Transmech NPC help!

[glimmerrat]

So i'm going to be running a transmechs game, but after creating the majority of NPCs i've hit a creative block. I can't decide on names or alt-modes for the leader of either side. I just can't think of anything that'd do the leadership position justice.

Some of my irl players post on these boards, so i'll put the specifics in a spoiler tag.

(click to show/hide)

Autobot leader: unwilling leader, older than the others, soldier type 'I'm no leader, I just look after my own'.

Decepticon leader: tactical genius, uncompromising, no mercy; not 'evil' per se, but will do *anything* to win

Last of all, I need to stat-up Shockwave(!). The players will be leading an infiltration team into Polyhex to access Lord Straxus's Spacebridge, so that they can travel to Earth and reinforce Prime's troops. However, being the Decepticon capital, I was going to have Shockwave in charge of defense, and have him as a sort of 'boss' encounter. They don't have to kill him, just drive him off or get past him. Now, I want to scare the shit out of them (he *is* second in power only to Megatron...) but I don't want to butcher them in the first session. Ideas?

[Mister Andersen]

(click to show/hide)

Unwilling soldier leader 'Bot. Gives off a guardian vibe. I'd be tempted to make his alt mode one of the hover tanks found on this page. For a name, try Ramrod -- you know, the thing they used to load old cannons with.

Tac genius 'Con: Her alt mode should be the entirity of this. The fact she can run two bodies semi-independently is part of why she's a tactical genius, and ties in to the movie back story of Arcee and her sisters (a 'con experimented on them as part of research into gestalt consciousness). She can only be killed by destroying both components of her alt-form. Call her Fire Fly.

[Big_Jim]

(click to show/hide)

AB Leader: Stalwart Alt form: Cybertronian tank (earth form: M1A1 Abrams)
Stalwart is tough; lasers ricochet off his armored plates as his lowslung, multitreaded form races across the battlefield. He's fought on dozens of worlds and never really thought about that fact that he always seemed to be one of the few to emerge unscathed from one armored spearhead or another. He didn't notice that the others around him looked up to him for advice or that their sparks burned bright with the fire of youth while his was the steady pulse of a seasoned veteran. But one day he realized that he was tired of seeing their sparks extinguished in senseless conflict. He left and joined the Autobots, a group that he felt valued life as much as he realized he did. Conflict, however wasn't done with Stalwart. Now, to Stalwart's horror, he sees new, young sparks once again looking to him before battle... and this time it's for more than advice. That want him to LEAD.


DC Leader: Splitfire Alt form: Triplechanger; One form is a cybertronian mobile gunnery platform (earth form: mobile howitzer or anti-aircraft gun emplacement) other form is a cybertronian attack VTOL (earth form: AH-64 Apache)

Splitfire excels at getting the most out of his own combat flexibility and demands the same level of dedication from those under his command. His "mission myopia" means that he can typically see numerous possibilities for reaching his short term tactical goals with frighteningly diverse plans but has has almost no capability at seeing how to reach long term, strategic goals. So if an opportunity comes to light, he is hard pressed to be stopped from capturing/destroying/utilizing it in a tactical sense, but goals that aren't "flashing neon signs" of strategic use are fairly safe from being a target.

Basically, Splitfire will have multiple plans to deal with achieving his tactical goals - trying to stop him should mean dealing with three or four plans/backup plans/escape route/feints/etc. He also switching from robot to gun to copter form to exploit the strengths of each form as needed. Luckily, his brilliant tactical moves are only aimed at the obvious strategic target. He just can't see the big picture, and in typical decepticon fashion, doesn't trust his underlings went they claim to know what the next big goal is. Once the players learn that beating Spiltfire's crew is to simply dangle harmless carrots in front of him and "try" to stop him, let him listen to his underlings and step it up a notch.

[MikeS]

Check out this site:

http://headonastick.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=377&sid=4d34b559733d6fd4a13b6713c80da1f8

The stats look like what you find on the Transformers profiles on the packages.

Looks like Gatac (the person who recruited for the Shinobi game a while back) and his friends have done quite a bit of brainstorming. I haven't read much on the parent forum, but it looked like they had a campaign going for a while.