A Time of War "Monster Manual"

[StuartYee]

In another thread (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,40572.0.html) Acolyte gave me a great idea- a sort of homebrew "Monster Manual" for ATOW.

What are some basic NPC types that your PCs might encounter?

I have the following so far (in no particular order):

*Rival Mechwarrior
*Ornery Technician
*Ornery Local
*Street Ruffian
*Organized Crime Thug
*Organized Crime Minor Lieutenant
*Organized Crime Major Lieutenant
*Organized Crime Boss
*Mean Bar Drunk
*'Mech Bunny
*Police Officer
*Dispossessed Mechwarrior
*Gambler
*Infantry/Tank Veteran
*Mechwarrior Veteran
*Country Bumpkin
*Businessman
*Private Security Guard

What else do guys think would be good to add?

[guardiandashi]

well from the archtypes of MW 2nd edition:
MechWarrior: bounty hunter
MechWarrior: Grizzled veteran
MechWarrior: Hotshot
MechWarrior: House Regular
MechWarrior: Hulking Brute
MechWarrior: Scoundrel
MechWarrior: Technophile
MechWarrior: young Noble
Clan: Primary MechWarrior
Clan: Secondary MechWarrior
Clan: Elemental
Clan: Pilot
Aerojock
Free Trader
Scout
Tech

MechWarrior Companion book
Armored Infantry Trooper
Dropship Captain
Guerrilla Fighter
Marine
Special forces Operative
Tanker
Clan: Crusader Elemental
Clan: Crusader MechWarrior
Clan: dropship/jumpship pilot
Clan: Merchant
Clan: Scientist
Clan: Technician

MechWarrior 3rd edition
Clan: Disgraced elemental

Rebel Fighter pilot
explorer medic
yakuza MechWarrior
freelance technician
special forces operative
brash tanker
well connected trader

LOSTECH
Clan: failed warrior
grizzled prospector
mad scientist

Unbound: scenario
mechbunny
sycophant
wannabe
named npc's
amil gar
dark knight thugs
trav
safe agent...
npc hellfire
npc yin pah
bodyguards
safe agents
mercenary MechWarrior
other specific npc's
now I will admit a bunch of them are duplicated and such but ...

[StuartYee]

Would you say that's a comprehensive list of NPC types, or do your PCs encounter anyone else?

[Maelwys]

There are things like bureaucrat, non-MechWarrior noble, etc that they might encounter in social situations. Pretty much could be anything. 

[guardiandashi]

Would you say that's a comprehensive list of NPC types, or do your PCs encounter anyone else?

most of them until the unbound scenario pack set were archetypes which means optional chars/hero npc's "base classes"

with that said random encounter npc's tend to be  chars stripped down to the "essentials"
eg: thug is quick "personality/goals" relevant combat stats, gear, and skills (relevant to typical encounters) and a name like thug# 1`

[Acolyte]

One slick trick is to take the character sheet of any retiring character for use when you need a really tough opponent, or an experienced NPC. Just rename and make a new description. Think about it, would you want to run up against one of the characters that you played?

   - Shane

[hive_angel]

Any of you willing to share your characters to kind of make a nice reference PDF of some sorts we could link or get stickied for future use?

[StuartYee]

Any of you willing to share your characters to kind of make a nice reference PDF of some sorts we could link or get stickied for future use?

That's kind of why I started this thread because I wanted to get some ideas. I'm going to compile my own "fan made" manual and share with everyone.

There are things like bureaucrat, non-MechWarrior noble, etc that they might encounter in social situations. Pretty much could be anything. 

I like the idea of the bureaucrat!

