So... Heavy Gear

[Gauthic]

Cananime, as XAIAX used to put it.

Yeah, that's it! It's been quite a while since I've heard it so it wasn't recalled quickly enough. :)

[ShotGun_Jolly]

I have played heavy gear a few times over the years.

Its a pretty neat little system, its fast, fun and darn right cool

For, me it takes the cool anime mechs, the grittyness of the Battletech universe and lumps it into small customizable (spell??) little gears!


Personally, for me, it was the Fluff behind this game that made it so cool. I enjoyed all the PC games that came out and I played for many years, and I even play one now still on occasion with friends.

You can play it as a Kick butt RPG, or a really cool table top minis game, or combine the two..

For me, there its a good balance of most table and RPG systems.

I said I wasnt going to buy any more gaming products, but oh well.. My wife is not going to be happy :)

[PK]

Originally Posted by Shrale

>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Gear


Don't feel bad, I sometimes forget there's a wiki for almost every RPG out there.


>

I don't feel bad. I went there first, read the page, and found it written in a way that poorly conveys the feel and thrust of the RPG. I basically came away with "so, something about mechs". Hence my post here.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Since e23 is about to become the launch site for the new Heavy Gear RPG, are there any fans on here who feel like elaborating on the game? It looks like a mech game, annnnd that's about all I've gleaned. Never played it, never read it, never saw it played. Anyone care to inform me? Is it any good?

It would nice if when discussing such things in the future if you were to include a link to the announcement. I check the forums all the time but rarely read the Illuminator these days. I thought the announcement was made on e23 but found nothing there. Here is the Heavy Gear announcement article from the Illuminator. The implication is that the RPG will be Silohette rather than GURPS. Too bad, since I'd have loved to see this for GURPS. I remember the Heavy Gear line and even had a card game for Heavy Gear, though I never actually played it.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Since e23 is about to become the launch site for the new Heavy Gear RPG, are there any fans on here who feel like elaborating on the game? It looks like a mech game, annnnd that's about all I've gleaned. Never played it, never read it, never saw it played. Anyone care to inform me? Is it any good?

I've read about it and owned a Heavy Gear card game. Seen the game in stores but never seen anyone play it. I know of the computer game as well, I believe there's even a version available on Linux.

This is a move that leaves me puzzled. Heavy Gear was a niche product, far less prominent than BattleTech. It doesn't appear that this will extend the GURPS line which is the primary reason I can see for doing this. SJ Games doesn't seem to be getting the miniatures side of things either. It doesn't seem like there's a big upside on this project?

I can only assume that someone within the company really loves Heavy Gear (HG) and really wants to produce this RPG. Also the licensing deal must give SJ Games a really inexpensive license where they get to keep the lions share of the profits. The person doing the work on HG probably doesn't work on GURPS stuff at all so it won't take away from the GURPS line (and needless to say they definitely can't have anything to do with Munchkin - SJ Games would never divert resources from that game line).

This would make much more sense to me if they were doing the game in GURPS, or if they had bought DP9 and were getting the miniatures side of things as well. As it stands, I don't get it. I hope it works out well, but I'm not seeing the upside on this one.

[GoblynByte]

Originally Posted by griffin

It would nice if when discussing such things in the future if you were to include a link to the announcement. I check the forums all the time but rarely read the Illuminator these days. I thought the announcement was made on e23 but found nothing there. Here is the Heavy Gear announcement article from the Illuminator. The implication is that the RPG will be Silohette rather than GURPS. Too bad, since I'd have loved to see this for GURPS. I remember the Heavy Gear line and even had a card game for Heavy Gear, though I never actually played it.

Shortly after the announcementt I e-mailed Paul Chapman on the subject and he said a GURPS conversion document was very likely. Well, he used the word "probably." But since characters in Heavy Gear are very 'real' people character creation in the GURPS system is very simple. The only thing that really needs any specific GURPS coverage would be various weapons and the vehicles. And heavy gears would be just as easily modelled as characters as they would mechanical vehicles.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by GoblynByte

Shortly after the announcementt I e-mailed Paul Chapman on the subject and he said a GURPS conversion document was very likely. Well, he used the word "probably." But since characters in Heavy Gear are very 'real' people character creation in the GURPS system is very simple. The only thing that really needs any specific GURPS coverage would be various weapons and the vehicles. And heavy gears would be just as easily modelled as characters as they would mechanical vehicles.

Hopefully, a GURPS conversion document will be an appendix to the main book. If not, perhaps it will be released simultaneously and available for free as an e23 freebie PDF.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by griffin

This is a move that leaves me puzzled. Heavy Gear was a niche product, far less prominent than BattleTech. It doesn't appear that this will extend the GURPS line which is the primary reason I can see for doing this. SJ Games doesn't seem to be getting the miniatures side of things either. It doesn't seem like there's a big upside on this project?

I wouldn't call Heavy Gear any more niche than BattleTech. In New Mexico, there were more people who played HG than BT.

Heavy Gear is a very well-developed, well-written world. By bringing it to Steve Jackson Games, Dream Pod 9 has increased the potential market.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by griffin

This is a move that leaves me puzzled. Heavy Gear was a niche product, far less prominent than BattleTech. It doesn't appear that this will extend the GURPS line which is the primary reason I can see for doing this. SJ Games doesn't seem to be getting the miniatures side of things either. It doesn't seem like there's a big upside on this project?

The big upsides: e23 gets a new line of products to release in case Congress enacts anti-GURPS legistation tomorrow. Gamers get a wicked cool setting with active support. SJ Games gets [FNORD] for future projects.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Paul

The big upsides: e23 gets a new line of products to release in case Congress enacts anti-GURPS legistation tomorrow.

Paul, you made my brain cry. Congratulations.

Seriously guys, this is awesome. I've loved Heavy Gear for a long time, and now I can give SJGames more of my money to buy these books.

Now, if we can just get a GURPS version that captures the feel of Gear Combat.