How does a mercenary go from zero to hero?

[ssfsx17]

In Shadowrun, there are plenty of gangers and other sorts to do runs against. Or if you have magic or decking skills, you can slowly build up a reputation with more mundane tasks.

In D&D world, there seems to be no shortage of Level 1 creatures who just happen to have 1d100 gold pieces in their homes.

In BattleTech:
- How would you convince a bank to give you a small loan of 2 million C-bills?
- If you just happened to find a mech, how do you find small-time pirates and other sorts to grind your skills and reputation against? It would seem like you would need a good deal of cash and reputation just to be allowed to get transport to a border world where those types of enemies could be found.
- If you try to start as an AsTech grease-wiper for an existing mercenary company, it seems like you would need a lot of luck and personal connections to be able to get that position while a mercenary company just happens to be in orbit of your homeworld. And then you would need even more luck for the mercenary company to get enough salvage to be able to let you try your hand at piloting one.

[snewsom2997]

Vast Majority of Mercs muster out from regular armed forces, some may already have reputation and fame. A smaller number are born into generational mercenary commands. A smaller number would be people working their way up from Technician. The smallest Number would be nobles with an expensive hobby.

[AlphaMirage]

The start of most Merc Units in my opinion is a the heir of lesser noble or industrialist family, 2nd or 3rd in the line for the title, with a Mech of their own (or 'borrowing' it) who goes freelance instead of staying in the army to pay for his upkeep or working for their older sibling or parents.  A couple of those guys can scrape together enough credit to get a loan for support or hire a good agent to give them better contracts that include said support. 

You then work your way up from the bottom and pray that you can stay independent and solvent.  If you do good enough networking opportunities might open up while roaming around doing odd jobs that you can use to forward the family and your own fortune.  Best case scenario you marry up from an employer's appropriate child and have phat loots from an exciting career as a soldier of fortune. 

Worse case, death which might still be better than slaving away for your big brother.  You hate that guy

[Alsadius]

Are you looking for ways to make the setting make sense, or campaign hooks?

If you want the setting to make sense...it won't. It just won't. Mechs are so rare and precious in 3025 that salvage rights are the most valuable thing you can offer someone, and there's only a handful of factories across thousands of worlds that still make them, so naturally there's no shortage of random dorks with a dozen Mechs on Galatea waiting for a contract. The only thing more precious than mechs are JumpShips, so we're going to fly those dorks thirty jumps to Galatea, taking up a substantial part of a JumpShip's cargo, only to fly them thirty jumps back to the front lines where we want them to deploy. It's completely and irredeemably insane, like mot of the setting. The only way to make it work is not to think about it too hard, and remember it's just a game - mercs are common because people like playing bands of ne'er-do-well mercs and building up a force from nothing. And they can't all be The Only Mercenary Company Ever To Exist Because They're So Special Awesome Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, so sure, there are lots of mercs.

If you want campaign hooks, try these:

• A group of your friends who just got kicked out of their local military academy for refusing to follow the rules hatch a plot for revenge. Fortunately, one of them made some contacts with a DropShip captain who's used to moving cargo with no questions asked, and you know where a lance of training mechs are stored without much security...
• You know why your local Count decided to rebel against the Grand Duke. It's because he's a damned fool with too much ego and too little brainpower. You wanted no part of it, so when the Duke invaded, you negotiated a no-combat surrender as long as you got to keep your Mechs. And since you don't have a Count to worry about any more, it might be time to make a trip to the hiring hall.
• Your whole life, you loved mechs, you loved the idea of mechs, and you had every known mech's action figure in your bedroom. You even went through MechWarrior training school on your own dime just for fun. You'd never be able to afford one, but the sims are as much fun as a protagonist could ever have. It's amazing how all that changes when you win the planetary megalottery, though.
• Pirates really are stupid sometimes. Did they actually think your little factory was going to be easy pickings just because it was near the periphery? Did they not realize that it's an Autocannon factory? You don't just get to wander in with a company of mechs and take 10% of the Inner Sphere's supply of big guns without having to look into the loud end of a few guns. And yeah, the survivors realized that eventually. So now you have a lance of mechs that aren't total scrap, and the VP of Operations seems to think that diversifying into corporate mercenary work would be a good new line of business.

