Roleplaying in 3085/the Dark Age?

[Nav_Alpha]

Anyone done it?

I've been captivated by the 3130s Dark Age for awhile now and have really enjoyed pitting modified Industrialmechs against each other on MegaMek, etc but I'm yet to actually get much RP'ing in the era done.

I've also considered running a campaign set during the early Republic years - 3085 onwards, etc. But my problem with this is that pcs would either be veterans of the Jihad (and probably very experienced) or straight out of training greenhorns.

The fall of the HPG is perfect RP'ing fodder and would be great fun though.

So has anyone done it? share your stories.

I'd love to hear ideas and examples. I'm thinking of pitching it to a group who are pretty much unfamiliar with Battletech and I think it could be a good intro to the universe.

[Paint it Pink]

I'm running a campaign set around 3132 events leading up to the invasion of the FWL by Lyran forces. My players are currently hunting down pirates in the Periphery and finding themselves caught in a very uncivil civil war for their trouble.

The campaign is Operation Sandbox, and they are currently in the first part called the Mummerset campaign. The link below here unfortunately takes you to the newest/latest post, but if you scroll down you will find the beginning of the accounts.

http://panther6actual.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Operation%20Sandbox

The RPG aspect is what I would call RPG light i.e: players are involved in role-playing the military aspects of operations that occur between battles, with only a little character driven as it arises. For instance one of my players, Susan, has a coffee machine in the cockpit of her Scorpion battlemech, which is her character's pride and joy.

[Nav_Alpha]

hey paint it pink, believe it or not - but i've been a fan of your blog for some time now. I enjoy the Operation Sandbox campaign.

Sandbox looks like a lot of fun.
I am keen to team actual RP'ing with big stompy robot action though - generating players in, what i think, is a really rich era for roleplaying

[Atlas3060]

My group has been thinking about the RPG, but scheduling and such have stopped us.
I want to use the rules from FM:3085 as a launch point for a game Pre-Dark Age and then naturally bring the characters into it.

[Nav_Alpha]

My group has been thinking about the RPG, but scheduling and such have stopped us.
I want to use the rules from FM:3085 as a launch point for a game Pre-Dark Age and then naturally bring the characters into it.

I've been thinking something similar: introduce the pcs to the setting and planet x. And the drop the HPG dark age on them as a plot point

[E. Icaza]

I did a DA game briefly before the group drifted apart.  We got three sessions in, with the HPG network going dark at the end of the second one.  I was overall pretty pleased with my characters, since there was a lot of intrigue and politicking going on.  My group consisted of:  a young, very much pro-Republic Mechwarrior, her older sister who was a business woman with several dark secrets, a ComStar diplomat and (originally) a BA trooper.  The BA trooper got killed in the third session and his replacement character concept was "Paris Hilton in the 32nd century...except from the Draconis Combine".

Only one player had read anything about DA (the Mechwarrior) and one other had at least a passing familiarity with the universe (the ComStar diplomat).

[Nav_Alpha]

I did a DA game briefly before the group drifted apart.  We got three sessions in, with the HPG network going dark at the end of the second one.  I was overall pretty pleased with my characters, since there was a lot of intrigue and politicking going on.  My group consisted of:  a young, very much pro-Republic Mechwarrior, her older sister who was a business woman with several dark secrets, a ComStar diplomat and (originally) a BA trooper.  The BA trooper got killed in the third session and his replacement character concept was "Paris Hilton in the 32nd century...except from the Draconis Combine".

Only one player had read anything about DA (the Mechwarrior) and one other had at least a passing familiarity with the universe (the ComStar diplomat).

That was the campaign on Acmar, right? I saw your merc unit in the non-canon area. Loved the story behind it.

Yep. I'm keen to do something similar.

I'm thinking post-Blackout panic, terrorist/insurgent groups, off-world mercs, pcs forced to try and save the planet, etc.

Any suggestions?

[E. Icaza]

Aff and thanks for the praise!

My only suggestion is appropriate to any game:  No plan survives contact with the PCs.  My original campaign idea was much more shooty and a lot less diplomacy.  My PCs preferred the diplomacy and intrigue route more, so I had to make a few adjustments.

[Nav_Alpha]

Aff and thanks for the praise!

