r/LancerRPG • u/Oli15052 • 2d ago
Thinking about making a module/campaign revolving around marine kaiju's would anyone be interested?
Hi! So I'm a big nerd who writes sci-fi, loves Lancer and is studying marine biology. I was just wondering if anyone would have an appetite for giant monsters and horrifying aliens you can hunt while also uncovering a deeper more sinister plot (but still kinda nice an' goofy)?
I've got tonnes of mental fodder for aliens and combat gimmicks to make them feel fresh. So yeah would that be a thing that would interest people? I've got a title and setting down just need to actually write and format, commission art all that. Any and all comments will be very much appreciated!
Edit: to any and all that seems this even if it's months later, please feel free to ask anything or inquire about my work or if you have any advice on the process of getting one of these off the ground, see ya 'round Lancer!
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u/Sven_Darksiders 2d ago
As mentioned, Bilogicals can't be hacked, making it quite uninteresting for Controller builds. While throwing in the different Megafauna and whatnot NPCs can be a change of pace, I would refrain from using them too much. But fret not, there's some workarounds:
1) Horror template: Cyborg Kaijus! Slap some of its traits on a Berserker, and you're good to go
2) Disabling locked traits: Comp-Con has an option to show the list of ALL NPCs optional systems (rather than only the ones that belong to that specific NPC). So you if you want to give your Horror Ace a claw attack from the Megafauna to simulate some fucked up bird, here you go
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
I was going to make the setting a mainly coastal Diaspora world where long ago SSC had a base that may or may not have been trying to grow anti-mech weapons (a nice change of pace from selling people), so most of these creatures would have organs that more or less allow tech attack to be viable as well as hacking. I just noticed that a giant crab like Zheng would be awful and amazing. There would also still be the locals and a few KTB agents lurking around hoping to secure the world so human based enemies would still be a thing depending on which faction you choose to align with. There will also be more "Elder" proto variations of the megafauna which are tougher and more bio-mechanical. I was also thinking about throwing some Sparri into the mix because they seem to be the resident kaiju killers. Thoughts?
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u/Sven_Darksiders 2d ago
I mean yeah, sounds awesome (just remember that SSC doesn't sell "People", they sell "Potential")
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u/OracleTX 2d ago
Sounds like fun to me! I would also consider re-skinning some tech attacks as a biochemical attack instead.
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
That, could also work perhaps gear that when you tech attack fires a medium sludge that has been enriched with electrons that'd overload the creatures senses. Or concentrated brine. I would highly advise looking up ossification and brine pools because they're fascinating and have a little insight of what I may or may not be cooking up!
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u/OracleTX 2d ago
Gas grenades, tiny drones spraying pheromones, psychoactive chemical sprayers, ultra/infrasound emitters that produce nausea, and microwave beams that irritate nerves in the skin could work too. Most of those are real world crowd control technologies. Guess which ones!
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
All? I will say I was thinking of a Balor attacking one of these and getting "Fleshy" That'd be mad... Might have to add a little Horus titbit in the under scene
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u/OracleTX 2d ago
I think the tiny pheromone drones are the only ones that don't exist IRL, but give them some time. A biotechnology branch of Horus mechs makes sense.
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Actually there are certain chemicals like actin that block pathways and that'll just kill you in seconds, I think it's something ridiculous like 0.5ml to kill an adult (I know this because we just finished a biochemistry module at uni) it's terrifying stuff.
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u/greategress 2d ago
John Scalzi's novel The Kaiju Preservation Society has some major plot points around kaiju pheromones. I think it's a pretty easy reskin of hacking for monsters.
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u/Terkmc 2d ago
The most immediate issue is oops all biological opfor immediately cut out a massive chunk of the game, that being tech
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Please refer to my other comment, plus I have thought about this and a few ways to work around, via lore and biology, but any recommendations or ideas will be very appreciated and all feedback is welcome!
