant to put the PCs between 
  a rock and a hard place so make sure they are actually bad in 
  practice and not just theory. With that said, don’t have them 
  constantly pop up if they’re not going to be giving away any 
  Genre for the trouble they cause.
  Example Banes
  Banes might seem like a nuisance you have to deal with at 
  f rst, but they are deceptively fun to play with. Once you 
  embrace them, they can open up all sorts of doors making 
  things more interesting. Here are a few simple Banes to use as 
  inspiration.
  Phobia: 
  You suf er from a crippling phobia that turns you into a gib-
  bering cowardly mess. It can be a common like being afraid of 
  spiders, or something more unique like the ocean itself. Either 
  way expect to battle a giant robot spider or to be shot down 
  and drift along with the waves waiting for rescue.
  Ever since the incident in the space station, Jediah has not 
  been fond of places where they can’t hear you scream. The 
  operation to strike at the orbital laser requires the squadron 
  to be sent out into space, but Jediah requested to stay behind 
  and defend the base from the inevitable retaliation.
  Prejudice: 
  You lack tolerance for a certain group of people and treat 
  them with contempt, even when you know it isn't in your 
  best interests to do so. You are not subtle about it either, and 
  anyone who is open minded will probably be at odds with you 
  on principle when said group is involved.
  As a member of the spacenoid elite, Finnegan would not 
  breathe the same air as the barbaric earthnoids. Telling the 
  Hiryu envoys this to their face earned him getting thrown into 
  solitary conf nement for a month.
  Angry: 
  You have a short fuse and a tendency to break out into f ts of 
  anger at the smallest of provocations. At the very least, you 
  really want to insult whomever has of ended you to their face, 
  and possibly more.
  Akane hijacked Serena’s communications channel just to 
  call her a monkey face, goading her with some rude ges-
  tures from her Mecha while at it. This was an obvious trap to 
  separate Serena from the group. And Serena being Serena, it 
  worked.
  Shy:
  You are socially anxious and tend to withdraw from interacting 
  with groups of people. This may lead to the rest of the group 
  probably running over you and your own voice not being 
  heard, often to your own detriment.
  Everybody hates escort missions, so when command asked 
  for volunteers pretty much the entire team stepped aside and 
  left it up to Parvin. Sighing internally, she just said yes.
  
  64
  Choosing Genre Powers
  Genre Powers are some of your character's most powerful 
  abilities, and they are fueled by Genre Points. The use of a 
  Genre Power is a tilt in the balance of the f ght, such as an im-
  provised new technique to overcome enemy defenses, a hid-
  den shield that stopped what would have been a lethal blow, 
  or even a dramatic speech that encourages battered allies to 
  rise and keep f ghting.
  Genre Powers come in two types, each of which may be used 
  at dif erent times. Setup Powers can only be used during 
  your own Turn and before you take your Action, while Re-
  action Powers can be used any time. Reaction Powers may 
  be used in response to an enemy’s Actions or even to Powers, 
  and take ef ect before the thing to which you are responding. 
  Some are so powerful and represent tricks so dif  cult to pull 
  of  that you can only use them once per Operation.
  All Genre Powers require you to spend one of your Genre 
  Points to activate them. Remember that you start the each 
  Episode with a number of Genre Points equal to your 
  Power Level.
  All PCs have the six Default Genre Powers, plus you can 
  pick and choose a number of additional Genre Powers 
  equal to your Power Level when you create a Character. 
  These bonus Powers can be from any of the three Power 
  Categories. 
  You can’t take a Power multiple times unless it is marked with 
  (Specialist) next to the name. If you make a dif erent choice 
  each time, you can have multiple versions of that Power, simi-
  larily to Specialist Traits.
  Reading Powers
  All Powers follow an identical template, because there are not 
  many rules to them other than their speed and Ef ect.
  Power Name
  Power Type
  Ef ect: This block of text def nes what happens when you use 
  the Power in question.
  Each Power has an example of how to narrate their use. You 
  should go ahead and use them however you wish, though. 
  Just remember to make them cinematic!
  Here are a few ideas to get you started on fancy ways to spice 
  up narration when you’re about to use Genre Powers
  Cutscene: Your attack stands out because you narrate it in 
  down to every detail, from how your bullets pierce the ene-
  my’s own in mid-air to the sequence of punches you deal and 
  combining multiple weapons into one attack for a particularly 
  f ashy move. Don’t forget the speed lines in the background.
  Technobabble: You explain, with all the pseudoscience and 
  made up words necessary, exactly why your super move is 
  incredible and no one could possibly have seen it coming. 
  Sometimes it is okay to tell rather than show.
  Flashback: You build up your badassery by remembering at 
  that exact moment a particular training lesson, emotive mo-
  ment, or other such memory that could be that extra oomph 
  to overcome a greater fœ .
  New Move: You did not wish for it to come to this, but it has, 
  and now you must unveil the forbidden secrets of your Mecha. 
  Alternatively, you come up with a new way to use your old 
  weaponry that the Enemy just cannot escape because they 
  cannot improvise like you do.
  Rousing Speech: There is too much at stake to let hardships 
  overpower you. And you are going to make sure those that 
  would like to stop you know why it is not going to work. Feel 
  free to elaborate about the meaning of love, courage, hard 
  work, memories, songs, or whatever it is that fancies you best 
  as a leitmotif.
  One Liner: Anything you do is automatically more awesome if 
  it is accompanied by a catchphrase, witty retort, or bad pun. 
  If you’ve got the advantage then you may also engage in more 
  traditional trash talking. But that is a thing that suits villains 
  more; You don’t want to be caught saying that your rival is ten 
  years too early to defeat you, no?
  
  65
  Not so Fast
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Force an Enemy's Might Test against an Ally of yours 
  to be rerolled inf icting it with two Disadvantages, keeping the 
  new result. This may not be used on Tests that attack you, 
  even if you are just one of multiple targets. You can use this 
  Power once per Test.
  A split second before the Justice struck Owen’s cockpit, it was 
  knocked of  balance by swift kick to its metallic gut. Sia got 
  there in the nick of time to save the day, her Gear proudly 
  standing def ant between the enemy and her friend.
  Synchro Attack
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Choose at least one willing Ally to make a combination 
  attack with, you gain two Advantages to your next Of ensive 
  Action for each Ally that helps you out this way. This uses 
  up an Action and a Genre Point from every other participant 
  and everyone must Delay their Actions until they can actually 
  attack at the same time. Units may participate in one Synchro 
  Attack per Operation.
  “SYNCHRONISE CHRONOMETERS!” Charlie bellowed. “Check!” 
  Came three replies. “SYNCHRONISE DRIFT SPEED!” “Check!” 
  The dull throb of altitude thrusters f ring nearby within the 
  vacuum sounded as well. “SYNCHRONISE OBJECTIVE!” “DELTA 
  FORMATION!”
  Try Again
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Reroll one of your Might Tests gaining an Advantage 
  to it, keeping the new result. You can use this Power once per 
  Test.
  Takashi thrusts with the Gran Sword, but the Outsider simply 
  moves aside, eager to punish Takashi’s mistake That’s when 
  the thrusters in the arm of the Gear kick in and transform 
  the sword thrust into a mighty side swing. The monster was 
  cut in half by the waist.
  Knowledge is Power
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Choose one Enemy. You learn that Enemy’s Attributes, 
  Upgrades, Weapons and Genre Powers.
  The enemy’s new mobile weapon was tearing through their 
  defense lines. But Hilda knew she recognized the pattern in 
  that barrier. “It is a Friction Field, of course! Everyone, use 
  your Beam Sabers!” 
  Live Another Day
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: You automatically retreat from the battlef eld. This 
  prevents any Damage that would have been dealt to you if 
  used as a response to an attack.
  All the sensors were in the red, things didn’t look good and 
  Matt knew he had to bail out or die. The Penderecki hid 
  behind an abandoned building and detonated all it had left, 
  toppling the building and halting the pursuers’ advance. 
  When the dust settled, he was long gone.
  Mid-Scene Upgrade
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Gain a new Upgrade or Weapon, you must pay its MP 
  Cost at the earliest opportunity after the Operation ends. Set-
  ting aside your current MP for a later purchase if necessary. If 
  you would not be able to make the purchase in the future, for 
  whichever reason, the GM may rule that you cannot gain that 
  Upgrade or Weapon.
  The engineers said it wasn’t ready, but Darren’s hand reach-
  es for the small switch of the experimental anti-air weaponry. 
  The formation of enemy Majesty planes never saw it coming.
  Default Powers
  These are the Powers that every PC gets for free, and they’re some of the most useful. Make sure you familiarize yourself with 
  them and keep them in mind at all times, because they will save you more often than you imagine.
  
  66
  Believe in Myself
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Restore 5 points to your Threshold and treat all 
  Maimed Areas as normal for three Rounds. You can use this 
  Power once per Operation.
  Sarah’s gear stands back up again.  Its one intact arm stuf s 
  the loose cabling back inside the hole in its hull. “Impossible!” 
  Says her mechanic. “There’s no way Kagutsuchi can continue 
  functioning after that kind of damage, it should be out of 
  power!” Sarah just laughed, making a dash for her enemy 
  once again, “I told you, it runs on guts!”
  I Cannot be Defeated
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: The next time that you would be destroyed during 
  this Operation, you remain functional with a Threshold of 1 
  instead. You can use this Power once per Round and against 
  any source of Damage except Techniques.
  The Sunbuster got hit by several kilotons worth in missiles, 
  but mere seconds after the blast, the Gear was walking 
  through the f ames like nothing happened. “I told you, you 
  cannot touch the sun!” Sunbuster was engulfed in f re once 
  again, but this time by its own power creating a blazing pillar 
  reaching all the way to the clouds. “My burning f ames of 
  justice shall purge the world of your evil!”
  I’m Breaking Through
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Your current Of ensive Action is immune to the ef ects 
  of Active Defenses.
  Mahzun thrust his G-Lance one more time against the giant 
  monster’s Gravagne Field. Just like last time, his strike was 
  stopped cold against a wall of repulsive force, but now he 
  was prepared. “TAKE THIS!  MAHZUN SPECIAL!” he overloaded 
  the weapon, redirecting more power to it than it was made to 
  hold. The tip of the weapon exploded inside the f eld, scorch-
  ing the face of the Cryptid with green f ames.
  My Defense is Impregnable
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Halve the next instance of Damage you would take. 
  You can use this Power once per Operation.
  Both Gears crashed into each other, breaking into pieces. 
  Everyone sighed in relief at last, now that the psychopath 
  was out... That’s when they heard her Meister laughing and 
  shouting over a public channel “I haven’t had this much fun 
  in years!” as if it was nothing. Slowly, the pieces of the giant 
  robot started to pull themselves together.
  My Style is Impetuous
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Treat Tension as if it were 4 points higher for your next 
  Of ensive Action. You can use this Power once per Operation.
  Thomas was forced to admit, as the enormous tentacle 
  immobilized him one more time, that there was a certain 
  something about the alien thing. A sheer singlemindedness 
  so simple and chaotic in its ways that even his well-honed 
  senses were defenseless against it.
  Signature Weapon (Specialist)
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Choose any one of your Weapons when you take this 
  Power. Activate Signature Weapon to make your next Of ensive 
  Action using the chosen Weapon immune to the ef ects of 
  Active Defenses and increase the result of its Might Test by 5. 
  You can use this Power once per Operation, but if you have 
  multiple Signature Weapons each can be used once.
  “FINAL ATTACK, SKULL COLLECTOR!” The Demiurge violently 
  tore of  the head of the alien monster, and impaled it along 
  the other 49 on its crystalline back. “YESSS, I AM THE BEST AT 
  SKULLS!”
  Champion Powers
  Champion Powers make the user an of ensive and defensive powerhouse, and are thus useful to pretty much all PCs. A good 
  number of them are so powerful they may only be used once per Operation, so don’t plan to rely too much on them and con-
  sider diversifying a little into other Power types.
  
  67
  Come at Me Bro
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: For the next three Rounds, when an Enemy within 5 
  Zones from you makes an Of ensive Test against another Ally, 
  you may Attack that individual Enemy once after their own 
  Action has f nished. If an Ally uses this Power while your own 
  is active, the ef ects of their Power replace yours.
  Miguel’s Gear planted himself in front of the group. With 
  a metal hand, it pointed at the enemy squad and made a 
  throat slitting motion. These goons would surely fall for the 
  trick, buying the Wagner some time... Now he only had to 
  hang in there.
  Gotta go Fast
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: You or an Ally may Move an additional 5 Zones with 
  their next Action this Round. You can use this Power once per 
  Round.
  “Hey, hey, hey!” Jason quipped, speeding past the defense 
  lines and throwing the enemy formation into chaos “I’ll show 
  you why they call me the Metal Sonic Boom!”
  My Pain is your Pain
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: The next time an Enemy would deal Damage to you 
  this Round, you deal half that much Damage back to them. 
  You can use this Power once per Operation.
  Hassan’s heavy weapons were out of ammo, and the Out-
  sider was still standing strong. He drew his sword and made 
  a suicidal rush against the giant monster. A giant tentacle 
  pierced his Gear through the chest, but Hassan just chuckled 
  “Gotcha!” he pulled from the limb and drew the beast closer, 
  so he could cut of  its head.
  Take One for the Team
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: You may have the next instance of Damage that would 
  be dealt to an Ally within a number of Zones equal to or lower 
  than your Speed be dealt to you in their place instead. After 
  that, all Of ensive Actions made against the chosen Ally suf er 
  a Disadvantage to their Might Tests for a Round.
  Shin was nervous to say the least, the waves of enemies just 
  kept coming and there was no sign of reinforcements arriving 
  in the immediate future. He gulped, “We might die here.” But 
  Reina would have none of that. “You will not die.” Shin blinked 
  and turned to look at her resolute face in the comm screen, 
  as she spoke, “I will protect you.”
  The Tacticool Approach
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: If your Systems is higher than your Might or your 
  Guard, you may replace one or both with your Systems for a 
  Round.
  They both knew there was no way their f imsy weapons would 
  overwhelm the Cryptid’s forcef eld, but Jo kept typing madly 
  as a dutiful operator “I am done redirecting all power to the 
  Helix Cannon.” Harry gulped in response “So this is it. Win 
  big or go home.” his trigger f nger sweaty and itchy. Jo just 
  chuckled “My suggestion? Hold on to your butt.”
  Trump Card
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Choose any two Weapons you don’t already own. You 
  gain the chosen Weapons until end of Operation and they 
  cannot be Maimed by Enemy Attacks. You can use this Power 
  once per Operation.
  “Give up, you’re out of ammunition and surrounded, be 
  reasonable!” The enemy shouted.  “NO, I REFUSE!” Came the 
  reply from the silver-coloured Gear. It f ew into the air and 
  began bombarding its enemies with a rain of f reballs. “I 
  TOTALLY HAVE ICE MISSILES TOO!”
  Trickster Powers
  Trickster Genre Powers are a toolbox for special circumstances where you just need a very specif c ef ect that is completely 
  outside the reach of other Characters. They might not seem like much at times, but they can prove vital in overcoming unex-
  pected complications. 
  
  68
  Tactician Powers
  Tactician Powers help you control how the battle is going. They keep friends in top f ghting condition and weaken your fœ s to 
  make them easy pickings. You can mess with the battle plan of enemy forces, disable special abilities or just turn the tide by 
  empowering your weakened friends.
  This is my Battlefield
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Choose one type of Terrain (other than Plain) when 
  you take this Power. Activate it to turn a Blast (1) area of Zones 
  into that type of Terrain for three Rounds. If you create Im-
  passable Terrain below other Units, they will get pushed out of 
  the way in a direction of your choice. You can use this Power 
  once per Operation.
  Lulu’s team was outnumbered and slowly being pushed back 
  by the GAF’s surprise attack. What they did not suspect was 
  that the entire battlef eld was mined beforehand and ready 
  to detonate at a moment’s notice. She gave the order to blow 
  them up and cackled to herself, this was so much more fun 
  than chess!
  You are Going Down
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Choose one Enemy. All attacks against that Enemy 
  from Units within 5 Zones of you gain an Advantage to their 
  Might Tests for one Round. This includes your own attacks. 
  You can use this Power once per Operation.
  “The enemy took out the auxiliary plates to reduce energy 
  consumption and amplify their shield. I am running interfer-
  ence on their barriers, everyone aim for the abdomen!“
  You can do Better than That
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: You turn a failed Might Test of yours or an Ally is an 
  automatic success, using the current Tension as the amount 
  it bypassed the target’s Defense. This ignores Advantages and 
  Disadvantages entirely, but not modif ers to Tension. You can 
  use this Power once per Operation.
  “Adjust your laser focus for 300m engagement.” “Oh I leave 
  the targeting corrections to the computer.” “Well now I’m 
  your copilot, and I am telling you that you should adjust 
  them. ” “...Yes dear”
  Can’t let you do That
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Any one Enemy loses the benef t of Tension to their 
  Might Tests for a Round. You can use this Power once per 
  Operation.
  Brandon shot several pods from his Mecha that latched to the 
  enemy and he pushed an ominous button. No one exploded. 
  Instead the injected computer virus caused something that 
  no one had seen for years - The legendary Blue Screen of 
  Death.
  Don’t Give Up
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Restore your Threshold or that of an Ally by an 
  amount equal to your Systems. You can use this Power once 
  per Operation.
  “Listen, to the will of those sleeping under the soil, to the 
  voices of those lost in the sea, to the dying wish of those who 
  became stars in the sky. The time has come to bring this 
  dream of freedom to fruition. Rise, young men and women of 
  Hiryu, and become legends!”
  Mind Over Matter
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: You and all Allies within 5 Zones treat halved Attrib-
  utes as normal for one Round. Mind over Matter will also stop 
  ef ects that halve your available Energy, even if the base At-
  tribute itself remais untouched.
  The Cryptids netted another ally with their labryinthine re-
  straints, capturing the Paladin much like a spider would web 
  a f y. Russell drawled “You know what I call people who rely 
  on all this fancy bullshit instead of giving their enemy a good 
  scrap?” After a short wait, he spilled the punchline: “Cow-
  ards.” With a f ex of their synthmuscles, he and his comrades 
  broke free.
  
  69
  Ryu: So when I use a Synchro Attack you guys only need to spend Points and an Action, right? You don’t need to be at a spe-
  cif c range or have to like, use up ammo or whatever.
  Ingham: Correct. It is one of the strongest abilities in the game for that reason, growing in power with each PC that contributes 
  to it.
  Raymond: Champion Powers are the next best thing, all being very powerful. The other categories of Powers are also good, but 
  not as straightforward. Of the rest, the ones with the most raw power would be My Pain is your Pain, Trump Card, Don’t Give Up 
  and You are Going Down.
  Maya: Remember that Genre Powers are the only abilities that your Pilot brings to Operations. Everything else depends on their 
  Mecha. You only have a handful of Powers to picks at best, so make them count!
  Ryu: Come at me Bro and Take one for the Team sound pretty strong too. Are they worth my f rst Power slots?
  Raymond: Yes, but it makes you better at helping others than straight up f ghting.
  Ryu: Like Not so Fast and some of the Tactician Powers.
  Ingham: Exactly.
  Ryu: That’s alright then. What I’m getting from this is that the strongest streategy here is teamwork.
  Ingham: That’s a good attitude to have. The strongest enemies you’ll face in the game are almost impossible to beat if you take 
  them on individually.
  For particularly dramatic Scenes where the PCs really want things to go their way, the six default Genre Powers can translate 
  their ef ects to Intermissions using the following guidelines below.
  These are guidelines for special circumstances where the “rule of cool” should trump the normal rules. Battle Century G is at 
  its best when the rules for Pilots and Mecha don’t intersect too much.
  Knowledge is Power: Pick up a general description of a single NPC’s statline. No specif c details need to be given, but it should 
  be clear which Attributes they favor, how high they rate, and any important Skills or Traits.
  Live Another Day: This can be used to both jump into a Scene you weren’t previously participating in or to escape from one 
  by pulling the equivalent of a ninja smokebomb trick. The explanation must make sense, though
  Mid-Scene Upgrade: Pick up a new Skill or Trait, then pay for it later. It can be a talent or item you always had but have been 
  hiding from others, or something you actually do obtain Mid-Scene.
  Not so Fast!: Can be used against any Test that would hurt or af ect one of your friends. Still only once per Test though.
  Synchro Attack - You gain two Advantages to a single Test for each ally that helps you out by spending their own Actions and 
  also a Point.
  Try Again: Works for any kind of Test, and is therefore universally useful. Only once per Test.
  
  70
  Power Level Adjustments
  Characters of Power Level 1 and higher start with extra Charac-
  ter Points to spend. The bonus equals 30 CP times the Char-
  acter’s Power Level. That means an additional 30 CP at Power 
  Level 1, 90 CP at Power Level 3, and so on.
  You can spend these points on Attributes (using the rules 
  found after the Attribute templates) or get more Skills and 
  Traits. The choice is yours, but don’t forget to note down this 
  bonus CP so you don’t lose track of your Power Level.
  Roleplaying Details
  A PC is more than a collection of numbers. They are people 
  with their own strengths and frailties, their own endearing and 
  annoying quirks. With this in mind, you should strive to make 
  them feel like they are three dimensional characters.
  The most crucial of these details is your Character's name, af-
  ter which come other factors such as age, ethnicity, height, fa-
  vorite food, and whatever else you feel could ever be relevant. 
  If you are conf dent in your ability to improvise, leave most of 
  these details blank and come up with them on the spot later 
  on during the middle of gaming session.
  Talk with your fellow Players and see if there's any way in 
  which you can use each other's ideas to build up a team that 
  works well together. Then feel free to go back and change your 
  Attributes, Themes, Powers, and whatever else you want to 
  change after having this conversation.
  The Character Sheet
  You should write down everything important about your PC in 
  a printed out photocopy of the Character Sheet at the end of 
  the book. Fill in the spaces with your Attributes, Themes, Pow-
  ers and so forth as necessary.
  The Character Sheet will be there to remind you of what your 
  PC can do when you’re stumped. It is also useful to keep track 
  of numbers, like Damage you’ve taken or how much XP you’ve 
  earned.
  It has enough space for a good number of Skills and Traits as 
  well as a short description of what they do. You don’t have 
  to get into details, just note down the basics. Note down any 
  Specializations for your Skills or Traits as well, since those are 
  kind of important. 
  There is an example of how to create a PC and a Character 
  Sheet all f lled out in the next pair of pages. Refer to it if you 
  think you are not entirely sure how one or more steps of the 
  process work, or if you just need check on how to keep track 
  of something. That’s what it is there for! 
  What are the Character's Gender and Age?  Do they look and 
  act the part?
  What are the Character's Height and Weight? Are they below 
  average, above, or just in the middle?
  What is the Character's ethnicity?  How stereotypical are they 
  physically and in personality?     
  How dœ s the Character look?  Are they attractive?  What is 
  their color of hair, eyes and skin?
  How dœ s the Character carry themselves?  Are they conf -
  dent, unassuming, or perhaps attention-loving?
  What is the Character's social standing?  Are they wealthy and 
  envied?  Poor but deeply respected?
  What did the Character do for a living before being recruited?  
  Do they still work it?  Were they good at it?
  How educated and savvy is the Character?  Do they have a 
  Ph.D or street smarts?
  What was it like for them to grow up?  What was their family 
  situation?  Did they have many friends, few, any at all?
  Is the Character religious?  Are they into philosophical meta-
  physics? Do they like to come across as ‘deep’?
  Is the Character politically minded or do they leave that to 
  someone else? Would they like the status quo to change?
  What dœ s the Character do in their spare time?  Do they have 
  a hobby or are they workaholics?
  Is the Character a social butterf y or more introspectively 
  minded? If they’re in the middle, how is the balance?
  Dœ s the Character respect tradition and the letter of the law? 
  Do they believe that right and wrong are immutables?
  Is the Character imaginative and insightful? Do they help oth-
  ers realize their potential or do they help themselves?
  
  71
  Example of Character Creation
  Violet wants to play in the game that Ingham is running. She settles with him that her character's concept is going to be Profes-
  sor Tetsuryuu's Daughter, named Michiko. She was always a capable test pilot, but didn’t join them earlier because the Profes-
  sor kept trying to stop her.
  Before spending any of her 100 CP, Violet asks Ingham what the existing PCs are like. The group so far has the bases covered 
  pretty well, with Jef  and Blade as the tough athletes and Maria as the tactical and more sociable one. Violet will give Michiko 6 
  Intellect and Awareness, 4 Charm and Willpower, then 2 Fitness and Resources. A semblance of a personality forms in Violet’s 
  head - Michiko is going to be the well-learned straight man... Or woman, as the case may be. This cost her 68 CP, so she will 
  have to add a few more points to that if she dœ s not want to have leftover points.
  She decides to complement this side of her personality with some Science and Electronics, but dœ sn’t quite know whether to 
  Specialize or not so she moves on to Traits. A cursory read through the selection of Traits makes three of them stand out in her 
  eyes: Common Sense, Jack of all Trades, and Genius. Ingham brings Comrade to her attention, f guring that she could use her 
  relationship with Tetsuryuu to her benef t. Violet argues that Michiko isn’t the kind of person to resort to nepotism, and that the 
  Professor would try to make her get out of the robot rather than help her anyway.
  Back to Michiko’s choice of Traits, they cost 25 CP total, so she can’t get all of them if she also wants to have some Skills. 
  Fortunately, Ingham informs her that the characters are at a Power Level of 1. That means VIolet has 30 more CP to spend on 
  anything she wants.
  Violet f nally trains her PC as follows: She takes Electronics and Sciences at the generalist levels for 10 CP each, then she spends 
  the 25 on her Traits of choice. With 17 CP left, she decides she’ll bump Intellect yet again to make her the most intelligent mem-
  ber of the team at Rank 7, and improve her resilience and charisma with 5 Charm and Willpower.
  Since Michiko is done in regards to spending CP, Violet will calculate her Defenses and Plot Armor now. Her Awareness is 6, plus 
  5 that makes her Defense a 11. Michiko’s Willpower is 5, so every Layer of Plot Armor can take up to 5 points of Damage for a 
  total of 15 before she is out.
  Choosing Themes is comparatively faster, she has to get three and exactly one of each category. Her choices are Knowledge, 
  Independence and Pride. Violet decides Michiko was going to be one of the scientists in her father’s institute but she changed 
  her mind the moment she saw the destruction the Outsiders were capable of with her own eyes.
  Michiko still yearns to know more about the function of the Outsiders, and she would def nitely know more if she had stuck for 
  a few more years of university, but she is too conceited to go back on her word. The core of Michiko’s story will be about quest-
  ing to learn more about the enemy, to get the Professor to stop meddling in her business, and trying not to bite of  more than 
  she can chew out of stubbornness.
  Ingham tells Violet that she’ll score Genre Points when either Michiko’s desire to know more, to not have to rely on her father’s 
  inf uence, or to not go back on her word add some conf ict to a Scene or help advance the plot.
  Finally, Violet has to choose one Genre Power for Michiko. She is a f ghter, but she relies more on her smarts than raw power, so 
  Michiko gœ s for My Pain is your Pain because it suits her style. Violet already f gured out most of Michiko’s details on the way, 
  so she has no need for the questionnaire.
  
  72
  
  73
  In one of the many islands dotting the Far West Archipelago is a test-
  ing facility for new technologies in the war effort, the Gygravagnite 
  Research Institute. It is one dark and stormy night about the other-
  wise relatively quiet peace of the enclave that is this scientific fortress. 
  Maria DeSir made her way through a dimly lit hallway and punched a 
  code into the keypad at the end.
  The blast doors opened with the puff of cryogenic gas exiting the con-
  tainment chamber, and a chill went down her spine, but she did not 
  enter. She simply stood there, for seconds that seemed like an eternity. 
  Then she said out loud, "it is rude to spy on others, Jeff."
  The younger man left his hiding spot behind a corner, rubbing the 
  back of his neck "...Sorry, Chief." Maria simply crossed her arms, clearly 
  awaiting an explanation. It took a while until her stern gaze forced 
  some words out of her bumbling subordinate.
  "...Um, you dropped this." An old and rugged envelope, unopened, ad-
  dressed to one Ruby Heinlein. Maria stepped forward and took it from 
  his hands, swiftly but not forcefully. 
  "Thank you." While her tone was anything but scornful, it was evident 
  she was expecting more than just that out of him, but if she had to 
  stand for another tense silence before he continued it would be the 
  death of her. "You know who the Heinleins are?"
  “The aristocrats that used to govern a considerable part of the Space 
  Colonies?” He risked, omitting the rumors about them being psychics, 
  transhumans, or something more sinister altogether. 
  “And what do you make of me being in possession of this ten year old 
  envelope?” She waved it around and flicked it in front of Jeff, pointing 
  at the date.
  “...That you’re some kind of... Space princess?” This was starting to 
  sound like a horribly clichéd or contrived plot, he just wasn’t sure 
  which one it was. Thus he decided to bet on both for the time being.
  
  74
  “Atta boy.” At that she simply turned to enter the mysterious room, 
  leaving a confused jeff behind. She did not close the door on him.
  Naturally, the rookie sprinted behind to catch up before the blast doors 
  locked him outside “H-hey Chief! What’s this all about?”
  She led him across a metallic catwalk over a shaft neither of them 
  could see the bottom (or top) of. “The Professor.” she explained, to 
  which Jeff understandably blinked in confused response. Maria did not 
  turn around “The Professor was a friend of our family, and my father 
  gave him this letter, detailing that when I was ready I should see what 
  they both have been constructing down here.”
  This sounded rather personal, and made Jeff start to feel self-conscious 
  “I... Should probably leave you to see this for yourself, shouldn’t I?” Of 
  course, he was curious too, and thus he was not going to leave unless 
  she asked him to.
  “It is fine.” She said “I already know what is down here. I didn’t drop 
  the letter, Jeff. I threw it, I already knew all of this.” Maria halted her 
  walk and turned her face upwards. Jeff did the same, wondering what 
  it was that caught her eyes. 
  Whatever it was, it made his mind start racing “Hey Chief.”
  “Yeah?”
  “Are you going to come out and say you can read minds and see the 
  future any moment now? Because I am about to hit my limit for dra-
  matic reveals today and could use a breather.”
  “Judging by this, there are people betting on it.”
  What they saw had the power to let a human be a God or a Devil.
  
  75
  
  76
  Mecha for Everyone
  Your Character needs a Mecha of their own, otherwise it is 
  kind of pointless to be playing a Mecha game in the f rst 
  place. The process to create Mecha is mostly about how you 
  want them to f ght. We won’t be paying much attention to the 
  technical details, because this is a game about giant robots 
  duking it out and not an engineering simulator.
  What this means is that the how and why of Mecha dœ s not 
  matter as much as the what. You can justify and f avor your 
  Mecha's gigantic energy weapon as an enormous shoulder 
  mounted positron cannon, eye beams, or even a gun that 
  shoots a lightshow of rainbow lasers.
  In other words, Mecha Construction is more about the game’s 
  rules and mechanics - If you pardon the pun. You can make 
  your Mecha as distinctive with its technical or æ sthetic details 
  as you want. There are examples in the descriptions of each 
  abilty to help you out with that.
  Much like with the piloting character, the place to start with 
  when creating your Mecha is the concept, and it works pretty 
  much the same. Anything ranging from “Sleeping God En-
  cased in Armor” to “Old Piece of Junk in the Hangar” works. 
  Just keep in mind they’re all going to be equal in power, so by 
  the time the former awakens to full power, the latter will have 
  been upgraded to stand tœ  to tœ  with it.
  Mecha Construction Summary
  Your Mecha, being an extension of your PC, is much simpler 
  to create on a conceptual level. The customization process 
  itself is more complex though, and there’s more choices to be 
  made. 
  Step 1: Concept
  Decide whether your Mecha is an heirloom that protects the 
  bloodline, an ancient magical robot from a lost civilization, a 
  custom version of a mass-produced robot, or something else 
  altogether.
  Step 2: Mecha Points
  Your Mecha has 100 Mecha Points (MP) that are used much 
  like CP. You will decide with them whether your giant robot is 
  speedy and fragile or slow and resilient, then grant it special 
  equipment like forcef elds and missile launchers.
  Step 3: Genre Powers
  Wait, what? Genre Powers are part of the previous chapter, 
  yes. But they have more of an impact on Mecha than on the 
  Pilots themselves. Now that you have your giant robot you 
  should take another look at them and make sure they work 
  well together.
  Step 4: Power Level Adjustments
  You have 30 more MP to spend for each Power Level above 0. 
  You can use this to enhance Attributes or to gain even more 
  Upgrades and Weapons.
  Step 5: Finishing Touches
  In the same way that PCs get their own questionnaire for 
  extra depth, Mecha have one for you to truly make them your 
  own personal machine and f ne-tune them to your heart's 
  content.
  Here is a list of ideas for you to make your own Mecha. Most are generic enough that they can be adapted to most campaign 
  scenarios, and should be compatible with the setting presented later in the book:
  -Stolen Military Prototype
  -Windmill with Arms and Legs
  -Built in a Cave with a Box of Scraps
  -Grandpa’s Masterpiece
  -Transforming Sports Car
  -Old Piece of Junk in the Hangar
  -Sleeping God Encased in Armor
  -Docile Newborn Giant Alien
  -Regenerating Nanomachine Monster
  -Firebreathing Mecha Dragon
  -Mecha Knight with Mecha Horse
  -Mecha Avatar of a Virtual J-Pop Idol
  -Mass Produced Police Mecha
  -Heavy Artillery Unit
  -The Guardian of the Moon
  
  77
  Mecha Points
  Much like with the Character, you can create a Mecha to your liking. The process is exactly the same as the one for the pilot, 
  but using Mecha Points (MP) instead of Character Points. You get 100 MP to spend on Attributes, Upgrades and Weapons all 
  three of which are explained in this same chapter. Remember that if you end up with leftover MP you can still spend them later 
  during the game, they just won’t count towards your Power Level.
  The Four Templates
  Mecha also have their own templates you can use as a workhorse. All are worth 100 MP, just like those for Characters, but  they 
  have a little more variety and present more def ned combat roles. You can customize them in the same way you could cus-
  tomize the Character templates, use them without changing anything, or just ignore them altogether and make your own giant 
  robot from scratch.
  And of course, the examples ignore Power Levels completely, only spending the base 100 MP that all Mecha receive. Each Power 
  Level is 30 Mecha Points that you have to spend yourself.
  Eagle
  Eagle types are light and made not to last, but to strike fast 
  and hard. An Eagle Mecha dœ s not have much in the way of 
  toughness, but it is dif  cult enough to hit to compensate, and 
  speedy enough to outpace the average fœ . Just make sure to 
  stay out of the sights of enemy snipers.
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  5
  5
  3
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  2
  4
  6
  Upgrades: Overbooster, Reversible Thrusters.
  Weapons: Assault Rif e, Beam Saber.
  Controller
  Controller-class Mecha are support types, prioritizing util-
  ity over of ense. This type is preferred for Mecha that avoid 
  the front line entirely since they don’t have a lot of ways to 
  defend themselves. They excel at enhancing their allies and 
  clearing waves of weak Enemies.
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  0
  4
  4
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  5
  4
  Upgrades: Commander Type, Early Warning and Control, As-
  sisted Targeting, Support Fire, Airstrike.
  Weapons: None.
  Destroyer
  Destroyers are larger and bulkier than most, and they can 
  pack bigger and better weapons that way. They are easy to 
  hit, but hit hard themselves too. They move very slowly, but 
  their weapons reach far and their forcef elds can keep them 
  safe until the targets are in range.
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  7
  4
  5
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  3
  3
  Upgrades: Absolute Barrier.
  Weapons: Rail Bazooka, Sniper Rif e.
  Shield
  Shields are Mecha capable of withstanding enemy f re like no 
  other, made to protect the rest of their team like the name 
  suggests. Their armor is hard to pierce through and even then 
  they have a very large damage buf er to get through before 
  being in any real danger.
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  4
  6
  6
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  2
  4
  4
  Upgrades: Shielding Aura.
  Weapons: Arm Guardian, Zweihander, Riot Weapon.
  
  78
  Raymond: If you are making your own array of Attributes, keep in mind that the three most important ones are Might, Guard 
  and Threshold. The rest are secondary to those, since they’re the ones that let you engage in combat and survive.
  Ryu: So if I were to sacrif ce Attributes somewhere, I should be picking from Energy, Systems, or Speed. Got it.
  Maya: Even if you do make a character who dœ sn’t need some Attributes early on, you will probably want to increase them 
  eventually to around 4 or 5 as the game progresses. They all are very useful.
  Raymond: And remember that the DN to beat when attacking a Mecha is equal to its Guard plus 5, not just Guard.
  Ryu: Alright. I f gure my safest bet is to leave most things at 4, but I’ll lose 2 points of Systems and 1 in Speed to increase my 
  Guard by 2, since I want to protect the rest of the group.
  Might:
  Might is a pretty straightforward Attribute: You use it to shoot 
  your Weapons. You could also use it to lift fallen buildings or 
  to carry a friendly deactivated Mecha. It is a crucial Attribute if 
  you intend to attack anyone with missiles, beam sabers, laser 
  cannons or any other direct method.
  Guard:
  Guard is part of what makes your Defense. You are never 
  going to roll a Guard Test, but it is an extremely important At-
  tribute. Without any Guard you will be suf ering more Damage 
  and will suf er it more often. 
  Threshold:
  Threshold is your other defensive Attribute, being entirely the 
  foundation of your four Threshold Levels. Threshold is never 
  rolled during Tests either, but it is still of utmost importance 
  to all Mecha. With low Threshold you will explode after being 
  hit once or twice.
  Energy:
  Energy is the most versatile of Mecha Attributes, but also the 
  one that dœ s the least on its own. You have to buy Upgrades 
  and Weapons that require Energy in order to make any use of 
  it.. All spent Energy regenerates back to full at the beginning 
  of your Turn.
  Systems:
  Systems is the most subtle Mecha Attribute, intended for use 
  with support-oriented Upgrades, Weapons and Actions. With 
  Systems you can extend the reach of weapons, repair your 
  Allies in the battlef eld, and call for support from NPCs. 
  Speed:
  Speed dœ s what its name says. It determines your Initiative 
  and how many Zones you can Move with your Actions. With-
  out a decent Speed Attribute you cannot chase down Enemies 
  who keep their distance and will always go last in the Initiative 
  Order.
  Attributes
  Mecha Attributes are assigned exactly the same way you do Character Attributes, the only dif erence is that the Attributes 
  themselves are dif erent. To refresh your memory, all Mecha Attributes start at Rank 0, but you can increase them with MP.
  Rank
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Cost
  1
  3
  6
  10
  15
  21
  28
  36
  45
  55
  Your Mecha’s f rst Guard increase will boost the Attribute from 0 to 1 for a cost of 1 MP. Enhancing their Energy from 0 to 4 will 
  cost 10 MP because you have to pay for four individual increases of 1, 2, 3 and 4 MP.
  You can try to take Mecha Attributes to Rank 11 and beyond if you want to, but much like with Character Attributes it will be 
  very costly and probably not worth the sacrif ce. An Attribute at 0 represents a glaring weak point in the Mecha, either as a 
  design f aw or as a calculated risk. Certain Mecha might not need any Might or Energy at all, while others could get by with low 
  Systems or Speed. Having no Guard or Threshold is suicidal though. Don’t do that.
  And here you can reference what each Mecha Attribute is good for in case you need it:
  
  79
  Core
  The Core is the cockpit of the Mecha, functioning as both the 
  brain and heart of the mechanical body. Many of the more 
  powerful Upgrades can only be allocated to the Core, but no 
  Weapons may be installed on it.
  Head
  Serving thematically as a secondary Core of sorts, the Head 
  is usually for utility systems, like sensors or jammers.  It is 
  also a good location for cool but impractical weapons like eye 
  beams or mouth f amethrowers.
  Torso
  This Area often carries the bulk of the Mecha’s defensive Up-
  grades, like forcef elds and thrusters. These tend to be rather 
  large and make sense here rather than anywhere else. Certain 
  Weapons also f t this criteria, being mounted into the chest or 
  shoulders.
  Arms
  Like a soldier needs hands to use its equipment, Mecha need 
  Arms to use most of their stuf . Although Weapons can be 
  equipped anywhere, the Arms are the only place where a lot 
  of them actually make sense.
  Legs
  The Legs are unsung herœ s of mobility without the prestige 
  that most other Areas get. Many veterans favor them to carry 
  spare caches of ammo or other emergency supplies, while 
  mounting an extra gun or drill there just in case.
  Battle Century G is an ef ects-based game. This means it is 
  easy to ‘reskin’ most of the fancy abilities of Mecha. To ‘reskin’ 
  something is to change its narrative qualities, but leave the 
  rules aspects intact. You can turn a Rocket Punch into a giant 
  boomerang. Since they both more or less do the same thing 
  and the rules make sense for both, this works out f ne.
  Reskinning dœ s not change the rules of the game at all, so 
  you should go ahead and do it as much as you want. 
  Upgrades and Weapons aren’t the only things you can reskin 
  though. Areas can be interpreted dif erently as well, which is 
  crucial to make sense of Mecha with forms that aren’t entirely 
  humanoid. 
  The example Mecha later in the book do things like having a 
  Left Arm and Right Arm Areas, or Wings instead of a Head, 
  and so on. Play around with the descriptions of Areas until 
  you get something that you like.
  Because Pilot Attributes, Skills and Traits don’t inf uence 
  directly Mecha performance, you’re free to make any kind of 
  Character without worrying that they will not be a good pilot.
  Dœ s this mean you can theoretically play an Intellect 2 Char-
  acter who operates a Systems 8 Mecha? Yes it dœ s. If you 
  think you can make the idea work, go for it. It is your respon-
  sibility to make a Character who is cohesive and immersive.
  Battle Century G gives you the freedom to play any concept 
  you can imagine. Use it wisely.
  Areas
  Mecha are a lot more resilient than people. They can lose one or more limbs and keep f ghting, then spend a few days at the 
  workshop and return good as new. In fact Mecha do get beat up and lose functionality of their equipment quite often dur-
  ing battle. Bullets pierce a joint and the limb begins to malfunction. Sensors are burnt out rendering guns that relied on them 
  unusable. And of course sometimes a giant beam sword chops of  your arms and legs. It just happens.
  The Upgrades and Weapons of Mecha are very similar to the Skills and Traits of Pilots, but there is one key dif erence: Most 
  Upgrades and Weapons must be allocated to one of your unit’s External Areas (The Mecha’s Torso, Arms, Head or Legs) 
  and should that Area be Maimed as a result of Damage, any Upgrades and Weapons equipped there will stop to func-
  tion for the remainder of the Operation. If you restore enough lost Threshold to bring you back to a previous Level, the cor-
  responding Area is restored to normal. 
  There is also a f fth Area, called the Core, which is a llittle dif erent because the Core is Internal and thus cannot be Maimed. 
  Internal Upgrades always go in the Core, while External Upgrades can’t be placed there.
  Lastly, some Upgrades and Weapons are labeled as Separate. These don’t go into any Areas, and represent a myriad of 
  things that your Mecha dœ s not carry themselves. Sometimes they’re sidekicks, sometimes they’re autonomous Weapons, 
  sometimes they’re backpacks that represent a whole new External Area.
  When allocating External Upgrades and Weapons, you are free to place them wherever you wish. You should try to distribute 
  them somewhat evenly and not place everything in one Area, or a lucky shot that takes it out can leave you naked.
  
  80
  Upgrades
  Upgrades distinguish Mecha further in various ways. They 
  represent all sorts of technology, from f ight capability to 
  forcef elds to AI system enhancements. 
  Mecha Upgrades will be marked as either Internal or 
  External Upgrades, designating whether they must go in the 
  Core or if you have to choose another Area to place them in, 
  respectively. Much like Traits, Upgrades have their MP Costs 
  next to their type in parentheses. Just like with most abilities, 
  you can only have multiple instances of the same Upgrade if 
  they are tagged as (Specialist) Upgrades and if you make a dif-
  ferent choice with each new purchase. 
  Reading Upgrades
  The grand majority of Upgrades stick to the template below. 
  The ones that don’t will explain the signif cance of any dispari-
  ties in their own entries.
  Upgrade Name
  Type of the Upgrade (And Cost)
  Ef ect: Between the type and the f avor text gœ s what the 
  Upgrade dœ s in rules terms. Some of er passive abilities that 
  are ‘always on’, but many require you to spend Energy to use 
  them.
  Finally you get at least one example of what the Upgrade 
  can represent in the f ction. All specif c examples are taken 
  from the world setting provided in chapter 5.
  There are no rules for Mecha size. In fact, there's nothing in 
  the book that outright tells you the size an individual mecha 
  should have aside from a few implications here and there.  
  The assumption is that most Mecha will have a similar enough 
  size that the distinction dœ s not matter. Many shows don’t 
  really keep the size of their Mecha consistent and it works well 
  enough for them.
  But if you do care about the height of your giant robots, here 
  are a few guidelines for the size of Mecha using the four tem-
  plates from a few pages ago.
  Eagle: 10 or less meters (32 or less feet)
  Controller: 11 to 50 meters (36 to 98 feet)
  Destroyer: 51 to 100 meters (167 to 328 feet)
  Shield: 101 or more meters (331 or more feet)
  If you’re not using any of the four examples, just compare the 
  Attributes of your Mecha to the templates and pick the one 
  that looks closest.
  General Upgrades
  Commander Type
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend 1 Energy 
  to use a single Support Upgrade you own without having to 
  spend an Action.
  You’ve got a special neural interface for a more precise and 
  faster manipulation of all AI Units directly under your com-
  mand.
  Early Warning and Control
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: When you use a Support Upgrade with a Cost of 5 you 
  may spend 4 Energy to restore said Upgrade after use.
  The Early Warning and Control links your Mecha to the rest 
  of your team, feeding you information on everything they can 
  detect. An onboard AI processes and relays this information 
  to give your squadmates battlef eld support and improve 
  their performance.
  Expert Support
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: You may always Attack Enemies in the middle of a 
  Duel without running the risk of hitting your Ally as long as it 
  is with a Weapon that hits single targets. When using any area 
  of ef ect Weapon, you may choose any Zones within their 
  area of inf uence to be safe from the attack and from any 
  secondary ef ects the Weapon may carry.
  Your Mecha is equipped with the cutting edge in targeting 
  systems. This makes you the very best there is when it comes 
  to providing support f re.
  Slippery Chassis
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: You don’t need to Disengage to move away from a 
  Duel, and don’t take Damage when you Move after being Sup-
  pressed.
  Your body type has superior mobility and is small enough to 
  make stealth possible as a giant robot. This makes you ideal 
  candidate for reconnaissance duty and covert operations in 
  general.
  Stealth Field
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: When Maneuvering any Might Tests against you suf er 
  two Disadvantages unless the attack is made with Weapons 
  that have the Blast, Burst or Line abilities.
  An array of intelligent Gygravagnite emitters that block all 
  known methods of detection outside of the naked senses. 
  Mantaining this f eld takes a lot of ef ort and energy from the 
  user, but that is the price of being untouchable.
  
  81
  Artillery Frame
  Internal Upgrade (15)
  Ef ect: All your Blast, Burst and Line Weapons gain an Advan-
  tage to their Might Tests and you increase the radius of your 
  Blasts by 1 additional Zone. This includes your Blast ef ects 
  from Powers or Upgrades.
  You pack bigger weapons than everyone else. Beams are 
  wider, missiles make bigger explosions, and you chew 
  through magazines like candy.
  Assistant (Specialist)
  Internal Upgrade (15)
  Ef ect: You gain a Subpilot, who grants you any one Genre 
  Power from the available lists to your character and another 
  Genre Point to use during Operations.
  You get a second pair of hands to help you out in the bat-
  tlef eld. The know-how and support from this subpilot will 
  improve your Gear’s ef  ciency beyond what you could man-
  age on your own. 
  Duelist Model
  Internal Upgrade (15)
  Ef ect: When an Enemy uses the Disengage Action to get 
  away from you, you get a free Of ensive Action using a Melee 
  Weapon against them. Your Melee Weapons gain an Advantage 
  to Might Tests.
  Your Mecha was engineered to corner fœ s and force them to 
  face you, punishing all that dare turn their backs on you with 
  extreme prejudice.
  Integrated Weapons
  Internal Upgrade (15) 
  Ef ect: You may use your Weapons even if the Area they were 
  allocated to has been Maimed.
  Your Weapons are integrated to the Mecha’s frame. Cannons 
  are mounted to the shoulders, blades attached to the hands 
  and knees. You are now ef ectively immune to disarming.
  Sniper Model
  Internal Upgrade (15) 
  Ef ect: Increase the Maximum Range of your Long Range 
  Shooting Weapons by twice your Systems instead of just your 
  Systems. All your Shooting Weapons gain an Advantage to 
  Might Tests against targets at Range 1 or higher.
  Equipped with very expensive and sensitive targeting sys-
  tems, your Mecha could hit a target beyond the horizon with 
  enough force for strategic bombing of key targets.
  Experimental Reactor
  Internal Upgrade (20)
  Ef ect: Your Beam Weapons have their base Energy cost (but 
  not the Boost cost) reduced to 0 and gain an Advantage to all 
  Might Tests.
  Your Mecha has a greater energy output, maximizing the ef-
  f ciency of Element G for maximum destructive power.
  Guardian of Steel
  Internal Upgrade (20)
  Ef ect: When Maneuvering you may spend 5 Energy to share 
  the Defense bonus with any Allies within 1 Zone. You do not 
  have to give up your benef ts from Maneuvering to share them 
  this way.
  Your Gear is enhanced and optimized to protect your team. 
  This can be in the form of large clouds of chaf , or as some-
  thing more complex like projecting multiple holograms in the 
  form of your allies.
  Invincible Alloy
  Internal Upgrade (20) 
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend 2 Energy
  to ignore the ef ects of Maiming for a Round. The f rst time
  that you would be destroyed during an Operation, you remain
  functional with a Threshold of 1 instead. This works against 
  any source of Damage except Techniques.
  Your giant robot dons a new composite alloy of Element G, 
  reinforced to withstand the rigors of battle better than most 
  others. Even your internals are reinforced, making your 
  equipment that much harder to disable.
  Superior Morphing
  Internal Upgrade (20)
  Ef ect: You may switch between equipment Frames at the 
  beginning of your Turn instead of using an Action, and may 
  Transform for 1 Energy instead of 2. When you purchase this 
  Upgrade, make two sets of Features, External Upgrades or 
  Weapons with a total cost of 10 MP for each set. Assign each 
  set to a dif erent Form, but all in the same Areas. The Cost in 
  MP of these sets is already paid by this Upgrade.
  Your internal framework has been modif ed to allow for faster 
  and more versatile changes between equipment. Your jets 
  can turn into cannons and your wheels into shields.
  The Beast
  Internal Upgrade (20)
  Ef ect: Your Default Weapons don’t suf er an innate Disad-
  vantage to their use and gain an Advantage to Might Tests for 
  each Level of Threshold you are missing. After attacking with 
  a Default Weapon, you might spend 2 Energy to make your 
  attack immune to the ef ects of Active Defenses.
  In place of giant robots, some organizations chose to tame 
  giant monsters. They eschew most equipment, relying on 
  their natural weapons instead, and are at their f ercest when 
  cornered.
  
  82
  Absorbing Armor (Specialist)
  External Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: Choose one of Melee, Shooting, Beam or non-Beam 
  when you take this Upgrade. In response to the results of an 
  Enemy Might Test against you using a Weapon of the chosen 
  type, you may spend 1 Energy to increase your Defense by 
  3 against it, and if that is enough to block all the Damage 
  you would have taken from the Might Test it costs no Energy 
  instead.
  Gygravagnite can be used to strengthen composite alloys 
  without the need of a real forcef eld, being more ef  cient on 
  energy reserves than the real thing. A neat side ef ect is how 
  the rapid energy f uctuations through the length of the body 
  will make even the dullest of giant robots look fabulously 
  colorful.
  Custom Defense (Specialist)
  External Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: Choose one of Melee, Shooting, Beam or non-Beam 
  when you take this Upgrade. In response to the results of an 
  Enemy Might Test against you using a Weapon of the chosen 
  type, you may spend 1 Energy to increase your Defense by 3 
  against it, or 2 Energy to increase your Defense by 5 against it 
  instead.
  You can equip a variety of defensive mechanisms. Examples 
  include attaching small forcef elds to your arms as shields, 
  nanomachine bubbles that stop or slow down high velocity 
  physical weapons, and a variety of chaf  dispensers or jam-
  ming devices. You just need to know what it is you want to be 
  protected from.
  Reactive Booster
  External Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: In response to the results of an Enemy Might Test 
  against you, you may spend 1 Energy to increase your Defense 
  by an amount equal to half your Speed against it. 
  Reactive Boosters read specif c patterns and automatically 
  move the Gear in response to even the fastest of attacks. 
  Custom variants include CQC footwork and anti-missile cart-
  wheels, among others.
  Absolute Barrier
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend any 
  amount of Energy to create a shield that blocks an amount of 
  Damage equal to twice the amount of Energy spent and lasts 
  one Round. An active Absolute Barrier means you can’t use 
  other Active Defenses.
  An extremely powerful barrier that repels things through a 
  constant series of violent explosions. It blocks nearly eve-
  rything you can throw at it this way, while glowing like it is 
  on f re. The Gravagne Field is one of Hiryu’s most famous 
  successes, and the UEF would love to get their hands on its 
  technology.
  Electronic Cloaking System
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: In response to the results of an Enemy Might Test 
  against you, you may spend 2 Energy to increase your De-
  fense by an amount equal to your Systems against it. The 
  Electronic Cloaking System dœ s not work against Weapons 
  with the Blast, Burst or Line abilities.
  An advanced array of rapidly oscillating lasers used to foil 
  most conventional sensing equipment, from infrared to com-
  mon optics. This proves to be a much better idea on paper 
  than it is in practice, as giant robots still leave giant foot-
  prints and produce tremendous noise, but it is a great help 
  for emergency evasive maneuvers.
  Shielding Aura
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: In response to the results of an Enemy Might Test 
  against you, you may spend 1 Energy to increase your Defense 
  by 3 against it. You may also use this Upgrade to protect an 
  Ally within a number of Zones equal to your Systems. This will 
  not stack with Active Defenses of said Allies.
  The Clarke Foundation’s biomechanical Gears produce their 
  own innate forcef elds from their Organic Energy. Adaptable 
  and easy to sustain, they can even be extended remotely to 
  shield a friend in need. Too bad no human scientist can claim 
  them as their own work.
  Active Defenses
  Active Defenses give your unit a chance to evade or shrug of  attacks that should have by all regards hurt them, at the cost of 
  Energy. Only one Active Defense may be used at a time.
  
