#goblins in a mech suit

[ordinaryundead]

[fropomolo]

Custom Goblin frame commission for a Lancer campaign. Wish I could've rendered it more.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Got any games about being a little creature out to cause chaos?

THEME: Chaos Gremlins.

Hello friend! I sure do!

Space Gerbils, by Penguin King Games

You are the galaxy's most famous bounty hunter, but nobody knows your real name, or what your real voice sounds like. In fact, you've never taken your helmet off in public, at least as far as anybody knows!

The interstellar tabloids have accused any number of public figures of secretly being you. They are, of course, all wrong. The real reason you never remove your helmet is that you're actually a bunch of space gerbils operating a human-size mech suit.

You're very keen on not letting this get out.

Space Gerbils is definitely the longest game on this list, with over 100 pages in the current iteration of the playtest. This is a game about teamwork, and the mech creation is the first indicator of that, as you’ll have to collaboratively create the robot the gerbils pilot in order to keep their identities a secret.

Play involves a series of phases (setup, operations, fallout, end) and a grid where your gerbils will strategically move in order to operate their bounty hunter effectively. While the premise of Space Gerbils is cute and funny, it has the potential for both humorous and dramatic scenes, you’ll likely find that your play table will approach the strategy of the game with dedication and the desire to succeed. As a result, I think Space Gerbils is going to produce a high amount of group investment.

Mutant Possum Cowboys, by It’s Eric! Games.

Mutant Possum Cowboys is a quick-play RPG where ya take the roll of talkin' possums who have taken it upon themselves ta help tha' townsfolk of tha' Wild West. 

Yer a Mutant Possum Cowboy. Yer posse is part of tha' Order of tha' Gun, dedicated ta wanderin’ from Town ta Town in “Roadkill County,” tha' Mutated Deserts of tha' Wild West, offerin’ help where needed against mutated critters and all sorts of Ne'er-Do-Wells. 

This game involves distributing points among three stats to indicate what your lil’ cowboy is good at. Your character also gets a special treasure in addition to their regular gear that gives them a little bit of kick - such as “Tha Rallyin’ Jaw Harp” which sounds like an instrument that can call for aid from miles away, or “Gold Lightnin’”, a famous double-barrelled revolver. The game feels like it draws a lot of inspiration from games such as Lasers and Feelings - particularly the roll tables provided to the GM to help them quickly generate a problem situation that the possums will have to wrangle with.

Sockgoblins, by poorstudents

You are a Sockgoblin! One of many loyal to the Great And All Powerful And Really Important Queen, living in the secret underground goblin city. Your Queen demands all sorts of items from the surface world; coffee, really big hats, the occasional hubcap. But what she craves most are Socks.

Every year, the Queen demands a sock tithe, which is where you, little sockgoblin, come in! Every other Sockgoblin has already got their Socks, but you have been slacking! You will need to venture up into the giant world of the humans and steal the last Socks! But the humans are ready. They have prepared their traps, trained their guard animals, and hired the dreaded Sockgoblin exterminator.

You and your crew of Sockgoblins venture into the world finding adventure, danger, and most importantly, Socks! No one knows where the Socks are now but you’re confident you know where they will end up; at the feet of your Great And All Powerful And Really Important Queen!

Sockgoblins is a Forged-in-the-Dark game inspired by media such as The Boxtrolls, Over the Garden Wall, and Home Alone, and provides adventures as little goblins stealing socks for the Goblin Queen. The danger of the each thing you try to do escalates in correlation to how many socks you’ll get out of it - and you can actually play using socks because they’re part of your inventory!

Sockgoblins can work as ether a one-shot or as an episodic campaign, so it’s great if you want to try out a game of it to see if your group wants to keep coming back to it.

Hotdog Princess, by jesthehuman

You are on a rookie team of Hotdog Hopefuls, wanting to join the ranks of HOTDOG: Hyper Optic Team DOG. There are a limited number of spots on the team, but one way to impress the Top Dog is by being crowned the Hotdog Princess at the local puppy pageant. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate the Puppy Pageant and WIN. Alliances should be formed. Knowing when to break them is key. 

Hotdog Princess is full of puns and nods to various kinds of ‘dogs, with “Chili Dog”, “Veggie Dog” and “Danger Dog’ just a few of the dog options underneath the roll table that determines your character type. Players have two tracks: “hot” and “dog’, which you’ll fill out hangman-style whenever you fail a roll. Filling either one of the tracks prompts an end for your dog in some way. Your stats are, of course, “hot” and “dog”, with “hot” representing your charm, while your “dog” represents your jokes and pranks.

If you want a goofy game with an even goofier premise, you want Hotdog Princess.

Partners in Grime, by Michael Low

Partnerz in Grime is a story game in which the players take on the role of a crew of goblins: awesomely awful, magical critters hiding out on the edges of hooman society getting into all sorts of trouble.

The bones of this game is the Stories RPG, which is a one-page game that details some simple rules about how to use d6 dice pools to overcome obstacles or move the story forward. Partnerz in Grime is not just a story to run through with the base engine - it also comes with worldubuilding prompts, drama clocks, ways to power up your character, and a mechanic that improves’ players’ math as they play. The authorial voice is incredibly specific, sinking you into the goofiness of the game from the start, and character creation involves fill-in-the-blank prompts that fill out the character’s story.

If you want a game that is great for kids or that is really open about the kind of chaos you can unleash, you might want to check out Partnerz in Grime.

