The Culture: The Other Braunstein-Capable Game From Maximum Mike

R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk series are the most playable products out of the box. They are not the only real games; there is one other.

The problem? You need at least two books (this and Mekton Zeta Plus), you should have the Screen too, and then there's Some Assembly Required.

But, once you've had that BattleTech-style build party phase where everyone gets together and puts down some sick mecha/ship/whatever designs, you still have the same Interlock System as you do in a Cyberpunk game (2020 is the best fit) so you can have that same swift tactical action.

What you may end up feeling to be lacking is at the strategic scale, as logistics tends to be handwaved and thus the basis for politics is also depreciated, but given when MZ (and its predecessors) came out--Peak Cargo Cult Memory Holing--this is forgivable on grounds of ignorance. You may be able to tease out something within the rules that works, but don't feel too bad if you don't.

What I said about certain Roles in Cyberpunk applies to MZ and its Mecha Anime sources: in order to get your Ghirens Zabis the weight that they ought to have on a campaign, you need to have a play structure that allows for that to be seen and done by the players. Braunstein sessions, strict timekeeping, and the other stuff that the Bros recovered from the Memory Hole to reconstruct the real and true Tabletop Adventure Game hobby and medium are required to make that happen and work as intended.

Faction Play and its strategic emphasis rewards Corporates, Fixers, Medias, Rockerboys, and others who exist on that level of economic and social conflict. Scenario Play and its tactical emphasis rewards Solos, Netrunners, (Med)Techs, and Cops. Nomads are sufficiently flexible to easily shift between the two, provided that their native social environment is able to make itself felt.

That sort of thing transfers over to a MZ game, but as MZ doesn't have Roles it's more about general archetypes. The senior officers, high officials, corporate officers, party leaders, etc. work on the Faction level primarily. The mecha jocks, PA grunts, fighter aces, spies and spec ops, etc. are more on the Scenario and tactical end. Depending on the specifics, some others can shift between them with ease; the Idol Singer Girlfriend in a Macross (or inspired) campaign can easily do that, and we see in Frontier and Delta that this bears out, and that's the most obvious example.

I'm in no position to act on this now--it's a (very, very, very) long shot, but I DID ask to be considered for US Ambassador to the Holy See because THERE IS NO ONE THERE (Dude, WTF?)--but if you want to give another R. Tal game a go this is the one to go with.

("But what about the Women's Division?" you ask. Point them to Teenagers From Outer Space. Wacky '80 romcom shit. Go nuts.)