Right.

Had a real life mess that i'm in the final stages of resolving (thank god).

I want to move on this now, but i've considered, the 'pirate' war thing, is maybe the wrong way to go about it.  As usual, that is probably the ambitious end game i should be aiming for, and is too early to attempt.

Instead I'm going to make this a 'solo' campaign for you, where you play a mercenary commander, and will be taking your unit out on contracts and missions.

I'm reducing the scope of the concept down to a single unit.  So i aspire to include more roleplaying now, which i believe you would be up for.

I've actually sat down play a few table top versions of this now, so some more of the odd rules have been worked out.  I'm feeling good about this now, but less so about typing out each and every rule out.

So... hopefully youre up for starting this.

I'm going to presume you're willing to good with the unit you rolled up, though they do need a mercenary name now.

You can also name the Mechwarriors in the unit, since that will give them more flavor, and make them easier to identify for various things.



Currently...

Officers
(vet) - (3 Command Value) - Kusanagi Nagamichi
(vet) - (3 Command Value) - {no name}

Mechwarriors
(reg) - (1 Command Value) - {no name}
(grn) - (0 Command Value) - {no name}
(grn) - (0 Command Value) - {no name}

Available Mechs
Crusader
Cicada
Jenner
Commando

You have a fifth mech available to you.  You may pick any of the light mechs available in the campaign, or you may trust to luck and roll again for an upgrade on the Medium Mech table.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:06, Fri 05 Apr 2019.

It's great to hear that whatever the mess was is getting resolved finally.  Welcome Back *hugs*

:)

Yup still up for it.  Maybe more so than when we first talked about it cause of my own RL situation getting shifted around meaning next to no time playing the computer game.

Well we are working on continuing to iron out kinks so might as well roll on the medium and see what happens.

15:36, Today: Kusanagi Nagamichi rolled 10 using 2d6.  Light Mech 12 Upgrade to Medium Mech Chart.

Enforcer.  Good mech.  Will be interesting to see how it does under these rules.  Will have to think about names for the other pilots now.

I've started you on Sol, in the year 3024.

The third sucession war is still in play, and we're in the middle / end of it.

For the sake of keeping things interesting, i WONT be following canon events and time lines, so really, anything can happen.

Consider this an 'alternate' universe.

At the moment, Kusanagi needs a new contract.  Even if most of the best are taken up by big name merc units, there is enough work around for even small units to survive.

You may start with no affiliation, or having history and worked with a house.  You may select if you have had positive, or negative results from working with the house.

You may also pick if you want a 'long term' or 'short term' contract.

There are also 'non' house contracts as well, so may look into serving with a larger name merc unit, periphery states, or even pirate units.  These contracts will have less options (if available at all).

He's going to stay away from House Kurita on general principle.  He may still be a citizen but he is well aware of the Combine's perspective on Mercs and how they company store them into death.

Miyazaki Tatsuko will be his fellow vet pilot from the Combine.  She'll keep an eye on his back, usually with the Enforcer.  Phil Lord wil be his regular pilot from cross the border Davion space and usually piloting the Commando.  Max and Maxine Kazhuro will be the twins that are green pilots but pilot the swift Cicada and Jenner usually.

No major affiliation, having worked for both House Marik and House Steiner on their borders doing shore up garrison work on forgettable planets more likely to be hit by Pirates than part of a Major offensive but who knows.  With the two 'newbs' of Max and Maxine joining up he'd look for a short term contract to assess if they will work with the otherwise smaller.

Well say they are looking for either more Steiner or Marik contracts, possibly Capellan.  They try to stay away from things that would pit them against Combine or Davion interests.

Sorry for that slight delay.

In-laws are now permanently moved in with us so it's prompted a lot of changes to make things work *sigh chuckles*

I've had some time to think about the story line for the campaign.

The year is going to be 3020.

Katrina Steiner just put out her Peace accord which has been declined by all the great houses.

Everything you know till this point is canon.

From this point forward, history will change.

I have a few serious tweaks, in the form of 'what if' in the historical events to explore, and want to see how they play out.

You will get to see them from the mercs view.

I am actually, at this moment, excited to explore the new timeline events and look forward to playing them out in an entertaining manner for you.

Odd for a Davion pilot in a Commando, i would have thought you would have gone with a Lyran pilot, but this is a merc unit, so pilots and mechs dont have to matter.  The commando could have fell off a truck as a war spoil against the lyran and matched up with Lords somewhere along the way.

Post to the Merc Board, when ready.

When it was 3024-3025 a Commando in Davion hands was less surprising. :)

Should have a post up tonight in the Merc Board.

Still find, you're a merc unit, so its possible you just picked it up somewhere is all.

Several possible starting points, so i'm narrowing down the direction of the story based on the contract you're going to take.

A 'Marik Raid' is still a pretty broad catagory, and then after that will be 'terms' of the contract.

* blows dust off the forum *

* Kicks Kusanagi *

Hey you've been napping long enough.  Old player from the Merc game gave me a poke and wanted to play.  I'm not doing battletech, but he was okay was helping to play test this.

So...  I figure, lets put the roleplaying aside for the moment, and just generate a quick no stakes battle for you both to get a feel for the game rules and stuff.

Reyvak, if you want to change the character (commander) name, that's fine, let me know and it'll be done.  Go take a look at the Campaign information.

State here how you want to allocate your resources, then ... make some dice rolls.  Yeah... dice rolls, rng can be terrible from the get go.

