JAEVA Project

Imagine, if you will a combination of two of the greatest giant robot tales ever told, Pacific Rim and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now imagine being able to play as pilots in this setting fighting against the Kaiju menace that is at your door. Will you cancel the Apocalypse, or reign it in?

Originally a simple request by an Anon for what system would best run Pacific Rim, it quickly evolved into a crossover of two great end-of-the-world Mech universes. As /tg/ is wont to do, it's expanding into a full system and setting able to represent the original idea, the new combination, or just about any giant robot game you want to play.

The current timeline runs all the way to the beginning of Pacific Rim's plot, with both NERV and the PPDC losing funding and being moved to one base each, located now at the Panama Canal. However, prospective GMs are encouraged to pick anywhere along the timeline, from the dawn of Jaegars and Evas, to the glory days of the war, and possibly in a post-apocalypse future of some sort. Many such ideas are being generated, and will be added to this page as things develop.

The Fluff

[under construction]

Organizations

Assuming you know nothing about either Evangelion or Pacific Rim, you're probably going to be confused by some of the names thrown around in the rest of this page. Let's fix that shall we?

• SEELE (from the German word for "soul"): A shadowy organization that has their hands in just about every pie worldwide. They're obsessed with the idea of 'Human Instrumentality,' which boils down to turning humanity into one giant hive-mind. Of course, if they end up in charge of said think tank, that's a nice bonus. They secretly run NERV under the name of the Instrumentality Committee, which NERV is technically answerable to, although because NERV has a bunch of giant robots, SEELE's 'control' is a delicate state.
• Gehirn (from the German word for "brain"): A secretive biotechnology research laboratory which operated publicly as the UN Artificial Evolution Laboratory. Their funding and true purpose comes from SEELE. They developed the technologies that would be used in the MAGI and EVA units as part of SEELE's Human Instrumentality Project. They went public (more public, anyway) and became NERV when the Kaiju started attacking.
• NERV (from the German word for "nerve"): One of the organizations created in the aftermath of K-day to combat the Kaiju. They build/grow, maintain, and have command of the giant cyborgs classified as Evangelions. Incredibly secretive, NERV does its best to keep all information as hidden as possible, even from its own staff at times. They are based out of massive artificial underground domes call Geofronts that act as the Eva maintenance bays, research labs, command rooms, and as shelters for the civilians the cities they're based in.
• PPDC (Pan Planetary Defense Corps): Originally the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. The name was changed once the UN realized that a second rift had opened in the Atlantic Ocean. They maintain and command the giant robots classified as Jaegers. Far more open than their counterpart NERV, the PPDC is based out of large bases known as 'Shatterdomes' which house the Jaegers themselves along with all staff and personal. Due to being run as an actual armed force, the PPDC is generally respected for its professional handling of the Kaiju War.

Current Timeline (WIP)

1960s

• Following the prophecy of the true Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient shadow organization SEELE organized an expedition to the Antarctic.

1980s

• After 20 years of searching the remains of a monstrous being were discovered buried under the ice, a base is established at the site. Seele establishes a front, the Biotech Firm Gehirn, and sends samples of the Antarctic creature now dubbed “Adam” to Gehirn labs across the world.

1990s

• Gehirn develops the MAGI organic computer system based on the brain tissue of the Adam creature.

2000s

• At the SEELE Antarctic site something is found buried several miles under the ice, the ancient breach now frozen and abandoned. It is quickly reburied and placed under heavy guard, SEELE moves to stage two of their plan.
• Evangelion Project is started, with Gehirn attempting to clone a lobotomized version of the Adam creature. Utilizing technology originally developed for the MAGI system, a human could be "synced" with the clone's dormant mind, allowing the human to take control of the body as if it were their own.

20XX

• After dozens of failed attempts, Gehirn finally succeeds in growing the EVA series prototype, Unit-00.

2012

• Unit-00 sent on secret mission through the Antarctic Breach by SEELE, it returns with a captive Precursor/Engineer codenamed “Lilith”. It is stored in stasis at one of the new Geofront facilities, at the lowest level. Not even high ranking NERV personnel know of Lilith’s existence.

2013

• K-Day, the Kaiju Trespasser comes ashore on the California coast. After six days of battling the beast with conventional weapons, the US military finally attacks and kills Trespasser with a nuclear strike. The California Bay Area is totally destroyed, and contaminated with the toxic substance Kaiju Blue. Tens of thousands of people are dead, hundreds of thousands wounded, millions are now homeless.

2014

• Three additional Kaiju attacks are unleashed on coastal cities of the Pacific and Atlantic, all three must also be put down by nuclear weapons. Jasper Schoenfeld proposes the Jaeger Program during a special UN general assembly session on the Kaiju threat.
• Pressured by the sudden appearance of the Jaeger Project, Seele dissolves Gehirn and transfers all personnel and assets to the new agency NERV. Which goes public with the EVA program as its own solution to the Kaiju threat.

2015

• American Jaeger prototype Brawler Yukon engages Kaiju Karloff and is victorious.
• Japanese Jaeger prototype Jet Alone is deployed in Tokyo Bay to intercept Kaiju Onibaba. Disaster strikes as a glitch in the Drift software results in the death of both pilots, disabling Jet Alone and leaving Tokyo defenseless. NERV springs into action by deploying prototype EVA Unit-00, managing to bring down Onibaba. The incident is shrouded in controversy, with accusations of sabotage and incompetence thrown to both sides. In the end Japan terminates its Jaeger program, and orders Jet Alone scrapped. Mysteriously, the ship transporting the Jaeger never arrived at its destination.
• The UN Security Council is impressed with both systems, and approves both. The PPDC received funding for 30 Jaegers across 5 production lines, and NERV approval for one additional prototype and 18 full production Evangelions.

2016

• 6 Mark I Jaegers enter service.
• EVA Unit-01 Finished

2017

• 6 Mark II Jaegers enter service.
• EVA Units 02, 03, and 04 finished
• While originally intending to operate both Evangelions and Jaegers, the United States abandons its EVA program after a disaster involving the NERV facility at Area 51. In the wake of an unsanctioned experiment involving Unit-04 and a prototype power source, the entire facility and everything within 100 miles is atomized. NERV was kicked from the country, and America’s remaining EVA Unit was donated to Egypt.