  83
  Restoration
  Restoration Upgrades enable your unit to support others in 
  the battlef eld by performing quick repairs and handing of  
  extra ammunition during a battle.
  You may use Restoration Upgrades a number of times equal 
  to your Systems per Operation. This limitation is for all Res-
  toration Upgrades you own as a whole, not for each of them 
  individually.
  Jury Rig
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: As a Utility Action, you may spend any amount of 
  Energy to restore that much Threshold to yourself or to any 
  one Ally within 5 Zones.
  You carry a dispenser of fast-repair nanomachines and 
  enough metaphorical (or literal) duct tape to keep allies from 
  falling apart.
  Regenerative
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend any 
  amount of Energy to restore that much Threshold to your-
  self. This Upgrade uses two of your available Restorations per 
  Operation instead of just one.
  Your Gear integrates all sorts of nanomachines into its own 
  frame, letting it draw from them to repair as necessary. 
  This is much faster than others who have to lug equipment 
  around, though of course it cannot protect allies.
  Resupply
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: As a Utility Action, you may restock any number of 
  One Shot Weapons or Support Upgrades that have been 
  spent, spending that many of your available Restorations per 
  Operation instead of just one. You may use Resupply on your-
  self or an Ally within 5 Zones, but all Weapons and Upgrades 
  must belong to the same Unit.
  You have a comically big backpack with all the supplies you 
  and your team could ever need to keep their weapons func-
  tional. It dœ s not slow you down much, but it dœ s stick out 
  like a sore thumb so be careful to not letting it get caught in 
  the crossf re.
  Mobility
  Mobility Upgrades enhance your... well, your mobility. They let 
  you bypass dif  cult environmental conditions, move around in 
  ways you normally wouldn’t be able to, or just bump up your 
  speed considerably.
  Antigravity
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn, you may spend 2 Energy 
  to ignore the ef ects of Terrain in your Zone and be able to 
  shoot through a Zone occupied by an Enemy to reach another 
  behind it as if they weren’t there. These benef ts last for a 
  Round. This Upgrade has no ef ect underwater or in space.
  Even though many Gears can jump inordinarily high or carry 
  Long Range Weapons to make up the dif erence, the ability 
  to f y and move in three dimensions provides a lot of advan-
  tages that can easily turn the tide of a battle. Do not under-
  estimate it.
  Overbooster
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn, you may spend 1 Energy 
  to Move up to 3 extra Zones with your next Action this Round, 
  or 2 Energy Move up to 5 extra Zones instead.
  Originally part of the Helios Project and meant to help with 
  travel times for space exploration and colonization, but 
  repurposed for war since then. The Overbooster improves 
  acceleration times considerably for any Gear that installs it, 
  and in any kind of environment - not just space.
  Reversible Thrusters
  External Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: Anytime you take an Of ensive Action, you may Move 
  backwards during it. The target must remain within a valid 
  range after moving.
  These let you move at full speed to get away from the enemy 
  without having to turn your back on them. 
  
  84
  Support
  Support Upgrades represent helping hands that are separate from your own Mecha, yet they are under your control. Supports 
  can come in the form of remote operated weapons, sidekick Mecha buddies or more traditional mechanized forces.
  Each Support Upgrade may be used as an Utility Action once per Operation, with an ef ective range in Zones equal to your 
  Systems. Artillery Frame and Expert Support can be applied to the use of Support Upgrades. The use of a Support Upgrade is 
  considered an Utility Action even when used to damage or otherwise harm Enemies. You can Resupply them, but that will cost 
  precious Actions, so use them with forethought.
  Assisted Targeting
  Separate Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: You or an Ally gain the benef ts of the Aim Action to 
  their next Of ensive Action this Round.
  With some help from your friends on the sidelines working 
  the supercomputers, you can mark and track targets in a 
  fraction of the time it would usually take for you to pull it of .
  Overcharge
  Separate Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: Increase the Energy available to yourself or an Ally by 
  4 during their next Turn. Multiple Overcharges on the same 
  Unit do not stack.
  The Overcharger looks like a lightning gun that would make 
  Tesla proud, but actually shoots a stream of nanobots car-
  rying Gygravagnite crystals. These crystals will essentially 
  overclock a Gear temporarily, making it run at 200% power 
  for a very brief period of time.
  Support Fire
  Separate Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: You can grant the Crippling ability to one of your 
  Weapons or that of an ally for their next Of ensive Action.
  Your sidekicks aren’t all that great at shooting down enemies. 
  But they are pretty good at providing cover f re and f anking 
  the fœ s you’ve got covered.
  Supply Delivery
  Separate Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: You or an Ally restock a single One Shot Weapon that 
  has been spent during this Operation.
  You can request supplies in the middle of a battle. Planes can 
  drop crates full of ammo, VTOLs deliver replacement guns to 
  your giant robot hands, and sometimes cannons just plain 
  shoot spare parts at you.
  Surprise Minefield
  Separate Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: A single Zone turns into Extreme Terrain for a Round.
  Just look at them, with that conf dent stride of assumed su-
  periority. They have the numbers on their side, but they don’t 
  have the brains that you do. Soon enough that conf dent 
  stride will be the last they ever walked.
  Airstrike
  Separate Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: All Units within a target area the size of a Blast (3) suf-
  fer an amount of Damage equal half your Systems.
  A heavy bombardment run on a designated area with a 
  specially prepared payload. There is just so much f repower 
  spread out that forcef elds are essentially useless against it.
  Electromagnetic Detonator
  Separate Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: One Enemy has their available Energy halved and will 
  suf er 2 points of Damage per Energy point they spend for a 
  Round.
  Most Gears these days are shielded from electromagnetic 
  pulses, and trying to disable them that way is usually a fruit-
  less ef ort. But that dœ s not mean they are immune, and a 
  well-placed EMP can still ruin their battle plan.
  Ensnaring Trap
  Separate Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: One Enemy has their Guard and Speed halved for a 
  Round. If they are using Anti-Gravity or another ability that 
  grants them f ight, it stops working for that duration as well.
  The overconf dent always walk into their doom. The problem 
  is that they usually don’t stay there waiting for it to come 
  and get them. Enter this entrapment system, thinly disguised 
  as part of the background, webbing down and trapping fœ s 
  with wires made of reinforced Element G. With any luck it will 
  hold them in place just long enough to fall prey to whatever 
  other devious ploy you have in mind.
  Fire at Will
  Separate Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: One Enemy Tests Speed against a DN of 10 plus your 
  Systems and if they fail suf er the amount that they missed 
  the DN by as Damage.
  Friendly battleships, VTOLs, and tanks are no replacement 
  for giant robots, but their sheer volume of f re should not be 
  underestimated.
  Jamming Barrage
  Separate Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: All Units within a target area the size of a Blast (3) have 
  their Might halved for a Round.
  A series of missiles that explode into a short lived cloud of 
  particles that confuse the targeting systems of all enemies in 
  the vicinity, causing them to be unable to distinguish friend 
  from fœ  temporarily.
  
  85
  Extra Areas
  Extra Areas don’t benef t your unit directly but instead 
  provide you with additional space for External Upgrades and 
  Weapons. The main draw of Extra Areas is that your Enemy 
  cannot Maim them and thus everything they hold is safe.
  Expansion Pack
  Separate Upgrade (20)
  Ef ect: An Expansion Pack is a separate Area that can hold up 
  to 30 MP in External Upgrades or Weapons and it cannot be 
  Maimed by Enemy attacks. Whenever you would be destroyed 
  during an Operation, you can purge your Expansion Pack and 
  remain functional with a Threshold of 1 instead. Doing so 
  will render the Pack and its contents unusable for the rest of 
  the Operation. Purging works against any source of Damage 
  except Techniques.
  A set of external armor or a giant backpack with its own 
  equipment. These ef ectively provide an extra limb of sorts, 
  and should you ever be pushed to the limit, you can even 
  eject it in the way of an incoming attack to soften the blow.
  Secret Equipment
  Separate Upgrade (20)
  Ef ect: When you purchase this Upgrade make a set of 
  External Upgrades or Weapons worth 30 MP in total. You can 
  use these Upgrades and Weapons only when Tension is of 5 
  or higher, but they cannot be Maimed by Enemy attacks. The 
  Cost in MP of the set is already paid by this Upgrade.
  Your Mecha has a very advanced AI and is something of a 
  black box, to the point that it seemingly has a will of its own. 
  A good portion of its equipment is hidden and locked away 
  from use until the AI determines the battle has gone for long 
  enough and needs to end now.
  Alternate Forms
  Alternate Forms let you shuf  e your Attributes around at 
  your convenience, making you a lot more versatile than other 
  Mecha. All Alternate Forms with the same owner still count as 
  one Unit. You may only have one type of Alternate Form, not 
  both.
  Frame
  Internal Upgrade (5)
  Ef ect: Choose two of Might, Guard, Systems or Speed when 
  you take this Upgrade. You switch the value of the chosen At-
  tributes around when you Equip this Frame. You may equip or 
  unequip this Frame before deployment or as an Action while 
  Docked inside your Base.
  You have modular equipment that you can switch around 
  between missions to sport a stronger or sleeker build when it 
  is necessary to do so.
  Transformation
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: Choose two of Might, Guard, Systems or Speed when 
  you take this Upgrade. You switch the value of the chosen 
  Attributes around when you Transform. You may switch back 
  and forth from this Transformation at the beginning of your 
  Turn by spending 2 Energy or as an Action.
  Your Mecha is a transformer, going from f ying robot to a 
  faster plane form, retaining all your equipment and abilities 
  between forms.
  To get the most bang for your buck when using Alternate Forms you want to grab Superior Morphing and give at least one of 
  your Alternate Forms a Feature.
  Features are a couple of pages later, but they represent things like plane, animal or maritime Mecha for a cost of 0 MP, and in-
  stead have a downside like not being able to move on land. They are a match made in heaven with Alternate Forms, since you 
  can just turn them ‘on’ when you need them and of  when they would get in the way. 
  By default you can only have two forms, but you can obtain more by spending extra MP. You basically just buy multiples of the 
  same Alternate Form and choose one of them to be the Default one. When you switch Attributes around, you are always using 
  those of the Default Form as a baseline. 
  If you have Superior Morphing, then your extra Transformations also benef t from the 10 MP granted by that Upgrade, but you 
  will have to spend another 5 MP to grant bonus Frames this extra MP. 
  This is entirely a balance mechanism so that Mecha with many Frames don’t end up receiving ‘free’ MP from Superior Mor-
  phing, since it would be spending 5 MP to earn 10 MP with each new Frame.
  
  86
  Combination
  This is the Upgrade line that enables multiple PC Mecha to 
  crash together in a way that def es normal science to make 
  a Mecha stronger than the sum of its parts. Combined Units 
  may even be capable of switching between multiple forms, as 
  many as the number of individual Mecha that made it.
  Combination Upgrades are meant for PC Units that want to 
  join together. If a character would like to have an NPC buddy, 
  they should use Assistants instead.
  When purchasing Combinations you need to designate the 
  friendly Units you want to combine with. All Units must 
  purchase the same type of Combination to be compatible 
  together. While Combined, all the Units are treated as one and 
  the same.
  Combiners usually deploy to battle precombined and may 
  not decombine into their individual component parts until the 
  Operation is over.
  Super Combination
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: All components must choose one of them to be the 
  Lead Unit when they take this Upgrade. All Subpilots then 
  choose one of the four External Areas belonging to the Lead. 
  After Combination, the lead Unit gains all the Upgrades and 
  Weapons of the other components, assigning the External 
  ones to their chosen Area. The Attributes of the Combined 
  Unit are the averaged values of all the components together.
  When an External Area of the combined Unit is Maimed, the 
  Lead Unit loses Upgrades and Weapons held there as normal 
  but it dœ s not lose a Subpilot or recalculate its Attributes.
  Parts of these Mecha have been designed from the start to 
  create something greater than the sum of its parts after 
  combination. With each part of the body having assigned its 
  own pilot, there is no greater manifestation of teamwork.
  Unison Combination
  Internal Upgrade (10)
  Ef ect: After Combination the new Unit has a number of 
  forms equal to its number of component Mecha, with each 
  one having a dif erent component as the Lead Unit. Each 
  of these forms has the External Upgrades, Weapons, Might, 
  Guard, Systems and Speed of the current Lead. Its Internal 
  Upgrades, Threshold and Energy are shared, using the average 
  values of all the components together. All Pilots of a Unison 
  Combiner may freely share their Genre Points with each other 
  and do not need to spend Actions to participate in Synchro 
  Attacks with each other.
  Multiple Mecha designed from the start as compatible with 
  each other can crash together in an orgy of steel and speed 
  lines. This combined Mecha has multiple forms that rapidly 
  switch between each other, allowing every participant a 
  chance at being the one in control.
  PCs that become Subpilots can still take Actions during their 
  Turns, but they can only be Utility Actions and the Subpilot 
  may not Move the Unit along with it. They will have to Boost if 
  they want to make any Movement at all. Actions from specif c 
  Upgrades like Restoration or Support Upgrades may be used 
  this way, whether they belong to the Unit in the lead or to a 
  component.
  Pilots of Unison Combiners may give up the chance to take the 
  lead during their own Turn to instead act as Subpilots for the 
  current form, without transformng the Mecha to their corre-
  sponding form.
  Note that because you are now a single Unit, the Pilot in the 
  lead dœ s benef t from Genre Powers that you use as a Subpi-
  lot to power yourself up. You may be the same Unit, but you 
  are still dif erent Pilots, so Powers with a limited number of 
  uses are counted separately for each Pilot.
  This is only for PC Subpilots, NPC Subpilots are just Assis-
  tants. This is both because they are less skilled than PCs, and 
  because a single PC should not be able to essentially have two 
  or more Turns each Round.
  Combining in the middle of an Operation takes an Action from 
  only one of the participants but needs them all to be within a 
  Zone from at least one of the other components.
  Should any of the combining Units have taken Damage or 
  spent Energy before Combination, the Combined Unit has the 
  average available Energy and remaining Threshold of all the 
  Units that just combined. For other abilities spent, things work 
  dif erently for Super Combination and Unison Combination 
  Unison Combination: Each form has its own other separate 
  resources. A Subpilot that assists the lead Unit with their 
  Restoration Upgrades will use up their own rather than those 
  belonging to the lead Unit, if they would have any.
  Super Combination: Anything spent by the components other 
  than the Lead is restored. This means Restoration Upgrades, 
  One Shot and Technique Weapons are treated as if they had 
  not been used at all. On the other hand, resources lost or 
  spent by the Lead Unit will carry over to the combined form. 
  The Combined Unit may have multiples of the same Upgrade 
  or Weapon, but they are redundant backups and don’t provide 
  twice the benef t. Restoration Upgrades may still only be used 
  a number of times equal to their averaged Systems no matter 
  how many extra copies you’ve got, and will use up the Com-
  biner’s shared Energy.
  
  87
  Features
  Mecha are assumed to be bipedal humanoids that work 
  somewhat like giant suits of powered armor. But Mecha has so 
  much more to of er. Features let you represent other things, 
  such as giant spaceships and animal Mecha. They are unique 
  abilities with both an upside and a downside, like Anomalies, 
  and like them cost no MP.
  Keep in mind some Features make sense when combined, 
  such as Extreme Fortif cation and Terrain Specialist. A lot of 
  the time though, combining Features together dœ sn’t quite 
  make sense, but there is nothing stopping you from doing so 
  if you can think of a cool enough justif cation. 
  Some Features might be available to take as temporary equip-
  ment in a manner similar to Frames through the Mid-Scene 
  Upgrade Genre Power for that one Operation.
  Base Unit
  Internal Upgrade (0)
  Ef ect: Any allied Unit within Move Distance may choose to 
  Dock inside you as an Action. They may redeploy outside with 
  another Action, launching a single Zone away from you. If you 
  are ever destroyed, your Squad is defeated. Base Units cannot 
  Engage in or be Engaged into a duel.
  Congratulations, every one of your enemies is going to try 
  and shoot you down. You are the VIP. Try to be careful.
  Extreme Fortification
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: You halve all Damage you would usually take from 
  any source that isn’t a Might Test, but your available Energy is 
  halved. This also works for abilties that are a secondary ef ect 
  of using a Weapon but separate from the Might Test itself.
  You are reinforced internally and externally, at the price of 
  having to use smaller and less powerful energy reactors. 
  Through this method, you can survive in the most inhospita-
  ble places known to mankind and weather some pretty heavy 
  attacks as a bonus. Just mind your reserves.
  Flyer
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: You ignore the ef ects of Terrain in your Zone and can 
  shoot through a Zone occupied by an Enemy to reach another 
  behind it as if they weren’t there, but neither provide cover 
  for your Allies nor can they provide cover for you. You may 
  not Move as part of your Actions while underwater or after 
  being forced to land.
  You are capable of atmospheric f ight, but it is the only 
  way you can get around.This can be used to represent any 
  method of f ight as long as it is the only way the machine is 
  capable of moving.
  Power Suit
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: This Unit dœ s not lose any abilities allocated to its 
  Areas from Maiming. Instead each Area lost to damage halves 
  one of your Attributes. Losing the Head halves your Systems, 
  the Torso halves your Guard, the Arms halve your Might and 
  the Legs your Speed.
  Instead of a giant robot you have a suit of mechanized ar-
  mor. It is powerful enough to stand up to the big kids, but it is 
  much more susceptible to direct hits.
  Terrain Specialist
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: Choose one of underwater, space, or land when you 
  take this Feature. While you are in said environment you gain 
  the benef t of Defensive Terrain, ignore the ef ects of Dif  cult 
  Terrain, and may shoot through a Zone occupied by an Enemy 
  to reach another behind it as if they weren’t there. Other envi-
  ronments count as Dif  cult Terrain for you.
  A lot of machines derived from the technology that is used 
  for Gears are not humanoid. You can f nd anything from 
  mecha mermen to fearsome beastly robots resembling mam-
  mals or arthropods, adapted for ground combat.
  The full rules for Docking inside your Base Unit are in the f rst 
  chapter of the book as an Utility Action available to PCs.
  Often PCs and NPCs will f nd themselves f ghting to defend 
  their f agship or base of operations from others. No one needs 
  to take on the role of playing a Base Unit. Getting attacked by 
  most enemies isn’t really that fun, so no one is required to do 
  it. But if they do want it, the option is there.
  Should a Base Unit get destroyed, the consequences should 
  be dire. Don’t just end the game though, that simply isn’t fun 
  at all. What happens when a Base is destroyed should be up 
  to the group to decide, since the destruction of a Base has 
  potential for plenty of ramif cations on the story at large.
  Such an event will likely be a turning point for your game. It is 
  a great opportunity to introduce more dramatic elements to 
  the story and make roleplaying more intense instead of having 
  everyone die.
  If a Base Unit retreats from the battlef eld (probably because 
  it had to use Live Another Day) then the rest of the Squad 
  should follow behind to protect it and have one Round to 
  end the Operation before they have to consider themselves 
  defeated and must run away.
  Bases are usually ships, so they do not have the usual Areas 
  common to Mecha, instead they have a Bridge in place of the 
  Core, the Antenna takes the place of the Head, the Hull is 
  used as the Torso, the Turrets section is the equivalent of the 
  Arms, and then you have the Stern as the Legs Area.
  
  88
  Ingham: All General Upgrades serve dif erent purposes and represent dif erent types of Mecha, in turn leading you to pick 
  other Upgrades that work well with them or help you represent a specif c type of giant robot.
  Ryu: Yeah. The guy with the big guns is also good at providing support f re and the gal who can do repairs in the middle of bat-
  tle is better at boosting attacks. This makes sense.
  Raymond: Most Mecha with at least an average amount of Energy will want to have one Active Defense. If you take one of the 
  Specialist types, you might as well get its counterpart later.
  Ryu: If I start with say, protection from Melee, then I can get protection from Shooting later. That sounds pretty good.
  Maya: Or you can just grab an Absolute Barrier and call it a day. It is costly, but it gets the job done.
  Ryu: The DN to hit me is only 5 plus my Guard Attribute, while Tension keeps rising Every Round... It seems that I’ll need a bar-
  rier to mitigate how hard it is to weather Damage as the battle gœ s on.
  Raymond: Electronic Cloaking System will often have a stronger ef ect against multiple Enemies, but will not work against area 
  Weapons. Reactive Booster is a weaker alternative that costs less MP and Energy, but works against Blasts.
  Maya: Shielding Aura is a bit weak but it is always nice to have a shield that you can share with allies in a pinch.
  Ryu: The Restoration and Mobility lines look like they’re made to emphazise Systems and Speed respectively.
  Ingham: There’s a little bit of Energy there too, but the primary line of Upgrades that make you want to have Energy are the 
  various Active Defenses.
  Raymond: Yes. Restoration is only going to work well if your Systems are at least average. Of the four, Regenerative in particular 
  would be a f ne replacement for Active Defenses if you don’t need to use any other Restoration Upgrades.
  Maya: Resupply is very good if you have a lot of Supports to choose from. A Commander Type can use a Support at the begin-
  ning of their Turn and Resupply it with their Action. That’s what I do!
  Raymond: Of the Mobility Upgrades the most useful is by far Antigravity. The others all have their uses, Antigravity just hap-
  pens to be universally useful. Overbooster is second, because while the ef ect is pretty solid not everyone can af ord to spare 
  Energy on extra Speed.
  Ingham: Reversible Thrusters and Slippery Chassis both work to similar ends. If you want one, you are likely to also want the 
  other. Reversible Thrusters is external though, so a lucky enemy strike can disable it.
  Ryu: My Speed is not very good, so if I don’t enhance it or get any Weapons with a good Range...
  Ingham: Enemies with that combo will run circles around you, yes.
  Maya: There is that evil grin again.
  Ingham: My motto is “Know your Enemies.”
  Ryu: You said your motto was “Divide and Conquer.”
  Ingham: I have a lot of mottos.
  Maya: He’s just showing of  that he reads books.
  Raymond: Moving on... If there is a Commander in the group you should leave the Supports to them. Otherwise, it is nice to 
  have one or two for the sheer utility value they provide. Similarily, Assistants give you a wider range of options to use your 
  Genre Points with, increasing the odds you’ll have the right answer when you need it.
  Ryu: And Expansion Pack looks like it is where you want to store your best stuf . 
  Maya: Transformations and Frames are at their best when you attach Features to them through Superior Morphing. That way 
  you can adapt to multiple types of Terrain on the f y, or shield yourself from things like Airstrikes and Extreme Terrain.
  Ryu: Anyway, I was waiting for us to get to this next part... We are making a Combiner, right guys?
  Raymond: I’m not becoming one with you, ask Maya instead.  
  Ryu: Awww... Come on!
  Maya: You don’t have to sound so disappointed, you know.
  Ryu: I was just saying it would be cool. I wasn’t like, rejecting you, or anything.
  Maya: Maybe you only want to combine with Ray?
  Raymond: Guys. Focus. 
  Ryu: I’m starting to feel like the sidekick comedy relief character.
  Ingham: Combination Upgrades require everyone to be on board with them from the start. They also involve a bit more of 
  bookkeeping and coordination, since there’s numbers to average. You might even need separate Mecha Sheets for the pre and 
  and post-combination versions.
  Maya: Or you can just always deploy already Combined.
  Raymond: Thank you. Keep in mind that if you intend to use Restoration Upgrades as a Subpilot, the only Systems Attribute 
  that matters is that of the combined Unit, even if it is your own shared Systems Attribute and you have spent several uses 
  before combining.
  Ingham: I recommend not to touch Combiners until you have more experience with the system.
  
  89
  Reading Weapons
  Because all Weapons cost 5 you only really need to pay atten-
  tion to their Type and Ef ect lines. Many Weapons are a bit like 
  Skills in that they get an Advantage when used during certain 
  conditions. Most of them have additional, more specif c ben-
  ef ts, along with some kind of drawback to compensate for it. 
  You can use one Weapon per Of ensive Action.
  Weapon Name
  The Weapon’s Type (And Cost).
  Ef ect: What the Weapon dœ s when you use it. Named abili-
  ties go before the rest of the rules text, but the grand majority 
  of Weapons have more rules beyond those. 
  A typical description of the Weapon in narrative terms. Most 
  examples are generic enough to f t in any setting with giant 
  robots, but some of them stick to the setting in this book.
  Default Weapons
  The two default Weapons are rather bad, suf ering from 
  a Disadvantage that makes them strictly worse than ones 
  purchased with MP. Their one upside is that their immunity to 
  Maiming means they are available for use at all times.
  CQC
  Melee Weapon (0)
  Ef ect: This Weapon suf ers an innate Disadvantage to its use, 
  but cannot be disabled through Maiming.
  Mecha often carry small weapons like daggers as a last-ditch 
  measure. Others mount small blades and drills into the frame 
  to give your unit something to use when all other options 
  are out. Even Mecha that cannot punch or kick can still ram 
  themselves into the enemy as a last resort. 
  Vulcans
  Shooting Weapon (0)
  Ef ect: This Weapon suf ers an innate Disadvantage to its use, 
  but cannot be disabled through Maiming.
  Most giant robots these days come with a variety of ranged 
  weapons integrated into the frame. Even those who don’t can 
  improvise by picking up vehicles or even buildings to toss. 
  Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.
  Some abilities and rules have dif erent ef ects depending on 
  whether you roll an odd or even number (or the amount of 
  Damage dealt in the case of Maiming) and it might be a bit 
  dif  cult to commit these bits to memory.
  Think of it this way: If you are on the of ense, you want to get 
  evens, and if you are on defense you want your attacker to 
  get odds.
  Are you using an Overheating Weapon against a target in 
  a Duel? Then an even result guarantees you hit the Enemy 
  without the gun exploding in your face. Did an Enemy just hit 
  you with an Unreliable Weapon? Then an odd result means 
  you take reduced Damage and, should the Damage be enough 
  to remove a Threshold Level, you also choose which Area is 
  Maimed.
  Or try this mnemonic: Even if the attacker is making the 
  hit, it’d be odd if the defender just stood there. Repeat this 
  to yourself as often as you need.
  Most Active Defenses increase your Defense by odd numbers 
  like 3 and 5, letting you turn an even total of Damage into an 
  odd total. When the Damage dealt to you would be even you 
  can both reduce the Damage dealt and be the one to choose 
  the Maimed Area. When the Damage would be odds you get 
  to choose whether you want reduced Damage or picking the 
  Area to sacrif ce. 
  Keep in mind that this only applies against Might Tests. Most 
  Active Defenses are useless against abilities that cause direct 
  Damage like Extreme Terrain or Airstrike. Only Absolute Bar-
  rier can stop those.
  Weapons
  All giant robots need appropriately-sized implements of death and destruction, from giant cannons to giant swords to energy 
  versions of those two. You start with the two Default Weapons for free. All Weapons purchased with MP must be allo-
  cated to any of the four External Areas. You may not own multiples of the same Weapon.
  What Weapons do is spice up your Might Tests with special abilities, like granting Advantages or increasing the Range in Zones 
  you can reach.
  Every Weapon is unique, but they all share certain qualities. All Weapons are at the very least Melee or Shooting, because 
  they’re either meant for use at close or long range. Then there’s the other qualities that show up often, like Beam, Blast or 
  Technique, which Weapons may or may not have. All Weapon abilities are described on the next page. Some Weapons have un-
  named unique abilities unique to them. These will be described in the Ef ect section of the Weapon in question.
  
  90
  Line
  These are short range crowd control tools, like shotguns or 
  f amethrowers. Line Weapons target an individual Zone or 
  an Enemy. They make a single Might Test against all units 
  in a line extending from you towards the target until the 
  end of Weapon’s Range. Lines do not dif erentiate between 
  friend or fœ  and attack enemies within the same Zone as you 
  too, but will not attack you.
  Long Range
  Long Range Weapons strike much farther than others. In-
  crease the Weapon’s Maximum Range by an amount equal 
  to your Systems beyond the norm for other Melee or 
  Shooting Weapons. When you take the Aim Action with one 
  of these Weapons, their Maximum Range increases by an 
  additional 5 Zones.
  Technique
  Techniques are special attacks that are stronger, but are dif-
  f cult to pull of  and push the machine to its limits. Mecha 
  simply cannot handle using them often at full power, and 
  most Enemies will see them coming after the f rst time they 
  fell for it. The f rst time you use a Technique during an 
  Operation, it  gains double the benef t from Tension to its 
  Might Test. All Techniques used beyond the f rst will treat 
  Tension as 0 until the Operation is over.
  One Shot
  Many Weapons have limited uses. Maybe they chew through 
  ammo too fast or perhaps they break on use. One Shot 
  Weapons may be only f red once per Operation.
  Slow
  This Weapon cannot be f red continuously, maybe it is a 
  thrown weapon that takes a while to return or it just reloads 
  very slowly. A Slow Weapon can only be f red once every 
  two Rounds.That means it cannot be used two Turns in a row, 
  but may alternate f ring between every other Turn.
  Overheating
  The gun is unstable. It will not explode, but its harmful radia-
  tion will interfere with your fragile systems. If you keep a die 
  roll that results in an odd number when using this Weap-
  on, you take an amount of Damage yourself equal to the 
  current Tension after using it.
  Unreliable
  This Weapon is inaccurate, prone to misf ring, or jams more 
  often than you’d like. If you keep a die roll that results in 
  an odd number when using this Weapon, you lose the 
  benef t of Tension to the Might Test.
  Basic Weapon Abilities
  Melee
  Cold weapons in giant robot form. their name is something 
  of a misnomer, because plenty of them can be used to strike 
  fœ s at a distance, like the Rocket Punch. Melee Weapons gain 
  an Advantage when used to Engage in a Duel or against a 
  target that is in one. They have a minimum Range of 0 and 
  a Maximum Range of 1.
  Shooting
  Encompassing all sorts of f rearms as well as missile launchers 
  and artillery devices, Shooting Weapons are the best at strik-
  ing from a distance taking a moment to adjust your sights. 
  These Weapons have a Minimum Range of 0 and a Maximum 
  Range of 5. When using the Aim Action with a Shooting 
  Weapon, it gains an additional Advantage to the Might 
  Test.
  Beam (Boost X)
  The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam 
  Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of heated 
  particles. All Beam Weapons cost 1 point of Energy to use 
  and can be Boosted by spending an optional Energy cost 
  between parentheses. When you Boost a Beam Weapon 
  it gains an Advantage to its Might Test. Sometimes, Boost-
  ing them also grants another special ability. You can Boost a 
  Beam Weapon once per Action.
  Other Weapon Abilities
  Blast (X)
  Some Weapons make really big explosions. Some Weapons 
  make really big explosions. Blast Weapons target an indi-
  vidual Zone or an Enemy. They make a single Might Test 
  against all units within X Zones from the target. Blasts do 
  not dif erentiate between friend or fœ , but will not cause you 
  to attack yourself should you be within their blast radius. You 
  still have to deal with any potential secondary ef ects.
  Burst
  Burst Weapons have a long and wide reach around the user. 
  They target an individual Zone or an Enemy. They make a 
  single Might Test against all units within Range in a circle 
  around you as far as they can reach. You can attack targets 
  within your same Zone with them, but will not attack yourself. 
  Unlike Blasts or Lines, Bursts don’t attack Allies positioned 
  within the area of ef ect.
  Crippling
  These Weapons add insult to injury restraining the enemy on 
  hit or are outright designed to damage their internal systems. 
  Crippling Weapons always have the benef ts of the Sup-
  press Action but without the penalty to Damage. Instead, 
  if the Enemy chooses to Move, they will suf er Damage 
  equal to the distance Moved.
  
  91
  Finger Net
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Long Range, Blast (2), One Shot. All Units within the 
  Weapon’s area of ef ect have their Guard and Speed halved 
  until the end of your next Turn.
  A giant net made of Type-W Gygravagnite, made to restrain 
  the speedier Cryptids. By installing them in a Gear’s f nger-
  tips they can be shot as a surprise in the middle of close 
  quarters combat, making sure they will snare their prey.
  Jackhammer Stake
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: You may choose to spend this Weapon when using it, 
  as though it were a One Shot would be. If you do, it gains two 
  Advantages to its Might Test. Ef ects that restore the function 
  of One Shot Weapons can be used to grant additional uses of 
  this ability.
  Bayonets haven’t lost their use in this day and age, and 
  they’re even better when you use it to repeatedly pummel a 
  fœ  with f repower as they’re stuck to it.
  Rocket Punch
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Long Range. This Weapon’s maximum Range is your 
  Systems plus three instead of your Systems plus one.
  The Rocket Punch is a staple for those that like keeping to 
  their f sts even at range, even if it is understandably harder 
  to aim than shooting a proper gun.
  Whirlwind Attack
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Burst, Slow, Unreliable. This Weapon benef ts from an 
  additional Advantage to its Might Test.
  A favorite of close combat specialists for crowd control, this 
  special move looks rather silly, but is downright terrifying in 
  the hands of an experienced ace.
  Zweihander
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Technique. Enemies attacked with this Weapon gain 
  two Advantages to Might Tests against you for a Round. 
  Sheer size is the name of the game with some Weapons. 
  From giant tomahawks to enormous spears, there is a lot of 
  variety out there for Gears who want to just destroy what-
  ever is on their way without having to resort to energy-based 
  equipment. The downside is that they are unwieldy and often 
  leave you open to counterattacks.
  Equippable Melee Weapons
  Arm Guardian
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Passing the Might Test with this Weapon increases your 
  Defense by 3 against any Might Tests from the Enemy you just 
  attacked for a Round.
  A giant shoulder guard with pointy ends might not sound like 
  much. It is pretty useful for pointmen trying to draw the heat 
  away from the rest of their team, though. 
  Boosted Lance
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Passing the Might Test with this Weapon while charging 
  in a straight line deals that Enemy an additional amount of 
  Damage equal to half the amount of Zones you Moved during 
  the same Of ensive Action. You may keep going in the same 
  direction if you have any remaining Zones of movement left 
  and it adds to the Damage dealt. If you end the charge in the 
  same Zone as the Enemy you may Engage them. Boosted 
  Lance cannot be used to escape from a Duel.
  This rocket-powered lance with a detachable, explosive tip is 
  a favorite of high-speed shock troops all over the world. Ideal 
  for hit and run tactics, or just for pretend-jousting.
  Chainblade
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Unreliable. Passing the Might Test with this Weapon 
  deals that Enemy an additional amount of Damage equal to 
  the current Tension.
  Giant chainsaws are clumsy and jam in the middle of the ac-
  tion way too often. And yet, they are terrifyingly devastating 
  when everything works out just f ne, making this a weapon 
  favored most often by those who feel lucky or simply have no 
  idea what they’re doing.
  Stun Rod
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: This Weapon inf icts an additional Disadvantage when 
  using the Suppress Action.
  Employed by Hiryu Gears to subdue Outsiders, rather than to 
  kill them. Multiple units equipped with Stun Rods can render 
  the fearsome giant monsters largely inef ectual.
  Dueling Blade
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: If at the beginning of your Turn you are in a Duel with 
  an Enemy, Dueling Blade gains an Advantage against that 
  Enemy for this Turn.
  While not as generally useful as other melee equipment,  
  fencing weapons remain a formidable threat in the hands of  
  those that know how to keep their enemies pinned.
  
  92
  Equippable Shooting Weapons
  Anti-Air Missiles
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: This Weapon gains two Advantages when used against 
  targets with Flyer or using Antigravity.
  Air dominance is still very much a factor even in this new era 
  of Gears. Everyone on Earth understands this, and provides 
  their troops with necessary countermeasures against their 
  enemies. The RUF has to be careful of those pesky Majesty 
  types, Hiryu has to worry about f ying Outsiders taking 
  advantage of how complicated it is to f ght giant monsters 
  in the middle of the ocean, and the GAF wants the Wagner 
  destroyed by yesterday.
  Assault Rifle
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Long Range. You choose Areas Maimed and will not 
  attack your Allies in a Duel when using this Weapon.
  The standard issue in today’s day and age, useful in all situa-
  tions thanks to its solid accuracy and reliable range.
  Bombardment
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Blast (2), One Shot. This Weapon deals an additional 
  amount of Damage equal to the current Tension to everything 
  inside its area of ef ect. This happens even if the attack other-
  wise misses.
  For those times when you have to pull out all the stops, just 
  point your massive armaments at the center of the enemy 
  forces and watch everything go up in f ames.
  Electro-Sapper Pods
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: One Shot. Passing the Might Test with this Weapon will 
  deal that Enemy an additional amount of Damage equal to 
  your Systems.
  You launch miniaturized combat drones that will attach to 
  a target and proceed to interfere with the Gear’s internals. 
  They don’t last very long, but in their short lifespan they will 
  cause lasting damage.
  Missile Massacre
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Technique. After attacking an Enemy with this Weapon, 
  you suf era Disadvantage to all further Might Tests against that 
  Enemy for the rest of the Operation.
  A f gurative circus display of missiles shot in a pattern that 
  makes trying to evade them nearly futile. This advanced ma-
  neuver impacts from multiple angles at once to increase the 
  chances of a direct hit. But savvy fœ s will learn your patterns 
  from this move, and will have a much easier time avoiding 
  you afterwards.
  Rail Bazooka
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Long Range, Blast (2), Slow.
  Designed to make big explosions at a distance, it is not ex-
  actly a sniper’s dream weapon but it is very fun to use. The 
  auto-loading mechanism is a piece of work though, and it 
  takes its sweet time getting ready.
  Resonance Cannon
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Slow, Unreliable. Passing the Might Test with this 
  Weapon will destroy that Enemy’s current Level of Threshold. 
  This happens after the Weapon deals its regular Damage.
  This cannon f res sonic bursts that shatter enemies at the 
  structural level. It is unwieldy and uses up all of its ammuni-
  tion with each shot, but a mere graze can be as damaging 
  as a direct hit.
  Riot Weapon
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Line.
  Sometimes you just want to blow holes in everything nearby. 
  Claymore launchers or an upsized shotgun will do that job 
  just f ne. Just don’t point it near your friends.
  Sniper Rifle
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Long Range. This Weapon cannot be f red without f rst 
  taking the Aim Action with it, but gains a third Advantage from 
  doing so.
  The Weapon of choice for the Gear-scale sharpshooter. The 
  only issue is that it performs terribly when unscoped, which is 
  to say, it dœ s not perform at all.
  Superheavy Machinegun
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Line, Long Range, Unreliable. This Weapon inf icts an 
  additional Disadvantage when using the Suppress Action but 
  you may not Move as part of your Actions when using it. If 
  you’re unable to Move for whatever reason, you cannot use it.
  An oversized f rearm that lends itself to accusations about 
  trying to overcompensate for something. The recoil is ter-
  rible, forcing the Gear to brace itself and remain immobile. 
  Even then most of the shots go in the wrong direction any-
  way, but after all is said and done there is no better gun for 
  providing suppressive f re.
  
  93
  Equippable Beam Weapons
  Beam Saber
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 1).
  A favorite for its low energy consumption, solid armor-pierc-
  ing power, compact size and overall practicality. Mass pro-
  duced and made standard issue for most factions.
  Beam Ripper
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 2). When you Boost this Weapon it gains 
  the Crippling and Slow abilities. 
  The Foundation’s ‘Beam Rippers’ are giant beam weapons 
  taking the shape of axes, scythes or other similar blades. 
  They are unwieldy devices that eat Element G like breakfast, 
  but prove invaluable when it comes to subduing Cryptids. 
  Chopping the key body parts of giant regenerating monsters 
  turns out to be pretty useful when you’re trying to subdue 
  and capture them alive.
  Extending Blade
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 3). When you Boost this Weapon its Maxi-
  mum Range becomes 10.
  This weapon’s length is theoretically inf nite. The only reason 
  it dœ sn’t go farther than it currently dœ s is because they just 
  haven’t f gured out how to keep the excessive output from 
  breaking the device itself.
  Incinerator
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 4), Line, Long Range, Overheating. When 
  you Boost Incinerator, all Zones af ected become Extreme 
  Terrain for a Round. You can spare your own Zone from its 
  ef ects.
  Someone just had to devise the equivalent of a giant f ame-
  thrower, giving birth to the best friend of terrorist organiza-
  tions that own giant robots.
  Radiant Fist
  Melee Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 4), Technique, Overheating. When you 
  Boost this Weapon it gains a second Advantage to its Might 
  Test from doing so.
  The ultimate in close range f nishers. The unit is equipped 
  with an extremely damaging radiation pulse that makes its 
  hands glow with an awesome power.
  Beam Rifle
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 1).
  Cheap to produce and easy to use, it makes a great all-pur-
  pose Weapon if you can get around its craving for energy.
  Powered Rifle
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 2), Long Range. When you Boost this 
  Weapon its Maximum Range increases by 5. Powered Rif e can 
  target only Enemies that are at Range 5 or higher.
  A Weapon for providing support f re at long distances, com-
  bining accuracy with penetration power. It can pierce through 
  all but the most heavily armored of fœ s if you take a mo-
  ment to align the sights.
  Charge Cannon
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 3). When you Boost this Weapon it gains 
  the Blast (2) and Slow abilites.
  A portable, pistol-shaped beam cannon with two dif erent f r-
  ing modes: Continuous and Charged. Continuous f re provides 
  an accurate, consistent supply of f repower. The Charged 
  mode can blast multiple targets with one pull of the trigger 
  but will force the weapon to cool down.
  Double Blaster
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 4). When you Boost this Weapon you may 
  choose to have either a second Advantage to the Might Test 
  or to attack two Enemies instead of one. You gain the chosen 
  Boost plus the Overheating ability.
  A double barreled beam weapon that can be split into two 
  separate rif es, making it as good as two guns in one. It is not 
  just versatile but powerful, perhaps too powerful for its own 
  stability, tending to overload and self destruct after consecu-
  tive uses.
  Reactor Overdrive
  Shooting Weapon (5)
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 4), Technique, Overheating. When Boosted 
  this Weapon gains the Line and Long Range abilities.
  You overload and expose the Gear’s generators redirecting 
  the power surge towards outside rather than your own sys-
  tems. The brutal energy blast might cause lasting damage to 
  your machine, but is much more certain to do even worse for 
  whœ ver is on the receiving end of it.
  
  94
  Arm Guardian: Tonfas, Spears, Spiked shields.
  Boosted Lance: Rocket powered drills, Battou-jutsu, Ramming 
  attacks.
  Chainblade: Drills, Flails that detonate their spiky ends on 
  impact, Injections of anti-monster venom that destroy them 
  from inside.
  Stun Rod: Wires, Kusari-gamas, Swordwhips. 
  Dueling Blade: Katar daggers, Drills, Spears.
  Finger Net: Wires, Freezing gel, EMP grenades.
  Jackhammer Stake: Rocket powered f sts, Explosive limbs, 
  Short ranged attack drones with a self destruct function.
  Rocket Punch: Swordwhips, Boomerangs, Chain weapons.
  Whirlwind Attack: Spinning a chain weapon, Launching 
  mounted claymores in a circle, Growing spikes or drills in 
  every direction.
  Zweihander: Giant axes, Double-bladed weapons, Martial arts 
  combos.
  Beam Saber: Beam axes, javelins or even shields if they’re 
  used of ensively.
  Beam Ripper: Beam naginatas, scythes and tomahawks.
  Extending Blade: Ki blasts, Beam swordwhips, Swinging a 
  weapon so fast it releases a shockwave.
  Incinerator: Acid sprayers, Napalm, Radiation cannons.
  Radiant Fist: Lightning punches, Tornado kicks, Spreading 
  your forcef elds and ramming the enemy. 
  Anti-Air Missiles: Anti-Air vulcans, cannons, and lightning 
  guns.
  Assault Rif e: Submachineguns, Revolvers, Railguns.
  Bombardment: Grenades, Minef elds set up in advance, All 
  the cannons at the same time.
  Electro-Sapper Pods: Emp Grenades, Hacking enemy Mecha, 
  Rounds made of anti-monster materials that hurt them like 
  salt dœ s to a slug.
  Missile Massacre: Homing missiles, Trick shots, Going all in 
  with every one of your guns, 
  Rail Bazooka: Grenades, Minef elds set up in advance, Rocket 
  pods.
  Resonance Cannon: Acid rounds, Freezing rays, A plain old 
  obscenely oversized cannon.
  Riot Weapon: Grenade launchers, Sonic shockwave cannons, 
  Machineguns. 
  Sniper Rif e: Artillery emplacements, Linear missiles, Attack 
  drones that need direct control.
  Superheavy Machinegun: Artillery emplacements, Sonic 
  shockwave cannons, EMP missiles.  
  Beam Rif e: Beam pistols, Eye beams, Laser weapons.
  Powered Rif e: Beam cannons, bazookas and other artillery.
  Charge Cannon: Multiple beam rif es used at the same time, 
  An array of mirrors that scatters beams in multiple directions, 
  Curving beam launchers.
  Double Blaster: Shoulder-mounted beam cannons, Palm 
  beam cannons, Chameleon eye beams.
  Reactor Overdrive: Chest beams, Battleship main cannons, 
  Antimatter weapons.
  Alternative Weapons
  There’s just a few dozens of Weapons in the rules and hundreds of possible ways for your giant robot (or equivalent) to attack 
  enemies. Thus, of all the special Mecha abiities in the game, Weapons are the ones you’ll want to reskin the most. Below you 
  will f nd a few examples to help you think of alternative ways to represent the Weapons in the past handful of pages.
  Some of these ideas are more realistic than others though, so not all of them will work for every game. You have impracti-
  cally upscaled versions of mundane weapons right next to moves taken out of a samurai f ick. A few assume that there’s giant 
  monsters out there, not just giant robots, and others assume your Mecha itself is a hybrid of beast and machine. Remember 
  these are just examples in the end too, and nothing says you can’t interpret your Dueling Blade and Assault Rif e as a combined 
  gunblade that fuses both of them.
  
  95
  Ryu: I really like Radiant Fist and Inf nite Blade. I want them, and I want them now.
  Maya: Those are strong, but you are also going to need one or two Weapons that can be used during every other Turn. Your 
  Mecha is a close combat type with a focus on defense, so you could use Dueling Blade and Arm Guardian, plus the Beam or 
  Assault Rif es to have a better reach. Beams are strong but they need Energy.
  Raymond: On the other hand, I intend to be a midrange attacker with plenty of Energy to spare, so I will use Beam Saber, and 
  Powered Rif e, with a Charge Cannon for crowd control.
  Maya: Ranged types that want to keep their Energy for other uses also have Anti-Air Missiles and Riot Weapon to use as reliable 
  Weapons. Missile Massacre and Resonance Cannon are fantastic f nishers too.
  Raymond: Bombardment and Chainblade can deal higher Damage than Techniques, but have their own issues.
  Maya: You should have between 10 and 20 MP in Weapons.
  Ingham: That gives you a lot of options for tackling all sorts of challenges. Enemies will strike from all possible Ranges and have 
  diverse strategies, so you want to have a Plan B in case your Plan A isn’t working.
  Raymond: You want a Weapon with a Range of at least 5 Zones, a Technique to overwhelm defensive types, and a Melee or 
  Beam that you can guarantee will gain at least one Advantage when you use it during most of your Turns.
  Maya: But don’t neglect utility Weapons like Finger Net or Superheavy Machinegun. They can make an Operation much easier 
  for the team through tactical value rather than raw power.
  Raymond: The rest are Weapons intended for use with specif c types of Mecha. Boosted Lance wants a speedy Mecha and 
  Jackhammer Stake gets much better when you can keep it loaded. The Overheating types want to have as many Advantages as 
  possible to make the best of their high power before the Tension kickback ruins them, and so on.
  Maya: But once your Power Level is high enough, you may want a few more Weapons to f nish rounding out your arsenal, or to 
  get some backups in case your primaries aren’t available for whatever reason.
  Ryu: Like when you lose one of the Mecha’s limbs?
  Maya: Like that, yes. But also for those times when the Enemy is resistant against that type of Weapon or you don’t have the 
  ammo or Energy to use it as much as you’d like.
  Raymond: Investing in f nishers, primarily Techniques, is a good idea. But don’t go overboard, you should rarely need more 
  than 20 MP total in Weapons and never more than 30.
  Ryu: if I have more than 20 MP to spare it would make more sense to use them on Attributes, right?
  Raymond: Up until a point, you’re right. If you have any Attributes under Rank 6 it is almost always worth it. Shoring up your 
  weaknesses gœ s a long way towards making your life easier. After that, each individual increase is too expensive if it is not an 
  Attribute key to your character, you would get more value out of additional Upgrades and Weapons.
  Maya: But spending everything apart from your f rst few points in Attributes dœ s make keeping track of things on your sheet 
  easier. You have less to worry about when Maimed, and you can make a very good jack of all trades.
  Ingham: A jack of all trades and master of none is almost never caught completely defenseless, but they also have a harder 
  time when very specif c skillsets are necessary.
  Ryu: I’ll raise them to 4 or 5 when I get the chance then, and grab some more guns too.  
  Maya: You could plan where you’ll take your character from the start, but often it pays to see where what you’ve got takes you 
  f rst.
  Raymond: I always plan ahead as far as my current Power Level will take me.
  Ingham: The game may not go past your starting Power Level, or even get more than halfway through it. If you’re going to plan, 
  don’t get too far ahead without checking with the GM f rst. Time is money, so don’t waste yours.
  Ryu: Let me guess, that’s also your motto.
  Ingham: Know your enemies and know yourself.
  Raymond: I bet you have a pocketbook of stock phrases in your jacket.
  Ingham: In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace.
  Maya: Stop enabling him!
  
  96
  What is the Mecha’s name?  Is it part of a series or a unique 
  model?
  What dœ s the Mecha look like?  What are its most prominent 
  distinguishing features?
  Dœ s the Mecha follow a theme? Is it alone in that or is it a 
  group theme?
  Is the Mecha brand new?  Dœ s it have a history?
  What is the Mecha’s theoretical role?  Is it deemed a success, 
  a failure, or simply the best the creators managed?
  Who built the Mecha?  Why are you its pilot?
  What are the Mecha's armaments?  Why is it equipped with 
  them over other weaponry?
  How dœ s it handle?  What would your PC change about the 
  controls or interface?
  Has it  been modif ed since being rolled out?  If so, what was 
  done to it?
  What is the Mecha’s best asset?  What about its greatest 
  weakness?
  Power Level Adjustments
  Mecha of Power Level 1 and higher have more Mecha Points. 
  Like with Characters, the extra MP equals 30 times the 
  Mecha’s Power Level. That means an additional 30 MP at Power 
  Level 1, 90 MP at Power Level 3, and so on.
  You can spend these points however you like. To raise your At-
  tributes, use the same rules that Characters use to do so, just 
  spending MP instead of CP. You can also get more Upgrades 
  and Weapons.
  The Personal Touch
  To truly make your Mecha more than a really bland pile of 
  rules for battle and little else, you are going to have to put 
  some ef ort in giving it a unique description.
  This step can be as superf cial or crucial to the game as you 
  want it to be. You could go to great ef ort to describe its 
  unique equipment via appropriate technobabble or tie it to 
  the plot at large and to your PC’s Themes without bothering 
  about the details. It is up to you, and to the rest of the group, 
  how much detail you want put into this.
  The Mecha Sheet
  Pilots have a Sheet, and Mecha also have their own. The 
  Mecha Sheet has enough space for you to write everything 
  your Mecha will be able to do, but not enough to go into 
  detail. Be concise and note down the important information 
  that will help you remember or understand what things do at 
  a glance. Leave specif c details and precise wording to the long 
  descriptions within the book.
  When writing down Upgrades or Weapons that need choices, 
  make sure to note said choices somewhere. This can be be-
  tween parentheses, at the back of the page, or wherever you 
  will f nd it useful to keep around.
  The ‘Other’ Area in your Mecha Sheet is where things that 
  don’t go in the External Areas are noted down. That means 
  you should use it to note down your Support Upgrades and 
  the stuf  installed in your Expansion Packs.
  There is also an example of Mecha construction with its cor-
  responding Mecha Sheet in the next set of pages. You may 
  f nd it useful to reference while you are doing this for the f rst 
  time.
  Let’s say you want a new Mecha.
  Maybe your last one got destroyed, or you want to steal an 
  enemy model, or perhaps your giant robot is not that fun to 
  play with any more.
  If you have been keeping track of CP and MP separately (and 
  you should have) then rebuilding from scratch up to your cur-
  rent XP will be easy enough. Talk it out with your GM so that 
  they may incorporate the change into the story in a dramatic 
  way – You're trying to make a cool story here.
  One way to do so would be to make the change with the 
  use of the Mid-Scene Upgrade Genre Power, but instead of 
  purchasing another Upgrade you board a new Mecha entirely, 
  and it is at full Threshold, Energy and otherwise brand new! 
  By the same logic, you can use the Mid-Scene Upgrade to 
  try out new things if your current Mecha isn’t quite working 
  for you. Instead of picking up a new ability during an Opera-
  tion you can use it to trade out equipment before deploy-
  ing. Exchange one Upgrade or Weapon for another worth the 
  same cost in MP or less. You get back your old stuf  after the 
  Operation ends, of course.
  This is an optional rule for special circumstances, not a hard-
  coded one. If you want to have multiple loadouts you should 
  get Frames or Trump Card.
  
  97
  Example of Mecha Construction
  Violet knows that everyone else has primarily short to medium range Mecha. Realizing that they’re probably going to be torn 
  apart by anything that overwhelms them from a distance, Violet decides her giant robot will be a beam specialist with an em-
  phasis on long distance combat.
  Michiko will tentatively name Michiko’s Gear the Queen Minerva, alluding to her character’s wisdom and ref ned talent for battle. 
  Her Character is Power Level 1, so her Mecha is too, and that means 130 MP to spend.
  For Attributes, she’s thinking of having 5 Might and Energy then average (4) everything else. This amounts to 70 MP spent 
  already and leaves her with 60 MP left for Upgrades and Weapons. But f rst she makes sure to note down her Defense (9) and 
  Threshold Levels (4 each) down.
  Violet is going to use Beams, and she has plenty of Energy to keep them going, so Queen Minerva will have a Powered Rif e and 
  a Double Blaster, with Radiant Fist as a f nisher. They are expensive Weapons and potentially also damage her own Mecha, but 
  they hit hard or reach very far so she thinks that is worth the risk. That makes a total of 15 MP.
  With 45 MP left Violet grabs an Absolute Barrier to put all that Energy to use, especially during the Turns that Michiko will spend 
  Aiming and not using the rest of her Energy. She also could use Integrated Weapons to keep her stuf  functional. With 15 points 
  left she takes another look at all her options and f gures out she could use Antigravity just to be on the safe side should she 
  venture into battlef elds with nasty Terrain ef ects.  Another 6 points are spent on enhancing Minerva’s Energy to Rank 6, and
  Violet likes this well enough she dœ s not mind having 4 spare MP. She’ll just spend them later during the course of the game,
  though she will have to remember not to mistakenly add it to her Power Level track.
  Now she has to install these Upgrades and Weapons: Integrated Weapons is Internal, so it must go in the Core. Everything else 
  is External, so she has to decide what to do with it. After giving it some thought, Violet f gures that the Powered Rif e can repre-
  sent Eye Beams and thus gœ s in the Head. Radiant Fist will of course go where it belongs in the arms, and the Double Blaster 
  can be represented by beams shot out of the Minerva’s palms too. Her specialty made Absolute Barrier will centralize its power 
  in the Torso, because that is where it makes most sense. This leaves Antigravity, which works pretty well in her remaining free 
  Area - the Legs. Violet likes the idea of f ying around with rocket boots, so that is where Antigravity will go.
  Ingham looks over to check if everything is going alright, and notices that Violet is in no danger of crippling herself with an un-
  fun, useless Unit.  She two powerful Weapons and plenty of Energy to both Boost them and defend herself afterwards. Because 
  of My Pain is your Pain she knows that anyone who gœ s all out on her can expect some harsh consequences out of it. Really, 
  the Mecha dœ s not have any signif cant weaknesses other than its craving for Energy.
  Lastly there’s the cosmetic and story details. Her giant robot resembles an armored humanoid, with a human face akin to a 
  Roman-styled statue of a woman. Queen Minerva runs a new type of Gygravagnite reactor that she has agreed to f eld test for 
  the R&D Team at her Father’s Institute. She intends to prove the power of Queen Minerva, and grant her R&D Team the funds 
  necessary to mass produce the Gear that will destroy the Outsiders. 
  Ingham okays Violet’s Mecha and begins to plot about throwing some sniper-themed Enemies into the mix during the next bat-
  tle. That way Michiko  has a chance to shine with a dramatic f rst entrance and save the day.
  