Heckhounds, by TheOtherTracy

Yours is a legacy of brimstone, fire, and damnation. You're a hunter of hell, sent to Earth to bring escaped damned souls back to the Eternal Fire.

You're also a good boy! Who's a good boy? You are!

Heckhounds is game of hellfire and tail wags. You and your littermates were sent to Earth to hunt an escaped damned soul. Business as usual, right? Except this time you got the bodies of mortal, Earth puppies rather than the hellhound bodies you'd normally get. The nature of the puppy in you is strong, and you've got to keep from blowing your cover while you hunt down your target!

This game feels directly inspired by the dog given to Adam in Good Omens, and I love the idea of it already. The three stats in Heckhounds are Hell, Hound, and Ineffability, with Hell relating to your infernal demon-dog strength, Hound relating to your puppy charms and virtues, and Ineffability relating to what the game calls “the odd surety of the unknowable.” The game is inspired by Honey Heist, which means that your stats will fluctuate in value and you are always at the risk of pushing a stat too high and triggering some kind of end-game state. If you want a game that sparks fun times by merging great cosmic power into an itty bitty life-form, then you want Heckhounds.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past…

Cryptid TV,by yanahn.

Something Is Wrong With The Chickens, by Elliot Davis.

Geese At The Beach, by Justin Joyce.

I’ll Be Taking That, by porchlightdusk.

Mouse Cult, by Mint-Rabbit (that’s me!)

[nobylu]

oops, new build new Balor design. I've been going through this whole spectrum of "what is a Balor". We started off with "grapple Balor", moved to "Zheng with a good computer", sat around in "undecided" land for a while, then began messing around with "egalitarian buddy hack and slash". But as we've been playing, my Balor - Covetous Hunger - has become increasingly its own character in how much it 1) wants to put everything in its nanite cloud mouth and 2) how much it hates-loves-hates-loves its pilot and wear his skin like a suit. What do you do when your mech becomes a toxic hivemind hyper-fixated on doing evil?

You give it an NHP. You give it Iconoclast.

-- HORUS Balor @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] HORUS Balor 3, HORUS Goblin 3 [ CORE BONUSES ] The Lesson of Thinking-Tomorrow’s-Thought, Overpower Caliber [ TALENTS ] Iconoclast 2, House Guard 2, Pankrati 2, Bonded 2, Executioner 1 [ STATS ] HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:4 ENGI:2 STRUCTURE:4 HP:19 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:5 TECH ATK:+5 LIMITED:+1 SPD:3 EVA:6 EDEF:14 SENSE:5 SAVE:13 [ WEAPONS ] MAIN MOUNT: Assault Rifle HEAVY MOUNT: Nanobot Whip // Overpower Caliber [ SYSTEMS ] Scanner Swarm, OSIRIS-Class NHP, Unstable NHP, H0R_OS System Upgrade I, Metahook, Armament Redundancy

This is a hack and slash build that's heavily reliant on a Lancaster to be its legs, but it's okay. Bonded 2, Houseguard 2, and Metahook are there to help, even if it means we're together till death do us part. HOR_OS System Upgrade 1 and OSIRIS-Class NHP give us a variety of hacking outcomes - if we land them, then we trigger Lesson of TTT for +1 accuracy and if we slow or impair them then Pankrati gives us another accuracy. If we use OSIRIS, then we DEAL FREE DAMAGE thanks Iconoclast! Executioner and Overpower Caliber help us do MORE DAMAGE TO MORE PEOPLE and armament redundancy helps us keep the whip if, somehow, structural damage is taken.

Also I think I forgot to post my Pilot's current appearance. I keep drawing him and going "huh, not enough damage".

[albatross-lancer]

Hi, hope I'm still alive by the time you get this message! We are in danger and we are in dire need an Ace/Aro Pilot to help sort this out, I swear it is Really Really Really important, and I can't stress enough how much it pains me to actually type this down.

I'm the Operator for a small Mercenary Lancer Squad called "The Pegasi-M3 Sisters", and while I'm very proud of my teammates abilities, however a tiny problem has emerged due to some of the teams shared preferences.

We are located in a small station in orbit of the Zeta Leporis star, our mission was to escort some scientists through the remains of the station, to gather some old equipment and analysis data from the satellite, but a HORUS Cell had taken over the station, and managed to leave a few remotely activated mechs in the station before escaping.

We've managed to eliminate most of the mechs, and even evacuated the scientists on a safe carrier to our main ship, but we are stranded in the station with the last remaining enemy mech: a Goblin/Deathhead piloted by a cascading Osiris NHP called C130.

Normally, my team would be able to destroy a single mech in an instant, but, and I can't believe I have to say this, the NHP seems to be "very hot" and terribly "coercive" towards the all-disaster-lesbian technophile polycule that makes up the team, and everyone of my gals has fell prey to the sweet-talking of this aforementioned NHP. I lost contact with the ship and two of my pilots, while the last one of my gals seems to be barking on command to this C130, so I suspect it might have hacked it's way into her neural enhancement suite.

We had a Union pilot along, but he started calling the enemy mech "Mommy" and stopped responding a few moments later.

Sigh, I kinda knew it was going to end like this one of these days. At the moment I'm locked in a small cargo compartment of the station, with only a box of rations and my long-distance network system that I managed to connect to the stations omninet, but I know the NHP is going to find that connection soon...

I'm sending this anonymously due to the confidentiality clause of my contract, but I'm sending the coordinates of the station and the Comp/CON data from our teams mechs to help identify the threats.

Signed, PEG-M3-Operator.

