MECH WEEK: Pilots

Exploring the role of pilots in HOME: MECH x KAIJU

Welcome to Skeleton Code Machine, a weekly publication that explores tabletop game mechanisms. Spark your creativity as a game designer or enthusiast, and think differently about how games work. Check out Dungeon Dice and 8 Kinds of Fun to get started!

This is part of Skeleton Code Machine MECH WEEK — a week of articles (and coloring contest) about mechs in tabletop games: Part 1 - Is Iron Man a Mech?, Part 2 - Heat, Part 3 - Combat, Part 4 - Pilots, Part 5 - Systems.

MECH WEEK continues! Yesterday you saw not only Part 3: Combat but also the launch of TUMULUS — a Skeleton Code Machine quarterly dedicated to analog gaming inspiration. Subscriptions are open now and the first 100 subscribers will receive some really fun extras. Gift subscriptions are available!

Today we are shifting our focus away from the tower of metal and onto the most important part of a mech: the pilot.

The human inside

A mech pilot from Lancer (Section 1: Building Pilots and Mechs, p. 16)

On the first day of MECH WEEK, we asked, “Is Iron Man a mech?” There are many features that are common in mechs: legs, giant size, weapons. One feature rose above them all in the poll. Over 60% of you said a mech requires a pilot — a human inside the machine controlling the action.

This makes a lot of sense. Without a human pilot, mech stories can feel flat and unconnected. Two machines beating on each other may not be a compelling narrative.¹

Add a human pilot with desires, fears, and flaws and now you have a story to rival any Greek myth. It becomes a tale of ace pilots, amazing feats of skill, and painful sacrifices.

A mech needs a pilot to be a mech, but a game (or story) requires that pilot to make this a tale of human victory or tragedy.

HOME: MECH x KAIJU

HOME: MECH x KAIJU by Deep Dark Games is a mapmaking TTRPG about giant mechs fighting back monstrous kaiju attacking their home. It is not a tactical simulation or a wargame. Instead, HOME focuses on the pilots inside the mechs and how they prepare for each kaiju encounter.

Setup for the game includes drawing five (5) home locations on a map template. These locations can be cities, monuments, or other population centers. One of the five is immediately crossed off as being destroyed by the kaiju.

Map of home.

Over time you’ll have opportunities to add upgrades to the map (e.g. new manufacturing facilities) that will provide some mechanical bonuses during the preparation phase.

Next you’ll create a pilot and a mech from some included playbooks. For my solo play my pilot was Mako Nakamura piloting Lancer Hawk, an advanced engineer frame mech with a dual-rail rifle and proto-alloy armor. None of these elements have any mechanical impact on the game (p. 7):

“Frame and Gear are narrative elements used to envision your mech. They have no mechanical bonuses, so make the Mech that fits your vision and your playbook.”

With your pilot and mech ready, it is time to go to the front.

Preparing for the Front

Boon dice results.

The Front is the edge of the war with the kaiju. In a standard game, Front 1 begins in the center of your home map, possibly in the middle of a vast ocean. If the first kaiju is successfully defeated, you will push to Front 2 in the kaiju’s home (The Rift). Win the first two fronts and you’ll fight one last battle at Front 3 — The Source.

Before each showdown at the next front, your pilot executes three (3) preparation moves using d6 dice rolls. The system for this is really interesting because it uses two types of dice: boon dice and bane dice.²

• Boon dice (black): Used to determine the outcome of player moves, using the highest value rolled. Rolling more boon dice makes success more likely.

• Bane dice (red): Will remove boon dice if they have matching values. Rolling bane dice makes success less likely.

Here’s how it works:

1. You always start by rolling at least one boon die.

2. Results are based on the highest valued boon die rolled. Bane dice will, however, remove one matching boon die. For example, if one of your bane dice is a 6 it will remove a matching 6 boon die if it exists.

3. Based on the result (higher is better), you will add either more boon dice or bane dice to your future rolls (or perhaps both).

4. This process then repeats two more times using not only first boon die but now also the dice added in the previous preparation move.

The results of each of the three preparation moves are recorded on your pilot sheet’s preparation track with circle and caret symbols, effectively building your dice pool for your encounter with the kaiju.

At the end of it, the track’s three boxes indicate how many dice (boon and bane) you’ll use during your battle with the kaiju.

Preparation moves

Preparation Track

In many ways, the preparation moves executed by the pilot are the core of HOME.

Your pilot prepares by studying the kaiju, rallying the people, building an outpost, or gearing up with extra weapons. There might be complications for each preparation generated by an oracle (e.g. “fear” or “rushed”).

With each prep move you become a little more attached to your pilot character, learning their fears or compromises. Some prep moves (e.g. outposts) add new locations to the map.

It’s entirely possible that you have some bad rolls and go into the next kaiju confrontation ill prepared and with a really poor dice pool. It’s also possible that you go in ready to win.

Either way, it is the human story of the pilot that drives the connection in this game.

Showdown

Mech playbooks (“Engineer”)

Certainly the battle is important too, of course, but it is fast and deadly. Both the mech and kaiju only have a few hit points (health) and are knocked out after a few dice rolls.

The same dice roll system (boon vs. bane dice) is used during the battle. Highest boon die is used. Bane dice remove boon dice. High rolls damage the kaiju, and low rolls damage the mech/pilot. Repeat until one is killed.

What’s interesting is how the preparation moves and the human story of the pilot inform the battle. The fight is mechanically simple, and yet has the potential to be narratively complex.

Conclusion

Some things to think about:

• A mech needs a pilot: Everyone loves a giant, stompy robot, but it is the human inside that can create a powerful and emotional narrative. Even in a game with tactical combat like Lancer, it is the downtime between battles that advances the story and builds connections to (and between) characters.

• Dice pool building: HOME uses a dice pool system, but one that I wasn’t familiar with before. It has an interesting way of using boon and bane dice to build the dice pool, and then whittle it away during combat. It does this without feeling like the dice rolling is excessive. If you’ve seen something like this before, please let me know in the comments!

• Mandatory non-mechanical elements: When we explored Sarah Shipp’s three layers of theme, “Layer 3: Opt-in Thematic Elements” were defined as those that can be ignored during gameplay as they have no mechanical impact (e.g. lore, flavor text, etc.). It is interesting that in HOME the mech builds have no mechanical impact but certainly don’t feel like they can be skipped. Perhaps because they are specifically called out for use in the instructions?³

What do you think? Is it the human pilot that creates a compelling story, or can an equally compelling story be created with just giant robots without pilots?

— E.P. 💀

P.S. Subscribe to TUMULUS — a Skeleton Code Machine quarterly. First 100 subscribers get extras including a numbered print of the first issue cover and an art print by Strega Wolf. International shipping and gift subscriptions are available.

---

Skeleton Code Machine is a production of Exeunt Press. All previous posts are in the Archive on the web. If you want to see what else is happening at Exeunt Press, check out the Exeunt Omnes newsletter.

1. A notable exception this is The Transformers: The Movie from 1986. Spoiler, but the death of Optimus Prime is one of the most moving scenes in cinematic history, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. Now excuse me while I go listen to “The Touch” by Stan Bush.

2. In the book, boon dice are indicated by black circles and bane dice are red caret symbol. During play they can be tracked with two colors of dice. For my solo play I used black boon dice and white bane dice. Up to 4d6 of each are required to play.

3. This is actually quite common in solo TTRPGs. In fact, I used something similar in Tollund where the player chooses a name, role, and item to thematically build their character even though they do not have a direct mechanical impact on the game.