Author Topic: Some help for a campaign idea?  (Read 2174 times)

Carcosa

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Some help for a campaign idea?
« on: 05 April 2013, 23:34:13 »
Well I was thinking of running a mixed roleplaying/ miniatures campaign. I figure the players will most likely be mech warriors or aerospace fighters so that they can play on the board as well as roleplay. The problem I am facing is how to incorporate a lot of roleplaying into a campaign that is highly military. I was thinking of having the group also be ground non mechwarrior commandos for intelligence missions and whatnot as well so I could run some action off the board, but like I said, I am trying to think of how some good roleplaying ideas would fit into this. Maybe when they are not in mech combat they could go into towns and interact with locals (they would be a merc group). Some good plot devices would help. Any ideas you have, even from your own campaigns would be useful. Thanks ahead of time!!

Edit: The year would be 3045 and I was thinking of jumping the campaign through the timeline up to the year 3080 by the end of the campaign
« Last Edit: 05 April 2013, 23:46:34 by Carcosa »

Labyr

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #1 on: 06 April 2013, 00:27:07 »
Having mech drivers also being commandos can work, I'm not sure many militaries would want to risk valuable mechwarrior doing jobs that a ground pounder could do though. You need an enemy that you can fight in your mechs and an enemy outside of your mechs, but those don't have to be the same.

Say the PCs are part of a secret military intelligence/police unit that gets posted to units that have questionable loyalty, or are suspected for having a traitor/selling contraband/or similar. At base the PCs will have to do lots of investigating, maybe some fist fights break out or a shoot out if the bad guys are really bad. But until the PCs have caught their culprit they'll be fighting shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the unit they're embedded in, which is another opportunity to raise tension. Include the rules where missed shots can potentially hit allies, that should really ratchet up some tension!

I think this set up should be able to work with any successor state, as long as their is internal turmoil and dissent. I think probably the FC would be easiest. Even before the Civil War breaks out there are a lot of story hooks that can foreshadow it.  It would be harder to pull off as a mercenary unit or Comstar, but a similar campaign could still work.

Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #2 on: 06 April 2013, 10:29:58 »
Something that tends to be a universal roleplaying campaign trueism is to Start Small.

If you want to run a game where the players are mechwarriors (and posisbly Aerojocks) a great idea is to set the game around an Air Lance and its dedicated transport, a Leopard-class dropship.  The unit is small enough to all be involved in whatever caper is afoot.

Whether they're merc or house, it's easy as you want it to be to expand their empire into a larger unit as their characters develop into leaders.. a natural next step is to hire/assign more warriors to the party's unit so that each player has opportunity to command a lance.

Kyone Akashi

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #3 on: 20 April 2013, 15:28:12 »
Having mech drivers also being commandos can work, I'm not sure many militaries would want to risk valuable mechwarrior doing jobs that a ground pounder could do though.
If one doesn't mind going that high/elite, there's the DEST Commandos who are basically DCMS MechWarriors doing black ops for the Combine's intelligence agency. Given the many political schemes and enmities I could imagine some interesting missions both inside and outside the cockpit. I believe the Cappies have something similar in their Death Commandos?

The obvious downside being that it's a rather high point to start with (as Tai Dai Cultist said, humble origins tend to be more fun), and that the characters would have to be somewhat indoctrinated in order to having been picked for such a role. That doesn't mean they'd have to be automatons, but the players should be aware that it'd require extraordinary circumstances for them to do something like insubordination.

Ultimately, I think a ragtag mercenary company might be best-suited for your plans. Most of their missions would be 'Mech-based, but depending on how you design the campaign the characters could get entangled in all sorts of trouble even when "on foot", ranging from butting heads with locals to doubling as infiltrators in order to deal with circumstances where a BattleMech would be of little use. For example securing a mission objective inside a building. Proper merc units have their own infantry formations for such jobs, but when your team is too small to afford such backup or simply just started out and does not yet have recruited some ground hoggers, then they'd have to make do with themselves.

You could also set the campaign in the Dark Age, which might help in that the DA sees a decline of technology and war materiel, meaning that (a) military units are smaller and (b) less well equipped, making it easier for a bunch of mercs to pull off some crazy stunts simply because they face less opposition/resistance, not to mention that you could tweak their 'Mechs efficiency (and thus the likelyhood of the players to use them) by keeping them low on ammunition and other critical resources, having them save up this stuff for when they absolutely need it.
« Last Edit: 20 April 2013, 15:29:56 by Kyone Akashi »
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Maelwys

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #4 on: 20 April 2013, 15:34:55 »
Actually, the technology didn't really decline. The amount of it did somewhat, but you're still seeing advanced technology left and right. Everyone having Clantech is one example of this.
 Supplies for some of the factions might be limited, but not so much the technology.

