GMing for folk new to BattleTech/Character Creation Quiz

[cmerwin]

Hi all,

Very soon I am going to be starting a new ToW campaign with some players who have no background in anything about BattleTech or MechWarrior. No computer games, no tabletop, the brand name is totally new to them. That said, they _do_ have lots of background in rpgs in general (esp. D&D and Traveller) and in sci-fi. The idea of the lore excites them and they are eager to learn about the universe.

I made up a little "quiz" for during character generation to help them both get a sense of the scope and scale and introduce them to some of the ideas.

The feedback I would love from folk is: what have I missed? What should I consider changing? What should I consider adding? Especially from the "Where I grew up" section.

Note: because of the type of campaign I plan on running, I haven't listed any of the major Periphery powers because I don't want them to be from that neck of the woods for storytelling purposes. I also took some minor liberties with the mottos.

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts and suggestions!

[Daryk]

You forgot the police state backing up the socialism in the Confederation.  And your Periphery motto would be more amusing as "Hippity hoppity, get off my property!" (bonus points if you can say it in Tex's voice)... ;D

There also seems to be quite the gap in city sizes between 100,000 and 8-10 million...

[cmerwin]

You forgot the police state backing up the socialism in the Confederation.  And your Periphery motto would be more amusing as "Hippity hoppity, get off my property!" (bonus points if you can say it in Tex's voice)... ;D

There also seems to be quite the gap in city sizes between 100,000 and 8-10 million...

Heh. Yeah, in my own brain that's actually how I said it! That and "Get bent, weirdo!"

Thanks for the suggestion, much appreciated. I've been thinking a lot about the population thing, tbh. Even asked a good friend who is an architect what he would envision. Except for Hegemony/early space-flight planets, it's actually hard to imagine cities less than that size. I cruised around on Sarna trying to wrack my brain for cities in the low millions. Do you have any in mind? Planets in the Crucis March?

[cmerwin]

There also seems to be quite the gap in city sizes between 100,000 and 8-10 million...

How does this sound?: "You grew up in one of the first centers of humanity's expansion into the stars. It's not Terra, nor one of the state capitals, but it's large enough (1 million+) and old enough to be on every starchart of every jumpship captain around. You come from a long heritage with the history to prove it."

[Daryk]

That sounds pretty good... really, cities with low millions should be very common for most planets in the interior of any Successor State.

[cmerwin]

That sounds pretty good... really, cities with low millions should be very common for most planets in the interior of any Successor State.

Thanks a lot for this. I've added that and an option for having grown up as military brats on a military installation (mercenary or Great House). Hopefully these little quizes will help them ease into the Universe. Plus with the Universe book coming out, they will have something big and pretty to flip through! 

[Daryk]

Fitting characters into the universe is why I LOVE the Life Path system. :)

[cmerwin]

Fitting characters into the universe is why I LOVE the Life Path system. :)

Yeah, I love the versatility of it, it's just the math. So....much....math....I really wish there was a quicker way. I tried creating my own Draconis Combine/Clan Abtakha character recently and it took me hours of head scratching.

[Daryk]

I built a spreadsheet to help with that... it's linked in my sig block... :)

[cmerwin]

I built a spreadsheet to help with that... it's linked in my sig block... :)

That spreadsheet is intense, and amazing! It also helped me realize some mistakes I've been making in chargen. Thanks for mentioning it!

[Daryk]

You're more than welcome!  If you have any questions, just let me know... :)

[Minchandre]

Hi all,

Very soon I am going to be starting a new ToW campaign with some players who have no background in anything about BattleTech or MechWarrior. No computer games, no tabletop, the brand name is totally new to them. That said, they _do_ have lots of background in rpgs in general (esp. D&D and Traveller) and in sci-fi. The idea of the lore excites them and they are eager to learn about the universe.

I made up a little "quiz" for during character generation to help them both get a sense of the scope and scale and introduce them to some of the ideas.

The feedback I would love from folk is: what have I missed? What should I consider changing? What should I consider adding? Especially from the "Where I grew up" section.

Note: because of the type of campaign I plan on running, I haven't listed any of the major Periphery powers because I don't want them to be from that neck of the woods for storytelling purposes. I also took some minor liberties with the mottos.

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts and suggestions!

One problem is that you make the FedSuns sound too good to most modern people from liberal democracies with developed economies. Emphasize the militarism more, and the feudalism (especially since you mentioned it for the LyrCom).

I also offer the following hometown:

You grew up in an average city on an average world. Your parents rode horses to work, talking on their mobile phones the entire way. You saw off-planet merchants often enough that they weren't remarkable, but seldom enough that they were exciting. People know the name of your homeworld, but can't locate it on a map.

...Or similar.

[cmerwin]

One problem is that you make the FedSuns sound too good to most modern people from liberal democracies with developed economies. Emphasize the militarism more, and the feudalism (especially since you mentioned it for the LyrCom).

I also offer the following hometown:

...Or similar.

Thanks! I had a similar feeling about the FedSuns and was worried I was making it sound too good. How's this:

"A centuries old parliamentary monarchy which believes in liberty, personal freedom, education, equality before the law, and philosophical and moral idealism. Strongly aristocratic, with deep military and cultural pride, while the nobility hold power at every level from planetary down to local, the rights of citizens are protected under the constitution. Motto: “By Freedom’s Sword.”

Thanks for the hometown description! Love it! It's really had me wondering what an averaged sized city in the Inner Sphere looks like.

[Minchandre]

Thanks! I had a similar feeling about the FedSuns and was worried I was making it sound too good. How's this:

"A centuries old parliamentary monarchy which believes in liberty, personal freedom, education, equality before the law, and philosophical and moral idealism. Strongly aristocratic, with deep military and cultural pride, while the nobility hold power at every level from planetary down to local, the rights of citizens are protected under the constitution. Motto: “By Freedom’s Sword.”

Thanks for the hometown description! Love it! It's really had me wondering what an averaged sized city in the Inner Sphere looks like.

Much better, in my opinion.

And thank you.