2018

• 6 Mark III Jaegers enter service.
• EVA Units 05, 06, 07, 08, and 09 finished.

2019

• 6 Mark IV Jaegers enter service.
• EVA Units 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 finished

2020

• Heavily over budget, only one Mark V Jaeger is produced, the rest of the line canceled. An additional 6 Mark IV Jaegers are built instead, ending the first Jaeger production order.
• EVA Units 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 finished. The first EVA series production order is complete.

2021

• Just as it seemed Humanity might have the upper hand, the frequency and severity of Kaiju attacks begin to escalate. Casualties begin to mount for both Jaegers and EVA Units.
• The PPDC opens the Oblivion Bay facility in the ruins of Oakland to house Jaegers wrecks damaged beyond repair, while NERV stores the shattered remains of defeated EVAs in Graveyard facilities in the deepest depths of the Geofronts.

2024

• An unprecedented 24 Kaiju emerge from the Rifts in one year, all stronger than the ones that came before. By the time the year ends, 12 Jaegers and 5 EVAs are destroyed. In addition to the losses mounted over the previous few years, only 2 Jaegers and 2 EVA Units are still intact.
• The UN Security Council decides both programs have become unsustainable.

2025

• The present day, only the Shatterdome and Geofront facilities located at the Panama Canal remain active. The UN has diverted funding from both NERV and the PPDC to the Wall of Life project. In 2026, both organizations are scheduled to be disbanded.

Jaegers and EVA Units

A list and explanation of the various giant robots in the setting.

Jaegers

The Jaegers (from the German word for "hunter") are giant, humanoid robots roughly 70-80m tall. Built with the intention of intercepting and defeating Kaiju before the can make landfall, the Jaegers are built to be massive walls able to beat down the Kaiju with just their fists. This keeps the spread of Kaiju Blue, which is spread via a Kaiju's blood, to a minimum. Any weapons that aren't blunt force are usually designed to cauterize the wounds, or are last resort weapons to be used in emergencies.

They are piloted via a neural uplink that allows a human to control the Jaeger with their own body. However, do to the strain of trying to control something so large, two pilots, designated 'Rangers,' sync together in a process known as Drifting. Once a connection is established each Ranger is inside the other's head, allowing them to think more or less as one, with each controlling one half of the Jaeger.

• Harlequin Rodeo- Mark 4 ScrapBuild with Mark 5 Parts. Boasts that its the fastest Jaegar to walk Terra Firma. Has yet to be proven.
• Two-Timer- EVA/Jaegar Hybrid, Combines the power-plant of a Mark 3 with the EVA Frame. Heavy Modification to keep the thing together, so slower then your Average EVA, and not as well armored as your standard Jaegar.
• Ring Leader-another EVA/Jaegar Hybrid apparently stolen from the Chinese, it was there best attempt to copy EVA-O1. Also has a On board Power plant, ripped of a Dead Mark 4.
• Lion Tamer- Mark 2 Redux. Someone with a real love for that Clunker Cherno decided to make his best imitation. They say Mockery is the most sincerest form of Flattery. That remains to be seen.
• Shrike Victor - An Australasian Jaeger with a New Zealand crew, Shrike Victor was one of the last of the Mark 3 Jaegers to be built.
• Emerald Spark -
• Whiskey Churchill - A British Mark 4 Jaeger built as renewed waves of Kaiju came from the Atlantic portal.
• Santo Machismo - piloted by an actual Lucha tag-team, the duo were actually training/wrestling in Japan during the time of the Onibaba attack. Surviving the carnage, they garnered a distaste for NERV, as they believe the EVA unit caused too much collateral damage and harmed many innocents. After a period of rest in Mexico, they made their way to the Lima Shatterdome in Peru in response to the open recruitment drives. Santo itself is a Mark III, it's head stylized (in either paint job or actual design) to resemble the silver mask of Mexico's most famous lucha, El Santo. The Jaeger is known to utilize the duo's wrestling moves and is a national symbol in Mexico.
• Buster Astro - Astro is piloted by veteran Ranger Terry Hirst and the daughter of his previous partner, Laura Elsen. Laura's father Jay had been friends with Terry since middle school. They joined the military together and immediately signed up for the Jaeger program as soon as they could. Their first Jaeger was a Mark II named Tiger Domino; they had many successful missions together and lasted well into the Mark III era until a disastrous mission against a Category III. The current Jaeger, Buster Astro is one of the earlier Mark IV's and boasts their increased maneuverability and speed. As Jay and Terry were both children of the 80's, Terry and Laura have affectionately called the railgun stored in Astro's left arm the mega buster.

EVA Units

The Evangelions, known simply as Evas, are cyborgs based off of ancient Kaiju remains recovered from Antarctica (Codename 'Adam') that are grown and lobotomized. They are then wrapped in protective armor that conveniently acts as a restraint on the Eva and hides its organic nature. Its Kaiju heritage (possibly mixed with a slight bit of human DNA), allows it to generate an AT Field. This 'Absolute Territory' is present in all living creatures, preserving one's sense of self. Disconnected from the Kaiju hive-mind, an Eva stands alone enough to manifest its AT Field as a barrier, compensating for its lessened armor compared to both the Jaegers and its Kaiju cousins.

Evas are piloted through a device known as an Entry Plug, which is inserted into the spine, connecting it to the Eva's nervous system. This allows a system similar to the Jaeger Drift, although with a couple VERY important differences. The most pressing is that instead of two human pilots, there is only one pilot who syncs with the Eva itself. On top of this, for some reason only select teenagers possess the capability to even begin a Drift with the Eva unit. This particular fact means that all Eva pilots are usually in there teens, as any who might survive to adulthood are usually burnt out by the close connection they share with the giant alien consciousness.

