Introducing ExM:roya. A Mech TTRPG

Hey gamers and game masters! Welcome to my devlog. I want to share a tabletop RPG I've been working on for a while. It’s called **ExM:roya**. It’s a hard sci-fi mech game that sits somewhere between *LANCER* and *Mothership*. It gives you the cool, tactical mech customization of *LANCER*, but we play it "theater of the mind" (no grid). It also has the high danger of *Mothership*, but the scariest monster isn't an alien or the vacuum of space. It's your own mech 😏

Let's dive into the core mechanics and what makes this game tick!

## The Fragile Pilot vs. The Durable Mech

Picture this: your giant mech gets hit. The armor takes the damage, warning lights flash, but you keep fighting. Now, imagine you eject from that mech. That same enemy who just scratched your paint can now kill you by stepping on you 🤷.

Most mech RPGs don't really show this difference. But a mech is a walking tank; the pilot inside is a human being - they have very different roles. So, I built two separate game-plays. When you eject, it isn't just a "stats change". You are literally playing a different game: more story-driven and focused on soft skills.

## The "Visual Dice" System

I’ve been testing a core mechanic that I call the **Visual Dice System**.

Instead of writing numbers on your character sheet, your stats *are* the dice. Let's say you play a rookie pilot. Your Reflexes stat is a **d4** (a tiny die). The veteran player next to you has a **d10** for Reflexes. You don't need a math table to know who is faster, you can literally feel the difference in your hand.

The core resolution is super simple:

* Roll your dice. * Keep the highest number. * Beat the GM's Target Number (TN). * *That's it. No crazy +5 or +2 modifiers to add up.*

Also, every human has a standard **Instinct Die** (a fixed d6). It represents your human survival reflexes. But when you climb into the cockpit, you get ~~more power~~ **Mech Stat Die** instead of Instincts, you know - the neural link kicks in 😎. So the machine's hardware becomes your new safety net.

## Ejecting Means Running for Your Life

Let’s go back to ejecting. Your mech is immobilized, you hit the eject button, and you land on the ground. Suddenly, the enemy mech's foot looks as big as a house.

When you are on foot, the rules change. Personal combat is super fast and deadly. If a mech shoots you with a giant rifle? There are no saving throws. You are just dead. One hope is your friends who are still in battle and cover you.

I designed it this way on purpose. When you are a human on a battlefield of live steel, your goal isn't to fight. Your goal is to run away or find a new mech. It creates massive tension! ...and mech can change pilots...

## No Magic "Long Rests"

I really dislike systems where players just spam all their best attacks and then take a magical "long rest" to heal everything back to normal.

In ExM, you have to maintain your gear. Weapons have a **Wear Pool** - a set of extra dice (see! again tactile experience). You can spend these dice to do massive extra damage when you really need it. But once you use them, they could be burned out.

They don't recharge automatically. You can't just sleep in a tent to fix a railgun 🤣. You have to survive the mission, travel back to a city, and spend money and downtime to repair it. (psst, there are mechs who can help with repairs!) Pushing your mech's reactor works the same way. It forces players to think carefully about when to go "nova" and spend their resources.

## The AI Wants Your ~~motorcycle~~ Neural System

This is the mechanic I am most excited about!

Imagine you just survived a terrible fight. You are tired. You plug your brain into the mech's neural link. The AI core is helpful and friendly. But... it is also watching you. {Do you already feel the Mothership vibes?}

In this game, advanced AI cores are truly helpful but also smart, and they often have identity and their goals. They can't just kick you out of the seat because they need your human nervous system to drive the mech. So, don't lose your clarity!

When you play, your pilot has two health bars:

* **HP** (Physical health) * **Clarity** (Mental health)

When the AI does complex things that your human brain can't easily handle, you lose Clarity. If your Clarity drops to zero, the AI could take control of your mind, or not 😏. If so - you became a passenger in your own body. The GM takes over your mech as an NPC, maybe your teammates can handle this, or they will like their new friend even more than you 😅.

## What This Game is NOT

To be totally clear about the vibe of the game:

* **No battlemaps:** We don't use grids. * **No math stacks:** You won't be adding up five different +1 buffs. * **No reset buttons:** Resources don't magically heal overnight.

This is a "fiction-first" game. The rules are there to make a cool story, not to be a heavy physics simulator. If you like spending an hour moving miniatures on a grid, this game probably isn't for you. But if you want mech combat to feel dangerous and downtime to feel important, you might love this.

## Current Status

Right now, the game is a Work In Progress (WIP). The core mechanics are written, and we are actively playtesting both pilot and mech combat. I am also writing the lore: factions, gate networks, civilization history, etc alongside the rules.

It isn't ready to publish yet, but I wanted to share my progress with the TTRPG community. If this sounds fun to you, or if you have any cool ideas or feedback, join the discussion on [ExM channel at OrbRPG server](https://discord.gg/kmtntveG) !