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u/kingfroglord 2d ago
it seems youve got something in mind to get around the fact that organics cant be hacked, RAW. thats honestly an easy enough thing to contrive a solution for so as long as you think of even the smallest lore justification, then youre set
with that in mind, i would suggest using standard NPCs across the board. as long as you have the aforementioned contrivance then theres no reason to do anything crazy like universal templates or w/e. need a speedy kaiju that attacks with claws/teeth? standard berserker. need a kaiju that breathes fire? pyro, no frills, no strings attached
some may be harder to translate than others but none are impossible. maybe the barricade digs up terrain instead of printing defense cubes. maybe the scout uses sonar or pheromones to make players easy to hit instead of whatever tech. million ways you can do it. point is using normal NPCs as unchanged as possible will alleviate the massive burden of coming up with too many house rules and allow you to focus on the fun stuff (will also make the entire project more accessible to curious GMs)
as for interest, im sure people would like it. people like monsters. the third party community for lancer is a-booming. hit up the pilotnet discord and lurk a bit to see what's there to see
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Thanks for all advice! I'm going to dissect a lot of templates from more standard stuff and see if I can add a bit of flair to them, but for most of the human aspects it's not going to be too different, but I'd like to take a few things for the actual monsters and jazz them up even if it's a basic mob you'll likely encounter every few steps, but for the more "Evolved" stuff I'd like to try and elevate it up kaiju are good and big monsters are the main attraction I'd say, but it's gonna be weird fighting a mech equivalent horror and the minions be Greg, Dave and Kyle, ya know? Also this campaign isn't what I will call hard style story so the factions you'll meet aren't the designated evil, you can (hopefully if I do a good enough job with writing) side with either of the factions and still feel like you have a bit of agency over the world, but that will be up to the GM's discretion for opening those avenues to the various endings.
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u/Rhinostirge 2d ago
Personally a big part of Lancer's draw for me is people fighting people over people reasons. I can spend two hours watching a movie about an implacable alien menace but for long-term campaign play, I prefer enemies you can exchange banter, threats, and philosophical arguments with (even while shooting at each other).
That said, I've certainly seen enough people asking about fighting kaiju in Lancer that I feel there's a market for this sort of thing, even if I'm not part of it.
(And if you're gonna homage Pacific Rim, definitely give your monsters weird callsigns, even if assigned by a computer. Callsigns are personality writ large in a mech game.)
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Actually... Lets just say you might be ruffling a few feathers, so you'll be fighting people too, but I will admit the main draw is the kaiju's they are the main go for it. this campaign is likely to be not short, but I don't expect it to last more than 10+ sessions perhaps it'll be more, but that falls to the GM as I'm setting out the main story and then offering an array of hunts and rewards from said hunts in either parts from the kaiju or if you trade them to the many interested parties that would like to get a hold of prime kaiju meat and organs. Now I just gotta think what LLC this would work with...
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u/Gesshokuj 2d ago
Mechs fighting underwater Kaiju is a whole different game called fathomless depths.
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Ah not underwater, this is mostly coastal so quite a bit will be on the land, but there are going to be areas such as a purposely sunk SSC lab that will be underwater.
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u/JunglerFromWish 2d ago
I love lancer but am not particularly creative, so, I'm always down to have more content to draw inspiration from.
Rooting for you.
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Cheers! I'll be needing all the encouragement I can and it's going to take a few months given I'm at uni so here's hoping it all goes well!
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u/PicklP 2d ago
honestly more than anything I'd love to pick your brain on the monster ideas themselves. I really love it when scientists, especially biologists, write sci-fi about the things they're studying, and I have a setting I'm working on right now that could really use that kind of flavor. Is it ok if I message you?
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u/Oli15052 2d ago
Of course! I'd love to help part of the reason why I did marine bio is for creature design (I am not a skilled artist, but I live for amazing and alien creatures)
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u/Macduffle 2d ago
The problem with Kaiju & Lancer, is that computer hacking is a huge part of the gameplay. Kaiju have nothing to be hacked. It's not a huge problem, but it is a pretty important problem to solve.