• Unit 012 -
• Unit 013 -
• Unit 014 - pariah or "Won Armed Wonder"

Pilots and Rangers

• Santiago Pucci - A Brazilian who pilot Unit 15. Orphaned after a Kaiju attack on Rio he was adopted, unbeknownst to him, by two NERV agents who forced a rivalry between him and his foster sister, the one the deemed the winner would become an EVA pilot. After becoming a pilot he used his influence to move his "family" to America
• Michelle Pucci - A Ranger and co-pilot of the Mk. 4 Jaeger Emerald Spark. Originally from Brazil, she was orphaned by a Kaiju attack on Rio and adopted by two NERV agents and raised to be a rival to her brother. After unknowingly denied the "right" to pilot and sent to America she enlisted in the PPDC and tested to be a Ranger, half in an attempt to get revenge and half to spite her brother. She was certified and partnered up with her now best friend Trey Richard.

The Kaiju

A Japanese word usually referring to some kind of giant monster, such as Godzilla, the term Kaiju was accepted as the best name for the giant monsters that began rising from the sea in 2013. They posses a completely alien biology, bearing only a passing resemblance to any form of life on Earth. This is because, unknown to all but a handful of the human race, the Kaiju aren't simply wild animals crossing through a convenient dimensional hole in the sea, but genetically engineered soldiers designed to take out large population centers for their masters/creators known as the Precursors.

While the Kaiju are divided into Categories based on their size and threat level, all Kaiju share certain traits that tie them together. The oddest of these traits is the Absolute Territory, or AT, Field that they're able to manifest. While it is theorized that all living creatures have an AT field that protects an individual's sense of self, only the Kaiju, and their cousins the Evas, are able to manifest it in real-space, allowing for minor abuses on the laws of physics.

For the Kaiju, this usually boils down to a light shield that protects them from weaponry up to a certain grade. While this field is usually only as strong as a Kaiju's natural armor, with some bulkier Kaiju actually having stronger hides than AT fields, the field can protect even the more exposed parts of a Kaiju, such as the eyes and open wounds. This means that, in most cases, it is impossible to use a heavy weapon of some kind, such as a plasma cannon, to open up the Kaiju and allow conventional weaponry to finish the job.

However, there are some Kaiju that use their AT Fields in a different manner. The Kaiju Leatherback and Otachi both show unconventional abilities that are believed to be different manifestations of the AT field. Leatherback possesses some form of EMP generator located on its upper back, that allows it to shut down digital Jaegers, usually Marks 4 and 5 with some upgraded Mark 3s. Otachi instead has the ability to spit a powerful acid from its mouth, not unlike the dragons of Europeon legend. While it's unknown whether the acid utilizes the AT field in some way, Otachi has one other skill that almost certainly relies on its AT field to work: Flight. Although Otachi does possess wings, that seem to retract into it when not in use, most of its stunts while flying make so little sense, that an AT field is the only plausible explanation. Known feats include maintaining flight in the upper atmosphere and being able to carry a Jaeger to said height using only its hind talons to hold on.

The Crunch

[under construction]

JAEVA is meant to be a deceptively simple game that runs off the idea of d10 pools established by games like World of Darkness. Characters have a list of attributes and skills with dots that, when added together, give a number of dice a character uses for an average roll. Unlike other games, however, when you are in a robot/Jaeger/EVA, you use their physical attributes instead of your own.

The Basics

As just mentioned, a standard test requires you to roll a number of D10s equal to the sum of an attribute and a relevant skill to get a result of successes and failures. A target number is the number on the die which you must meet or exceed on the facing side of any rolled dice to determine if a roll is indeed a success or failure.

• The way to determine the target number to meet or exceed is to compare 5 as the average. Finding the difficulty of an enemy means subtracting the player's level from the enemy and adding the difference to 5. (a level 5 enemy against a level 3 player has a difference of 2, thus has a target number of 7 for the player to hit. in contrast, a level 3 enemy against a level 5 player has a target number of 3 for the player.

• Rolling a 10 “explodes” and gives an extra die to the roll, allowing a chance for an extra success or more exploding successes. if they fail it still counts as a failure.

• Rolling a 1 removes the highest success from the roll, always taking 10s first

• The average test's difficulty is a 5, 4, 3, and 2 are progressively easier, and 6, 7, 8, and 9 are progressively harder. give a test that fits the difficulty. no test should be as easy as a 1, and no test should be as hard as a 10.

• Rolling 7 or more successes and still beating the target number of successes results in an exceptional success for the test. In combat, do what the Exceptional success description of your weapon says.

Subtract any further modifiers from the successes. If they are over 0 you have succeeded and (if in combat) may now go to the Damage roll, otherwise you have simply passed: Add these successes and the bonus on your weapon's stats (these are considered automatic successes) and subtract them from your opponent's armor of the hit location you targeted, or rolled for on the hit location table. The result is what damage you do to that area, which may result in that appendage/part being destroyed, crippled, or simply damaged.

Personality

The Personality Table

Personality of a character (or even robot!) can effect a lot both in roleplay and gameplay. The most basic way to describe a personality is using the color wheel below which uses an easy way to describe a character's personality in a single word by seeing which word they connect or would describe the majority of their feelings as.

When dealing with, piloting alongside, or trying to convince other characters, characters will take a +1 bonus for rolls dealing with characters who have personalities next to theirs on the chart, and +2 for dealing with those who have personalities identical to their own. alternatively, characters dealing with their exact opposite personality (the one across from theirs on the chart) get a penalty of -2 to rolls dealing with these characters, and take -1 penalties when dealing with characters that are next to their opposite on the chart For example: if a pessimistic character is trying to pilot a robot alongside an optimistic character, they would be at a -2 on all their rolls to work with that character due to how little they understand them. On the flipside, if the optimistic character was working with another optimistic character, they would be at a +2, and would be fighting better if the person understands them.

This is the concept of synchronicity, and the idea of it is to bring a more psychological element to the game, where a two pilots can have a hard time getting along with each other and have it reflect in their performance.

• [NOTE: At the moment Personality is a very simple mechanic. there is intent to eventually change this into a "mood shift" mechanic where a character has a dominant mood, and will change depending on the situation they find themselves in. It is currently a very confusing idea that keeps us from simplifying it, so until we are able to find a simpler solution, personality it is.]

