Publisher Description:
The central guide to the system. Read this first. This handbook is customized for the Colony War (Gundam-like) setting; I plan to publish others soon.
From the introduction:
In Gunwave, you choose a mecha (giant robot) and a pilot character who will fight as part of the Separatists' War, for either the bureaucratic United Earth Government or the rogue Nation of Asgard. You'll sit down with some buddies during a session, in which one of your buddies runs the game as the Narrator (like a referee), and everyone else plays their pilot characters.
Your mecha and pilot characters each have a type (scavenger, converting fighter, striker), a few powerful weapons, and a set of traits (special abilities). Traits can be Skill-based (used as often as you'd like), or limited to once per Battle or once per Day, depending on the trait.
As your pilot character fights through the Separatists' War, he or she will attempt various things- sneaking into an enemy base, attacking a remote outpost, sabotaging a weapons lab, escorting an important scientist, etc.-and to do so, you'll perform rolls. To roll, you'll use the number of six-sided dice listed on the appropriate trait (such as Stealth), apply modifiers (such as -1 if it's dark), and roll that many 6-sided dice. This set of dice is called a dice pool.
If you're just trying to succeed at something- hack into a computer system, for example- then you succeed if any die rolls a 5 or 6. If you're attacking a mecha, the number of dice that roll 5 or 6 is subtracted from the enemy mecha's Armor. If attacking a person, if any die rolls a 5 or 6, the hit person is stunned, and drops unconscious if stunned enough times.