Hey. Kayla here again with another faction preview. This one looks at our poll winner, and one of the games mech capable gangs, the Skeleton Keys.
Art by Gustavo Foletto, Text and Layout by Kayla Dice
I knew early on that Mechritter should have factions with their own mechs, to offer players the chance for mech vs mech combat. I decided two mech factions was better than one. One reason for this was if Mechritter is played as part of an ongoing campaign there's one gang to give you mechs and one gang left to fight.
The other reason was to model how and why gangs with mechs would be opposed. A fact of the setting is that the greatest danger to each gang comes from humans above, rather than the other gangs. Some gangs might be more privileged with resources and hostile to outsiders, but their grievances with each other are more petty in nature or born of desperation.
So to talk about the Skeleton Keys is to talk about the Blinged Mice too, at least a little. I figured the mech gangs would need to be based out of stores with small tools that could go missing. There's both a jewellery exchange and a locksmiths on my high street so they felt like good locations to steal.
Laurie's initial proof of concept doc had some bullets about how the mice's mechs differ from traditional mecha. About the size of a biscuit tube rather than titanic. Useful and functional rather than combat focused and overpowered. Fragile, made of scrap, rather than sturdy metal. The initial idea for the two mech gangs was they'd be focused on overcoming a shortcoming of the mech. The Blinged Mice would want to get more durable, the Skeleton Keys would want to get more powerful. Those exact wants faded a lot but were the beginning of the gang's current shape.
The Blinged Mice wanting to get more durable evolved into being more defensively focused. Their backstory involves having moved from multiple bases, either due to closure or discovery. Their goals focus on securing their base and slowly acquiring more assets.
In a write up for the pre-launch page I had a line about the Blinged Mice seeing the Skeleton Keys as hyperactive daredevils, which ended up influencing their characterisation more than the original seed. They've lived a more secure life than the Blinged Mice, and don't really understand their contemporaries' caution for that reason. Their goals increase in their daringness, and increasingly step on the toes of other gangs.
The intention behind the Skeleton Keys is that they're an easy gang to like, but a difficult gang to deal with if you're trying to keep the high street gangs from exploding.
The D6 names for the Skeleton Keys are the most "Connections category" coded off the gang member names. Can anyone tell me what connects them?
Additionally, what else would people like to see covered in future updates? I can keep things focused on faction deep dives, or talk about shops or enemies? Let me know if you have any requests in the comments!
