Saturday, June 20, 2020

Kaiju in the Survival Paradigm

Welcome back to the world of the Survival Paradigm. For over a decade, humanity has faced the end, and grimly sent its bravest martyrs clad in shining steel and blazing cannon to defend the planet against impossible monsters. That's what the propaganda channels blare, that's what you see in the movies, that's what the TacNet registration posters proclaim. Become a pilot. Build your armor. Save the world.

They lie. We aren't brave, we're desperate to pay rent. We aren't martyrs, we're bodies sent into the meat grinder. We aren't armed with the newest toys or the toughest armor, we've scraped together pre-war armament and secondhand scraps of metal and processor into the only hope that Earth has left. They pay us shit, then leave us to die - if not at the claws of a kaiju, then under the weight of medical debt.

But we have no choice. Our families, our communities, our friends - they're all counting on someone standing between them and the eschaton. And there's no help coming from the corps, from the billionaires, from their pet governments. They've decided we're a sacrifice they're willing to make, and it doesn't even dent their portfolios.

We've fought this stalemate for over a decade. We're tired. But we can't hang it up, because if we do, you all - we all - die.

This is off the record, right?

Shit, my phone buzzed. Category 3 inbound - and yep, there's the klaxons. Get to the shelters. I've got to saddle up.




The Battle
by Kouji Tajima
- - - COMBAT ZONE ACTIVE. PREPARE TO DROP. - - -

The battlefield is divided into around 10 zones, spanning an area based on the size of the kaiju. A category 1 threatens a city district; a category 5 threatens a major metropolitan area. If you're in the zone the kaiju is, you're within its melee range. Ranged attacks can target zones adjacent to the attacker. Each zone may have a hazard in it. Any number of mechs or kaiju can exist in the same zone.

- - - WEAPONS FREE, ENGAGING TARGET - - -

Roll initiative at start of the battle. You're either on First Response (before the kaiju) or Cleanup (after it). If you pass your check, you pick which you act in. If you fail, you end up on Cleanup. While this doesn't change round-to-round, you can spend an action to reroll your initiative for the rest of the battle.

- - - GIVE THE BASTARD ALL YOU'VE GOT - - -

You don't need to roll to hit a kaiju (abilities like CAMOUFLAGE notwithstanding). Even the smallest are bigger than the broad side of a barn. Can't miss it. Pick one of the kaiju's abilities you want to damage, and roll your weapon's damage dice. Then, remove the highest (CATEGORY - 1) dice (a category 1 removes 0 dice, a category 2 removes 1, etc) and all dice ARMOR or lower.

For example, using a weapon that deals 5d6 damage against a Category 4 kaiju with 2 armor and rolling 3, 3, 4, 5, 1 - you'll remove the highest 3 dice (5, 4, 3) and the 1, dealing 3 damage total. You're tiny. It's giant. Get used to futile efforts.

On a failed ability roll, the kaiju will expose the ability as a Weak Point until its next turn, for which category resistances no longer apply. Attack it for massive damage.

- - - IT BLEEDS LIKE WE DO - - -

Kaiju ability scores double as health. Attacks target specific abilities, and damage dealt reduces the the ability score by that amount. Therefore, as the kaiju takes damage, its capabilities will deteriorate. Whenever an ability is reduced to 0, the kaiju takes a Wound. Wounds will further harm the kaiju, but also empower it as its rage consumes it. This occurs even when its last ability is reduced to 0, as its death throes let it strike one last time.

