Help me sell the setting/system in a campaign!

[Ockbald]

Hey there folks I'm new to the forum and the RPG game!

Some friends of mine never even heard of Battletech but I managed to get them to try a short campain. Though there's several things I want to do...i first want to make them fall in love for the setting.

What would be a good way to do so?

A pirate sandbox campaign?
A gladiator-like campaign?
A scenario based game?

I'm drawing blanks here...

[Taron Storm]

Try to get them playing in a mech free for all.  Everybody against everybody.  It's worked for me in the past.  If your group wants more rpg than mini action, a quick setup in a bar fight could get them going.

[Ockbald]

Try to get them playing in a mech free for all.  Everybody against everybody.  It's worked for me in the past.  If your group wants more rpg than mini action, a quick setup in a bar fight could get them going.

They are veteran RPG players so just throwing them into a setting in a Bar Brawl isn't really new ground nor makes light of what the setting can provide. I want to focus on mechs, but I want to focus on the RPG aspect of Mechwarriors.

[Nav_Alpha]

I think your "gladiator-like campaign" is the winner.
Have a look: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Solaris
I'd also recommend reading:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/MechWarrior%27s_Guide_to_Solaris_VII
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Warrior:_En_Garde
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Illusions_of_Victory

Solaris 7 is the perfect place for roleplay. The pcs don't even need to see the inside of a mech - the place is just made for awesome roleplay.
You've got:
- scheming stablemasters willing to set up pilots, cheat the odds and put on a good show
- mechwarriors who are more elite sportstars than soldiers. These are guys who have to be top gunners and pilots on the field but elegant, loquacious pin ups off the field. I can imagine gladiators who plaster their mechs and cooling vests with advertisements and branding
("Wanna be a champion like me? Buy Zooptil. Zooptil, for all your household cleaning needs") 
- beautiful nobles who like to party and plan on the Game World
- war refugees and orphans living in shanty towns, only a couple kilometres from the glitzy strip.
- warring gangs: Solaris is home to the Mafia, Triads and the Yakuza. All of which have major stakes in the gladiatorial games.

The best bit about the Game World is that characters are probably not from there, so they can have just about any background they want. And they don't need to be Mechwarriors: you need techs, computer hackers, "face" types, spies, bodyguards, accountants, groupies, celebrities, etc, etc.

Any era could be fun to from the Succession Wars mech battles to the post-Clan War with its new tech and even some Clanners and the Dark Age would be fantastic (take a look at http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Wolf_Hunters_%28novel%29) - there, mechs are rarer so they've opened the games up to all kinds of fun including infantry, tank and aerospace fighter matches

best of luck! Let us know what you decide and how you go

[Taron Storm]

The bar fight scenario is meant to introduce them to the mechanics of individual combat, and to showcase where skills, traits, and individual thinking can be displayed in the game.  It's great that you have veteran players, should make the intro period shorter and more fun.  The mech melee can showcase individual piloting and gunnery skills, tactics, and the difference in what type of mech being used.

[Atlas3060]

I would suggest scenarion based game with certain choices resulting in out of 'Mech action.
Did you kill off the enemy commanding officer in his 'Mech? No? Okay who has enough Intimidation and social skills to interrogate this person?
If you did manage to kill him make sure everyone is careful when leaving the base. I've heard that the commander's unit is willing to kidnap/kill anybody wearing your uniforms for revenge. Now who wants passes for time off base?

This way you can focus mostly on the 'Mech action, add in some RPG stuff if they want, and possibly paint up a 'villian' force for them to hunt down.

[RangerRob]

Solaris...

http://solarisseven.blogspot.com/

[Atlas3060]

RangerBob, I do like those rules for sponsors and stables. Those are some neat bonuses!

[Foolish Frost]

You want something different?  Try a merchant marine campaign!

Government owned merchant Dropship. 

Need medical supplies dropped into a warzone?  That's YOUR job!

Got to make sure the ambassadors daughter makes it to her wedding on time and "Intact"?  Better have those mechs scouting the road to the city against those bandits sighted last week...

Jumpship captain wants to cut and run instead of sticking around to pick up the 386 White Tiger Battalion?  You have the fun of "renegotiating" their contract.

Merchant Marine campaigns have the fun of being in some of the oddest situations you could care to avoid.  Dropping supplies and troops, guard duty, and even hot drops into the middle of combat zones.

Kinda like FedEx.  With guns.

[Coronoides]

If they are veteran roleplayers you might need to sell that this isn't JUST a game about big robots. Let them see it is a complex setting with factions, worlds, different social mores to modern Australia or USA (etc), hundreds of inhabbitied worlds and a hard(ish) science fiction sensibility. In many ways it resembles the roleplaying great Traveller setting.
I don't know your group but for my guys focusing on mechwarriors would be a mistake. Even in a military campaign diverse characters provide good hooks for players: like noble command officers, techs, military scientists, special forces infantry, chopper pilots, spacers, civilian consultants,  battlearmor troopers, trained negotiators etc.

[Kalten]

Without a doubt get them to download the PDF here http://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BattleTechUniverseGuide.pdf

I'm just starting a new campaign for my roleplay group and I'm the only one aht knows anything about the universe...so, armed with that URL I've got my buddies (and wife for this one!) to read up, now they all can't wait to get into their 'Mech's and start kicking butt for the glory of the Federated Suns! :)

Also, I recommend that you setup the 2 basic maps that come with the starter edition boxset for the mini game, give each person a mech of about the same size, start from the edges and have a free for all to learn the rules...you'll soon have your players wanting to get into their characters...you can even explain taht with experience their characters will be getting better so that it's easier to pilot and shoot their 'Mechs

At least...this is what Iv'e done and it seems to have worked wonders! :)

If you want ideas for a campaign, try this one:
Post Clan Invasion era (circa fed civil war/jihad)
The unit is a crack strike team put together by a maveric general that wants people of the same caliber as the clan's mechwarriors (all my players have bonuses to their starting setup to make them a touch better than the average starting character which represents their genetics being that little bit above even the awesome people in the AFFS)
Give them a dropship and a jumpship with supporting units (like tanks and infantry) then set them into a campaign based behind enemy lines, or as a covert strike force.

At least - that's what I'm doing! :)  Hope this all helps.

[snewsom2997]

Try a grand theft battlemech campaign. Z characters cross border to steal prototype weapons from X company, X Company has a small research station at Y planet, they are testing mechs, vees, asfs, and depending on era BA, a mix of things, but dependent on the company you are raiding see sarna.net for manufacturers, planets and equipment, and the books they are contained in, for more detail. Your goal break in an steal them, break out. Who you guys are and whose defending the outpost is up to you, but sneaking in is a little more interesting then shooting your way in, but by all means make them shoot their way out. Have different tasks, like stopping pilots from getting to machines, deactivating security systems, destroying C&C, and finally stealing the mechs and escaping well hopefully most of you will be escaping. I would not recommend making your characters attack battle armor or elementals, on the first go. Nor would I recommend any mission beyond 3025, fewer weapons, equipment, make for less book keeping, I am not a fan a minutiaing people to death the first time out, Battletech has more history and source material of just about any game out there so the choices are limitless.