Salutations,

Some of you know me from my work on Lancer, authoring the first-party adventure A Siren’s Song, A Mountain’s Remorse, or perhaps my third-party homebrew Afrofuturist setting for Lancer, a Field Guide to Mfecane. Either way, I come to you now as a human with a heart made of a fusion reactor and a body fashioned for mechanized labors. 

This is my way of saying that I’m in love with  the mech genre, and have been for many years. My late father introduced me to it when I was young, playing Armored Core 2 on the PlayStation and introducing me to the genre, where I branched into, Front Mission, Battletech and MechWarrior. As a kid, I was fascinated by mecha, and as I grew older, that fascination extended to Gundam, Code Geass, and other IPs. Most recently, my mind has been occupied with the tabletop role-playing game space and how the stories of mecha and people can be told in that medium. I come here today to tell you about one of those stories through my own card-based mecha TTRPG, Mechanized Body.

What is reflected in this playtest version of Mechanized Body is the work of about a year of imagining what a blend of mecha, TTRPGs, and trading card games would look like. With my friend Ramon from the Win with Dice Podcast, we’ve worked to create something akin to a Gloomhaven style of card and role-playing experience, yet with a distinctly mecha genre feel, where themes of the genre—pilots, their emotions, gear, mecha builds, political struggles are the center of the action.

I’m a fan of tactical and strategic games and my vision for Mechanized Body is for players to experience the interplay between tactics and strategy while feeling the themes of mecha emerge as they read and play pilot cards, maneuver, and attack with their mechs.

Big shoutout to you all for diving into our game. Looking forward to ya fun and enjoyment!

Trey Joiner (NHP SHAKA)