  98
  
  99
  The dust had barely settled by the time that Wong stepped out of the VTOL. He took a moment to resist the 
  urge to brush the remaining sticky ﬂ ecks off of his suit. Smearing them would only make things worse. Under 
  different circumstances, the abandoned airbase before him may have been almost pleasant. Those circumstances 
  were called ‘trees’. Without them, the erosion of the soil had turned the whole facility into a dustbowl, and lent it 
  a uniquely solemn air of depression and disuse. In a way, it was almost genius.
  Wong instructed his pilot to listen for any suspicious radio chatter during his meeting, and his personal guards 
  to follow him out. Mr. Beats lacked the conventional form of respect to come and meet an expected visitor upon 
  arrival, especially one who was as well-known as a Wong. Even with all of the changes in recent years, basic 
  human needs and urges never change. There was a demand for opium before the invention of electricity, and 
  there would continue to be one long after Gears have been replaced by the next advance in weapons technology. 
  As ever, the more enjoyable substances were rigorously controlled by those in authority. Fascists. But the demand 
  was there. And Wong met that demand, for a price.
  Meeting that demand was not always easy. Trafﬁ cking his product between zones and across oceans required 
  hardware that attracted attention. Occasionally, those with more testosterone than wits thought that they could 
  muscle Wong out of his market. For these things and more, Wong found it necessary to use force. And when 
  using force, it paid to use it in an overwhelming amount. 
  That is where Benjamin Beats entered the life story of Jianguo Wong. Walking deeper into the base, Wong and 
  his guards caught sight of a middle aged man walking toward them, out of one of the nearby buildings. Balding 
  and sweating in the heat, the mechanic’s jumpsuit he wore was halfway unzipped, the sleeves of them tied around 
  his waist rather than letting them dangle.
  The worn grey suit may have been white once. Wong noted his displeasure at the lack of decorum, but deco-
  rum was not Beats’ specialty. Wong could make such allowances for an old partner. “Afternoon Wong.” Jovial as 
  always, Beats. “I thought we worked out the details on the phone?”
  Wong made a show of looking around. “Of the job, yes. But I wish to see you materials ﬁ rsthand.” 
  Beats smiled a toothy grin. “What, you don’t trust me? Me, your only friend in this cruel and terrible world?” 
  No reaction. Wong was too professional for that during anything ofﬁ cial. 
  “I do not trust fortune, Benjamin.” Benjamin Beats let out a laugh that made him sound twice as big as he was, 
  and waved for Wong and his men to follow. 
  
  100
  Benjamin Beats and the small but loyal team of men who worked for him held a position unique to them on 
  Earth. Building and maintaining a Gear took considerable money, and even more infrastructure. Without those, 
  ﬁ elding a Gear was virtually impossible. But in the age of Gears, who wanted anything else?
  Benjamin Beats had Gears, after a fashion. They were dirty, ugly things built from the shattered corpses of Gears 
  that had been destroyed and left to rust on the battleﬁ eld. Filled with electronics from planes 15 years out of date, 
  and armed with weapons salvaged from virtually anything. No upstanding organization would allow them to pass 
  even a routine maintenance inspection. Then again, no upstanding organization would take the sort of jobs that 
  Beats and his boys would. Wong appreciated the service they provided, and the favors that Beats had done for 
  him in the beginning. Favors he had long since repaid.
  But the peculiar nature of his operation meant that how many Gears he had, and what those Gears were 
  equipped to handle, varied wildly after any and every job they performed. Limbs lost, parts salvaged, ammuni-
  tion used up and weapons destroyed all added up to a constant ﬂ ux. It was an uncertainty in performance ability 
  that Wong had never brought himself to fully trust.
  Beats came to a stop in front of what was originally designed to be an airplane hanger. With the thick dust and 
  some tastefully cosmetic lack of repairs, you would never know it was currently in use for a much more ad-
  vanced form of weapon. Benjamin whistled. The door to the hanger slid open, revealing the shockingly clean 
  workshop inside. In the sterile white light beneath them, two humanoid junkheaps stood tall.
  “Only two?” Wong asked. 
  “It’s not been the best year for us.” Beats admitted with a shrug. “But I am expecting some extra 
  capital pretty soon. We can put together another one then. Anyway, two is plenty for this job.”
  Wong had his doubts, but Beats didn’t make promises he could not keep. “And their condition?”
  “Better than they look.” Beats said. “The one on the left is a Bravery, mostly. More like about 7 Brav-
  eries, held together with parts we got out of a Dominion.”
  Wong quickly checked what he knew about military hardware. “I thought the Dominion was a tank, 
  not a giant robot?”
  
  101
  “Like I said, not the best year. That other one, though, is a thing of beauty. Somebody took on more than they 
  could handle and ended up on the wrong side of town with one of the Federation’s new test models. These come 
  from one of those fancy ones the Guerillas use, a Dvorak. God knows how they got it, but turns out it was a 
  steal. Sucker is built to swap out anything for anything else, let me tell you. In fact...” Beats cupped his hands 
  around his mouth and yelled out to someone in the hanger. “Penny! Bring out Big Red.” It took surprisingly little 
  time for the former-Dvorak to lumber out into the daylight. It was, in fact, very red.
  “See that on the back?” Beats asked Wong, pointing. “Missile Launcher we ripped off a UEF Gunboat. Built to be 
  anti-air, but simple enough to repurpose.”
  Wong nodded. “Very impress-” He was cut off mid-sentence by a sound like the air being set ablaze as a pillar of 
  ﬂ ame launched from the back of Big Red into the air, before diving toward the ground. 
  The dust at Wong’s feet leapt into the air halfheartedly from the force of the explosion. “And that,” Beats then 
  continued “was your ride out of here.”
  Big Red turned toward Wong and raised an arm. Wong fought to maintain his composure as he looked down the 
  barrel of a gun that he could probably crawl into if he tried. This didn’t make any sense. It had to be a joke. It 
  had to be a mistake. His guards had already drawn their guns, but even they knew it was a wasted effort. There 
  was nothing they could do to stop even this poor excuse for a Gear, and shooting Benjamin would only guaran-
  tee their own deaths.
  Wong swallowed, and turned to his only friend in this cruel and terrible world. His eyes asked the question 
  before his words had a chance. At least Benjamin looked torn up about it. “I don’t have anything against you, 
  Wong. I think you are a heck of a guy. You and me, we did alright by each other. The problem is, we did that a 
  little too often. Word got out that I am your man. And, well… you have a lot of enemies, Wong.”
  Wong went to speak, and realized his mouth was dry. He wanted to blame the dust, but in truth he had not been 
  this terriﬁ ed since he was a child. The world was falling away beneath his feet. He swallowed again. “I can pay 
  you double what they-” 
  “It isn’t about the money. They know my address. We have history, but they made it a pretty clear choice be-
  tween you or me. And that is no choice at all.”
  A dull roar ﬁ lled the air. VTOLs. More than one, coming in from the south. “If it makes you feel any better, I 
  plan on naming the new Gear after you…”
  
  102
  
  103
  The Genre Master
  The GM is a player too, albeit one with a far greater level of 
  responsibility, but at the end of the day they want to have fun 
  just like everyone else.
  That said, being the GM often feels like work rather than play. 
  They have to keep everyone else entertained, giving each of 
  the PCs their time in the spotlight, with the right balance of 
  challenge and development.
  The dif  culty is part of what makes it so rewarding. To be GM 
  is to be a director, writer, producer and actor at the same 
  time. You get to narrate and describe everything about the 
  world that the PCs will be in, from how places look to how 
  their actions af ect other people.
  But it is not your story to tell or your game to play. At least 
  not alone. You have a role to play in how the Episodes will 
  go, a very large one, but so dœ s everyone else. The story 
  is about the main characters, the PCs, and the game part is 
  about challenging them, not defeating or killing them.
  There is no set script for the other Players to just follow and 
  stumble along while they watch 'cutscenes' play. All PCs create 
  events and conf ict as they go, and neither they nor you can 
  be sure how things will go at any given time.
  In case the previous disclaimer wasn't enough, here's a quick 
  list of things you will have to constantly worry about as a f nal 
  deterrent.
  1) A solid knowledge of the rules, as it is your duty to know 
  the game well enough to be able to solve any rules issues 
  that arise in a swift fashion and to be a good enough judge to 
  make your own rulings when necessary.
  2) Good improvisational skills -or a lot of planning - to provide 
  a plot and several subplots for others to follow, while fulf lling 
  the Genre Theme quota for all PCs and the good memory - or 
  enough notes - to not forget things.
  3) To know what it is your players actually want, so as to keep 
  them engaged, and what it is they don't want, to keep them 
  from getting bored.
  4) A good sense of pacing and general storytelling, so that the 
  story remains focused and reasonable but dœ sn't go stale 
  from being too predictable, you will need to f gure out when 
  to ignore rules and when to employ timeskips to keep the ac-
  tion going, without running the risk of glossing over too much 
  detail and ruining immersion.
  5) Organizational and communication skills to schedule when, 
  where, for how long, and with whom you will be playing the 
  game. For many, this is the most dif  cult aspect.
  Are you dissuaded yet? No? Good, because being the GM is 
  awesome and the ef ort it takes makes it more rewarding.
  Rule 0
  The f rst of the Golden Rules from waaay back in the introduc-
  tion is important enough to bear repeating now that we're in 
  the GM section: The GM has ultimate say in everything, not 
  the rulebook, in the name of making things fun for everyone.
  If a rule would, for whatever reason, get in the way of the 
  game progressing forward in a way that is fun, the rule should 
  be ignored. If two Players can't agree on how to resolve a rules 
  conf ict between them, the GM should resolve it for them. And 
  if one Player is behaving in a way that makes things less fun 
  for the rest, they should talk to the other Player about not 
  doing that anymore.
  Above all, the GM's job is to make sure the group has fun. 
  Luckily enough,  they have all of the power in the world to 
  make sure that happens - from having control of every single 
  NPC to outright kicking someone from the game in the abso-
  lute worst of circumstances.
  Roll With the Punches
  You’re the GM so there’s probably a story that you want to 
  tell, and that is f ne, but as a Player there are few things as 
  awful as watching a plot unfold and not being able to have an 
  ef ect on it at all. Roleplaying games have a degree of freedom 
  while retaining a level of challenge to which no other form of 
  interactive entertainment can compare, it is only natural that 
  players will do things on their own initiative that mess up your 
  precious and carefully planned schemes.
  Do not view this as a setback! The degree of freedom that 
  Players have would be a crime to waste, and you also want to 
  make use of their inventiveness to make the game more fun. 
  Your end goal here is to make sure everyone wants to sit back 
  with you again on the table because you are just that good at 
  entertaining them. So what is one to do when a player starts 
  to try and do all sorts of things that leave a chaotic mess of 
  the plot in their wake? Improvise.
  If whatever you are planning hasn’t made its presence clear 
  yet, then use whatever they are doing to further your own 
  ends, as if their actions were planned by you all along. If what 
  you are doing is being derailed... Then you’ve got a problem, 
  because if they’re going against what you are trying to have 
  them do, they’re obviously having more fun doing something 
  else. Take the hint and perhaps nudge the Scene or plot in a 
  dif erent direction.
  Above all, try to integrate methods, keep the illusion of choice 
  but be permissive enough that what the PCs do actually mat-
  ters.
  
  104
  Props
  While they're anything but obligatory, bringing props to the 
  game table can help everyone immerse themselves further.
  Pushing your Players a little, every once in a while, with un-
  nerving background noise, dim lighting and requests to leave 
  mobile phones turned of  is alright. Just reserve it for special 
  occasions and don’t do it too often.
  If you're good with graphics design (or good at borrowing as-
  sets from others), then you should try and have illustrations 
  of important characters and locations. Maps for use during 
  Operations are great if your group is into a more detailed 
  type of combat as well.
  Music is another element of the Mecha Genre you would do 
  well not to cast aside. Good music playing in the background 
  can make a world of dif erence in establishing an immersive 
  atmosphere. The only problem is where to f nd it. Generally, 
  you will want a number of randomized playlists separated by 
  the mood they're trying to instill (action, anxiety, mystery) 
  and a few other tunes for specif c memorable events you have 
  in mind.  Soundtracks from the shows (or games, or whatever) 
  you are taking inspiration from are a solid start, but ambient 
  sounds will do in a pinch.
  If you think there are particular songs that could represent 
  the game as a whole, then don't hesitate to give your game 
  an 'Opening Theme' and play it to signal everyone it is time 
  to get in-character. Likewise, you may also have an 'Ending 
  Theme' to play when a session comes to an end. This last one 
  is pretty nasty (in a good way) when you end a game session 
  with a clif hanger.
  Taking it Easy
  The role of Genre Master is an exhausting one, we’ve been 
  over this. Here are a few techniques to achieve maximum ef-
  fect for minimum ef ort and make the other Players do your 
  work for you. While you are reading the following pieces of 
  advice keep one thing in mind: You are still the game’s referee 
  and have veto power over everything. Freedom is not an ex-
  cuse to get incoherent.
  Success and Failure
  As GM you’re the guy narrating how PCs succeed or fail at 
  Tests. As the general narrator of the story this might seem like 
  it is just part of the natural order of things. Instead let your 
  Players be the ones to narrate the outcomes of their actions, 
  both the ones that do well and the ones that don’t.
  Players will certainly be eager enough to describe their ac-
  complishments. If you also make them describe their mis-
  steps that will make them more humble and the PCs will seem 
  more human too. However, it also lets them get the best out 
  of their own blunders, ensuring no one is unhappy before 
  everyone moves on with the story.
  Shared NPCs
  One of the biggest benef ts of having a consistent setting with 
  its cast of NPCs is that it you can share NPC control with the 
  other Players.
  This might sound unappealing at f rst. Players want to play 
  their PCs, and you certainly do want to keep control of your 
  precious NPCs too. So why would anyone do this?
  Players will get to play in Scenes where their PCs are not 
  present, possibly even allowing a Player to let their PC die 
  and rest in peace knowing they still have a NPC to control for 
  the rest of the game. And even if they don’t, just having more 
  Characters to control will make them a lot more invested in 
  the game as a whole.
  Setting Powers
  The third technique is to let your Players improvise on the f y 
  about who and what is around them. Let’s say a PC wants to 
  become a member of a club, what you do is give them total 
  control over such a thing, complete with NPCs that attend it 
  too. They don’t even have to make up all of them on the spot, 
  they can just roll with whatever they are thinking at the time.
  Whenever they make up an important character or location, 
  note down the information on a single index card in case you 
  ever can make use of it for your own ends. Not every one of 
  their ideas will strike the right chords, but you still have veto 
  power and once they get the hang of it, that won’t be the case 
  anymore.
  Soon enough they’ll be keeping things running on their own. 
  This lets you concentrate on the crux of your plot, and on 
  crafting interesting Operations instead of having to take care 
  of everything that happens during Intermissions.
  Everyone has a Price
  The f nal technique is to just plain tell the other Players what 
  you want their Characters to do. Okay, maybe that is the 
  wrong way to put it. Let’s try again. If you would like a PC to 
  do a thing (or to stop them from doing said thing) you should 
  of er them a Genre Point for doing as you say.
  Ideally you want to think of an excuse related to a PC’s 
  Themes for doing this. The alcoholic PC gets into that bar f ght 
  with one of the NPCs, and the curious reporter can’t avoid fol-
  lowing that lead you gave them. This turns Genre Points from 
  a reward for good roleplaying to a resource you can use to get 
  them to do what you want.
  Of course, they can still say no. And if it is a really, really 
  important thing you should consider upping the reward to two 
  Genre Points instead of one... But they will lose a Genre Point 
  if they say no. You should only use this tactic when absolutely 
  necessary, since it is considerably more intrusive than the 
  simpler version.
  
  105
  The Course of Episodes
  Battle Century G is at its best when used for episodic charac-
  ter-driven stories, as opposed to serial action-driven stories. 
  This means that the heart of the game is in what the charac-
  ters do and how they develop, as opposed to how they react 
  to the plot at large.
  Your job is to set the stage at the beginning of Episodes with 
  a Scene that engages everyone and encourages them to de-
  velop their characters, then throw an Operation at them when 
  it looks appropriate.
  But why stick to an Episodic narrative? Because, above all 
  other things, Roleplaying Games are a social activity that 
  demands considerable commitment from everyone involved. 
  Players are supposed to continue weaving a story together 
  week after week... But people have lives. Eventually people will 
  fail to show up  – sometimes without having the chance to tell 
  you in advance.
  The Episodic structure lets you throw a self-contained adven-
  ture to everyone who is present at the game table that day 
  and handwave the absence of another PC away with a mini-
  mum of trouble to the narrative. A Serial type of game that 
  directly picks up where the previous session left of  would run 
  into the trouble of necessitating the PC whose owner is absent 
  to be controlled by the GM. That often leads to events that 
  the sidelined Player is not entirely in agreement with, much to 
  their frustration.
  If anyone misses an Episode, give them a quick recap of the 
  events taking place in it they should be aware of, either before 
  the new Episode begins or have the characters themselves 
  share the information with them.
  If you really need everyone for a particularly important plot 
  development and it turns out one or more people can’t make 
  it, you can leave that Episode for later. Then you throw a 
  quick session to serve as a prelude or to show of  elements 
  of the PC’s lives that are usually ignored, instead of having to 
  cancel the meeting altogether.
  The integrity of the story is important, but you should prior-
  itize Players’ enjoyment f rst and foremost. Otherwise, they 
  will simply cease to have fun and won’t want to play anymore.
  Season Goals
  A proper Season of Battle Century G needs for you to sit 
  down and plan out the major story arcs of it in advance. 
  Lucky you, all the PCs have Themes to use as inspiration and 
  to combine with your own ideas.
  You are not supposed to plan exactly what is going to hap-
  pen each Episode, but you should have a general idea of what 
  each PC should be dealing with each Episode Arc.
  Before we get into the details of being a Genre Master on an 
  Episode per Episode basis, we start with the general direction 
  of the Season, then move on to Episode Arcs.
  Essentially you need a start and an end point for the story. 
  You can be in-depth and detailed about it (The characters will 
  start as soldiers defending Tokyo from giant monsters and 
  end taking the f ght to the monsters’ home planet) or think in 
  more general and abstract terms (They are soldiers of the evil 
  empire and will eventually have to escape, stage a coup, or 
  join the angagonists) as it suits you. 
  Season Length
  You want to think about a general number of Episodes for 
  your Season. It dœ s not need to be strict but should serve as 
  a guideline. It may sound restrictive but having a general idea 
  of the intended Season’s length should give everyone a good 
  idea of the kind of pacing they should expect. If it turns out 
  everyone wants to keep going, you can always get a second 
  Season. 
  These are recommended Season lengths suited to usual 
  Mecha anime expectations.
  Number of Episodes to Season Format:
  Episodes
  Season Format
  6
  OVA Miniseries
  12
  Quarter-Year Season
  24
  Half-Year Season
  48
  Year-Long Season
  Battle Century G uses Episode Arcs too, thus you’ll have to 
  divvy these episodes up into Arcs. Somewhere between 2 
  and 5 Episodes per Arc works best for short Seasons while be-
  tween 7 and 10 is recommended for longer Seasons.
  This will be very helpful in distributing any subplots and 
  Themes you want to be explored along the way, and to let the 
  Players know if their goals are too short or long sighted. 
  
  106
  People
  People are the supporting cast of NPCs. They have Attributes, 
  Skills and Traits but don’t really need any Themes. If you want 
  to give them one Theme, make sure it involves the PCs in 
  some fashion, since they are the main stars. Of course noth-
  ing says you can’t give NPCs multiple Themes. It just means 
  they’ll have to interact more with the characters so they all 
  leave their mark. A NPC that has dif ering themes for every 
  member of the party can fuel a great relationship web with 
  the group as a whole.
  Allies
  Your PCs should have friends, family, comrades in arms and 
  other people they care about. Good Allies are helpful mentors 
  who guide and help the PCs, B-Team sidekicks who can swoop 
  in to help them out of a jam and the obligatory civilian friends 
  or love interests in need of protection.
  Roadblocks
  Roadblocks are minor antagonists who usually aren’t more 
  than minor inconveniences, largely due to lacking Mecha of 
  their own to be credible threats. These include rival pilot 
  candidates, politicians conspiring to remove your funding, and 
  civilians angry about you stepping on their homes.
  Double Agents
  The Joker cards of the NPC deck. They could be helping you 
  one day and causing you trouble the next, intentionally or 
  not. Good examples include a contact at the intelligence 
  agency, a black market dealer you usually deal with, and that 
  one mysterious masked pilot who keeps showing up to help 
  you then leaves after conf rming you’re doing f ne.
  Sandboxing
  PCs don’t just jump from one Operation to the next. They have lives too, and Intermissions are about those. Whether you are 
  running in the style of episodic or serial shows, you are going to have to set an interesting playground for the PCs to live in 
  which motivates them to do things. You have to make a sandbox for them, where they can do anything they want as long as 
  they stay within the bounds you’ve set, but they have to share it with the other kids who are playing their own games in there. 
  There are two elements are crucial to making an interesting sandbox: People and Places.
  NPCs and Locations will help drive various Subplots and Themes forward, providing both a cast of support characters and 
  reusable scenarios for your scenes. Choosing your characters and backdrops carefully will go a long way towards helping to 
  establish an ambience and tone. Depressing locales and characters will rub of  on the PCs, making the little pockets of light in 
  the middle of an encroaching darkness that much more ef ective. Likewise, a cast of cheerful jokers who don’t really have major 
  day-to-day grievances (other than the whole ‘f ghting in giant robots’ thing) is going to suf er some serious whiplash if things 
  suddenly get serious and angsty. Know what type of story you want and work towards that.
  Set pieces are nice scenery but not much use without anyone to populate them, so it is recommended to start with People 
  rather than Places since the specif cs of the former are often far more important than those of the latter. Having the most 
  advanced Mecha factory in the world is radically dif erent depending on whether the one in charge is a madman trying to take 
  over the world or an organization that wants to help humanity reach the stars.
  We are not writing down a list of examples because there are way too many types of People and Places you can use. We are 
  talking about describing essentially every imaginable type of character or location in Mecha f ction, after all. Instead, what we 
  can do is broadly def ne a few categories of People and Places and give a handful of examples for each.
  Places
  Places are less prominent than People, but they’re still very 
  important, as they will be the literal stages for a great deal of 
  the action in your game. What you want to do is create a few 
  points of interest that players can use during the game for 
  specif c purposes. If done right, Places help build a sense of 
  familiarity, along with a sense of progression as they change 
  over time.
  Personal Backdrops
  Much like Personal Facilities, backdrops are places associated 
  with one character and you can usually f nd them there. The 
  club owner is in the VIP room, the techie on the mech bay, 
  and the captain of the ship is in the bridge. These spots usu-
  ally say things about the NPCs in question, like being messy, 
  always having classical music in the background, and having 
  pictures of family and friends.
  Hangouts
  Hangouts are neutral territory where the PCs can meet up to 
  discuss plans or just to, well, hang out. Examples include fa-
  vorite fast food joints, the base of operations’ shooting range, 
  and the lounge’s water cooler. Popular hangouts can even 
  develop their own associated NPCs who get involved with the 
  lives of the PCs too. 
  Dungeons
  Dungeons owe their name to the origins of the Roleplaying 
  hobby in Dungeons & Dragons as the hideouts of the bad 
  guys. Modern Dungeons can range from abandoned laborato-
  ries full of horrors created through mad science, the under-
  ground bunkers packed with enemy soldiers, and the pocket 
  dimension that the aliens have made their home.
  
  107
  The Big Bad Evil Guy (or Girl)
  Of your many NPCs, your ultimate end boss is probably the 
  most important to the story. They def ne what the key conf ict 
  of the Season is about, and should be the polar opposite of 
  what the PCs stand for as a group.
  Throughout the Episodes and Arcs, PCs and Big Bads should 
  build up to the f nal, climactic encounter where it is all 
  decided. But to get there, f rst we have to take care of a few 
  other things.
  First decide on who the main antagonist is, both in the world 
  and as a character. It can be the war leader of an extrater-
  restial army, the charismatic leader of a terrorist organiza-
  tion, or a scientist who wants to create a godlike being.  Good 
  big bads are smart or at least resourceful, not just big dumb 
  monsters, though if they are best friends with the big dumb 
  monsters then that’s just perfect.
  But a good antagonist also has limitations. Maybe the aliens 
  can’t leave their spaceship for long, or the terrorists don’t 
  have numbers on their side, or the mad scientist is powerless 
  without their little monster. There must be a reason they can’t 
  stage a relentless of ense against the PCs as early as the f rst 
  Episode.
  You don’t need to reveal who is the big bad for a few Episodes, 
  and you could even keep it a secret until the endgame is near. 
  If the faction the PCs belong to have a traitor within their 
  ranks, they could either reveal themselves early on as their 
  antagonist (perhaps by stealing their most prized prototype 
  Mecha) or plot against them until they are unmasked in the 
  endgame.
  Consider giving your primary antagonist a number of hench-
  men, the kind powerful enough to stand up to the PCs. These 
  can be recurring antagonists that give things a sense of conti-
  nuity and can help tie seemingly-unrelated events together.
  You don’t have to know the nitty gritty of an antagonist’s At-
  tributes, Powers and other abilities yet. In fact, it is best if you 
  keep those secret until they enter the battlef eld. Just have a 
  general idea of what they’re good and bad at.
  What you do want to get sorted out are their motives and 
  modus operandi. The aliens need the Earth’s natural resources 
  because their planet is gone and are conf dent they can de-
  stroy humanity without burning down the Earth. The terrorists 
  believe that the system is doing more harm than good and 
  attack from the shadows to make the populace lose faith in it. 
  The scientist thinks that their creaton is the next step in evo-
  lution, and will steal all sorts of technology to power up their 
  monster until it reaches full potential.
  Lastly, you want an antagonist that makes things personal at 
  some point. Saving the world is nice and all but ideally your 
  PCs will hate the big bad’s guts. If you’ve got the time for it, 
  consider giving them at least one subplot to threaten or at-
  tack each of the PCs. Try to think of a way to make them ag-
  gravating every time they appear as well, maybe they’re really 
  rude and annoying, or they go for the low blows against the 
  PCs then run away. You want the f nal confrontation to be this 
  big epic moment in which the killing blow feels like the most 
  satisfying thing in the world.
  Arc Plot Structure
  If the antagonist is going to be a major force in driving the 
  story forward, they need to have an agenda. Consider having 
  each Episode Arc revolve around stopping one of their various 
  plans, adding in elements related to the Themes of your PCs.
  Remember this is an interactive game and there is no strict 
  script to follow. The glorious master plan could get resolved 
  after a single Episode when the cast of PCs see right through 
  the big bad’s schemes. Maybe they don’t actually follow up 
  the leads you give them! Maybe they do follow them, but are 
  defeated during the climax of the Episode Arc. Be f exible.
  Here are three plot structures to help you come up with an-
  tagonist schemes and agendas, any of which should be good 
  for a whole Episode Arc.
  The Master Plan:
  The big bad has a plan with several steps that is carried out 
  throughout several Episodes. Let’s say they want to drop a 
  space colony on the Earth’s surface. The f rst step would be a 
  decoy assault on said colony while their operatives inf ltrate. 
  After that they release nerve gas inside to take over with a 
  minimum of ef ort. Finally, they have to defend the colony 
  from outside forces trying to retake or destroy it. Each of 
  these steps is material for one or more Episodes.
  Attack on Multiple Fronts:
  This is your basic “stop the baddies” plot, just with a lot of 
  them taking place at the same time. A VIP has been kid-
  napped, dangerous OOParts were stolen, and an army of 
  giant robots is marching from the sea towards the city. The 
  antagonists are going all out, and the PCs must choose which 
  of these issues to tackle f rst, whether to split up, or if they’re 
  going to make sacrif ces to preserve their strength. 
  Betrayal of Trust: 
  This one takes a bit of additional setup time and can be tricky 
  to pull of  well. You need to create an NPC the others will like 
  and trust, and then betray them. The Arc begins with an NPC 
  trying to get closer (as friends or something else) to the PCs. 
  It progresses further when the NPC helps them out or asks 
  them for help in matters professional, personal, or both... And 
  it ends with a stab in the back.
  
  108
  Step 2: Involving Themes
  It is all f ne and dandy for your Players to pursue Themes on 
  their own initiative, but you want to encourage them a little 
  – And often that means placing them in a tough spot. Take 
  one of the previously mentioned connections (or standalone 
  Themes) and think how you can bring it to the forefront dur-
  ing an Intermission. You have an entire setting worth of tools 
  to do so, with more NPCs than you can shake a stick at, so 
  make use of them.
  Continuing with the previous example, the Brave PC could be 
  at odds with a bunch of rival Pilots, who seem all too eager to 
  solve any problems between them with their f sts. This single 
  Scene already involves two potential Themes being relevant 
  to the game, giving their owners precious Genre Points if they 
  resolve it in an interesting way.
  You want to think of one such instance for every Episode, 
  making as many PC Themes relevant as possible each time. 
  How your Players decide to solve these conf icts is up to them, 
  you only want to give them the chance to develop their Char-
  acters, not to choose how they will do that.
  The example characters do not actually have to engage their 
  prospective enemies in combat. Certainly the Brave one could 
  step away, especially if the Loyal one put in a good ef ort 
  convincing them to do so. But that means the Player didn’t 
  feel like earning the Genre Point for listening to their Bane...  
  Is the character comfortable with having their pride insulted 
  like that, after all? Or will they seek out the gang on their own 
  later? What they do is up to them.
  Step 3: Resolution of Themes
  You are going to want each Arc to have a satisfactory climax, 
  and there is no more obvious way to do it than to make any 
  Themes brought up earlier in the Arc relevant during an Op-
  eration. The Brave Character receives an encrypted message 
  from the rival group, challenging them to a duel – An obvi-
  ous trap!  What will they do and how will the Loyal Character 
  react?
  Again, the PC can opt not to go for the bait, which could po-
  tentially derail your plans quite a bit. But that’s okay, you will 
  have plenty of chances to advance your schemes later. If the 
  PC realizes they are okay with not continuing to be Stupidly 
  Brave, for instance, it sounds like they might be about to get 
  over their Bane and a new Bane is in order.
  In the previous example, the GM need not necessarily have 
  to improvise a whole new Operation plan on the spot. They 
  could just have the challenging enemy and their own allies at-
  tack the PCs on their own initiative, while the rival of the Brave 
  PC proceeds to call them a coward and do the other unsavory 
  things that rivals do.
  Using Themes
  You have a good idea of what the plot is going to be like for 
  most of the Season and some of the Episode Arcs. Now it is 
  time to throw Themes into the mix.
  It is not really all that dif  cult. If an Arc lasts for as long as it 
  takes to f nish of  a recurring fœ  introduced at the beginning 
  of it, then that NPC should represent one or more of the PC’s 
  Themes. They could be standing in the way of a PC’s Reason 
  or be a manifestation of their Bane.
  Distribute everyone’s Themes all over the Arc to give the 
  whole group aa chance for some quality roleplaying. The 
  rest of this page has a general outline on how you could use 
  Themes across your Arcs. You do not need to use this meth-
  od, but it is worth a look as inspiration at least.
  Step 1: Select your Themes
  Take every Theme belonging to the PCs, set them aside and 
  have a good look at them. Do you see any obvious connec-
  tions between them? Do at least two Themes look like they 
  could make for a good story seed when put together? If so, 
  make note of this 'pair' (or trio, or whatever you've got) and 
  keep looking for more such potential uses for Themes.
  For example, if one PC has Unwavering Loyalty as a Reason 
  towards another, whose Bane is that they are Stupidly Brave, 
  then you have something you can work with. The brave char-
  acter will ostensibly place themselves in danger at some point, 
  and the other character will act to protect them. What you are 
  trying to do here is f nd as many of these little nuggets as you 
  wish to use.
  If you can't f nd any obvious connections between the PCs, 
  then just try to select Themes that haven't seen much love 
  yet. Remember to make sure you have at least one for every 
  PC, however, otherwise some Characters might get left out of 
  the action in general.
  This method assumes that the development of Themes will, 
  after an Arc or two, lead to one or more of them changing 
  into dif erent types of Themes or be replaced entirely. It also 
  assumes that you have plenty of Themes with solid connec-
  tions between them to use through various Arcs without risk-
  ing things becoming stale.
  If it turns out that the same two or three connections are 
  always the more interesting ones, you should try to put extra 
  ef ort in making the other Themes more fun to play with.  You 
  can involve important NPCs or tie them to important plot 
  devices or developments.
  
  109
  Episode Flow
  Most Episodes should have a mix of action, comedy, drama 
  and personal subplots. This sounds tough, but in comparison 
  to setting up your Seasons and Arcs, it is much simpler.
  The key is that most Episodes are self-contained stories that 
  link a greater story together, and they follow the Three-Act 
  Structure: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution. If you follow 
  this structure odds are the Players will add anything you miss 
  on their own.
  The Setup is usually part of the Intermission. While the PCs go 
  about their daily lives you introduce or develop your various 
  plots and subplots. Then something happens that serves as 
  the Episode’s turning point, taking us from the Setup to the 
  Confrontation.
  The Confrontation can be an Operation or a combination of 
  Intermission and Operation. If the PCs did not meet up for the 
  Episode during the Setup, they should do so now to tackle 
  today’s threat. Things usually get worse before they get better, 
  making this the perfect time to put the PC’s various Themes 
  to the test. You may introduce further threats or foreshadow 
  new subplots down the line at this point.
  Then there is the Resolution, which is about cooling down af-
  ter overcoming yet another challenge. This is usually in a f nal 
  Intermission Scene after the Operation Ends. Most of the time 
  the PCs return to their lives having grown through the experi-
  ence. Sometimes, the events of the Episode have changed 
  them fundamentally.
  If you’re short for time, you can combine the Resolution of an 
  Episode with the Setup of the next one. That ensures there is 
  always something to do during either of them.
  Though the default mode of play is that every Episode will 
  start with an Intermission and f nish with an Operation, it dœ s 
  not necessarily have to work that way.
  You can have multiple Episodes without deploying any Mecha. 
  It will mean the Players go a few Episodes without a chance 
  to use up their Genre Points though, so consider letting them 
  use Powers during Intermissions.
  You could even have multiple back-to-back ‘Boss Rush’ style 
  Episodes with nothing but combat. Just keep in mind that do-
  ing nothing but f ghting gets old fast if you have an invested 
  interest in the story and characters themselves.
  Episode Zero
  Since the group is playing an ensemble cast in which everyone 
  is already acquainted with their Mecha, you miss out on the 
  whole fun of falling into the cockpit and other related genre 
  conventions.
  What you should do is run introductory sessions for each 
  of them, exploring their past lives. This way Players get the 
  chance to give a test run to their PCs before the actual game 
  begins so they can change their PC around. It lets you intro-
  duce them to key NPCs and get their subplots going early. 
  Finally, it lets you and the Player become comfortable with the 
  rules of the game. Don’t hesitate to throw them an introduc-
  tory opponent to f ght!
  Extra Episodes
  Extra Episodes are for those times when you want to advance 
  specif c subplots the regular Episodes are ignoring, or to give 
  PCs that aren’t as active more roleplaying opportunities. You 
  don’t need to have more than one PC involved in them, be-
  cause they’re not critical to the plot as a whole.
  Extra Episodes take place during a timeskip between Arcs, 
  as part of a f ashback, or even a dream sequence. You could 
  make them a part of the greater story, but other Players 
  resent it if the big bad is killed and the fate of the world is 
  decided when they weren’t present. 
  Extra Episodes can also be employed to handle those times 
  when the party gets separated. Let’s say one of the PCs 
  chooses to pursue the ace pilot of the Space Empire, but 
  everyone else would rather continue f ghting the invading 
  Dinoroids. You should continue the Episode focusing on the 
  rest of the group, while handling the adventures of the lone PC 
  during an Extra Episode.
  You should encourage players to pursue things they want to 
  do. If everyone can get involved in each other’s story, all the 
  better. If someone just has to break of  temporarily to get 
  something done and that risks pausing the action for every-
  one else, do it during an Extra Episode instead.
  You can also use them to ‘buf ’ PCs that haven’t been very 
  ef ective in combat as a whole. Giving a Player a chance to 
  roleplay Themes during an Extra Episode will make them 
  come out of it stronger. String this Extra into the next proper 
  Episode and the character will be ready for the Operation.
  
  110
  Scene Pacing
  The Seasonal, Arc, and Episodic plots make games of Bat-
  tle Century G feel like a strong cohesive narrative in the long 
  term. But you should not forget about the Scenes that create 
  all those moments. Knowing how to run and pace a Scene 
  properly is an art form unto itself.
  A Scene is a period of time in a specif c place where a few 
  Characters act and Players roleplay. Outside of Operations 
  you still need to have Scenes with the whole cast of PCs as a 
  group. But a lot of Scenes will have just a few of them, per-
  haps even including only a single PC.
  Your job as GM is to balance everyone’s screentime. The de-
  fault structure in Chapter 1 is an okay starting point. What we 
  are going to discuss is how to get the best out of your Scenes.
  Fast Paced Scenes
  These are the most straightforward of the bunch. They are 
  the Scenes with the car chases, inf ltrating enemy camps, 
  shootouts in poorly lit alleyways, and so on. During fast 
  Scenes something is happening and the PCs have to react to 
  it, or a PC is the one making something happen, or the whole 
  group is on it.
  These Scenes should be fast paced and to the point. Have 
  everyone describe their actions (or reactions) then ask them 
  for one or two Tests, then get to the consequences.
  A single Test should be enough to know whether you outrun 
  your assassins or sneak behind enemy lines without being 
  seen. Extended Tests during Fast Scenes should be of the kind 
  you can’t retry without consequences.
  Particularly important or dif  cult tasks can require more 
  than one Test from each Character, but those shouldn’t be 
  too frequent. For example you could need to sneak past the 
  guards and then disable the security system. Failing your Test 
  can also mean the PCs now have to try a dif erent approach. 
  For example, failing to sneak past security means you have to 
  take out the guards coming at you.
  Slow Paced Scenes
  These are the Scenes in which the characters are relatively  at 
  peace. They can make conversation between each other and 
  the NPCs or work on their long-term Extended Tests.
  Your job in these Scenes is to make sure something always 
  happens during them. The PCs should learn something new 
  from the conversation or have something unexpected happen 
  while they were doing their Extended Test.
  If the PCs just want to roleplay with each other in peace, that’s 
  f ne. But consider making that part of an Extra Episode and 
  keep things rolling forward.
  Scene Changes
  Tests were rolled, Roleplaying was had, and all was good. Now 
  you have to move on from one Scene to the next. The chal-
  lenge in moving from one Scene to another is knowing just 
  how much you should jump ahead.
  When a PC is injured during a f ght you are going to want a 
  Scene to follow up on that. But should you have everyone 
  rushing to get the PC medical attention? Maybe you should 
  skip ahead to when the PC wakes up? Or perhaps you should 
  fast forward even further, to a time when the PC is already 
  back into the action, just a little stif  and slow.
  There is no fast and simple rule to follow here. It takes time, 
  practice, ef ort and a lot of talking with each other to get this 
  right. What works for some Players might not for others.
  You have no way of knowing which of these is the best option, 
  so you should ask the other Players what they would like to 
  do. Do they want to have a conversation while they’re taking 
  the train or would they rather begin the next Scene already at 
  their destination? Let them choose. If they want to have that 
  conversation, it will probably be an interesting one.
  Your other dilemma is knowing when you should close of  a 
  Scene. You don’t want to interrupt or stop good roleplaying, 
  but you don’t have all day to play around. Time is money, as 
  they say, so your Scenes should be worth their playing min-
  utes in gold.
  Make sure that Scenes don’t linger on. Let conversations or 
  moments of action conclude, and ask the Players if they 
  would like to move on to the next Scene immediately. That 
  way if there is something else they would like to do, they’ll just 
  tell you and you can let them handle that before ending the 
  Scene for good.
  Sometimes the PCs hit a standstill, unsure of what they should 
  do or where to go next. This is ideal for you to either make 
  something happen or to say that enough time has passed for 
  something to happen imminently. This way the slower Scenes 
  turn into faster paced ones. 
  Just don’t rush too much. The PCs should have moments of 
  quiet and chances to Roleplay with each other. If the pac-
  ing is too fast, you risk ending up with a series of disjointed 
  vignettes.
  
  111
  Tests and Narrative Control
  Tests are a way to reward Players who spend their XP in useful abilities. Knowing when to ask for Tests and when not to is a 
  crucial part of being a GM.  When you tell another Player to roll a Test you are essentially saying that they are trying to do 
  something meaningful, and that this is their chance to make all the numbers on their sheets count.
  When a PC succeeds at a Test, they are shaping where the story is going according to their wishes. This a powerful thing, and 
  the essence of roleplaying games. Don’t look at Tests as if they are simply ‘how characters do things’. Instead think of every 
  Test as a chance to reward a Player for investing wisely into Skills and Traits and for using their own initiative to advance the 
  plot. Knowing the ins and outs of Tests is integral to both let the PCs direct the story and to also keep control of where it is go-
  ing. This section has a number of techniques for you to get the most out of each Test.
  Say Yes or Roll the Dice
  Way back in Chapter 1 the def nition of Tests says that you should roll them only when something or someone is in the way of 
  the PC’s actions. The fundamental idea behind “Say Yes or Roll the Dice” is that most of the time you should either let the PCs 
  succeed at what they want to do, or make it a challenge for them. This gœ s hand in hand with letting them take charge of nar-
  rating the outcome of their dice rolls or adding detail to the game world.
  You should not say “No” to ideas unless they are really, really bad. And if they are bad, let them try anyway, and suggest 
  an alternative course of action. Testing Craftsmanship to build a planet destroying cannon in your garage? That’s a “No.”. A 
  Resources Test to acquire a nuclear weapon through underhanded means? That’s a “Try, and we’ll see what happens.” with the 
  caveat that they’ll likely fail to meet the DN of 20. If they pass, one or more important NPCs will get in touch with them to of er 
  one of those in exchange for a favor. A really, really big favor.
  Failing Forwards
  When a PC rolls well but barely misses a DN it results in disappointment. They were good, just not good enough, and that 
  means total failure. When that happens you should consider lettimg them “Fail Forward”. To Fail Forward is to stumble on your 
  way to success, and to make a mess of things in addition to getting what you wanted. Failing Forward is also called Succeeding 
  with Consequences, because that’s exactly what happens. 
  The general rule is that if a PC fails to meet a DN by 5 or less they should either be given a chance to pass but with something 
  bad happening as a side ef ect, or partially achieves their objective. The Character deciphers one half of the cipher but they 
  get the other half f at out wrong, makes the jump across the chasm but sprains their ankle and loses a Layer of Plot Armor, 
  fails to win the crowd over with their speech, but dœ s make a couple of good points that give them all pause.
  Exceptional Success
  Sometimes PCs will go above and beyond their original objective. This is called Succeeding with Style, and happens when a 
  Character gets a result of at least 5 higher than the original DN. When this happens, they succeeded so well at the Test that it 
  makes other tasks for the rest of the Scene easier, or allows them to outright skip future tests.
  A Character might lie so convincingly that further lies throughout the course of the Scene don’t need a Test, or become aware 
  of an incoming ambush early enough that they get to warn the rest of the group, or repair a broken piece of equipment so well 
  it grants an Advantage to all Tests made with it for a Scene. 
  Tiers of Results
  Lastly you could do away with the whole idea of Dif  culty Numbers entirely and just using the result of a Test to determine how 
  the character performed. Check a PC’s performance according to their result below, then ask yourself whether it was enough or 
  not. It is essentially the same thing as normal, it is just easier to use when improvising things.
  Result of 4 or lower (Terrible): This is the kind of performance that fails at pretty much everything. Not just that but it tends 
  to do so in the most catastrophic manner possible.
  Result between 5 and 9 (Mediocre): This will only succeed at tasks that require little to no training. It will usually fail at most 
  other things, and not with a bang but with a whimper.
  Result between 10 and 14 (Solid): A good performance, with a little bit of skill, talent and luck. It should be enough to succeed 
  at most tasks or at least do so with a consequence or complication along the way.
  Result between 15 and 19 (Exceptional): An excellent display of ability. This kind of result will get the job done for the grand 
  majority of challenges a Character should face.
  Result of 20 or higher (Amazing): A performance this good will succeed at pretty much anything. After rolling a result this 
  high, most tasks in the realm of the mundane are completed as if they were insignif cant.
  
  112
  Objectives and Circumstances
  Usually the end of an Operation results from having no more 
  enemy Units on the battlef eld or from destroying their Base 
  Unit. Likewise a defeat is marked by the same events but ap-
  plied to your own Squadron. 
  Enemy Base Units are pretty useful in that they let you throw 
  overwhelming odds at your PCs but still lets them earn a 
  victory as long as the they can take out the key target. They 
  don’t need to be battleships or stationary buildings either, the 
  defeat of any f gure important enough (like an Enemy Ace) is 
  often a good reason for a surrender or retreat signal.
  But you can get more crafty than that: You can tell your Play-
  ers that in order to win they have to Maim a specif c Area on 
  an enemy Unit and then Retreat to bring it back to base for 
  analysis. Or they have to prevent all Enemies from harming an 
  Ally that is in the middle of evacuating civilians for a specif c 
  amount of Rounds. 
  Maybe your players have objectives they would like to pursue, 
  such as trying to convince an Enemy to lay down their weap-
  ons and stop f ghting, or help the civilians from the previous 
  example to evacuate.
  Some of these objectives may be completed with the use of 
  the rules for Operations, but many will require a degree of 
  creativity on your part as GM. Regardless of whether there are 
  any hard rules or not, anything that impacts the game mean-
  ingfully should require one or more Actions to complete, a 
  Skill Test, and maybe the spending of Genre Points if it is a big 
  enough deal.
  Circumstances are similar to Objectives, being dif erent in that 
  they are imposed upon the group by the GM and cannot be 
  changed. By default there are no circumstances in any Opera-
  tion, much like with Terrain. Just like with Terrain, the variety 
  of imaginable circumstances you can throw at your Players is 
  near limitless.
  Their degree of complexity can vary greatly. For instance, you 
  might make a very simple Circumstance in having the power 
  at the base cut forcing the group to deploy without knowing 
  anything about the Enemy.
  But you can get as complicated as you want.  Let’s say that 
  the PCs haven’t had anything to eat in several days. This attack 
  to their strength, attentiveness and morale could mean they 
  don’t gain benef ts from Tension until they do acquire supplies 
  from the enemy, at which point their renewed spirit lets them 
  benef t from it as normal.
  Circumstances should be used sparingly, since they change 
  the rules of the game fundamentally. Shaking things up every 
  now and then makes your Operations more interesting. Do 
  it too often and you risk making them feel less like a special 
  thing and more like gimmicks.
  Sometimes you want to spring Enemy reinforcements on 
  your unsuspecting players or have a Boss with multiple 
  stages. This might cause a battle to go on long enough that it 
  needs to be split into multiple Episodes.  
  Since this af ects the rules of the game, what are you to 
  do as a GM? If the split was planned or there was a short 
  timeskip between each chunk of the Operation, you should 
  refresh their Genre Points and treat this as an entirely new 
  Operation. If you just paused the game you simply treat it as 
  part of the previous Episode.
  Planning Operations
  You can’t have a game about Mecha without Operations, and 
  you want your Episodes to have a f ght somewhere.  Okay 
  maybe it should not be during every Episode but the major-
  ity of the times you sit down at the table, there should be at 
  least a short instance of giant robots punching each other 
  in the face. Anything from being the face of a political event 
  to helping with reconstruction ef orts is enough, really. They 
  could be blasting aliens to bits, or some other incident that 
  keeps them an important part of the game.
  Terrain
  Battles have to take place somewhere, and your choice of Ter-
  rain as a GM is perhaps one of the subtler ways in which you 
  can not only tilt it towards either end of the dif  culty spec-
  trum, but also to make it more interesting than yet another 
  skirmish.
  Besieging an enemy fortif cation is that much more dif  cult if 
  they have Defensive terrain and are surrounded by Dif  cult 
  Terrain from every direction. At the same time, an Enemy 
  pushed into Extreme Terrain will eventually go down if you can 
  keep them pinned there... Unless they are really lucky or have 
  really high Attributes, but you get the idea.
  You should try to have Impassable Terrain around the edges 
  of your planned battlef eld, if only to stop wacky chase scenes 
  from happening. Generally speaking, most battlef elds should 
  be somewhere between 10x10 and 20x20 in size, depending 
  on how much you want Ranges and Speed to be deciding fac-
  tors for victory.
  There are myriads of options available, but you should not 
  underestimate the basics either. There is nothing wrong with 
  sticking to Plain Terrain, .as it’s simpler and lets you provide 
  an even playing f eld. If your Players prefer entering a battle 
  without having to adapt to a new battleground every time, 
  Plain Terrain is enough.
  
  113
  The Individual Method
  At the end of an Episode, gauge how much the Operation 
  challenged the Players and at how many things of importance 
  they made happen during the Intermission. Then grant every-
  one XP based on whether the Operation was easy or dif  cult 
  for the PCs to accomplish and the signif cance of the Intermis-
  sion to character development and the plot at large.
  Intermission - Mild:
  An Intermission during which the PCs just go along with things 
  without much initiative and no meaningful conf ict takes place 
  has a value of a measly 1 XP.
  Intermission - Good:
  An Intermission during which at least one PC got signif cant 
  development and the plot or a subplot advanced notably is 
  equivalent to 3 XP.
  Intermission - Awesome:
  An Intermission during which the plot at large advanced leaps 
  and bounds and events that transpired have permanently and 
  obviously changed the PCs for better or worse would give the 
  entire group a reward of 5 XP.
  Operation - Mild:
  An Operation where every Turn gœ s as expected and no PC is 
  forced to Retreat to avoid being destroyed is easy and should 
  award 1 XP.
  Operation - Good:
  An Operation where one or more players are forced to Retreat 
  or in which the players are forced to improvise with their 
  Genre Powers in ways they didn’t expect to achieve a victory 
  without pulling back is worth around 3 XP.
  Operation - Awesome:
  An Operation where the battle is long and hard fought, only 
  won by the skin of the PC’s teeths with a mix of ingenuity, 
  good luck and perseverance earns its participants 5 XP.
  This method is best when you want to encourage them to go 
  nuts with their wacky plans and to take risks. It also works 
  when you don’t really care that much about Power Levels as a 
  whole or don’t have a planned schedule of numbered Epi-
  sodes.
  The Planned Method
  You don't want your Pilots to become superhuman and you 
  intend for your player’s Mecha to follow an anime-esque pac-
  ing. If this is the case, this is the method for you. Take a look 
  at how many Episode Arcs you plan to have and consider how 
  strong you want them to be at the end of each, then divide 
  the Recommended XP per Level by the number of Episodes in 
  each Arc.
  Growth Rate - Idle:
  Around 1 XP per Episode. Characters grow very little over time, 
  likely not increasing in Power Level more than once through 
  the entire Season... If they ever get there.
  Growth Rate - Lethargic:
  Around 3 XP per Episode. A very slow pacing that suits games 
  where the characters are only meant to grow in Power Level 
  after a long streak of Episodes.
  Growth Rate - Comfy:
  Around 5 XP per Episode. Fast enough to guarantee an in-
  crease in a few Power Levels after a few Episodes, making it 
  easier to tie them to a specif c number of Episode Arcs. 
  Growth Rate - Busy:
  Around 10 XP per Episode. Much like the above, but better 
  suited to short OVA-esque Episode Arcs in format, and always 
  keeping things moving forward at a fast pace.
  Growth Rate - Hyperactive:
  Around 15 XP per Episode. This rate burns through Power 
  Levels quickly, and is good if you want a short Season where 
  everyone gets to reach their full potential.
  Growth Rate - Frenetic:
  Around 30 XP per Episode. That means one Power Level per 
  battle, and PCs peaking in strength after just a single Episode 
  Arc.
  This scale is useful during the planning stages of the game, 
  and works pretty well provided you can keep the pacing as 
  intended. With that said, the PCs will most likely have an ef ect 
  on the pacing itself, so you might need to increase or de-
  crease the growth rate depending on how things are going.
  Difficulty and Rewards
  At the end of every Episode you should give your Players XP so that they can buy new toys to play with for their Pilots and 
  Mecha. But how much? There are two ways to f gure out how much XP to give your Players. You can do so assigning XP per-Epi-
  sode according to how they did. Or you can plan out ahead of time how much XP per Episode Arc you want to give out, keeping 
  a f rm grip on the PC's Power Levels.
  