Wounds (d6)
1. Berzerk Mode. The Kaiju immediately takes an extra turn.
2. Core Vent. At the start of its next turn, the Kaiju releases a blast of energy that deals 2*CATEGORYd10 damage to everyone in the same zone as it and destroys any setpieces in the zone.
3. Defense Mode. The Kaiju's armor increases by 2 until it's next wounded.
4. Havoc Scream. The Kaiju's screams panic all in earshot. Evac level gets worse by 1. -2 Response Strength.
5. Mutation. The Kaiju spontaneously develops a new ability with a score of 10. That ability doesn't cause a Wound when reduced to 0.
6. Storm Warning. A natural disaster emerges in the Kaiju's wake (acid rain, meteor storm, vast earthquake, EM disturbance, whatever makes sense based on the Kaiju's abilities). Lasts CATEGORY rounds. Deals 1d10 damage or equivalent effects to any mech exposed.

- - - TARGET ON THE MOVE - - -

A Kaiju takes 3 actions on its turn. It can only take each type of action once, unless otherwise specified. It gets one basic move to an adjacent zone, and one basic attack. All others must either be ability rolls or dependent on environmental conditions. Some abilities provide extra movement or attacks (for example, EXCEPTIONAL SPEED provides extra moves, while all RANGED ATTACK abilities allow for bonus attacks one or more zones away from the kaiju). An ability can only be used once per turn, unless otherwise specified.

- - - PILOT DOWN, REPEAT, PILOT DOWN - - -

Basic kaiju attacks deal CATEGORYd10 damage to a target in melee range, plus an extra effect based on the kaiju's name and abilities (like flaming claws, or a multi-target cleave, or grabbing the target). The mech pilot may roll to dodge the damage, but the extra effect occurs unless you have specific defenses against it. Such defenses can be gained by taking action to protect yourself on your turn, having on-board systems to counteract the effect, or by being shielded by a building, another mech, etc.

- - - MY GOD. THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE. - - -

Kaiju abilities have a score from 1-20 and are roll-under; equal to or less than the ability score is a success, over is a failure. If a kaiju fails an ability roll, the ability has minimal effect (which can still be devastating), and is exposed as a weak point until the start of its next turn. Attacks on weak points ignore Category resistances.

Abilities with scores 10 or higher are visible on long-range scanners and known to the players if they have any intel access through TacNet, sponsors, local newspapers, etc.

Abilities with starting scores under 10 are hidden, and the kaiju will only deploy them once the pilots have engaged it in battle. The first use of a hidden ability automatically succeeds. If a kaiju has nothing but hidden abilities remaining, so the pilots can't target anything in particular, attack damage is evenly distributed between them.

by guthrie art
The World

- - - LIVE FROM VANCOUVER ISLAND, THIS IS K-WATCH REPORTING - - -

A city under kaiju attack is chaos. While the best efforts of world governments and corporate coalitions have created nominal best practices for civilian response (as pilots gear up to face the monster head-on), when the klaxons blare, all bets are off. There's never enough bunkers. There's never enough space on the roads. There's rarely enough warning; some attacks occur within mere minutes of contact.

Here's how everything can, and does, go wrong.

- - - EVACUATION FAILED, CIVILIANS IN DROP ZONE - - -

The combat zone can be in one of the following stages of evacuation, in ascending order of prospective casualty count.

Evac Level
1. Barren. Total evacuation success. The only casualties will be pilots and monsters. Go nuts.
2. Bunkers. All civilians evacuated to subterranean shelters. They will only be lost to specifically targeted kaiju attacks, or in the event of your failure.
3. Partial. Many civilians failed or refused to evacuate. The streets are silent and empty as civilians shelter in place. Every kaiju ability use kills 10^CATEGORY civilians.
4. Panic. Traffic jams clog the highways. Looting. Riots. Police brutality. Military crackdown. Every kaiju movement or ability without a specific target kills 10^CATEGORY civilians. Additional complications will arise as the government attempts to maintain "order".
5. Taken Unawares. Jaws hang open. Screams and sirens. Airwaves are jammed with farewell calls. Every kaiju action that doesn't have a specific target kills d10*10^CATEGORY civilians.

