What kind of atow campaign do you run/palrticipate in

[Kitsune413]

Been seeing alot of posts where people arent happy with the various loose ends and plot hooks that are around the universe and that got me to wondering what kind of atow campaigns people run.

The ones I run are multi tiered shadowrun style games.

Ill have players craft several characters. Generally a politician. Some kind of spy or spy support and maybe a mechwarrior.

As an example on one of my older campaigns set on solaris I had a player control a rasalhague freedom fighter and a spy that primarily controlled assets and handed out missions.

In a campaign a bit later I had a player control a lyran social general and a lohengrin anti terrorist.

It goes around like that. I try to keep it to managable levels but in moments of crysis where characters have been to wounded to easily continue and we will bring in another character for them. Sometimes yu strike gold this way and you get a new favorite character. Sometimes you dont and you get a bad character. Either way you end up with someone you can kill off from time to time to let players know the stakes are high.

How do you guys play?

[Acolyte]

We have a long running Merc campaign, long on RP interspersed with TW battles. I've been slowly bringing the group up through time (started 3025, now 3052) with the game becoming generational. We've remade all the lead characters with AToW ('cause it's a better system, in our opinion). The end goal is to play in dark ages and everything going on there. Probably going to fast forwards through the RoTS time, though. It's fun to see how the group handles their children, so far Mercenary Brat followed by Military School for the most part.

   - Shane

[Trajan Helmer]

I've been running an unusual ATOW campaign for nearly two calendar years now.  I was expecting to do a realistic, so-gritty-you-could-die-everytime-you-screw-up campaign.  About seven calendar months into it, my players asked if we could make it more space opera and less space realism. I deferred to their judgement to make it more fun for them (it still took until April this year before they saw the inside of a 'Mech. But it's been a hella ride for them since).

The Campaign started 3019 on Galatea. All PCs began as members of the Dispossessed for their own reasons (a disgraced alcoholic of House Kurita, a highly skilled triple agent on the run from Loki, SAFE, and now the ISF, A Tortugan concealing his identity from the Suns player whose family he had killed years ago in a raid on the Outback,etc. All players were working for a local crime lord whose big plan was to get spaceborne and to take over a jumpship from within. Piracy, in other words. Their goal was to get behind the controls of a Mech again and feel the prestige and power from sitting behind the controls again.  Even so, everybody has at least one backup character in game. There are three players juggling two characters because they did something in the past that incapacitated their primary guy.

The style we've used throughout has been pretty free-form. We don't spend a lot of time rolling dice, preferring to roleplay it out. They've been catching on to my style of GMing, which is generally based on the players making things happen instead of the whole stimulus, response, stimulus bit. Their enjoyment and mine has risen accordingly. I get to manage their innate creativity instead of forcing change on them. Of course, for a few of them, this is their first exposure to the BattleTech Universe.  The two girls who joined the core group in March have become steady fans of the RPG and TW game.


It is now nearing the end of 3022 and my players have become a major focal point in the 'Sphere after finding and fighting over a lostech cache of six operational Thunder Hawks.

[Jesshou Kerensky]

I guess I don't count because I am using CBT:RPG 3rd Ed. But it is still really a MechWarrior's point of view in the game universe.

For my Campaign (and my players don't know battletech nearly as much as myself, which is why I'm GM) is set in the Jihad and is based very much roleplay with battles planned for effect or historic relevance (mainly because they want to fight everything they see). Many times I have found that players feel more involved when they see rolling dice as a way beat the GM whatever they scheme (even if its just story). Each player only makes 1 Character at a time and if death make a new one, to create loses avenged after the war is won.

I also liked that Trajan tells us about his setting. Do we have a section on these forums to let GM's post results of their games to be read and enjoyed?

[Kitsune413]

I guess I don't count because I am using CBT:RPG 3rd Ed. But it is still really a MechWarrior's point of view in the game universe.

For my Campaign (and my players don't know battletech nearly as much as myself, which is why I'm GM) is set in the Jihad and is based very much roleplay with battles planned for effect or historic relevance (mainly because they want to fight everything they see). Many times I have found that players feel more involved when they see rolling dice as a way beat the GM whatever they scheme (even if its just story). Each player only makes 1 Character at a time and if death make a new one, to create loses avenged after the war is won.

I also liked that Trajan tells us about his setting. Do we have a section on these forums to let GM's post results of their games to be read and enjoyed?

I love MechWarrior third edition!  :)

[Kitsune413]

It is now nearing the end of 3022 and my players have become a major focal point in the 'Sphere after finding and fighting over a lostech cache of six operational Thunder Hawks.

Nuke them from space!

[nerd]

Nah, just have the Robes make an offer they can't refuse.

[Mohammed As`Zaman Bey]

  The campaign I am running is a parody aimed at another campaign by another GM in the club. The other GM is a micro-manager who tells players how they would act under certain situations. In response, I allow players to do whatever they wish as long as they understand that certain actions may have consequences. There is no kharma in my universe -If you don't get caught you deserve to get away.