  114
  The Supporting Cast
  The supporting cast takes many forms. You will need NPCs for the players to interact with outside the battlef eld and enemies 
  to war with once they step into the cockpit. A strong supporting cast of friends, rivals, acquaintances and lovers will instill a 
  sense that the PCs are interacting with a living, breathing world. And that’s a good thing.
  Most of the NPCs that interact with PCs during Intermissions do not have Mecha to call their own. These are known as Non-
  Combatant Non-Player Characters. We’ll just call them Non-Combatants to make things simpler. Other NPCs are def ned by the 
  fact that they are faceless Enemies during Operations and thus lack Pilot rules. These we’ll call NPC Enemies or Allies depending 
  on their role. The most important NPCs are those that take part of both Intermissions and Operations. Those use the rules for 
  both PIlot and Mecha. 
  NPC Tiers
  Individual NPCs are just as varied as PCs if not more, and the same could be said of their Mecha if they have any.NPCs advance 
  over time, improving their performance in similar ways as the PCs do. But not all NPCs are created equal. There are Three Tiers 
  for NPCs, each best suited for dif erent roles both in the story and during combat Scenes. They are Grunts, Rivals and Bosses.
  When creating an NPC, whether they’re intended for use during Intermissions, Operations or both, you go through the same 
  process you would for creating a PC but apply a few special rules in between depending on their type. NPCs don’t necessarily 
  have to be Humans, nor are they restricted to humanoid Mecha, so they get a couple extra Features unique to them.
  114
  
  115
  Tier 1: Grunts
  These are the nameless extras, the hapless bystanders, the 
  rank and f le mooks. Their only strength lies in numbers, and 
  that is if they have them. As Non-Combatants, they are the 
  forgettable NPCs that get a quirk or two at most but are there 
  mostly to fulf ll a purpose like shopkeepers or civilian witness-
  es. As Enemies, they often are nameless soldiers or AIs with 
  little to no self-preservation instinct. Two Grunts are roughly 
  equivalent to a PC of the same Power Level.
  Grunts start with only 50 CP and MP to spend and have no 
  Genre Points or Powers to speak of. Grunts keep up with the 
  XP that the PCs earn, gaining the same amount as they do, 
  but they may never have more than 50 CP spent on Skills and 
  Traits or 50 MP on Upgrades and Weapons. Essentially, they 
  can get up to 50 points of special abilities and the rest all gœ s 
  to Attributes. They also have the Paired Attack Action.
  Paired Attack
  Grunts f ght very well in numbers, making up for being weaker 
  with superior teamwork. A Grunt can spend an Action to give 
  another identical Grunt Unit within 1 Zone two Advantages 
  to Might Tests during their next Turn. Pairing up with another 
  Grunt counts as an Of ensive Action. Teamwork has its limits 
  though, two is company, but three is a crowd. The same Unit 
  cannot be Paired with more than one another each Round.
  As an optional rule you may allow PCs to purchase low Power 
  Level Grunts, at the same cost of the Grunt’s total available CP 
  and MP. 
  This is a much larger expense than Comrades or Assistants 
  (it costs 50 points for a Level 0 Grunt) but dœ s basically give 
  them two Characters and/or Mecha to play with.
  Tier 2: Rivals
  Virtually equals to the PCs in all but ownership, a Rival is a 
  recurring NPC that is more often than not an Enemy. Some of 
  them are allies, very few of them are non-Combatants, and 
  even less of them serve as Allies during Operations. A Rival is 
  a fair match for one PC of the same Power Level.
  Rivals are created and augmented the same ways that PCs are 
  in nearly all respects. They take a bit more ef ort to prepare 
  than the other Tiers for that reason.
  Tier 3: Bosses
  The toughest of the tough, Bosses are the movers and shakers 
  of the setting as Non-Combatants and fearsome Enemies in 
  the battlef eld. Bosses generally f ght until they die in battle, 
  and are meant to be rare sights that should not be fought 
  more than once or twice. A Boss is more or less comparable 
  in power to two PCs of the same Power Level.
  Because Bosses are so powerful, the process to create them is 
  slightly dif erent from that of other NPCs. They start with the 
  same CP and MP as PCs. Non-Combatants also get one Boss 
  Trait or bonus Skills/Traits each Power Level.
  Bosses start of  with the same Genre Points that PCs do, and 
  earn more when losing Threshold Levels just like them. They 
  have the six Default Powers, but after that pick Powers from a 
  selection that is exclusive to them.
  Boss Mecha are entirely dif erent from those of PCs. They use 
  Boss Upgrades and Boss Weapons instead of the regular ones, 
  earning more with every Power Level.
  Bosses gain 15 XP per Power Level, though they may only 
  spend it on Attributes. They do get several freebies each 
  Power Level though.
  Boss Characters
  Level 0: 50 CP to spend on Skills and Traits.
  Level 1: One Boss Trait.
  Level 2: 30 CP to spend on Skills and Traits.
  Level 3: One Boss Trait.
  Level 4: 30 CP to spend on Skills and Traits.
  Level 5: One Boss Trait.
  Boss Mecha
  Level 0: One Boss Power and Weapon.
  Level 1: One Boss Upgrade.
  Level 2: One Boss Weapon.
  Level 3: One Boss Power.
  Level 4: One Boss Upgrade.
  Level 5: One Boss Capstone.
  Higher Levels have everything from the lower ones, so for 
  example a Level 2 Boss Mecha has two Weapons, one Power 
  and one Upgrade plus 130 MP to spend on Attributes, while a 
  Level 5 Boss Mecha has two Powers, Upgrades and Weapons 
  plus a Capstone in addition to a whooping 175 MP to spend on 
  Attributes.
  
  116
  Squad Power Ratings
  If you would like to have more but weaker Grunts per PC, or to throw a single Boss at a group of Characters, then this section 
  can help you out.
  We’ll need to assign each PC a Power Rating (based on their Power Level) and add it up with the Power Ratings of the group as a 
  whole to get the Squad Power Rating. Then we proceed to create the opposition, aiming to meet the NPC’s Squad Power Rating 
  with that of the PCs. We distribute Power Ratings between Grunt, Rival and Boss Enemies in a way similar to spending Experi-
  ence Points to create a character. 
  A PC’s Power Rating is equal to their Power Level times two, plus four. A Grunt is their Power Level plus two, and a Boss is Power 
  Level times four plus eight. Rivals have the same Power Rating as PCs. Use the table below for ease of reference.
  Power Level
  PC Power Rating
  Grunt Power Rating
  Rival Power Rating
  Boss Power Rating
  0
  4
  2
  4
  8
  1
  6
  3
  6
  12
  2
  8
  4
  8
  16
  3
  10
  5
  10
  20
  4
  12
  6
  12
  24
  5
  14
  7
  14
  28
  This means that a Level 1 PC is the equivalent of Level 2 Grunt and a Level 0 Boss is a fair f ght for a Level 2 PC. You can use 
  this table to challenge a Squad of 4 PCs at Level 3 (Total Power Rating of 40) with one Level 5 Boss and two Level 4 Grunts 
  (Power Rating of 28 + 6 + 6 = 40). 
  This lets you get more creative with the types of challenges you can use against your PCs as long as you don’t mind doing a 
  little math. However, Power Ratings do not take into account Terrain composition nor Genre Points earned Roleplaying, so they 
  are ultimately a guideline for what should make a dif  cult but winnable battle.
  You could also give each individual Operation its own dif  culty. This way you can make skirmishes with Grunts relatively easy 
  encounters, then ramp up the dif  culty for the big Boss battles to make them stand out more. You may also want to take the 
  game’s tone and mood into account - bloody combat against all odds suits gritty narratives better. The table below of ers a 
  good starting point for adjusting the Power Rating of your Operations individually.
  PC Power Rating
  Warmup
  Challenging
  Overwhelming
  4
  3
  4
  5
  8
  6
  8
  10
  12
  9
  12
  15
  16
  12
  16
  20
  20
  15
  20
  25
  24
  18
  24
  30
  28
  21
  28
  35
  32
  24
  32
  40
  36
  27
  36
  45
  40
  30
  40
  50
  44
  33
  44
  55
  48
  36
  48
  60
  52
  39
  52
  65
  56
  42
  56
  70
  60
  45
  60
  75
  
  117
  Biological
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend any 
  amount of Energy to restore half that much Threshold to your-
  self. Whenever one of your Areas gets Maimed, one of your 
  Attributes is halved. Losing the Head halves your Systems, the 
  Torso halves your Guard, the Arms halve your Might and the 
  Legs your Speed.You ignore the Ejection rules, and losing the 
  fourth Level of Threshold kills you.
  Both Outsiders and Cryptids have very unique physiologies. 
  The bad news is that they are relentless and will heal any 
  wound that is not fatal in time. The good news is that their 
  bodies are unstable, paradoxically reacting the most violently 
  to Element G, the substance they seem to be made from.
  Fortress
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: You can not Move as part of your Actions or be Moved 
  by other abilities, but you increase the Maximum Range of 
  all your Weapons by your Speed Attribute. This only counts 
  your base Attribute, ignoring any modif ers that increase or 
  decrease it.
  You are a big, stationary target, either a literal building or 
  you are so slow that it might as well be the case. On the plus 
  side, you make for a fantastic artillery platform.
  Invasive
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: Halve all Damage you would do to Enemy Mecha, but 
  for each 5 Damage you manage to deal this way the Pilot 
  inside loses one Layer of Plot Armor. Pilots damaged this way 
  Test Systems instead of Willpower to avoid defeat. Should this 
  ability trigger against a Pilot who has already lost all three 
  Layers, they are automatically defeated instead.
  Cryptids are known for their ability to kill or cripple Meis-
  ters before the Gear itself is done f ghting, whether through 
  insanity-inducing beams, half-leech half-spore parasites, or 
  just plain opening the cockpit and eating the person within.
  Squadron
  Internal Upgrade (0) 
  Ef ect: You are immune to Maiming. All Blast, Burst and Line 
  Weapons gain two Advantages to their Might Tests against you.
  You’re not one unit but a group of them acting in unison, 
  most often of four. Said units are quite weak by themselves, 
  having no choice but to emphasize quantity over quality.
  Damage dealt to the Pilots from Invasive sources can be dif-
  f cult to represent. The ef ects are kind of hard to notice until 
  they get very serious and people are already coughing up 
  their organs. Here you have a few examples to get you started.
  First Layer: Joint pain, anemia from blood loss, uncontrollable 
  shivering and shaking. 
  Second Layer: Temporary blindness, constant f ashbacks, f ts 
  of psychotic violence.
  Third Layer: Entering a fugue state, motor function loss, total 
  amnesia.
  Mecha whose Pilot has been knocked out can still function, 
  and they do so as if the Pilot had ejected. Rather than con-
  tinue f ghting, they should try to escape before it is too late 
  for the sake of their Pilot.
  Remember that Invasive triggers for every 5 Damage, so 
  particularly brutal blows could cause a Pilot to lose multiple 
  Layers at once. On the plus side, at least their robot is only 
  taking 10 Damage instead of the unhalved 20.
  Enemy Features
  Some enemies use Mecha rules but cannot be Mecha. They might actually be giant monsters, stationary buildings armed to 
  the teeth, or perhaps squadrons of conventional mechanized weaponry. Features can be used to represent all these various 
  enemies, and you can mix and match them with the ones available to PCs to make some interesting fœ s. 
  These are special Features that just like those available to PCs but for one or more reasons are better reserved for the use of 
  Enemies. At the GM’s prerogative, some of these Features might be available to PCs.
  
  118
  Combat Profiling
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may ask one Player 
  a single yes or no question about what their PC will be doing 
  during their next Turn. If the Player abides by their answer, 
  you also gain double benef t from Tension against them for 
  a Round. If they do not, they lose a Genre Point. You can use 
  this ability three times per Episode.
  You have magnif cent observation skills and put them to use 
  during battle, and can read movement patterns from your 
  enemies like they’re an open book. Just stay away from reck-
  less savages who act crazy and break their mold.
  Elusive Form
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may slip in or out of any one 
  Scene no questions asked. If used to enter a Match, you roll 
  Initiative and arrive at the beginning of your Turn. If used to 
  escape a Match, it requires an Action.
  You could turn into a fast moving cloud, step into a shadow 
  and emerge from another, or just plain vanish in a puf  of 
  smoke to reappear the next block over. Perfect for daring 
  escapes and inf ltrating enemy fortresses.
  Giant Slayer
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: You do not halve the Damage you would deal against 
  Mecha while on foot and they no longer deal double Damage 
  against you. You increase your Defense by 5 against Mecha 
  and may use Deathblows against them.
  You can f ght tœ  to tœ  with giant robots, which is every bit 
  as superhuman as it sounds. Enemies regard you as more 
  monster than human, and they might even be right.
  Homunculus Vessel (Specialist)
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: You have a f ercely loyal minion NPC created using the 
  rules for Rivals - much like Comrades for PCs. Anytime you are 
  Defeated, you gain control of your minion until your recover 
  your body. If you die, you carry over this Trait to the new 
  body, creating yet another minion.
  You have created true, sentient and self-aware life and indoc-
  trinated it into absolute loyalty to your cause like any good 
  parent expects of their children.
  Living Weapon (Specialist)
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Choose a number of Deathblows worth a total of 15 
  CP or less. You do not suf er Disadvantages from using the 
  chosen Deathblows multiple times per Episode.
  You have weapons installed into a body created to spill the 
  blood of others, and can use all sorts of weapons and combat 
  maneuvers relentlessly until the opposition drops.
  Mundanity Field
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Other Characters may not use any Miracle Skills as 
  long as they are in the same Zone as you. Not even those 
  from Ether Drives.
  It is said that the Foundation’s top operatives have special 
  “Ether Cancellers” installed as part of their nanomachine 
  treatments to counteract rogue Children who use their Ether 
  Drives recklessly and need to be stopped.
  Overwhelming Pressure
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may spend an Action to have all 
  other Characters in the same Zone lose a Layer of Plot Armor 
  for each Power Level you have in excess of theirs.
  The puny minds of mere normals cannot fathom what it is 
  like to be in your presence. With the snap of a f nger you can 
  bring them all to their kness - as it should be.
  Skill Master (Specialist)
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Choose any two Skills you are trained in. Whenever 
  you would perform a Test using the chosen Skills, you may 
  choose to automatically roll a 10.
  There’s being skilled enough to stand out, and then there’s 
  blowing the minds of everyone around you on a daily basis. 
  This is the latter, in case you were wondering.
  Spectral Body
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Once per Episode you may turn partly immaterial for 
  three Rounds. While in this state you can selectively allow 
  objects or substances to pass through your body, ef ectively 
  rendering you invincible for its duration and immune to all 
  terrain ef ects that you choose to ignore. You can still hurt or 
  af ect other characters or your surroundings.
  You are a thing that was originally born in the empty space 
  between dimensions, and can halfway slip back to that place 
  temporarily without fading away. While in this state you can 
  walk through walls and hails of bullets, while still being corpo-
  real enough to punch a guy in the face just f ne.
  Viral Touch
  Boss Trait
  Ef ect: Any Enemies that you deal Damage to while on foot 
  become infected for the rest of the Episode Arc. Infected 
  Characters must Test Willpower against a DN of 15 at the 
  beginning of every Scene they are in or lose a Layer of Plot 
  Armor. A result of 20 or higher will immunize them for the 
  rest of the Episode Arc, and your death outright cures them.
  Your touch infects others with a highly lethal sickness of 
  strange properties. This virus kills all but the strongest of 
  people unless they stay home and do nothing but rest.
  Boss Traits
  Boss Traits are abilities that go way beyond those of other Characters, be they PC or NPC. Some Boss Traits represent extraordi-
  nary levels of skill or talent, but several only make sense for NPCs that are also Miracle or Anomaly users.
  
  119
  Behold my True Power
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Double your available Energy for a Round. You can use 
  this Power once per Round.
  The Maxwell collapsed in f ames, crushing a ten story build-
  ing as it did so. Its regenerative powers f nally outdone, and 
  everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the f ames died down 
  and it was still immobile. That was all the time it needed to 
  reactivate itself by absorbing the toppled building, with a bel-
  low that froze the hearts of the crew.
  Do you Desire the Power?
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Choose one Enemy. That Enemy makes a choice, be-
  tween losing one Genre Point and taking 1d10 Damage or gain-
  ing a Genre Point but dealing 1d10 Damage to any two Allies 
  of their choice. If they have no Genre Points left, they must 
  take the second option. If they have no Allies alive, they hurt 
  themselves instead. You can use this Power once per Enemy 
  each Round.
  The Outsider was intruding in the mind of Tao’s Gear, and it 
  was so dif  cult to resist its commands when its movements 
  were linked to one’s own brain! Asking for forgiveness with a 
  whisper, he raised the barrel of his gun and shot Jenna on her 
  exposed back.
  Die for Me!
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Any one Enemy suf ers an amount of Damage equal 
  to half your Systems. You can use this Power once per Enemy 
  each Round.
  The Gravagne did not play fair. That was something every-
  one already was too familiar with for their liking. But the fact 
  that it could simply wave its hands and everyone’s equipment 
  would start to malfunction and then explode was not a trick 
  they had expected.
  I Accept your Offering
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Sacrif ce a single Allied Grunt to restore your Thresh-
  old by an amount equal to the Grunt’s Power Level plus the 
  number of Levels of Threshold it had intact. After that you 
  deal the same amount of Damage to one Enemy of your 
  choice. You can use this Power once per Round.
  Gravagne extended an arm in the direction of its minions, 
  and they proceeded to disintegrate. The entities just dis-
  solved into a thin, green smoke that would be absorbed by 
  Gravagne’s right hand. The energy nourished and revitalized 
  the Cryptid, enough that it could then shoot another energy 
  blast from its left hand.
  I Believe This is Yours (Specialist)
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Choose Melee, Shooting, Beam or non-Beam when 
  taking this Power. Activate it to increase your Defense by half 
  your Systems against a single Might Test. If the Might Test was 
  made using the chosen type of Weapon you also deal that 
  much Damage back to its source. You can use this Power once 
  per Of ensive Action.
  Wigner opened one of her palms towards the pink-colored 
  beam going her way, which promptly curved around her. 
  “That’s impossible! It is bending the pathways created by 
  Gygravagnite particles to def ect our attacks!”
  Make my Monster Grow
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: Restore the Threshold of another Ally by an amount 
  equal to your Systems and grant them the Colossus Capstone 
  until they are destroyed. You can use this Power once per Ally 
  during the same Operation.
  The mad scientist continued to laugh, watching the corpses 
  of the defeated Cryptids rise once again. “My Power over the 
  specimens is absolute! Behold!” In a swirl of energy, they 
  began to absorb the remains of the defeated Nautilus Boards 
  to regenerate their wounds.
  Boss Powers
  Characters have a versatile assortment of Genre Powers at their disposal, and Bosses have their own special Genre Powers on 
  top of that. Boss Powers are very powerful, and can disable certain strategies entirely, punishing PCs that specialize too much 
  and don’t cover their weaknesses.
  
  120
  That will not Work Again
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Increase your Defense by 3 against a single Might Test. 
  If the source was a Weapon you’ve already been Damaged by 
  previously during this Operation then restore your Threshold 
  by an amount equal to half your Systems after calculating 
  the Damage taken. You can use this Power once per Of ensive 
  Action.
  They really should have seen it coming. It was only obvious 
  that at some point a Cryptid would develop the ability to im-
  munize itself to weapons it has previously encountered.
  Useless!
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: This Power prevents an amount of Damage equal to 
  5 plus the current Tension for one Round. You can use this 
  Power once per Round.
  The enemy platoon f red again and again, sending Will’s 
  f ying Gear back to the ground. Each time it stood back up 
  again, and would walk through the f ames. “GLORY TO THE 
  FEDERATION!”
  You are too Slow
  Reaction Power
  Ef ect: Force an Enemy to reroll an Of ensive Action they took 
  against you and impart a Disadvantage to its Might Test. After 
  that you may Move a number of Zones up to your Speed in a 
  direction of your choice. You can Disengage from a Duel this 
  way.
  The maniacal laughter of the Glory’s pilot just kept going, and 
  Yuji was sick of it. “Shut up! Shut up already!”  He raised his 
  arm to f re the beam rif e, but Jonah simply vanished from his 
  sights. Inconveniently enough, he also chose that precise mo-
  ment to stop laughing. Now where did that jerk go?
  Your Fate is Sealed
  Setup Power
  Ef ect: One Enemy loses the benef ts of Tension and may not 
  restore their Threshold for a Round.
  Her Gear was unresponsive no matter how much she tried to 
  steer it out of the monster’s way. It wasn’t until Bunny looked 
  into the Cryptid’s piercing eyes for herself that she realized 
  her Gear had frozen in terror. And so had she.
  Sometimes you want to make a character that will accompany 
  the PCs in their adventures.  That is f ne by itself, though it 
  adds another layer of management to the game and isn’t 
  really as fun as it sounds.  NPCs that act like they were PCs 
  are called GMPCs and are needed to be handled with extreme 
  care.
  There is a reason why they’re being mentioned as an optional 
  sidebar rule in a chapter that is already optional, and that is 
  the tendency GMPCs have to be the only ones allowed to be 
  important in the game, with everyone else serving as lackeys 
  at best.
  GMPCs can be done right, but when that is the case they are 
  there to support or oppose the PCs.  They are plot devices 
  at best that enable the PCs to actually impact the story.  If 
  you’re not conf dent that you can use a GMPC properly, don’t 
  use one.
  
  121
  Adaptive Morphology
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: Choose one of Beam or non-Beam when taking this 
  Upgrade. Increase your Defense against Might Tests made with 
  Weapons that are the chosen Type by 5. This counts as an 
  Active Defense.
  Level 3: As above, but you increase your Defense by 10 in-
  stead.
  Level 4: As above, but you may change the chosen Weapon 
  Type at the beginning of your Turn. 
  Your body is more like an amorphous blob than anything 
  resembling a giant robot, making you intrinsically resistant 
  to many forms of attack. Because that obviously is not unfair 
  enough, you can also shapeshift to change that weakness in 
  the middle of battle.
  Afterimages
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: In response to the results of an Enemy Might Test 
  against you, you may spend 1 Energy to force them to reroll 
  the Test while imparting a Disadvantage to them. You may 
  only do this once per Might Test and it counts as an Active 
  Defense.
  Level 3: As above, but with two Disadvantages instead.
  Level 4: As above, but with three Disadvantages instead.
  A technique favored by experienced warriors. You move with 
  superior speed and grace around your opponents, faster 
  than the eye can see, tricking them into seeing you in multi-
  ple places at the same time.
  Bloodlust
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: Increase the result of your Might Tests by 5 when 
  Engaging in a Duel or against a target that is in one.
  Level 3: As above, but you also increase your Defense by 5 
  against targets Engaged in a Duel with you.
  Level 4: As above, but you increase both values by 10 instead.
  An enemy with little to no self preservation instinct will al-
  ways go all out. At some point you will make a mistake and 
  let them get too close, that’s when they will capitalize on and 
  exploit it mercilessly.
  Bullet Hell
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: When you enter this Level, Enemies within 5 Zones 
  suf er an amount of Damage equal to half your Systems.
  Level 3: As above, but using the current Tension plus half 
  your Systems as Damage instead.
  Level 4: As above, but using the current Tension plus your 
  Systems as Damage instead.
  When you’ve got more enemies than limbs, it is a good idea 
  to pack several dozen energy cannons. A neat bonus is that 
  your ever-growing colorful patterns of destruction are almost 
  hypnotic to look at.
  Eye for an Eye
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: When you enter this Level, you deal an amount of 
  Damage to an Enemy of your choice equal to the current Ten-
  sion plus 3.
  Level 3: As above, but using the current Tension plus 5 in-
  stead.
  Level 4: As above, but using the current Tension plus 7 in-
  stead.
  A sadomasochistic f ghting style if there was one, turning the 
  user into both the bait and the trap. All who dare lay a hand 
  on you are to be destroyed with extreme prejudice.
  It Keeps Coming Back
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: At the beginning of your Turn you restore 3 points to 
  your Threshold.
  Level 3: As above, but you restore 5 points instead.
  Level 4: As above, but the f rst time that you would be de-
  stroyed during an Operation, you remain functional with your 
  full fourth Level of Threshold instead.
  Lots of baddies can regenerate their wounds to the point it is 
  easy to see it as a repetitive gimmick. A true devil will com-
  pletely heal nearly all of them with alarming speed. It takes 
  one overpowering strike to bring them down, because several 
  lesser blows will just fail.
  Boss Upgrades
  Boss Upgrades are substantially more powerful than most abilities the PCs have at their disposal. Their one drawback is that 
  they are not always active. Instead they provide a base ability that ‘Levels Up’ as the Boss takes Damage and loses Threshold 
  Levels. 
  Boss Upgrades have no regular ef ect while a Boss is in the First Level of Threshold, but after entering further Levels (and for as 
  long as they stay in those Levels) they activate and will likely only get more powerful from there. These abilities trigger immedi-
  ately after taking enough Damage, using the new Level instead of the old one.
  Most of them provide a passive bonus, but some will cause an ef ect the moment their Threshold Levels are breached. They will 
  not trigger multiple times if a Boss regenerates health causing it to enter the Level more than once.
  
  122
  Nanoskin Shell
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: When you enter this Level, you create a shield that 
  negates an amount of Damage equal to your Power Level plus 
  3 and lasts until destroyed.
  Level 3: As above, but the shield negates your Power Level 
  plus 5 points in Damage instead.
  Level 4: As above, but the shield negates your Power Level 
  plus 7 points in Damage instead.
  Coated in layers of self-repairing nanites, this is not an actual 
  repair or regeneration system. Instead, it is a sandwich of 
  armor plating that keeps coming back to protect you.
  Phantom Predator
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend 5 En-
  ergy to gain the benef ts of Maneuvering at no Action cost.
  Level 3: As above, but after Maneuvering your next Of ensive 
  Action this Turn is immune to the ef ects of Active Defenses.
  Level 4: As above, but any Might Tests against you suf ers two 
  Disadvantages unless the attack is made with Weapons that 
  have the Blast, Burst or Line abilities.
  You can pull of  something that most giant robots can only 
  dream of doing - stealth against nearly all methods of detec-
  tion. You cannot be seen or heard and most sensors will have 
  a tough time locating you. Not only will this do wonders for 
  your survivability, it also makes your attacks nearly impos-
  sible to defend against.
  Three Times Faster
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: At the beginning of your Turn you may choose one 
  Enemy to increase the result of your Might Tests by half your 
  Speed against them for a Round.
  Level 3: As above, but you also increase your Defense by half 
  your Speed against said Enemy for a Round.
  Level 4: As above, but you increase both values by your 
  Speed instead.
  You triple your energy output to maximize your speed. Often 
  this makes your f gure glow bright red. You move so fast that 
  you leave afterimages in your wake, and to the untrained eye 
  it even seems that the afterimages have mass.
  We are Many (Specialist)
  Internal Upgrade
  Level 2: Create a Power Level 0 Grunt according to the NPC 
  creation rules when you take this Upgrade. This Grunt is 
  deployed one Zone away from you when you enter this Level, 
  sharing your Initiative. These Grunts count as a single Unit 
  for the purpose of abilities with limited use like Restoration 
  Upgrades and Make my Monster Grow.
  Level 3: As above, but you deploy two Grunts instead.
  Level 4: As above, but you deploy three Grunts instead.
  You embody the idea of strength in numbers, able to spawn 
  minions from your own body. They could be automated ma-
  chines built from scraps or your own f esh and blood given 
  autonomous form. Regardless of origin, they are suicidally 
  loyal - You are Legion.
  
  123
  Constrict
  Melee Weapon
  Ef ect: This Weapon gains an additional Advantage when used 
  to Engage in a Duel or against a target you are Dueling. After 
  passing the Might Test with this Weapon, the target has their 
  Speed halved for a Round.
  You have more appendages than most people can count or 
  even identify. Any enemies caught won’t be able to escape 
  their combined might.
  Merge
  Melee Weapon
  Ef ect: After passing the Might Test with this Weapon you 
  restore 5 points to your Threshold.
  The Cryptid latches on to an unsuspecting target, dissolving 
  its own limb into a single chunk of gooish mass. It proceeds 
  to eat away at the bodywork of the Gear itself, absorbing the 
  bodywork into something it can use.
  Tentacle Lash
  Melee Weapon
  Ef ect: Burst, Long Range.
  There is nowhere safe against this monster other than very, 
  very far away. And that is only until it catches up to you.
  Suicide Swarm
  Melee Weapon
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 1), Blast (3), Long Range. When you Boost 
  this Weapon it destroys your current Level of Threshold. You 
  increase the result of the Might Test by the number of Thresh-
  old points lost this way.
  Small grotesque abominations the size of a human hand that 
  latch on to their targets and explode causing a chain reaction 
  to any Gygravagnite-based targets.
  Telekinetic Strike
  Melee Weapon
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost Special), Long Range. Spend any amount 
  of Energy when you Boost this Weapon. When you do and 
  pass the Might Test with it, you slide the target up to 5 Zones 
  in a direction of your choice. Should the target be sent in the 
  direction of another Enemy whose Defense you’ve also beat, 
  they both crash and suf er an additional amount of Damage 
  equal to the Energy you spent Boosting it, then the move-
  ment from this Weapon halts. Targets that share an occupied 
  Zone may still crash into each other but may not be moved to 
  another Zone this way.
  Actually having to punch other guys or stab them with swords 
  is so passe. It is much more fun to throw them around with 
  your mind powers and have them crash against each other 
  like you’re playing bowling with robots.
  Needle Storm
  Shooting Weapon
  Ef ect: Long Range, Crippling. This Weapon inf icts an addi-
  tional Disadvantage to Of ensive Actions on passing the Might 
  Test.
  A rush of syringe-like projectiles that disrupt and incapaci-
  tate movement and weapons systems. 
  Technoleeches
  Shooting Weapon
  Ef ect: Blast (2). This Weapon will cause everyone within the 
  area of ef ect to halve their available Energy for a Round, even 
  if the attack otherwise misses.
  Half manufactured ordinance, half intelligent Cryptid. These 
  creatures are suicidal, vampiric extensions of their master. 
  They latch on to Gears and drain them of Gygravagnite, then 
  releasing that energy as a toxic gas into the air.
  Ultimate Bomb
  Shooting Weapon
  Ef ect: Blast (5), Long Range. This Weapon benef ts from two 
  additional Advantages to its Might Test and will cause you to 
  attack yourself if you are within the area of ef ect.
  The UEF’s mighty 3G-Bomb is one of the most fearsome tools 
  of mass destruction ever devised. Preferably do not launch it 
  against anything less than a dozen kilometers away. In fact 
  just do not launch it.
  Overfreeze
  Shooting Weapon
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost 3), Line. When you Boost this Weapon it 
  turns the af ected Zones into Dif  cult and Extreme Terrain for 
  a Round. You can spare your own Zone from its ef ects.
  A freezing blizzard strong enough to af ect a Mecha’s inter-
  nals while also keeping them locked in place.
  Final Beam
  Shooting Weapon
  Ef ect: Beam (Boost Special). This Weapon always gets a 
  result of 10 when Testing Might and targets the entire bat-
  tlef eld, though it dœ s not directly attack the user. To Boost it 
  you must spend all your remaining Energy dealing that much 
  additional Damage to all Units, even to yourself, and even if 
  the rest of the attack misses. Final Beam requires one Action 
  be spent charging it, and its successful use will automatically 
  make you lose your next Action afterwards.
  The Kuzuryusen is likely the most lethal weapon in the Earth 
  sphere outside of massed 3G-Bombs. There is a reason it has 
  only been f red once. Extreme caution is advised.
  Boss Weapons
  Boss Weapons are nasty, and in more ways than one. Some disrupt the opposition’s game plan, while others are just plain over-
  whelmingly powerful. All Boss Weapons are immune to the ef ects of Maiming.
  
  124
  Aura of Misfortune
  Internal Upgrade
  Ef ect: All Enemy Weapons gain the Overheating ability if 
  they’re Beams or the Unreliable ability if they’re not. Weap-
  ons that already have one of these abilities will gain the other 
  instead. This ef ect lasts until you are destroyed.
  Your mere presence causes equipment to malfunction in 
  horrible ways, always to your benef t. There has to be some 
  explanation for this, possibly related to Element G. But the 
  odds are that your enemies will be too busy having their 
  guns blowing up in their faces and watching their blades slip 
  from their grasp to worry about the details.
  Colossus
  Internal Upgrade
  Ef ect: You occupy 9 Zones in a shape of your choice, chosen 
  when you take this Capstone. All Zones occupied by your 
  body count as Extreme Terrain for Enemies in them. You can-
  not Engage or be Engaged in a Duel, but all your Melee Weap-
  ons gain an Advantage to their use, and Shooting Weapons 
  used against you suf er a Disadvantage to their Might Tests.  
  Abilities that can usually ignore the ef ects of Extreme Ter-
  rain will not help against you if you have a similar ability that 
  works in the same kind of Terrain.
  Giant robots are huge, yet you make them look like ants. 
  You could raze a city to the ground in minutes just moving 
  around, and without having to f re any of your Weapons.
  Embodiment of Evil
  Internal Upgrade
  Ef ect: Enemies must spend two Genre Points instead of 
  one to activate Genre Powers. This ef ect lasts until you are 
  destroyed.
  Your hatred for everything that lives is pure and relentless, 
  f owing through all of your being. The herœ s think they can 
  face you with their clever plans, dramatic speeches, and 
  great sacrif ces. But you hate them so much that none of 
  those things will matter. In the end, there is only hate.
  Energy Drain
  Internal Upgrade
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn choose an Enemy. That 
  enemy loses one half of their available Energy and you in-
  crease your available Energy by that much.
  Your dominion over Element G is such that you can harness 
  crystals rightfully belonging to any other Gear. Barriers go 
  down, rif es stop working, and boosters halt with a mere com-
  mand from you.
  Hypersonic Striker
  Internal Upgrade
  Ef ect: Anytime you take an Of ensive Action, you may also 
  Move backwards during it. The target must remain within 
  a valid range after moving. You also increase the Maximum 
  Range of all your Weapons by 5.
  The big f aw of most big bads is that they play fair. You don’t. 
  You are an infuriating marksman that will do everything in 
  your power to attack with impunity. Because playing fair is 
  for those who want to lose.
  Possession
  Internal Upgrade
  Ef ect: At the beginning of your Turn you may spend 5 Energy 
  and choose one Enemy. The Enemy must use an Of ensive 
  Action against one of their Allies using one of their Default 
  Weapons. You make all corresponding choices and may force 
  the target to Move as part of this attack, but not to spend 
  Genre Points. This takes place immediately and dœ s not use 
  up the chosen Enemy’s next Turn.
  You emit a pulse of strange energy that engulfs an enemy 
  temporarily in what can only be described as a shifting pat-
  tern of colors. Victims will temporarily lose control of them-
  selves while they feel they are being watched by an uncount-
  able number of presences, all yearning to keep their new toys 
  for a little while longer.
  Boss Capstones
  These are the big abilities. If Bosses are relatively rare, Bosses with Capstone abilities are the most rare of them all. A Boss with 
  any of these abilities is the single most powerful entity that PCs will likely ever see. A good number of them have descriptions 
  that cross the line separating technology from magic, because their power simply def es all reasonable explanation. Bosses of 
  Power Level 5 or higher are Enemies with powers vast and unknowable, or so inordinarily powerful that they are on a league of 
  their own. Use Capstones with care, both because they are very powerful, and because you don’t want your PCs to treat them 
  like a routine challenge.
  
  125
  Attribute Templates by Power Level
  Below are a few templates to help you create NPCs of every Power Level. The templates provide base Attribute arrays and note 
  the amount of MP the NPCs would have left for Upgrades and Weapons. Each template is made with a generic f ghter type 
  Enemy emphasizing brute force over fancy tactics. To customize them just switch around the Ranks of each Attributes you’d 
  like to change. For example if you want to make a Support user you should switch Might for Systems. You can also use these 
  templates to create non-combatant NPCs, replacing Mecha Attributes for Character Attributes.
  Grunts
  Grunts generally need Might over everything else, because their usefulness is limited to making one or two Of ensive Tests 
  before getting blown up. Level 0 Grunts are destroyed the instant they take any Damage at all, making them ideal for hordes of 
  disposable mooks.
  Power Level
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  Spare MP
  0
  5
  3
  0
  0
  1
  2
  25
  1
  6
  4
  2
  0
  3
  4
  30
  2
  6
  6
  4
  2
  4
  4
  35
  3
  6
  6
  6
  3
  4
  6
  40
  4
  7
  7
  7
  4
  4
  6
  45
  5
  7
  7
  7
  5
  5
  7
  50
  Rivals
  Rivals start with an emphasis on defenses then shift their focus towards of ense. They need endurance and mobility to reach 
  their PC of choice and the raw power to put pressure on them. Average Energy and Systems means they should rely on passive 
  abilities like The Beast and Duelist or Sniper Model to boost their of ense. Something to protect them from Maims, an Active 
  Defense, and one or two Mobility Upgrades round them out as they reach the highest Power Levels.
  Power Level
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  Spare MP
  0
  5
  6
  5
  2
  3
  4
  30
  1
  6
  6
  6
  3
  3
  5
  40
  2
  7
  7
  6
  3
  3
  6
  50
  3
  7
  7
  7
  5
  4
  6
  60
  4
  7
  8
  7
  5
  5
  7
  70
  5
  8
  8
  7
  6
  6
  7
  80
  Bosses
  Bosses get special abilities for free so they can spend the entirety of their MP on Attributes, sending them sky-high. They pri-
  marily focus on defense, because the PCs are likely to focus f re them. They need more Threshold than other Enemies too since 
  their Boss Upgrades are at their best after they’ve been hit a few times. Like rivals, they need power and mobility to ef ectively 
  frighten the PCs so that is their second priority. 
  Power Level
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  0
  5
  7
  8
  2
  2
  5
  1
  6
  7
  8
  3
  2
  6
  2
  6
  8
  8
  4
  3
  6
  3
  8
  8
  8
  4
  3
  6
  4
  8
  8
  8
  6
  4
  6
  5
  8
  8
  8
  6
  4
  8
  
  126
  Using Enemies
  Grunts
  Intelligently applied numbers of Grunts can make up for their 
  inherent weaknesses with Tension bonuses, stacking Advan-
  tages through the Assist or Paired Attack Actions.
  Because two Grunt Units are the recommended challenge for 
  one PC, they can get complicated to manage if you are f elding 
  them in large numbers and with enough variety in their ranks. 
  There are several ways to simplify them, like the Squadron 
  Feature - Not only dœ s it suit their nature as disposable 
  mooks, it means you no longer have to worry about tracking 
  Maimed Areas. It is a win-win!
  Active Defenses are ideal for the Grunts not meant to be 
  destroyed easily, with the combo of dual Custom Barriers or 
  Absorbing Armors being the most straightforward.
  Then there’s Weapons, of which your best bet would be to 
  give them between two and four. Some of the most powerful 
  Weapons you could f eld in large numbers include Stun Rod, 
  Bombardment, Beam Ripper and Charge Cannon. Useful har-
  assment Weapons to mess with PCs would be Finger Net and 
  Superheavy Machinegun. If you want to keep things simple 
  you can stick to Arm Guardian, Dueling Blade, Assault Rif e 
  and Anti-Air Missiles.
  Finally, you can also save yourself time and ef ort by keep-
  ing a recurring cast of Grunts. Instead of coming up with new 
  ones for every other Operation, you create a few and enhance 
  them as the Season gœ s along. This is what the sample 
  Grunts provided in the next chapter assume you are going 
  to do. Just keep in mind that Grunts are limited to having 50 
  points worth of Upgrades and Weapons (or Skills and Traits) 
  no matter their Power Level and that everything else gœ s 
  towards upping their Attributes.
  If you want to deploy hordes of Power Level 0 Grunts, you 
  would do well to split them between waves. Having too many 
  out at once can pause the game for a long time whie you have 
  them all take their individual turns. Your PCs can take out a 
  multitde of them with a single strike too, so you don’t want 
  a lucky Initiative result to mean they obliterate your armies 
  before any of them have even moved.
  If you make it so that replacement Grunts spawn to take the 
  place of the ones the PCs destroy (with the same positioning 
  and Initiatives) you make it that much more likely that a few 
  of them will get to make at least one attack.
  Rivals
  In f ction, Rivals are usually well developed characters, who are 
  just as relevant as the protagonists to the story. In fact, they 
  tend to be more popular than the main characters! Replicating 
  this at the table is a noble goal, but an RPG is fundamentally 
  dif erent in that the PCs need to be the center of action at all 
  times. You cannot af ord to constantly cut to what the NPCs 
  are doing for the sake of their own characterization, so what 
  you need to do is to make them part of the PC’s lives.
  The simplest method is to have them and the PCs meet dur-
  ing an Intermission. Allies that later turn traitor are ideal to 
  this end, though maybe they just meet on neutral ground and 
  have a chance to chat it up before realizing they are enemies. 
  The point is that they should establish a relationship with 
  each other, so that later you can pull the surprise twist that 
  they’re actually enemies and proceed to shout at each other 
  like good rivals ought to do.
  This is assuming that the Rival is a decent human being who 
  has a dif erence of opinion with the PCs. The more cartoon-
  ish and irredeemably evil Rivals do not need much in the way 
  of a relationship. Such Enemies are the kind that will be f ne 
  if they’re met once to establish that they are hateful, horrible 
  people and get to do a dastardly deed or two. Low blows like 
  using hostages or destroying the PC’s supply chain are all 
  ef ective at communicating this is someone the characters 
  should love to hate.
  Since they have the same Power Level as the PCs, they’re ideal 
  for singling out one of them in a Duel while the rest deal with 
  the Grunts or a Boss.
  Mechanically speaking, they’re perfect for Active Defenses 
  tailored to counter the favorite Weapons of the PCs. They also 
  do pretty well with gimmicky loadouts like spamming One 
  Shot Weapons or Support Upgrades with help from Grunts 
  of ering them a Resupply when necessary.
  No one says they can’t change Mecha while of screen either. 
  Should a Rival end up with a strategy that is easily countered, 
  you can have them switch to a dif erent giant robot. You would 
  do well to at least keep a recurring motif or theme for their 
  Mecha if you do this, though.
  For example, Selena the Blue Meteor uses high-speed blue 
  Mecha with lots of guns and a transformation into a plane 
  form. Bruno of the Cleansing Flame has f amethrower-themed 
  Beam Weapons and prefers Mecha with heavy armor and a 
  large frame.
  
  127
  Bosses
  A Boss is around the equivalent of two PCs, meaning you can expect them to knock one character out and the second to beat 
  them just barely. Because the ef ectiveness of Boss Powers relies on their endurance, you should give them all above average 
  Ranks in their Guard and Threshold Attributes. Other than that, you should look for abilities that work well together. Below are a 
  few combinations to get you started:
  Behold my True Power, Nanoskin Shell and Final Beam: This combination needs above average Guard and Energy, but once 
  you have that you can launch obscenely powerful Beams once every three Turns. Nanoskin Shell grants protection to weather 
  strikes (even your own!) for a while so you can last long enough to use it more than once.
  I Accept your Of ering, We are Many and Suicide Swarm: This Boss will swarm PCs with an army of minions while dealing 
  massive Damage. Grunts can be turned into Threshold and bonus Damage in a pinch too. This type works much better with a 
  high Threshold since it is used as a fuel for attacks.
  You are too Slow, Three Times Faster and Needle Storm: Particularly vicious with a high Speed, this Boss will increase its 
  attack and defense while repositioning itself to avoid PCs lacking in Long Range Weapons. Needle Storm essentially guarantees it 
  will win any one-on-one matches too, making focus f re obligatory to beat them.
  If you would like to have Superbosses capable of taking on entire Squadrons of PCs entirely on their own, you could increase 
  their Power Level beyond 5, granting them 30 XP to spend on Attributes plus another Capstone for each Level. You could take a 
  single Boss all the way to Power Level 10 this way. Consider also creating a few Rivals with Super Combination or Unison Combi-
  nation Upgrade to make one unit even stronger than a Boss - Remember that Boss is the equivalent of two PCs, while a Com-
  biner is the equivalent of however many PC equivalents it uses as components. 
  Bosses do not have as much variety in their abilities as Grunts and Rivals. If you stick mostly to using Bosses instead of mix-
  ing up all three types of Enemies, this can lead to repetition. There is one way to work around this, and it is to replace some of 
  their abilities with that which is available to PCs, but in greater quantities.
  Boss Powers: In place of a Boss Power, you can get any three other Genre Powers instead.
  Boss Upgrades: In place of a Boss Upgrade, you may grant them a up to 30 MP to spend on Upgrades.
  Boss Weapons: In place of a Boss Weapon, grab a number of Weapons worth a total of up to 30 MP.
  Expert Support can work very well with Overfreeze, sparing allied forces while blasting enemies from afar. Come at me Bro can 
  make a Boss with the Eye for an Eye Upgrade a terrifying tank for its minions. Grunts spawned from We are Many can Resupply 
  you Bombardment every Turn and essentially make the battle a race against time for the PCs.
  You can also do the same for other enemies as well. Consider using these guidelines to grant your recurring Rivals some Boss 
  abilities to spice them up. Just keep in mind that some might interact in weird ways with one another, so you should do this 
  after you have some experience with the system and are prepared to come up with ad-hoc rulings.
  The existing variety of abilities should let you create nearly any kind of enemy, especially once you get the hang of reskinning. 
  Of course, no one is going to stop you from modifying the existing content or creating entirely original material.
  Most Bosses won’t need detailed mechanics for Intermissions. But should you ever need to assign some ad-hoc, then for any 
  activity that your Bosses are supposed to be moderately good at, it should be rolled at a +6 bonus and have one Advantage - 
  such as an aquatic alien monstrosity using Athletics to swim. Their Defense should be of at least 11, and Plot Armor should be 
  around 6 or so. For each Power Level they have beyond 0, you may increase these values by two.
  Yes, these numbers are assuming slightly above average Ranks for all Attributes. That is because it is always safer to err on the 
  side of caution. An NPC being more competent than expected is preferable to one that falls short of expectations.
  Bosses essentially get 45 XP per Power Level, with 30 of those being spent on Boss abilities like Boss Traits and Boss Weapons. 
  If you want to get experimental or add some variety to your Grunts or Rivals, you can give them Boss abilities at that price. 
  Boss Powers can likewise be exchanged for any other two Genre Powers - or for 30 MP by purchasing two Assistants. The one 
  exception to this rule are Boss Capstones, they are  too powerful to be in the hands of non-Boss NPCs, and should be the do-
  main of Boss Enemies entirely.
  
  128
  Allied Reinforcements
  Sometimes you want to have allied NPCs helping the PCs out. 
  Maybe you want a large battle with several Grunt and Rival 
  NPCs on both sides. Or maybe you just want to have a safety 
  blanket in case the PCs need are near defeat and in need of 
  assistance. But you don’t want to have to write up a bunch of 
  NPC statblocks and much less want to give them all individual 
  Turns. That’s Reinforcements. 
  Reinforcements are not individual NPCs of their own. Think of 
  Support Upgrades and you have the right idea. There is only 
  one Reinforcement Unit, and it represent all sidekicks and 
  allies of the PCs at a single time. If there are multiple NPCs 
  helping the cast of PCs out, they’ll have to take turns sharing 
  the narrative spotlight.
  A Reinforcement Unit has a Reinforcement Level that is es-
  sentially its equivalent of Power Level for PCs. Reinforcement 
  Units have Reinforcement Points to spend on Reinforcement 
  Powers during battle. 
  Because they are not proper NPCs, Reinforcements are not 
  deployed in the battlef eld. They have their own Initiative 
  always set at 10. This makes them faster than most Grunts 
  and some Rivals, but slower than Bosses and the faster Rivals 
  or even Grunts. Reinforcements cannot have a negative 
  number of Reinforcement Points. Any time they would go 
  under 0, they are defeated.
  The PCs are priority for all Enemies, and Reinforcements won’t 
  be attacked as long as there are  any of them left. Usually. 
  If the PCs have all been defeated or they have retreated, 
  Enemies can attack Reinforcements to remove Points 
  from their reserve. Grunts will remove 1 Point, Rivals 2 
  and Bosses 4. Reinforcement Powers are very strong, but the 
  Reinforcement Units themselves are fragile. Reinforcements 
  are always in valid range for attack.
  Reinforcements in Operations
  Reinforcements have one Action to use during their Turn 
  from the three Actions below. They may also use any of their 
  Reinforcement Powers, though those have a cost in Reinforce-
  ment Points. Reinforcements restore one spent Point at 
  the beginning of their Turn, so they won’t run out if they can 
  pace themselves. They may use more than one Power or the 
  same Power multiple times each Turn, if they have the Points 
  for it.
  Barrage
  The Reinforcements open f re on a single Enemy. One Enemy 
  takes an amount of Damage equal to the current Tension.
  Overwhelm
  In an emergency, Reinforcements can also choose to take 
  some heat in place of the PCs. During their Turn, instead of 
  using a Power, they may choose to draw the attention of one 
  Enemy. That Enemy takes Damage as if attacked with Bar-
  rage but is also forced to use their next Action, against 
  the Reinforcements. This is very likely to end in suicide.
  Analyze
  Intel wins battles, but studying your fœ  in the middle of battle 
  is no easy feat. Reinforcements can assist the PCs with enemy 
  scans in the middle of battle to give them precious informa-
  tion. Choose one Enemy. You learn that Enemy’s Attrib-
  utes, Upgrades, Weapons and Genre Powers.
  The most obvious use of Reinforcements is, as their name 
  suggests, to swoop in during a crisis and save the day. They 
  jump in the f ght, throw some buf s or healing, then if the PCs 
  really need more help than that they sacrif ce themselves to 
  hold the enemies back.
  But they can also help from the beginning of a battle, pacing 
  their Powers between uses of Barrage. You could even give 
  control of this Reinforcement Unit to another Player and let 
  them play in a support role to the PC’s Mecha.
  
  129
  Reinforcement Powers
  Formation G
  Reinforcement Power (1)
  Ef ect: One Ally gains the benef t of the Aim Action and their 
  Weapon gains the Crippling ability for their next Of ensive 
  Action.
  You have attack drones with a support oriented AI. They help 
  f ank single targets and corner them under the direct line of 
  f re of your allies.
  I’ll Grant you Power
  Reinforcement Power (1)
  Ef ect: One Ally gains a single Genre Point.
  An experimental Overcharger variant with several experimen-
  tal modes of function to suit potentially any purpose. The 
  problem is that it sometimes fails to work entirely.
  Raise the Shields
  Reinforcement Power (2)
  Ef ect: Increase an Ally’s Defense by 10 for a Round.
  You have scattered a multitde of portable barriers around the 
  battlef eld and can activate them at a moment’s notice. Try 
  not to spring them where the enemy can use them.
  Focus Fire
  Reinforcement Power (2)
  Ef ect: One Enemy takes an amount of Damage equal to two 
  times the current Tension.
  You carry a number of mass produced units with you piloted 
  by fresh recruits. They may not amount to much individually, 
  but just try withstanding a dozen of them shooting at once.
  Carry our Hopes
  Reinforcement Power (3)
  Ef ect: One Ally can take an additional Action during their 
  next Turn.
  You can link up allied Mecha to your supercomputer AI. They 
  ef ectively gain temporary digital subpilot, overclocking the 
  unit to double its speed.
  Live!
  Reinforcement Power (3)
  Ef ect: Restore an Ally’s Threshold by 15.
  You deploy a large crowd of repair drones by the name of 
  “The Engineers” . They will zip around the battlef eld, f xing 
  up damaged Mecha, before coming back to you.
  Creating Reinforcements
  The amount of Points they have depends on their Reinforce-
  ment Level. Reinforcements have one Power at Level 0, and 
  they learn another Power for each Level they have. A Rein-
  forcement Unit’s Power Rating is equal to that of PCs.
  Level 0: Protect the VIP (1 RP)
  Reinforcements of this level might be trying to help but their 
  assistance is minimal. They’re easy pickings for anyone who 
  looks at them funny.
  Level 1: Insignif cant (2 RP)
  Lacking in power and versatility, these Reinforcements are 
  better than nothing and can come useful every now and then, 
  but aren’t anything to write home about.
  Level 2: Elite Mook (3 RP)
  The Reinforcements are strong enough to make the dif erence 
  between otherwise matched opponents, and are equivalent to 
  a powerful Enemy Grunt.
  Level 3: Friendly Rival (4 RP)
  As the equivalent of facing another full-blown Rival NPC, these 
  Reinforcements make great companions out there in the front 
  lines.
  Level 4: The Cavalry (5 RP)
  The Reinforcements are powerful and have a deadly variety in 
  what they can do, making them genuinely fearsome and the 
  equivalent of having powerful Rivals, an army of Grunts, or 
  even your own Boss NPC as an Ally.
  Level 5: Deus Ex Machina (6 RP)
  The Reinforcements are overwhelmingly powerful and victory 
  is all but assured to the Squad that benef ts from them.
  At Level 2, Reinforcements would have three Powers and three 
  Points to use them. At Levels 0 and 1 they won’t have enough 
  Points to use some of the Powers they can get, so they should 
  stick to the more basic ones.
  
  130
  Troubleshooting
  Straight Lines
  If you’re using a hex board or treating Zones as a f xed distance in meters you should have no problem with the few Weapons 
  that shoot in straight lines. If you are using a chess board then shooting in a diagonal line is more debatable. In the interest of 
  not breaking immersion, the line dœ s not need to be perfectly horizontal, vertical or diagonal - just trace a line between you 
  and the target to af ect all touched Zones.
  The Beginning of a Turn
  Abilities that have an ef ect at the Beginning of a Turn only happen once each Turn, thus Commander Type may be activated 
  only once per Turn. If there are multiple ef ects about to happen, the order is decided by the owner of the Unit whose Turn it 
  is. You can use Regenerative before Extreme Terrain kicks in, for example.
  Weapon Types
  Melee Weapons are stronger while Dueling, but they also gain an extra Advantage when someone else is dueling the target. 
  Aiming with a Shooting Weapon will grant two Advantages and an increase to Range, but aiming for multiple turns will not stack 
  with previous bonuses.
  Weapon Effects
  When Weapons cause special ef ects, these always take place after the Might Test itself. That means Finger Net lowers Guard 
  and Speed after its attack resolves and after calculating whether it deals Damage or not. Chainblade resolves its Might Test f rst 
  then creates another instance of Damage. Some of these abilities will af ect targets whether they are hit or not (Like Bombard-
  ment) but others need to at least match the target’s Defense with their Might Test, though they don’t need to deal Damage.
  Maiming Exceptions
  When an ability changes the way the Maim rules work for you, it only dœ s so for your regular Areas. Expansion Packs remain 
  broken even if you have Invincible Alloy or Power Suit. Speaking of which, Invincible Alloy works f ne with Power Suit, but Inte-
  grated Weapons dœ s nothing.
  Escaping from Duelists
  With Duelist Model you get a free attack against Enemies that use the Disengage Action, but not if they use other methods to 
  escape. Slippery Chassis lets them just walk away, since they don’t have to Disengage at all. Units forced to move (such as those 
  hit with Telekinetic Strike) don’t trigger the free attack either. If you have Slippery Chassis, you can also use Boosted Lance to 
  charge out of a Duel.
  Tension Modifiers
  Abilities that modify Tension temporarily will af ect the whole Of ensive Action. Impetuous Style will boost the Damage from 
  Chainblade but also make Overheating Weapons more dangerous. Multiple Tension modif ers are applied consecutively to the 
  previous total, so if you are using a Technique and my Style is Impetuous, you treat Tension as if it were 8 points higher. But 
  be careful, because if you get hit with Can’t let you do That, it gets reduced all the way to 0 and no other modif ers can change 
  that.
  Damage Modifiers
  Like with Tension, multiple modif ers will stack together. Unlike with Tension, abilities that halve Damage always apply at the end 
  of a calculation (and state this much). So if you get hit for 1 Damage with a Resonance Cannon and then take 3 Bonus Damage 
  from its ability (Because you have a Threshold of 4) then the total Damage dealt gets halved to 2. Absolute Barrier and Extreme 
  Fortif cation are the only Upgrades that block Damage not part of a Might Test. They let you reduce Damage from abilities like 
  Bombardment and Die for Me! - other than not getting hit in the f rst place.
  Attribute Modifiers
  Attribute modif ers are why averages are rounded down after halving (to reward higher Attributes) and why halving is usually the 
  f rst step of an Operation. This way getting one or more Attributes halved is painful but not crippling.
  Terrain Modifiers
  Abilities that turn existing Zones into a specif c Terrain type don’t override its current properties. This means that if you aim 
  Incinerator at Defensive Terrain, the result will be a Zone that is both Defensive and Extreme Terrain. Also do remember that 
  multiple instances of the same Terrain type can stack.
  