- - - ADDITIONAL RESPONDERS DISPATCHED - - -

The players are rarely the only force defending against the attack. They're by default assumed to be in tactical command of the situation; other mechs won't fuck with your op (unless you've pissed them off prior and they're looking to settle a score). Instead, other mechs' existence is a constant attrition battle against the kaiju. At the end of each combat round, after Cleanup, roll 2d6 on the Response Table and add the Response Strength to see how the other mechs involved fared.

Response Strength begins at the party's average level minus the Kaiju's CATEGORY. This will change to a reputation score later, once I've got that all hashed out.

Response Table (2d6+Response Strength)
2. Wiped Out. The players are on their own. More names for the memorial obelisk.
3. Last Ditch Barrage. d10 damage to the Kaiju's weakest known ability. -2 Response Strength.
4. Failed Gambit. -2 Response Strength, but reveal one unknown kaiju ability (which it uses to obliterate the unlucky pilots who discover it) and open it as a Weak Point next round.
5. Covering Fire. The Kaiju can't move next round (but takes full action count). +1 Response Strength.
6. Distraction. The Kaiju loses one action next round. -1 Response Strength.
7. Minor Barrage. d4 damage to the Kaiju's strongest known ability. -1 Response Strength.
8. Major Barrage. d6 damage to the Kaiju's strongest known ability. -1 Response Strength.
9. Regroup. +2 Response Strength. All pilots may reroll initiative if they want.
10. Risky Barrage. d10 damage to the Kaiju's strongest known ability. -2 Response Strength.
11. Evac Efforts. Improve the evacuation response by 1 level (from Taken Unawares to Panic, Panic to Partial, etc) as the responders run crowd control.
12. Critical Strike. Reduce the Kaiju's weakest known ability to 0 and Wound the kaiju.

by Dominic Qwek
- - - ABNORMAL WEATHER PATTERNS. BUNKERS BREACHED. YOU HAVE ONE LAST SHOT. - - -

Drop zones are divided into ~10 kaiju-size sectors. Some will have important buildings or features. When it rains, it pours - kaiju attacks are often nexuses for natural disasters, the origins of which are a phenomenon hotly contested to this day

Bunker Complex. Improve the evacuation level in this zone by 2 (minimum: Bunkers).

Celebrities. Here's where the "important people" are. Or at least, you'll get a bonus if they survive. Any kaiju attack in this zone has a CATEGORY-in-6 chance of killing them unless you're specifically protecting them. Some might be willing to relocate; others want to go down with their estate.

Convoy. As Celebrities, but moving along a route. Probably has slightly less noxious passengers, but might carry hazardous materials.

Hospitals. Reduce civilian casualties (in the end total) by an order of magnitude if the hospitals survive the battle. Lots of treatable wounds become fatal if there's no-one to provide rapid care.

Launch Tower. Lets you move anywhere in the drop zone if you start your turn here.

Power Plant. Explodes, messily. 2d10 damage to everyone in the zone and 1d10 to everyone in adjacent zones. Has 20 HP, or can be set to manually detonate by a human-scale operator.

Port. There's a lot of boats here. You can set them loose and might be able to move them out to sea to get landing platforms, or maybe you just want to pick up a boat and hit a giant monster with it.

Research Complex. There's plenty of experimental tech in here. If you get the kaiju in this zone, you might be able to use the complex's sensor equipment to detect its hidden abilities. There might also be experimental weapons inside, whether that's a giant turret or something a mech can wield.

Riot. Evac level in this zone is Panic. Spreads to an adjacent zone at the start of each round unless quelled. Do try not to commit a war crime.

by Doug Williams
- - - LAST-HOPE OPERATORS FALLEN. ESCHATON IMMANENTIZED. ARMING PARANUCLEAR RESPONSE. - - -

A failed Kaiju kill operation becomes a mass casualty event. Roll a response - it will always be dealt with, but at the expense of vast quantities of civilian lives per week. The specific response rolled determines the number of weeks it rampages for.

