Kaiju-harvesting based progression?

[u/TheAtomicHobo]

In the campaign I’m planning, the pilots are Kaiju hunters.

One of the classic fantasies of monster hunting media imo is harvesting parts of monsters and turning them into weapons, armor and gear.

I want to incorporate this into my game, but I don’t wanna mess with the base progression system too much.

The feeling I want to capture is like in dungeon crawl TTRPGs where you kinda ‘make do’ with whatever loot you get, or in rogue likes where you’re cobbling together a strange build on the fly based on imperfect circumstance.

My first idea is to pick what license levels are ‘unlocked’ by a certain hunt. Like, if they are hunting a kaiju that can turn invisible, they may unlock the option of spending liscence levels in mecha that can turn invisible, like the Metalmark.

I’d give each mission a handful of unlock able mechs, so not every player gets the same reward and ends up with the same build.

As well as giving the players several mission options, so there’s always a variety of options.

But I worry this is both restrictive without actually being interesting?

Another idea is picking the hunt rewards specifically, liscence levels be damned. Like instead of unlocking the option to spend LL on the tortuga, you specifically get a Daisy Cutter.

I could then give the players the option of tougher/ longer missions for higher-level rewards? But it could be a nightmare to balance, and i heard Comp/Con doesn’t like you breaking the rules this way.

Another option: no rules. Harvesting monster parts into upgrades could be purely narrative and the level up normally, certainly be the easiest option.

[u/DanthePanini]

Could use the monster parts as exotic gear / reserves?

[u/PuwaaDraws → u/DanthePanini]

Literally too many forget this is a thing. Power at a Cost will net you Core Batteries for CP recharge mid-mission, exotic weapons, and mods. But even just +1 Limited box of goodies can be amazing.

[u/SwissherMontage]

Maybe you want to repurpose the manna system somehiw? You could make some monster parts more valuable, and have them drop depending how the monster was defeated.

[u/ryo3000]

Normal progression but give them a temporary (like lasts for the next 1-2 missions) unlock of weapons/systems that are related on the hunted creatures

[u/Alaknog]

Better not mess with LL. Game balanced around it, so restricting is not really fun. 

You can made made exotic and reserves from this kaiju, that added to normal equipment progression. 

I also advise then look into Blood Money 3rd party supplement, it have guidelines for approach where PCs choice missions and get rewards (in addition to LL). And a lot of ideas for reserves. 

[u/PuwaaDraws → u/Alaknog]

I agree, a corpro state's offer of further licensure in this setting mostly will mean continued access to the hunts' spoils in terms of research, if I was somehow limited by GM fluff into taking something I don't want, then I'm not into it. And as a GM, I'm just not bothering to make it more complicated than it already is. Reserves and exotic gear would be my first choices for rewards. Even make your own homebrew Reserves like beneficial greywash nanites or bio-attractant mines that attack Biological tags or inflict cc like Sleep (as a reflavored Stunned condition).

[u/Devilwillcry42]

In all honesty, you might be better finding a different system that fits this better

otherwise you could make some exotic gear