[guardiandashi]

this was a char I made to be potentially a clan primary MechWarrior/LAM pilot

ATOW char

Name: Karen (Wolf)
Nickname:
Age: 20
height: 183 cm
weight: 90kg
hair: Red no longer than shoulder length
eyes: blue-grey
primary affiliation WiE

STR 4
BOD 5
RFL  7 (+1)
DEX 7 (+1)
INT 4
WIL 5
CHA 4
EDG 4

traits:
Compulsion: Clan Honor -2
Compulsion: Arrogance -1
Compulsion: Distrust of Inner Sphere -1
Compulsion: Wolf Pride -2
Enemy -4
Slow Learner -3
Attractive +2
Trueborn +2
Field Aptitude Clan Mechwarrior -1 tn to all clan mechwarrior field skills
Custom vehicle 3
Vehicle 6
Equipped 1

Skills:
Language English  +1            INT+CHA   8(6/7)/SA
perception +1               INT      7 SB
Appraisal 0               INT      8/CB
Interest Clan Remembrance +2      INT      8/CB
Protocol: Clan +1            WIL+CHA   9(7/8)/CA
Protocol: Clan Wolf +2         WIL+CHA   9(7/8)/CA
Strategy +1               INT+WIL   9/CA
Martial Arts +2            RFL      7/SB
Melee Weapons +2            DEX      7/SB
Small Arms +2            DEX      7/SB
Swimming 0               STR      7/SB
Career Soldier +2            INT      7/SB
Negotiation +2            CHA      8(6/7)/CB
Medtech +2               INT      7/SB
Leadership +3               WIL+CHA   8(6/7)/SA
Navigation: ground +3         INT      7/SB
Gunnery: Mech +3            RFL+DEX   8(7) SA
Piloting: Mech  +3            RFL+DEX   8(7) SA
Sensor Operations +3            INT+WIL   8/SA
Tactics: Land +3            INT+WIL   9/CA
Gunnery: aerospace +1         RFL+DEX   8 SA
Piloting: Aerospace +1         RFL+DEX   8 SA
Navigation: Space 0            INT      7/SB
Tactics: Space 0            INT+WIL   9/CA

Equipment: E/B/C
Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D in fair condition

Vibroblade         350g  carried
Autopistol with 5 reloads   500g, +700g carried
Pulse laser pistol (clan) with 5 power packs (issue) 1kg + 1kg 375g carried
Clan Mechwarrior kit with 3 patches for the suit (issue) 2kg suit, 3kg helmet 2kg boots
Aerospace Fighter Pilot kit with 3 patches for the flight suit 7kg suit, 5kg helmet, 500g gloves 3kg boots
Respirator           2.5kg stored
3 sets of fatigues        500g ea 1 worn
Combat boots         2kg   worn
Leather jacket         2kg   worn
Military Communicator   100g   carried
holomap         2kg   stored
Noteputer         500g   carried
Rangefinder Binoculars   500g   carried
standard military power pack   4kg   stored unless expecting combat
deluxe toolkit         50kg stored
energy weapon kit      2.5kg stored
slug-thrower kit      3kg stored
hand held laser torch      950g stored
combat medipack      3.5kg carried
basic field kit         5kg stored, unless going into field
4 medical kits         250g ea 2 carried 2 stored
1 advanced medical kit   2kg stored
cash 27200 cbills
common equipment load 13.525kg

Karen graduated from her sibko as a potential Ristar with strong leadership traits.  The last two years are very fuzzy to Karen. Her last clear memory is of ejecting from her assigned Timber wolf class Omnimech.  Vague memories of battles fought almost in a dream (or nightmare) Now she is on Solaris IIV the Game world, with not much more than the her gear, and the title to a Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D (her prints are on the ownership papers) Unfortunately all attempts to get in contact with what Karen remembers of her chain of command have either gone unanswered, or rejected as the person placing the call (Karen) was reported and confirmed KIA and she must be an imposter. 

With few options open to her presently, and selling of the 'hawk unthinkable as a means of raising the funds to travel to Arc Royal to report in person to clear up the issue with her codex. she will have to resort to shudder working, to raise the funds to get her 'mech and herself to Arc Royal. 