[Deadborder]

In D&D world, there seems to be no shortage of Level 1 creatures who just happen to have 1d100 gold pieces in their homes.

Therein lies the first problem. D&D worlds make no logical sense at all and are structured towards the idea of heaping rewards on player characters. Battletech is not D&D. The same logic does not apply.

[ssfsx17]

Are you looking for ways to make the setting make sense, or campaign hooks?

Campaign hooks that make sense in the setting - thanks!

No immediate plans to run a campaign, but these kinds of thought exercises help with GMing in general.

[Sartris]

Campaign hooks are superior in the case of BT campaigns. The vast majority of merc groups fail year one. Best to put them in the “not KIA or insolvent and mechless” part of their history

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Many roleplaying settings are poorly developed when it comes to explaining how starting adventurers got their beginning level resources.  What son of a farmer has hundreds of gold coin to acquire arms and armor in D&D, afterall?

In BattleTech, it's actually better explored than in most.  There's the aforementioned inheritance angle, and this is no small thing.  The 3rd SW/3025 setting is predicated on Mechwarrior scions piloting the family 'mech into battle for riches and honor.  Other aforementioned angles include the House Armies serving as feeder leagues for the merc industry, and the eternal and ruthless turnover between merc companies in between contracts.  Get enough freebooters together at once, and no reason they can't charter a whole new company together ala Avanti's Angels, Black Thorns, etc etc etc.

A necessary and therefore common/recurring trope in roleplaying is low level opposition upon which for heroes to cut teeth.  Given the dangers of mech on mech combat, the 1/2 HD equivalent of goblins and orcs in BattleTech isn't mech opposition, but pirates/brigands/conventional forces.  Just as a party of 1st level PCs isn't going to be summoned by the King to go do some quest he needs done, beginning mercs probably don't work for the Great Houses right off.  Do "small time" jobs for corporations, planetary militia, private nobles.  Get a rep.  Again, quite probably going to involve some good bit of pirate hunting in the early stages of one's career.  Once some victories have been secured, a Great House might have small jobs that they begin to qualify for.  And the legend grows.

[Feenix74]

I thought standard industry practice was invite the Draconis Combine to "liberate" your world, then lead a guerilla campaign opposing the liberation and in the process acquire yourself a mech or three and "Robert is the sibling of one of your parents".

Well it worked for the Gray Death Legion and the Crescent Hawks  :thumbsup:

[SteelRaven]

Hard answer:

Shadowrun is never about the janitor or delivery guy that never become a Runner

D&D is never about the peasant farmer or merchant that only hears about adventures.

Battletech isn't about Astech that could never cut it as a combat soldier.

It's a game (escapism) so the stars always seem to align just right for said character to do something heroic   

In universe answer:

Getting a mech isn't always easy. Sometimes it mean cleaning out the former occupant from whats left of the cockpit but after that but after that, just don't suck. Battletech is in part built off the mythology of ace pilots that has been lost over the generations so 'hero' mechwarriors are those who are naturally gifted. 
 

[Colt Ward]

I go with two things . . .

First, as stated most merc units (more so than most businesses) go belly up in the first year.  This can be do to many things besides dying.  The mechwarrior you and three other mechwarriors picked to represent them in negotiations may have been a pretty good tactician (or politician to get leadership) but a poor negotiator & you did not hire a Galatea/Outreach contract pro- you either made so little it is to laugh, stayed at zero or even fell a bit behind financially.  You had a few months on garrison, but when you got back to the Hall half the warriors were hired away and no one was looking at your average (or below) unit . . . it broke up as folks looked for a steady source of income.  Read the merc gen rules and look at the lower end of the results (2-8 I think?) to get a idea.

