The UnSpeakable Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Believe in yourself. Not you, who believes in me. Not me, who believes in you. Believe in you, who believes in yourself!

Kamina

The UnSpeakable Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a short set of rules intended to emulate the over-the-top heaven-drilling mecha drama of the acclaimed anime series titled, duh, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Or, in other words, it can be used to play something kind of like that.

It’s a hack of UnSpeakable, which in turn is a hack of InSpectres that changes the basic ghost-busting system into the only Lovecraftian game out there worth attention. Consequently, it’s the third layer of rules, and I’m assuming you’ve read them all before and know how to play the original game. Otherwise, once your head stops spinning, you can find everything you need to play here, as due to the courtesy of Jared A. Sorensen both the startup edition of InSpectres and the UnSpeakable hack are available as free downloads.

What follows are changes to the rules of UnSpeakable (which, in turn, modify the rules of InSpectres, mind you). Furthermore, some of them I mark as options – these are purely personal houserules I play the original game with and find working well. Should you decide to ignore them, the hack should still function properly.

Episodes

We’re evolving more with every passing minute! With one revolution, we move forward a bit! That’s a drill!

Simon

The game progresses in Episodes, each being an equivalent of one InSpectres job. At the start of each Episode you need to set a general goal you’re going to work towards and the required number of Drill Dice (Job Dice). Unless the group bows out and abandons the goal, the Episode will end with a major escalation of the story.

You start in a subterranean village, your only dream being a fat molepig steak after your digging shift and your only future in a sudden death under tons of rocks. However, you soon find your mecha. Then, you reach the surface. Then, you build a following. Then, you acquire more mecha. Then, you gather an army. Then, you claim a mobile mecha fortress. Then, you conquer the Beastmen capital city… and so on and on until your drill pierces the heavens and you do the impossible.

You watched the show. You know the drill.

You can try to roughly follow the progress of the show, or you can do it your own way. The point is, every Episode needs to end with a noticeable evolutionary step for the rising Mankind. Pump the scale up gradually.

Spiral Pool

If your strength comes from the hearts that believe in you, I’ll believe in you with every fiber in my body! So, WIN!

Nia

The Pit is renamed to Spiral Pool. It works the same, but in the first Episode your group always starts with only 10 dice in the Spiral Pool. What did you expect of some cave-dwelling punks?

Unused Spiral dice carry over to the next Episode.

Fear

Aniki is dead. He’s no longer here. However, on my back, and within my heart, he lives on in me! I will put a hole in heaven itself. Even if that hole becomes my grave, as long as I break through, that is my victory! Who the hell do you think I am?

Simon

Fear takes place of Sanity. Your character starts with 10 Fear dice.

Fear is what keeps Mankind underground. As you face your Fear you will rip a hole in the Universe’s destiny. You will go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb! And it will burn you out, if you go too far, too fast, and you’ll leave the scene of history as Kamina did. But your sacrifice won’t go to waste, and you’ll live forever in our hearts and… well, you get the idea.

Unlike in UnSpeakable, there are two types of Fear rolls: hope rolls and despair rolls.

Hope rolls are triggered by surges of heroism. Whenever you stand against your destiny, fight against overwhelming odds, do something crazily suicidal, find a new source of hope or something along those lines, the GM may take his chosen number of your Fear dice and ask you to roll them. For each 6, increase the Spiral Pool by one die, while each 1 means your Fear drops down by one die.

If you lose all your Fear dice, your character will die a heroic death by the end of the scene and you make no further Fear rolls for him or her. However, you immediately roll one die, and the result is a number of Hope dice that become available to the group. These work the same as Spiral dice, except you need to follow the dead hero’s example to access them. Unused Hope dice are lost at the end of the Episode. However, at the beginning of each subsequent Episode roll one die for every dead hero to set fresh Hope pools. They truly live forever in our hearts.

Despair rolls are triggered by fits of angst. Whenever you give up, run away, mourn, regret, worry about the future, consider the consequences of your actions or the like, the GM may take up to [10 - your current Fear] dice and ask you to roll them. For each 6, increase the Spiral Pool by one die, while each 1 means you gain back one Fear die.