  131
  Movement and Suppression
  Units hit with the Suppression Action or a Crippling Weapon will take extra Damage if they willingly Move during their Turn. 
  Subpilots using the Boost Action will trigger it, being forced to Move while in a Duel will not. 
  Blasts and Friendly Fire
  Allies caught in the area of ef ect of a Blast or a similar Weapon will always be attacked. Even with Suppression or Expert Sup-
  port. The only way to spare them is to exclude the Zone they are occupying from the area of ef ect.
  Blasts and Targeting
  You can target empty Zones as the center of your area of ef ect Weapons if you so wish, in case that makes it easier for you 
  to avoid friendly f re or maximize the amount of Enemies hit. When you Aim with an area of ef ect Weapon, you can focus on 
  one Unit or you can aim it at a set of Zones as well, either works, but do keep in mind that the latter basically tells all Enemies 
  to get out of the area ASAP. If you are in a Duel, you must target your Duel opponent directly (or their Zone) or they will get a 
  chance to attack you.
  Component Units with Upgrades 
  As a component in a Super Combination you grant both your Internal and External Upgrades to the lead Unit, while also ben-
  ef tting from the lead’s Internal Upgrades. Supports work as normal for their owner, because they are Separate Upgrades, while 
  Extra Areas grant their ef ects to the Lead.
  Surviving Lethal Damage
  Abilities that let you survive lethal Damage don’t block the special ef ects of Weapons. This is especially important for Weapons 
  like Chainblade and Bombardment, because even if I Cannot be Defeated lets you survive the Might Test, the bonus Damage 
  they do will defeat you.
  Using Genre Points at the same time you lose their Threshold Level
  You can use the Genre Point you get from losing your last Level of Threshold to activate a Power that has an ef ect in response 
  to taking said Damage, but not to prevent said Damage from happening. This means you can use Live Another Day or I Cannot 
  be Defeated (but not My Defense is Impregnable or Can’t Let you Do That ) even if you are out of Genre Points and an Enemy 
  blows past your last two Levels all at once.
  Rerolling with Advantages and Disadvantages
  There are several abilities that grant or force rerolls (often involving Might Tests) with either am Advantage or a Disadvantage to 
  the Test. When more than one of these apply to the same roll, the f nal Test applies all of the Advantages and Disadvantages 
  together, not just the Advantages or Disadvantages from the last ability. So if you use Try Again on your Might Test and then 
  an Enemy cuts into it with Not so Fast, the last roll would have one Disadvantage, not two, since Try Again cancels out the f rst 
  Disadvantage from Not so Fast.
  When your Threshold is 0
  Having a Threshold Attribute of 0 means you’re defeated the moment you take Damage, period. No amount of Invincible Alloys 
  can save you by making you stay alive at 1 point of Threshold left, because you can’t have any points of Threshold at all. A base 
  Threshold of 0 is the only way to have a functioning Unit with 0 points of Threshold left, because anyone else who has 0 points 
  left has all of their Areas Maimed and is defeated.
  Riding Base Units with Terrain Adaptation
  While you are Docked within a Base Unit, you are considered to have all the benef ts of Terrain adaptation that they also have. 
  If the Base Unit is f ying, you can shoot over enemies providing cover. If the Base Unit has the benef ts of Defensive Terrain from 
  Terrain Specialist, then you also get said benef t. The only exception is Extreme Terrain, so if you take an Action that exposes 
  yourself while in Extreme Terrain, you’re going to take Damage at the end of your Turn and at the beginning of the next one.
  Halved Resources
  When your Energy or Systems are halved, and you have spent Energy this Turn or Restorations this Operation, the resources 
  that you have spent are the f rst to go away. This means that if you have 6 Systems and Power Suit, use two Restorations and 
  then your Systems is halved from a Head Maim, you still have 3 Restorations left. Likewise, if you have 4 Energy and Transform 
  (using 2 Energy) to a Form with Extreme Fortif cation, your available Energy is 2 - you did not actually lose anything!
  
  132
  Houseruling
  Groups have houserules for every game, and RPGs are no exception. Often they are like a patch of sorts for one or more rules 
  that don’t go well with the group’s style of play. The greatest strength of Battle Century G’s ruleset is its f exibility. Not only can 
  you play anything from giant robots to f ghter planes to herœ s in suits of power armor, but it is robust enough you can safely 
  modify the rules without everything collapsing like a house of cards.
  Writing good houserules is as much of an art as it is a science, and we would need more than this lone page to explain in detail 
  what makes a good houserule dif erent from a bad one. What we can do here is include a few example houserules you may use 
  at your own discretion and explain what makes them work. Hopefully this will be enough to inspire and guide you if you want to 
  write houserules of your own.
  Go Five
  To “Go Five” means to roll a 5 automatically on a Test, transforming Advantages and Disadvantages into bonuses to the result 
  or to the DN as appropriate. To “Go Five” you declare that you want to roll a f ve before you throw the dice across the table, 
  but you can’t call for an automatic 5 after having rolled them.
  You can use the “Go Five” rule in a variety of ways. You can make it the exclusive domain of NPCs, to expedite the process of 
  rolling their Willpower Tests to avoid Defeat, their Speed Tests to calculate Initiative, and so on. You can allow it exclusively dur-
  ing Intermissions if you want to keep those f owing as fast as possible and don’t mind certain Tests being automatic successes 
  or failures. Lastly, you can let everyone use them all the time, giving your Players more control over the outcomes of their 
  actions.
  Usually Roleplaying Games have an element of randomness to them, because dice rolls keep things unpredictable and intense. 
  Battle Century G has enough ways to let you af ect the result of a die roll that you could do away with them and the game 
  would still be fun enough to play. Abilities like Overheating and Unreliable Weapons will underperfom if you use Go Five, so 
  you’ll still want to roll the dice every now and then.
  Alternating Maims
  Whenever a Unit loses one of its Areas, sometimes the choice of which Area will go to the attacker and sometimes to the 
  defender. If the decision always went to the attacker, then whœ ver got to Maim the opponent f rst would have a tremendous 
  advantage for the rest of the battle. Similarily, if the decision always went to the defender then they could safely pile all their 
  Upgrades and Weapons together in a single Area and not lose any of them until they are destroyed anyway.
  With that said, you don’t need to leave the result to randomness. You could have every Threshold Level alternate between who 
  gets to Maim it, kind of like how it happens when someone loses multiple Levels at once. So when you lose the f rst Level of 
  Threshold you always choose the Area, but when you lose the second Level it is always your Enemy who picks, and so on. The 
  Suppress Action can override this though, so if you try to game the system by stacking all your stuf  in the same two Areas, a 
  savvy opponent can make you pay for it.
  This houserule makes the game f ow more smoothly and helps out the unlucky Players letting them plan a little more reliably 
  around the Areas they lose. At the same time, there’s so many ways to gain the benef ts of Suppression without having to halve 
  your Damage output, that trying to abuse this houserule is going to fail.
  Mecha Resources per Episode Arc
  Usually Mecha are fully repaired between Operations and Pilots also have their stock Genre Points refreshed. The rules of the 
  game are written assuming that you’ll have one Operation each Episode with everyone at peak ef  ciency, because you want the 
  game’s challenge to be in having tough Enemies, not in the PCs getting weaker over time. But if you want a game that is grittier 
  and gets progressively harder, you might want to try this rule.
  Mecha don’t restore their Threshold automatically between Operations, only between Episode Arcs. Any resources with a lim-
  ited number of uses per Operation use Episode Arcs instead. Genre Points don’t refresh between Episodes, they do between 
  Episode Arcs as well. You get the idea. Don’t give the PCs Genre whenever they lose a Threshold Level in combat either, but do 
  give them three Genre Points at the beginning of a new Episode Arc.
  This means One Shot Weapons can only be used once per Episode Arc without abilities like Resupply to grant more uses, but 
  Resupply itself can only be used a few precious times throughout the entire Episode Arc instead of every Operation.They can 
  use those resources out of battle, for example they don’t have to wait until a new combat starts to use Jury Rig. The Biological 
  Feature should not be allowed fo Player use since it circumvents these complications altogether.
  
  133
  Round Attribute Costs
  Attribute Ranks have the only XP costs in the game that don’t come in multiples of 5. Costs start at 1 and get more costly in a 
  linear fashion to make Attributes easy to learn and hard to master. If each Rank up had a cost of 5, it would be prohibitively 
  expensive to be average at everything, but easy to be the best once you have some Levels. Unfortunately this has the downside 
  of making it slightly dif  cult to generate Characters and Mecha quickly.
  The table below presents an alternative set of rules that keep all Attribute Rank costs to multiples of 5. You can’t have any of 
  your Attributes at 1 or 3 this way, and you’ll have to make up your own costs if you want to go over 12, but other than that it 
  has you covered. This is more useful to GMs than to other Players, so it is okay if only you want to use it. Go ahead and do it.
  Rank
  2
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  11
  12
  Cost
  5
  5
  5
  5
  5
  10
  10
  10
  10
  15
  Total
  5
  10
  15
  20
  25
  35
  45
  55
  65
  80
  Easier Mapless Play
  BCG is simple enough that you don’t need to use a map during Operations to represent the battlef eld and the units moving 
  around, but it is also complex enough that you might want to use them for the sake of keeping track of things like cover and 
  area of ef ect weapons. If you’re the type that dœ sn’t like having battlemats and miniatures, here are a few suggestions for you.
  First is to make the battlef eld a straight line, treating the left and right sides as Impassable Terrain. This lets you abstract eve-
  rything into numbered Zones. At the beginning of a battle you would just tell the Players how far away the enemies are. If you 
  stick to low numbers of NPCs and Plain Terrain, you shouldn’t even have to note them down.
  If you’d like something a little more involved you could just write down the starting positions and battlef eld details. In that case 
  your notes look something like this:
  0
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  PCs
  -
  Grunt 1
  Grunt 2
  Grunt 3
  -
  -
  -
  -
  -
  Boss
  -
  -
  -
  -
  -
  Diff.
  Diff.
  Diff.
  Diff.
  Diff.
  Def.
  With this kind of ‘map’ you would tell your Players (and this example is obviously forsaking f avor descriptions for the sake of 
  simplicity) that there are three Enemies 2, 3 and 4 Zones away from where you start, then there’s f ve Zones of Dif  cult Terrain 
  and lastly you have the Boss sitting in Defensive Terrain at Zone 10.
  This dœ s make providing cover much more ef ective since you can’t really walk around units acting as shields anymore. To get 
  around this complication, let Units do a Speed Test with a DN of 10 to see if they can shoot around cover with their Action this 
  Turn.
  Things to keep in mind: Area of ef ect Upgrades and Weapons like Guardian of Steel and Blasts are much stronger since there’s 
  less space to move around in. Also consider banning Reversible Thrusters, as not only it gœ s against the entire point of desem-
  phasizing positioning but it also complicates things when PCs run backwards into the “Negative” Zones.
  Big Heroes, Small Mecha
  You can run a harder game by giving your PCs weaker Mecha than the norm. Have them create Characters as normal but have 
  them start with 50 MP instead of 100, the same amount that Grunt Mecha get. This makes them much, much more frail and will 
  force them to rely on clever tactics and to pick their f ghts carefully instead of coasting through Operations with raw power.
  Because these PCs are weaker than average, but still stronger than other Grunts, their Power Rating is as follows:
  Level 0 Rating
  Level 1 Rating
  Level 2 Rating
  Level 3 Rating
  Level 4 Rating
  Level 5 Rating
  3
  5
  6
  8
  9
  11
  
  134
  Threshold Rollover Halving
  When your Squad of PCs leans strongly towards of ense rather than balancing between of ense and defense, you run the risk of 
  battles turning more swingy than you might like. Glass cannon PCs with unlucky Initiative Test results can get overwhelmed by 
  massed Grunts before they even get a single Turn in. Likewise, Bosses can be disappointing to f ght simply because PCs do too 
  much Damage before they get to use any of their interesting abilities. When this gets too extreme and both PCs and Enemies 
  crumble under pressure too quickly, you might want to use this houserule.
  Whenever a PC loses a Level of Threshold to a Grunt, all damage carrying over from the destroyed Level is halved, so a Unit 
  with 1 point of Threshold left in the f rst Level that then takes 5 Damage will not carry over 4 Damage to Level 2, but 2 points 
  instead. Do the same for Bosses that lose a Level of Threshold to a PC. Rivals are unaf ected.
  This way you can go all out with Grunt mobs without being afraid that PCs will be overwhelmed after a single round. In the  
  same way, you can throw low numbers of Bosses at the PCs and know they’ll stick around for more than two Rounds.
  Try Again with Feeling
  Try Again is a pretty good Genre Power, it turns your unlucky misses into crucial hits, sometimes even making them stronger 
  attacks than the original would have been with a lucky roll! It is a pretty important Power, because it keeps the action moving 
  forward and mitigates the issues of playing a game where everything is decided with dice rolls.
  But wait, there is more! You can make your Try Agains even better for the low, low price of a single Houserule. Try Again with 
  Feeling has two ef ects to make this sweet Power all the sweeter: First, you can allow Try Again to be used on any kind of Test, 
  not just Might Tests. Second, let Try Again be used to increase the result of any Test by 2 instead of rerolling with an Advantage.
  This way, Try Again can speed the game up even further and give the PCs another tool to solve problems ef  ciently. Th f rst 
  ef ect lets them use Try Again to endure Extreme Terrain. The second ef ect lets them immediately destroy any Enemy that 
  survives an attack with 2 or less points of Threshold.
  Nakama Points
  By default, Genre Points are for you to give out as they see f t. It is a handy way to encourage specif c behaviors suited to the 
  plot, themes and overall tone of the BCG Season that you are running. But involving the other Players in giving out Genre Points 
  is fun too! It lets everyone know what the rest of the group wants them to do more of, instead of just knowing what the GM 
  wants them to do more of. The way to do this is via Nakama Points.
  Do not give out Genre Points for roleplaying in the middle of an Episode. Instead do the following: At the end of every Episode, 
  all Players (this includes you, the GM) must choose one other PCs and give them one Nakama Point. You can spend one Nakama 
  Point at any time in the middle of an Operation to gain a Genre Point. Nakama Points carry over between Episode Arcs, but you 
  can spend no more than three Nakama Points per Episode, so there’s no point to hoarding them. All PCs can still gain Genre 
  Points through other means such as losing Threshold Levels or Assistants, 
  Strictly speaking in rules terms, while not everybody might get one Genre Point each Episode, by average everybody should be 
  getting one while one PC gets two each Episode. However, PCs can stockpile the points that they do get until they need them to 
  compensate for how the usual method of the GM giving them out would usually give out more Points in general.
  This dœ s not necessarily make Genre Themes superf uous, the other Players and you can choose to give out Nakama Points 
  using Themes as an inspiration, but it dœ s decrease their importance somewhat. And that is f ne, this houserule lets everyone 
  have a say in what the game should be like as it develops, while Themes tend to emphasize characterization as determined 
  during character creation. They work towards similar ends, but do so through dif erent means.
  
  135
  Flushing a giant inhuman organism into space against its will is hard work. Motivating it to exit the station under 
  its own steam is even more difficult. Getting the beast into the relatively safe engagement area of space is always 
  preferable to the alternative; shipboard combat is cramped, and whilst maps of the station are available to Clarke 
  personnel, Cryptids will be more intuitively familiar with their home ground. There is also the danger of civilian 
  casualties and damage to devicess necessary for functions, or even structural integrity of the station.
  Cryptids have a high capacity to resist being involuntarily flushed into space. They usually have rough, jagged 
  outer surfaces, allowing them to keep good traction against the hull in zero gravity. Furthermore, by the time the 
  Clarke foundation becomes aware of them they generally have the coordination necessary to actively grab at the 
  hull, though it is certainly true that ‘new’ Cryptids often do not possess this reflex. Cryptids also prefer to be sur-
  rounded by matter. The void of space is an environment that most Cryptids will choose to avoid if given a choice, 
  as it is the absence of the patterns and matter their existence feeds upon.
  As such, the only way to eject Cryptids from the station is to do so suddenly and violently. Any part of the sta-
  tions actually designed to function as an airlock is simply not adequate as an exit point, at least if it is performing 
  under normal parameters. Luring one into an airlock can be acceptable if the airlock has had its safety features 
  disabled somehow, though even then, airlocks provide a number of grab points, so the creature will need to be 
  pushed outside through sheer force. A rule of thumb that Clarke personnel should keep in well in mind, is that if 
  an unsuited human is capable of saving themselves from the hull breach, so can the Cryptid. Heroic actions dur-
  ing this stage of a hunt should be considered martyrdom at best.
  And so we come to the next option: Destructive breach of station environments. This is by far the most effective 
  means of expelling Cryptids from the station, however it must be used sparingly, as it is likely to cause severe 
  and, if used without consideration, outright irreparable damage to the station. In the hands of a reckless agent it 
  is no better than conducting the battle onboard the station. Areas with windows are ideal as they are typically 
  equipped with blast shutters which can prevent full depressurisation of the compartment following success. 
  Civilian casualties will fortunately act as “false” grab points when the Cryptid attempts to prevent its expulsion, 
  tying up its limbs and preventing it from reaching sturdier items. Whilst the Foundation would prefer that you 
  do not inflict any civilian casualties at all, a guarantee of mission success is of equivalent value to tens, and in 
  some circumstances even hundreds or thousands of human lives.
  A less damaging but arguably more disruptive version of the destructive breach is the module ejection. Whilst 
  a significant portion of the stations were built on site, the discrete prefabricated modules that provided a base 
  for the rest to be built upon still exist, and can be separated in a controlled fashion from the station. To do so will 
  require cooperation from the relevant station control, and as such agents should only expect approval only in 
  genuinely dire circumstances, especially where Verne I and II are concerned. This does open the entire module 
  to the vacuum of space, either removing the objective, or creating a suitable entry point for Gears by doing so 
  in a controlled fashion. This will still annihilate any crew or plant life on board, and cause damage to lower value 
  systems, however the module shell and its associated core systems will remain intact.
  In all the above 3 methods, agents will be required to motivate the Cryptid to reach the intended point of exit. 
  The agents should engage in a running battle with the Cryptids from the first point of contact, however fight-
  ing well under maximum strength will usually be necessary. Cryptids, despite their powerful nature can still be 
  discouraged by force of arms, and won’t pursue prey they have no expectation of being able to apprehend. Ulti-
  mately some risk to at least one agent will be required in the luring process in order to create a realistic scenario, 
  even if Cryptid mental states are significantly removed from the human. For the sake of maintaining the social 
  and mental integrity of the cell, Clarke  agents should ideally rotate this duty, barring obvious disabilities.
   
   
   
  -Excerpt from the Childhood Department Operative's Guide
  
  136
  
  137
  The World of Battle Century G
  The remainder of the manual is a premade game world for Battle Century G, the one that descriptions reference. It is a pretty 
  big world that f ts many dif erent Mecha conventions into a single setting, including f ghting giant monsters, wars against other 
  humans with their own Mecha, and unraveling the conspiracies behind it all.
  A History Lesson
  Battle Century G has three main scenarios with their own tone and mood. All of them can be played independently, but they’re 
  all connected to each other. So before we get into them, let’s talk about the game world itself. Starting with how we got to were 
  we are right now.
  2027: The Ring of Fire Tragedy
  During the First of December, at three in the morning Greenwich Mean Time, the strongest megathrust earthquake ever record-
  ed in history catastrophically ruptured the crust near the Galápagos. All but a few population centers in the pacif c islands were 
  submerged within minutes. The magnitude of the quake was rated as a nearly unthinkable 10.5, almost literally of  the charts 
  and larger than any earthquake previously measured by a factor of ten.The earthquake triggered a series of massive tsunamis 
  along the coastlines nearby, killing over f ve million people in two dozen countries.  The massive waves went on to strike every 
  coast along the pacif c ocean, claiming the lives of millions more. 
  The Ring of Fire Tragedy became the deadliest natural disaster in history, and several countries collapsed as infrastructure was 
  washed out to sea and coastlines changed in an instant. Years later, the First of December would be made a holiday in thirty-
  f ve countries across the Pacif c Rim: The Pacif c Memorial Day.
  Scientif c and mainstream communities generally agree that the Ring of Fire Tragedy resulted from a massive upthrust earth-
  quake that had been on the verge of occurring for years
  However, the wave patterns that developed from it, and a great deal of anomalous data from seismic sensors and weather 
  satellites, have led to a number of other theories. The most prominent of them is that a meteor less than a kilometer wide 
  impacted the ocean, a theory supported by tests that show an unusual amount of iridium in debris layers from the time of 
  impact. Other fringe theories blame secret weapon tests, biblical apocalypses, and even alien robots living in the Earth’s mantle, 
  which is of course a silly idea.
  2028: The Rebirth of the Pacific
  In the wake of the disaster and continuing aftershocks that claimed even more lives and hampered ef orts to rebuild, the gov-
  ernments of Polynesia, Japan and other ‘Australasian’ nations merged with the rest of Oceania under the banner of the United 
  Pacif c in an attempt to stabilize their economic positions. The United Pacif c capitol was placed in New Guinea, which had suc-
  ceeded in rebuilding its lost infrastructure to a substantial degree and was, thus was able to create a bureaucratic and govern-
  ing hand in the planning and implementation of further Pacif c reclamation ef orts.
  The Ring of Fire, meanwhile, continued to destabilize. The aftershocks had awakened several sleeping volcanœ s across the Pa-
  cif c Rim. Furthermore, near the epicenter of the disaster, there was an unprecedented collapse of the Earth’s crust, leading to a 
  massive magma upwelling that boiled the ocean for a thousand miles around. A group of islands began to form, and over eight 
  years it would grow into an archipelago the size of Argentina: the Far West Archipelago (FWA).
  2029-2033: The Rise of the United Pacific
  As the aftershocks died down, the Pacif c Rim stabilized and reconstruction ef orts began in earnest. This business proved to be 
  a tremendous boost to the f agging economies of several world powers. The United Pacif c became the key player in these ef-
  forts by providing adequate staging grounds for distributing aid and directing ef orts. Eventually, it was recognized as sovereign 
  nation in its own right when the UN recognized its legitimacy over those of old local governments.
  The United Pacif c grew quickly, thanks to a brand-new infrastructure and the most modern education and technology available 
  from its high density of trained professionals. Its fertile soil allowed it to produce surprising yields of crops, and by the mid-late 
  2030’s, it was producing enough to export to other nations. It wasn’t only in the United Pacif c farms that life was reclaiming 
  lost ground. Hardy grasses and simple plants rapidly f owered across the entirety of the FWA amid the volcanic rock. Groups 
  of geologists studied the island chain in fascination, as the huge magma upwelling did in a mere decade what normally took 
  centuries.
  
  138
  2034-2040: The World’s new Major Player
  As the United Pacif c became capable of supporting its own population without relying on aid and imported goods, it imposed 
  tarif s on imported manufactured goods in an attempt to grow its own economy further. Several large multinational corpora-
  tions refused to do business in The United Pacif c with the tarif s in place, withdrawing their support. Companies pulled out 
  overnight, and within a week the Unemployment rate soared to 20% as jobs everywhere simply vanished.
  The economic ramif cations led to the government of the United Pacif c instituting massive public works projects. With the sud-
  denly massive work force in hand, the United Pacif c appealed to the UN for rights to colonize the FWA. UNESCO, rumored to be 
  under pressure by older world powers, declared the FWA a World Heritage Site and prohibited human habitation, as the newly 
  formed islands were a treasure to science.
  In the summer of 2040, a man attempted to claim a homestead in the Far West chain, setting up a camp amongst the volcanic 
  rocks. He was removed before the end of the year. 
  Other animals began colonizing the island as larger plant life took root. The sea around the island, once a barren waste from 
  the heat produced in its formation, cooled enough for f sh to live there again.
  2041-2044: The Energy Crisis
  The long-predicted Peak Oil Crisis f nally occurred, and worldwide oil production dropped slowly but steadily. The price of oil 
  shot through the roof, and most energy corporations were forced to merge or sell of  their assets. By the end of 2044, there 
  were only two multinational energy corporations left in the world, the American-based Standard Energy and its sole competitor, 
  British Alternative.
  Standard Energy led the market and met demand with cutthroat and only technically legal business practices, while British 
  Alternative peddled renewable but inef  cient energy. Worldwide crop yields dropped as fertilizers became scarce and harvesting 
  and transporting goods became more expensive. The exports from the United Pacif c and their naturally bountiful volcanic soil 
  re-invigorated their economy, reversing their economic crash, and eventually catapulting them into the G9..
  2045: The Discovery of Gygravagnite
  In 2043, a geologist named Locke Gravagne that had been part of a f eld team studying the FWA was found to have cancer, and 
  it was quickly determined that he had received a massive dose of radiation. Over the next two years, investigation led to sam-
  ples he had taken from the FWA, and then to the islands themselves. A novel mineral, highly radioactive but otherwise super-
  f cially indistinguishable from jasper was found and named Gygravagnite after the “lucky” geologist whose illness had led to its 
  discovery.
  Field studies found that the majority of islands in the archipelago contained the mineral in negligible quantities, similar in its 
  distribution to that of rare gemstones. However, the largest island, that of Neo Easter II directly over the center of the magma 
  upwelling, had a motherlode of Gygravagnite. 
  Studies on the mineral determined that it had many strange qualities. It had extreme durability and heat resistance, but more 
  importantly, it showed great potential as an energy source. Minute changes to its environment led to vastly dif ering outputs of 
  radiation, with seemingly no drop of  or half-life. The laws of conservation of energy did not seem to apply to Gygravagnite.
  In November of 2045, the laboratories researching the mineral on-site on the FWA were destroyed in a massive explosion along 
  with the small island they had been located on. Satellite imaging showed a f reball over 40 kilometers in radius, along with a 
  massive gamma ray burst. Continuation of the research was called into question, and information on the incident was sup-
  pressed.
  The destruction of the f rst Gygravagnite laboratories is almost universally thought to have been the result of scientists making 
  a tragic mistake with materials they did not yet fully understand. While the lists of tests scheduled for that day dœ sn’t reveal 
  anything dangerous, it’s possible that research was being kept of  the records – or as some suggest, that the lab was destroyed 
  on purpose, by a nuclear device.
  Reports that some of the scientists were seen later in other countries are unsubstantiated, though later Gygravagnite research 
  in some nations seemed unusually developed for programs starting from near-scratch. Conspiracy theorists still hold to this day 
  that the of  cial listing of casualties is fabricated, and that a multitude of professionals from all kinds of f elds have gone missing 
  as well.
  
  139
  2046-2050: Infinite Power
  With huge amounts of funding from the UN, British Alternative undertook the Unendlich Plan, a dedicated attempt to harness 
  the power of Gygravagnite’s variable radiation level as a power source. After four years and several accidents (including one 
  major accident that led to a release of radiation in a populated area), a series of specif c methods were hashed out to make use 
  of the mineral’s properties.
  Gygravagnite’s natural state was named as Type R (apparently for ‘Room Temperature,’ though the variables involved consist of 
  far more than that). In addition to its radioactivity and toughness, it was unstable, and would slowly self-replicate and recon-
  struct itself around olivine and similar minerals. A second form, Type Y, was produced after considerable UV irradiation proved 
  to restructure its crystal matrices. ‘Type Y Gygravagnite, a pale yellow, translucent material with physical qualities akin to glass, 
  was found to act as a superconductor at virtually all temperatures. Lastly, Gygravagnite Type W was made by dissolving the 
  crystals in mercury. It had somewhat non-Newtonian properties and would harden under stress to levels vastly superior to even 
  Type R’s considerable durability.
  After the properties of modif ed Gygravagnite were published, British Alternative’s net worth quickly exceeded that of Standard 
  Energy. The UNESCO ban on disturbance of the FWA was lifted in the closing months of 2050. The word ‘Gygravagnite’ entered 
  colloquial parlance, and is shortened to ‘3G’, ‘Element G’ or simply ‘Gygs’. 
  2051-2054: The 3G Revolution
  Under total secrecy, a colossal chunk of Gygravagnite was transported to American shores by the Pacif c Fleet, ultimately des-
  tined for Boston. Later in the year, Standard Energy set up its own research labs, funded by the US Government to match Brit-
  ish Alternative’s lead. Under the banner of subsidiary companies, Standard Energy invested in “Reconstruction Ef ort” mining 
  colonies around the Far West Archipelago.
  The United Pacif c was more than willing to provide cheap labor for the mining colonies, provided that the mining groups signed 
  of  on rights of First Refusal - a double maneuver which infused its economy with new life. The material proved easy to mine 
  and vast quantities of the mineral were removed from the volcanic rock of the islands. With the people of the world desper-
  ate for a new energy source and Gygravagnite able to provide until-then unparalleled power, it became the nucleus of a new 
  industrial age. With room-temperature superconductors, light materials of a hardness higher than 15 in the Mohs scale, and 
  near-inf nite supplies of power, once-unthinkable applications of science soon became reality.
  At the end of 2054, the UN announced Project Helios. Its purpose was to build an orbital elevator system to combat the world’s 
  overpopulation and expand the frontiers of humanity to the stars, with the ideal construction point being on one of the Far 
  West islands. Plans were drawn up to enable the mining of asteroids, and Project Helios was approved by nearly every country 
  with presence in the UN. British Alternative scheduled construction to begin in June of 2055, and expected to take ten years. As 
  an oddly appropriate footnote to this resurgence of optimism and hope for the future, earthquakes worldwide receded in oc-
  currence and magnitude.
  2055-2058: The New World Government
  Terrorism quickly became the main opponent of Project Helios. In just half a year, almost a dozen attempts were made to 
  undermine the project from the inside or destroy it from without. The attacks came from all quarters, with groups varying from 
  religious fanatics to ecoterrorists. Several of the attempts are thought to originate from Standard Energy, but the connections 
  were never proven strongly enough to bring them to justice.
  At around this time, a serious political movement towards a single world government emerged and began making its push in 
  the UN. After two years of debate, the motion f nally passed, despite the protests of many smaller entities. The UN was given 
  stronger powers over sovereign nations and restructured as the United Earth Federation, with the purpose of protecting human-
  ity’s better interests above any single nation or government, losing its conciliatory role. North America, the United Pacif c, and 
  the European Union quickly became the UEF’s major players due to their ef orts in Project Helios and the Unendlich Plan.
  Standard Energy’s own research into Gygravagnite resulted in the creation of an all-purpose kinetic pod in 2056, able to manip-
  ulate kinetic energy to use as a propulsor or even a crude shield against projectiles. This is adapted into military hardware, suit-
  able for mounting on the then in-development powered armor being designed by DARPA. Under extremely favorable conditions, 
  the armor was capable of def ecting a 15mm round, and was able to achieve maglev f ight under its own power. This marked 
  the beginning of modern warfare in the same way the f rst crude tanks in World War I marked the beginning of the f rst age of 
  mechanized war.
  
  140
  2059-2062: Intelligent Weapons
  In 2059, the f rst “true” AI was developed in Japan as part of the Unendlich Plan. Gygravagnite was an integral part of its design, 
  which used perfect crystals of the element as its central chips to isolate the miniaturized quantum computers from external 
  factors. The f rst prototype models proved capable of basic sapience, though it was only competent at performing the simplest 
  of tasks and had to be taught via programming in a process akin to training an animal. Yet, they were more than advanced 
  enough to replace humans in dangerous working environments.  
  After proving its worth in the dangerous Gygravagnite mines, the advanced robotics base became a staple of consumer technol-
  ogy. By 2062, the UEF deployed AI-driven military drones under the codename of BOARD -Broad Operations Assessment and 
  Reaction Devices- and these intelligent, automated, mobile weapons quelled terrorist cells that threatened the orbital elevator, 
  captured and detained survivors for shipment to prisons in the darkest corners of the Earth. 
  The head of the Japanese AI project resigned when he learned the military was using his designs to kill, and retired to work on 
  his own projects. Ironically enough, he would later uncover the secret to nanotechnology, which would see similar ends. The UEF 
  Headquarters was moved from New York City to Boston at the behest of Standard Energy, in return for supplying the UEF with 
  advanced weapons and armor.
  2063-2064: The New Frontier
  As the Helios Tether space elevator neared completion, the UEF launched automated drones towards Lagrange 1 and the aster-
  oid 6 Hebe, chosen for its orbit which would allow deliveries into Earth-crossing orbits. Construction began on the f rst space 
  colony in 2063, as raw material was streamed in from the asteroid belt. Working tirelessly, the drones completed the space 
  colony before the f rst day of 2064.
  This f rst space colony had a habitable area of over two hundred square kilometers and, with regular deliveries of volatiles from 
  the asteroid belt and its automated miners, was designed to be able to function as a completely independent city-state, not 
  relying on the Earth for supplies aside from seeds to start growing crops and people to live there. The wealthy and inf uential 
  leave Earth for the colony and the eleven more that are constructed after the f rst are a success. The elite of humanity begin to 
  govern the world from the literal heavens.
  The Unendlich Plan bore fruit once more at the end of this period, when a pair of Russian scientists devised a way to cause a 
  controlled degeneracy chain using fractured Gygravagnite crystals. The energy released allowed for launching a particle beam of 
  immense destructive power without need of an unwieldy particle accelerator, making it practical for use as a weapon. Though 
  the UEF of  cially had no enemies to use it against, it quickly adopted these “Beam Weapons” and ordered Standard Energy to 
  ref ne it, much to the chagrin of the pacif sts within their ranks.
  2064-2070: Anxiety in the Far West
  The Far West Archipielago f ourished thanks to hard work of its colonists, Gygravagnite mines, the UEF’s support, and Project 
  Helios. By now the islands resembled the rest of the United Pacif c area, though some islands and stretches of land remained 
  too radioactive for human habitation. Unfortunately, some of these areas were inevitably near high concentrations of raw Ele-
  ment G and therefore dangerous for long-term health.
  Rumors spread among the FWA citizens about strange creatures roaming in the most barren and radiation-f lled areas of land. 
  Most people dismissed these rumors as just tall tales, mistaking mutated or diseased animals as something more sinister. 
  Eight miners disappeared under mysterious circumstances during this time period and thirteen more were hospitalized after 
  demonstrating irreparable mental instability, but nothing of  cial was ever said on the matter. Investigations were discouraged 
  as conditions in the mines were often in violation of international labor laws already, and ref neries were working under unsafe 
  conditions to meet costs, often dumping waste into the ocean or simply burying it in shallow pits.
  While of  cially, the existence of the Far West Cryptids is denied, the locals can tell you a lot of stories about them, and will 
  gladly sell you all sorts of merchandise if you’re interested. Over the years inhabitants and tourists alike have claimed sightings 
  of everything from giant bugs and animate vegitation, to strange, humanoid things that defy any easy description
  They might be mutated local wildlife, as some of  cials have suggested, or they could be something more menacing. One local 
  man claims he broke open a rock and something indescribable and terrible was sealed right there the stone, f ying away after 
  he cracked it open. These and other anecdotes point towards the Cryptids somehow being a natural part of the island, assum-
  ing they exist at all.
  
  141
  2071-2075: The Solar Space Alliance
  As the class division between those on Earth and in space grew, unrest rose on Earth as many felt that the policies being en-
  acted by the UEF were favoring the privileged minority that had left for the space colonies. These Colonials had a vastly dispro-
  portionate inf uence on the UEF, and a spreading popular movement called for them to lose their grip on the Earth, pejoratively 
  dubbing them 'Spacenoids'.
  With great reluctance, the colonies withdrew from the UEF and formed their own governmental body, the Solar Space Alliance 
  (SSA). Over several years, they completely severed political ties from the Earth and functioned as truly independent nations. 
  Some trade continued, since there were many crops that did not grow well in space and the Earth was willing to pay a high 
  price for rare earth metals easily mined in asteroids.
  After a twenty year wait, the UEF’s 'seed mines' of self-replicating Gygravagnite Type-R failed to bear worthwhile fruit. The 
  resulting harvest was comparable to a year's worth of hard labor and further attempts are deemed a waste of perfectly useable 
  resources. The SSA continued research on the conditions required to turn Type-R into a proverbial hen of golden eggs, despite 
  owning a fair amount of Gygravagnite mines on Earth. Thusly, in 2075, the SSA constructed the largest Type-R seed mine to 
  date on the moon for this purpose.
  2076-2079: The Sun, Moon and Stars
  As negotiations for Gygravagnite mining colonies increased in tension – many on Earth believed that the Colonies were trying 
  to grab a larger piece of the pie than they were entitled to – the SSA used their stores of automated workers to mine various 
  moons in the solar system in search of alternative energy sources while waiting for their Type-R colonies to bloom.
  Internal conf icts within the UEF led to various “leaks” of bizarre occurrences and strange hazards at major Gygravagnite plants 
  across the globe. Standard Energy and British Alternative continued their battle with disinformation and corporate sabotage. As 
  a result of the increasing tension and the proliferation of ‘accidents,’ Gygravagnite research and the Unendlich Plan were divided 
  into three major projects with increased oversight. Projects Sonne, Mond, and Sterne continued the research on Gygravagnite 
  weaponry, vehicles, and AI respectively.
  2080-2085: The New Cold War
  In early April of 2083, the central Gygravagnite ref nery in the United Pacif c suf ered a terrible accident and was lost in a 
  massive explosion. Radioactive fallout spread over much of South America, leading to major comparisons with the Chernobyl 
  tragedy, especially in the wake of a tragic rise in stillbirths and terrible birth defects. Public opinion of the UEF plummeted after 
  this so-called Neo Easter II Incident.
  The UEF managed to keep control of Projects Sonne, Mond, and Sterne through the crisis, though rumors of sabotage and be-
  trayal from within abounded after the SSA unveiled and demonstrated its new all-terrain Gygravagnite powered AI war machine, 
  developed from their more advanced and mature automated worker drones. Many suspect the SSA’s new war machine to have 
  been designed and developed by the AIs themselves.
  While there are no formal declarations of hostilities, both the SSA and the UEF made unfriendly overtures towards one another, 
  and embassies on both sides were closed. Both sides began broadcasting propaganda that informed their citizens that the 
  other side was strangling them and preventing them from accessing resources that they desperately needed to survive. The UEF 
  claimed the SSA had control of greater Gygravagnite supplies than they needed and tried to keep them underdeveloped, while 
  the SSA decried the UEF and said their limiting of raw materials was putting a bottleneck on the SSA economy and endangering 
  the very future of mankind. It is no surprise then, that comparisons to the Cold War of the previous century were in no short 
  supply throughout the early to mid 80’s.
  
  142
  2086-2090: Alien Subjugation
  The heads of Projects Sonne, Mond, and Sterne suddenly vanished along with their best staf  during 2086, leaving no traces 
  of their research other than vague notes and oral records about “General Enforcement Anthropomorphic Robots” or “Gears”. 
  Their disappearance was at f rst thought to be an act of the SSA, and nearly sparked a war then and there.
  Before any shots are f red, a single enormous spaceship of clearly Alien nature arrived from an unknown origin point and began 
  approaching the Earth sphere. Though initially humanity was ecstatic, attempts at making contact with the aliens failed, and 
  marvel turned to worry when course projections place the ship on a collision course with three space colonies, due in a single 
  day’s time - not enough to move out of the way, let alone relocate the citizens.
  Inevitably, the ship intersected the colonies in its direct path, destroying them and ending the lives of all that failed to evacuate, 
  while the unharmed craft continued to head towards the Earth itself. The SSA treats this as an act of aggression and opens f re 
  on the Aliens. After the ship retaliated two of the ten space colonies were left open to vacuum and the others damaged, some 
  beyond repair. What is later called the Battle of the 23 Hours ended when the Aliens destroyed the SSA headquarters, leaving all 
  but one cluster of colonies in ruins. Nine out of ten colonists perished that day.
  In short order, the spaceship landed over the epicenter of the Neo Easter II Incident and from there made demands to negotiate 
  with the UEF, using messages broadcast in every major language on Earth. The entity or entities in the ship remained nameless, 
  refusing to identify themselves. Ambassadors of the UEF are taken into the ship at an arranged time and some form of peace 
  with what they call “The Outsiders” was agreed upon, though exactly what the agreements or deals were remain top secret to 
  this day.
  After completing negotiations, the UEF exercised its power over the Earth with an iron f st, forcing civilians to relocate into 
  “safe” zones where the UEF could control and direct their lives so as not to interfere with The Outsiders. To this end, they used 
  leftovers from the vanished Sonne, Mond, and Sterne projects to create their own Gear Armed Forces (GAF), f lling in the gaps of 
  their knowledge and research with what was obviously alien technology.
  The UEF’s Deal
  While no one outside of the very top of the UEF knows the exact details of their dealings with The Outsiders, it’s clear that the 
  Deal isn’t one that benef ts most of humanity. The UEF stopped supplying Element G to most of the world and implemented 
  harsh crackdowns on anyone who thinks of standing up against the Outsiders. In the years since it has been suggested that the 
  upper echelons of the UEF aren’t really human anymore at all. Some say that humans are just being kept alive as slaves or food 
  or some kind of sick entertainment for the aliens.
  What is certain is that the UEF is getting plenty of alien technology in exchange for serving their alien masters. Perhaps they 
  learned something inside that ship that makes them think this is the best they can do for humanity. Perhaps they’re greedy. Or 
  perhaps the Outsiders are really trying to help humanity as best they can, with alien logic we can’t grasp. Regardless of their 
  reasoning, this decision took over the colonization of America as the single biggest tipping point in history.
  2091: The Rebellion
  Even the Safe Zones proved far from exactly safe. Giant Outsiders occasionally wandered away from their base over the old Neo 
  Easter II site and terrorized the populace outside the government protected areas in the FWA before retreating back whence 
  they came. Their purposes and motivations are still unknown, though they always leave a trail of destruction and dead behind 
  them.
  A resistance movement called the Revolutionary United Front formed within the North-Eastern American safe zone, and soon 
  surged into open revolt against the UEF. A symbol of def ance against the GAF and Alien threat, the RUF f ghts back against 
  them with their own superior brand of Gears. The technology of the RUF Gears appeared to have come from the vanished 
  Sonne, Mond, and Sterne projects, entirely human and home-grown. In some ways, it was even more advanced than what the 
  UEF itself employed.
  
  143
  2095: The Repulsion Line
  In 2095, guerrillas on the Far West island of Hiryu enjoyed their f rst victory against The Outsiders as they repelled one of the 
  giant aliens from their city with their home-made one-of-a-kind Gears. While this was their f rst victory, it was far from their 
  last, and their determination to f ght quickly showed itself as their island turned into a front-line Military City and a staging 
  point against the Outsiders.
  Despite attacks by more giant monsters, the fortress the locals had built, the Soaring Dragon Fortress, dœ sn't fall. To this day it 
  is a symbol of humanity's ability to defeat the alien invaders. The UEF declared them all conspirators together with the SSA and 
  traitors to the human race, endangering the treaties that the UEF said were for humanity’s own good.
  UEF propaganda portrayed the Outsiders as having come to protect us from the SSA, to repair the damage done to Neo Easter 
  II, and to root out concentrations of Gygravagnite about to catastrophically destroy all around them. The Rebellion is mostly re-
  ported as an act of terrorism. Open actions against the Far West rebels by the UEF were and are uncommon, the UEF too busy 
  quelling the resistance on its own soil, preferring to blockade and starve the rebelling areas out. Those rebels that were able to 
  become self-suf  cient continued the f ght, while others fell and were quietly purged.
  2099: The Cryptid Menace
  In the mostly forgotten but not yet gone space colonies, the bizarre creatures known as the Far West Cryptids are sighted once 
  more. Already reduced to a shadow of its former self, the SSA is struck by a rash of disappearances and mental illnesses. The 
  emergence of this new possible threat, coupled with the UEF’s iron-f sted suppression of its own citizens, led the remaining 
  space colonies to institute a media blackout, in ef ect f nalizing their severance from the rest of the Earth sphere.
  A new conf ict in Lagrange 2 began against this new spaceborn threat, far away from where the UEF could enforce its laws, and 
  apparently outside the inf uence of the Outsiders as well. The colonies’ Clarke Foundation and its Gears were and are the only 
  ones able to neutralize and put a stop to the Cryptids for good.
  The SSA formally outlawed all trading with Earth, even trade in Gygravagnite, and cut of  contact with the Earth of  cially in its 
  entirety. Several of the most badly-damaged space colonies are left empty and adrift as the SSA centralizes its population. 
  Rumors persisted of massive warships being built in the asteroid belt and preparations made to move a large part of the SSA’s 
  remaining population, if not the entirety of it.
  2100: The World as it Stands
  Present Day. Present Time. The Earth sphere is engulfed in the f ames of war in at least three separate, yet related conf icts. 
  Who will be the victor? Is there a deeper truth behind this conf ict? Is there another way? That is for you to decide.
  Battle Century G conveys some rather pessimistic views of humanity, but it mostly just asks “Why?” and dœ s not explore po-
  tential answers. At its heart, science f ction is about how technological advances af ect humanity and make people show some 
  of their darkest sides. Mecha f ction has always revolved around similar themes, at least superf cially. 
  With that said, the focus of Battle Century G is giant robot action, not philosophy or psychology, and certainly not history. You 
  are free to explore these issues as much as you want to, or you can just ignore them and beat up some monsters or bad guys 
  and call it a day. Likewise, all these fascinating advances in various f elds of science are presented as plot devices at best and 
  handwaving at worst so that you may focus on the characters without them getting in the way.
  The information in these pages is packed very tight but it leaves the specif cs of many events somewhat vague and only implies 
  a few answers through rumors and speculation. This is to give you more room to make up your own ideas without having to 
  worry too much about causing a domino ef ect where suddenly nothing makes sense anymore. If there is an aspect of the set-
  ting that you hesitate to use or want to replace with an even better idea you had on your own, please do it, it will def nitely be 
  more fun for you that way.
  
  144
  A Brave New World
  Society has come a long way since the early twenty-f rst century, and advancements since then are taken for granted a hun-
  dred years later. The current state of the world is not anywhere near idyllic, but many still remember the years gone by when 
  the future of humanity looked bright – at least if you were from the f rst world. But times have changed. 
  It used to be that life expectancy averaged to 90 years in many countries - including the space colonies – due in no small part 
  to the application of nanomachines to the f eld of medicine. Though many disliked the notion at f rst, it eventually caught on 
  and soon enough virtually every injury or illness could be healed – if you could af ord it.
  The advancements in AI and robotics propelled industrialization to new heights, making it possible for a handful of technicians 
  to do the work of a hundred – enabling those who still relied on manpower to devalue it even further. No AI with an intelligence 
  quotient greater than that of a small mammal was of  cially created. Some say that we never quite learned enough about cogni-
  tive development to get there, while others say this was simply a precaution.
  The arts were one of the few areas where the rudimentary brains of the AI workforce couldn't replace human talent. In a 
  society without much work to do and plenty of resources to spare, many turned to their 'artistic calling' to make ends meet. 
  Transhumanist themes were common, albeit mostly superf cially and catering to the philosophies of the rich and inf uential, 
  who consumed them voraciously.
  As part of the ongoing globalization process, English was adopted as a secondary Language worldwide and across the colonies, 
  while immigration laws in most countries recessed in strictness to f uent speakers. This was far from being strictly a benign 
  development though, as it forced those who could not af ord proper education at an early age to compete with each other even 
  more, while also competing with the AI drones for who could work cheaper.
  Space represented the future for many, and indeed, for many years launching for the Colonies was much like sailing for Amer-
  ica in past centuries to the eyes of the hopeful. The colonies themselves would be happy to oblige these delusions, for they 
  always saw themselves as more humanitarian than their counterparts, keeping as workforce those they favored and relegating 
  the rest to their various mining colonies and a lonely future as part of a skeleton crew.
  But hope and ambition were not the sole reason people wanted to go into space; Mother Earth was growing old and its children 
  continued to make a mess of the house. Projects Sonne, Mond and Sterne were as much about saving the Earth from ecological 
  collapse as they were about weaponizing Gygravagnite – it is too bad the Outsiders had to plunge humanity into conf ict once 
  more.
  Do not be fooled into thinking that the world was peaceful before then, though. Certainly not everyone saw eye to eye with the 
  UEF’s policies and many were the forms these tensions took: From the countries that isolated themselves to those that joined 
  but continued their bitter feuds with its neighbors – all kept out of the eyes of the mainstream media and the privileged popu-
  lace’s everyday lives. History did not repeat itself, it continued.
  So you want to actually deal with currency as a thing to manage, more power to you.  There are no hard rules for the earning 
  and use of money, but we do have a general guideline that should help in eyeballing prices and converting coinage from mod-
  ern standards or between factions.
  The UEF created their own coin as part of their separation from the SSA – who did the same– the Universal Reserve Notes (or 
  simply ‘Notes’, though some hardliners like to call them ‘Universals’) are still used to this day in addition to whichever remains 
  of local currency survive. The SSA’s preferred medium of exchange these days is the Nobel, which is split into units measured in 
  Centinobels and Decinobels. Hiryu chose to eschew either coinage entirely, and within its borders one primarily deals with the 
  Kurogane, Hagane and Shirogane. 
  One Universal Reserve Note equals one American Dollar. One Nobel equals f ve Notes. One Kurogane equals a hundredth of a 
  Note, one Shirogane equals a tenth of a Note, and one Hagane equals a Note.
  Remember, however, that Verne no longer deals with Earthlings (of  cially, at least) so this is more a representation of how it 
  used to be between the UEF and the SSA.  Hiryu coins have no value outside of it – hence their much lower exchange rate when 
  compared to Notes.
  
  145
  Sonne, Mond and Sterne
  One of the greatest mysteries of the new century is what actually happened to the heads of the Project meant to reap the 
  rewards of Gygravagnite, the reasons behind their disappearance, of what they left behind, what they took with themselves, and 
  of the destinies they met. Investigations both public and private point in several directions, the most popular theory being a 
  cooperative defection to the Space Colonies. Some speculate that they are behind the Guerillas and their superior technology, 
  yet others like to believe they are the creators of the Outsiders themselves.
  The truth may never be known, but one thing is for certain: Their individual projects all proved successful and that can be seen 
  everywhere today, from everyday appliances to the world's most impressive battle machine: the Gears.
  Originally an acronym for 'General Enforcement Anthropomorphic Robot,' it took less than a year for the acronym to supplant 
  the real name. This general-use weapon has defeated the ancient adage that 'all-purpose serves no purpose' in military design. 
  Designers know that this is a lie, there is such a depth of variety in Gear models that it is basically cheating to count them all as 
  a single type of machine. It is like pretending that a stealth bomber and destroyer warships are the very same thing.
  However, Gears do have a stunning amount of similarities between themselves, unlike most other armoured vehicles of ages 
  past. Gears tend to be obviously humanoid in nature, and can function just f ne with only one driver at the helm, given the 
  name of ‘Meister’ to dif erentiate them from the controllers of other mechanized weapons.
  The main innovation that Gears brought with them was the Psychic AI Control or ‘PsAICon’ system, an interface built into the 
  Gear’s cockpit that reads the electric signature of the controller’s neurons. An on-board AI then encrypts, processes and inter-
  prets the signals of what the user intended for the Gear to perform, and allows the various other mechanisms inside to handle 
  said actions. The head section of the Gear usually acts as a middleman between these systems and the environment, usually 
  packing most sensory equipment as well, as it was found that Meisters could operate the Gear more easily if it mimicked the 
  human body’s functions as much as possible.
  Gears also implement a variety of 3G-based technology. Every Gear has a system of balancers that, when coupled with limited 
  magnetic levitation capability, handles all stress to the limbs in the form of shock absorption – enabling giant machines to move 
  at speeds that a land bound machine could rarely match in the past. Several miniature Gygravagnite reactors are placed along-
  side the joints instead of having of a single, greater engine, allowing for complex combinations of movements that automatically 
  distribute all the power a limb could need, and producing bursts of levitating energy that can compensate for a missing leg – 
  covering the most glaring weakness in giant bipeds.
  Gears can do more than reproduce almost any human movement. Indeed, they are capable of feats and maneuvers far beyond 
  the elasticity of any human. In addition, the PsAICon’s reliance on computers means that they can be easily customized and 
  reprogrammed to be ‘taught’ a variety of maneuvers as the Meister requires, and all the Meister has to do is train themselves to 
  transmit the proper thought patterns to activate said techniques.
  What these advances mean when looking at the big picture is that now every single soldier on a battlef eld could perform to the 
  full extent of their abilities without being limited by their physical bodies, being as resilient or speedy as necessary. And since 
  Gears could adapt to virtually any kind of situation on the f y without having any  ‘natural predator’ on the battlef eld besides 
  other Gears, they became the standard by which all future weapons would be judged.
  Gears are, however, far from the perfect weapon. Gears are more complex to control .than any prior warf ghting vehicle, and 
  the dif  culty involved in training new Meisters ensures that no faction has more than several platoons’ worth trained at any 
  one time. Gears also require more resources to both produce and maintain than any other weapon to date. A Gear also cannot 
  clear and hold a building, evacuate civilians in an orderly fashion or clear a tunnel network of insurgents. While the value of the 
  infantryman has perhaps diminished, it has in no way been supplanted wholesale by Gears.
  Due to the limited number of Meisters and costly maintenance of Gears, squadrons of Board vehicles controlled by a human 
  overseer are the mainstay weapon of choice for practical purposes in the UEF’s arsenal. What Gears excel at is at maximizing 
  the potential and survivability of human soldiers, and since no automated drone from the UEF has -so far- managed to match 
  human talent Gears will remain the undisputed kings of human warfare. Not even the sheer numbers of automated Boards 
  armies match the performance of a well-oiled GAF platoon.
  Work still continues on Gears by every faction in the Earth Sphere to ensure superiority over their fœ s. New models of Gears 
  can transform into non-humanoid forms and some have a strange living organism within the frame. Often these changes stray 
  far enough from the baseline that designers question the use of a unifying name for them all.
  
