New Robotech campaign on Roll20

[MrNarrator]

Hey all,

I am working on designing a new Robotech campaign on Roll20 set during the New Generation time period. A small town of refugees has popped up near an abandoned ASC outpost- players take on the roles of freedom fighters and survivors from the 17th Mars Division (another forward assault attempt gone wrong). So we will be using elements from Shadow Chronicles (for the 17th), New Generation (Freedom fighters and such in the town), and Masters Saga (for survivors and gear from the ASC outpost). This is the general premise, but I thought I'd come to the Robotech community for some tips and advice.

1.) I've run quite a few Palladium games in the past, for varying lengths of time. I prefer the SDC worlds typically, and ran Rifts using a homebrew SDC conversion. After we discontinued the SDC Rifts, I decided if I came back to an MDC setting again- I'd use the RAW. Based on this, what does a new GM for Robotech need to know about running this game? Specifically for Roll20? I assume just use Macros for the Invid. No magic, no psionics- just lots of gear. I saw some concerns about discrepancy in the damages of certain weapons- what should I know there?

2.) I have one player already, planning on trying to get a few more. I want to focus on using the second edition books. Because I own them, I want to support Palladium, and I'm familiar with RUE (and Shadow Chronicles seems closely aligned with that). But I'm worried about attracting new players and helping get them set up and turned on to the game even if they haven't bought any of the books yet. Thinking walking them through the Quick Roll creation options- but wasn't sure what other people have done? I haven't seen a ton of palladium games and players over on Roll20, so I want to have a plan to attract and keep new players when I find them.

Really just looking for any advice or guidance on this project. Specifically in terms of setting up a fun and successful game on Roll20 that would welcome new players (new completely to the game or new to me), and then game continuity. I've watched the series and the movies from the Robotech Complete Collection, but I'm far from an expert on the canon. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks all!

[tobefrnk]

I have a question, what is RAW? As for the Quick Creation models, I think they'd serve just fine, especially if you're trying to win over curious players to the system.

As far as removing any percieved barriers to Palladium rule sets potential players might have. I played under a GM once for two different game RPG systems that I was unfamiliar with and he basically just said, ask me what you want to do, I'll run the mechanics "in the background". It worked great. If you've got players that don't mind "knowing how the sausage is made" for a while, it's s great and accessible way to play. I'm not familiar with Roll20 so don't know how facilitating that table top is for what would be required to pull off that type of GMing.

[ShadowLogan]

@MrNarrator
I think to run Robotech well you have to be familiar with the setting, at least depending on how "canon" you (and the players) want to keep things.

As for running on Roll20 I can't help you there, I don't do the online gaming session thing.

I have a question, what is RAW?

Rules As Written = RAW

[tobefrnk]

@MrNarrator
I think to run Robotech well you have to be familiar with the setting, at least depending on how "canon" you (and the players) want to keep things.

As for running on Roll20 I can't help you there, I don't do the online gaming session thing.

I have a question, what is RAW?

Rules As Written = RAW

Thanks ShadowLogan.

[MrNarrator]

I agree completely on the Canon. Outside of the shows, is there another place people go for info? I went to the robotech page, but it didn't have quite the detail. And the Quick Creation rules seem to be a pretty cool way to make characters more quickly. I've introduced a dozen or so new players to the palladium games over the years, and about 2/3 said selecting skills turned them off. Most were not hardcore gamers, but anything that might speed up the process is likely to help. The other 1/3 still play the Palladium games with me today.

Here's another question that came to me since my original post. Outside of Invid, what do you challenge the players with? Thinking of possible renegade human units, then eventually bringing them into space for that layer of combat- possibly some Genesis Pit creatures gone wrong. Just curious what other folks did.

Thanks!

[ShadowLogan]

I agree completely on the Canon. Outside of the shows, is there another place people go for info? I went to the robotech page, but it didn't have quite the detail.

The Wildstorm comics are also canon.

RT.com if you go to it via the Internet Archive in the Infopedia section before the site was radically revamped and pared down (so early 2015 at the latest) might also help. At least for episode summaries and saga timelines (IIRC the comics are not part of these timelines).

Otherwise there isn't much "canon" material to point you toward (Art of TSC book maybe). New material and such is pretty scarce in RT and has been for quite some time. So about all one could point you toward are fansites, which likely pad for new material either with their own concepts or pulling from the OSM (or an unrelated property).

Outside of Invid, what do you challenge the players with? Thinking of possible renegade human units, then eventually bringing them into space for that layer of combat- possibly some Genesis Pit creatures gone wrong. Just curious what other folks did.

That sort of depends on the players:
-dealing with criminal activity (human on human, not necessarily "renegade"): rescuing a kidnap victim(s), solve a murder(s)
-engaging in STEALTHY PC/supply raids (NG episodes did it a few times)
-cut them off from their mecha (or use to the fullest extent) by a surprise ambush/theft/disaster (NG episodes did this a few times)
-have situations to stimulate philosophical discussions among the group on how they should proceed in a given situation (might require an NPC to get things started)
-Genesis Pit creations don't need to be bad/wrong in actuality, but could be perceived as such because people (including the PCs) might not take the time to learn about it or jump the gun concerning actions it takes because they don't have all the facts in

[tobefrnk]

RT.com if you go to it via the Internet Archive in the Infopedia section before the site was radically revamped and pared down (so early 2015 at the latest) might also help. At least for episode summaries and saga timelines (IIRC the comics are not part of these timelines).

robotech.com has been relaunched recently with much of the site functionality returned (timeline, mecha guides, episode synopsis, etc.) so it might be of use to the casual seeker. Sadly, its still lacking some of the Shadow Chronicle information.

[tobefrnk]

Here's another question that came to me since my original post. Outside of Invid, what do you challenge the players with? Thinking of possible renegade human units, then eventually bringing them into space for that layer of combat- possibly some Genesis Pit creatures gone wrong. Just curious what other folks did.

If you still have your old books from your first days of GMing Robotech, you could resurrect/adapt some of the elements from the Return of the Masters, or EBSIS from Lancer's Rockers. At the time of the publishing of those books it was a timeframe of a second Invid occupation, but it'd be easy enough to change things to fit the modern timeline. At the very least, it would give you more inspiration for an Invid occupied Earth.

If you don't have those books, you can find them on DriveThruRPG as PDFs or you could source used book channels.

[MrNarrator]

Excellent! I saw a few comics from different publishers- weren't sure which ones were good or "official". That will give me a good place to start. And those are some good plot hooks; thought of a few, few more I hadn't- but it's good to get other perspectives.