If your Fear ever hits 10 or more dice again, your character’s hope is broken and he or she joins the agenda of Anti-Spirals, consciously or not, becoming an antagonist. You make no further Fear rolls for him or her and you lose the character at the end of the scene. This time there are no benefits attached, though.

Once your character is dead or broken you can create a new one and bring him or her into a future scene of your choice.

Option: Both the GM and the players can call for Fear rolls. If the GM calls for the roll, the player sets the number of dice to be rolled. If the player calls for the roll, it’s the GM who sets the pool.

Drill Dice

Your drill is a drill that will pierce the heavens!

Kamina

Job Dice are renamed to Drill Dice. At the end of each Episode add the collected Drill Dice to the Spiral Pool. If your group bows out before completing the goal, you transfer only half of the Drill Dice you gathered so far to the Spiral Pool for the next Episode, and the rest is lost.

Notice that unlike in UnSpeakable, the only condition for ending an Episode is collecting the required number of Drill Dice. There’s no need for anyone to die or become an antagonist.

Ganmen Skills

Remember this, you damn beast! Combining is where two fighting spirits collide! It’s where a man’s spirit is ablaze! The farthest combination! Gurren-Lagann! Who the hell do you think we are?! From now on, this mech’s name is Gurren-Lagann!

Kamina

There are five Ganmen Skills that take place of those found in the original game. They define your mecha and you can roll an appropriate skill whenever your character pilots his or her machine. You can further augment this roll with a Talent die, Spiral dice and Hope dice.

Outside your Ganmen you never roll your Ganmen Skills. You can rely only on Spiral Dice, Hope dice and your Talent.

All Ganmen Skills start at zero dice. For each Fear die you lose, you can add one die in any of the Ganmen Skills below, up to the maximum rating of four dice. For each Fear die you gain, you must immediately reduce one of your Ganmen Skills by one.

• Who the hell do you think we are?! covers the weapon systems of your Ganmen. Roll this skill whenever you want to kick ass.

• We shall survive, no matter what it takes! covers the defense systems and armor. Roll this skill whenever you want to protect yourself or others, hold your ground or resist something.

• We’ll break through the heavens and dimensions! covers your mecha’s mobility. Roll this skill whenever you’re involved in a chase or you want to avoid detection, execute precise maneuvers or drill.

• Put on some damn clothes!!! covers your Ganmen’s sensors, computer systems and other nerdy stuff. Roll this skill whenever you want to detect or analyze something, obtain information from the database, prepare a strategy or the like.

• GATTAI! covers the ability to coordinate actions and, more importantly, combine. You never roll this skill on its own – instead, you add it to another player’s Ganmen Skill roll. If the other player accepts your help and takes your dice, he or she must either utilize the details of your action or invite you to co-narrate the result. However, if the roll ends in a failure, the GM will complicate your life as well.

Meanwhile…

Nia was a virtual life the Anti-Spirals created.

Viral

Confessionals are substituted by Meanwhile… narration. Rather than your character’s report of the situation, you narrate a short cut-scene that takes place somewhere else, introducing antagonists or giving them some exposition and showcasing their plans. Think of all those scenes in the show that took place in Lord Genome’s palace, for example.

Option: At the start of each session one of the players holds a Token. You need to agree who takes it. He or she can give it to someone else at any time, for any reason. Once per scene, the Token can be activated for a single Meanwhile… narration and afterwards, it must be passed to someone else. That person can activate it again, starting from the next scene.

Option: After any successful roll (4+), the player can choose to reduce his or her success level by three steps and gain a bonus Meanwhile… narration. It’s single use and can be activated at any time, whenever the player wants, even if there already was some Meanwhile… in the scene. Bonus Meanwhile… narrations gained that way can be stocked up. Also, they can be passed to other players for any reason or no reason at all.

Even if we were to be enslaved in the galaxy’s cycle of rebirth,

the feelings that were left behind will open the door!

Even if the infinite Universe were to go against us,

our burning blood will cut through fate!

We’ll break through the heavens and dimensions!

We’ll show you our path through force!

Tengen Toppa… Gurren-Lagann!

WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!

Dai-Gurren Brigade