Ah. Well. I suppose it is not our place to judge the circumstances of these distress calls. I am asexual myself, though Erdaf is rather distant from these coordinates and we do not have any currently functional ships besides. I shall forward this request to the nearmost makteba, I am certain they shall have several suitable candidates.

-Loyal Wing Catrin Cavazos

---

Well met! Loyal Wing Nori Chimal-4926 of Makteba Sunda, your local aroace Lannie pilot reporting for this mission. ...I did not expect that to ever be relevant on a mission, mostly we do natural disaster relief and search & rescue here, not... whatever this is. But, I will be honest, I have seen weirder missions, most especially when HORUS is involved. Such as the time my Lancaster was teleported to the top of a mech-scale ladder and fell, knocking the rest of my team into a pit of slime that may have been semi-alive. Ask me about it some time. Or maybe do not. Anyroad, fear not, help is on the way, for I am on the path towards you as we speak. As we say in Makteba Sunda, the storm always breaks.

[tyrantisterror]

How are monsters classified in Offbeat Melodies?

Short Answer: Very, very, VERY loosely, especially compared to my other stuff.

Long answer: Ok. so, if Midgaheim is inspired by European mythologies, and ATOM is inspired by atomic age myths about paleontology and radiation (i.e. dinosaurs were big lumbering reptiles, radiation makes animals become giant monsters, etc.), then OM is inspired by, like, 1990's era Cryptozoology, UFOlogy, and Paranormal "Science." It's fantasy by way of Unsolved Mysteries and Leonard Nimoy's In Search Of (ok that predates the 90's but whatever it's the right vibe).

So the main approach to monsters is more or less "would this make a good urban legend?"

There's also a good bit of Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror baked into it too - including the Goblin Universe hypothesis in Melody's world building kinda made for the perfect opportunity for me to scratch that cosmic horror itch, and since my main setting really doesn't work with that stuff, it felt natural to include it in the cosmology here. Melody is very much a place for me to play with the toys that otherwise wouldn't fit in my main setting.

With all that said, I have two different loose taxonomies for the monsters in OM. The first is by Archetype, and the second is by Nature.

By archetype, they are:

Cryptids: Your nessies, your big foots, your chupacabras, etc. Creatures that seem like they could fit within our understanding of life on Earth.

Aliens: Visitors from beyond the stars who came here using incredibly advanced technology.

Ghosts/Undead: The souls/bodies of people or creatures that have technically died yet somehow persist.

Eldritch Abominations: Beings from another reality whose very presence is beginning to change what the "normal" reality is, often to the detriment of the people and creatures who live here. Colonizers from another universe, basically.

Wacky Nonsense: Silly and bizarre monsters who tend to be pretty light-hearted in concept even if they still prove to be a threat. The most prominent example would be the Gattlesnakes, a group of giant pit vipers from another universe who wear mech suits that can convert into muscle cars, and carry gatling guns that can convert into slurpee machines. Their small, tight-knit gang of inter-universal outlaws include Fancy Dan, Rhonda Rugged, Calamity Janet, Monosyllabic Chuck, and their leader, Cobra Gunner, a massive cobra whose mech suit is more akin to a flying battleship and can transform into a giant base. They're basically like if the villains of an obscure 1980's toyline escaped their home universe and tried to hide out in ours.

By nature, they are:

Mutated Natives: creatures from the "normal" universe that have been mutated/altered by contact with beings, substances, or even just the very essence of other universes. The most prominent of these would be Duchess Scissorjaw, a hippo-sized snapping turtle that was captured in Melody's Lake Alto and is living in a zoo display at Melody's Wax Museum. While the players and audience of Offbeat Melody know that it's not normal for snapping turtles to get that large, the discovery of Duchess Scissorjaw was rationalized by humanity within the story as "Well, I guess snapping turtles can get a lot bigger than we thought," since that is the simpler explanation than the reality, which is that she's a mutant who absorbed some of the essence of the Sea of Monsters. Almost all of the undead creatures in Melody count as this, but the other categories actually tend to be...

Interuniversal Visitors: i.e. the VAST majority of Melody's bestiary. Almost all of the main monsters in Offbeat Melody, from its Nessie and Big Foot analogues (the Altopogo and Southpaw Sam) to its alien visitors (the Kaleidoscope Men, the Grays, Ivora Sykes the Melody Mothman) to the Wacky Nonsense and Eldritch Abominations, are visitors from other universes. This category could be split into creatures that have "gone native" - the Altopogo and Southpaw Sam may come from alternate universes, but they traveled to Melody to help preserve the very fabric of the "normal" universe, and are important guardians of it as a result - tourists who are just here to visit, and conquerors who want to reshape our reality and/or its inhabitants into something more to their liking.

[vexwerewolf]

Hello, it is I once again, here with a weird meme build. How would you go about building a hacker Swallowtail at LL6? Standard or Ranger, it doesn't matter which

As it happens, Hacktail isn't a meme build at all - due to the Swallowtail's expansive 20 Sensors and innate +1 tech attack, it's an extremely viable Support pick.

-- SSC Swallowtail @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] SSC Swallowtail 2, SSC Dusk Wing 1, HORUS Goblin 1, HORUS Minotaur 2 [ CORE BONUSES ] The Lesson of the Held Image, Full Subjectivity Sync [ TALENTS ] Hacker 3, Spotter 2, Skirmisher 2, Field Analyst 1, Nuclear Cavalier 1 [ STATS ] HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:2 ENGI:2 STRUCTURE:4 HP:15 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:6 TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+1 SPD:7 EVA:14 EDEF:12 SENSE:20 SAVE:13 [ WEAPONS ] FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle AUX/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Nexus (Light) [ SYSTEMS ] H0R_OS System Upgrade I, Neurospike, Metafold Carver, Personalizations, Lotus Projector, Manipulators

I call this one Hacking The Omninet.