Kaiju's Fate (d4)
1. The Kaiju becomes endemic to the region after an epic reign of terror. It retreats deep underground, or into the stratosphere, or an oceanic trench, to lick its wounds and revel in the carnage it caused. [CATEGORY] weeks of destruction follow. It will return.

2. Everything we developed besides mechs to stop kaiju falls under the label of paranuclear weaponry. It's all experimental, ridiculously dangerous, and brutally effective. Rods from god, rapture beams, temporal cages, stasis inducers. One's deployed in a last-ditch effort to end the kaiju. It works, and the area is wiped off the map. Remaining players get enough warning to make it out of the kill zone if they can still evacuate, but no one else escapes. Everyone in the target area and the surrounding region dies the same horrific death as the kaiju. Roll for one week of casualties, but as if the kaiju was two categories higher.

3. Another, shinier, more professional mech force swoops in to humiliate you. They make it look easy. They make you look incompetent. They save the world. [CATEGORY] - 2 weeks of destruction (minimum 1). No one in the region will trust your team again.

4. Civilian resistance cobbles together a collective defense strategy, out of salvaged mechs, combined-arms tanks and aircraft, hired mercenaries. The casualty count is immense, and the scars will never heal, but the kaiju is defeated. [CATEGORY] weeks of destruction, double the casualty count, and the area is uninhabitable.

Lives Lost Per Week
Category 1: d10*100
Category 2: d10*1,000
Category 3: d10*10,000
Category 4: d10*100,000
Category 5: d10*1,000,000

by Edouard Caplain
The Monsters

All kaiju, regardless of their category, have 50 ability points. The category will affect how those abilities scale and how difficult they are to damage. If you want to challenge the players more, increase the ability point budget for your kaiju

Roll 1d6-1 for its armor. Subtract 5*result points from the pool. Then, roll a d20, and assign that value to a random ability. Subtract that many points and repeat until 20 or fewer points remain. Put the rest into one more random ability. Note which are known and which are hidden. Pilots don't have access to ability scores unless they have advanced sensors, just the ability names themselves. 

All abilities can be used for thematically appropriate actions. The following descriptions aren't the sum total of what they can do, and intentionally leave open possibilities for creative use. All provided numbers are intended as measuring sticks for a GM's rulings on the fly.

by el-grimlock
d36 (or d66) Kaiju Abilities

1 (11). ABSORBS PROPERTIES: Whenever the kaiju is damaged by an elemental effect or it eats a material, it can roll ABSORBS PROPERTIES and gain a ELEMENTAL abilities at rank X (where X is the roll value). On a success, gain the power, on a failure, lose all other powers gained this way, then gain the power. Damage to those abilities damages this one too. When this power is lost, all the ELEMENTAL abilities gained this way go away too.

2 (12). ADAPTIVE: Whenever the kaiju is damaged, roll ADAPTIVE. Halve damage from that source and similar sources (adapting to an incendiary weapon reduces all fire damage going forward). A failed roll means all previous ADAPTIVE resistances are lost. The kaiju can also take an action to roll ADAPTIVE and preemptively protect itself from a specific danger.

3 (13). BERZERKER: This kaiju's Wound reactions are always Berzerk Mode. Whenever this kaiju is damaged, it can roll BERZERKER and on a success can make a basic attack against the attacker in response.

4 (14). BURROWING: As an action this kaiju can roll BURROWING and move an extra zone. On a success, it attacks all mechs on the ground or underground in the starting and target zones. All this kaiju's moves can burrow underground, letting it reach underground shelters (and if it remains underground, it avoids all ranged attacks from outside its zone).

5 (15). CAMOUFLAGE: At the start of combat, choose either ranged or melee attacks. Attack rolls of that type must make attack rolls against the CAMOUFLAGE value to hit. The kaiju can take an action to roll CAMOUFLAGE, a success lets it change which kind of attack needs to roll, or can blend it into the environment for other purposes.

