Game Reactions: Maharlika RPG [Filipino Anime Mechs!]
Link: https://tagamantra.itch.io/maharlika-rpg-core-rulebook
I picked Maharlika up last year at EGX (or what used to be EGX, having now been swallowed up by Comic Con) - I’d never heard of it before, but I’d gone determined to come back with a new TTRPG, and was it more exciting to buy a book that is a known quantity, or something I didn’t know existed before I saw it? Especially when it had mechs! I’ve always been a sucker for mechs. Honestly, I think my first exposure was Earthsiege 2 on the PC. Equipping different weapons on each arm, adding shoulder-mounted rockets, managing heat etc, amazing! In my late teens a friend introduced me to Gundam Wing, then Macross Plus. Somehow I fell off then, and have always wanted to really get into Gundam but never managed it. This year though, I watched Iron-Blooded Oprhans (great) and finally started to watch 0079 Gundam, listening along to the Great Gundam Project podcast. I’m halfway through Zeta now and am loving it. Needless to say, this all had me properly in the mood for reading Maharlika.
As a quick introduction, this is “a technomystic Science Fantasy mecha RPG inspired by Filipino Mythology, centered around Mekanized Weapons or Meka, and their pilots: the eponymous Maharlika.” If that sounds like a lot, it is. If that sounds awesome, yes it’s that too. It’s heavily based on Lancer, as I understand it (I own Lancer but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet), so it’s rules-light for the narrative beats and has crunchy tactical combat, which is its main focus. It’s a decent size at 220 pages, but much closer to regular book proportions than some hefty D&D tome.
Where it differs is obviously in the setting, with the designer bringing an incredible world to life by introducing the Filipino mythology. The pilots, or Maharlika, are generally teenagers (of course) who have established a connection with a divine being that becomes, in the books own phrasing, kind of like an onboard AI that allows the pilot to control these mechs that otherwise a human mind and body would be unable to. The writing really impresses on you the power of these beings, and the extent to which humans are playing with forces they don’t understand. Hey, it’s definitely anime mecha. This is just scratching the surface, as the game is far future, and very cyberpunk. Aside from the divine beings from another plane, there are aliens (including one previously invading force that humanity barely fought off), and a system of megacorps that are each as awful as the last in their own special way. These corps are the guys you’ll largely be doing missions for, and will not hesitate to come after you if you fail. All of this setting is fully realised, there are unique terms for everything, like your pilot being a Maharlika, connected to their Diwata, using their Gahum Reactor-powered mechs to do missions for the Lakanate. It definitely gave me a headache trying to keep track of everything, and honestly I’d be anxious about trying to run it, but it a cool enough world that I’d want to give it my best shot regardless.
Happily, the art is fantastic and helps to visualise the maximalist setting. A significant chunk of the book is dedicated to running through each of the five megacorps and a selection of their mech designs. Every corp has some unique approach, like the militaristic SD-SK or the theocratic KLL, and their mechs are very stylised to match. The art for each is gorgeous, I can’t show you all of my favourites or I’d be sharing half of the book, but check out the shot from the itch page below.
Really, this is what I’m here for with this book - it’s such an inspiring read, visually speaking, both in terms of the actual art, and the world described in the prose. There are some formatting issues in the book, like headings at the end of a column when the text starts in the next column, as well as a few typos. I also don’t fully love the layout and book design, with white text on a black background, using two columns on a fairly small page, and justified text which looks neat at a distance but makes the spacing really inconsistent, especially with a lot of long words that can throw off the alignment.
I already mentioned that the lore is quite daunting, and the same goes for the mechanics. As I said I’m not familiar with Lancer, and to be really clear, I am not built for tactical combat in the slightest. I wish I was, I always tried to play RTS, 4X, and tactical games of various stripes, and I’ve always been a complete plonker in every single one. I zone out in every D&D combat and really dread levelling up, because it means I need to pay attention to a bunch of stupid upgrades again. All that to say, the tactical combat here could be awesome, it could be awful, I have no idea and I’d be terrified of attempting to run it either way. There does seem to be good advice for setting up and balancing encounters, but I’d say that you and your players need to be comfortable with this kind of game, or up to the task of putting in the work to understand it sufficiently.
Regardless, whether I ever manage to run or play Maharlika or not, it’s a very cool book that I’m glad I picked up. I don’t think Filipino anime-mecha-cyberpunk-science-fantasy TTRPG is an oversaturated genre, to be honest, so this is a standout game whose world and aesthetics will stay in my head.
