So I have been generating some mechwarriors for my MegaMek games and like to have a little fluff behind them so that when Joe Bob gets blasted out of his Commando I don't just say, oops, should have had that extra +1 mod, rinse him out of the cockpit and hire a new one.
I am not using the standard ATOW rules as they are a bit cumbersome for what I need so I have been using the MW 3rd Edition Life-paths. Here are two examples:
Seo-Young Hwang "Jasmine"
Circinus Federation
LP1: Farm
Event: Most successful farm on the planet
LP2: High School
Event: Local sports hero
LP3-1: Military Enlistment
Event: Training stand out
LP3-2: AIT (Mechwarrior)
Event: None
LP4-1: Tour of Duty - Inner Sphere
Event: Promotion
LP4-2: Tour of Duty - Inner Sphere
Event: Raiding Missions
LP4-3: Tour of Duty - Inner Sphere
Event: Raiding Missions
Event: Promotion
Rolled skills on generation were:
PS: 3
GS: 2
Small Arms: 5
Tactics: +1
Leadership: +2
Melee Specialist
Iron Man
I have left out all of the bonuses and other effects of the events but here is the personnel file I created to go along with the rolls.
Originally from the Circinus Federation,Seo-Toung, was raised in a farming combine on Zorn's Keep. Her family was quite wealthy and controlled majority shares in many of the surrounding farms as well as holding the titles to some of the processing and shipping facilities on the planet. Her parents were not the rich aristocratic nobles so common in the Inner Sphere and ingraned a work ethic into their children from a young age and even participating in the day-to-day operations of the farms themselves. This ethic combined with her natural physical aptitude led Seo-Young to persue several sports in school and earned more accolades for the family and even early acceptance into military service. Once enlisted her natural aptitude shined again and she was selected for advanced training with the Black Warriors.
Her first garrison mission was rather uneventful but when given the task of working with some raw recruits she excelled and was rewarded with an early promotion to Lieutenant. This showed she was ready to lead other mechwarriors and she was immediately tasked with tracking and destroying several raiding pirate bands operating in Circinus space. One notable mission included "Jasmine" battering a pirate Warhammer with its own arm. While comical, it was not known at the time that the pilot of the Warhammer was the leader of the pirate raiding unit. Several more successful missions resulted in another promotion to Captain and her own company of Black Warriors. Her successful time in service and increasing noteriety made her a target for several "career" officers who made it their mission not only to discredit her but completely undermine her command.
Once the conspiracy was found and revealed to the command, another officer assisted in setting all of the records straight but even that was not enough. She asked for a discharge from her service, was given an ancient Shootist battlemech as a reward for her time as a Black Warrior and left the Circinus Federation to seek a life as a mercenary, forming the ...
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Domingo Rousseau "Raptor"
Draconis Combine
LP1: Street
Event: Hotwiring hovercars paid the bills
LP2: Street
Event: Powerful underworld mentor
LP3: Yakuza
Event: DCMS scouts discover natural aptitude (Ghost Regiment)
LP3: Tour of Duty - Inner Sphere
Event: Captured
PS: 3
GS: 1
Tactics: +1
Leadership: +1
Melee Specialist
Natural Aptitude: Piloting
Living on the streets in the Draconis Combine is a life few would ever survive but the natural skills that Domingo was born with carried him not only through the toughest places on Tok Do but also managed to get him noticed by a benevolent man with connections to the Yakuza. While the jobs were not always pleasant, nor were they always illegal his kyodai always taught him that to survive is trust in ones self above all else. He was accepted by few of the members of the group due to his name but once he had proven his loyalty they gradually warmed up to him fully brining him into the organization after the death of his kyodai.
Several years after the old man's passing he was working directly for the Yakuza and holding a steady job in one of the many facilities owned by Alshain Weapons running one of the loadermechs on the testing grounds. An unfortunate incident with one of the mechwarriors accidentally finding a knife in his throat gave him an opportunity to pilot a 'mech on an exercise. What he did not know was that the leader of the exercise was working with the DCMS to find new pilots for on of the Ghost Regiments that had been formed a few years before.
Domingo's natural aptitude and tenacity allowed him to be recruited and after training put him on a mission running rebel and bandits to ground. When a lucky shot from a soldier's SRM penetrated his armor and detonated an ammo bin he was forced to eject from his 'mech and was captured. Even though he managed to escape his disgrace at having been disabled and captured by infantry left a burning brand on his record that would ensure that he would never be in the DCMS again nor would his former Yakuza brothers accept him.
He took what savings he had left, called in a few favors and headed to Outreach to see if even he could find a unit there to call home.
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My methodology is to generate the pilot name, skills, and origin location and then roll for the LP1 value based on the origin. Once that it selected I chose the next path based on the logical steps and roll events as directed by the tables. Since I am running pre-Clan Invasion those options are all off of the table. I try to keep the fluff with the info presented on the rolls but creating specific types of characters especially mechwarriors has few actual paths to get them in the cockpit.
Would anyone want to help generate characters based on these? I will post the generation rolls and their outcomes and any that end up posted can be freely used by whomever. I figure with the breadth of players and their specific faction knowledge here the back stories would be that much better than the general knowledge I have of all of the factions.
BTW anyone who knows more about the DC feel free to make that one more believable as I have never been much of a Kurita player...