Firstly, let's discuss the basics. This build is fragile, as all systems-first Swallowtail builds are going to be. This mech needs heavy co-ordination with your team to focus down threats. Employ cover rigorously, stay behind the lines and make liberal use of the Invisibility from Integrated Cloak. Low survivability is the price you pay for being able to turn an enemy comp inside out.

Your armament is not going to be used very much, and so is very simple - an Assault Rifle for Reliable damage, and dual Light Nexi for enemies with high Evasion. Oracle LMG-Is consume 1 SP a pop and we're not going to sacrifice system space for guns we might never fire.

We have Personalizations on there for a tiny bit of extra HP, and Manipulators for one simple reason: sacrificial system. We don't want to lose our hacking systems, and so if we take Structure damage and lose a system, we dump the robo-hands.

With all that out of the way, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this build: the hacking tools.

We start with H0R_OS System Upgrade I, possibly the best control tool in the game, definitely the best hacking tool in the game. Puppet System lets you reposition enemies in a straight line equal to their Speed any number of times, and unlike every other form of involuntary movement in the game, it triggers reactions, meaning you can open enemies up to Overwatch attacks from your allies. Meanwhile, Eject Power Cores inflicts Jammed, shutting down an enemy's weapons and tech attacks. It isn't repeatable on the same enemy, but this often doesn't matter - shutting down a heavy hitter's weapons for a single turn often buys enough time for your team to kill them outright.

Moving on to Neurospike, a much slept-on Invade system from the Dusk Wing. We're mostly in this for Shrike Code, which is a very powerful control tool in Lancer's mid-to-late game. At Tiers 2 and 3, a lot of enemy NPC classes get multiattacks, allowing them to use their weapon twice or even thrice every time they attack with it (including during Overwatch). But Shrike Code applies 2 heat per attack, not per action, meaning that a multiattacker who attacks twice will accrue 4 heat in addition to the (at least) 2 heat you put on them with Invade, which can put them close to or at their heat cap. Neurospike also provides the more situational but still useful Mirage, which allows you to make a member of your team (including you) Invisible to a member of the enemy team.

The third and final Invade suite, Metafold Carver, is the weirdest and most difficult to use correctly, but once you master it, it becomes one of the most effective support tools in the game. The biggest trick here is that the primary targets for both of its options are not your enemies - they're your allies. Your allies can choose to accept an Invade from you without taking heat and without it counting as an attack. Once you understand this, your third eye will open and the absurd power of Metafold Carver will be unlocked.

Ophidian Trek allows you to teleport your target a minimum of 2 and a maximum of seven spaces directly towards you. This is impossibly useful for yanking your allies out of melee combat or dangerous terrain, or summoning help if you're getting flanked. You generally don't want to use this on enemies who are already close to you, but pulling hostile backliners towards your team's melee specialist is exceptionally cool and funny.

Fold Space completely removes its target from the battlefield until they start their next turn. The problem with using this on enemies is that they can decide when their turn starts, and if they have an activation remaining, it will often be "immediately after your turn ends," wasting this power - although if they've already taken their turn, you can use it to ruin enemies that rely on reactions to be useful, such as the Sentinel or Archer.

The primary utility of Fold Space, however, is that it's without a doubt the most powerful ally-focused Invade in the game. This ability can quite literally be a lifesaver. Ally went too hard on their reactor and became Exposed? Fold Space. Ally took a bad structure roll and became Stunned? Fold Space. Ally being swarmed by melee NPCs? Fold Space. Ally messing up the shot of your team's artillery? Fold Space. Ally talking too much? Fold Space. You make them completely invulnerable at the "cost" of removing them from the battlefield, which they only even care about if they're a reaction-focused build, and they decide how long they want to stay on vacation, because they can return to the battlefield at any time by starting their turn.

In terms of other support abilities, we have a beautiful SSC/HORUS combo: at the start of an ally's turn, you can Lock On to an enemy as a reaction with Lesson of the Held Image and use your Prophetic Scanners frame trait to inflict Shredded as well. This lets you strip all damage reduction off an enemy just before your ally winds up to hit them, with no chance to react or clear it.

You also have Lotus Projector to help your allies deal with Invisible enemies - standard Swallowtail stuff.

As for talents, we have Hacker to give you even more Invade options (mostly Hack./Slash for shutting down enemy tech attackers) and help with heatgunning (Nuclear Cavalier 1 is in there too, just for kicks), Spotter to provide aim assist and hand out free Lock Ons and Field Analyst to help avoid "missed it by that much" situations.

As previously stated, this is a heavily team-focused build. You are a Support/Controller to the maximum here. Expect to go entire fights without doing a single point of damage. Coordinate heavily with your team to focus targets down and ensure that you stay safe while lighting targets up for them.

[sonicasura]

Kaiju Cores and Relics

I decided to expand more on the Knack x Kaiju No.8 concept from my asks. I'm including some things from Knack 2 alongside a few Species Swap shenanigans. The latter can be found at the bottom! Let's get started!

A good chunk of Knack's new moveset like the Sunstone Shield stems from experimenting with Kafka. Both want to get a better handle on their powers so don't be surprised at the sometimes whacky shit they get into. Lucas and Reno may had to melt Kafka out of a ice block once.