Sanity/Insanity

What's that? Evangelion's involved?

That's right, you saw this coming if you know anything about NGE. There's no absolute cause of insanity. Perhaps something traumatic happened in the character's past they go insane remembering, or see something right in front of them that they can't believe. Whenever your character sees something like a tank of naked clones of their mother that look like their crush, gets psychologically triggered by one of their RABITs, or has some other pants-shittingly weird thing happen that gives them a total mindfuck, they get a point of insanity and roll a sanity test at +1 difficulty and needed success for every point of insanity they have (3 sanity points would give a difficulty of 3 and 3 successes needed to pass), against their Composure+Wits. Failing the roll results in rolling on the insanity table (below) which gives conditions or actions for them to follow through on, such as going bezerk, or having a breakdown and doing nothing. However, succeeding in the roll removes that point of insanity.

Insanity can spring up any time, but it's not suggested that GMs overuse it when running games, as it can render characters uncontrollable. Insanity points can be gotten rid of through therapy, which can be whatever makes sense for the character and whatever the GM sees fit.

Insanity Table

Roll a D10 and follow the result. Only roll on this table if your character has failed a Sanity test (above). Effects without a specified duration are left to gm discretion, and will usually last the duration of a scene.

1. Mood Shift: The character's personality shifts by one step on the personality wheel (direction should be decided based on the cause of the insanity test).
2. Shell Shock: The player loses their next X actions, where X is equal to their current insanity points.
3. RABIT Event: Traumatic RABITs begin flowing in both directions on the Drift, potentially revealing secrets, adding penalties to actions, or forcing the player to make an additional insanity test.
4. Blind rage: The character goes into a berserk rage, and can only take aggressive actions against nearest ally/enemy. Allies no longer exist.
5. Personality break: see below (specialized to individual personalities) [under construction]
   1. Optimistic: Hysterics. the character begins laughing maniacally, everything always ends up ok in the end... right?
   2. Apathetic:
   3. Melancholic:
   4. Pessimistic:
   5. Furious:
   6. Passionate:
6. Mad World: The character begins experiencing hallucinations, and is unable to tell them apart from reality.
7. Shattered Mind: (under construction)
8. Catatonic State: The character falls unconscious.
9. Mental Relapse: Repeat the effects of a previous failed insanity test, and roll again. Both effects take place simultaneously.
10. Madness: Roll again. This effect is now permanent (psychological help can reduce and eventually remove this.

Character Advancement

Unlike a certain other RPG franchise, where EXP needs to be in the thousands to get anywhere, JAEVA sits more in the area of Numenera, where you only need a few EXP to advance. How does it work? Well, you start at 0 EXP at level 1, then 5 EXP later you're at level 2 with a couple more dots in your character sheet and some requisition points in your pocket, and now you are 5 EXP away from level 3. Here's how to earn EXP:

• Show up to a session and participate: 1 EXP
• Win a combat outside of the giant robot: 1-3 EXP
• Win a combat with a kaiju (or other bot): EXP equal to the kaiju's level
• Uncover a conspiracy, or discover something about the Kaiju or their origins: 1-3 EXP
• Complete one of your character's goals: 1-5 EXP
• Complete a GM intrusion: 1-3 EXP

Levels advance at double the EXP whatever the last one was. starting at 5 EXP for level 2, third level is 10, fourth level is 20, fifth level is 40, and so on. With each level your character gets an extra dot to put in an attribute or skill of their character, and a few requisition points to invest in your current bot (whatever the GM feels is good, not too many though). for every level a character gains they get 30 character points to invest in their stats, and [under construction] requisition points to invest in their bot.

Characters may also be awarded an extra character point from the GM every time they do things the GM finds interesting, impressive, or creative in the game.

Jaeger/Eva advancement

Robots don't advance like people do: they require immense funding to repair their massive and rare parts, and upgrades to increase their effectiveness. A battleworn machine in JAEVA will have many unique weapons and pieces of gear that turn it from something fairly normal into something wildly different by the end of a campaign. This is done through Requisition points, which are an easy way to account for, and pay for, the massive funding these programs need to sustain themselves, usually paid for through taxes, imaginary created money sending future generations into a swirling vortex of debt (but hey, it's all for them, right?), and the United Nations. Each requisition point is equal to about $500k if there was any real value on them.

so how do you get them? Here's how:

• Kill Kaiju: you saw this coming. What use are giant robots if they don't defend the cities from massive beasts? Every Kaiju you fight will have a price on his head of around 10 Requisition points per level. kill it, and you get some points, however....

• Don't cause collateral damage: that's what the kaiju are here to do. causing collateral damage gets points docked from your pay. Don't sweat the small stuff though; crushed cars, massive footprints in the streets, and broken windows/lamp posts are covered by the UN, no questions asked. but the golden gate bridge? tokyo tower? empire state building? the forbidden city? that comes out of your pay. flattening an entire city block isn't what they hired you for, so don't fuck up. GMs will subtract fitting amounts of requisition from your bounty if you cause wanton destruction.

• Keep it intact: Guess what? Hannibal Chau and his compatriots want those kaiju corpses for sellin' purposes, and he has more actual money than most countries at this point. The more intact a dead kaiju is, the more they are likely to pay. keep that in mind as you weigh the risks of blowing the head off one. They also come in handy for research purposes too, i guess, but scientists are cheap-asses.

With Requisition you will buy repairs, custom weapons, and equipment for your bot that will make them your own. Weapons work on a point-buy system: simply buy the basic weapon type (cannon, blade, fist, club, spear, shield) which as a very basic set of stats, and then buy descriptors which give the weapon a number of options, but not all descriptors are available to every type of weapon (you won't have an automatic blade, or a piston cannon. What the hell would those even look like?). Weapons are usually limited to 3 or 4 descriptors. Gear and equipment add to your bot in a similar way to how descriptors add to your weapon; each gives new abilities or enhances old ones. Equipment like the Speed Booster would allow a bot to move from medium range to long range in a single action, while equipment like heavy armor would give them (that's right) better armor to make fights more survivable, the downside being that they take a negative modifier when rolling initiative. a full and ever-expanding list will be ready at the bottom of this page that will have all weapon/equipment types, their requisition price, and their effects.

