Masks to Mecha in a Hurry

So let’s say you had like… two hours and wanted to cobble together some kind of semi-playable version of Masks, but for playing Voltron, basically. Like… we don’t even have time to file the serial numbers off much, and we’re not going to worry about some mecha moves and abilities exactly… just write in a couple strengths and a weakness for your mech… and we’ll just let you combine if you Unleash your Powers all at once, I guess… until you get an advance maybe and buy “combine easily?” maybe? and and and…

Then you might get something like this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UUMkUPTN5Du8c14-k…

I mean… it’s not RIGHT, but you could play, I think. It’s like a playable C-grade hack.

author: Doyce T.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6109377

It’s a start, yeah.

Rather than Unleash Your Powers, I’d set a “team cost” to form Voltron, maybe starting at 3 or 4 or something difficult, and notch it down as the group advances. When the leader spends the team cost, you can form up, no roll. Getting that much team in the pool - which can also include hold from certain moves, like the Bull’s vulnerability-or-weakness move - is the job of other moves.

Maintaining Influence over your lion is important, and it can be lost. Without it, you can’t pilot.

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6109440

See I’d run it like…

When you all form up to take them out, hold nothing.
If the leader has Influence over every teammate, hold +1
If everyone is has the same goal, hold +1.
For everyone who contributes a point of Team (max 1), hold +1.
If any team member mistrusts the leader of the team, hold -1.
If your team is ill-prepared or off-balance, hold -1.

You can spend hold as if it were Team. You cannot spend hold selfishly.

When you are all formed up and Take a Powerful Blow, spend 2 hold or immediately get knocked out of formation.

When you have the advantage and go to finish it, the leader rolls +hold remaining.
On a 10+, you finish it cleanly and the day is finished.
On a 7+, you finish it but the target managed to get one good hit before it goes. Split two conditions between any members of the team.
On a miss, looks like they aren’t going down. Something has upped the stakes. Take a Powerful Blow.

When you are knocked out of formation or separate on your own, remove all remaining hold.

author: Mike
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6109479

Damn, now I want to work on it more.

author: Doyce T.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6109495

Bill G. said:.

Maintaining Influence over your lion is important, and it can be lost. Without it, you can’t pilot.

Ooh yeah. That’s good.

author: Doyce T.
url: Community Forums: Masks to Mecha in a Hurry | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

Another alternative to custom moves: when you’ve formed Voltron, the leader can make the adult moves Wield Your Powers or Overwhelm a Vulnerable Foe. When Voltron is combined and present as a symbol, your representatives among rebel populations can make the adult moves Persuade With Best Interests, or Stand Up For Something.

I like “knocked out of formation”, and it could also be added to the Take a Powerful Blow results list at either the 10+ or 7-9 levels.

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6109506

Oddly enough, I’ve thought about this a bit.

First, adding in some of the flight combat moves from Night Witches would be worth while.

Then I would add in the Fellowship rules from…umm, Fellowship. The idea of the GM being the Overlord and having their own character sheet makes sense too. Hell, the season one finale syncs up pretty well to Overlord’s No More Games move. The Robeasts would either be Set Pieces or Generals. Freeing planets from the Overlord unlocks their Fellowship… which unlocks new weapons for your Lions. Actually, if you ported the Influence mechanics of Masks onto Fellowship, it wouldn’t be the worst method of accomplishing this whole setup (though that might just be my current fasination with Fellowship).

author: Mike
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6109510

Making a note to reread Fellowship.

author: Doyce T.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6110044

I really like the idea of Influence being a thing you need with your semi-sentient, semi-aware, semi-telepathic mecha. Also you clearly see in the show idea that there are levels of bonding with the Lions, and that folks do not all have the same levels of Bonding.

So.

**Spendable Influence
**When you take Influence over someone, hold the token. You can hold multiple Influence tokens over the same character. Spend your Influence when you choose to:

  • take +1 on a move against that character
  • inflict a condition on that character
  • ask that character a question; they must answer honestly
  • (for PCs) shift that character’s Labels, one up and one down
  • (for PCs) offer that character the chance to mark potential if they do what you want
  • (for PCs) give that character -2 on a move against you
  • (For mecha) Discover and use a previously-unused mecha ability/power/attack.
  • (For mecha) Permanently unlock a mecha ability/power/attack that you have previously discovered and introduced

This change would have repercussions all over the system, necessitating tweaks to several moves. The ultimate effect is that Influence becomes more of a spendable resource, something you accumulate and then use. It also might make the game more about emotional manipulation and leverage. Works fine when you’re playing politics with reluctant allies, but might make the team’s interactions a little more cynical.

-----
And here’s another one:

TEAM STAT
The team as a whole gains a Team stat, and a Team track with five boxes.

Your Team stat starts the game at +0. Your Team stat can never go higher than +3 or lower than -2.

Whenever you would add a Team to the pool, mark a box on the track instead. When you mark the fifth box, clear it and increase your Team stat by +1. Whenever you would spend a Team from the pool, instead clear one box on the track. If there are no filled boxes to clear, then decrease your Team stat by -1.

When you help a teammate, roll + Team. On a hit, add +1 to their roll. On a 7-9, clear one box on the Team track. On a miss, clear one box on the Team track in addition to any other hard moves.

When you act selfishly, say how your actions ignore or insult your teammates and roll + Team instead of your usual Label on any move. After the move is resolved, decrease the Team stat by -1.

This is a big change. Team is less transitory; increasing the Team score can feel cooler than just adding Team to the pool. It’s also going to be a lot easier for teammates to help each other; even when Team’s at +0, PCs will now be able to roll it to help each other out. Would also slow down the game a bit, since everyone helping out would need to roll in addition to narrating the help, and there might be fallout from bad rolls that might not have happened otherwise.

Seems like you actually make this the default stat to roll while piloting Voltron. There’d be times isn’t wasn’t relevant, but anything Voltron’s doing with the team working together would totally be this.

author: Doyce T.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6114537

… the sheer amount of fiddling and headaches intrinsic to making this hack totally work… oy.

author: Doyce T.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6114552

Well, here you go. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zmcc4fifvc0vva8/Ranger.pdf?dl=0

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6330889

Whoa. Dang.

author: Doyce T.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6331426