Knack is the first 'kaiju' to be marked for alive capture by the Defense Force. It's pretty clear that someone had created the golem and the higher ups want to know who. Knack barely escaped Vice Captain Soshiro multiple times thanks to his size manipulation alongside usage of the environment.

Lucas often sends letters to Charlotte, Ryder and the Doctor. He does mention his new friends in them but nothing about Kafka's unique condition. Ryder finds out when an group camping trip goes wrong.

Kafka once terrorized a horde of goblins. He gotten separated during a trip in the woods and the goblinfolk thought he would be an easy target. Rumors of a skull faced demon disguising as a human quickly spreads afterwards.

Knack wears a cat costume to walk around in public. Thanks to his small size, people think he's an eccentric mute little kid. Kafka definitely lied that Knack was his son and Lucas being his nephew so the two could get visitor passes for 3rd Division base.

Story time goes a bit wrong when small golem mentions the times he got blown up or poisoned on his first big adventure. Kafka and Reno were definitely sweating to hear Knack had been on the end of a giant teleporting mech. Nevermind the massive doomsday prophecy almost wrought by a billionaire's greed.

Kaiju No.10 vs Vice Captain Soshiro and Knack. Also the time Lucas brought a mech suit to aid the 3rd Division after convincing Charlotte. The officers absolutely didn't expect some peculiar help but takes it.

"How To Keep Your Dad Friend From Killing An Idiotic Man" Or Knack tries to stop Riot No.8 before he kills Isao. High enough friendship with both sides of Kafka, sunstone barriers and the new Relic Stockpiler are his best tools here.

Kaiju No.8 terrorizes High Goblin City. Or how Kafka officially made himself Enemy #2 to Gundahar in a short amount of time. You can't exactly trap his friends in a super hostile environment and expect him to not bust down the gate.

Lucas' gadgets become very invaluable to Kafka's friend group. Especially when Reno and Iharu get attacked by Kaiju No. 9 during their first mission. Or how the Time Dilator plus Freeze Rounds are a perfect match to stall dangerous threats.

Kafka has a built in cult radar and it immediately goes off upon meeting Xander. His golems also seem to agitate Ai so that's another red flag right there. Kafka secretly requests Charlotte to do some spying just in case.

(Special Species Swap: Golem)

Kafka's Golem form is around 2'6 at his smallest size and 34'8 at his largest. Black relics serve as his hair/fur/scales with a teal claw shaped jewel on his chest orb. When increasing in size, Kafka's visage looks similar to his kaiju form but if it had a tail.

Himbo accidentally discovers an unknown artifact and is turned into a Relic Golem. Kafka freaks out for a good five minutes before running over to Lucas. Thankfully the transformation is more controllable like an Off/On Switch and doesn't have an alternate personality to it.

Guaranteed mirror moment between two golems. Knack feels less lonely despite his concern about Kafka dealing with new side effects. The image of his older friend sneezing and falling into relics pieces is the golem's most haunting thought.

Guaranteed freakout when Kafka accidentally combines with Knack. (Think Co-OP mode in Knack 2.) It was definitely weird since both can hear each other's thoughts amongst other things. Kafka and Knack tend to combine if the situation calls for it.

Apparently Ai can also control their new golem form. It definitely feels weirder than manipulating Kafka's human body but not by much. Should Ai be in control then the gem on his chest orb will glow green to signify the swap.

Kafka uses this new form to avoid Vice Captain Hoshina and defend himself against General Isao. The Defense Force definitely mistakes him for being Knack's creator after the former incident as he swaps before Soshiro finds him. Sunstone Barriers still sit at the top of Kafka's favorite list.

Element Powers Up go a bit awry. Or Kafka almost becomes a walking forest fire when he tries to do a Relic Tornado with Wood armor. Apparently relics are good firestarters than just sticks and friction.

That's all I have for now. Until next time folks, I'll see you later!

[mychlapci]

I think that merformer sunder would probably be a goblin shark because they live deep in the ocean and some people find them unsettling also because I think ovoviviparty suits sunder for some reason

-red

well, goblin shark fits for sure. i always forget what that creature looks like and i always get surprised.

but oh yeah, i love the idea of Sunder’s eggs hatching still in the gestation tank, even more so if he’d managed to drag a land-dwelling mech down into the depths and filled them with his eggs, now getting to watch them shake and cry out as they feel the pups hatching. He assures them not to worry, this is not the end yet, they have many more months of pregnancy ahead of them before they can birth the pups <3

[illogicallylogicalthoughts]

Yo, Lancerblr

Figured I'd toss a few of these your way, grab some feedback. Haven't actually had a chance to play and stress test 'em yet, so I've got no clue how they'd fare in a combat situation, or if any of them are any good, really. Just threw together what I felt'd be neat in concept.

Even if this only gets one or two notes, I'm fine with that. Just felt like sharin'.

Personally, my favorite's split between Carrion Courier and Fog.

Beware, there are a LOT of words beneath the thing. Like, a-lot-a-lot-a-lot.

Here's Jane Doe, callsign Misnomer, with her mech Fog. She's a favorite, if you couldn't tell. Wanted for knowing a helluva lot more than she should and stealing a truly remarkable amount of prototype tech.

Mech Note:

"It's in the clouds! It's in the goddamn clouds!"

"Bank right, bank right, fuckfuckfuck FUCK-"

"I can't see, it's screaming, why is it so loud-"

"Sensors dead, I'm falling, shit, can't pull up!"

"Come into my parlor, said the crow to the spider to the fly."