Second, most mercs are not getting hired on Outreach, Galatea or similar world . . . most mercs are the guys signing on as corporate or private security as individuals.  You may have gotten out of the LCAF, been a hot-hand in a Zeus, and part of some secret weapons development program when Defiance offered you a job on the security force piloting . . . a Zeus.  Or Lord Snuffy feels threatened by the peasants so he put out a ad in Soldier of Fortune saying he is hiring two tank crews, a pair of VTOL pilots and company of infantry- please send your resume to ComStar number 8675309.  Alsadius is also missing that while contracts may go through Galatea or Outreach, it does not mean the whole unit has to travel there and back- but you run the risk of what happened to the Raging Horde.

[Kidd]

In Shadowrun, there are plenty of gangers and other sorts to do runs against. Or if you have magic or decking skills, you can slowly build up a reputation with more mundane tasks.

In D&D world, there seems to be no shortage of Level 1 creatures who just happen to have 1d100 gold pieces in their homes.

In BattleTech:
- How would you convince a bank to give you a small loan of 2 million C-bills?
- If you just happened to find a mech, how do you find small-time pirates and other sorts to grind your skills and reputation against? It would seem like you would need a good deal of cash and reputation just to be allowed to get transport to a border world where those types of enemies could be found.
- If you try to start as an AsTech grease-wiper for an existing mercenary company, it seems like you would need a lot of luck and personal connections to be able to get that position while a mercenary company just happens to be in orbit of your homeworld. And then you would need even more luck for the mercenary company to get enough salvage to be able to let you try your hand at piloting one.

Firstly, nice avatar, sicko

Secondly, just like in D&D and Shadowrun, you're never a peasant with no skills to whom nothing happens, destined to die ignominiously in the Great Plague of '73. You're always somebody with a Mech, and in Battletech when you are a Mechwarrior with a Mech you are 1 of the lucky less-than-100,000 humans out of 1 trillion in the known galaxy. You will have jobs coming your way. Someone will raid the planet and your services will be called for. If you truly are in the peacefulest planet in the whole universe, and you have a Mech, you can buy passage to the nearest merc outfit, or put out an advertisement and some passing company ought to pick you up... or that makes you a target for Grand Theft Mech. Either way, look, a battle!  :D

There's little point in playing the game any other way. Unless you love being the not-Mechwarrior in the ATOW RPG game of course.

I thought standard industry practice was invite the Draconis Combine to "liberate" your world, then lead a guerilla campaign opposing the liberation and in the process acquire yourself a mech or three and "Robert is the sibling of one of your parents".

Well it worked for the Gray Death Legion and the Crescent Hawks  :thumbsup:

Oh brilliant, I love this!

[Dayton3]

If you're the Kell brothers  your rich cousin (Arthur Luvon) who happens to be married to the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth dies and leaves you a bunch of money.

Then you add a second regiment when his widow dies and leaves you another major chunk.

[glitterboy2098]

If you're the Kell brothers  your rich cousin (Arthur Luvon) who happens to be married to the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth dies and leaves you a bunch of money.

Then you add a second regiment when his widow dies and leaves you another major chunk.

IIRC the first one was actually with the requirement that they form a military unit using it.

[Juodas Varnas]

Nepotism, mostly  :D

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Another thing that can happen is that someone can sign on with a larger, more well known merc unit for a few years to acquire money and connections that they can then use when they go independent, bringing a few friends from the unit along with them.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

The same logic does not apply.

Or rather, the same lack of logic applies?

[Kitsune413]

Solaris.

[Kilderkin]

However you want really. That’s the joy of the universe!! My merc company was rolled on the xotl tables for an upcoming campaign set in the brush wars. My opponent has a mercenary force built up if mechs his force has salvaged over 20+ years he’s been playing the game.

So just go with a story that feels cool to you. The universe is big enough for all kinds of weird and wonderful origin stories.