6 (16). ELEMENTAL AURA: Everyone in the kaiju's zone is subject to an elemental effect. On an ELEMENTAL AURA roll, the kaiju can exude the effect into all adjacent zones until its next turn, but on a failure, it shuts off in the kaiju's zone until the start of its next turn.

7 (21). ELEMENTAL ESSENCE: The kaiju is made of the element, and healed by it when it consumes it or takes damage from it (1-1 damage to healing). On an ELEMENTAL ESSENCE roll, it acts like the element more than a kaiju - TIDAL ESSENCE may have it flow in the streets and drain into the sewers to hide, VACUUM ESSENCE may have it disappear and the air rush in like a thunder clap and shockwave. On a failure, it can't quite reform enough to perform regular kaiju actions next turn (basic attacks and movement).

8 (22). ELEMENTAL MANIPULATION: The kaiju can create and manipulate the element within the combat area. on successful use, effect can deal damage like an attack. still creates the desired effect on failure, though without dealing damage.

9 (23). ELEMENTAL MELEE ATTACK: All this kaiju's melee attacks inflict an elemental effect, and it can make a melee attack against all mechs in its zone on a successful ELEMENTAL MELEE ATTACK roll (failure only targets one mech, and exposes the ability).

10 (24). ELEMENTAL RANGED ATTACK. All this kaiju's ranged attacks inflict an elemental effect, and it can make a ranged attack against all mechs in an adjacent zone on a successful ELEMENTAL RANGED ATTACK roll (failure only targets one mech, and exposes the ability).

11 (25). ELEMENTAL WEAPONS. A sword ten stories long. A gun firing car-size projectiles. Artillery melded with flesh. Hammers of radiation. Scythes of raw vacuum. This kaiju can roll ELEMENTAL WEAPONS to make a melee or ranged attack against one mech in its zone or an adjacent zone, depending on the weapon type. A mech that successfully dodges the attack takes half damage instead of none. Failure on the roll jams or fumbles the weapon.

12 (26). EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION: The kaiju preternaturally senses what's about to happen. Once per round, it has a free ESP action it can take as a reaction to a mech taking an action. If the ESP roll is successful, the kaiju can take a free action before the inciting action occurs. If the roll fails, it takes its free action after the inciting action is resolved.

13 (31). EXTREME SPEED: Enemy ranged attacks must roll and beat EXTREME SPEED in order to hit. On the kaiju's turn, it can take extra move actions by making EXTREME SPEED rolls; once it fails it can't make more that turn.

14 (32). FLIGHT: As an action, this kaiju can roll FLYING and move an extra zone. On a success, it attacks all mechs in the air or on the ground in the starting and target zones. All its moves can fly, and if it remains in the air, it avoids melee attacks from all non-flying mechs.

15 (33). HIDES AS HUMAN: As an action, the kaiju can roll HIDES AS HUMAN to disappear and hide as a specific human. On a success, players lose track of where the kaiju is; on a failure, you can track their movement. The kaiju possesses all its durability and supernatural abilities, albeit reduced in range. It can convincingly mimic human behavior, though this does not make them more inteligent (a kaiju which also has HIGHER COGNITION may be incredibly devastating in this position). This lasts until the kaiju is damaged by a mech-scale attack, at which point they re-emerge into their kaiju form involuntarily. Human-form kaiju all have tells visible to someone looking for them - though the chaos of an attack will likely make testing difficult.

16 (34). HIGHER COGNITION: This kaiju is smart. It can use advanced tools, knows your plan, and will act to prevent it. At the start of each round, it makes a HIGHER COGNITION roll. On a success, it can intersperse all of its actions with the players'. Has an extra action each round.

17 (35). ILLUSIONS: This kaiju can project audiovisual illusions on a successful ILLUSIONS roll. Whether it succeeds or fails, something that occurred this round or that will occur later this round (that the players didn't do) will actually be illusory (such as NPC mech actions, setpieces failing, the kaiju being wounded, promises of reinforcements). When the players figure out what was illusory, the illusion breaks. Illusions remain until this ability is lost or they are broken. Interacting with an illusion breaks it.