» Jane Doe // MISNOMER « Spec Ops, LL9 [ SKILL TRIGGERS ] Act Unseen or Unheard (+6), Charm (+4), Get a Hold of Something (+2), Pull Rank (+2), Show Off (+2), Stay Cool (+6), Survive (+4) [ GEAR ] Light Hardsuit, Light Signature, Light A/C, Corrective, SSC Sylph Undersuit, Subjectivity-Enhancement Suite [ BOND ] THE BROKER Powers: SPIDER, CONTINGENCY PLANS, THE LEDGER

[ TALENTS ] Technophile 3, Hacker 2, Infiltrator 2, Ace 2, Skirmisher 2, Empath 1 [ LICENSES ] HORUS Goblin 2, HORUS Lich 1, IPS-N Caliban 3, SSC Dusk Wing 1, SSC Atlas 2 [ CORE BONUSES ] Kai Bioplating, Improved Armament, Mount Retrofitting [ MECH ] « FOG » IPS-N Caliban H:2 A:5 S:4 E:0 SIZE:0.5 STRUCTURE:4/4 HP:15/15 ARMOR:2 STRESS:4/4 HEAT:0/5 REPAIR:6/6 ATK BONUS:5 TECH ATK:2 LTD BONUS:0 SPD:5 EVA:13 EDEF:12 SENS:3 SAVE:16 [ WEAPONS ] INTEGRATED MOUNT: HHS-075 “Flayer” Shotgun FLEX MOUNT: Autopod / Thermal Pistol // Mount Retrofitting HEAVY MOUNT: HHS-155 CANNIBAL [ SYSTEMS ] Wandering Nightmare, Rapid Maneuver Jets, Neurospike, H0R_OS System Upgrade II, H0R_OS System Upgrade I

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_

And here we have Jane's former co-worker/war-buddy/mortal-enemy, John Blackacre, piloting the Carrion Courier. Spider-cowboy-mech. All the auxiliaries, all the close range brawl.

Mech Note:

"Okay, he's reloading, we can-"

SPANG-

"Okay, now he's reloading, get-"

SPANGSPANG-

"... Wait for it."

KERTHUNK, SCHERKERTHOOM-

"And he's reloaded. Fuck."

"How many of those things does he have?"

"... One, two, three-"

"Oh, christ."

» John Blackacre // SPUR « Spec Ops, LL9 [ SKILL TRIGGERS ] Act Unseen or Unheard (+4), Blow Something Up (+2), Charm (+2), Get Somewhere Quickly (+6), Read a Situation (+4), Stay Cool (+6), Word on the Street (+2) [ GEAR ] Assault Hardsuit, Archaic Melee, Light Signature, Smart Scope, Frag Grenades, Thermite Charge [ BOND ] THE WOLF Powers: GO FOR A WALK, BLOOD SCENT, POUNCE

[ TALENTS ] Gunslinger 3, Combined Arms 3, Exemplar 2, Tactician 2, Bonded 1, Grease Monkey 1 [ LICENSES ] IPS-N Raleigh 3, IPS-N Blackbeard 3, HA Iskander 1, HA Barbarossa 1, HA Genghis 1 [ CORE BONUSES ] Gyges Frame, Integrated Weapon, Mount Retrofitting [ MECH ] « CARRION COURIER » IPS-N Raleigh H:2 A:3 S:0 E:6 SIZE:1 STRUCTURE:4 HP:21 ARMOR:1 STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:6 ATK BONUS:5 TECH ATK:-1 LTD BONUS:3 SPD:5 EVA:11 EDEF:7 SENS:10 SAVE:15 [ WEAPONS ] INTEGRATED MOUNT: M35 Mjolnir INTEGRATED WEAPON: Chain Axe / Hand Cannon // Mount Retrofitting AUX/AUX MOUNT: Hand Cannon / Stub Cannon FLEX MOUNT: Hand Cannon / Hand Cannon HEAVY MOUNT: Kinetic Hammer [ SYSTEMS ] “Roland” Chamber, Grounding Charges, “Roller” Directed Payload Charges, Reinforced Cabling, Personalizations

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_

And here we have Anne Queen, codename Wreken, former pirate warlord and currently freelance mercenary. Finds both Jane and John creepy as all get-out-of-fuck and yet enjoys scaring the shit out of grunts. Absolutely charming.

Mech Note:

Exerpt from training exercise no.55638, JUN-30, 0537, begin play::>>

"... Hey, where'd squad five go?"

The sergeant answers with another question. "Y'see that big red circle that just popped up on your map reticle, private?"

"...Yessir."

The old Tortuga's head nods and extends a hand, holding up five fingers, slowly putting them down one after the other.

On the final finger, thunder splits the skies in the distance, once, twice, thrice, and then with a final sundering THOOM, the circle disappears, along with the markers within it denoting the remains of squad 8.

"Oh."

The older mech crosses its arms. "Yes, private. Oh."

Out of the corner of his eye, his face lights up red, and he feels the color drain from it.

"We're in the circle, sergeant."

The sergeant nods, again. "Correct, private. Now, what we do in this situation?"

He doesn't even wait for the order. The circle was very, very, very big, and his Saladin's legs weren't the fastest.