My only suggestion is appropriate to any game:  No plan survives contact with the PCs.  My original campaign idea was much more shooty and a lot less diplomacy.  My PCs preferred the diplomacy and intrigue route more, so I had to make a few adjustments.

No thank you! Really loved the feel of the campaign. I'd love to run something as good.

I know what you mean about "no plan surviving" the players. I've had groups do just about everything except what I figured they would.
(Last week my regular DnD group decided that getting revenge on a low key crime boss who had slighted them and then taking over his gambling, drugs and prostitution racket was the best course of action - despite a brewing civil war they were supposed to be stopping!)

[Nav_Alpha]

just to keep this going - has anyone used FM: 3085 to role up characters? If so - what did you have them doing in the 3085 era?
Were they hunting Wobbie war criminals? The first Errant Force? Shady mercs trying to escape justice for maybe serving on the wrong side of the war?

[Nav_Alpha]

After throwing some ideas around, I thought up the following ideas for some 3085 or Dark Age RP'ing.
What does everyone think?

- Bannson's Raiders special forces/corporate espionage unit (Dark Age)

- CapCon "false flag" company raiding across the border (3085era)

- knight errant tasked with calming fears post blackout

- RAF units hunting Wobbies after the Jihad

- Mercs fighting in the disputed zone between DC/Fed Suns (either time period)

- RoTS militia unit bravely facing down an invasion, abandoned by the rest of the Prefecture (or the merc hired in to help the militia) (dark age)

- RoTS militia unit that goes rogue and forms the nucleus of one of Dark Age's many splinter factions

what does everyone think?

[Dread Moores]

- Bannson's Raiders special forces/corporate espionage unit (Dark Age)

- RoTS militia unit that goes rogue and forms the nucleus of one of Dark Age's many splinter factions

Those two would get my vote. I love the possibilities offered up by Bannson.

[Nav_Alpha]

Those two would get my vote. I love the possibilities offered up by Bannson.

The idea of an SF team carrying out corporate sabotage/spying etc has a very Shadowrun feel to it. Good fun

the other one would be interesting too - it would depend on the unit/planet/faction. I can see a lot of former DC world garrisons deciding to go rogue or take over their own planet in the name of Kurita of the Dragon's Fury.
thoughts?

[Dread Moores]

the other one would be interesting too - it would depend on the unit/planet/faction. I can see a lot of former DC world garrisons deciding to go rogue or take over their own planet in the name of Kurita of the Dragon's Fury.
thoughts?

Honestly, that could be just about anybody. Stormhammers, Swordsworn, Dragon's Fury, or even Thaddeus Marik and his forces after the Fortress goes up.

[Dragon Cat]

I personally would prefer the militia one numerous reasons:

It covers abandonment which is a key feeling of the DA the highers ups have abandoned your home what do you do

Protect Stone's ideals?  Hold out until the Republic comes back? Look for mercs? Talk to the splinter factions?

Lots of outwardly problems but then you have the internal ones too

Population worry/unrest, entrepreneurs looking to take advantage, political figures blaming current leaders of planet of their troubles

It also limits the moving early on which is a nice way to 'ground' the campaign and build up the story

[Nav_Alpha]

My suggestion would be somewhere in the mix:

- small planetary militia, left to fend for itself. Faces down internal unrest, mass panic, growing insurgency and even a raid

- knight errant tasked with calming things down. But it's one man/woman faced with doing everything

- faced with few prospects, maybe weigh up the options of inviting in a splinter faction/foreign power

[Nodachi]

I had an idea for a game set on one of the republic worlds when the HPGs go dark and have it be a micro-cosm of what is happening in the rest of the IS. More or less a planetary civil war the PCs get drug into that has roots all the way back to when the planet was colonized. And I was going to set it up so I could be able to use just about any type of vechicle I felt like. Mechs, vees, ASFs, BA, ships, blue and blackwater.

[E. Icaza]

Playing up the feeling of paranoia and uncertainty is key to the feel of the early DA, IMO.  Once the PCs in my game realized they were on their own, every JumpShip that came in system was either a potential pipeline to the outside, a hostile invader taking advantage of the chaos or both!  Add to that some political and corporate rivalries and intrigue and you've got the makings for a great campaign.