Creation of Characters, Evas, and Jaegers will all be covered in a later section.

The Character Sheet

Every player needs one to be able to play the game. here are the stats you will see on the

Basic Info

Your character's name, height, weight, Gender, Level, EXP, Goals, and other information go up here at the top. you always begin at level 1 with 0 EXP.

Attributes and Skills

Characters have nine attributes, three physical, mental and social. these are: Mental: Intelligence, Wits, Resolve. Physical: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina. Social: Presence, Manipulation, Composure. all attributes begin at 1 automatically and can be upgraded to a max of 5 in character creation and between sessions with points they are awarded. [NOTE]: While piloting, a character will use the bot's physical attributes in place of their own.

Skills are more numerous, yet all are useful in some way. they begin at 0, and each can be upgraded to 5. the skills are; Physical: Athletics, Brawl, Firearms, Larceny, Pilot, Stealth, Survival, Weaponry. Mental: Academics, Computer, Crafting, Investigation, Medicine, Religion, Politics, Science. Social: Animal ken, Empathy, Expression, Intimidation, Persuasion, Socialize, Streetwise,

Health and other aspects

The Damage track

Your health is tracked through damage boxes on your character sheet. you begin with 16 boxes and can upgrade this to the full track of 20 boxes in character creation and between sessions. Once you take damage (subtracting your armor) you add the damage to your track, marking down the highest box on the left, and going to the right. once you have gone all the way to the right you begin on the next line. If you have a box filled on a line that says "-1/-3/-5" you take that penalty to all rolls, this represents pain taking your attention away from what you are doing (or in the case of a jaeger/eva, damage done to your systems only allowing a few signals through).

Jaegers, EVAs, and Kaiju have similar boxes, except they have one for each part of the body and only take the modifier when using a weapon or piece of gear on that area of the body.

Armor is right below this, and represents the armor that you buy with character points or requisition points for jaegers/evas. The amount of armor you have lowers the amount of damage you take by 1 for each point of armor you have. armor begins at 0.

Initiative Mod.

Face it, some people and things are just faster than others, to reflect this, players begin at 0, a player may buy an initiative modifier of +1 die for every 2 character points spent on it. Alternatively, a player may sell 1 point for a -1 modifier that yields 2 character points to add to their stock. Add one success for each +1 on your initiative mod, or subtract one success for every -1 on your initiative mod.

Personality

This is a character's personality, which, despite how they may be at some times, this is their basic outlook on the world that they return to. looking at the personality chart above, write down their modifiers when dealing with other personality types. (example, an optimistic character would write: Optimistic: -0, Passionate: -1, Apathetic: -1, Furious: -2, Melancholic: -2 and Pessimistic: -3.)

Insanity and Triggers

Psychological triggers, known as RABITS (Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers) effect a character's mental state. A character does not have to begin with any triggers whatsoever, but having a trigger does not only add depth to a character, but also gives extra character points to improve your stats, showing that a person who has more experiences will do better in stressful situations, provided they don't get triggered. players get 5 character points per trigger, max of three triggers at start, and one insanity point per trigger.

Whenever a character is triggered by seeing something similar to a past traumatic experience, or having to relive those experiences with a new drift partner, they add an insanity point to their sheet and take an insanity test (composure+wits) at a +1 difficulty for each insanity point they have on their sheet. Failing makes them roll on the insanity table and succeeding removes an insanity point if they succeed. As mentioned in the basics, insanity points can be shed off through therapy, which is whatever the GM feels will work for the character in question.

Size

Size effects the evasiveness and difficulty to hit/ease to wound that changes up combat depending on what you are fighting. humans start at size 2 (equivalent of 5-6' tall), and can be as big as size 3 (over 6', to ~7' tall) and can be as short as size 1 (as low as 3', the size of a child). True Jaegers, EVAs, and Kaiju begin at size 5 (around 100 feet for the smaller ones), and can go up to size 9. There is no definite size for each level up, so use common sense and decide the size of your beasts and bots using this scale. (For further reference, the baby Kaiju found in Otachi would be size 4.)

For every size lower a character is to you, add a die when attempting to damage. When fighting something larger than you: add a die to your hitting roll, and subtract a die from your damage roll. This represents what might happen if a human attempted to attack a kaiju without a bot, still giving them a chance to succeed (as seen with striker's team in Pacific Rim). this also gives adventure ideas for enemies above the size of a human, but not quite the size of a kaiju. Being outside of a bot isn't a preferred situation when fighting massive beasts, but sometime you just have to work with what you've got.

Size Categories

sizes:

Regular sized characters:

1. something with the mass of a child or smaller

2. something around the mass of an adult human or bigger (lamp posts, food stands, cars etc)

3. something around the mass of a bus or bigger

4. something around the mass of a small building or bigger

Huge sized characters:

5. something around the mass of a mk. 1 jaeger or category 1 kaiju (100~ feet tall)

6. something around the mass of a medium building or standard EVA (~200 ft tall)

7. something around the mass of a mk 3 jaeger (or any you see in the movie, ~300 feet tall)

8. something around the mass of a Category 5 Kaiju (~400 ft tall)

9. something around the mass of a large building (~500 feet tall)

Massive sized characters:

10+. something impeccably large, at least double the size of your average jaeger

Willpower

Willpower: Players can spend points willpower to add successes to any roll. For every point of willpower spent, they gain one extra die on their roll. this can be done to a maximum of 3 per roll. If willpower is depleted, the character must wait a full turn resting, then roll a die to see how many points they regain. Between combats and events willpower is regained. You can never regain more than the number of willpower points you have purchased. Each point of willpower costs 8 character points.

Weapons and Equipment

Characters can carry weapons and equipment just like the bots they control, but these are not customizable and they can only carry two of each.

Modifiers

Simply a space to write down what modifiers you have against what at the moment. This makes it a hell of a lot easier to keep track of things in a fight.

Combat

Combat in JAEVA is handled with less detail than most games, allowing for better narrative action and descriptions from the players and GM about what is going on and how they are handling it.