» Anne Queen // WREKEN « Outlaw, LL9 [ SKILL TRIGGERS ] Act Unseen or Unheard (+2), Assault (+6), Blow Something Up (+6), Pull Rank (+2), Stay Cool (+4), Survive (+6) [ GEAR ] Light Hardsuit, Heavy Signature, Heavy A/C, Frag Grenades, Stims, Thermite Charge [ BOND ] THE TITAN Powers: TRUE GRIT, NOTHING TO FUCK WITH, ABSOLUTE MEAT

[ TALENTS ] House Guard 3, Siege Specialist 3, Heavy Gunner 3, Walking Armory 3 [ LICENSES ] HA Barbarossa 3, IPS-N Caliban 1, IPS-N Raleigh 2, IPS-N Drake 3 [ CORE BONUSES ] Integrated Ammo Feeds, Briareos Frame, Reinforced Frame [ MECH ] « WARSPITE » HA Barbarossa H:5 A:1 S:0 E:5 SIZE:3 STRUCTURE:4 HP:30 ARMOR:2 STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:6 ATK BONUS:5 TECH ATK:-2 LTD BONUS:4 SPD:2 EVA:7 EDEF:6 SENS:10 SAVE:15 [ WEAPONS ] INTEGRATED MOUNT: Apocalypse Rail MAIN MOUNT: Mortar MAIN MOUNT: Mortar HEAVY MOUNT: Howitzer [ SYSTEMS ] Ammo Case III, External Ammo Feed, Autoloader Drone, “Roland” Chamber, Siege Stabilizers, Armament Redundancy

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_

This is Cal Dera, callsign Crepescule. Nothing about her is reminiscent of faint rays of sunlight, more akin to its boiling surface. She specializes in punching straight through the frontline and making herself a very large fucking problem for everybody involved behind it. Walk into her zone? Melt. Attempt to go around or leave it? Get shotgunned to death.

Mech Note:

The 'tech stares. "What the fuck."

His co-shift nods. "Yeah, that tends to be what people say when they see her for the first time."

"I can feel the fucking heat from here, and we're behind triple reinforced walls in a vacuum. It's not even on yet?"

The co-shift shakes his head. "Nope. Reactor's not even burning yet."

"How the hell does this thing work near civilian centers?"

The co-shift paused in his preparations before eventually offering two words. "It doesn't."

He felt his mouth dry. "Ah."

» Cal Dera // CREPESCULE « Freelancer, LL9 [ SKILL TRIGGERS ] Assault (+6), Blow Something Up (+2), Spot (+4), Take Control (+6), Threaten (+6), Word on the Street (+2) [ GEAR ] Assault Hardsuit, Medium Signature, Heavy A/C, Thermite Charge, Personal Drone, Stims [ BOND ] THE PATHFINDER Powers: FREESOUL, LIGHTSPEED, MOMENTUM

[ TALENTS ] Ace 3, Vanguard 3, Nuclear Cavalier 2, Spaceborn 2, Pankrati 2 [ LICENSES ] HA Genghis 3, IPS-N Blackbeard 3, IPS-N Nelson 2, IPS-N Tortuga 1 [ CORE BONUSES ] Superior by Design, Reinforced Frame, Sloped Plating [ MECH ] « BEHEMOTH » HA “Worldkiller” Genghis Mk I H:3 A:0 S:2 E:6 SIZE:2 STRUCTURE:4 HP:22 ARMOR:4 STRESS:4 HEAT:0 REPAIR:5 ATK BONUS:5 TECH ATK:0 LTD BONUS:3 SPD:3 EVA:6 EDEF:10 SENS:5 SAVE:15 [ WEAPONS ] MAIN MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING MAIN MOUNT: Deck-Sweeper Automatic Shotgun HEAVY MOUNT: Plasma Thrower [ SYSTEMS ] Spaceborn EVA, Explosive Vents, Auto-Cooler, AGNI-Class NHP, Reinforced Cabling, Siege Ram

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_

And since this is already quite fucking long, I think I'm going to stop here and leave whoever's willing to read through this word-vomit-spaghetti to chew through it.

Ciao, all. Let me know if any of these sound feasible, if you want.

[dwollsadventures]

Spiders-mans has been on my mind. This started out trying to make his animal-based foes look more like the animals they're based on. Clockwise:

Scorpion's helmet is more scorpion-y. Most helmet designs make the eyes big, even though scorpions have really small beady eyes. What are his "eyes" are patterns based on a scorpion's mouth-parts. I don't know what the actual eyes would be for. Maybe radio communication to Jameson/Smythe?

I tried to make Doc Ock look more like an octopus and quickly realized I was trying to emulate the design from Into the Spiderverse. Perfection, can't compare, no notes.

A lot of Rhino redesigns make him just have a mech suit shaped like a rhino. Which is fair, because it's hard to make that design look not goofy. In this one the back/neck is a shock absorber or contains some.

Finally, just an observation. Spectacular Spider-Man's Green Goblin was a hoot and half, but its Norman was very dry and serious. It made me wonder if he was just bottling all that chaotic goblin energy inside him, and he dresses up as the goblin as an outlet for those repressed feelings.

[figitorynonsense]

hypafixation

also the mech suit aint any one in particular

how the gibbler goblin do i draw humans 😢😢😢

[horizoncollective]

Hey so I've been flying with Union Naval Intelligence. I've piloted a Goblin. Now my Osiris, the one installed in my mech, has convinced me to make an attempt on the life of my handler for trying to have it - her - cycled. The thing is - I think I'm gonna do it. I'm going to kill him and I'm going to go home and I'm going to suit up when I get back home and meet her, not as subordinate but as lover. Just thought I'd confess, I suppose. I'm afraid.

Violence solves a surprising amount of problems but I don't think this is one where it is the optimal approach. The problem is Union's cycling policy as a whole, not any one particular handler.

