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Gunwave is a free tabletop role-playing system using giant robots. The rules focus on speed, flexibility, and excitement, in a simplification of elements from D&D 4th Edition and World of Darkness in an attempt to capture the fast-moving fun of an anime mecha series.
Check out Gunwave in a Nutshell for an overview of the system.
After developing Gunwave through alpha and into beta testing, I discovered Mekton, an older and much more polished game that accomplishes almost exactly what Gunwave set out to do. So, I've abandoned Gunwave in pursuit of other goals, and put all my materials here. Gunwave is very much playable; I'm just not actively updating it any more.
- Gunwave Colony War Core Handbook (114 pages, 1.3 MB) The central guide to the system. Read this first. This handbook is customized for the Colony War (Gundam-like) setting; I had planned to publish others in other settings.
- Gunwave Rule System (7 pages, 209 KB) A concise list of the core rules of the Gunwave system, useful for looking up rules on the fly, or for seasoned role-players to understand the whole system.
- Gunwave Settings (24 pages, 440 KB) Descriptions of six anime-inspired universes in which to set your adventures: Angsty Military (Gundam), Epic Space Action (Robotech), Hulking War Machines (BattleTech), Freewheeling Mercenaries (Outlaw Star), Powered Armor (Starship Troopers), and Mighty Warrior (Mazinger Z).
- Gunwave Narrator's Guide (20 pages, 184 KB) Includes a lot of suggestions on GMing in general, advice on Narrating Gunwave specifically, and a number of campaign and encounter ideas.
- Gunwave Vehicle Compendium (12 pages, 184 KB) A list of non-mecha, pilotable vehicles for use in Gunwave. Care to pilot a hovertank?
- Gunwave PDFs, Complete (5 PDFs, 2.4 MB) A .zip file of all Gunwave PDFs.
If you do play Gunwave, please let me know.