Ranges

Range in JAEVA is very simple: there are a total of 4 ranges you can be at from your allies and enemies.these ranges are only suggestions of distance to keep things simple They are:

• Short: within reach or hitting distance. not far at all. all melee weapons have this range. Ranged weapons firing at this range have a +2 to accuracy.

• Medium: this is between just out of reach and just short of long range. for scale, it's the distance Gypsy Danger dragged the boat to smash across Otachi's face, or when Asuka ran forward to pounce on one of the Mass-Produced EVAs and break it's skull. If it's not close enough to hit with a melee weapon, but not far away enough that you wouldn't be able to brisky walk there in a few seconds, then it is at medium range. you may always walk from medium to short range in one movement action. thrown weapons can hit this range at a -2, range weapons hit this range with no penalty

• Long: this is range just out of a short walking distance, around the scale distance of a city block compared to a human, but not up to extreme range. weapons can be shot to a long range at a -2 penalty to both accuracy and damage.

• Extreme: Extreme range is around the length of around a mile away, hitting something this far would require a ranged weapon, as no weapon can be thrown this far. Ranged weapons firing this far are at a -4 penalty to accuracy and damage. a comparison of scale would be the Evangelion fight with Ramiel, where Shinji was equipped with a positron rifle. that fight would have been juuust within extreme range.

Scaled Ranges

Obviously, what a kaiju considers short range and what a human considers short range are two different things. for situations where not everyone is in a huge sized bot, follow this simple guide:

• For every size category you are above another character (regular (size 1-4)-> huge (size 5-9)-> massive(size 10+) subtract one range increment from your scale distance to them to a minimum of short range. Alternatively, for every size category you are below another character, add a range increment from their scale distance to you (i.e. regular characters can't even attempt to engage a huge character in melee due to the danger of being squished).

• for every size category an attacker is above his target, the bigger it's attack is. for example, if a "huge" category kaiju is attacking a "Regular" sized person, he does an area attack and hits everything within "medium" range of that character (At that character's scale, of course). if a "massive" sized character is trying to hit a single "regular" sized target, he will do an area attack hitting everything within "long" range of that target at it's scale. if a "massive" sized character is attempting to hit a "huge" sized character, it will hit everything within medium range of that character as well.

GMs: do not abuse the use of range, as mentioned before, it is just a vague indication of range. Because of this, it is suggested that GMs equip the table with a map of the city or area they are in and simply use markers or miniatures to note down where characters and enemies are to get a basic sense of scale and distance. Also, do not overuse scaled ranges as it can be very confusing if there are multiple size categories in play. do your best to keep it only to 2 size categories in a scene/combat at once.

Initiative

Players and enemies roll their Dexterity + Athletics at a difficulty of 5, add up the successes, and compare the number to the other combatants. the one with the highest number of successes goes first.

The Structure of a Turn

What can you do in a turn? the answer: any combination of two of these actions:

• A standard action: attacking, doing a maneuver, and other simple things that take a short time to complete are only worth one of your two actions.

• A movement action: moving from medium to short range (or any single increment of range as mentioned above) is only worth a single action.

• A slow action: slow actions, which are actions that take time and effort, such as aiming a difficult weapon or pulling up a building and throwing it are strenuous and difficult to achieve. these are worth both your actions if you are wanting to complete the slow action on your turn, or if you do one action and initiate the slow action, it takes effect as a free instant action on your next turn. the downside of these is, while you are finishing the action waiting for your next turn, you can be interrupted. Interruptions are made by attacking the character doing the slow action, or a strong enough distraction must be made to distract the character from their goal somehow within the narrative (a character's friend is attacked and nearly dead, a kaiju causes a massive explosion, etc).

a Resolve+Composure roll must be made at the difficulty of the enemy causing the distraction, or the difficulty of the distraction itself (when the distraction isn't caused by an enemy) when a strong enough attempt to distract is made. if the character has at least 3 successes, they continue the task as normal, if they have less than 3 ,the slow action is canceled.

• An Instant action: instant actions cost no actions for your turn. insignificant or easily done things on the fly such as talking to allies or finishing a slow action cost nothing. your GM will tell you if he allows an instant action of a certain complexity or requires it to be a standard action.

• Readied actions: a player may ready an action with specific things to trigger it (much like how Gypsy Danger raised it's sword at the right moment when crippled and being attacked, leading to a certain kaiju being cut down the middle). readied actions may be performed at any time they are triggered, often on ally and enemy turns. readied actions may be used to interrupt slow or standard actions if set up properly. a readied action is usually a standard action, but can be a slow action if it has been waiting to be used.

• Specific actions: actions such as disarming and grappling are deliberate attempts to do something specific, so such actions must be handled differently:

• • Grappling: roll your Strength+Brawl against an opponent's roll of Dexterity+Athletics. a roll with more successes than the opponent wins and the losing character is grappled. A failure means they escape the grapple attempt while grappled you cannot move, you may only attack your assailant at a -2, and may try to escape with an opposed roll by force (strength+brawl) finesse (Dexterity+athletics) or by outlasting them (stamina+survival). While grappled, an enemy is at a +4 to hit.

• • Disarming: roll your Strength+Brawl opposed to an opponent's roll of Strength+athletics, winning the roll means the victim is disarmed, and the assailant may take the weapon as a standard action (if they have a free hand). failing the opposed roll allows the victim to keep their weapon.

While actions are often varied, you can usually tell what type they will be. any combination of 2 (plus any free instant actions) is the composition of your turn. if more specific actions are thought of, be creative, combine whatever attributes and skills that make sense.

Attacking

To attack, first find the defender's difficulty. Reiterating previously mentioned rules, this is simply adding the difference of the defender's level to the attackers level to 5, giving a resulted target number (level 3 player attacking a level 5 enemy would have a target number of 7, flip the levels and he would have a target number of 3.) Announce a hit location, or roll on the hit location table to hit randomly, then adding size modifiers and any other modifiers you have, roll your relevant stats (Strength+Brawl for unarmed melee, Strength+weaponry for armed melee, Dexterity+Firearms for ranged weapons, Dexterity+Weaponry for thrown weapons, etc. Whatever makes sense. if you are in a bot, you will roll any attributes or skills they have in place of your own).