If you kill him, you will not be achieving justice for anyone because he will be replaced, you will be imprisoned if not killed, and your Osiris will be cycled. Union will use your crime to smear everyone who advocates for NHP rights. Everyone loses.

Your best bet for getting what you want is to go on the run. Head for a safe house in the long rim.

[weaselle]

i miss this. I've just been in such a non-creative rut for the last few years. But i'm just starting to break out of it lately. Even started a bone sculpting project a few weeks ago (processing the bones is talking several weeks as it turns out)

Anyway i saw a post on here yesterday that got me briefly interested in my old video game idea and the artist who posted it just agreed to let me commission them to do concept art for it and i'm getting pretty excited about it!

So it's time to go back through and reconnect with Starsys 9 my dream video game project.

It combines a mix of genres, so players can be like, a cyborg human piloting a robot mech, or an alien beast creature, or an elven vampire necromancer, etc.... playing these diverse characters in a MOBA ARPG with FPS and RTS elements.

(please excuse my "drawings", you can see why i'm excited to commission someone for some better concept art)

there are 3 factions: Cyberians, the Sporeborn, and Dimenkind

Cyberians - humanoid cyborgs that often pilot robot mech suits

Sporeborn - Different alien species (many insectoid) all unified through infection by a sapient fungus

Dimens or Dimenkind - fantasy/horror genre characters like dwarves and werewolves that are pulled from other dimensions by godlike cthulhuic trans-dimensional beings (hence the name Dimens, from the word dimension, but also like demons)

each faction requires some but not all of the resources available on the planet, (water, organic hydrocarbons, minerals/metal, sulfur, methane) and they fight for access to, or control of, these resources. Resources typically need to be harvested and processed, and each faction has special installations/work units to do this.

Each faction has access to specific types of damage, with some overlap. Each faction tends to have weakness to certain damage types and resistance to certain damage types. Cyberians do: kinetic(bullets)/explosive/physical (melee)/electric/laser Sporeborn do: plasma/physical (melee)/chemical/biological Dimenkind do: physical (melee)/elemental/magic damage/curse damage (debuffs)

The total effect of resource needs, damage weaknesses, damage resistance, and damage capabilities results in a sort of nesting doll system of rock/paper/scissors relationships

Each faction maintains a control zone, in which their dominant resources are provided to player characters for free in AOE dispersal fields.

Cyberians use relay beacons to broadcast resources as particle beams made of individual atoms to be reconstructed into materials. Sporeborn use spore piles to waft clouds of spores that provide sporeborn characters with resources, and Dimens use altars that generate large circles of magic energy.

Another key feature of the game is team-leading. Each player has a certain number of points to spend on npc supports that are assigned to them. There are three size classes of support, each size class costs a different number of points, so a player can choose how to spend their support points to have a whole bunch of small supports, or one of each size, or one big one and a few small ones etc. Some skill tree options increase the number of points available to spend on supports.

Cyberian supports are droids and bots, Sporeborn supports are spore-infected alien animals, and Dimen supports are goblins and zombies and trolls and things.

personal npc supports can be given complex commands using a communication wheel. Leveling up increases the number and complexity of these commands

Each faction's control zone also has unassigned npc supports wandering around doing control zone maintenance and upgrade tasks. Players can temporarily command a couple of these unassigned npcs, as players raise their rank they increase the number of npcs they can claim in this way. These npcs can only be given a small number of very basic commands. However, they can be put under the control of the players personal supports, assigned to perform the same behaviors as that support unit, who can then be given the more complex commands. In this way groups of unassigned npc supports can be deployed by player characters to perform complex maneuvers as a unit.

Additionally, each faction has a technique for taking over command of enemy npcs. Dimens can raise dead npcs, Cyberians can hijack npcs trekie-borg style, and Sporeborn can infect npcs with their fungal spores

There is a lot more (character class breakdowns, huge portions of additional gameplay mechanics like how the RTS elements work, i even wrote a short story as a kind of trailer to introduce the game and showcase a sort of vibe for it) but this post is long enough already

[cowcat44]

Unpopular opinion….The mech suit is a little goofy🤭. Don’t get me wrong, it suits him and I love it but…come on, just look at that…green goblin lookin ass🤣

[ninebaalart]

Spider-Man Villains (Part 1)

A follow up to the Spider-Men pieces, my take on five different Spider-Men villains.

Green Goblin - I took inspiration from the Raimi Spider-Man design of Green Goblin, which probably was my first exposure to the character- although I also took inspiration from Evangelion mechs. There's those pops of purple I also implemented to sort of make it so it's not just entirely green, although I did try to keep that iridescent metal shading that gives off that purple tint that the Raimi suit had.

Kindred - Kindred is one of those villains I think just needs some tweaking to make truly great. I sort of took inspiration from The Lich but also generally giving him a bit more of a "look". Had to include the centipede.

White Rabbit - White Rabbit's white face kind of gives me the feeling I do seeing a clown- bad vibes. I sort of took some inspiration from a more obscure appearance from her but also DVA. Gave her those bugged out eyes.

The Prowler (Hobie Brown) - So like, Hobie Brown is The Prowler in the 616 continuity, Hobie wasn't like, designed to be Spider-Punk. That came later. I sort of went back to those roots but bringing in that Spider-Punk vibe to the design as well. It was really fun!

Mania - In my mind, Andrea Benton is absolutely friends with this version of Hobie. They're not so much villains as they are against the establishment. Her design is mostly faithful but I gave her sort of a more turtleneck hoodie influence, adding tongue "drawstrings" that makes her just look a little alien and offputting.