Advice for running Macross in GURPS?

[the adventurer]

So I'm working on detailing out a new campaign for my roleplaying group set in the Super Dimension Macross universe. My story will take place in the 2050s, aboard a massive (Macross Frontier) sized colony ship that hit a massive fold fault, only to find itself stranded in an unknown sector of space with significant damage to the colony islands and no ability to call for assistance. The PCs will play surveyors turned salvagers in the face of resource and energy shortages, most will be pilots flying decommissioned VF-1 Valkyries for heavy equipment manipulation. At least to start.
The colony is suffering under strict rationing (even the artificial sunlight is being rationed due to power shortages), bootleggers and black markets are making a mint, and class warfare is breaking out between the rich, who still have access to luxuries and technology, and the poor, who increasingly are being exploited while the colony remains unable to resume its travel.

And something, in the unknown solar system they've come to a rest in, is waking up.

I'm curious if anyone else has attempted to run games set in the Macross universe, and if they have any tips for doing so. I'll probably try to run space combat highly cinematic, though I might run the colony based drama more realistic.

I have copies of Basic Set, Space, Spaceships, and Spaceships 4. And I'm working on getting a copy of Ultra-Tech. Anything else I might want?

[vierasmarius]

One common element in Macross is massive space battles between entire fleets. Pyramid #3/30 may be of great help, with rules for Mass Combat in Space (but see this thread for some concerns I have with the balance, and this spreadsheet to base Troop Strength on either area or mass instead of length).

If you're using the standard space combat rules in Spaceships, you may find that your capital ships are quite fragile, suffering terribly from a single volley of fighter-launched missiles. You may want to check out Eidetic Memory: Extreme Damage in Pyramid #3/34, which presents options to increase the longevity of large vessels, either by reducing the damage they take from many attacks, or basing HP on the square-root of weight instead of cube-root. This should make the signature Macross micro-missile-swarm attacks less lethal against capital ships, while retaining their usefullness against other fighters.

[vicky_molokh]

Technical solutions? Not sure if this is what interests you.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by the adventurer

I'm curious if anyone else has attempted to run games set in the Macross universe, and if they have any tips for doing so.

Search the forum. I'm dead certain I've seen the stats for a Valkyrie posted here, which leads me to think someone has at least looked down the road you're traveling.

[the adventurer]

Is there a generic 'Space Fighter Pilot' template in one of the GURPS books? I was surprised not to find it in the back of GURPS Space. I'm just looking for a base to work outwards from.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by the adventurer

Is there a generic 'Space Fighter Pilot' template in one of the GURPS books? I was surprised not to find it in the back of GURPS Space. I'm just looking for a base to work outwards from.

AFAIK it's a lense in GURPS Space.

[the adventurer]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

AFAIK it's a lense in GURPS Space.

Ah. Thanks for the insanely quick response. I'll go look for it.

Also, I'm going over GURPS Spaceships. And I'm trying to wrap my head around a few concepts of the ship system design section. All spacecraft, regardless of SM, must have 20 systems? Why is that exactly?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by the adventurer

Ah. Thanks for the insanely quick response. I'll go look for it.

Also, I'm going over GURPS Spaceships. And I'm trying to wrap my head around a few concepts of the ship system design section. All spacecraft, regardless of SM, must have 20 systems? Why is that exactly?

Simplicity. Later books allow replacing one 'normal' system with 3 smaller ones. But the point is that it simplifies calculations under normal circumstances. Remember, VE2e was flamed for being too slow in actual use.

[the adventurer]

Reconfigurable System states that it takes 20 seconds to transform from one system to another (in this case either from hull armor to Robot Arm; or Thruster to Robot Legs). That seems a much longer time interval then is demonstrated in the show. Is there an in-system way to speed it up (at increased cost I suppose), or should/could I just hand-wave it down to 5 seconds or less?

EDIT: Also, just to be clear, pairs of arms and legs take up two system slots for each pair correct?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by the adventurer

Reconfigurable System states that it takes 20 seconds to transform from one system to another (in this case either from hull armor to Robot Arm; or Thruster to Robot Legs). That seems a much longer time interval then is demonstrated in the show. Is there an in-system way to speed it up (at increased cost I suppose), or should/could I just hand-wave it down to 5 seconds or less?

EDIT: Also, just to be clear, pairs of arms and legs take up two system slots for each pair correct?

Does it really matter if the shortest GSS combat turn is 20 seconds?
I suppose you could handwave it, but are you sure you want to make the time spent transforming not meaningful at all?