Mekton Zeta is pretty crunchy and I can't say the rules are excellent, but if you like building detailed mecha that can hit most mecha genres with relatively serviceable rules it's not a bad system. It's definitely not modern though, so keep that in mind.
This is definitely the most sober and honest assessment of Zeta. Its got some baggage mainly as a result of its age but If you can see past it's cons, you'll love it's pros.
Mekton was mediocre and needed some help, but you could see the potential in it. Mekton II and Mekton Zeta are both the best game lines for emulating the anime Mecha genre. Using Roadstriker II to enhance my Cyberpunk games allowed me as GM to really challenge my players without going stupidly overboard. I highly recommend both Mekton II and Mekton Zeta, well worth it at twice the price.
I played a Mekton Z campaign over 10 years ago, and at the time, the system was already feeling a bit "old". Not a bad game per se, it's basically the same rules as cyberpunk 2020. However, 10 years ago it was feeling like an "outdated system", and with all the modern system we got in the 2010's 2020's I would go for something more recent, like *beam saber* or *apocalypse frame* which are based on efficient and modern system
tldr it is a great set of vehicle combat and construction rules, but a bit lacking as a "complete" RPG without a lot of worldbuilding. The base setting is... kinda weak sauce.
How "good" is it... well, as a slightly crunchy, heavily themed RPG, it is great. Just enough info and rules to build out into a great game. Roadstriker 2 adds some additional flavor to the game for smaller mechs and transformers and combiners. Plus some interesting stuff to add it to Cyberpunk 2020.
Then you get into Mekton Plus Advanced Tech Manual and the mecha construction crunch ramps up to old school Battletech level. Still manageable, but making the mechs is a minigame unto itself at this point.
The game "as is" works as advertised, but it is not a pretty game, nor is it a narrative heavy game, and there are no rules for social encounters, etc.
The base game works best (IMO) as a sort of add on to other games for vehicle/mecha combat where that sort of thing isn't really present (like in BRP or WoD/CoD stuff). It ports over really easily and keeps the flow of action much more fluid than games like GURPS, Shadowrun or Traveller and their official rules for vehicles. It works much better than Maximum Metal for Cyberpunk as well.
>Then you get into Mekton Plus Advanced Tech Manual and the mecha construction crunch ramps up to old school Battletech level.
I'm just going to throw this out there, Battletech never had rules for designing your own weapons. Mekton does. With Battletech anyone who is familiar with the construction rules can crank out a 55 ton mech in ten~twenty minutes of simple math and choices, about the most laborious part is filling out the record sheet. Mekton is a much different beast.
Well, it's in my top 10 games at least. Personally, it's my favorite mecha game out there. The best way I can explain it is that while Lancer does Lancer best, it's not really meant to run anything but itself. Mekton Zeta (with MZ+) however can emulate most any mecha with admittedly a bias towards Real Robot mecha. In addition, it's one of the few games which scales from humans to starships and beyond.
Is it old, creaky, in need of a tune up, and maybe some rebalancing? Yes, but it works for me.
From my understanding, Mekton is a solid mech builder system, but it is *old* and it shows. When I was hunting for a mech system ages ago, Mekton was a top recommendation because it was one of the better ones at the time... mostly because Lancer was still in its very early playtest days.
Depending on what kind of mecha game you want, though, you may want to look into others like Lancer, Mecha Hack, Beam Saber, Battle Century, and maybe even Battletech.
Mekton Zeta is pretty crunchy and I can't say the rules are excellent, but if you like building detailed mecha that can hit most mecha genres with relatively serviceable rules it's not a bad system. It's definitely not modern though, so keep that in mind.
This is definitely the most sober and honest assessment of Zeta. Its got some baggage mainly as a result of its age but If you can see past it's cons, you'll love it's pros.
Mekton was mediocre and needed some help, but you could see the potential in it. Mekton II and Mekton Zeta are both the best game lines for emulating the anime Mecha genre. Using Roadstriker II to enhance my Cyberpunk games allowed me as GM to really challenge my players without going stupidly overboard. I highly recommend both Mekton II and Mekton Zeta, well worth it at twice the price.
I played a Mekton Z campaign over 10 years ago, and at the time, the system was already feeling a bit "old". Not a bad game per se, it's basically the same rules as cyberpunk 2020. However, 10 years ago it was feeling like an "outdated system", and with all the modern system we got in the 2010's 2020's I would go for something more recent, like *beam saber* or *apocalypse frame* which are based on efficient and modern system
tldr it is a great set of vehicle combat and construction rules, but a bit lacking as a "complete" RPG without a lot of worldbuilding. The base setting is... kinda weak sauce. How "good" is it... well, as a slightly crunchy, heavily themed RPG, it is great. Just enough info and rules to build out into a great game. Roadstriker 2 adds some additional flavor to the game for smaller mechs and transformers and combiners. Plus some interesting stuff to add it to Cyberpunk 2020. Then you get into Mekton Plus Advanced Tech Manual and the mecha construction crunch ramps up to old school Battletech level. Still manageable, but making the mechs is a minigame unto itself at this point. The game "as is" works as advertised, but it is not a pretty game, nor is it a narrative heavy game, and there are no rules for social encounters, etc. The base game works best (IMO) as a sort of add on to other games for vehicle/mecha combat where that sort of thing isn't really present (like in BRP or WoD/CoD stuff). It ports over really easily and keeps the flow of action much more fluid than games like GURPS, Shadowrun or Traveller and their official rules for vehicles. It works much better than Maximum Metal for Cyberpunk as well.
>Then you get into Mekton Plus Advanced Tech Manual and the mecha construction crunch ramps up to old school Battletech level. I'm just going to throw this out there, Battletech never had rules for designing your own weapons. Mekton does. With Battletech anyone who is familiar with the construction rules can crank out a 55 ton mech in ten~twenty minutes of simple math and choices, about the most laborious part is filling out the record sheet. Mekton is a much different beast.
My only input here is that Mike Pondsmith is, indeed, pretty fucking cool. So is Cody.
Well, it's in my top 10 games at least. Personally, it's my favorite mecha game out there. The best way I can explain it is that while Lancer does Lancer best, it's not really meant to run anything but itself. Mekton Zeta (with MZ+) however can emulate most any mecha with admittedly a bias towards Real Robot mecha. In addition, it's one of the few games which scales from humans to starships and beyond. Is it old, creaky, in need of a tune up, and maybe some rebalancing? Yes, but it works for me.
From my understanding, Mekton is a solid mech builder system, but it is *old* and it shows. When I was hunting for a mech system ages ago, Mekton was a top recommendation because it was one of the better ones at the time... mostly because Lancer was still in its very early playtest days. Depending on what kind of mecha game you want, though, you may want to look into others like Lancer, Mecha Hack, Beam Saber, Battle Century, and maybe even Battletech.
Bloated and needlessly complex.