Mechwarrior 2nd Editon/Mechwarrior 3rd Edtion

[tcabril]

Odd question but not sure where to put this....

Does anyone here still play Mechwarrior 2nd Edition or Mechwarrior 3rd Edition (AKA Classic Battletech RPG)?
The reason I ask is that I am having a difficult time selling the idea of ATOW as an RPG for my potential players.  Don't get me wrong I like ATOW once you get beyond character creation its a pretty decent game.
However, and not sure where the resistance is coming from, my players and a no go for ATOW but will play Mechwarrior 2nd Edition.
I look at MW3 as a dry run for ATOW as it has similar character development elements but I think what is attractive about MW2 is the Shadowrun-like character development.

I am just looking to be able to ask someone some questions I may have and thought I could PM them.

Any help is appreciated!
Todd

[Atlas3060]

There have been earlier threads discussing preferrences in earlier versions.
Even one asking the differences between 1st and 2nd Edition in this day and age.
So the question is not that rare here.

The common answer back for AToW for some is, if you like MW2e then character points creation for AToW might be more useful than life modules.

Hopefully some of the usernames in those earlier threads might assist you.

[guardiandashi]

I haven't played in a while, but in many ways you can look at ATOW as an expanded MechWarrior 2nd edition.

the big difference is in mw 2nd edition you set your priorities (what aspects of the char are important to you) then build the char based on that.

ATOW seems really complicated, but in a way its really unified flexible priorities as far as char creation (everything comes from the same points pool) and a larger set of options at each aspect of char creation. Without the really excessive in many ways nitpicking detail of mw 3rd edition.  do we really need a separate skill for mech gunnery laser, missile, and ballistic?  we can still do specializations if we really want to.

one possibility which would involve more work as the GM would be to have the players make their chars in MW 2nd edition then convert them to ATOW (likely with some player input) and go from there.

[Atlas3060]

one possibility which would involve more work as the GM would be to have the players make their chars in MW 2nd edition then convert them to ATOW (likely with some player input) and go from there.

Which if they want to do, the AToW Companion literally has a chapter on how to convert MW1,2,3 editions to AToW.

[Daryk]

When I ran my last game here, I basically asked the players what they wanted in general terms, then did all the spreadsheet work myself.  I gave them a cut after my first shot, and nailed it down from there.

[Tslammer]

MW2 had a few problems. First off you need to prioritize attributes. All of the sample characters had attributes as their first or second choice. Raising attributes post creation  was expensive. ATOW seems to have a better balance between skills, attributes and traits.

My group has made attributes more important in our ATOW and this still holds true.

The key difference is with out of mech weapons and barrier damage. MW2 has none of that the damage and armor systems are much simpler. ATOW as written is very deadly out of mech. We use one of the heroic options to add more survival.

[jackson123]

Currently running game with 2nd edition rules, easiest to run.

[Mech Salvager]

I’m running a weekly 2nd edition MechWarrior game (Over skype though, not in person). My players seemed to have a pretty easy time grasping the rules. 2nd edition does have its problems though if one runs it from the base book, like a few errors and omissions here and there (What skill is used for grenade throwing, and what skill does one use to deceive people?). The MechWarrior Companion book does a lot to help with this, and is an almost invaluable tool in that regard.   What I like about the system though, is that it’s relatively simple, and easy to get going with. The archetypes are nice for making NPC’s quickly too. Mind that the personal combat of 2nd edition can quickly get deadly, especially if MechWarriors go up again professional infantry.

[Hellraiser]

Probably my favorite thing w/ MW2E was the quick fast chargen.

It was GREAT for creating NPCs or pick up characters.

So much so that I would use it for NPCs that were actually for MW1E campaign.

We used it as the base for a Clan Invasion campaign where it was mostly BT games but had the MW2E characters made up for when we actually did some out of the mech RP parts which was rare.

MW3E depended entirely too much on luck of the lifepath rolls IMHO, but I like using the Lifepaths to give key boss NPCs some history.  I also hated the split weapon skills, that was lame IMHO.  Would have been better to offer a specialization v/s making them separate skills to level up.

I have not done a ton of research on ATOW since I no longer have a RPG campaign for BT, just mech combat campaign.

[Carbon Elasmobranch]

Which if they want to do, the AToW Companion literally has a chapter on how to convert MW1,2,3 editions to AToW.

You'll need to convert Attributes to a MW1 equivalent first (using the conversion rules listed in MW2), though, because the MW2 conversion chart in the Time of War Companion is based off of a couple of erroneous assumptions noted in the text of the conversion rules.  It listed 4 as the average value when that was 3, and also listed the maximum value as 9, which is impossible, on account of Clan phenotypes not being able to get the Exceptional Attribute advantage in MW2.  Pilots were the only way to get an 8 in an Attribute (and only one, Reflexes), so a 9 is a no go.