Also, be aware, units are 'standard' and unmodified, unless you roll a tw, then you can pick a variant of a mech from the table.  If you roll a twelve, you can pick any available STANDARD mech (subject to my approval, i deem it available.  Please nothing twinkish from places i've never heard of before)

This campaign is very much in the playtest phase, and was never published with a desire for players because we were suppose to SLOWLY workout the campaign rules, but... well, we got busy and lazy.

I think the first test mission will be your entire unit (that you can field) played off against one another just as a point to see how the random units feel and to get you both a taste of the rules.

If Kusanagi is too busy to play i'll just field and run his unit for him.  I promote from unbiased referee to biased player...  o.O


After we get two or three games out of the way, twiddle with the rules, and such we'll decide if were ready for an actual campaign game.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:32, Wed 27 Nov 2019.

Also... Rey, you can look at previous comments between me and Kusanagi, regarding unit generation which should be helpful as a guide.  I made sure to document it in public for cases like this as a reference for new players.

In reply to Precentor Kitty (msg # 48):

I think I understand, I will roll some dick to decide which mechs i get, I think i will roll 1 Heavy, 2 Medium and 1 light.

Thats 2000 Spare Parts, and 500 Ammo.

Just a note: Campaign INformation thread, First Post, says 50 Cbills for EP, Next Post, says EP cannot be purchased with cbills.

my rolls:

15:45, Today: Reyvak rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,4.  Heavy Mech.
15:45, Today: Reyvak rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,5.  Medium #1.
15:45, Today: Reyvak rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,2.  Medium #2.
15:46, Today: Reyvak rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,2.  Light.

Mech Loadout: Dragon, Whitworth, Pheonix Hawk, Locust


Rules say 1 recruitment roll per mech purchased, so...

15:55, Today: Reyvak rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5.  recruit roll 4.
15:55, Today: Reyvak rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,5.  Recruit roll 3.
15:55, Today: Reyvak rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,4.  Recruit Roll 2.
15:55, Today: Reyvak rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,5.  Recruit Roll 1.

2 Green Pilots and 2 Regulars.

Spend 10 EP to Upgrade my two green pilots to Regulars.
15:57, Today: Reyvak rolled 11 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,5.  Regular Upgrade 2.
15:57, Today: Reyvak rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,4.  Regular Upgrade 1.

ohh, nvm, this is only for after missions... disregard that spend then. i think that is everything.

In reply to Reyvak (msg # 49):

Reyvak Dexx aka Rixx

Winston Hill aka Sparkles - Reg
Markus Venn aka HotDog - Reg
Natalia Ross aka Vermin -Green
Jeremy Orr aka Flatline - Green
This message was last edited by the player at 00:10, Thu 28 Nov 2019.

HAPPY THANKS GIVING!

will take a little time to browse what you done, and get back to you after thanksgiving probably, may try and get some stuff done tonight, but if nothing comes in tonight, i'm on the road tomorrow all day and wont be back till late, then you have the whole shopping for sales thing (I'm hoping for a new tablet), so... will be a little distracted.  If i dont get anything up tonight, wont be for a few days.

That said, i will try and give it a look through to approve, so i can at least familiarize myself with the rules.

You are considered a 1st Lt / Captain ish rank.  You can designate one of the NPC's as an officer, and stuff... i have to double check the rules on that again to be sure.  Will be using the mexican rule where things are fuzzy and presume in your favor where possible.

In reply to Precentor Kitty (msg # 51):

no worries.

Okay sitting to look now, did you have a name for your unit?

Lets see, your unit started out with...

'You', a Veteran - Officer.


5000 CB
3000 SP
1000 AP
 100 EP



You spent  700sp and 175ap for a Heavy  Mech
You spent 1000sp and 250ap for 2 Medium Mechs
You spent  300sp and  75ap for a Light  Mech

Total Spent 2000sp and 500ap for mechs

You received Dragon, Phoenix Hawk, Whitworth, and Locust.

That leaves you with 5000cb, 1000sp, 500ap, and 100ep

You spent 40ep, to improve the roll for two pilots by +2
You spent 20ep, to improve the roll for two pilots by +1
(I presume that's what you meant by spending for green and regular improvements?)

Your pilot skills are
10 + 2 = Veteran - Officer (2nd Lt.)
 8 + 2 = Regular
10 + 1 = Veteran
 6 + 1 = Green

So, going by your name list from best to worse, i presume...

Vet 2nd Lt Winston Hill - Sparkles
Vet MW  Markus Venn     - Hot Dog
Reg MW  Natalia Ross    - Vermin
Grn MW  Jeremy Orr      - Flatline

For this campaign, Pilots are NOT forced to use the same mech over... and over... and over.

You can move pilots from one mech to another, they did it all the time in the Grey Death Legion.

If a pilot is hurt, but their mech is functional, you dont have to bench the mech if you have a spare mw, you can put him in the mech, or move a mw from a 'lesser' mech to the one without a mw.

Each mech after the first one, comes with a pilot.  The first 'pilot' is presumed to be 'you', so you don't roll a pilot for the first mech.

Since you feel a little understrengthed to me, i'm going to ask you to keep the pilots you have and roll up a fifth mech for 'yourself', though really you can put yourself in any mech in the unit.

Your current finances are pretty good, and can probably handle another light without serious issue for long term health for the unit.  (Kusanagi has five mechs and you will be entering the practice game at a handicap if you're a mech short.)

You should also tell me which pilots are in which mechs.

At this point i will put both units down in the 'Unit' listings.

By the way, Rey, do you have any questions on how things are going to work?

In reply to Precentor Kitty (msg # 58):

sort of, but im not really sure about combat, cos thats about as clear as mud from what I have read.