  146
  Weaponry
  Virtually every Gear has the CQC System, apparently a joke placeholder name that carried all the way through its development 
  cycle. The Gear's hands are made as human-like as possible and the PsAICon is programmed to be responsive to even uncon-
  scious ref exive thought for them. This would prove to be a terrible idea in any other area of the body - the human form is 
  simply too dif erent from most Gears' – but, when applied correctly, it allows anyone with a knowledge of hand to hand combat 
  to ef ectively make use of that expertise. A variety of giant cold weapons devised as a cost-ef  cient last resort weapon combo 
  with the CQC System, for those times when there's no other reasonable option than to use a knife during a gunf ght.
  When compared to most other Gear-class weapons, f rearms are cheap to produce and easy to use, making them more of an 
  afterthought to ensure a Gear always has an all-range weapon than anything else. Despite this, they are not to be underestimat-
  ed; Many skirmishes have been decided not by who had the f ashiest weaponry but by who was able to wear down their enemy 
  the best, and f rearms excel at that. Some of the more popular f rearms include 120mm railguns and the monstrous 1200mm 
  trans-horizontal cannons, while the lower tier fully-automatic, mounted 36mm vulcans f ll a somewhat more niche role as weap-
  ons designed to lay covering f re and exploit holes in enemy defenses rather than pure implements of destruction.
  Beam weapons are miniaturized versions of the f rst degeneracy particle beam cannons. With a simple pull of a trigger, a num-
  ber of unstable, contained Gygs crystals expel their energy in a straight, linear path of pure destruction. This is mostly seen in 
  the common-use Beam Rif es f elded by most Gears across North America, but multiple variations have been developed, from 
  larger, more punitive cannons to the so called “Beam Saber”. A beam saber discharges a minuscule amount of constant, highly 
  focused energy making use of a minimal amount of Type Y around the edges to contain it from dispersing too much. Obtain-
  ing maximum ef  ciency at minimum cost, the ef ective range of the weapon is its only real limiting factor. The use of Type Y to 
  help form the blade means that a skilled user can use his own beam saber to block another, and the resulting fencing matches 
  with luminous blades are quite the sight to behold.
  Gygravagnite Type-G
  The key to the guerrilla’s more advanced equipment and their (relative) success over their fœ s lies in their discovery of the 
  fourth ref nement of Gygravagnite. Achieved by a process that is said to have only been successfully f nished once and is cloud-
  ed in the most absolute secrecy, this gaseous state of Element G is only visible when in obscenely large quantities. Resembling 
  bright green dust, Type-G is rather hazardous; its particles possess extremely violent repulsive forces, tearing apart any mate-
  rial that comes into contact with it. 
  The only Type-G reactor in current existence is assigned to the Guerillas’ Wagner, the f rst f ying battleship. The Wagner uses 
  Type-G for its ‘Antigravity’ system, manipulating Type-G particles magnetically to keep them contained within Buoyancy Pods. 
  These Pods are milk carton-sized and contain minimal amounts of Type-G, but are present in great quantity, so that if any of 
  them were to be compromised the Gear (and its vicinity) wouldn’t annihilate ‘too much’ of the surrounding area. A multitude of 
  smaller and imperfect Type-G devices produced are being regularly put to military use by the Hiryu.
  Type G naturally repels its environment and even other Type G particles very strongly, which creates an ef ect similar to that of 
  the vacuum of space, or lack of gravity. The research team at the Soaring Dragon Fortress developed a method to make an even 
  stronger network of Buoyancy Pods by altering the basic composition of Type-G further, likely using the exotic materials that are 
  part of an Outsider’s makeup. They succeeded in creating a miniaturized system with apparently negative weight, lowering the 
  ef ective weight of Gears signif cantly due to buoyancy, and enabling them to perform insane feats of acrobatics and sustained 
  f ight. Enough pods can make escaping the Earth’s gravity viable with even simple jet engines, and many believe the Wagner is 
  capable of doing so.
  The second known use of this technology is the “Gravagne Field.” It consists of a limited supply of Type-G kept contained by 
  a strong magnetic f eld in the form of a barrier around a Gear, violently exploding at anything that tries to break past it with a 
  series of green bursts. This annihilates -or at least drastically weakens- anything that tries to break past it. The power required 
  to keep the barrier intact even just a few meters from the Gear’s own frame uses up truly ludicrous amounts of energy. 
  The Gravagne Field requires conscious thought to control and has very limited range. An of ensive use of a Gravagne Field 
  would require one to either do away with the safety systems that make the use of Type-G safe in the f rst place. That means 
  you would not only be making your opponent suf er a f ery, green demise... You could accidentally end up destroying yourself 
  while at it. This has not stopped Hiryu from developing weapons with that idea in mind, though.
  
  147
  The Game’s Three Scenarios
  The world of Battle Century G is big and you can play in and 
  run many dif erent kinds of games with it. To give it some 
  focus, the rest of this chapter will divide the world into three 
  scenarios named after the factions that PCs can belong to: 
  The Soaring Dragon Fortress, the Mobile Battleship Wagner, 
  and the Clarke Foundation. Each of these has a distinctive feel 
  and tone to it, with its own particular Mecha on either side of 
  the conf ict.
  For each of the three Scenarios you have f ve pages detail-
  ing important information about the faction itself. You’ll get 
  to know about where it sits in the world, the kind of people 
  who staf  it, the enemies they f ght and how they get along 
  with civilians. This should give you a good idea of the kinds of 
  characters that would f t in a game using the chosen sce-
  nario, adventures to expect and even how dif  cult it will be to 
  emerge victorious in combat.
  You and your group should feel free to change as much of the 
  information in the next pages as suits your style. If you’d like 
  to make the Wagner a submarine instead of an airship I’m 
  not going to tell you that you’re playing the game wrong. The 
  individual GM is also going to have to think of some answers 
  to the greater mysteries of the world, because there aren’t 
  any conf rmed answers in this chapter. All scenarios also have 
  their own series of rumors at the bottom of each page to 
  spark cool ideas, and even some suggestions about how to 
  use them, but that’s as far as they go.
  With all that said, you could also use this as a springboard to 
  develop other parts of the world you’re more interested in. 
  Maybe you don’t like these three factions and want to cre-
  ate your own band of freedom f ghters based in Australia, or 
  make a story about a group of humans trying to escape from 
  the Outsiders in a giant starship, or you could stage a game 
  within the ranks of the UEF trying to change the system from 
  the inside. The only limit is your imagination, and how much 
  ef ort you want to put into your own ideas.
  And if you want to craft your own game scenarios using an 
  entirely dif erent world, there’s some advice for you at the 
  end of this chapter too.
  
  148
  The Soaring Dragon Fortress
  Geography
  An alliance. A nation. A symbol of humanity's ability to stand against even impossible odds. Hiryu is all of these things and 
  more. The island of Hiryu is famous for its dragon-shaped fortress, facing eastward. It is a densely populated island; 339 
  square kilometers holding a city of over three million and growing. Hiryu's status as being radiation and UEF-free has made it 
  the center of activity and hope for Oceania and the rest of the world. This is because Hiryu island is more than just a booming 
  population center. It's also the front line in the war against the Outsiders. The island was due to be abandoned by the UEF after 
  repeated incursions made it clear that the Outsiders were not going to honor its designation as the safe area 'Zone 83'. Plans 
  were made to relocate the citizens of Hiryu Island -the Hiryujin- to various other locations, splitting them up to safe zones in 
  North America and Europe, but the UEF's plans went awry when the locals refused to cooperate.
  Guerrillas turned public opinion against the UEF, stirring up feelings of patriotism and pride in the Hiryujin. Starting as a simple 
  resistance against the UEF's harsh resettlement plans, the rebel forces grew in strength and importance. After managing to 
  force a UEF team back by sheer hard work and guts in a very publicly televised scuf  e, the house of cards that was the UEF's 
  authority over Hiryu fell apart. It was checkmate for the relocation plans. The UEF was forced to retreat from the island and has 
  never managed to gain a foothold there again.
  The Soaring Dragon Fortress is the most well-known landmark of Hiryu, and is what almost anyone from outside will think of 
  f rst when they hear the name. Carved into the top of Mount Barou, the Fortress was built over the former local military head-
  quarters of the UEF, though it’s unlikely they’d recognize it at this point.
  Mount Barou itself holds a prominent place in the young mythology and geography of the island. It reaches a kilometer and a 
  half into the sky, and is one of the few places on the island untouched by industrialization. Civilian structures are not allowed 
  within the base perimeter, with the single exception of the Barou Shrine. Built at the base of the mountain, the Barou Shrine is 
  the largest temple on the island, from which the Priestess is said to communicate with the patron spirit of the island directly.
  The remainder of the main island is urbanized to a high degree. There are fewer tall buildings than in many other cities, with a 
  large amount of underground construction. Most large buildings house shelters for public use, in case of an attack or dangerous 
  weather, something not uncommon during the rainy season.
  Because Outsiders are known to wander around locations with large quantities of Element G, the SDF has deployed a hundred 
  separate mobile beacons around the island to send out waves of distracting energy in every spectrum the Outsiders can detect. 
  These pulsating waves of energy distract and confuse any Outsiders that pass near the island. Their ef ect is said to be like 
  having several spotlights shining in your face at once. This barrage is intended to hold the Outsiders’ attention long enough 
  until the defense lines on the coasts of Hiryu can meet them.
  Hiryu is home to a fair variety of imported f ora and fauna, with Mount Barou as the only undeveloped part of the island, host-
  ing the only real native life there, mostly lichen with some hardy, small shrubs and grass. Some forms of insects and other 
  small animals have taken residence there, but they are mostly things humans brought with them without knowing. Rats and 
  rabbits have done well for themselves, though they seem oddly intelligent and hard to remove.
  * The shrine on Mount Barou is more important than it seems. The island’s defenders are trained to prioritize defending it over 
  the rest of the city. Whatever the spirit of the island really is - a tame Outsider, a super prototype Gear, the mother of all Cryp-
  tids - it’s the entire reason Hiryu exists today.
  * An underwater network connects the Soaring Dragon Fortress with most of the Far West Archipielago, including a direct path-
  way to the area right under the orbital elevator.
  * The rest of the Far West Archipelago isn’t under UEF control either, they just refuse to communicate back to Hiryu for what-
  ever reason. Men and women sent to investigate have universally failed to return. Some believe the islands are under direct 
  Outsider control and that any inhabitants there are used to produce the Outsiders’ robotic attendants. Others think that the 
  people there have discarded all of their Element G based technology and have been enjoying a peaceful lifestyle ever since the 
  UEF turned tail.
  
  149
  Culture
  Hiryu has a history of democratically elected leaders, though during the UEF's reign over the island, free elections were sus-
  pended 'for the duration of the current crisis.’ After the rebellion, there was fear that one charismatic leader or another would 
  make himself into a dictator, but the fears appear to have been for naught. The democratic process was reinstated almost im-
  mediately after the UEF was removed and Hiryu regained its self-rule.  
  Despite the support of its people, though, the free government of Hiryu seems to have only limited power in many ways. The 
  President and Hiryu’s Diet answer to powerful outside interests, and the reality of the situation is that Hiryu would not remain 
  standing today without this aid from outside. Support for the resistance comes in the form of money, technology, and manpow-
  er. The true origins of this support are unknown (though the popular belief is that the Chinese maf a is the main benefactor of 
  the island). The true agenda of these outside supporters is also unknown, though the number of reasons someone might want 
  to strike a blow against the UEF or the Outsiders is nearly inf nite.
  The Dragon City of Hiryu is almost a model of self-suf  ciency. Almost every household has a hand in the production of food; a 
  necessity given the small growing area available to the island and the dif  culty of bringing in produce. Victory gardens can be 
  found almost anywhere one looks, ranging from a few vegetables in windowsill planters to the extensive rooftop gardens that 
  top the largest buildings. A thriving f shing industry exists along the island’s coasts, and most residents eat f sh multiple times 
  every week.
  Due to UEF interference, all of Hiryu’s trading with the outside is illegal. The island requires outside goods, especially f nished 
  or manufactured products, to satisfy demand and keep the war ef ort moving. However, as everything must be done through 
  smuggling and the black market, the price of goods from the outside is extremely expensive. The local currencies of Hiryu are 
  nearly worthless on the world market, and the island is still haunted by the ghosts of past natural disasters and the current 
  war looming overhead. It’s no surprise, then, that Hiryu culture has developed into one of unity and perseverance in the face of 
  danger.
  Hiryu is a fusion of several cultures that were forced to band together to survive against the harsh world, each desperately 
  clinging to their own identities in an age when globalization was erasing borders and cultural uniqueness. As the population 
  center of the Far West Archipelago and a statement of humanity’s resolve to f ght against tyranny and invasion, Hiryu empha-
  sizes how wildly dif erent traits and people can learn to cooperate for the sake of the greater good. The merging of cultures has 
  led to unique architecture and food, driven as much by necessities and scarcity as by anything else.
  There is little crime on the island, with of  cial reports putting the total crime rate per capita at just above 25 for every 1000 
  inhabitants and almost no substantial violent crime. However, it’s estimated the real crime rate is much higher, perhaps twice 
  that number or more, and that most crimes simply aren’t reported. The two predominant ethnicities in Hiryu are Japanese and 
  Oceanic. Despite the names, the Japanese are a minority on the island – they arrived on the island f rst, and consequently were 
  the f rst to name it and its features. The Australians and Polynesians likely would have gotten that privilege, except the Japanese 
  received UN support that the others did not, something some are still bitter about.
  The Japanese make up slightly less than thirty percent of the population, while other Pacif c Islanders make up a signif cantly 
  larger part at just over forty percent. The remainder of the island’s population is mostly of mixed origin, with the percentage 
  expected to rise in the coming years. There are only a few Caucasians or Africans in the population, as travel is heavily re-
  stricted (and illegal) and there simply weren’t many on the island before the disaster that was the Outsider invasion. Despite all 
  their troubles, the day to day life of the typical Hiryujin is dif erent - and better – from that of civilians in the UEF’s Safe Zones 
  and much more like what life was like pre-Outsider contact. The Hiryujin are proud to be able to maintain that lifestyle despite 
  shortages, war, and the constant threat of annihilation by aliens or the UEF, who most see as being little more than tools of the 
  Outsiders.
  * The materials that the island needs for its research are hard to obtain, but easily manufactured in space. Coincidentally, the 
  UEF has also been having problems keeping satellite surveillance on the island.
  * The island can’t possibly support its massive population with its restricted imports and small farming area. The secret behind 
  this self-suf  cency is a series of farms buried deep underground that produce large amounts of basic proteins, which are 
  formed into a lot of the food people eat. The protein ends up, thanks to processing techniques, indistinguishable from meat or 
  some types of vegetable. What it starts out as, though, is a state secret.
  * The president and Diet are merely f gureheads for the real rulers of the island, a small group of Outsiders who have rebelled 
  from the main group of aliens and sided with humanity, as the source of their advanced knowledge and technology.
  
  150
  Religion
  Over the last half-century, the religious practices of the Hiryujin blended and converged into one common ethos unique to the 
  island, and appropriately known both on and of  the island simply as the "Hiryu Religion". The religion has both monotheistic 
  and animistic qualities owing to its parent religions, as well as ancestor-worship and a strong matriarchal tradition.
  The focus of the religion is on two primary tenets - the strengthening of one's body, mind, and spirit; and the belief that all 
  things have a spiritual embodiment. Body, mind, and spirit are empowered by the practice of martial arts, typically starting at 
  a very early age. Monks serve as the primary teachers for the various martial arts, and there really is a variety to choose from- 
  there isn't a bias towards one type of martial art or another. Wrestling, kendo, archery, mixed martial arts, and even sumo are 
  all popular to similar degrees.
  Many never take up martial arts or abandon it early, seeing them as a way to keep kids busy and maybe even keep them in 
  shape. Even so, the majority of the island pay lip service and occasionally make token of erings at the temples during holy 
  days, acknowledging the wisdom of the priestesses and monks.
  On the more spiritual side of things, folks generally try to keep on good terms with the spirits. Those spirits that think well of 
  them - generally those of one’s ancestors - are believed to remain vigilant and watch over them. Many of the more traditional 
  and conservative households have a small shrine dedicated to the family’s ancestors. One can talk to the spirits with simple 
  prayers, though for the most part there are no real totems involved, and shrines only serve as gathering places and a place to 
  pray to ancestors. 
  The island, with its limited space, simply cannot af ord to bury the dead. Cremation is the most common funeral rite on the 
  island, though some families prefer burial at sea. The only memorial on the island is to those that have fallen in the war against 
  the Outsiders, a massive concrete memorial that has names added to it once a year in a public ceremony. This serves as a 
  time to remember and celebrate those who have given their lives in the service of freedom.
  The general belief is that the spirits reply to prayers through visions seen in dreams and meditation, and more indirectly 
  through acts of good fortune. It’s common for most residents to blame good or bad luck on the spirits, and there’s a strong 
  belief in dream interpretation and prediction. Many children keep dream journals - and a few keep them all the way into adult-
  hood.
  The spiritual leaders in Hiryu are priestesses, exclusively women and the only ones who can communicate directly to the spirit 
  of the World - which is something like God itself in the religion, all powerful and the source of all life. Priestesses choose their 
  successors themselves, teaching them the most central and secret mysteries of the religion over many years until they are 
  ready to take up the mantle.
  Priestesses act as counsellors and mediators in their communities, which respect their insight and acuity. Their arbitration 
  takes the place of what would end up going to court in many other nations, most willing to abide by their (generally quite fair) 
  decisions. The male monks have a less celebrated but no less important role, taking care of the temples, working their farms 
  and gardens to feed those who come in need of food and shelter and teaching martial arts, free of charge. The modest temple 
  shrines get by mostly on donations and of erings made throughout the year.
  * There’s more to the spirit worship than meets the eye. There are coincidences and odd events that defy probability. Though 
  no study has been done on it of  cially, it’s clear that there’s something unusual, perhaps supernatural, going on.
  * Many elementary school teachers have their students write down their dreams as a regular assignment in class. While some 
  might dismiss this as a simple way to get students writing something interesting to them, these assignments are handed over to 
  government analysts for unknown purposes.
  * A few years ago it was word in certain temples that a single, deranged man was inhabiting Mt. Barou, hidden even from the 
  military. The man said he could hear the voice of a beast crying at the heart of the world, and that he has left civilization to 
  dedicate himself to recording its mad yelps and moans.
  
  151
  Military
  What is now the Hiryu Self Defense Force was formerly the Zone 83 UEF Peacekeeping Force, and as such continues to hold 
  similar structures and ranks in its armed forces. However, due to its small numbers, it has become a unif ed force, rather than 
  a branched and separated army, airforce or navy. Hiryu's cadets are trained to be as prof cient in the use of f rearms and ve-
  hicles as any army in the world, but they are also all trained to be experts at the art of swordsmanship. In particular, they are 
  trained in a style developed by one of the island's greatest aces, a combination of the 'iai' and 'kendo' martial arts that seeks 
  to cultivate the user's mind and spirit as well as to hone their skills at swordplay.
  The Gears designed on Hiryu use a special type of motion-controls that make them move almost like living things. This makes 
  them extremely easy for new Meisters to pick up, and the more physically f t the Meister is, the better the machines perform in 
  combat. That this makes the machines more ef  cient in close combat is no accident - every shot that a Gear f res costs Hiryu 
  precious resources and might cause irreparable harm to the surroundings.
  Also strengthened with the help of the rebellion and their secret investors, the former GAF local military headquarters of Zone 
  83 was transformed into the Soaring Dragon Fortress. There, at the highest point of the great mountain, is the automated 
  Direct-f re Intercepting Orbit-range System, ‘Kuzuryusen.’ Consisting of nine Type-R crystal clusters, the system conducts their 
  energy into a central mega-particle cannon which f res with over f fty kilotopns of destructive power. Kuzuryusen has only been 
  f red once to date, a test shot against a UEF spy satellite in low orbit. The tremendous power of the cannon not only vaporized 
  the satellite but continued to clear a hole in Earth’s orbital debris f eld, causing a shock that sent dozens of other satellites into 
  unstable orbits, and led to a long night of shooting stars.
  Multiple capacitors and energy regulation systems have been placed for use in emergency situations, should Hiryu ever see the 
  need to defend itself with what is probably overkill - just one tenth of the Kuzuryusen’s destructive power is destructive enough 
  to take out multiple city blocks in one shot. In truth, Kuzuryusen is more of an extremely expensive deterrent to human attack-
  ers and can serve little purpose of ensively in the war against the Outsiders. Use of the cannon on a f ring trajectory that inter-
  sects the Earth would cause nuclear-level devastation, and its nature as a pure Gygravagnite weapon means that heavy particles 
  and fallout would poison the land and sea almost irreparably for all future use. Use of the Kuzuryusen cannon requires direct 
  authorization from the President himself, with his of  ce assuming all responsibility for any damage it causes.
  The main defense force of Soaring Dragon Fortress beyond its Anti-Outsider Squad is comprised of a plethora of homegrown 
  HMR-01 ‘Karakuri’ model Gears. Their main advantage over other Gears is that they are equipped with the Marionette System, 
  allowing all of them them to be controlled remotely with the precision of a real Meister at the helm. The Marionette System 
  relies on vulnerable control stations that they cannot stray too far from - the densely complex command system and limited 
  range of the Karakuri’s onboard communications equipment restricts its actions to within a few kilometers of its central control 
  station, which is none other than the Dragon Fortress itself.
  Aside from the Karakuri Gears, the Soaring Dragon Fortress is of course home to various one-of  models and prototypes built 
  using experimental weapons and armor, with the implementation of Type-G technology being a local specialty. Many are simply 
  too expensive, too specialized, or just too dif  cult to maintain to even consider entering them into mass production.
  * The Soaring Dragon Fortress itself is a more dangerous piece of work than it seems. It’s an enormous Outsider, captured, lo-
  botomized, and reshaped into a fortress to hide its true nature. When the time is right, this enslaved Outsider and the Fortress 
  with it will take of  to the skies for a f nal decisive battle against the invaders.
  * The Marionette System is based on uploaded human minds. The process was abandoned after it was found that the brain 
  could only be scanned destructively, always resulting in the death of the person being scanned, but the fruits of that experi-
  ment continue to be borne out as the source material is copied again and again and again from the digital source code. The 
  Karakuri Gears don’t go out of control if they go beyond the range of their control station - they go insane.
  * The Kuzuryusen cannon is being readied for another shot. The coordinates are seemingly empty space slightly above the 
  orbital plane of the solar system. Not even meteorites seem to be there, but a lot of energy and manpower is being diverted to 
  this operation.
  
  152
  The Enemy
  Outsiders are creatures of astounding diverse forms and sizes, and most scientists think that there are a large number of 
  Outsider species, though others think it’s equally possible that the Outsiders are all members of one species - the dif erences 
  might be some sort of incredible racial diversity, deliberate alteration of genomes, or other kind of augmentation. Possibly all 
  three. They generally resemble a crystal or manufactured object more than any sort of living creature, but the rare humanoid 
  or animalistic forms also exist, though they always keep a metallic or otherwise composite-like texture. Even the size of Outsid-
  ers has varied widely, from 10 meters tall to over a hundred.
  Outsiders are made of a bizarre and exotic material known, quite appropriately, as Exotic Matter: They have negative mass. The 
  study of this Exotic Matter is hampered by a nullif cation ef ect that occurs when it collides with normal matter. Unlike antimat-
  ter annihilation, nullif cation dœ sn’t cause a large release of energy, though because of the conservation of momentum, it gen-
  erates a kind of reactionless drive, and the Outsiders are believed to function primarily by using this ef ect as a kind of energy 
  source. It is a perfectly clean power source, with no byproducts at all except the kinetic energy it produces. After an Outsider 
  dies, the nullif cation of this matter accelerates, and will entirely vanish into nothingness within a maximum of 432 hours.
  What studies have been able to prove is that Outsiders lack identif able internal organs of any sort, and that they do not have a 
  metabolism as humanity understands it. The inside of their bodies seem to be composed almost entirely of a highly corrosive 
  non-newtonian f uid (think silly putty) that oozes out of them when wounded. It’s believed that the Ooze’s properties allow it to 
  transmit kinetic energy as a kind of complex conductor, which would make it almost invaluable if it could be synthesized. The 
  only thing that is certain about its composition is that it contains at least some amount of Gygravagnite - the radiation signa-
  ture is obvious.
  Outsiders display wildly varying abilities. Some have dangerous natural weapons that mirror those of Gears, while others show 
  built-in technology or organs that resemble Element G devices, from eye beams to horns that behave just like homing missiles. 
  That these things evolved naturally is almost impossible to believe, lending credence to the theories that the Outsiders were 
  built or grown as weapons. The most obvious behavioral trait of Outsiders is that they make absolutely no attempt to com-
  municate with humans. It’s unknown if the ones that come out are unable or simply unwilling to communicate. Regardless, they 
  show no more concern for humans than humans would for a swarm of bothersome bugs. And like bugs, the only thing they can 
  do to be noticed is to sting - and the only reply they get is death.
  The second distinguishing quirk is their attraction to Element G. It is believed that the main reason that nearly all Outsid-
  ers coming out of their mothership at Neo Easter II head west towards Hiryu and the rest of the FWA is because of the vastly 
  higher concentration of Gygravagnite compared to the rest of the world. Outsiders seem fascinated by sources of Element G. 
  They will pick apart and disassemble a Gear if they have the opportunity, apparently studying it and its components. When 
  f nished, they do their best to utterly destroy what they’ve studied down to the last particle, leaving no trace of it behind. This 
  happens this with every new Gear it encounters, which is one reason so many prototypes end up on the battlef eld - every new 
  Gear might buy some time even if things go badly.
  Recently, Outsiders have started adapting to humanity’s use of the Gears and have been deploying their own brand of giant 
  battle machines that the Hiryu Self Defense Force has taken to calling Botakuris. These bizarre mechanical contraptions seem 
  to defy logic and practical use in many aspects of their design and construction, often using technology that is considered to 
  be hideously inef  cient if not outright impossible. The Botakuris have been used to wear down Hiryu Gears and defensive lines 
  before making a push on their main target, and are sometimes deployed with no Outsider commanding them at all, simply sent 
  to harass or attempt to break through lines on their own.
  *The Exotic Matter Outsiders are made of isn’t something that should be able to exist in this universe. They are either from 
  some dark corner of space where the laws of physics are dif erent or perhaps from somewhere much farther away indeed.
  *The Outsider mothership at Easter II is impervious to any and all known manmade implements of destruction. The SDF is not 
  just biding time and trying to secure its position, it is trying its best to f gure out how to actually strike back at an enemy that 
  probably could annihilate them if they ever tried hard enough.
  *Exotic Matter isn’t only found in Outsiders. Detailed medical scans and exploratory surgery have found it in the bodies of UEF 
  spies and traitors. It’s believed that they are using the Exotic Matter as some sort of mind control agent - the alternative theory, 
  that people have been replaced by clones or possessed by some sort of ghost-like Outsider, is almost too frightening to seri-
  ously consider.
  
  153
  The Mobile Battleship Wagner
  Life in the Safe Zones
  The last decade and a half has been hard on the population of Earth. As the center of power for the UEF, North America has 
  been hit even harder by the radical changes that have destroyed the old lifestyles people around the globe had enjoyed before 
  the Outsider Subjugation.
  North America is host to the f rst 26 Safe Zones, thanks to the greater GAF presence ensuring a swift military response to 
  threats from within or without. Life inside a Safe Zone is at once both extremely oppressive and incredibly unhealthy; their 
  conditions are more like the 19th than 21st century. That shouldn’t be surprising, considering that the zones are home to entire 
  continents’ populations compressed into a few small areas.
  These poor conditions all have a common root: the government’s ef orts to eliminate the use of Element G, the modern miracle 
  of science and technology. And because we are running out of fossil fuels as well, life often resembles that of the pre-industrial 
  age. Imagine waking up one day to f nd out that your access to electricity is now regulated by the government. That proper 
  medicine is now preposterously expensive and thus you have to make do with painkillers. That from now on you can no longer 
  freely pick what you eat or how you dress. Such is life in the ‘Safe’ Zones.
  In the center of each Safe Zone is a Sanctuary District, where those who work directly for the UEF reside, and there these 
  enforced limitations are drastically reduced. If you’re not lucky enough to be inside those walls, then you live in the ghettos 
  outside. In the ghettos all resources are tightly controlled; food and water only come into the districts in force and are rationed 
  by Civil Control, and weapons are entirely prohibited for civilian use. The big problem is that this is no longer a post-scarcity 
  society, and thus the supplies that the government sends in aren’t enough to feed everyone. During the bad months of the year 
  you really, really want to live in a Sanctuary District.
  Civil Control is the government force in charge of controlling each individual district, made up almost exclusively of civilians 
  that would rather join the victors than continue their lives in misery. The people stuck in the ghettos of the Safe Zones have 
  almost no way to improve their lot in life, other than trying to join Civil Control or hope to score impossibly well in the various 
  tests that the elitist school system holds every year. The opportunities are there, they’re just ruthless.
  The government promises work opportunities and ways for the people to honestly support themselves, but unless you’re inside 
  the Sanctuary the only available jobs are in sweatshops. Child labor is not uncommon, and many work upwards of twelve hours 
  a day. While AIs have been able to do these jobs for years, they’re now used to patrol the Safe Zones, spying on the poor and 
  the elite alike and reporting it to their Civil Control overseers, keeping Big Brother updated in real time.
  Riots f are up from time to time, each one quickly put down with lethal force. Some Safe Zones are home to ‘Patriotic Rein-
  forcement’ camps, and what gœ s on there is spoken of only in whispers by the residents. People come back from these camps 
  changed. Most places where these camps spring up have become much quieter, fear-f lled places where people simply obey to 
  avoid horrible punishments.
  When the Outsiders f rst invaded, people were willing to do almost anything to get somewhere safe. Now they’re willing to do 
  almost anything to get out. The oppression is so bad that the majority would rather risk their lives outside the Safe Zones 
  instead of dying by inches inside them. A lucky few never had to suf er inside them - they hid during the days of forced reloca-
  tions and have been avoiding the routine searches ever since then.
  * Those that come back from Patriotic Reinforcement camps usually commit suicide or join either the military or Civil Control 
  not long after their return; others develop much stranger behavioural patterns that are dif  cult to categorize. One of the most 
  extreme cases of this concerned one woman who killed and devoured her family on the night of her return before being put 
  down. To this day, not a single one of them has spoken of what actually gœ s on inside the camps themselves.
  * Each of the six people who lead the UEF have been inside the Outsider ship. Whenever one needs to be replaced, their 
  replacement is taken into the aliens’ ship. Whatever they see or do in there, afterwards they’re left totally loyal to the aliens. It 
  dœ sn’t look like fear. It looks like they saw something that they’re still in awe of, and they’ve been promised rewards for serving 
  it.
  * Meisters who get too good have a tendency to vanish. Maybe the leaders of the UEF don’t want anyone getting too much per-
  sonal power just in case they decide to try and butt in on their gig or worse, join the rebellion. Or perhaps the guerillas them-
  selves choose to assassinate them.
  
  154
  The Guerilla Effort
  The greatest enemy of the UEF on the home front, the RUF is a large underground network, f guratively and occasionally liter-
  ally. The Revolutionary Unif ed Front is composed mostly of displaced civilians and discontented UEF of  cers who have organ-
  ized against the UEF, with weapons and equipment bought on the black market.
  RUF cells work in groups of 20 to 40, operating out of Landships - a bit of a misnomer, as they are suited to function in most 
  kinds of terrain, being capable of sailing the seas and levitating over dif  cult ground - and focusing for the most part on inves-
  tigation and sabotage missions. The UEF's forces in most areas outnumber the RUF to such a huge extent that open warfare is 
  simply impossible. RUF sources are often found starting riots and organizing escapes from the Zones, but also smuggling food 
  and medical supplies to those who need it.
  All RUF cells are in contact with at least one other cell on the continent, though the majority only know of one or two cells out-
  side their own. The security of the cells is always a matter of top importance - the UEF would love to crush the resistance, and 
  they have the strength to do it. Only with stealth and guile do the majority of RUF operations succeed.
  Lately, there has been a movement to unite the RUF forces across the continent and make a push against the UEF Headquar-
  ters in Zone 1, formerly Boston. However, the risk was deemed to be too great. The UEF would put all its forces into play against 
  the Resistance if they made an attack against the UEF Headquarters. Every general wishes for a single decisive battle to end a 
  war, but open conf ict is not where the RUF’s strengths lie. Such a large battle would simply be a meat grinder and likely lose 
  them the war entirely.
  Instead, the RUF has adopted a harassment strategy. They wear down the GAF with sabotage, night attacks, whatever they think 
  will work best to destroy morale and equipment with the least risk. The ultimate goal is to force the UEF to abandon an area, or 
  at least weaken them enough that the RUF can make a decisive strike and eliminate them with force, though that has only been 
  successful on a single occasion.
  Most of the RUF consists of untrained civilians, a mix of those who have escaped the Safe Zones and those who had avoided 
  being relocated in the f rst place. Only now are they f nally starting to catch up, learning how to f ght through real experience 
  instead of training simulators and boot camps. On average they’re far less disciplined than a UEF soldier, but they’re f ghting for 
  something they believe in. That determination alone is enough to give them a f ghting chance.
  The RUF would never have lasted this long even with all of their precautions if not for the support of a mysterious third party, 
  the source of all their advanced technology. Their Landships are a match for the UEF’s designs, though their lack of experi-
  enced soldiers and technicians to perform maintenance means that they’re unable to make best use of them.
  Most of the RUF knows that they can’t really stand up and f ght the UEF on an even front – they have few places they can call 
  safe outside their HQ, any large gathering is simply a target, and though popular support is on their side, they can do little 
  more than give people hope and serve as a distraction. 
  Maybe one day their friends in the Pacif c will end the reason for the war, but until then the RUF dedicates itself to supporting 
  the ef orts of their lone shining star of hope, the UHDS-01 Wagner.
  * Though American news won’t talk about it, the situation dif ers depending on which continent you are in. Several countries 
  across the ocean, the ones that have always been resistant to the UEF’s power grip, have openly refused to cooperate with their 
  oppressive policies and are openly waging war. They will not permit the UEF to make them comply forcibly to their demands, 
  and frontier UEF forces are simply told that said places are ‘under guerrilla control’.
  * The Landships are way too spacious for the platoons alone, and some believe they could be used to evacuate civilians from 
  the various Zones - or that this was their original purpose. One of the ideas gaining wind lately is that since the grand majority 
  of the Far West is free of UEF activity the design would be ideal for relocating civilians there, and the amphibious capability of 
  Landships further supports this theory.
  * The third party that is supplying the RUF with Landships, supporting Hiryu with supplies, and generally throwing its support 
  against the UEF... Well, rumors say that they’re the ones who used to run the world from the shadows, and they don’t like the 
  way the UEF and the Outsiders have gone and taken everything away from them.
  
  155
  Ride of the Valkyries
  A one-of-a-kind craft, the Wagner is a 'Superlight-Stealth-OmniEnvironmental-Vessel'. It serves as a mobile base of operations 
  for the RUF's most elite force of Gears, allowing them to be quickly deployed into combat and retrieved at a moment's notice 
  when retreat is called for. Its beyond cutting- edge technology makes it ideal for missions that require a great degree of speed 
  and stealth.
  The Wagner is like a paradise to those used to the cramped conditions inside the ghettos and devoid of the paranoid watchful 
  eyes of the Sanctuary Districts. With its ample room, clean fresh air, individual beds, access to (recycled) food three times a 
  day, and lack of UEF forces stomping down on the f rst sign of discontent it sure beats any of the Zones.
  There are dangers, to be sure - you can't live on the biggest threat to the GAF without facing some serious risk. Even so, the 
  chance to make a dif erence, to live free, even in danger... That’s far better than just marking time and waiting for death under 
  the wing of the UEF.
  The Wagner makes liberal use of automation. For a ship its size, it should require a crew of a hundred or more, but it can be 
  run from the bridge with only a skeleton crew of two or three. Such a small crew dœ s greatly impede its combat performance, 
  though, and so a regular crew of around twenty is better for ship operations. Most of the Wagner’s large AI complement is 
  devoted to the task of maintaining stealth for the massive vessel.
  How this is achieved depends on the scenario, it could mean pumping out powerful electromagnetic pulses, deploying dummy 
  balloons the size of Landships equipped to show up on radar and send out a variety of signals and energy signatures, or f ring 
  a wave of anti-radiation missiles without asking permission from the human crew f rst. 
  As the Wagner is only one ship, it’s typically left up to its massive supercomputer ‘Morrigan’ as much as the Captain to decide 
  on a course of action. They use complex, inscrutable methods to plot out strategies and tactics to do as much damage as 
  possible to enemy forces and morale. Usually this means annoying several Zones at once to distract enemy forces and obscure 
  objectives before making a lightning-quick strike.
  Much of the strategy used by the Morrigan and ‘her’ crew plays into the low morale of the UEF’s populous. As guerillas, out-
  numbered and outgunned everywhere they go, the RUF realize how important morale is to an army more than the politicians 
  they work to undermine, playing with their troops like a cat’s cradle. Between Operations, the crew of the Wagner has the same 
  worries as any other cell in the RUF. They get supplies from the black market, scavenge them from downed UEF transports or 
  abandoned bases. They train their Meisters to the best of their abilities; the Wagner’s onboard AI allows them to use simula-
  tors, unlike the vast majority of RUF cells.
  The Wagner serves the cause in other ways as well. As the f agship and symbol of the resistance, its crew has to act politically 
  on some occasions, showing up to meetings with important supporters, appearing at any major RUF meetings (rare events, to 
  be sure, but they do happen) and perhaps most importantly, posing for the camera once in a while so the people back in the 
  Sanctuary Districts have a pretty face to put on the resistance.
  * The Wagner is an amazing machine. Some would say that the technology it uses, especially the reliance on AI, is more than a 
  little too close to what the SSA used to use to be merely a coincidence. Though it has not demonstrated any kind of ability to 
  escape orbit - yet - it certainly could have survived re-entry without the need for substantial repair.
  * The Morrigan itself is not just an AI, it is the transplanted personality of a scientist, a general, and a historian each with its 
  own objectives and plans. This would certainly explain the schizophrenic nature of some of its designs, but the possibility that 
  they might be actively trying to outdo the other and what this means for the ones that are to be its pawns makes the RUF 
  shudder.
  * There is more than one Wagner. The reason for the rumors of its invincibility and tactical prowess is just smoke and mirrors, 
  covering up every failure. Several Wagners have been shot down already, and each one has been covered up by the RUF.
  
  156
  Important Zones
  The rebels are not lacking for targets. The primary target, out of reach for the moment, is Boston, the UEF’s seat of power and 
  the site of Safe Zone 1. It’s the Zone the UEF always shows in propaganda, a virtual paradise compared to the martial law and 
  ghettos of the other Safe Zones. Because refugees were kept out of the Boston area, its citizens continue to enjoy the benef ts 
  of a pre-Outsider lifestyle.The city is heavily defended, protected by multiple defense lines that cover all sides. It is all but im-
  penetrable to outside attack and much time has been spent, perhaps wasted, in trying to f nd a f aw in its layers upon layers of 
  defensive measures and tight checkpoints.
   
  Aside from Boston, the second most prioritized target in North American territory is Zone 11, a military fortress built over what 
  used to be Indianapolis. Like Boston, the Zone has no ghettos, but for an entirely dif erent reason. It houses the UEF’s most 
  important factories, using AI Drones as a workforce to produce almost all of the Gears, Vehicles, Weapons, other Boards, and 
  further military hardware and pack it to be shipped to other Zones.
  So far two Zones have been freed from the UEF's control in North America: Zone 4 (New York) and Zone 16 (Los Angeles). The 
  success of these two operations is something that the RUF is struggling to prove was no f uke. Plans are being made for a strike 
  into another Zone, though the location is being kept secret until the last minute.
  The Battle for the Liberation of New York marked the f rst appearance of the Wagner and, to date, the only major victory 
  through military force from the RUF. It was a lightning-fast strike that used the confusion of the new ship as much as its arma-
  ments to make an impact on the enemy. The battle was f erce but the RUF took surprisingly few losses. At f rst.
  The reason why the UEF's resistance seemed so light was because they had decided to abandon New York. They didn't intend 
  to allow the rebels to keep it. Initiating a Burned Earth directive from the highest levels of the UEF, an experimental 3G-Bomb 
  was dropped in the area once the majority of GAF forces and of  cers had evacuated or surrendered. The devastation was total, 
  worse than an atomic bomb. Part of the reason the 3G-Bomb was so terrible is that it caused every Gygravagnite drive and 
  device in its area of ef ect to overload and explode, fuelling the devastation. Every speck of Gygravagnite was consumed and 
  turned into a toxic, radioactive dust.
  The RUF has yet to recover its numbers, and the area surrounding Zone 4 has been all but abandoned by its few survivors. 
  What had been intended as the f rst strike in a campaign through Canada and towards the UEF stronghold of Zone 1 (Boston) 
  ended in death, stillborn before it even got underway.
  The battle for Los Angeles fared much better, a real success instead of a Pyrrhic victory. The Pacif c Fleet had been destroyed 
  by a berserking Outsider after it radically changed course for reasons unknown, leaving Zone 16 with a glaring hole in its 
  defense by sea. The RUF was quick to capitalize on the opportunity, and began a month-long campaign of hit and run attacks 
  against the GAF’s crucial facilities in the area. With supplies running low, morale all but gone, and no reinforcements in sight 
  from the UEF, the of  cials of Zone 16 surrendered to the rebel forces. Rebellion forces were quick to take over the area, and 
  carefully avoided disabling the anti-aircraft defenses around the city. This foresight was proven wise when they stopped a UEF 
  strike and prevented a 3G-Bomb attack on the city.
  There’s also the issue of establishing outposts through the continent, and accessing them. Though the Wagner regularly meets 
  with the guerillas’ ‘investors’ and is the one that further spreads the goods for the rest of the American continent, only the Cap-
  tain and the XO ever take part in negotiations with them, and it is unknown whether they get to interact with them face to face 
  or not, or even if they ever get to meet their mysterious benefactors.
  * The other reason behind the general reluctance of the UEF to more widely use of the 3G-Bomb is that it creates a brewing 
  cauldron of strange, bizarre phenomena that def es all known conceptions of time and space on a daily basis, and that having 
  such a thing close to their base of operations is not something the UEF is interested in.
  * At Zone 11 there are places that people won’t go, not even the machines keeping the place running. People have seen and 
  heard strange beings in these dark places; those who have seen too much simply vanish. Some say it’s Cryptids. Some say it’s 
  spies. Some say it’s worse than either of those and refuse to elaborate.
  * Most of what was the Zone 16 military is still in place, including the people. They didn’t surrender because they were running 
  out of supplies, they surrendered after making sure the RUF would give them favorable terms. They now work alongside the 
  rebels and continue doing the job of protecting their city, but without alien overlords.
  
  157
  The Gear Armed Forces
  The Gear Armed Forces would be an insurmountable enemy if they weren't acting as the arm of the most paranoid and inef ec-
  tive parental organization on the planet. The GAF is an army run by politicians, an arrangement that hasn't worked at any point 
  in history. In this case, those politicians are the six most powerful men in the world, a council of f gureheads from the most 
  important member nations of the UEF. Each one is a brilliant politician, and also a terrible of  cer.
  As everyone knows, the UEF will do anything to be on the good side of the Outsider invasion force, up to and including sacrif c-
  ing their own people. The power of the Outsiders has already been well shown when they destroyed the majority of humanity's 
  ef orts to colonize space, and that unspoken threat backs much of the UEF's dictates - do as we say or the Outsiders will get 
  upset and destroy you. The UEF is the only go-between humanity has with the Outsiders, and so if you want to grow old and 
  have kids, the only option is to follow their orders and give up on many modern amenities.
  The GAF's own divisions generally hold no lost love for their distant alien masters - they're still human in the end and resent 
  the Outsiders as much as anyone. But some of them still remember the SSA’s darkest moments, and no one wants another Neo 
  Easter II incident to happen. Not to mention that each time the RUF provides supplies to one the ghettos, that food was taken 
  from someone else’s table. When there is a riot, innocent people get hurt or die. And when they help civilians escape en masse, 
  productivity for the whole Zone decreases, leading to even harsher conditions and less resources for everyone who remains 
  there.
  One of the greatest rewards their Meisters can earn is to have their families moved to a Sanctuary District, or perhaps even to 
  Zone 1 itself. Of course, such soldiers often become so estranged from their families that their help is no longer welcome, just 
  seen as another tool of the UEF’s oppressive government.
  In practice, these great rewards are merely propaganda, and the herœ s that they portray are just playing a part to inspire the 
  masses. Every squad out there tries their best to look after their own, avoid the worst of the politics that run their lives, and do 
  their job to protect the people of the UEF - and make no mistake, most in the GAF do think they’re doing their best to protect 
  the people around them. Most of the time, the best they can do is protect themselves from the UEF itself. Realistically, the 
  best that a soldier can hope for is to enjoy the simpler benef ts of military life. They get medical attention, eight hours of sleep 
  every night, clean food and water. For someone who has been living in a ghetto, those prizes are worth even doing the distaste-
  ful things the UEF demands of them.
  The GAF employs a few standard-issue Gears that have been in service for a number of years now. While proven technology, 
  their raw performance is inferior to what the Wagner can f eld. However, the GAF has the advantage of numbers, far superior 
  training, and support from hundreds of Boards. They would have buried the RUF by now if not for the constant harassment of 
  the Wagner, which has become something of a questing beast for the members of the GAF. Its visibility in most important RUF 
  conf icts has made it a famous target, and one with a large bounty on its head. It is well known that the UEF would richly reward 
  the one who brings down the Wagner, setting them up for life. Bringing the ship down has become a competition, with many 
  sabotaging each other so their peers can’t claim the prize for themselves.
  However, things are starting to look bad for the RUF. A new line of war machines is entering service with the GAF: the ‘Glory’ line 
  of Gears, machines that move like living things, with grace and speed beyond any other UEF-made unit to date. Those who have 
  faced them in combat have reported that it’s no surprise they move and act like that - Glories are literally a creature of un-
  known nature (though everyone’s money is on them being some sort of Outsider) encased in armor. Only a handful of Glories 
  have been produced so far but each one has the same power, or more, as the very best Gears that the rebels can f eld. Most in 
  the UEF believe that once the Glory line is mass-produced, the RUF is f nished.
  * The Glory is proving dif  cult to mass-produce, but it’s even more dif  cult to control. It has a tendency to go berserk on the 
  f eld of battle when damaged (or injured, depending on what you want to call it), and more than once they’ve come back empty, 
  with no trace of the Meister except a few bloodstains.
  * There is more than one Wagner. The reason for the rumors of its invincibility and tactical prowess is just smoke and mirrors, 
  covering up every failure. The f rst Wagner was shot down with the f rst demonstration of the 3G-Bomb, and the second was 
  taken out during the maiden battle of the f rst two Glories. Each one has been covered up by the RUF.
  * Every year there is at least one major riot in a dif erent Zone with casualties on both sides. This is attributed to the ef orts of 
  the guerrillas - some of the people involved are too well-prepared and armed to be just discontent civilians - but Civil Control 
  reacts all too slowly and even the Boards remain passive until the conf ict has escalated too far for it to be undercover sabo-
  tage.
  
  158
  The Clarke Foundation
  The Space Colonies
  The creation of the f rst Space Colony, Asimov I, was considered the true start of the Space Age. A dozen colonies were built, 
  in clusters of three around Lagrange points 1, 2, 4, and 5. Every colony was slightly dif erent; some built to serve what needs 
  the spacenoids had, others as an experiment, to see how humanity’s ef ort to conquer the stars could be improved. A number 
  of colonies had extra hydroponics and agricultural equipment to serve as farms. Some had complex industrial centers at their 
  hub to fabricate things in zero gravity.
  The colonies were only populated by the cream of the crop from Earth. The ones allowed to emigrate from Earth were the best 
  in their f elds, astronauts, scientists, engineers, and biologists. The scientif c and professional expertise of the Earth drained out 
  into space, leaving behind bad feelings that persist to this day. It seemed as though things were going to go well for the Colo-
  nists. And naturally, History’s incredible sense of irony meant that this wasn’t going to last for long. Only a few days after the 
  celebration of Asimov I’s founding anniversary, the Outsiders appeared. The spacenoids put up as much f ght as they could, but 
  they were terribly outmatched. In less than a day, there was only f oating wreckage where hundreds of thousands of lives had 
  once been.
  The Battle of the 23 Hours started with the three Heinlein colonies at Lagrange 5 being crushed by the Outsider’s ship in its 
  careless and dramatic entry. Even as the colonists were reeling in shock from the magnitude of the tragedy, every colony at 
  Lagrange 1 was torn apart in a series of surgical strikes from the Outsider ship. Asimov I through III were blown into shrapnel, 
  most of which fell down to the Earth and helped cement the fear of Outsiders and helped the UEF pin the blame on the SSA 
  soon after.  The rest of the destroyed stations still f oat in place, undisturbed.
  The fate of Lagrange 4’s Wells bunch was perhaps the worst of all. While Lagrange 1 and 5 at least left some survivors, Lagrange 
  4 was erased. The Outsiders left nothing of them behind. Various theories have been put forth to explain what happened, but 
  Humans simply lack the ability to test any of them, and the Outsiders certainly don’t answer questions.
  Only Lagrange 2 was spared total annihilation. They huddled in the dark, not taking part in the ill-fated of ensive against the 
  Outsiders, watching in horror as almost every other sign of humanity’s expansion into space was reduced to stardust. Because 
  they made no overt sign of resistance, they managed to avoid total annihilation. Today, the Colonies of Lagrange 2 - Verne I, 
  II, and III - stand relatively united, each of them trying to gain an upper hand by keeping a stranglehold on resources that the 
  others require. 
  Verne I is the only one of the three that produces enough food to be self-sustaining, and its surplus feeds the other two colo-
  nies as well. This arrangement was in place even before the Outsiders arrived, though now their production is more important 
  than ever. 
  Verne II has control of the SSA’s Lunar reserves of Gygravagnite, and they ration it out while working on their own great master 
  plan, Project Odyssey. The ultimate goal of Project Odyssey is to construct a vast f eet of ships to evacuate the hundred and 
  forty four thousand colonists towards a near-by inhabitable star system before the Outsiders or their pawns in the UEF come 
  back into space to f nish the Colonies of . 
  Verne III has the best nanomachine technology of the colonies. They mostly pay of  the other colonies with medical supplies 
  and care for the injured. To those in the know, though, Verne III is more important as the base of operations for the Clarke 
  Foundation, a mysterious organization that has its own seat on the Colonies’ ruling body.
  * Notable among the colonies is that Lagrange 3 is, of  cially, empty. While it dœ sn’t have the stability of Lagrange 4 or 5, or the 
  proximity to Luna enjoyed by Lagrange 1 and 2, it’s still valuable real estate. Of course, some say that it isn’t empty at all, and 
  that there has always been a colony there, hidden and watching. Ships that go near Lagrange 3 never return.
  * Ever since the disappearance of the Wells Lagrange 4 colonies, there have been intermittent radio signals proceeding from 
  there directed exclusively at the Verne bunch. The majority of these signals are too distorted to decipher, though a few seem to 
  match Colonial radio protocols.
  * The administration of the Verne Colonies didn’t escape the notice of the Outsiders because they refused to f ght them. The 
  truth is much the opposite - they cut a deal with the Outsiders and part of that deal was that they wouldn’t oppose them. The 
  deal had some rather harsh terms for the colonies, and now they prepare to cut and run before the bill is due.
  
  159
  Life in Space
  The Lagrange 2 cluster of colonies was originated as a business venture, and the f rst inhabitants were the privileged backers 
  and the people they hired to work for them. The destruction of the Colonial seat of power at Asimov 1 by the Outsiders caused 
  substantial changes to life in the Verne Colonies. Originally, the colonies were run with a loose form of democracy, but in recent 
  years, in no small part because of the stresses of a cold war, the democracy that served to entice people to come to the colo-
  nies was replaced. The Verne Colonies are now run like a company, with a board of directors instead of an executive power.
  Previously, the majority of those at Lagrange 2 were professionals, not workers. They traded assets and made their way through 
  life with commerce and the stock market. Now there is no one left to trade with, no stock market, and those assets that they 
  lived on are beyond their reach or gone entirely. Those lucky enough to have useful skills were able to f nd gainful employ-
  ment, but a fair part of the population was reduced to doing unskilled labor in the wake of the disaster. Many snobs soon found 
  themselves shoulder to shoulder with the blue-collar workers they had hired to tend Verne I’s gardens.
  Of course, this isn’t true for everyone. The colonies still have their own upper class, the elite of the elite, who have managed to 
  hang onto much of their old lifestyles. This upper class runs the Verne Colonies directly, through the Board of Directors, and 
  indirectly as the only people with the luxury to do more with their lives than work from day to day.
  The culture of the colonies ref ects the frustration and hopelessness of those who live there. Because productivity is the top 
  priority when you are under the threat of the UEF and the Outsiders, companies will hire those most willing to spend ten hours 
  a day working at a soul-crushing job. But these days, that is the least of their worries.
  The rumors say that the Verne Colonies have become host to a threat that preys on its citizens, the Cryptids. People are disap-
  pearing and reappearing completely out of their minds, or never returning again. No one can conf rm the numbers, as they 
  are being kept out of the news as much as possible to avoid panic, but they are steadily growing. Almost everyone can name 
  a friend or a friend of a friend who has simply gone missing or inexplicably changed. Hundreds of people claim that they’ve 
  seen supernatural or unexplainable things that could only be Cryptids, and even with a lid being kept on the most terrifying or 
  explosive stories, they’re still the hot media buzz around the colonies.
  What’s being reported is as diverse as it was back on Earth at the height of the Far West Cryptid sightings, and if anything the 
  things that are being seen are only getting more and more bizarre as time gœ s on. The list includes such gems as a man who 
  looked like he was being projected from a torn f lm strip walking on thin air, or animals made out of stained glass with thorny 
  roses for eyes, and a ball of hair with human hands coming out of it to move it along. The stories told get crazier with each 
  retelling, and there are more of them now than ever.
  Outside of giving the press a lot of sensationalism for the people working during the day to read over and talk about at lunch, 
  very little has actually been done about the problem. In some places security has been increased - typically only after a major 
  sighting that the Council is unable to explain away, and rarely for more than a day or two.
  The fact of the matter is that after a long period of inactivity, the Cryptids have returned in full force. Instead of lurking 
  amongst deserted hills and valleys, only really being seen much when they intruded on miners in Gygravagnite mines, they’re 
  appearing in lunar craters and dark alleyways in the tangled cityscape that f lls the Verne Colonies. Eventually, it will be im-
  possible to deny that the Cryptids exist, or that these events are their fault. That is, unless the Clarke Foundation solves this 
  problem f rst.
  * The Cryptids aren’t alien in origin at all. They were created by human hands as a bioweapon made by the UEF to sic on their 
  enemies. But they have gone out of control and it is only a matter of time before they out-compete life everywhere else in the 
  solar system.
  * The board of directors for the Verne Colony has a vested interest in the events taking place on Earth. Their ultimate goal isn’t 
  to help anyone but themselves - they’re creating conf ict and war to keep everyone busy until their own plans can come to frui-
  tion.
  * One thing that both the Far West and the Colonies have in common are huge reserves of Gygravagnite, and the prevailing 
  theory about the heads of Projects Sonne, Mond and Sterne is that they f ed to space. Some speculate that the Cryptids are 
  following the trail of their experiments and that maybe, just maybe, that what the Outsiders are after is the same thing that 
  causes the appearance of Cryptids.
  