  Most of the players are one-dimensional death machines -Gods on the battlefield and almost useless anywhere else. They formed a combat unit with no cohesive organization other than going out to the battlefield and crushing the opponent, which they often do very handily. They are now in position to put down a very ugly rebellion and one of the players has chosen to fulfill his fantasy of being a Mongol Commander and committed atrocities, which has opened up a whole can of worms that shall create a chain of consequences for the next few game years. I love my job.

[johnstark]

I run a 'merc campaign that starts in 3030 and goes until it stops.  I like to get new folk into the game so I go pre-clan for the simple equipment lists and low-intensity conflicts.   I use an optional prologue, if they're having trouble starting out, which has them fighting for AFFS in the 4th Succession war, and (in true Davion style) thrown under the bus by their CO as their origin story.

Brush wars and pirate hunting keep them busy until they're ready for the big leagues, when it's either FRR time, or - if they're liking the raiding - 3039.  Usually they get kicked over by the clans and get to be bondsmen for a while - it astonishes me how long it's taken the two groups to whom this happened to decide to try and escape.

The style of gameplay depends very heavily on what's going on.  For contract work/raiding it can be very TW-style stompy robots. The RPG rules let them take jobs that have nothing to do with 'mechs, though, and there's always That Guy who insists on being a PBI and pulling the rest of the group along on ill-advised shenanigans.

A bad wipe that doesn't kill the pilots puts us firmly into shadowrun like territory until/unless they find a way to score some new kit.

When they get big, things go down battleforce style (hasn't happened lately, but the new rules excite me).

I use the tools I have when they're called for.

[Kret69]

I run a "zero-to-hero" cutaway through the entire BT timeline.

Starting in very deep Peripheries in a system locked-away and erased from the maps before Age of War (for a reason - and a dreadful one, too). Exact time of the start is not known - probably some late Age of War, but could also be end of Star League.

First part is about getting out of the planet (this includes the power shift probably), second is about going home (Terra).

With no jump abilities but well preserved/developed cryo sleep chambers and ancient engine designs that will push the starship close to FTL (abandontech when K-F drives became dominant) their characters will be able to fly from one star system to another, wake up every 10-30 years and participate in some major event or war from BT timeline.

We play mainly BT on board plus some minor RPG if we feel like it - we feel too old for drama or LARPing, but this would be doable for some climax moment of the campaign too.

Not too much Mechs in this campaign, however we try to solve all physical conflicts with  CBT (TW) mechanics.

[Orion]

I've never been able to run an ATOW campaign due to lack of player interest.  The gamers I know at this point are all allergic to stuff like character goals and roleplaying and motivation.

If I ever am able, it'll be a small merc group on the Periphery edge about the year 3020.  No aerospace, no infantry beyond the night watchman, but may have a few light tanks.  Each player will have a mech and its pilot, and then have at least one regular supporting character.  As needed, I will also toss out locals they can play that interact with characters of other players.  If someone needs a local rival, I can provide it.  But, players love to cause problems for other players, and letting them do it this way means the main characters cooperate better.  Most battles will be played with Battletech rules, as I don't anticipate many bar fights and infantry battles, but am willing to change this to meet players preference.  At least half of each session will be roleplaying, either dealing with the local government, trying to obtain supplies and parts, or pursuing individual goals.

[Zinmar]

I wish there was a game in this area. For a short while we had something going on with 3rd edition but the game died pretty quickly. Most games are going on down in the DC area and I can't drive that far, So I will sit here in front of my screen and miss the good old days of gaming.  :(

[PurpleDragon]

I run mercenary campaigns wherein the players are commanders of their portions of the unit with one being the overall commander.  I do the vehicular battles through Battletech and have been using Solaris VII rules with 3rd ed RP.  swapping over to AToW I'm moving to MekHQ and Megamek.  until we get it moved over, I use perception descriptors for what the character sees in his/her mech instead of just moving things around on the board. 

[Gray Jaguar]

I'm running a chronological game with a focus on the different eras and a single set of family lines starting with the Clan Invasion.  Each generation ends up facing a different challenge and right now we're into the second generation.  The first involved the PCs as Steiner nobles who decided to become mercenaries like the Kells with one of them eventually becoming Archon instead of Peter Steiner-Davion and the creation of the great Lyran navy.  They went on into the Jihad Era with a focus on the Lyran campaign against the Word of Blake and eventually ended up forming one of the first Clan enclaves.  Now, they're diving into the Dark Ages and just hit the Blackout with the second generation group.

It's an interesting take and honestly I ended up with a slew of characters:  A Clanner Mechwarrior, a Steiner AeroSpace pilot, a Steiner noble, and a Free Worlds League sniper.  Needless to say, the mix made for quite a lot of switching between A Time of War and Total Warfare and Strategic Operations rules.