If any successes pass the difficulty of the enemy, add your weapon bonus to them and find a total. subtract the enemy's armor of the hit location and find the amount of damage done to that part. mark down damage on the sheet.

Defending

Defending is a passive thing that gives the enemy a difficulty for them to hit, the way of finding the difficulty is mentioned in the "attacking" section above.

Moving

you may move your character one range increment for each action they spend moving, if the legs of your character are taken out, they must take 2 actions to move one increment instead.

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Character Creation

Character creation is easy, once you understand it. You upgrade your character's stats with "Character points", and it is suggested that you use all of the ones you get in the character creation process. you will get more of these points as you progress through levels. The Character Sheet (coming soon) has everything you see in the character sheet section on it. stats that have dots have different prices for each stat, and stats that use points.

Characters begin with 225 character points, and gain 30 character points per level they gain. if you wish to begin beyond level 1, give your players an extra 30 points per level you plan on raising them.

the Price of your stats are as follows:

• 15 per attribute dot

• 5 per skill dot

• 8 per extra health dot

• 8 points per dot of willpower

• 2 points per +1 initiative mod.

• You can get some extra character points by having RABITs, giving an extra 5 points per trigger, maximum 3 triggers to start, also giving you an automatic 1 insanity point for each trigger (which may be shed with enough therapy)

• Lowering your initiative mod extra 2 character points per -1 modifier you take

You may now decide the size of your character, between sizes 1, 2, and 3. Being size one means you are petite and around the mass of a child. Being size 2 means you are the mass of a normal human. And finally being size 3 means that you can Rip and Tear a normal human to pieces in a fight.

Finally, choose your personality, then follow the charts and see what modifiers you have when dealing with other personalities (an optimistic character would have a +2 dealing with optimists, a +1 when dealing with apathetic and passionate people, a -2 when dealing with furious and melancholic people, and a -2 when dealing with pessimistic people.

(weapons, armor (which may not exceed 10 on anything!), and equipment are bought with requisition points, the same that are used for buying upgrades for your Jaeger/EVA, and may be used similarly, but to scale accounting for your size)

Jaeger/EVA creation

under construction. basic info: use X requisition points to make your bot from a basic template and add gear/weapons.

Rules Appendix

Here you will find lists of weapons/equipment, tables, an other rules not found previously detailed in the rules.

Insanity Table

Roll a D10 and follow the result. Only roll on this table if your character has failed a Sanity test (above). Effects without a specified duration are left to gm discretion, and will usually last the duration of a scene.

1. Mood Shift: The character's personality shifts by one step on the personality wheel (direction should be decided based on the cause of the insanity test).
2. Shell Shock: The player loses their next X actions, where X is equal to their current insanity score.
3. RABIT Event: Traumatic RABITs begin flowing in both directions on the Drift, potentially revealing secrets, adding penalties to actions, or forcing the player to make an additional insanity test
4. Blind rage: The character goes into a berserk rage, and can only take aggressive actions against nearest ally/enemy. Allies no longer exist.
5. Personality break: see below (specialized to individual personalities)
6. Mad World: The character begins experiencing hallucinations, and is unable to tell them apart from reality.
7. Shattered Mind: (under construction)
8. Catatonic State: The character falls unconscious.
9. Mental Relapse: Repeat the effects of a previous failed insanity test, and roll again. Both effects take place simultaneously.
10. Madness: Roll again. This effect is now permanent (psychological help can reduce and eventually remove this.

Damage types [under construction]

Every weapon has it's own type of damage. more detail to come (some immunities cancel out some damage types, possibly exceptional success effects)

• Chemical - Poison and acid

• Slashing - Blades, claws

• Ballistic - Cannons

• Blunt - Fists, clubs

• Heat - Flamethrowers, lasers, plasma weapons

• Electrical - Tesla weapons

• Cold - Masers

• Explosive - launchers, grenades

Weapon Types

These are the basic types of weapons that jaegers, EVAs, and Kaiju can use. A weapon cannot be more than one of these types. all weapons can be thrown and must be retrieved unless "built-in", and thus cannot be thrown. for price adjustments, -1 Req. for each size lower than 5 the bot it is being added to is. alternatively, +1 Req. to the price for each size above 5 the user (bot/kaiju) is. (making or grafting on huge weapons for can cost quite a bit, this reflects that).

Basic melee

Fisticuffs, hand to hand, weapon-free close quarters combat tools. all of these automatically have the "built-in" descriptor and take one slot from your arm/leg's built in weapons. basic melee weapons are rolled by using your Strength+Brawl stats

• Claw/Fang Price: 9 Req. Damage Bonus: +2 Range: short Exceptional Success: Auto-grapple the target from the affected hit location, no opposed roll. Additional info: Automatically "built-in", slashing damage.

• Fist Price: 8 Damage Bonus: +1 Range: short Exceptional success: target is stunned, and must spend one action to recover before doing anything else Additional info: Automatically "built-in", blunt damage

Melee weapons

Close range weapons, handheld or built-in use Strength+Weaponry. throwing any of these uses Dexterity+Weaponry.

• Blade: price: 10 req. Damage Bonus: +3 Range: short Exceptional success: do half the damage of the limb's total damage track, rounded down (if the limb had a total of 20 on it's damage track, it takes 10 damage) Additional info: slashing damage

• Club: price: 10 req. damage bonus: +3 Range: short Exceptional success: target is stunned, and must spend one action to recover before doing anything else. Additional info: -1 when thrown, blunt damage

• Shield price: 9 req. Damage bonus: +1 Range: short Exceptional success: target is automatically shoved to medium range or stunned (see above). Additional info: target adds a +2 to difficulty when attempting to be hit, blunt damage

• Spear price: 10 req. Damage bonus: +2 Range: short Exceptional success: ignores armor of target when calculating damage. Additional info: +1 when thrown, piercing damage

Ranged weapons

• Cannon price 9 req. Damage Bonus: +2 Range: medium Exceptional success: either double the damage to the targeted area, or extend the same amount of damage to an adjacent hit location (e.g., aiming for torso can do damage to any other hit location, while doing damage to any other hit location may only extend damage to the torso) Additional info: -1 to being thrown, base ammo capacity 6, ballistic damage

• Launcher price 9 req. Damage bonus: +2 Range: medium Exceptional success: automatically hit everything in the area of effect. Additional info: launchers are used to hurl explosives and chemicals at enemies, inflicting the damage to all within a short range of the target if they hit, requires descriptor. base ammo cap: 6 damage type: descriptor.