  160
  Enter the Foundation
  The Clarke Foundation is a group that has been shrouded in mystery since its inception. Even the date of its founding is un-
  known, the records lost in the Subjugation (if they weren't erased or simply nonexistent in the f rst place). Recently, they have 
  started being far more active, and showing up in the public eye. According to their Public Relations department, they are one of 
  many scientif c groups studying the properties and applications of Element G.
  A few papers have come out of the Clarke Foundation, most detailing some minor ref nement on genetic manipulation. None 
  are particularly exciting or notable; the kind of papers that show simple advancements rather than massive breakthroughs. The 
  main business of the Clarke Foundation would seem to be limited runs of specialized medical-use Nanomachines. They do not 
  make products that the average consumer, or even the average doctor, would know about, but specialists speak highly of their 
  ability to produce small batches to exacting specif cations.
  Additionally, the Clarke Foundation is listed on many budgets and reports f led by the Military Police's 'Special Investigations 
  Department'. The details of exactly what they do is sealed and kept secret, with their contributions being listed only as a third 
  party contractor. A lot of guesses have been made as to what they're actually doing, and it's not hard for most to accurately 
  assume it has something to do with investigating the Cryptids.
  Even people working for the Foundation usually don’t know the truth. The Foundation has layers upon layers of secrecy, with 
  work broken down between departments and shifts so that no one is ever working on more than a small part of the whole 
  except at the highest levels.
  The of  cial story on the inside is that they are investigating alternate energy sources to replace or supplement the Gygs. Most 
  who work for them f gure out that one of the primary missions of the Clarke Foundation is to investigate areas that have reports 
  of Cryptid activity. They then track them down and capture them, alive if possible, using Gears that were specially designed and 
  built by the Foundation.
  What is done with the captured Cryptids is unknown except at the highest level - only those with the most advanced clearance 
  are ever allowed to even come close to the containment units where the Cryptids are being held, and internal records simply 
  state it as ‘research into their natural energy signatures’. The more detailed reports and f ndings are only available to those in 
  the know, stored on secret servers and hidden disks. The only people who ever f nd those reports are the ones that already 
  have the clearance to look at them - when someone thinks they’ve managed to crack the system and f nd something they’re 
  not allowed to look at, they have unwittingly completed the only test in the way of their next promotion. That those who do ac-
  cept the of er remain silent of what they saw speaks worlds about how important that data must be.
  The hiring practices of the Foundation are quite unique as well. They aren’t the kind of place to hold job fairs or go through 
  applications. When they decide they would like to hire someone, it’s after carefully researching them. The Foundation usually 
  takes a proactive stance in the hiring process, planting HR Representatives to engineer a casual meet up with a prospect. These 
  HR Reps are almost always skilled psychoanalysts, and the casual meet up is really a way to get a bead on someone’s psychol-
  ogy. If it gœ s well, things progress to the next stage.
  Interviews are always handled the same way - potential new hires are paid a visit by very well dressed men in black, escorted 
  (often blindfolded) to wherever it is that they hold interviews, and asked some very hard questions. Those who answer incor-
  rectly are never heard from again. Those who answer correctly, well, that depends on just what job they got. The most interest-
  ing position, though, is that at the Childhood Department of Field Operations. It’s a lifetime job, whether you want it to be or 
  not.
  * Despite the seeming lack of extraordinary science coming out of the Clarke Foundation, it is obvious the scientists working 
  for them are some of the most brilliant in the Earth Sphere. What most would never suspect is that this has been the case for 
  decades and that they are the real reason behind the existence of the Verne cluster, or perhaps of the colonies themselves.
  * The Clarke Foundation isn’t lying when they say they’re a laboratory that studies Element G. Their current study into Cryptids 
  is due to the def nite links between them and the strange properties of Gygravagnite. Specif cally, they think the Cryptids are 
  Element G, or produce it, or are produced by it. Or possibly all three.
  * The Foundation’s research into alternative energy sources is actually an attempt to f gure out what exactly it is that Outsiders 
  are made of so as to engineer a way to destroy them - or scare them of  our planet - in a single blow. Were they to succeed, 
  they would become the most powerful people in the entire solar system.
  
  161
  The Job Description
  All Field Operatives, sometimes ironically called 'Children' by their co-workers after the Department's unfortunate name, receive 
  a variety of surgeries as part of the training for their job. These vary wildly from employee to employee, but usually include 
  positioning locators implanted in their necks, a subdermal communicator, and retinal readouts loaded with useful information. 
  Most agents can compare their augmentations and f nd only a few in common, each one custom-built just for their use.
  One of the most important implants that agents could receive, is a Nanomachine hive that has a variety of functions. The 
  nanomachines increase the natural healing rate of the agents, prevent most common diseases, decrease blood loss in case of 
  injury, and so forth. The usefulness of the operative's implants end there, at least for the agent. The rest of the enhancements 
  they're given are more for the benef t of the Clarke Foundation than anyone else. If they read the f ne print in their contracts, 
  they quickly learn that they're as much 'property' of the Foundation as the Gears that they control.
  According to the 'Field Operative's Handbook', which every agent's retinal implants are loaded with by default, one of the 
  other primary functions of the nanomachines is to alter the Operative's DNA, allowing them to interface with the unique Gears 
  developed by Foundation scientists. These Gears are smaller than the standard Gear size and well-suited to urban environ-
  ments. Meisters have some complaints - often it feels less like driving a Gear and more like trying to get an animal to obey your 
  commands. As if it wasn’t foreboding enough already, the Handbook mentions ‘organic energy’ constantly when describing the 
  functionality of their Gears.
   
  The primary assumption among Meisters is that the Gears, whatever they are, are being restrained and forced into action. The 
  way that some of them resist commands or go berserk backs up that assumption. However, some think that the Gears are 
  serving of their own volition. That camp of Meisters treats their machines as partners or equals, and they have notably greater 
  success on some types of missions, though given the small sample size it’s impossible to tell if this is because of the Meisters’ 
  own skill or because their methods really work.
  The Field Operative’s Handbook further details what the agents are expected to do with these Gears. Their primary mission is 
  to subdue or eliminate Cryptids before they can cause too much damage - ideally before many people have even realized the 
  Cryptid was there. The standard operating procedure is for them to bring the contained Cryptid to a retrieval point or, if that is 
  impossible, to call in for a pickup team. No place is of -limits to Clarke Operatives on a case, and they’ve been given authority 
  from the highest level to keep civil and military security agencies away from delicate situations.
  Because there’s no way to predict the attacks of Cryptids or where they might appear next, Foundation Operatives have to be 
  on-duty and ready to jump into their Gears and deploy at a moment’s notice to anywhere in the Verne Cluster. A single crea-
  ture might be found haunting the night-shift at a factory in an industrial sector, a whole swarm of them might take residence 
  in the maintenance shafts that lead outside the colonies themselves, or they might be covering the outside of the station like 
  barnacles and interfering with communications or cooling.
  Unfortunately, not much is said in the Handbook about the Cryptids’ true nature. It states that they’re a ‘spontaneously gener-
  ated lifeform’, which conveys very little, but essentially gives the gist that it is almost impossible to preempt them. There is 
  almost never any warning before a Cryptid appears. They simply come out of thin air and take the form of whatever is around 
  them, assimilating the surroundings to form a body. Usually, but not always, they mimic the original form of the materials, their 
  body becoming a poor mockery of what was there before. Even the disappearances can be blamed on the ‘birth’ of a Cryptid 
  in the vicinity of a human being, using their organic matter to form a body. Perhaps even more worrisome is how they are 
  believed capable of assimilating memories and entire personalities, which makes the prospect of hunting the smarter Cryptids 
  much scarier.
  * The Gears used by Operatives are Cryptids that have found just the perfect method to continue their hungry existences, by 
  serving the Foundation as able battle bodies they are then allowed to feed on excess waste, captured Cryptids and traitors to 
  the Foundation, and thus continuing to become stronger the better they do their jobs.
  * One thing the Operatives are never told about the nanomachines they have been given is that they can be used to shut down 
  operatives that go rogue, stopping all their body functions and killing them in a matter of seconds.
  * An early-warning system has been designed to detect Cryptid activity. However, there must be some kind of intrinsic f aw 
  in its design, because it’s detecting massive numbers of events all over the Colonies. There’s no way that number of Cryptids 
  could possibly exist.
  
  162
  Having a Field Day
  One of the most important parts of an Operative’s training is learning how to work and f ght in the various environments they’ll 
  encounter in their operations. Of particular importance is learning the sheer scale of Gears. They are big machines. Very big. 
  Even if the Foundation is using some of the smallest Gears ever developed, they can’t f t into spaces meant for people. As such, 
  after a Cryptid sighting has been conf rmed and the entity located, the f rst job of Children Operatives is to lure them into an 
  open space large enough to make use of their Gears. The most obvious place to take a Cryptid in order to avoid damage is 
  space, generally believed to be enough open area for absolutely anything.
  Lucky operatives might f nd an abandoned warehouse to use as a battleground, and skilled ones might f nd ways to make sure 
  they remain in midair for the duration of a bout, but in the end, most operatives have to choose what they’re going to step on, 
  and so part of an Operative’s training involves learning how to decide between ruining farming f elds or blasting a radio tower 
  into scrap.
  Verne I is the ‘Granary of Space’ and where the f rst sightings occurred. To this day the majority of sightings still occur there. 
  Cattle and crops vanish on an almost weekly basis, and almost everyone has seen something odd. Verne I sports the lowest 
  population index among the three colonies, and over half of its space is dedicated to agriculture. A further third of it is devoted 
  to population centers, and the small remainder to just as small local industries.
  The people of Verne I are hard workers, with a f rm blue-collar culture where working hard is a thing you are proud of, and eve-
  ryone is taught the family trade from a young age. These values have been drummed into the residents since the foundation of 
  the colony with propaganda - some subtle, some obvious - that they’re exposed to at almost every moment. Slowly but surely, 
  the people of Verne I are becoming paranoid of both outsiders and each other. They don’t want the men in black to think they 
  know too much, so they naturally distrust Field Operatives. 
  Verne II is the literal seat of political and industrial power for the Verne Cluster. Since there is little to no Cryptid activity on 
  Verne II, the local authorities argue that it’s a problem that they can solve on their own without outside help. The popular 
  theory among seniors inside the Foundation is that since Verne II is hosting the Odyssey Project in secret, their general an-
  tagonism can be attributed to wanting to keep the ships all to themselves and that they see Verne III, and especially the Clarke 
  Foundation, as a threat towards their goals.
  Last, but far from least, is Verne III. It is something of an education center among the three Colonies, a place where the fringe 
  and hip from Verne I and II head, hoping to make a name for themselves with great aspirations. It used to be a transitory Colo-
  ny for most of its population, just a temporary place to pick up skills and training before returning home to their native Colony. 
  Since the Outsider invasion, the shift of society at Verne II, and the arrival of the new wave of Cryptids, this has changed. Verne 
  III still depends on the other two Colonies, but without the contributions from Clarke and various other prominent laboratories, 
  the limited resources would simply drain away. Verne III has a moderate degree of Cryptid activity, but unlike Verne I’s insular 
  and fearful populous, the people of Verne III do their best to help authorities solve cases as long as it dœ sn’t directly put their 
  lives at risk. While they don’t know the details, almost everyone is aware of how deep the inf uence of the Foundation runs and 
  would rather not help Verne II undermine their positions any further. 
  The last area of note in the cluster is the Lunar base of Barbicane, which is largely a Gygravagnite mine (the result of the only, 
  and wildly successful, Type-R Gygravagnite self replicating ‘seed mine’ still in existence) that spans a small continent’s territory. 
  Its machinery is all owned by Verne II, and its critical manpower shortages mean AIs are the ones really in charge of everything, 
  with only a few hundred people living on-site. It’s one of the most dif  cult places for Foundation Operatives to to reach. Even if 
  it meant the Gygravagnite mines would be rendered inoperable, the Verne II authorities make sure that the usual civilian route - 
  a ferry from Verne II - is closed to them in all but the most critical circumstances.
  * Barbicane is f ghting its own private war against the Cryptids. Because their superiors at Verne II keep the Foundation away as 
  much as possible, they’ve had to fend for themselves. They never go anywhere unarmed, alone, or in the dark. Even so, the few 
  hundred people on the moon is a steadily declining population and might end up trying to cut ties with the people that clearly 
  don’t care about them for good.
  * The last stage of training for Field Operatives is live combat against a captured Cryptid. This typically comes without warning 
  or instruction from their superiors. Only half of the agents who get to that stage of training survive to graduate.
  * The Odyssey Project is almost ready to go. Verne II has been falsifying progress reports and making extra orders of materiel 
  in order to cover their lies. They’re planning on waiting - or creating - a crisis to draw the eyes of the Foundation away from 
  them for a time, and then escaping with their entire population, leaving Verne I and III to rot.
  
  163
  The Rogues’ Gallery
  The next section includes a number of premade NPCs, though it mostly it focuses on Enemies for Operations. Do not think of 
  them as ‘canonical’, they are just examples ready to be dropped into the game by the GM at their convenience. All NPCs have a 
  listed Power Level to let you know their general level of skill. They can be kept as-is for the entirety of a Season or their Power 
  Levels can be adjusted as the characters get stronger. It is up to the GM.
  Sample Non-Pilot Grunts
  Meister Recruit
  The GAF, UEF and SSA employ a great number of Gears, and 
  they have a correspondingly large number of soldiers to pilot 
  them. They are all well-trained and know how to make the 
  best use of their general purpose machines. Should they be 
  forced outside of the cockpit, they are still formidable fœ s 
  on their own, with the survival training to make it back safe 
  afterwards.
  Attributes
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  6
  4
  3
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  5
  5
  2
  Skills and Traits: Athletics, Combat, Stealth, Survival.
  Power Level: 2 
  Hiryu Monk or Priestess
  Upholders of Hiryu’s religious traditions come from nearly any 
  walk of life. The vast majority are people concerned either 
  with the metaphysical or societal aspects of religion - some 
  use it to make sense of the world, others value the sense of 
  unity it gives people. While all initiates receive similar train-
  ing, the men generally emphasize their practice so as to teach 
  future generations how to be healthy of mind and body. The 
  priestesses, on the other hand, are community-oriented, and 
  study to become able negotiators and spiritual leaders.
  Attributes
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  4
  4
  5
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  4
  5
  5
  Skills and Traits: Athletics, Diplomacy, Sight (Premonitory 
  Dreams), Sphere of Inf uence (Hiryu).
  Power Level: 2
  Criminal
  Whether they are part of organized crime or common bur-
  glars, crime is present everywhere that humans reside. Some 
  are people hiding from the ironically named Civil Protection 
  in ghettos. Others trade common goods from what is left of 
  Eastern Asia to those who can af ord it in Hiryu. Most of them 
  get by through cleverness and subtety, and would much rather 
  not get physical if there is a way out.
  Attributes
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  4
  5
  5
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  4
  4
  0
  Skills and Traits: Deception, Finesse, Stealth.
  Power Level: 1
  Techie
  The Soaring Dragon Fortress and the Clarke Foundation em-
  ploy some of the f nest minds that can be found in the Earth 
  Sphere and they don’t just let anyone put their grubby little 
  hands on their precious technology. Their staf  is thus highly 
  capable, proven after years of study at a formal academy and 
  with the senior members looking forward to a future of joining 
  the big f sh in the organization.
  Attributes
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  1
  6
  2
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  3
  3
  2
  Skills and Traits: Electronics, Craftsmanship, Sciences, 
  Genius.
  Power Level: 1
  
  164
  Sample Allied Grunts
  HMR-01 Karakuri
  Karakuris are simple automated Gears, with a fraction of 
  the utility that Gears with actual Meisters possess. They are 
  deployed in large numbers to defend Hiryu when an Outsider 
  is about to breach the defensive lines.
  Karakuris are equipped with close quarter weaponry and their 
  AIs use team tactics ef  ciently, swarming targets and keep-
  ing them pinned while the other Units can f re into the melee 
  without endangering their ally.
  They are not going to overpower an Outsider anytime soon, 
  but they can hold the fort against Botakuris that slip past 
  defense lines while the SDF’s proper Gears catch up.
  BMA-099 Nautilus
  After decades of research on automated weapons, the SSA 
  believe they have reached the peak of the power-to-size equa-
  tion. The Nautilus is a hovering unit, capable of operation in 
  both vacuum and atmospheric environments. It can operate 
  independently for long durations and packs a variety of hard-
  hitting weapons.
  Despite being f imsier than practically every Gear out there, 
  its speed and multiple high-yield all-range energy weapons 
  make it a fearsome enemy. Should it have a tactical edge on a 
  stronger fœ  - from advantageous terrain to sheer numbers - 
  it will make life hell for its enemies.
  USLS-01 Landship Williams
  The RUF’s bases of operation while out in the f eld are their 
  landships. They are powerful mobile weapons, but they are 
  way too important to risk them on the front lines. They serve 
  a much better purpose defensively, with a total of over f fty 
  emplacements and turrets. The Williams Landships hold the 
  various defense lines leading to LA with a combination of 
  terrain advantage and sheer f repower until reinforcements - 
  usually the Wagner - push enemy forces back. 
  Life inside Landships is a lot more complicated than in the 
  Wagner. They do not have fancy supercomputers to always 
  make the right choices for them or mysterious helpers made 
  of money they can turn to for supplies when winter lasts too 
  long. Instead they must resort to what guerillas have been do-
  ing for centuries in the f ght against those bigger and meaner 
  than them: Stealing from their enemy. This is dif  cult, but do-
  able, and the majority of RUF Platoon Captains have taken to 
  the costume of always having more than they think they will 
  need. Because when they do need it, it usually isn’t enough.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  4
  4
  0
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  0
  0
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Torso
  Primary
  Expert Support
  Riot Weapon
  Secondary
  Legs
  Other
  Dueling Blade
  Power Level: 0
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  5
  6
  3
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  2
  4
  8
  Areas
  Core
  Nose
  Turrets
  Terrain Specialist 
  (Space)
  Boosted Lance
  Assault Rifle
  Missile Pods
  Thrusters
  Other
  Missile Massacre
  Reactive Booster
  Power Level: 2
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  6
  6
  8
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  6
  6
  Areas
  Bridge
  Bottom
  Main Cannon
  Base Unit
  Reversible 
  Thrusters
  Powered Rifle
  Turrets
  Jammers
  Other
  Superheavy 
  Machinegun
  Custom Defense
  (Shooting)
  Airstrike
  Power Level: 4
  
  165
  HMR-02 Kagutsuchi
  Kagutsuchi stands as the Soaring Dragon Fortress’ f rst and 
  best success to date. This Gear is testament to Hiryu’s talent 
  at constructing giant robots, as well as a symbol of their f erce 
  independent spirit. The Kagutsuchi is an agile, moderately 
  armored model equipped for close quarters combat with 
  Outsiders. Its most notable feature is the Guren Kaina -or 
  Crimson Lotus Arm - used to melt anything it can grab. The 
  Guren Kaina has an alternate mode of use as a beam rif e for 
  those times when it just needs to keep its distance and f ll 
  something with holes.
  Other than that, the Gear was made for blitzing through the 
  battlef eld and reaching its targets as soon as possible. To 
  this end it comes equipped with both the f rst miniaturized 
  Gear-scale Antigravity drive and ‘Rolling Thruster’ wheels at 
  the back of each heel to skif  across water without the need 
  to make itself a giant, f ying target. Kagutsuchi’s f ery appear-
  ance becomes even more impressive when its Gravagne Field 
  is online, making the Gear look like it is on f re and reminding 
  everyone that yes, it is named after a Shinto God of Fire after 
  all.
  Suggested Powers for a potential Meister include those from 
  the Champion line, particularly Signature Weapon (Radiant 
  Fist), and possibly Gotta go Fast, because it needs to get up 
  close and personal so it can do its thing.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  5
  4
  5
  0
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Torso
  Left Arm
  Right Arm
  Legs
  Other
  Invincible Alloy
  Antigravity
  Arm Guardian
  Beam Rifle
  Overbooster
  Absolute Barrier
  Radiant Fist
  Power Level: 1
  Sample Allied Rivals
  
  166
  HMR-003 Kurama
  Kurama is, like anything coming out of Hiryu’s assembly lines, an experimental unit. In Kurama’s case, that means being 
  equipped with support Board drones within its wing-shaped backpack. The drones are the size of a human adult, and not 
  particularly ef ective as weapons, but can launch strings of hardened Element G to form an elaborate web and trap fœ s brief y. 
  Their secondary use is to be used alongside the Gear’s Electro-Sapper Pod launcher and help take down enemies with internal 
  damage.
  Naturally, Kurama has a multitude of nanobots it can use to repair and resupply its drones in the middle of battle. While 
  Kurama is obviously no slouch as a combat unit, it is primarily meant to take on a supporting role and assist the rest of Hiryu’s 
  forces in taking down particularly powerful outsiders.
  Kurama makes ef ective use of Powers from the Tactician group, though it can also be a formidable f ghter with help from more 
  action-oriented Powers like Mind Over Matter and Believe in Myself.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  2
  4
  4
  6
  4
  2
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Legs
  Other
  Commander Type
  Absolute Barrier
  Resupply
  Assisted
  Targeting
  Early Warning 
  and Control
  Antigravity
  Electro-Sapper
  Pods
  Ensnaring Trap
  Power Level: 1
  
  167
  BGM-001 Dvorak
  Dvorak has been the mainstay of the guerillas’ Meister force 
  since the very early days of the resistance, outperforming the 
  grand majority of the Federation’s mechanized mobile weap-
  ons individually - a small relief considering that they are vastly 
  outnumbered. Production has been steady, however, and has 
  reached the point where the RUF dœ sn’t have the hands for 
  the Gears that their sponsors bring in. Currently all Dvorak 
  Gears carry vast supplies of spare parts and equipment for 
  emergency purposes, so they can put all that equipment to 
  use.
  In combat, Dvorak squadrons take turns drawing enemy f re 
  and covering for each other, letting damaged units take a 
  breather for quick repairs mid-battle. They handle short to 
  mid-distance combat particularly well, and can clear through 
  waves of Board drones easily. The Wagner often f elds them 
  to support their more artillery oriented Gears with impressive 
  results, joining thir long range bombardment with the missile 
  pods on their backpacks. The Dvorak is known as the herald 
  from the new world, one where the UEF’s tyrannical rule is no 
  more.
  Anybody interested in manning a Dvorak should look to Pow-
  ers that improve its of ense like My Style is Impetuous and 
  defensive ones like My Defense is Impregnable to enhance its 
  performance as a midrange tank unit. Tactician Powers like 
  Can’t let you do That and You can do Better than That also 
  suit this role while improving its ability to support the team.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  4
  4
  4
  4
  4
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Backpack
  Other
  Invincible Alloy
  Absorbing Armor 
  (non-Beam)
  Chainblade
  Jury Rig
  Supply Delivery
  Expert Support
  Riot Weapon
  Bombardment
  Slippery Chassis
  Power Level: 1
  Dvorak has been the mainstay of the guerillas’ Meister force 
  since the very early days of the resistance, outperforming the 
  grand majority of the Federation’s mechanized mobile weap-
  ons individually - a small relief considering that they are vastly 
  outnumbered. Production has been steady, however, and has 
  reached the point where the RUF dœ sn’t have the hands for 
  In combat, Dvorak squadrons take turns drawing enemy f re 
  mid-distance combat particularly well, and can clear through 
  to support their more artillery oriented Gears with impressive 
  results, joining thir long range bombardment with the missile 
  pods on their backpacks. The Dvorak is known as the herald 
  from the new world, one where the UEF’s tyrannical rule is no 
  Anybody interested in manning a Dvorak should look to Pow-
  defensive ones like My Defense is Impregnable to enhance its 
  
  168
  BGM-002 Penderecki
  The Penderecki is seen by Gear romanticists as a crude and barely mobile weapons platform, but its sheer usefulness proves 
  that sometimes æ sthetics can and should take a back seat. A single Penderecki can cover for multiple Gears at once and mul-
  tiples of them can unleash the apocalypse. The Penderecki’s main strength is also its biggest f aw. It is an unfortunate one-trick 
  pony without the adaptability that Gears are supposed to benef t from, but it packs so many guns and is engineered to make 
  so much out of every one of them that the risk is very much worth it.
  Penderecki models are the Wagner’s secondary Gear force, they can be quickly deployed to unleash preposterous amounts 
  of ordinance and quickly retrieved. A Penderecki Meister should consider Powers like I’m Breaking Through and You are Going 
  Down to maximize of ensive power.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  5
  5
  0
  5
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Left Arm
  Right Arm
  Legs
  Other
  Integrated 
  Weapons
  Superheavy 
  Machinegun
  Rail Bazooka
  Expert Support
  Bombardment
  Finger Net
  Artillery Frame
  Power Level: 1
  
  169
  SDE-001 Paladin
  The Paladin is a sleek and fast Gear that vaguely resembles 
  an insect in some of its design æ sthetics, and is currently 
  the smallest Gear at just 8m tall. Meisters that give it a try 
  often report experiencing an almost-narcotic sensation when 
  the Paladin runs or f ies through open spaces. It is as if they 
  themselves could feel the wind and experience the rush of 
  f ying at high speeds.
  The Paladin has another key attribute that helps of set its 
  comparative height disadvantage. Via voice command the 
  Gear can expel a cloud of Organic Energy from its wings. After 
  coating itself with this substance the Paladin can reinforce 
  damaged sections of its body or spread it in the form of     a 
  barrier that it may also share with its allies. The Gear itself 
  performs excellently when using hand to hand weapons, which 
  it can coat with its Organic Energy to strengthen even further.
  Because it depends on getting within Melee range of its en-
  emies and on having its Energy reserves available, Meisters 
  should have Mind over Matter to counter ef ects that would 
  halve its Attributes. Believe in Myself is also very useful, 
  restoring almost a third of the Paladin’s total Threshold. Both 
  Powers also can be used to counter an unlucky Maim of the 
  Arms Area without having to spend Energy.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  4
  6
  4
  6
  2
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Legs
  Other
  Invincible Alloy
  Shielding Aura
  Beam Ripper
  Duelist Model
  Extending Blade
  Power Level: 1
  
  170
  170
  SDE-002 Warlock
  The latest and most visually impressive of Clarke’s Gears, the Warlock stands an imposing 17 meters tall and is issued only to 
  Meisters that meet very specif c, and secret, parameters. This is because the Warlock wields immense destructive power due to 
  its vast energy capacity and output. Its of ensive capability consists almost entirely of beam weaponry, a hindrance surmount-
  ed by the sheer danger said capability poses to an enemy. 
  The monster inside encourages Meisters to place themselves and everyone else at risk through a heightened adrenaline rush 
  during battle. Meisters report that riding these steel giants is an empowering experience, making them feel that they are invin-
  cible for as long as they can continue to blast things with pretty columns of  light.
  Because the Warlock is basically good at one thing and one thing only (making stuf  go boom) Meisters could use some help 
  from defensive Powers such as I Cannot be Defeated and Can’t let you do That to survive long enough that it can f nish of  the 
  toughest enemies.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  6
  5
  5
  5
  2
  3
  Areas
  Core
  Torso
  Left Arm
  Right Arm
  Legs
  Other
  Integrated 
  Weapons
  Shielding Aura
  Beam Ripper
  Powered Rifle
  Experimental
  Reactor
  Reactor Overdrive
  Power Level: 1
  
  171
  UHDS-001 Wagner
  Clocking in at about three hundred meters in length, just about as much in width and barely over a hundred in height, the Wag-
  ner is the world’s f rst f ying battleship. In combat, the Wagner can make use of cannons and missile launchers much like any 
  other battleship, but its true strength lies elsewhere. 
  The Wagner can release 'balloons' of contained Type-G particles, which in turn spread clouds of the gaseous substance to 
  shield itself and others from harm temporarily. Particularly dense clouds will quite simply stop all electromagnetic signatures 
  from coming in or getting out, thus creating a 'screen' that renders the entirety of the area on the other side a puzzle. These 
  clouds do not last for more than a few minutes before the Type-G particles inevitably and explosively push themselves away 
  from one another. They are also really expensive to produce, so they are to be used sparingly.
  But the Wagner dœ s not rely on defensive measures alone to outmaneuver the GAF. Indeed, it would not have survived all 
  these years without its advanced artif cial intelligence, dubbed Morrigan. According to those who have had the chance to talk 
  with it, Morrigan is the most advanced AI in the world. It is actually a network of over a hundred quantum computers and may 
  or may not have access to the entirety of the world’s uploaded data. 
  Though if it dœ s, it dœ s not show it. Indeed, even if the Morrigan’s calculations and strategic counsel have literally saved thou-
  sands of lives - though it may still make mistakes, just as in the Liberation of New York - it is rather humble, insisting that all 
  it is trying to do is bring a more peaceful age, so that it may simply go back to studying human history. Friendly as it may be, 
  Morrigan dœ s not share what it knows of classif ed information nor dœ s it involve itself with others’ personal matters - it has 
  more pressing issues to worry about.
  A prospective Captain should consider taking Genre Powers with support value like Don’t Give Up or defensive ones like This is 
  my Battlef eld (Defensive). Do note that the Wagner statted below is at a Power Level of 2 and is meant for NPC use. If a PC is 
  going to be at the helm, it should be redesigned to be at the Power Level of the other PCs.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  2
  4
  8
  5
  6
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Main Cannon
  Turrets
  Drones
  Thrusters
  Other
  Base Unit
  Reactor Overdrive
  Assault Rifle
  Resupply
  Reversible 
  Thrusters
  Flyer
  Bombardment
  Stealth Field
  Guardian of Steel
  Power Level: 2
  
  172
  Sample Allied Boss
  HMR-00 Soaring Dragon Fortress
  The very last line of defense against Outsiders before they’re free to rampage around the rest of the Pacif c -and beyond- as 
  much as they want is none other than the SDF itself. Fortunately for those involved, the fortress itself is as impressive in perfor-
  mance as it is visually, with its own Gravagne Field to shield itself from enemies that reach it. 
  Should Hiryu’s Mecha and the SDF’s AI defenses fail to be enough it may still use its terrifying Kuzuryusen cannon as a last 
  ditch ef ort. This carries a terrible price - destroying a grand portion of the island it is supposed to protect. In a worst case 
  scenario, the Kuzuryusen may be activated to assure either a pyrrhic victory or mutual destruction.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  7
  4
  7
  7
  4
  0
  Abilities
  Powers
  Upgrades
  Weapons
  Other
  Useless!
  We are Many (Karakuri)
  Final Beam
  Base Unit
  Power Level: 1
  
  173
  Dominion
  Even though the real power of the UEF lies in the GAF, it still 
  employs a vast arsenal of mechanized land forces to accom-
  plish its goals. More of them continue to be produced since 
  they only require a few human supervisors each, thanks to 
  artif cial intelligence. They are frail individually, but their sheer 
  f repower gets scary with numbers.
  Majesty
  Board-operated aircraft f ghters are just as numerous as their 
  landbound wheeled counterparts - if not moreso.  Air capa-
  bility coupled with speed and f repower make the UEF's air 
  dominance a terrifying thing to face unprepared. Squadrons of 
  Majesty units can strike from a distance with impunity, pinning 
  down their fœ s with teamwork tactics.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  4
  0
  0
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  0
  4
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Systems
  Missiles
  Flyer
  Anti-Air Missiles
  Turrets
  Thrusters
  Other
  Assault Rifle
  Reversible 
  Thrusters
  Power Level: 0
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  4
  4
  0
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  3
  1
  2
  Areas
  Core
  Guns
  Cannons
  Terrain Specialist 
  (Land)
  Riot Weapon
  Beam Rifle
  Launchers
  Artillery
  Other
  Missile Massacre
  Powered Rifle
  Power Level: 0
  Sample Enemy Grunts
  GAR-06 Bravery
  The f rst Gear to be mass produced and whose name became a nickname for all other Gears. The UEF designed the Bravery 
  with the idea that the best way to survive against the SSA’s Boards was to never let them hit their own robots in the f rst place. 
  To this end it is equipped with a multitude of fast-acting jammers to confuse enemy targeting equipment and EMP grenades, 
  the equivalent to a f ashbang against Boards. 
  After several years additional equipment has been developed to make it less of a walking deathtrap when compared to the 
  RUF’s own Gears, with increased energy capacity and endurance in each of its limbs. It also sports weapons for short to long 
  distance encounters and is equally able to shine in any of them as the Gear of choice in the GAF’s roster.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  4
  3
  3
  2
  5
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Legs
  Other
  Electronic 
  Cloaking System
  Dueling Blade
  Electromagnetic
  Detonator
  Assault Rifle
  Power Level: 1
  
  174
  Magister B2
  The most common of the Botakuri frankly looks more like a giant oversized toy than a war machine. It even moves in a car-
  toonish - almost surreal - way that shouldn’t even be possible from the way those legs look. And yet, it works.
  The Magister class pack a lot of f repower within that stocky frame, and can detach their heads and launch them as bombs 
  with a tremendous explosive power. As if that weren’t enough, the crystals in their stomach seem to have defensive properties, 
  projecting a small forcef eld that can absorb beam-type weaponry.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  4
  6
  4
  2
  0
  3
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Left Arm
  Right Arm
  Other
  Expert Support
  Bombardment
  Custom Defense 
  (Beam)
  Stun Rod
  Beam Rifle
  Power Level: 1
  
  175
  Rotarum X1
  This Botakuri model is designed to hold its own against the SDF’s forces, specially when in tandem with the Outsiders’ hordes 
  of Magisters providing them support f re. One of them is almost an equal to an individual Gear from Hiryu, making them quite 
  the challenge when they come in numbers.
  Rotarum is visually akin to a car that sprouted arms and legs, then tried to walk upright - before someone attached a bunch 
  of guns to it. The thing is surprisingly agile despite looking rather clunky, and has demonstrated ample talent for robo-kung-fu 
  moves in the past. In a pinch, it will churn out some rather unhealthy amounts of smoke, and move around with something 
  resembling the equivalent of grace and beauty in goofy giant robot standards.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  6
  5
  8
  0
  2
  5
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Legs
  Other
  The Beast
  Power Level: 2
  
  176
  Sample Enemy Rivals
  AIE-003 Lapis
  The only Outsider that has had multiple encounters with Hiryu’s Gears and escaped every time until now, partly because 
  of its power and resilience, partly because it prefers to ﬁ ght in environments where it has the advantage. Lapis is best de-
  scribed as a multitude of shifting Gygravagnite crystals, all rotating around a Core at the bottom of the creature. It usually 
  stays underwater, and is capable of high-yield energy or ordinance-based attacks.
  Lapis is a rather conservative and even intelligent Outsider, unwilling to expose itself to danger and often found bombard-
  ing from a distance either by launching a barrage of giant spiky crystals or beams from its front. It will do this until either its 
  Botakuri minions have thrown the SDF’s forces into chaos or they have been wiped out, in which case it often retreats. 
  If really pushed to the brink, Lapis becomes extremely ferocious, using its claw-like limb to crush any Gears close enough 
  and retaliating with a level of force it rarely shows. It doesn’t have any real weaknesses, though anything that can interfere 
  with or otherwise disrupt Gygravagnite technology will at least inconvenience it temporarily.
  Lapis is best used as a mid-game encounter or an early major boss. It will be difﬁ cult to catch up to it unharmed, since 
  it resides at sea or other environments that make it difﬁ cult to reach. It should do its best to save up its defensive Genre 
  Powers until the last possible second, getting the most out of its Berserker mode. If you really want to drive home how 
  bothersome it can be as a recurring encounter, you should make use of Difﬁ cult Terrain effectively and make it always 
  keep a Genre Point ready for Live Another Day.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  6
  6
  4
  5
  4
  7
  Areas
  Core
  Front
  Body
  Formation
  Claw
  Other
  Terrain Specialist
  (Water)
  Charge Cannon
  Absolute Barrier
  Whirlwind Attack
  Zweihander
  Integrated 
  Weapons
  Reversible 
  Thrusters
  Sniper Rifle
  Genre Powers: My Defense is Impregnable, My Pain is your Pain. 
  Power Level: 2
  
  177
  Julia Campbell
  Julia was once a high school student in Boston, a fairly average student with little in the way of violent tendencies outside her 
  passion for fencing. This changed when she witnessed the only time the rebellion has successfully inf ltrated Gears into the 
  interior of the city. Observing their attack on a shipment of prototype Glories, she climbed into the cockpit and successfully 
  activated and intuited the PsAICon controls, rapidly defeating the hardly unskilled rebel operatives on her own.
  Julia dœ s not actually have nearly as much formal military training as even the rank and f le of the GAF Meisters, but she dœ s 
  have a reputation as a competitive, hotheaded, and bloody-minded f ghter.
  It was later discovered that Julia had a hobbyist level of interest in historical wars up to and including those of the present era. 
  Further, she had a level of natural skill in handling Gears that was unseen previously. She begged to be allowed to stay on as the 
  pilot of the Gear that she salvaged, and the UEF acquiesced, if primarily out of a curiosity as to how her abilities were possible. 
  A great deal of the girl has been buried beneath the violent tendencies of the woman with every deployment since then, and 
  now Julia is a shell of a person that lives for battle. This is not entirely obvious though. Julia is friendly, funny and even f irty in 
  her own way most of the time, with a f air for dramatic displays. But she should not be expected to show any mercy or attempt 
  at negotiation with enemies save to provoke them into shooting f rst.
  Someone who trumps her during a duel one on one might earn her attention, and perhaps even her respect. It is possible that 
  if she were forced to listen somehow, she could be reasoned with, since she’s highly unlikely to support a clearly lost cause. Un-
  like certain other war obsessed characters, Julia is not willing to actually go out in a blaze of glory, since it is only her ability to 
  continue experiencing battle that matters. That is, of course, unless the end can be prolonged indef nitely, in which case she will 
  gladly lend her aid to drag out the conf ict as long as possible.
  Anyone unlucky enough to trash her Gear will f nd out that Julia dœ s not like having a score to settle, and she will not rest until 
  she has proven her superiority. This is not a compliment, it is a death sentence - for her rival or herself. Her relationship to the 
  beast within the Power is perhaps the key reason she has not been replaced, since they seem to be in tune when it comes to 
  their preferred f ghting style.
  Attributes
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  6
  4
  6
  4
  8
  4
  Skills and Traits: Athletics, Combat, Deception, Diplomacy, Hard Work and Guts.
  Genre Powers: Signature Weapon (Incinerator), I’m Breaking Through.
  Power Level: 2
  
  178
  Leon Wakefield
  Leon is a graduate with honors from the Boston academy, a calm and collected Meister with years of experience, talented as a 
  f ghter and tactician. He sees the RUF as misguided at best, and to him they are an enemy he must crush himself if he is to rise 
  through the ranks.
  A cursory glance to his background reveals that his distaste for the guerilla is not out of loyalty and propaganda, but a much 
  more personal issue. As the son of Executive Councilman Patrick Wakef eld, he didn’t witness the worst of life in the Safe Zones 
  until after becoming an orphan. In the early months after the creation of the Zones, several insurgents instigated anti-UEF 
  riots. During these events, they set f re to and destroyed multiple government buildings, many of which still had civilians inside 
  them - including Leon’s parents. He signed up as part of the volunteer civilian peacekeeping forces almost immediately, but has 
  matured considerably since then.
  His idealism for the ‘Unif ed Government’ of the UEF is usually looked upon with disrespect from his very peers, and although 
  he turns a blind eye to said remarks his views have not made him soft. When the situation calls for it, and especially when 
  civilian lives are in danger, his wrath is swift and devastating. Leon f rmly believes that things will be better once we are truly 
  unif ed, and that the way to change the system is from the inside.
  Due to his exemplary record, his combination of strength and compassion, and his overall polite and charming demeanor, it is 
  no wonder that he commands such loyalty from his team and is loved by the GAF’s PR division.
  As one of the few lucky survivors that were present for the battle of New York, Leon lost all of his teammates back then as part 
  of both the battle and the detonation of the 3G-Bomb. Since that day, he has been working earnestly to have enough inf uence 
  that he may put a stop to such senseless sacrif ces. He will unify the world and bring peace to the people with his own hands, 
  even if it is the last thing he dœ s.
  As the appointed leader of the Glory Squadron, his wingmates can expect someone who genuinely looks out for them and can 
  always give a pep talk. He is not too fond of operating something that looks made for a supervillain, but the Victory Glory and 
  himself are a great match for each other, so there seems to be a solid work relationship based on mutual respect there.
  Attributes
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  4
  6
  7
  5
  6
  5
  Skills and Traits: Athletics, Combat, Diplomacy, Presence, Leadership.
  Genre Powers: Can’t let you do That, You can do Better than That.
  Power Level: 2
  
  179
  WWG-001 Power
  The largest Gear seen to date, and a strong contender for the most powerful too. Barring the fact that it looks like a thing that 
  is both alive and evil, it has remarkable similarities to the style of Hiryu Gears. This makes some sense, as both the GAF and 
  the Outsiders have been studying the rebels’ designs.
  This Gear is the pointman of the Glory class: It is a big target that will wreck anyone it can catch with its energy whips, crush 
  with its horns, or cut to ribbons with its bladed tail. If necessary, it will use the f amethrower in its chest, and it is reinforced 
  to withstand strikes from the explosive and projectile-based weapons that the RUF’s Penderecki models favor so much, with a 
  minimum of strain on its internal systems.
  There is not very much that can be said about the Power. It is not subtle. It dœ sn’t get tricky. True to its name, it gets in your 
  face and dœ sn’t leave until the dust settles. It is at its best when deployed with ranged support from other allied forces, like the 
  Majesty or Dominion, and of course the Victory itself.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  7
  6
  5
  6
  3
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Tail
  Other
  Duelist Model
  Chainblade
  Incinerator
  Extending Blade
  Whirlwind Attack
  Integrated 
  Weapons
  Custom Defense
  (Shooting)
  Absorbing Armor
  (Melee)
  Power Level: 2
  WWG-002 Victory
  The Victory was made when the GAF was convinced it did not need to know the workings of Gygravagnite Type-G at all, and it is 
  the result of them trying to f nd their own ways around such things. In place of a Gravagne Field, it uses stealth technology. And 
  in place of Antigravity systems it rides a mechanized, armored beast.
  The Victory is not very ef ective at direct combat, but it dœ s not need to be, thanks to its own miniature army. Through tel-
  epathic control, Victory carries with itself a swarm of f ying biomechanical insectoids the size of a f y. The bugs are employed 
  to attack enemy Gears and to interfere with their functions by suicidally rushing every sensor and joint. 
  Obviously intended to seek and destroy the Wagner and its own Gears, the Victory excels at pinning down individual Gears and 
  rendering them sitting ducks.  Because it is more of a support or f anker Unit, the Victory should be deployed alongside forces 
  that can take the heat for it - preferably at least on the level of the Bravery if not the Power itself.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  6
  4
  3
  7
  4
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Platform
  Other
  Commander Type
  Resupply
  Electronic 
  Cloaking System
  Superheavy 
  Machinegun
  Antigravity
  Ensnaring Trap
  Electro-Sapper 
  Pods
  Fire at Will
  Power Level: 2
  
  180
  SLF-027 Schrodinger and  SLF-028 Wigner
  One of the strangest reported Cryptid sightings lately around Verne I is that of a 'lanky man with strange hair and a glowing 
  f ying woman'. They are both obviously Cryptid in origin and there have been large readings of Element G detected in places 
  where they appeared recently.
  The only pattern to their appearances so far is that they tend to observe Operations to subdue or destroy other Cryptids from 
  a distance, but they have only been confronted once by Children and the results were... Not very promising. They retaliated 
  with a display of their full power, and grievously wounded all deployed operatives, although none lethally so. Despite their small 
  size, both are extremely powerful and operatives are not to engage them without the protection of a Gear in any circumstance.
  Both share the ability to cause anyone near them to hallucinate, with results that have sometimes been lethally heart-stopping. 
  In addition to that common technique, they have demonstrated levels of teamwork unseen in earlier Cryptids, and comple-
  ment each other with their individual unique characteristics. For now Schrodinger and Wigner seem content enough to hang 
  by the sidelines and observe Operations, but they are a very present threat and there is no telling when they might decide to 
  take matters into their own hands. If they are not dealt with soon, Clarke Meisters may f nd themselves paid a visit one of these 
  days.
  Schrodinger (the man) manipulates sound, while Wigner (the woman) holds domain over light. Both may use these abilities to 
  various ef ects, and the full extent of their control over either element is unknown. Their elusiveness leads the Foundation to 
  believe they use them to keep themselves hidden in between appearances, usually due to conf ictive readings indicating they 
  are in multiple places at the same time.
  
  181
  Schrodinger
  Schrodinger is the forward bruiser of the duo, charging in then dishing out as much damage as possible. He will punch and kick, 
  inf icting structural damage by breaking objects down internally and using powerful sonic shockwaves to attack from a distance. 
  He’ll shield Wigner whenever possible so she can heal him, and will direct which target the two of them will focus f re on until 
  whatever earned their ire is no longer moving.
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  7
  7
  4
  7
  8
  0
  Skills and Traits: Athletics, Finesse, Stealth, Phantasm (Sound), Intimidating, Jaded, Psychic Power, Nightmare.
  Genre Powers: Believe in Myself, Take One for the Team, You are Going Down.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  8
  8
  6
  5
  3
  6
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Legs
  Other
  Biological
  Absolute Barrier
  Resonance 
  Cannon
  Overbooster
  Invasive
  Dueling Blade
  Antigravity
  Power Suit
  Chainblade
  Slippery Chassis
  Power Level: 3
  Wigner
  Wigner is in some ways even stronger than Schrodinger, but she prefers to stay in the back line and let him do the lifting while 
  she supports him. Wigner can heal her own wounds or Schrodinger’s by inducing an emergency assimilation of their surround-
  ings to patch up their body mass with fresh materials. She is not cowardly though, simply well prepared, and is not afraid of 
  using her powerful light-based attacks as often as possible if Schrodinger is there to shield her.
  Fitness
  Intellect
  Charm
  Awareness
  Willpower
  Resources
  7
  7
  4
  7
  8
  0
  Skills and Traits: Athletics, Finesse, Stealth, Phantasm (Light), Intimidating, Jaded, Psychic Power, Nightmare.
  Genre Powers: Mind Over Matter, Can’t let you do That, You can do Better than That.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  8
  6
  6
  6
  6
  Areas
  Core
  Head
  Torso
  Arms
  Legs
  Other
  Biological
  Absorbing Armor 
  (Beam)
  Incinerator
  Overbooster
  Invasive
  Jury-Rig
  Radiant Fist
  Antigravity
  Power Suit
  Slippery Chassis
  Power Level: 3
  
  182
  Sample Enemy Bosses
  AIE-05 Angelus
  Angelus can be described as a winged reverse pyramid, with its main visual feature being the orbiting halo over its head circling 
  around the creature’s pulsating core. It is tough, agile, and hits like a freight train - a perfect representation of what the average 
  Outsider can do. It hovers above ground level, though it has no need to use its wings at all to do so. Indeed, they behave more 
  like sensory organs than limbs necessary for mobility.
  Angelus can f re a multitude of Gygravagnite-based ‘wisps’ from its halo that will interfere with the functions of any Gears they 
  make contact with - the result being a temporary shutdown and forced reboot of the more energy-consuming systems. More 
  worryingly, it can render itself invisible to nearly all methods of detection making no sound and projecting little in the way of 
  energy signatures.
  Angelus really dœ s not want to hit itself with its own Technoleeches, and it should make use of You are Too Slow to reposition 
  himself when cornered. Other than that, it is a fairly straightforward enemy who will go down to focused f re, especially if the 
  PCs carry Blasts with them. Angelus is the type that would rather try and take down a Gear with him than retreat though, mak-
  ing him a nice early Boss encounter. It should arrive with Botakuris or even other Outsiders so he can make a grand of ensive 
  push where defeat is not an option for the PCs.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  5
  5
  5
  0
  10
  Abilities
  Powers
  Upgrades
  Weapons
  Other
  You are too Slow
  Phantom Predator
  Technoleeches
  Biological
  Flyer
  Power Level: 1
  
  183
  183
  SLF-014 Maxwell
  First spotted in the trash incinerators of an inter-colony merchant shuttle from which it escaped into space, Maxwell is an ever-
  growing pile of scrap metal, Gygravagnite constantly combusting and regrowing, and all sorts of strange elements found only in 
  the remnants of the Asimov colonies.
  Maxwell has survived for nearly a decade, and certainly not for lack of trying from the Clarke Foundation. It has proven simply 
  too dif  cult to kill, and it comes out of every encounter stronger than before. Maxwell's distinguishing feature is how it can 
  assimilate any weapon that previously failed to kill it, becoming virtually immune to them for a short period of time, until its 
  materials are to be discarded and replaced once again with new mass.
  To add further worries, it is capable of physically assimilating other Gears, placing extreme harm on anyone who happens to be 
  synchronizing itself with it. This is an ability that the science team would love to analyze, but can't quite af ord to attempt - if 
  they fail to destroy Maxwell the next time they f nd it, it might be too strong for another attempt.
  Since it is meant to be encountered solo (like most Cryptids), Maxwell can be considered dangerous without being impossible, 
  and a group of four or more PCs stand a decent chance even at a lowly Power Level of 1. Maxwell never retreats from battle, but 
  never gives chase to any Meisters trying to f ee either, and thus can safely be encountered two or more times until his guard is 
  f nally pierced through. But fail too many times, and his Power Level will go up to 5, and that means he gets a Capstone that will 
  surely ruin someone’s day - Energy Drain is a good one. 
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  6
  6
  11
  6
  4
  6
  Abilities
  Powers
  Upgrades
  Weapons
  Other
  That will not Work Again
  It Keeps Coming Back
  Constrict
  Biological
  Behold my True Power
  Adaptive Morphology
  Merge
  Invasive
  Power Level: 4
  
  184
  SLF-016 Laplace
  The Cryptid known as Laplace is an amalgamation of corpses 
  from all sorts of lifeforms in various states of decomposition, 
  taking a roughly humanoid form. Its cyclopean head exposes 
  a rather large pulsating brain and its mouth has jagged teeth 
  sharp enough to cut a hole into the colonies like a tuna can.
  Laplace often skitters or pounces across the battlef eld with 
  incredible speed. It can launch its giant organs and bones as 
  projectiles, full of bizarre substances that disrupt the f ow of 
  Element G of anything they touch. Indubitably, these are one 
  of the many factors contributing to Laplace’s survivability.
  The Cryptid has several years’ worth of experience outsmart-
  ing and outlasting attempts to subdue or eliminate it. It is 
  believed to have very strong psychic powers, in the vein of te-
  lepathy, telekinesis and precognition to thank for that. Rumor 
  has it that the creature was born in a ‘graveyard’ of destroyed 
  Foundation Gears, but no one knows where that originated 
  from and there is not much in the way of evidence for that 
  claim either.
  Laplace is much like Maxwell, a well known existing threat that 
  could establish this team of beginner PCs as serious badasses 
  if they manage to take it down. It is not half as merciful as 
  Maxwell, though, so it should be tackled after they have dealt 
  with the other, slightly more passive Cryptid. Should a team 
  of operatives fail to take it down, Laplace might go up a Power 
  Level and gain a dangerous Capstone such as Aura of Misfor-
  tune.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  5
  10
  4
  4
  5
  10
  Abilities
  Powers
  Upgrades
  Weapons
  Other
  Useless!
  Afterimages
  Telekinetic Strike
  Biological
  You are too Slow
  Three Times Faster
  Needle Storm
  Invasive
  Power Level: 4
  
  185
  AIE-01 Custos
  The ﬁ rst Outsider seen outside of their Mothership and by far the most powerful one ever recorded, the Custos never 
  wanders too far away from Easter II. As the guardian of the Outsider mothership, it attacks anything remotely dangerous 
  that comes within a few hundred kilometers of the island with extreme prejudice. Described since the ﬁ rst days of the inva-
  sion as a "Tentacled UFO", hardly any new information has been gathered on it since then, due to the danger that coming 
  anywhere remotely close to it presumes. Many have perished to its long range bombardment.
  The Custos is, for obvious reasons, a late-game encounter or even an end boss not only because of its importance as the 
  guardian of the Outsider mothership but also because of its tremendous power. If it were a lone wolf that would be one 
  thing, but Custos does not ﬁ ght alone. It will order the deployment of every Botakuri and Outsider within the mothership if 
  anything survives its initial salvo, because anything that pulls that off is a legitimate threat. 
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  9
  4
  5
  5
  9
  9
  Abilities
  Powers
  Upgrades
  Weapons
  Other
  You are too Slow
  Nanoskin Shell
  Ultimate Bomb
  Biological
  I Believe This is Yours 
  (Shooting)
  Phantom Predator
  Technoleeches
  Flyer
  Hypersonic Striker
  Power Level: 5
  
  186
  SLF-005 Gravagne
  Pure Gygravagnite in the form of an angelic humanoid; that is the only def nition anyone has had of the Spontaneous LifeForm 
  005 Gravagne for decades. Indeed, that is all anyone actually knows about it. The Gravagne is only spotted occasionally once 
  every several months, and every time it is stronger than before, annihilating everything in the vicinity and absorbing all the Ele-
  ment G into itself before disappearing once again.
  What it dœ s in between raids, its f nal objective, and even its true origin are unknown. Gravagne displays incredible capabilities 
  in distorting spacetime around itself and is theorized to be proof of string theory. Further complicating the issue of neutralizing 
  it is the fact it is often surrounded by minions - strangely enough, they are usually replicas of other Cryptids.
  In combat, Gravagne likes to open with Die for Me! to soften the opposition while throwing energy blasts to make them waste 
  resources defensively. Between Bullet Hell, Eye for an Eye, and its area of ef ect weapons that do extra damage it has a good 
  lead on the damage race to see who dies f rst. To ensure its victory it baits enemies with Do you Desire the Power? to make 
  them take extra Damage, then using Ennervating Presence to charge them extra for the Powers they need to stay alive. Grav-
  agne is not a fœ  to be taken lightly.
  Attributes
  Might
  Guard
  Threshold
  Energy
  Systems
  Speed
  4
  8
  8
  8
  8
  6
  Abilities
  Powers
  Upgrades
  Weapons
  Other
  Die for Me!
  Bullet Hell
  Overfreeze
  Biological
  Do you Desire the Power?
  Eye for an Eye
  Telekinetic Strike
  Invasive
  Flyer
  Embodiment of Evil
  Power Level: 5
  All of the Bosses presented in the book only have rules for their use during Operations. This is because they are giant 
  monsters and will rarely have need for detailed Intermission mechanics. If you think you could ever need them, you might 
  as well just come up with Attributes and assign Skills ad-hoc.
  As for roleplaying these alien intelligences, remember they are supposed to be a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Give 
  them a Theme for a semblance of personality if you need to, but keep them vast and inscrutable.
  