18 (36). IMMENSE STRENGTH: Can roll IMMENSE STRENGTH to perform ridiculous feats like throwing a mech entirely out of the combat zone or lifting a subterranean shelter out of the ground whole. On a failure, it just counts as an extra basic melee attack.

19 (41). INVISIBILITY: This kaiju can take an action and roll INVISIBLE to turn invisible. All attack rolls must beat that INVISIBILITY roll to hit, and if the roll succeeds, the GM doesn't have to provide information on the kaiju's movements. This lasts until the start of its next turn.

20 (42). MANY-HEADED: This kaiju gets a free MANY-HEADED roll each turn, and on a success can take an additional free move or attack. The kaiju can make as many MANY-HEADED rolls as it wants until it runs out of actions.

21 (43). MANY-LIMBED: This kaiju can move across any terrain without penalty, and has opposable thumbs or another dextrous equivalent. A successful MANY-LIMBED roll lets it make a basic attack against two or more targets within range OR pick up and wield large items as weapons (on a failure, it just makes a regular basic attack, or destroys the item it's trying to wield).

22 (44). METAMORPH: This kaiju can shapeshift. On a METAMORPH roll, it can replicate another ability of choice (using the current METAMORPH value). If it succeeds, the kaiju can then use that ability this turn. On a failure, may use it next turn. All abilities gained this way dissipate after one use (successfully or not). Damage to replicated abilities is inflicted on METAMORPH as well. Also allows the kaiju to perform other shapeshifting tricks (that maintain its volume and mass).

23 (45). MIND CONTROL: On a successful MIND CONTROL roll, take control of a mech, or many civilians (~10^category). On failure, take control of only a few civilians instead (~10^(category-1)). Hunts by driving civilians into its waiting jaws.

24 (46). MODULAR: This kaiju is comprised of of several kaiju of smaller categories (3 a category smaller, 6 two categories smaller, etc). On a successful MODULAR roll, when combined, lets them split apart. When it splits, all split act independently, out of a total pool of 4 actions. The sub-kaiju each have one of its other abilities, but all share MODULAR. A successful MODULAR roll will let them combine no matter where they are, combining at a midpoint. A failed MODULAR roll will only let them combine if they're in the same area.

25 (51). PARASITIC: This kaiju leeches energy and life from whatever it touches, dealing lethal damage to any living thing human-scale or smaller that makes contact with it. It can ready itself to pull energy and life from larger structures or its zone with a PARASITIC roll; whenever it deals damage this turn it'll restore that many stat points - a success lets it also make a free basic attack with the action and shuts down all non-Eschaton power sources in its zone.

26 (52). PHASING: This kaiju's movement and attacks pass through all obstacles. On a successful PHASING roll, it can make something in its zone phase out of reality for a round, either unable to interact with anything that doesn't have PHASING or unable to interact with things that do have PHASING (its choice)

27 (53). PILOTED: The kaiju gets to pick which of its abilities get damaged (unless PILOTED is targeted). On a successful PILOTED roll, the kaiju can hide all its currently exposed weak points. When PILOTED is removed, the kaiju goes berzerk and will automatically succeed on all its rolls, but exposes all its weak points.

28 (54). RAISES DEAD: A successful RAISES DEAD roll can raise civilian casualties or other dead things in the area as zombies (or other sorts of undead; in any case treated as SPAWN). Alternatively, it can raise a fallen mech pilot to turn arms against their former comrades. Harming the undead also damages this ability.

29 (55). REGENERATION: The kaiju heals 1d6 points of a damaged ability at the start of its turn. A successful REGENERATION roll lets it regenerate an additional d6 points, or seal things inside its wounds, or cancerously grow, or heal another target, etc. Failure lets it regen d6 points with disadvantage.