How to accomplish this?  only time will tell.

the Mech could potentially be swapped out for a phoenix hawk or similar LAM

[guardiandashi]

another char I made for a campaign on the forums intent was noble tech, /lam pilot

Name: Karen Foxfire
Callsign:
DOB: 08-17-3008 (in mm/dd/year)
Unit assignment NA
vehicle/mech NA
AGE 25
Nationality Federated Suns
Ethnic Background Caucasian
height 5'11"
Weight 140 lbs
hair Red
eyes blue
major identifying marks: western style gold colored dragon tatoo breathing fire that appears to be the davion sunburst tatoo on her left bicep

atow char sheet
str 3
bod 4
RFl 5
Dex 4
int 5
wil 4
cha 6
edge 2
Traits personal
Natural aptitude Strategy
Connections (+3)
equipped +6 E/E/E
enemy lvl 3
enemy lvl 2
enemy lvl 1
glass jaw
reputation level +2
wealth level +9
extra income level 2 (500 cb/month)
compulsion hate Capellan Confederation -2
Fit +2
Rank 400 (+4)
fast learner +3 (active)
Skills
protocol federated suns  level 5
fed suns history 1
language spanish1
language english (native) 3
language german 1
language russian 1
administration 1
appraisal 2
art painting 0
interest star league 1
interest military history 3
leadership 4
martial arts 3
medtech 3
melee weapons 2
running 1
perception 2
small arms 4
strategy 1
swimming 2
computers 2
career soldier 3
career technician 2
tech electronics 3
tech mechanical 2
tech nuclear 4
tech weapons 2
tech jet 2
tech myomer 2
tech aeronautics 2 54 of 64 xp
zero g operations 2
pilot aerospace 2 (6)
gunnery aerospace 2 (6)
pilot mech 2 (6)
gunnery mech 3 (5)
navigation air 1
navigation ground 2
navigation space 1
sensor operation 2
tactics space 1
tactics land 1
training 2

gear:
Pulse laser pistol, 10 high cap power packs equipped with laser sight and flash suppressor hip holster
vibro katana 2 power packs
vibroblade 1 power pack
vibroblade with crest, 1 power pack
gyrojet pistol, 10 clips of ammo, shoulder holster
ablative flack suit
set of fed suns std armor kit plus abl/flack pants
cooling vest,
load bearing equipment vest
SLDF combat neural helmet
plasteel boots
Full aerospace pilot kit, (combat flight suit, pilots neuralhelmet, flight gloves, boots
Engineers helmet, engineers suit
~5000 cbills worth of non uniform clothing
snow suit
parka
heat suit
light environmental suit
military communicator
Descartes mk xxi
compad
note puter
personal computer
engineers portable console
verigraph scanner/reader
portable holoprojector
personal music set
rangefinder binoculars
support ppc power pack (holds 1500 power points) she thought it was a good idea for powering tools
the manpack ppc was too high of availability code or I would have picked up one and the waldo/light exoskeleton to make it single user usable
heavy duty recharger
solar recharger
Tool kits
deluxe tool kit
aerospace repair kit
cutting /joining kit
electronics repair kit (2) mech and fighter optimized
fission/fusion repair kit
myomer/actuator repair kit
weapon repair kit
personal weapons kits
energy weapon kit
slug thrower kit
hand held laser torch
75 sq meters of radiation sheeting
advanced field kit
advanced medical kit
10 medical kits
Medipack
NOTE all extremely rare equipment, availability D or higher, or valuable ~500 cbills or more in value is equipped to be locked up with magnetic, and or reinforced magnetic locks
example the entire shipping crate of gear is equipped with reinforced and alarmed magnetic locks. the neural helmet, flight suit, and weapons cases are similar, the tool kits are only secured with magnetic locks as the tools while valuable are mostly not that hard to replace (other than things like the nuclear repair kit)

[StuartYee]

Good stuff Guardiandashi!

I like Karen Wolf's back story. Intriguing. I'd want to know more.

[guardiandashi]

Good stuff Guardiandashi!

I like Karen Wolf's back story. Intriguing. I'd want to know more.

well the campaign was to be in or slightly after the jahad timeline so my thought and explanation for her to have a LAM was essentially she was fighting and punched out, then was captured by WOB forces, and they cross trained her as an aerospace/LAM pilot, and then something happened to break her out of their conditioning....