Other than that, MWDA does offer some possibilities with smaller factions having to do a variety of things, rather than being a house unit only fighting major wars.

Kyone Akashi

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #5 on: 20 April 2013, 15:51:55 »
The amount, yes. I should've probably phased it differently.

At least for the Republic Prefectures, following the Jihad there was a widespread dismantling of BattleMechs and even BattleMech production facilities, resulting in military machines becoming less commonplace. As the fighting picks up again, lots of militias and even some (para-)military units are forced to refit civilian equipment for battle. In those days, it's not unusual to see a MiningMech that had its drill replaced with an AC10 duke it out with a ForestryMech that tries to get close enough to use its oversized chainsaw. This is also represented by any military gear having a huge cost increase as discussed in this thread.

And yeah, the Blackout and the confusion on Republic worlds offer tons of potential. In those days, anyone with a few 'Mechs can try to claim their own planet simply because the faction that owned it won't notice it was attacked until many weeks later. And given that a lot of other people and power groups might get the same idea, it's not unlikely that any response will be delayed even further simply because there's too many fires to put them out all at once. Between splinter factions such as the Dragon's Fury or the Swordsworn and corporate forces like Bannson's Raiders, there's a huge amount of chaos that could be exploited by clever people with some guts and military equipment. Or perhaps the players just want to protect their planet and thus try to defend it against groups such as the aforementioned ones. :)
« Last Edit: 20 April 2013, 15:56:46 by Kyone Akashi »
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Carcosa

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #6 on: 23 April 2013, 17:05:28 »
I'm starting the campaign off with a Battletech miniatures battle. The year is 3030 and they are garrisoned on the planet of Unzmarkt near Rasalhague working to free the Rasalhague republic. The Combine still has forces on Unamarkt but is pretty much held by the Lyrans. Does anyone have any information on the geography of this planet? Otherwise I will just make it up.

Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #7 on: 23 April 2013, 20:19:40 »
I'm starting the campaign off with a Battletech miniatures battle. The year is 3030 and they are garrisoned on the planet of Unzmarkt near Rasalhague working to free the Rasalhague republic. The Combine still has forces on Unamarkt but is pretty much held by the Lyrans. Does anyone have any information on the geography of this planet? Otherwise I will just make it up.

I rechecked the 4th SW Atlas, and it didn't go into any real detail on the planet. (Unspecified Steiner forces took it from unspecified Kurita defeners at an unspecified time prior to the Lull)

The Clan Wolf SB had a little more detail, but not by much.  Hopefully the CGL Game Police won't object if I quote the entire passage relevant to Unzmarkt, since there's not much there at all:

"Defending Forces: Unzmarkt Free Rebel Armored Division
Major Battle Sites: Hester-Kester Ford, Castle Rock
Outcome: The armored division of the Unzmarkt defenders staged an effective defense, particularly along the shores of the Hester-Kester waterway, where they had held back two Wolf Novas for three days.  A critical lack of discipline among the Unzmarkt soldiery, however, who view the military as a democracy, cost the defenders their planet.  It was not long before Wolf forces shattered the defenders' line and seized the capital city."

The House Kurita Atlas also doesn't seem to mention it, and neither does the HB:House Steiner.  Not sure where else there'd be any references to the planet, so what was in the Wolf Clan SB is possibly all that's ever been published.
« Last Edit: 23 April 2013, 20:21:12 by Tai Dai Cultist »

Coldwyn

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Re: Some help for a campaign idea?
« Reply #8 on: 24 April 2013, 03:52:16 »
Well I was thinking of running a mixed roleplaying/ miniatures campaign. I figure the players will most likely be mech warriors or aerospace fighters so that they can play on the board as well as roleplay. The problem I am facing is how to incorporate a lot of roleplaying into a campaign that is highly military. I was thinking of having the group also be ground non mechwarrior commandos for intelligence missions and whatnot as well so I could run some action off the board, but like I said, I am trying to think of how some good roleplaying ideas would fit into this. Maybe when they are not in mech combat they could go into towns and interact with locals (they would be a merc group). Some good plot devices would help. Any ideas you have, even from your own campaigns would be useful. Thanks ahead of time!!

Edit: The year would be 3045 and I was thinking of jumping the campaign through the timeline up to the year 3080 by the end of the campaign

Take a cue from Shadowrun or Leverage and treat all missions like a Heist/Run.
Tell your players straight that, if they don´t preperae and act, the missions will all be hard b/c their only intel will be gained in battle.
Make it clear that they have to:
- Handle tech/maintainance Rp and Rule-Wise
- Gather and maintain contacts to stay "in the know"
- Make secondary/tertiary mission objects only availlable thru RP

If you´re using the warchest system:
- Make Options only availlable thru RP
it´s not necessarily that i´m immoral of character, i just don´t take great stock in the morality of others, that´s all

 

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