Weapon Descriptors

Descriptors describe the weapon in question in detail. they may be bought with requisition points earned throughout the game. Weapons are limited to 3 descriptors each. just like the last section, +1 req. to the price for every size the thing you're buying it for is are above 5, -1 req. for every size below 5 the thing you are buying it for is.

• Acid: A spray of green erupts from the cannon that dissolves alloy and flesh all the same. Price: 9 Damage bonus: +2 Compatible weapons: Launcher. Effect: if the weapon has done 3 or more points of damage, the user can elect to instead lower the target's armor of that area by 3.

• Automatic: "Say hello to my little friend!" Price: 8 req. Effect: +3 to hit with this weapon.

• Built-in: The appendage transforms as it reveals a weapon hidden within. Price: 8 req. Compatible weapons: all Effect: weapon is now built into the hit location it is attached to, and the user of this weapon cannot be disarmed of it without destroying the hit location. All Kaiju weapons are considered "built-in", as are claws/fangs and fists.

• Heavy: "...I have to admit, I envy the size of your rifle." Price: 7 req. Compatible weapons: all Effect: +2 damage bonus, -2 Initiative mod.

• Long: "That's not a knife... this, is a knife." Price: 8 req. Compatible weapons: Blade, Claw, Cannon, Spear. Effect: +2 to hit with this weapon, +1 damage bonus.

• Piston: The weapon's hit connects, then it hits even harder. Price: 8 Compatible weapons: Fist, Spear. Effect: +3 to damage bonus when hitting with this weapon.

• Plasma: Blue light bathes the area as the weapon discharges arcs of electricity. Price: 9 req. Compatible weapons: Cannon, Blade. Effect: +2 to damage bonus, extra +1 bonus if in short range, attacks from this weapon now do Heat damage.

• Rocket: A gout of orange thrust erupts from the back of the weapon as it hurdles toward the enemy at an astounding rate of speed. Price: 8 req. Compatible weapons: Fist, Launcher, Spear. Effect: +2 to damage bonus, +1 to hit with this weapon. Fists with this descriptor are no longer "built-in" but still take up a spot on the "built-in" weapons slot instead of the regular weapon slot. fists may now do "thrown" attacks with a medium range, but must be retrieved like any other thrown weapon. a player may repurchase "built-in" to regain the benefit, but the fist would then no longer be able to make ranged attacks

• Scatter: A dozen balls of iron explode toward a nearby enemy, tearing it to pieces. Price 6 req. Compatible weapons: Cannon. Effect: +2 when attacking with the weapon, random hit location, weapon is now one range increment shorter than it was originally.

• Syringe: The massive needle penetrates the skin, unleashing a torrent of toxic liquid into it's bloodstream Price 6 req. Compatible weapons: spear, blade, claw/fang Effect: weapon may now take a descriptor that does Chemical damage.

• Twin: "You know what they say- two barrels are better than one." Price: 8 (requires identical weapon (type and descriptors, including this one) compatible weapons: any Effect: failures made with this weapon can be rerolled once. Requires a weapon slot that has an identical weapon to take this descriptor.

More to come.

Improvised Weapons

Remember this scene? :

You can do that too. Using an improvised weapon is easy, though your ability to use it may be the problem. Much like figuring out difficulty of an enemy, the difficulty of a weapon is a similar: subtract your character/bot's size from the object's size, the difference + 5 is the difficulty (an object 2 sizes smaller than you is -2 + 5= difficulty 3). Roll your Dexterity + weaponry at the difficulty, you need however many successes the GM tells you to be able to wield it as a weapon, as some objects of similar mass will be more difficult than others. the bonus the weapon gives is equal to it's size (a lamp post would be size 2, and provide a +2 bonus to damage, added to size bonus/penalty of the character/bot wielding it.) GMs, be realistic on the number of successes they need. you won't have a human who can wield a container ship, and you won't have a jaeger that can't throw a car. lacking successes on something under your size means it either broke, or slipped out of your hands.

Size:

1. something with the mass of a child or smaller
2. something around the mass of an adult human or bigger (lamp posts, food stands, cars etc)
3. something around the mass of a bus or bigger
4. something around the mass of a small building or bigger
5. something around the mass of a mk. 1 jaeger or category 1 kaiju (100~ feet tall)
6. something around the mass of a medium building or standard EVA (~200 ft tall)
7. something around the mass of a mk 3 jaeger (or any you see in the movie, ~300 feet tall)
8. something around the mass of a Category 5 Kaiju (~400 ft tall)
9. something around the mass of a large building (~500 feet tall)
10. something impeccably large, at least double the size of your average jaeger

And the list keeps going on. this is a game of big things hitting each other, you'll get some huge stuff. use your head and creativity. I'm sure you can come up with a lot.

As a general rule, improvised weapons break after a few hits, so GMs: give them at least one or two successful hits before they break, players: use them creatively while you have them.

Equipment and Gear

[under construction] the gist: these are things added to your EVA or jaeger to boost their effectiveness or change their role entirely.

Kaiju Creation

Creating a kaiju is almost identical to creating an EVA or Jaeger, all the weapons are the same, the only difference is that all of them are automatically considered "built-in" for the purposes of being organically part of the monster. also, instead of just making up requisition values and levels, each kaiju has a number of requisition points to buy it's pieces dependent on it's level.

[Levels and associated values coming together once we have a baseline price for our requisition list]

Gallery

A current map of all countries that produce either Jaegers(Blue), Evas(Red), or both(Purple)

The Character sheet