[StuartYee]

Okay, I think at the "Thug Level" (1600 - 2500 XP) I'd include the following:

Blue Collar Civilian:   Uneducated bystander, not likely to fight, but can be provoked
Clan Infantry Trooper (Green):   Considered a warrior…barely
Clan Laborer:   Big, strong and dopey
Clan Solhama Mechwarrior:    A Has-been
Clan Tanker   
Country Bumpkin:   Probably grew up in a barn. Might pick a fight or buy you a drink
Cowardly Technician:    Awkward in social situations and useless in combat
Desk Jockey:   White collar office worker. Usually a bystander
Disposesed Mechwarrior (Green):   Had a mech, now bitter and desperate
Dropship Crewman   
Feral Kid:   Tough brat
Guerilla Infantry Trooper (Green):   Idealistic planetary local with a rifle
House Infantry Trooper (Green):   Grunt with a rifle, in a House army
House Mechwarrior (Green):   Fresh out of the academy
House Tanker   
House VTOL Pilot (Green)   
Jumpship Crewman   
Mean Bar Drunk:   Drunk, and looking for trouble
Mech Bunny:   If you have a mech, she has a thing for you
Mercenary Infantry Trooper (Green):   Grunt with a rifle
Mercenary Mechwarrior (Green):   Run of the mill mechwarrior
Mercenary Tanker   
Mercenary VTOL Pilot (Green)   
Organized Crime Thug:   Hired to break bones, but not to think
Ornery Local:   Doesn't welcome off worlders and easily provoked
Ornery Technician:   Backs up mechwarrior in a fight
Pick Pocket:   Will try to run if caught in the act. Unlikely to put up a fight if cornered
Private Security Guard:   Rent-a-cop
Soulless Bureaucrat:   Working ten years in a government bureaucracy will do this to anyone
Street Ruffian:   Petty crook late at night in a dark alley
Street Urchin:   Kid without parents or a home
Sycophant   : A minor noble's yes man

The idea behind these NPCs is that they're pretty generic. In combat situations, they're balanced roughly by XP 2 - 4 of these guys per PC. Some of these NPCs aren't meant for combat encounters, but can be a hinderance (or blessing) in other ways.

At some point, I'll establish a list for "Soldier", "Boss" and "Savant" classifications. Eventually I'll put together stats for reference as well.

[idea weenie]

Very nice collection so far, I'd like to keep this thread handy.

[trboturtle]

http://thebattletechstate.blogspot.com/search/label/AToW%20Character

A trio of AToW characters....

Craig

[StuartYee]

http://thebattletechstate.blogspot.com/search/label/AToW%20Character

A trio of AToW characters....

Craig

Cool stuff!

[StuartYee]

Here's an example of an entry in said book. The formatting may not be perfect, but I'm willing to improve that if CGL is willing to give me a salary.

[StuartYee]

Here's a few more:

Guerrilla Infantry Trooper (Green)
Guerrilla Infantry Trooper (Regular)
Guerrilla Infantry Trooper (Anti-Mech)

In combination with the Squad Record Sheet in ATOW, a GM can mix an match these templates to create a guerrilla squad. They wouldn't be named characters per se, mainly stats for a personal or tactical scale OpForce.

Input welcome! O0

[hive_angel]

I like the Street Ruffian this is perfect street scum indeed.

[Nodachi]

I like, gonna use these in a game I'm currently running. Thanks.

[StuartYee]

Thanks guys, here's a few more...

Blue Collar Civillian
Desk Jockey
Mean Bar Drunk

[StuartYee]

Alright!

So I'm going to slowly and gradually build up my "book" of thug level NPC "Monsters" and move on to soldiers and savants, and bosses.

Let me know:
*You have a request for an NPC type I haven't uploaded
*You've used one of my templates and have feedback for improvement (or kudos)

Thanks!

[Col Toda]

You missed things like Judicial warrior or champion .  Think of a warrior that would eat a clan elemental for breakfast that would kick ass in a circle of equals in a martial arts or melee contest for a trail of possession in which you get the most out of the least resources risked .   This is also permits things like trail by combat with judicial champion etc .

[StuartYee]

You missed things like Judicial warrior or champion .  Think of a warrior that would eat a clan elemental for breakfast that would kick ass in a circle of equals in a martial arts or melee contest for a trail of possession in which you get the most out of the least resources risked .   This is also permits things like trail by combat with judicial champion etc .

A) You're right, I did forget that, but....

B) This current list are really "Thug" level encounters, NPCs that are balance roughly at 4 for every 1 PC. I'd imagine a Judicial Champion would be either a "Soldier" or "Boss" level.