30 (56). SHIELDED: This kaiju's Wound reactions are always Defense Mode. Can make a SHIELDED roll to get +2 armor against a particular attack type of choice (ranged, melee, elemental, etc). A failure gives a  bonus of +1. It can alternatively use the shield to cage things and prevent them from moving for a round on a success.

31 (61). SPAWN: This kaiju deploys with many category 0 kaiju-spawn swarms. Each individual category-0 is human-size, and are collectively treated as a terrain obstacle that's left behind by the kaiju. A successful SPAWN roll lets the kaiju infest its zone or an adjacent zone with more spawn, or lets all spawn take an action against something in their zone. Spawn inherit one of their parents' abilities (including, potentially, SPAWN). Dealing damage to the spawn in their zones also harms the SPAWN ability, and when the ability is lost, all SPAWN flee. Attacks must deal damage in an area (explosives, flamethrowers, etc) to remove spawn as a hazard, instead of just dealing damage.

32 (62). TELEPORTATION: This kaiju can make a TELEPORT roll to teleport itself or one target. On a success, the kaiju can choose the location within the battlefield, a failure teleports the target at random. There's a CATEGORY-in-6 chance of the target telefragging something important; counts as a basic attack against the smaller of the target or whatever it materializes in.

33 (63). TEMPORAL ANOMALY: The kaiju can roll TEMPORAL ANOMALY and on a success, may undo one of its actions and take another action instead (or try the same thing again). It may alternatively undo a mech's actions, or another event of similar scale. On a failure, it just undoes one of its own actions, and it doesn't get to take a new one.

34 (64). TWINNED: The kaiju is doubly embodied. Each moves separately, but share a pool of actions and all ability totals. On a successful TWINNED roll, each body can take an action; on a failure only one does.

35 (65). WEATHER SYSTEM: A natural disaster follows in the kaiju's wake. The entire battlefield is inundated in a thematic disaster, like storm or earthquake or EM disturbance, etc (figure something out based on the kaiju's other abilities or designation). This causes minor penalties to all enemies in area (like a damage penalty, or minor damage over time, or slowed movement). A successful WEATHER SYSTEM roll increases the penalties until the start of the kaiju's next turn. When this ability is lost, the disaster dissipates.

36 (66). WEBS: This kaiju can make a WEBS roll and on a success deploys sticky webs in its and an adjacent zone that cocoons enemies in webbing (takes an action from the mech or another mech to break free).  Webbed zones can't be moved into and out of in the same turn, but are rapidly traversable by the kaiju, letting it move two zones with one action. On a failure, this just coats its own zone in webs, and fails to cocoon.

7 comments:

  1. oooooh dang. this is good stuff.
    love kaiju and random monster generators.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh also something with the generator, sometimes the abilities will repeat. Like it will do phasing 18 and phasing 8.
    Otherwise this is perfect for what i've been into recently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, there's a few issues with the generator logic! They're fixed in my python version of it, but I rewrote it in javascript for this page and I'm new to js so it lost some functionality. As it stands, I'm just gonna use it as an excuse to encourage manual edits and building bespoke kaiju.

      Delete
  3. This is amazingly flavourful and exceedingly useful. I've been struggling to find a way to make combat against huge creatures feel distinct and unique and this is some good inspiration right here. Thank you for the post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is pretty amazing.

    Have you by any chance read Parahumans? There are some kaiju in that, and I immediately mentally converted them as I read (impressed to see that I could; your kaiju feel more flavourful and varied than most ones I've seen.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, I see that you actually mention Worm in your original post haha.

      Delete
    2. Ha, yep! You'll find some Worm easter eggs in the name generator, and I statted them up myself while testing the limits of the system

      Delete

Most Recent Post

GλOG: Item Templates

Lambda templates are associated with items rather than a character class. Gaining a λ template is simple: spend a downtime action   training...