Currently I live in Eastern Canada where the timezone is -4 UTC.
I am looking for at least one, but preferably two players (backups are always welcome) that would be willing to record sessions on their end for later Youtube uploading so that we might share our adventures. Although videos would not come out until perhaps even several months later since I would like to develop a bank of them so they could be uploaded on a more regular schedule. This won't be a full scale production affair but geared towards low budget with an emphasis on fun and community involvement. Videos probably would not be edited unless someone wishes to do so or provide an "opening"/"closing" for us. The GM cannot record as it might give away information or plot lines while managing events. The GM would also act as all OpFor (and some friendly NPC's) in any conflicts involving non-infantry units fought via MegaMek, but might allow for special community guests. Other "combat" involving individuals outside of vehicles would just be story driven with a few maps ideally available for visual appeal.
The plan is to start slow (low commitment), have perhaps one to three sessions a month of no more than 2-3 hours maximum with rather short missions (contracts) to work out any wrinkles, make sure connections and recording is working, flesh out likes/dislikes, allow the GM time for map making / story creation, and work together to solve any glitches and speed up play-ability. This would not of course include any commitment in terms of correspondence times between the GM and players about their wishes, goals, etc. This would be more of a prequel or prelude period before starting more in earnest and more in-depth contracts and story lines. "A Tutorial Period."
Just like "Death From Above" I am considering making the RPG "perma-death" to elicit more emotion and team spirit out of the player base and to allow for "new blood" who apply to be brought in to make this a potentially community active event. That said even, "the dead" can come back as a guest now and then (as an OpFor character) but everyone gets one shot at the mercenary billets once the training wheels are off. The GM will not be "out to get you" and gunning for only this or that person, but will be striving to make realistic battle scenarios and story lines with conditions that from time to time can put the players in real extremely serious situations that they have to make decisions on when to cut an run. Life isn't all "happy endings' and mission ideas will be generated sometimes using real events, thus no win scenarios are a potential thing, but an "out" will always be present, just maybe not immediately noticeably. Use caution and brains, prancing through a minefield for example won't let you live very long.
I won't give my opinion on Dark Age here, I will try to stay neutral, and am open to addressing all eras, but I will at least say given this RPG aims to show a timely progression of sorts a later starting point isn't the best option here as it leaves less room for growth, likewise too early doesn't allow for as much connection with the main BattleTech story arcs we all know and love.
I will add a poll to my original post, so please pick your preferred era.
I am planning for an initial player base of perhaps 4-6, with a max of 8 in case we get dropouts or folks that cannot commit. Webcams are not necessary, and probably won't be used, but we must be able to talk, so arranging a Discord or Team Speak 3 channel means a mic is mandatory.
Eventually I will begin PMing individuals to give them access to an excel spreadsheet for character creation applications, if you posted your name here as interested and don't get a PM right away don't panic, and if you get to create a character but aren't chosen first thing don't panic, I intend to expand operations a little moving forward and with character deaths inevitable I will be happy to have a number of character "resumes" on file. I will be going back to this thread often moving forward and contacting others over time.
Likewise I will be going over any character applications to check against AToW rules and will keep an open mind, but someone inevitably will be a lance leader. The merc unit has already been mostly flushed out with an NPC supporting cast and is just looking to hire the player base.
Poll
