2: Why This (Mecha-Cosmic-Horror) Again?

This post largely seeks to discuss why this trod road, the subgenre of cosmic horror-robot tabletop games, is to be trod again by Electrocosmic.

This post is not meant to be exhaustive and merely tries to give some backlight to the game and how it relates to Neon Genesis Evangelion and other TTRPGs of a similar ilk.

Still, it is not a topic that is easy to articulate, if expression is ever easy. That is, one tries to express what one means but finds that trying to contort thoughts into sense is not easy. This is not a new problem as it is an issue of the poets but also just a problem of being human as it is not a trifle to compress thoughts, sensations, and ideas into little scribbles. In this case there was much frustration, and much frustration is waiting to be expressed here, particularly frustration in trying to get Evangelion right in spirit.

Let’s start talking about Evangelion, since Electrocosmic is so heavily indebted to it. There are other debts to be named and other influences to be noted, naturally, but this one is the most obvious and the preeminent – so it starts here. Okay. Let me try to explain it so I can anchor the subject a little.

…

Well, that would be too complex.

Maybe influences? How it is difficult to escape? Okay. To say that Neon Genesis Evangelion has been influential is clear. It, both in art and themes, has insinuated itself into the mecha genre and the animation industry worldwide, as well as places we can’t really see or make sense of easily; One need only glance at all variety of animated works to find this or that sort of reference, comment, or imitation. It is a seminal work.

Indeed, it has influenced a bewildering variety of genres and further detail isn’t required here. We might as well try to detail the vapor in the air or the insects that are alive in granular counts. Perhaps worse, it is a hulk of concepts-themes-sentiments in many ways equivalent to Star Trek in size but less so other qualities. Much as Star Trek it has a worldwide notoriety and so this isn’t too surprising, and one might dedicate their lives to that franchise or Evangelion.

Many do, it is true. For Star Trek this takes many forms with this or that series or this or that character or this or that idea. One might spend a good deal of time discussing philosophical teleportation-related questions, simply engage the more tawdry elements of which female cast member is most attractive, or simply trot out that most decrepit discussion of Star Wars vs. Star Trek – among others.

Evangelion is similar in that regard and is similarly a franchise that is settled, secure, and complex. It is staked into the ground and won’t go away easily as it says something true or says something appealing to the viewer that seems to refuse to abate. It is also an older property and questions of mere fashion pass – it is not a fad.

But still no tabletop roleplaying game. Not a single official one. Robotech? Yes. Other mecha genre? Yes. Evangelion? No.

So I suppose there it is. That’s why Electrocosmic exists. There seems to be a hole. The reader may insist there isn’t a hole, and that existing notions and RPGs fill the gap.

Perhaps. But perhaps it will be helpful to look at the terrain of prior semi-parallel efforts.

There have been more than a few. Indeed, despite the apparent niche nature of cosmic horror admixed with mecha, large robots, and so on a few exist. After all, big monsters fight big robot – but there is more, I think, and more is worth considering.

Let’s talk about these attempts, though. Attempts have been made, several times, to apply Evangelion to the tabletop in one form or another with other similar mecha games being similarly numerous. As of this writing I am aware of the following tabletop games with similar themes of cosmic horror admixed with mecha:

• Eldritch Automata

• Cthulhutech

• ADEVA

• AD3VA

• LANCER

• MUV-LUV

• Aeon Entelechy Evangelion

This is a truncated list, and the reader might dismiss my lack of detail as merely ignorance rather than insult. Still, at a gloss this is the basic terrain of such subgenre things: for reasons that aren’t clear to me the franchise hasn’t produced a licensed tabletop game with the basic field being left to the above games, series, franchises, small development teams, etc.

Naturally there are similar situations, such as the basic horror genre. What is interesting is that the franchise has seen several free ad-hoc systems based on Dark Heresy or similar d100 roll-under systems. There is also, at least if my information is accurate, an additional third free system being developed and another unnamed system being developed. That’s more than a few systems! There is clearly an interest and a love, but a general frustration.

Which goes back to the author. How I got here was realizing that the game I wanted to run wasn’t represented in the existing list. It’s just that simple – although at that time Eldritch Automata hadn’t been developed, yet.

It is pretty much what it says on the tin. The story is complex, I still have the notes, but friend reader gets the truncated version. It goes like this:

More here. And here. In fact I suggest the entirety of the reviews on it, just to develop a working level of frustration about what had been done. Suffice to say, it was off putting enough and only increased my frustration.

So, me. Back to your friend, the author. When I began running a table several years ago I wanted to run my best well-and-true Evangelion homage I could for my table but with some variation and slant rather than it being inside the core setting – names and machines changed, different characters, but thematically as much on point as I could. Something done as a pure fan of the show, but with some changes and alterations that might be fun. I deeply love the series, though, and so I wanted to do it justice.

The gut reaction was to try Cthulhutech. However, this it was ignored as being insufficiently interesting as a setting and having many highly insulting themes, mechanics, and other concerns as above.

Such things were quite enough to put me off it. In fact the legacy and reputation of the game was so bad that it compelled this author to try the publicly available and well-meaning but ultimately lacking ADEVA system, then trying the revised system, and then switching to LANCER.

The experiment was a difficult, problematic, and issue-laden campaign. I believe the players had fun and enjoyed it, however, the issues of the systems left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

It was at that point that, sometime in 2021 (sometime around May), that I resolved to develop my own system regardless of cost or other problems that might arise. After some time this is where the reader finds me: I am still frustrated, and all my abilities are marshaled to alleviate this frustration by making Electrocosmic.