  187
  Running a Hiryu Game
  Set in a far away, remote island that is totally not a romanticized eastern culture, a Season of Battle Century G focusing on the 
  island of Hiryu and its inhabitants is a tale reminiscent of the classic "Super Robot" subgenre of Mecha, with young men and 
  women defending their communities from the giant metal beasts and their inscrutable alien masters that brought mankind to 
  its knees.
  The main theme of Hiryu is 'United we Stand', and games set on the eponymous island are encouraged to play up this factor. 
  The Outsiders and their mechanical monsters, the Botakuri, ravage seaside cities without care for their terrorized populace and, 
  after years of quiet despair, the people of the land have taken up arms and decided to f ght back, setting aside their dif erences 
  to face a common enemy.
  This is not to say that everyone gets along. Dif erent folk with dif erent backgrounds and interests have always found plenty of 
  reasons to disagree with each other on important matters, and even with everyone working hard towards the same goal, the 
  tension can get so thick sometimes you could cut it with a knife.
  This is only made worse by the fact that, currently, the Soaring Dragon Fortress has its hands full simply by defending itself 
  from Outsiders and Botakuri as they come - never strong enough to actually make a serious of ensive.
  Inspiration
  You can draw parallels between a Hiryu game and many, many Mecha shows, as arguably the most common form that the 
  Mecha Genre adopts is that of Superhero-esque robots fending of  big bad monsters from the cities they protect.  If you want 
  to run such a game and are in the mood for ‘researching’ some anime for purely scientif c purposes, here are some sugges-
  tions:
  Mazinger Z and other shows from Dynamic Productions:
  The original Super Robots, protecting Japan and their important laboratories from being destroyed by some very silly looking 
  monsters. If you can get ahold of the various, more modern remakes, that works just as well.
  The King of Braves GaoGaiGar:
  GaoGaiGar exhibits how one could take a lighthearted show and slowly raise the stakes towards a truly epic scale with its sec-
  ond half, before f nally shifting to a darker tone closer to the morally gray zone.
  Super Heavyweight God Gravion:
  Though it is easy to dismiss Gravion as a show that is little more than fanservice, it presents a few interesting concepts for the 
  use of Combiners. The action is also very good. 
  Rahxephon:
  A symbolism-laden pacif c island with its own military struggles to defeat a fœ  that never gœ s all out on them, with character 
  interactions as the true heart of the story and a plot whose mysteries can reveal a way to literally change and ‘f x’ a broken 
  world.  Ring any bells?
  Fafner in the Azure:
  Though more obviously invested on the aspect of Mecha that deals with coming of age, and a tad too grim for the average 
  game, Fafner has bizarre aliens and a multitude of characters that contribute to battling them, instead of a single useful Pilot 
  and Mecha.
  
  188
  Difficulty
  The Outsiders treat humanity itself like a minor obstacle to all the Gygravagnite-based technology they are actually interested 
  in. They generally avoid being destroyed in battle, retreating when the going gets tough. Not only that, but the PCs can count 
  on the help of Karakuri squadrons and even the Kuzuryusen cannon if they are ever pushed to the brink of defeat. Add this all 
  together and you obtain a game that is relatively easy on the players, challenging when it needs to be but unlikely to kill many 
  PCs unless they want to play hero and make a glorious last stand themselves.
  This, of course, assumes the Outsiders continue to take it easy and don’t make use of the terrifying power they demonstrated 
  when they f rst came in the Battle of the 23 Hours. The why of this status quo is unknown. Popular theory is that they can’t ex-
  amine that which they have destroyed and thus they hold back out of necessity - but the knowledge that if they wanted to they 
  could rush Hiryu with dozens of Outsiders and hundreds of Botakuri sends a chill down the spines of everyone at the base.
  Defending Hiryu
  If an Outsider is detected early enough, the Players might get a chance to f ght them out at sea with the help of the distraction 
  beacons. These are considered Reinforcements  of Power Level 2, with six uses of the Jamming Barrage ability. They will spam 
  this ability at Outsiders in the battlef eld until they run out of uses, creating a Blast at the center of each Outsider they spot. 
  They ignore Botakuris, though.
  Battle at sea is no easy matter though, and because the ocean is considered Dif  cult Terrain the PCs will need a way around it 
  such as Antigravity to move around somewhat competently.
  The coasts of Hiryu are the last ditch line of defense, and Meisters are told it is preferable to be defeated - or destroyed - 
  rather than to allow any enemies to breach into the island and city proper.
  Coming by the sea, the enemies will start on Dif  cult Terrain, while the PCs get to enjoy Defensive Terrain and the aid of the 
  Soaring Dragon Fortress itself at the very back of the battlef eld, with its many Karakuris and the fearsome Kuzuryusen if they 
  are pushed to the limit.
  Do note that use of Blast type Weapons will likely ruin the day of many civilians, bombarding the city itself with very large 
  waves, unhealthy amounts of radiation, or simply raining f re on it... Without getting into the can of worms that is the Kuzury-
  usen itself.
  The Kuzuryusen is mostly there as a stopgap measure to prevent the game from simply ending with a victory for the Outsid-
  ers. It is very likely to destroy everything on the battlef eld but will turn even the happiest of campaigns into a sour story. It will 
  destroy most of the surrounding civilization and leave only bunkers and the SDF itself still standing.
  With that said, as much as Hiryu’s defense force would like to assure you they’ve got them under control, Outsiders are any-
  thing but predictable. There’s absolutely nothing stopping them from going around Hiryu and its defensive lines towards other 
  population centers instead, or trying a pincer attack on the SDF itself.
  They could likewise take a period of rest and follow it up with an insurmountable force of Botakuris, and even multiple Outsid-
  ers can appear at once - something that has not been seen since day one. Heck, you could even have GAF forces try to get in 
  on the action, forcing the PCs to split their forces.
  Then there’s the fact that Cryptids were originally spotted in the Far West, so even if they are now in space there’s good odds 
  that something still lurks in there, with their unique abilities making for a good change of pace.
  
  189
  Running a Wagner Game
  Despite being at the core of the most infamous military force in the planet, the Wagner and its crew are the ones least pre-
  pared for the rigors of the battlef eld. Given only the hardest of missions and with little in the way of supplies and combat 
  experience, at least Gears are high spec models and the Meisters chosen by the Morrigan have a great level of innate talent. 
  This is by design much like the so called 'Real Robot' Mecha subgenre of anime.
  The Mobile Battleship Wagner as a center of a campaign hinges around a theme of 'Revolution' - the odds of the PCs are far 
  from being the best, but they'll be damned if they sit down and accept the status quo. Change has to happen, and they will 
  make it so or die trying.
  Standing in their way are people both sympathetic and despicable, many of them just as afraid of what would happen if the 
  Guerillas were to win as they are of the Outsiders. For all everyone knows, the UEF's deal was the only way to save mankind, 
  but that dœ s not matter to the revolutionaries - they will deal with that problem when the time comes.
  Inspiration
  As it was previously stated, the situation of the Wagner is very similar to that of Mecha f ction from the age when it f rst incor-
  porated harder science f ction and space opera elements into itself.  Here is a quick list of recommendations for the GM that is 
  in need of a wellspring of ideas:
  Mobile Suit Gundam:
  The franchise that created the subgenre, Gundam constantly places inexperienced pilots with superior machines against expe-
  rienced fœ s that eventually catch up to them. Most of the entries even have the characters living in an experimental battleship!
  Martian Successor Nadesico:
  Whimsical at heart but still pretty grim when it wants to be, Nadesico is a good source of ideas if you’re feeling like playing with 
  your group’s expectations and shaking them up a lot.
  Overman King Gainer:
  Though it may not seem obvious at f rst, you can use King Gainer to make a custom take on the Wagner’s mission by mimick-
  ing the Exodus, changing the mythical Yapan for the Hiryu. You can even include Cryptids and Outsiders as the equivalents of 
  the Overdevil and the Brunhilde.
  Psalm of Planets Eureka Seven:
  You have a crew of misf ts in an experimental battleship f ghting against a sinister world government whose elite force squadron 
  is gunning for them. Meanwhile the threat of invincible alien hordes looms over them. Add some fantastic characters on top of 
  that and you have great inspiration material.
  Super Beast Machine God Dancouga:
  Though the titular Mecha shares a lot with Super Robots conceptually, it also shares a good amount of its presentation with 
  Real Robots, serving as a good example of how you could have the most overpowering Mecha in the world but still have to rely 
  on guerilla warfare.
  
  190
  Difficulty
  The Gears and Boards the GAF deploys are signif cantly weaker than those of the PCs, and def nitely nowhere as threatening as 
  Outsiders or Cryptids, but they have numerical superiority on their side and history has proven that to be a factor the gue-
  rilla cannot ignore. Usually he GAF would rather not take too many risks and avoid suicide by Wagner,  but they now have the 
  Glories on their side.
  Given only to a special test team of cherry-picked aces - known as the Glory Squad - to gather precious battle data in f eld 
  tests against live enemies, a strategy that would usually be considered to be simply terrible, every Glory is a fœ  of strength 
  equal to a PC and aims to kill. This in turn boosts the morale of GAF troops and makes them take more risks.
  Because every enemy they encounter will go for the throat, the PCs under the wing of the Wagner will have a game defaulting 
  to medium dif  culty, a harder time than that at the Soaring Dragon Fortress but also easier than those poor souls at the Clarke 
  Foundation.  This can be adjusted by changing how aggressive or well-prepared the GAF is at the time.
  Guerilla Tactics
  The grand majority of Operations involving the Wagner come in two forms: blitzing to destroy one or more key facilities and the 
  subsequent getting out of dodge, or drawing enemy f re for a specif c amount of time as a distraction and then doing the same.
  The f rst is simple enough. Destroy the Base Unit at the back of the GAF defense lines and pull out before enemy reinforce-
  ments swarm you. The second is tougher. The PCs have to be aggressive and destroy enough enemies to get their attention, 
  and only after dealing enough damage and enough Rounds have passed will they be good enough to get out.
  Generally the former kind of mission is of ensive in nature and meant to demoralize and weaken the GAF, while the second is a 
  reactionary defense to slow down a GAF of ensive on f eeing civilians or attempting to enter the territory of the guerilla itself.
  But that is boiling them down to their simplest form, and things more complicated than that are bound to happen in time. 
  Within those two categories you can f t anything from hunting down new Glory prototypes to raiding a supply line and making 
  it back with your spoils of war. Battles never go as planned, additional enemy forces will ambush the PCs and allies will be in 
  need of saving. If waging war against the UEF wasn’t so dif  cult, there would not be a need for the PCs.
  Of course, those are just the missions that the Wagner is prepared to face. It is likely that they will have to endure trials they 
  never saw coming. Outsiders may decide to help the UEF quell those annoying pests, traitors may hijack a Landship and hold 
  its crew hostage, and rumors of Cryptids spreading from the remains of Zone 4 might even prove true just when you thought 
  that things couldn’t get any worse.
  
  191
  Running a Clarke Game
  What distinguishes PCs working for the Clarke Foundation from the rest is that while those from the various guerilla forces have 
  a very clear objective and enemy in their sights, the Childhood Department is neither too sure of what the heck it is they're do-
  ing nor do they know who they can actually trust.
  At its core, this type of game has a theme of 'Secrecy and Paranoia' with an intricate web of conspiracies and multiple sides 
  scheming and playing politics. This dœ s not mean that the Players have to make politically inclined Meisters, heavens no, while 
  that may make the experience much richer for them, it is in no way necessary.
  What the Players should prepare themselves for though is to be at the crux of the issue, to be opposed and assisted by the 
  NPCs alike. NPCs’ dispositions towards the PCs could remain consistent throughout the Season, or could change depending on 
  how much the party can be trusted or manipulated. It dœ s not help that the PC's own superiors aren't any dif erent in that 
  regard, but even then, the Players should unveil at least a moderate amount of these secrets and conspiracies as the Episodes 
  march on. Do try to keep them from the central conf icts of the game until near the end though.
  In this vein, the game is very much like the Mecha Fiction that bloomed during the middle of the 90's and remained popular 
  for the next decade.  The PCs think that what they're doing is the right thing - at least that's what they're told - but they'll be 
  damned if they know what the consequences of their actions actually are.
  Inspiration
  As the most complex and nebulous of the three scenarios presented, Childhood Department games are the kind that will de-
  mand the most of the GM to run a coherent story. Thankfully there are many modern series you can draw inspiration from to 
  help your emulating of this particular division of the Mecha Genre:
  Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  Evangelion is as adored as it is reviled, but its inf uence on shaping the next decade of the medium cannot be ignored, particu-
  larly if you want your players to be confused folk building castles in the air like Evangelion’s audience was.
  The Big O:
  An action oriented show that has just the right amount of mystery, and a great source of ideas for investigation scenes.  Do not 
  forget that the Big O itself frequently left everywhere it passed by in ruins.
  Brain Powerd:
  The parallels between the Foundation’s Gears and Antibodies is obvious, and you could def nitely take advantage of that and 
  make use of the show’s plot elements as inspiration to craft the backstory.
  Tekkaman Blade:
  Not so much worthy of note for the Radam beasts as for the Tekkamen themselves. Tekkamen are humans that have been 
  assimilated by the Radam but retain all their human faculties, like their memories and knowledge, just like Cryptids that have 
  completely absorbed people.
  Betterman:
  Betterman is a show with an oppressive and creepy atmosphere, and an impressive assortment of biological horrors every 
  episode. On top of that it sports a level of technobabble more interesting than usual for anime, and a conspiracy with multiple 
  groups all gunning for the protagonists.
  
  192
  Difficulty
  Every single Operation in which the Childhood Department deploys its Gears is not just potentially lethal - it is likely lethal. 
  Cryptids assimilate not only the physical forms but also memories, knowledge and the very personalities of those that endure 
  prolonged exposure to them.
  On top of that is the matter of Gear combat and how bad things get when bizarre aliens and biomechanical monsters duke it 
  out in a cramped environment. While this has no ef ect on the battle itself, you should describe how Weapons cause a lot of 
  collateral damage on the environments that the PCs are trying to protect.
  The PCs earn reprimands from their superiors, have the collateral costs of the Operation deducted from their pay, they could 
  even get thrown in a cell for a few days, or a combination of those. And then the community start to show them their unfriend-
  ly side once word of mouth starts to get around - making it harder both during Intermissions and Operations for the PCs to get 
  things done.
  Investigating Cryptid Sightings
  The Childhood Department's Operations can be far more complex than those of other factions. Sure, they could be as simple 
  as the PCs deploying with their Gears and putting down a Cryptid ASAP, but they could just as well require Clarke Operatives to 
  spend a part of the Intermission tracking down the Cryptid and sometimes may even devolve into the Meisters fending for their 
  lives without their Gears as a Cryptid gets the jump on them.
  Firstly you should f gure out what the Cryptid's behavior will be like.  What has it assimilated previously and what will it try to 
  assimilate next? Will it return to the crime scene for a second serving? Is it intelligent enough to attempt hiding from others 
  and, if so, is it any good at it? Is it hellbent on violently eating up the entire Colony, and dœ s it acknowledge the Clarke Founda-
  tion as an obstacle on its way?
  Second in importance is the Cryptid's placement.  Every locale reacts to the Clarke Foundation dif erently and that will have an 
  impact on whether the search is as simple as being pointed to a dark alley where a strange oversized cat lurks about or if they 
  are more likely to be told to crawl back to the Foundation with nothing.
  Lastly are the possible ways in which the PCs can engage the creature in combat. Considering how much they're encouraged to 
  f gure out a way to launch a Cryptid of -colony, you may want to consider which methods to do so will be available and which 
  ones won't. If they don't manage to take the battle into space, then the cities of each individual Colony are considered to be 
  Defensive Terrain with plenty of buildings to use as cover. The wall of a Colony has a Guard of 10 and needs 10 Damage to 
  cause a breach that could launch the creature into space, though it is only vulnerable to Blast or Beam Weapons.
  Cryptids have the tendency to assimilate everything around them, whether it is tangible or not, and lack the proper manners 
  to ask their owners whether they are okay with their equipment, bodies, or minds being absorbed before doing so.  Inevitably, 
  a Clarke Operative will misstep and leave an opening big enough for the Cryptid will begin assimilating them.  At that point, 
  defeating a Cryptid is not so much a matter of “how” as it is a matter of “how fast.”
  What this basically means is that a Meister whose Gear gets hit a handful of times may be a goner even if the Gear itself is still 
  standing strong. Given that most of the Foundation’s Gears are surprisingly durable and that they have often gone through one 
  or more Meisters before getting to the PCs, this may or may not be something that happens relatively often.
  For the most part, Cryptids will not inf ict lasting harm on a PC - they might make them feel weakened from blood loss, forget 
  their home address number, or leave them temporarily depressed - but these pass with time. The real problem is when that 
  third Layer of Plot Armor breaks; a threat only made worse by the fact that it is very possible for a PC to suf er Damage before 
  combat actually begins. A PC breaking through that point of no return is going to see something drastic happen to them - they 
  might lose internal organs, hallucinate vividly for months, or become sociopathic murderers as a result of the assimilation pro-
  cess removing key aspects of their emotional balance.
  
  193
  The Hiryu's Last Stand:
  The SDF has reverse engineered enough Outsider tech to 
  make the Mothership disappear entirely and send it to anoth-
  er dimension, much like the Outsiders once did to the Space 
  Colonies of Wells years ago. The science team believes this will 
  not kill them, but they should not be able to return back for a 
  good twelve thousand years. After using this weapon, the war 
  is won, the UEF no longer has any reason to fear them, and all 
  seems well. Except for the several hundred remaining Botakuri, 
  directionless and without their masters, heading directly for 
  Hiryu too fast and for any evacuation notices to be ef ective.
  Man's Worst Enemy:
  Using another Outsider-turned-Gear as medium and a priest-
  ess in a trance state inside the Core, it should be possible to 
  communicate with the Outsiders on our own initiative.  If the 
  team manages to get the Gear close enough to achieve this 
  via an escort mission, they might be able to make another 
  deal, one more convenient for everyone other than just the 
  upper echelons of the UEF.  It becomes grotesquely clear that 
  everything the Outsiders have been doing was condoned by 
  the world government, who gained the secret to immortality 
  in exchange for 'researching mankind and their use of Ele-
  ment G in a natural environment.'  The Far West were simply 
  handed over like mere goods to trade. A new all-out worldwide 
  of ensive against the UEF begins the moment this information 
  is made public.
  Power and Responsibility:
  The PCs capture one of the six men who rule the world and 
  learn that there is no such thing as a free lunch. It turns out 
  that for all the wonders it is capable of, mass use of Element 
  G brings the heat death of the universe closer with every crys-
  tal upwards of a certain threshold - a threshold that the Safe 
  Zones are meant to keep in check and that the Outsiders have 
  been researching. This information is shared among the GAF 
  Generals and the PCs help stage a coup d’ etat to take them 
  down. This new world government will have to f gure out a way 
  to solve the energy crisis, though the question will be whether 
  they can do so without resorting to oppressing its population 
  or not.
  Ragnarok:
  The Guerilla and the Colonies perform a joint operation where 
  the former cause a ruckus while the latter take on Boston 
  with an orbital drop, aided by the Wagner. Before the Outsid-
  ers can react, a concentration of 3G Bombs manages to sink 
  their Mothership to the depths of the ocean.  But things stop 
  going as expected there. The destruction of this event is the 
  greatest the Earth has ever seen: multiple countries become 
  submerged, the unnatural shift in gravity creates a winter that 
  lasts three quarters of a year, and Cryptid births become 
  commonplace in every populated location on the globe. And 
  no one is in a better position to watch and rule over this new 
  world than the New Solar Space Alliance.
  The Ultimate Weapon:
  Cryptids are actually weapons that the Clarke Foundation 
  and their predecessors have been trying to keep in check for 
  decades, and now after many failed experiments the f rst con-
  trollable Cryptid is engineered. Their brains are replaced with 
  artif cial intelligences which keep their instincts in check and 
  teach them to assimilate only select components, knowledge 
  and emotions from targets. Waves of Cryptids are sent to the 
  Earth, where they utterly dominate any opposition, even the 
  Outsiders. The PCs must choose between allowing the SSA's 
  new world domination scheme to succeed and letting these 
  barely controlled monsters continue being produced, or mak-
  ing a stand and destroying the source: the Clarke Foundation.
  From the New World:
  The origin of the Cryptids is a space between dimensions.  
  They are things that slipped from the cracks between worlds 
  when the Outsiders arrived in our universe, meaning that 
  with enough research on the nature of Cryptids and reverse 
  engineering their biology, it should be possible to create a way 
  to travel to parallel Earths in other universes. One dœ s not 
  need to win the war with the Outsiders or the UEF if they can 
  simply go to a much more peaceful parallel Earth instead - an 
  Earth which they may proceed to rule themselves with their 
  highly advanced technology.
  Endgame Ideas
  So you want to end things with a bang. The characters have all grown as people and they're strong enough to have taken out 
  the sample enemies, but you are not sure how to go about it. Here are six ideas to get your creative juices f owing, each one 
  making use of one or more rumors and plot hooks present in their sections.
  
  194
  Do it Yourself
  The thing that distinguishes Roleplaying Games from most other forms of entertainment is that there is no limit other than 
  your imagination. One of Battle Century G’s strengths is that its rules system is very f exible and you can make the rules f t with 
  pretty much any kind of Mecha game with little to no ef ort. Combine both of these factors and you are going to want to make 
  your own game setting to play with your group. That’s what this section is about.
  You have to f gure out a few things beforehand: What the world is like, who the PCs will f ght against, where they will live, and 
  who they know. GMs all over the world have been doing this on their own from time immemorial, but the more that the other 
  Players have a say in this world and its inhabitants, the more invested everyone will be in it. 
  If your GM tells you that the enemy faction are the mysterious Jupiterian Arachnobots, that’s cool. If you think that maybe the 
  Arachnobots have little scorpion drones that they use to invade civilian settlements, you have just given the GM an idea they 
  might not have come up with on their own. With that said, many GMs are picky about the kind of games they want to run, and 
  that is f ne. They will be doing most of the work to keep the game world going after all, let them have f nal say in the matter. 
  So where do we begin worldbuilding? The f rst step is to think of shows you like and would like to imitate as a group. If there are 
  multiple ideas, you can try combining them into something that the group as a whole will support. But this might not be pos-
  sible.
  Suppose some of the group would like to play something like that one show with the Mecha f ghting world tournament, but 
  there’s also support for that other show about heroic mercenaries piloting a combining super robot. Both ideas are pretty hard 
  to reconcile and kind of incompatible with each other, so someone’s going to have to cede.
  At the very least make sure the group is clear on the following: What dœ s everyone want from the game?  What dœ s everyone 
  not want? What things are they interested in?  What are they curious about or otherwise willing to try?
  The group dœ sn’t have to agree on the exact details, but they need to be on the same page as much as possible. It would not 
  do any good if every player gœ s into the game with dif erent expectations. If the game is going to revolve around hunting space 
  f sh, you can expect a business-savvy scoundrel PC to f t in like a glove, but an honorbound warrior PC who follows the letter of 
  the law might not be the best choice. Making sure everyone’s expectations are accurate is crucial. 
  Once everyone has come to terms, you can start to def ne the world proper.
  Enemy Mine
  The primary enemy faction and their objective will def ne the conf ict that unites your party. If you want to have more than one 
  enemy faction (as in the default setting), then considering how they interact with each other is just as important as how they 
  interact with the PCs. Your enemies and the threat they represent to the PCs will motivate the characters to rise in action (and 
  in reaction) more than any other aspect of the setting, so make sure they are well def ned.
  Who or what are they? What are they after? Are they sympathetic? Do they oppose the pilots personally or are they just in 
  the way of the grander objective? How do the pilots feel about them? How large a threat do they pose? Would it be possible to 
  make peace with them?
  These questions deal only with the general nature of your enemies, not with the specif cs of who exactly they are and what 
  dirty tricks can the end boss pull. The previous chapter has advice for GMs wanting to know how to use enemies ef ectively, and 
  how to make memorable antagonists.
  
  195
  Ambience and Tone
  Mecha of ers a wide variety of settings to play in, from high technology games where impossibly sized giant robots must protect 
  the Earth sphere from an intergalactic alien empire, to grim and dark dystopian societies in which people hunt each other with 
  powered armor for money.
  If you’re going to create a Series then you should decide where it stands within this spectrum. What is the world like? What is 
  the technological level? Are mecha a common occurrence? Has humanity conquered the stars? Are there known alien races? 
  How do people live in this day and age? In short, what will the ambience and tone be like?
  Tone: Heroic, Tragic or Bittersweet?
  Heroic
  Heroic Settings have humanity (or whatever society you are 
  using) as fundamentally good.  People may be f awed but they 
  always try their best. Villainous characters tend to have sym-
  pathetic reasons for their acts or are simply not human and 
  easily branded as ‘evil.’
  Characters die in grandiose acts of self-sacrif ce or at least get 
  a chance for a really good one-liner before going out.  Death 
  can usually be put of  until the end of the episode and of-
  tentimes is just an excuse for the character to show up again 
  later as a cyborg or another twist like that.
  Tragic
  Tragic Settings are full of damaged, messed up individuals 
  who are either out to get you or are so self-destructive and 
  generally def ned by their faults that they might as well be. 
  Recurring antagonists may be completely irredeemable mon-
  sters in personality or may simply have a personal problem 
  with the PCs.
  Survival is never guaranteed and every battle might be any 
  PC’s last, with fates worse than death not being that uncom-
  mon. Not even Grunts should be underestimated in a story 
  like this, or the consequences could be... Tragic.
  Bittersweet
  Bittersweet Settings are in the grayer morality zone and 
  populated with people who are overall good but sometimes 
  make mistakes, or are too busy protecting their own to worry 
  about others. Enemies range from characters the PCs would 
  be friends with if they weren’t on opposing teams, to the oc-
  casional extremist with good intentions.
  Death is not necessarily common, but it happens to the best, 
  and it is not pretty. Since in the default setting of Battle Cen-
  tury G the world is largely populated by a balanced amount 
  of jerks and morons alongside genuinely good and reasonable 
  people, it f ts as an example of this.
  Ambience: Epic, Gritty or Fantastic?
  Epic
  Epic Settings are where the impossible is common hap-
  penstance: perhaps technology has advanced enough to be 
  indistinguishable from magic, or science is rendered irrelevant 
  by some greater force.
  Epic stories often put the entirety of the world, the galaxy or 
  reality itself at risk with only the PCs to protect it. In an Epic 
  game of Battle Century G, you will generally see weapons 
  adapted to more outlandish interpretations: a rocket punch 
  can reach all the way to the moon, and a beam weapon in-
  stead creates miniature black holes.
  Gritty
  Gritty Settings try not to suspend disbelief beyond the 
  minimum necessary and technology is usually down to earth, 
  including moderate justif cation for the existence of giant 
  robots. Stories are usually about small conf icts such as play-
  ing antiterrorist response teams or trying to survive the front 
  lines during a war against the enemy faction.
  Playing a Gritty game might see many character options re-
  stricted for the sake of integrity, such as forbidding biological 
  or animal themed mecha along with f avor limitations to make 
  upgrades and weapons sound more realistic.
  Fantastic
  Fantastic Settings are the majority and placed somewhere in 
  between the previous two. They have a semblance of realism 
  to them but maintain elements that we are far away from see-
  ing in our own lives. Mecha are either rare and unique or the 
  main characters and their antagonists are the only ones with 
  new-generation Mecha technology.
  Conventions of both genres are present, and plots range from 
  giant robot world wars where the PCs are a special unit, to pri-
  vate organizations investigating strange events and using their 
  Mecha to solve them. The default setting of Battle Century G is 
  an example of a fantastic setting.
  
  196
  Inspiration
  So you want to make a wholly pregenerated world on your own and then dump the players on top. This is quite hard, but it 
  dœ s have the benef t of making it much easier to pull surprises on the rest of your group and enhances the joy of discover-
  ing things entirely on their own. Previous lists with sources of inspiration tried to stick to shows legally available in English, but 
  this list will make use of media beyond animated mediums and some of it will not be easy to obtain for the average consumer, 
  much less with an of  cial translation – additionally, not all of it might be suitable for minors. 
  The list on the left is made to help you with general worldbuilding, while the list on the right will help you come up with epi-
  sodic, sandboxy content.
  Aim for the Top! Gunbuster:
  If there is one thing Gainax has always been constant with, it 
  is their attention to detail. Gunbuster has a very thorough ef-
  fort placed on its science f ction components while still being 
  a super robot show about blowing up aliens with the power of 
  hard work and guts.
  The Macross franchise:
  It is easy to forget, in between all the saving the world with 
  song, that Macross has a surprising amount of thought going 
  into it. It is possibly one of the grittiest Mecha franchises out 
  there once you look closer. It also only gets more detailed with 
  each addition to the franchise, for good or ill.
  MuvLuv Alternative:
  There are many things which make MuvLuv famous, but the 
  one we want here is the in-depth worldbuilding. It of ers an 
  alternate-reality semi-realistic setting pitting giant robots 
  against terrifying aliens, with a lot of quality science f ction 
  and politics thrown in the mix for good measure. 
  Xenogears and Xenosaga (I to III):
  Flawed as they may be, both games have rich and detailed 
  worlds. You could run dozens of games set in their universes 
  and you would never have to approach any of the less liked 
  aspects of their settings. They are also solid examples of how 
  one may mix up Pilot and Mecha action scenes.
  Super Robot Wars:
  Hours, days and weeks can be spent detailing the minutiæ  of 
  a setting to craft the most deep and meaningful game experi-
  ence your group will ever enjoy. Or you can just tell them: 
  “You are the good guys and have these robots, these are the 
  bad guys and have their own robots,” and have some fun. 
  Don't forget that this, in the end, is just a game.
  Mobile Police Patlabor:
  Probably the closest to realism that Mecha shows will ever 
  get. Patlabor makes a good case example on how not every 
  Episode needs to make use of Mecha, and that they might be 
  used for things other than beating up other robots or giant 
  monsters.
  Terrestrial Defense Corp. Dai-Guard:
  The main characters are everyday white-collar workers whose 
  job description includes piloting a giant robot and protecting 
  the peace. This should be all you need to know.
  Full Metal Panic!:
  In between f ghting terrorism with giant robots and a lot of 
  tactical espionage action there’s entire episodes devoted to 
  the characters carrying the show by interacting with each 
  other. The animated adaptation of Full Metal Panic even has a 
  whole season devoted to its slice of life elements.
  Genesis of Aquarion and Aquarion Evol:
  Either version of Aquarion has enough gimmick episodes for 
  multiple arcs' worth of Intermissions, subverting common 
  clichés going from “The Soccer Episode” to having an entire 
  Episode’s plot centered around being poorly animated. It is 
  overf owing in its abundance of ideas, both silly and serious, 
  for all your episodic needs.
  Galactic Strike Force Majestic Prince:
  Genetically engineered soldiers with eccentric personalities 
  and terrible teamwork f ght of  an alien invasion. The plot of 
  Majestic Prince is nothing to write home about, but the char-
  acters are funny and endear themselves to you. It has very 
  good action scenes and by the end you’ll want more, because 
  it is just that enjoyable.
  
  197
  The Caesar reassembled itself out of its scattered component pieces 
  once again, refusing to be defeated. Once more the giant knight lunges 
  with its sword at Blade's Gear, cutting off one of the Black General's 
  arms. It will not go down without having taken Blade with it.
  Everyone was battered, but they knew they had one advantage over 
  their singleminded foe, and Blade was going to capitalize on it "Both of 
  you continue into the center of the ship, I'll keep it distracted." 
  It didn't take long for Jeff to protest “What?”
  Maria did the same almost immediately "But you can't stand up to it on 
  your own, less now that you've lost an arm."
  Blade snickered, "It can't be helped, I wouldn't make it back with Black 
  General in this state anyway... Listen, it senses I am the strongest war-
  rior here, if I make an opening, it'll let you through. It might be an alien, 
  but it is still a proud fighter, and I can understand it as such."
  Jeff kept radio silence, but Maria seemed much more interested in 
  keeping her subordinate from killing himself. "Don't be stupid, we said 
  we'd all come back, and no one in my squad is a liar. Eject and I'll re-
  trieve you, we can still beat this guy."
  The Outsider adopted a charging stance. "Heh. That's a good joke. Jeff, 
  you understand don't you?" Blade did not move the Black General, not 
  even when the sword went straight for him. 
  But it did not hit Black General. General Z was in between the both of 
  them, chest still red from having just used its own body to halt the in-
  coming enemy. “Are you done playing the cool hero yet?”
  Blade was not amused. “I’m not kidding around! Get out of here!”
  But, for once, Jeff was the one doing the interruptions “We still have 
  an ace in the hole!”
  
  198
  “What?”
  “Professor Tetsuryuu's Trump card and the final result of all the years 
  of work put into Project General, Projectile G and... Formation GGG!"
  Indeed, the off-voice of our friendly narrator elaborates "The Projectile 
  G can amplify and channel Maria's psychic energy into telekinetic force 
  that helps the combination program reorder and reassemble the com-
  ponent pieces of each Gear individually, creating the world's mightiest 
  Super Robot, the Grand Glorious General!" 
  There was a long pause.
  “Since when do we have a narrator?” Raymond asked. 
  “Since I needed to explain this sudden powerup to you.” Ingham 
  shrugged. It wasn’t really a big deal.
  “Only to me?” 
  “The others already knew about it.”
  “And you kept quiet about it because...” Ray let that trail off, inviting 
  Maya and Ryu to elaborate with a gesture. 
  “...We were busy.” 
  “With things.” 
  They looked at him like it could have just happened, or maybe they 
  planned this eleventh hour powerup as a surprise all along. With these 
  two it was difficult to tell.
  “We’re using mid-scene upgrade for a Unison Combiner, then.” Ray 
  stated, in a tone that made it sound like he was half-asking it. The oth-
  er two nodded. “On one condition: I take the lead first.”
  
  199
  Pilot Attributes
  Fitness
  Fitness measures a character’s physical ability and helps them 
  pull of  feats of raw strength, gymnastic f exibility, and long-
  term endurance.
  Intellect
  Intellect denotes whether a character is smart, in the sense 
  that it handles being knowledgeable plus a dose of worldly 
  awareness. Note that Intellect dœ s not correlate directly to 
  education, as a character might just have poor book learning 
  abilities but still have enough wits to spare for tricking every-
  one around them.
  Charm
  Charm helps a character perform well socially.  The empathic 
  character can tell exactly who he should talk to, how to talk to 
  them, and surprisingly has the tendency to make more friends 
  than enemies.
  Awareness
  Awareness keeps someone attuned to their surroundings, be-
  ing perceptive, memorious and with an empathic understand-
  ing of other people. With Awareness one can tell a lie from 
  the truth using body language or noticing small but crucial 
  contradicting details.
  Willpower
  Willpower is a combination of a character’s toughness, com-
  posure and morale. It helps them stand their ground against 
  things that wish they rather didn’t. 
  Resources
  Resources represents how well grounded a character is from 
  an economic and social standpoint. It dœ s this in the form 
  of connections, material wealth, and the general stability that 
  modern life in a city demands.
  Mecha Attributes
  Might
  From ef  cient targeting systems to raw of ensive power, Might 
  is the Attribute that gauges just how good the Mecha is at 
  making other Mecha explode.
  Guard
  As the counterpart to Might, Guard makes your Mecha harder 
  to damage through a combination of evasive maneuvers and 
  tough armor. 
  Threshold
  Threshold is the second half of making a giant robot that can 
  withstand assault. It represents how sturdy the Mecha is and 
  how well it holds against damage after its defenses have been 
  breached.
  Energy
  Energy is consumed every time the Mecha uses certain abili-
  ties, like energy barriers or beam weapons. Mecha will replen-
  ish their Energy reserves every Turn, if the Attribute itself is 
  low it won’t do much for them.
  Systems
  Sometimes you need to use your Mecha for things that re-
  quire a touch of skill or technical know-how, such as manipu-
  lating small objects with your huge metal hands, decoding en-
  emy communications, or managing f re suppression systems. 
  That’s what Systems handles.
  Speed
  To no one’s surprise, giant robots are faster than people. The 
  method dœ sn’t matter, you might f y, run, or f oat around if 
  you so desire, but this Attribute is what gauges it.
  
  200
  Tests
  A Test is a roll of 1d10 + One of your Attributes against a Dif-
  f culty Number. This number can be static, a variable depend-
  ing on someone else’s Attributes, or the result of another Test. 
  If you have appropriate Skills and Traits to the Test, you gain 
  one or more Advantages to it.
  Difficulty Benchmarks
  DN 5 Easier in Fiction than Real Life:
  Capturing the attention of a crowd, shooting blanks with a gun 
  accurately, crafting a Molotov cocktail.
  DN 10 Leave it to the Experts: 
  Finding shelter in the wild during winter, disarming a bomb, 
  seducing someone for information.
  DN 15 Really Impressive Stuf : 
  Kicking open an apartment door, distracting the big bad with a 
  monologue of your own, inf ltrating a military prison.
  DN 20 Against all Odds: 
  Winning the olympics, restoring data from a formatted hard 
  drive, bringing someone back from the brink of death.
  Advantages and Disadvantages
  An Advantage lets you roll an additional d10 with your Test 
  and pick the better roll of the two dice. Multiple Advantages 
  let you pick one dice out of three, four or possibly more.  
  A Disadvantage is the inverse, forcing you to pick the worse 
  result of the dice rolled, and they stack in the same way.  Ad-
  vantages and Disadvantages cancel each other out.
  Players may trade in their Advantages for a bonus of  +2 to 
  the result. The GM may also trade away a single Disadvan-
  tage a PC is suf ering to raise the DN by 2. You can trade one 
  Advantage or Disadvantage this way or all of them, as you 
  choose. 
  Defense and Damage
  All Pilots have a Defense sub-Attribute that protects them 
  from harm. To strike at a Pilot, you must beat their Defense 
  DN with with your Test.
  Defense is a combination of ref exes, ability to read the 
  moves of others, and quick thinking. For Pilots 
  its value is equal to Awareness plus 5.
  If you are lucky, talented, or both then you inf ict Damage 
  equal to the amount you passed their Defense DN by.
  Plot Armor
  Whenever a Pilot suf ers Damage, they lose that many points 
  of Plot Armor. Plot Armor is subdivided into three Layers, each 
  with a number of points equal to the Character’s Willpower. 
  When you take Damage, the f rst Layer loses points. When a 
  Layer is empty of points, you lose that Layer and the 
  Layer immediately below it is the one to receive Damage 
  afterwards, and so on.
  When losing a Layer, you must Test Willpower against 
  a DN of 10 for losing the f rst Layer, a DN of 15 for the 
  second layer, and a DN of 20 for the third Layer. Failing
  any of these Tests means that you are defeated instantly.
  The f rst Layer of Plot Armor restores all of its points between 
  Scenes, the second Layer dœ s so between Episodes, and the 
  third Layer heals between Episode Arcs.
  Genre Points
  Your number of Starting Genre Points is equal to your Power 
  Level (usually one, two or three). You gain more Genre Points 
  every time you roleplay one of your Genre Themes, though 
  they reset back to your Power Level at the beginning of a new 
  Episode.
  Initiative
  At the beginning of a combat scenario, everyone rolls Tests 
  their Awareness and Fitness together by averaging both At-
  tributes for a single roll. The result is called the Character’s 
  initiative. 
  The one who rolls highest gœ s f rst, with the second highest 
  roll going second, and so on until everyone has had a chance 
  to move – then the process repeats until the battle is over.  
  Once rolled, all Initiative results are f xed.
  Tension
  Tension is a dynamic number that increases after every 
  Round has passed, starting at 1 for the f rst Round. Tests made 
  to hurt an Enemy add the current Tension to their Attributes 
  to calculate the result of a Test.
  Zones
  The areas where the action take place are called Zones; a 
  Zone is essentially a small area people can move in and out 
  of in just a few seconds. For instance a house is broken into 
  individual rooms and hallways, each of which is a dif erent 
  Zone. Characters may only use Tests to attack Characters 
  in the same Zone. You may Move from one Zone to another 
  when you take an Action.
  
  201
  Genre Powers
  A Genre Power requires you to spend a Genre Point in 
  order to use it. Setup Powers must be used at the begin-
  ning of your turn, while Reaction Powers may be used at 
  any time.
  Reaction Genre Powers take ef ect faster than anything they 
  are used to respond to, even if those are other Reaction Pow-
  ers.
  Initiative and Movement
  Mecha use the Initiative rules too, but they Test their Speed 
  Attribute and don’t have to average two dif erent Attributes.
  Mecha are faster than Pilots. Moving as part of your Action 
  lets you move a number of Zones equal to your Speed At-
  tribute. One Zone is the same as one square or one hex if you 
  are using a battle grid. You cannot Move backwards if you are 
  also attacking an Enemy, though.
  Weapon Ranges
  Weapons have a minimum and maximum range in the amount 
  of Zones away they can hit. Melee Weapons can hit targets 
  sharing a Zone with you or in the next adjacent Zone. Shoot-
  ing Weapons have a maximum Range of 5 Zones away from 
  you.
  Threshold and Maiming
  Threshold is much like Plot Armor, except that it comes in 
  four Levels instead of three Layers. After Damage has been 
  dealt to your Mecha, you remove that many points from your 
  topmost Threshold Level. Once that Level is reduced to 0, you 
  begin to remove points from the next one below it, and so on 
  until the last point of your fourth and f nal Level of Threshold 
  is gone. 
  The f rst time that any Level of Threshold is lost during an 
  Operation, you gain a Genre Point. All Threshold is restored to 
  normal between Operations.
  When a Threshold Level is reduced to 0, an Area belong-
  ing to the struck Mecha is Maimed. Upgrades and Weapons 
  equipped in Maimed Areas are useless. 
  If the amount of Damage was an odd number then the de-
  fender chooses an Area to sacrif ce, but if the Damage dealt 
  was an even number the attacker chooses what to take out in-
  stead. Maimed Areas are repaired at the end of an Operation.
  Other Actions
  Aim
  Choose a Weapon and a target, your next Of ensive Action 
  gains an Advantage to the Might Test with the chosen 
  Weapon against that enemy.
  Engage in a Duel
  You must Attack using a Weapon from Range 0, which is to 
  say, while in the same Zone as the target. You may Move in 
  position f rst and Engage with the same Action.
  Whether you actually deal Damage to them or not, both of 
  you are now engaged in a Duel. Units in a Duel are locked 
  at range 0 and may not Move with their Actions normally. At 
  the beginning of their Turn they may make a Contested Speed 
  Test against their opponent. The winner gets to Move both 
  participants a number of Zones equal to the lowest Speed of 
  the two in a direction of their choice.
  Anyone who tries to attack either of both engaged Units 
  will have to Test Might against both of them at once. If the 
  result of the roll is an odd number they hit their Ally, but an 
  even result lets them hit their Enemy. If the Might Test fails 
  against one duelist but not the other, then the one with the 
  lower Defense is the victim.
  Attacking any other target than the one you are locked in a 
  duel with is risky if not suicidal, and will give your opponent a 
  free Of ensive Action against you.
  Disengage
  You can escape from a Duel you’re in and return to the main 
  battle, moving your Speed away in a direction of your 
  choice.
  Maneuver
  You add either your Systems or your Speed to your De-
  fense for a Round. You may give this Defense bonus to an 
  Ally within 1 Zone of Range from you instead of keeping it for 
  yourself. Multiple Maneuvers do not stack together, using only 
  the highest result of the bunch, and Docked Units may not 
  Maneuver for others at all. 
  
  202
  Terrain
  Plain
  The most basic and simple kind of battlef eld. Plain Terrain ranges from everyday meadows and outer space to outright Boss 
  Platforms™ . It is best described by its own lack of benef ts or hindrances. Plain Terrain has no special rules.
  Difficult
  Rocky and uneven hills, deserts that clog your Mecha’s joints with sand and strong currents that leave your giant robot waist 
  deep in water. These are all good examples of Dif  cult Terrain, known for how much it complicates the lives of those trying to 
  cross it. Units Halve their Speed while they are within Dif  cult Terrain. This means that for each Zone of Dif  cult Terrain 
  you attempt to cross, you have to spend two units of movement instead of one.
  Defensive
  Defensive Terrain is distinguished by having a lot of cover for Units, making it comparable to the Mecha equivalent of war 
  trenches. Examples of Defensive Terrain are most urban settings, deep jungles, and asteroid f elds. Defensive Terrain forces all 
  Might Tests made against Units within it to suf er a Disadvantage.
  Extreme
  Extreme Terrain covers a variety of hazardous environs that are deadly to both people and giant robots. Examples of Extreme 
  Terrain include magnetics storm and erupting volcanœ s. A Unit that begins or ends a Turn within Extreme Terrain must roll 
  either a Systems or Speed Test against a DN of 10 plus the current Tension. Should they fail the Test, they then take 
  the amount they failed it by as Damage. If they begin and end a Turn within Extreme Terrain, each instance threatens them 
  separately.
  Impassable
  The f fth basic type of Terrain represents things like skyscrapers or asteroids, things that you can use as cover but sometimes 
  are also in the way. You may not move or shoot through Zones of Impassable Terrain. Most battlef elds have Impassable 
  Terrain around the edges.
  The Core
  After all four Threshold Levels and their corresponding Areas have been Maimed, the Mecha’s Core ejects. The Core is what 
  holds the Mecha’s critical systems, including the very Pilot riding it. Generally the Core is a cockpit with jets installed, but the 
  smaller Mecha have a suit of powered armor instead. Cores lack all Upgrades, even Internal ones, and the Pilot should retreat 
  on the double after ejection because it of ers minimum protection from enemies.
  The ejected Core still has Attributes, but they are all halved. It has no Threshold and no Weapons. Damage dealt to the Core is 
  also dealt to the Pilot.
  A Pilot may choose to Eject at any time before their Action during their Turn, placing themselves 1 Zone away from their 
  Mecha’s location. A Mecha without a Pilot can still operate with its most basic AI, keeping half of its original Attributes, but is 
  automatically disabled the moment it takes a single point of Damage.
  Pilots vs Mecha
  Mecha trying to shoot hapless humans have it easy, they attack as normal but any Damage they would deal to a Pilot-scale 
  target is doubled. Pilots also make an Of ensive Test as normal to strike at Mecha, but any Damage they would deal is halved. 
  Furthermore Deathblow Traits have no ef ect on Mecha at all.
  
  203
  Line
  These are short range crowd control tools, like shotguns or 
  f amethrowers. Line Weapons target an individual Zone or 
  an Enemy. They make a single Might Test against all units 
  in a line extending from you towards the target until the 
  end of Weapon’s Range. Lines do not dif erentiate between 
  friend or fœ  and attack enemies within the same Zone as you 
  too, but will not attack you.
  Long Range
  Long Range Weapons strike much farther than others. 
  Increase the Weapon’s Maximum Range by an amount 
  equal to your Systems beyond the norm for other 
  Melee or Shooting Weapons. When you take the Aim 
  Action with one of these Weapons, their Maximum Range 
  increases by an additional 5 Zones.
  Technique
  Techniques are special attacks that are stronger, but are dif-
  f cult to pull of  and push the machine to its limits. Mecha 
  simply cannot handle using them often at full power, and 
  most Enemies will see them coming after the f rst time they 
  fell for it. The f rst time you use a Technique during an 
  Operation, it  gains double the benef t from Tension to its 
  Might Test. All Techniques used beyond the f rst will treat 
  Tension as 0 until the Operation is over.
  One Shot
  Many Weapons have limited uses. Maybe they chew through 
  ammo too fast or perhaps they break on use. One Shot 
  Weapons may be only f red once per Operation.
  Slow
  This Weapon cannot be f red continuously, maybe it is a 
  thrown weapon that takes a while to return or it just reloads 
  very slowly. A Slow Weapon can only be f red once every 
  two Rounds.That means it cannot be used two Turns in a row, 
  but may alternate f ring between every other Turn.
  Overheating
  The gun is unstable. It will not explode, but its harmful radia-
  tion will interfere with your fragile systems. If you keep a die 
  roll that results in an odd number when using this Weap-
  on, you take an amount of Damage yourself equal to the 
  current Tension after using it.
  Unreliable
  This Weapon is inaccurate, prone to misf ring, or jams more 
  often than you’d like. If you keep a die roll that results in 
  an odd number when using this Weapon, you lose the 
  benef t of Tension to the Might Test.
  Basic Weapon Abilities
  Melee
  Cold weapons in giant robot form. their name is something 
  of a misnomer, because plenty of them can be used to strike 
  fœ s at a distance, like the Rocket Punch. Melee Weapons gain 
  an Advantage when used to Engage in a Duel or against a 
  target that is in one. They have a minimum Range of 0 and 
  a Maximum Range of 1.
  Shooting
  Encompassing all sorts of ﬁ rearms as well as missile 
  launchers and artillery devices, Shooting Weapons are the 
  best at striking from a distance taking a moment to adjust 
  your sights. These Weapons have a Minimum Range of 0 
  and a Maximum Range of 5. When using the Aim Action 
  with a Shooting Weapon, it gains an additional Advan-
  tage to the Might Test.
  Beam (Boost X)
  The energy-based equivalent of either of the above, Beam 
  Weapons can be laser cannons or blades made of heated 
  particles. All Beam Weapons cost 1 point of Energy to use 
  and can be Boosted by spending an optional Energy cost 
  between parentheses. When you Boost a Beam Weapon 
  it gains an Advantage to its Might Test. Sometimes, Boost-
  ing them also grants another special ability. You can Boost a 
  Beam Weapon once per Action.
  Other Weapon Abilities
  Blast (X)
  Some Weapons make really big explosions. Blast Weapons 
  target an individual Zone or an Enemy. They make a 
  single Might Test against all units within X Zones from 
  the target. Blasts do not dif erentiate between friend or fœ , 
  but will not cause you to attack yourself should you be within 
  their blast radius. You still have to deal with any potential 
  secondary ef ects.
  Burst
  Burst Weapons have a long and wide reach around the 
  user. They attack all Zones within Range in a circle around 
  you as far as they can reach, making a single Test against 
  everything within the area of ef ect. You can attack targets 
  within your same Zone with them, but will not attack yourself. 
  Unlike Blasts or Lines, Bursts don’t attack Allies positioned 
  within the area of ef ect.
  Crippling
  These Weapons add insult to injury restraining the enemy on 
  hit or are outright designed to damage their internal systems. 
  Crippling Weapons always have the benef ts of the Sup-
  press Action but without the penalty to Damage. Instead, 
  if the Enemy chooses to Move, they will suf er Damage 
  equal to the distance Moved.
  
  204
  Index
  Active Defense
  82
  Action
  13, 26, 31
  Advantage
  13, 22
  Aim
  31
  Ally
  13
  Alternate Forms
  85
  Analyze
  128
  Anomaly
  59
  Arc
  9
  Area
  13, 79
  Arms
  79
  Assist
  31
  Attack
  13, 26, 31
  Attribute
  13, 17, 18
  Attribute Test
  24
  Awareness
  17
  Bane
  60, 63
  Barrage
  128
  Beam
  90
  Beam Weapon
  90, 93
  Blast
  90
  Boost
  32
  Boost X
  90
  Boss
  115
  Boss Trait
  118
  Boss Power
  119
  Boss Upgrade
  121
  Boss Weapon
  123
  Boss Capstone
  124
  Buildup
  26
  Burst
  90
  Character Points
  13, 42
  Charm
  17
  Combination
  86
  Contested Test
  22
  Core
  33, 79
  Crippling
  90
  Damage
  13, 21, 27, 33
  Deathblow
  58
  Default Weapon
  89
  Defeat
  13, 27, 35
  Defense
  13, 21
  Defensive Terrain
  34
  Delay
  32
  Difficult Terrain
  34
  Difficulty Number
  13, 21
  Disadvantage
  13
  Disengage
  32
  Disrupt
  26
  Dock
  32
  Duel
  13, 31
  Enemy
  13
  Enemy Feature
  117
  Enemy Tiers
  114, 115
  Energy
  18, 78
  Engage
  31
  Episode
  13
  Equipment
  56
  Equipment Test
  24
  Extended Test
  23
  Experience Points
  13
  Extra Areas
  85
  Extreme Terrain
  34
  Features
  87
  Fitness
  17
  Genre Master
  13
  Genre Points
  13
  Genre Powers
  13
  Genre Themes
  13, 60
  Grunt
  115
  Guard
  18, 78
  Head
  79
  Healing Test
  24
  Help Test
  23
  Impassable Terrain
  34
  Initiative
  13, 25, 29
  Intellect
  17
  Intermission
  13, 22
  
  205
  Legs
  79
  Line
  90
  Long Range
  90
  Maim
  13, 33
  Maneuver
  26, 32
  Match
  13, 25
  Mecha Points
  13, 77
  Melee Weapon
  90, 91
  Might
  18, 78
  Miracles
  49
  Mixed Test
  23
  Mobility
  83
  Move
  13
  Non-Player Character
  14
  One Shot
  90
  Operation
  14, 29
  Overheating
  90
  Overwhelm
  128
  Paired Attack
  115
  Plain Terrain
  34
  Player Character
  14
  Plot Armor
  14, 27
  Power Level
  14, 20
  Power Rating
  116
  Proxy
  27
  Range
  14, 30
  Rank
  19
  Reason
  60, 61
  Reinforcements
  128
  Reinforcement Powers
  129
  Resources
  17
  Restoration
  83
  Rival
  115
  Round
  14
  Run
  26
  Scene
  14
  Season
  17
  Shooting Weapon
  90, 92
  Skill
  14
  Skill Test
  22
  Slow
  90
  Speed
  18, 78
  Squad
  29
  Support
  84
  Suppress
  31
  Systems
  18, 78
  Technique
  90
  Tension
  14, 25
  Terrain
  14, 34
  Test
  14, 21
  Threshold
  18, 78
  Torso
  79
  Traits
  14, 53
  Turn
  14, 25, 29
  Typecast
  60, 62
  Unit
  14, 29
  Unreliable
  90
  Upgrade
  14, 80
  Weapon
  14, 89
  Willpower
  17
  Zone
  14, 26, 30
  
  206
  
  207
  
  208
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Collections/Anime & Cartoon RPGs/3) Common Tropes & Themes/Mecha & Kaiju/Battle Century G/Battle Century G.pdf