[Mattlov]

If you have a 'Mech you own, you can get a loan.  Guaranteed.  The bank will simply force you to offer it up as the collateral for your loan.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

If you have a 'Mech you own, you can get a loan.  Guaranteed.  The bank will simply force you to offer it up as the collateral for your loan.

Bounty Hunters are indeed a thing in the BTU.  Default on your loan to the banks at your peril.  You just might wake up with your mech no longer where you parked it last night.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Now I'm imagining a reality show: Repo Men of Galatea.  ;D

[AlphaMirage]

Yeah I think the banks of Battletech will want something that can't flee or fight and break itself as collateral.  That's why I think it's lesser nobles that can start Merc groups with money from higher nobles

[Sartris]

Now I'm imagining a reality show: Repo Men of Galatea.  ;D

I played in a very brief MW3 campaign where the PCs were repo agents. We bit off more than we could chew and went out of business when a target rebuffed our overtures for confiscation with a few dozen grenades.

[Getz]

Now I'm imagining a reality show: Repo Men of Galatea.  ;D

Genius!  I'm planning an AToW campaign for a couple of months from now and I'm stealing this idea for their first mission...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Genius!  I'm planning an AToW campaign for a couple of months from now and I'm stealing this idea for their first mission...

Awesome.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Hey, wasn't there a series of stories on Battlecorp about a small team that tried to start their own mercenary group during the FedCom Civil War.  IIRC, they actually did get a loan to purchase a half-functioning Scarabus and had to go out and collect some bounties before it got repoed?

[Colt Ward]

I recall a story about a group on one of the periphery pirate havens having a problem . . . they were fleeing through the desert, got to a town and found the leader of the four was being hunted by a group and the ComStar or Blakist creditor- who had gotten kicked out- was also coming in to get the kill.  He took the Scarabus into the fight, was tore up . . . but realized if he killed the contractor, the contractee would walk away.

For FCCW I remember something about how a group lost the ability to pay back a loan from a ComStar of Blake linked backer.  The guy who founded the unit got wiped out in a ambush or something along with most of the hard assets which left like 3 or 4 survivors in a bad way.  It was all about how they had to get off the battlefield so they could run and try to pay it back.

Maybe the two stories were linked, as happened from time to time.

[Nav_Alpha]

The story you’re talking about is http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Cockroaches

I don’t remember the repo aspect to it - but did enjoy the whole “kill the employer, the bounty hunter backs off” bit

[Kovax]

Then you've got a techy sort of guy with a few measly thousand C-Bills saved up who buys a heavily used Scorpion tank....and starts a Corporate Security mercenary company, just him, a "gunner" who's never fired a gun, and some ex-military guys on foot who can at least shoot a rifle.  They get paid enough for guarding an industrial appliance factory to cover salaries plus a few thousand more over the course of a year, and the tank crew gets enough time at the controls to actually learn how to aim the guns in the right direction and steer the tank around basic obstacles.  Next contract, some local robber gang shows up, with a bunch of converted trucks (a 'Mech-grade machinegun on one, and an actual SRM/2 rack on a second, and guys riding on the back of yet another truck) to steal equipment from the factory, and the Scorpion puts a few big autocannon holes in one of the trucks.  The rest run away.  Now you've got a reputation, some damaged weapons and metal scraps for salvage, and the contract money to hire on another "owner/operator" tank crew that couldn't make it financially on their own, or who didn't get paid by the last merc group they worked for....and so on.  Now you're in the 'Merc business, and you don't even own a 'Mech yet.  Another good contract or two and you've got a Lance of armor plus infantry support.

Or how about the ex-mil guy who pilots 'Mechs in the arena, manages to win a couple of fights, and suddenly has enough cash to buy his own 'Mech.  Suddenly, risking everything in the arena doesn't look so good compared to parking the 'Mech next to a factory to scare off would-be thieves.  With a passably decent contract, one doesn't need to actually fight to make sufficient money to gradually expand, by adding "support" like an armored vehicle or some infantry after the first year or two.

[Nav_Alpha]

Here’s an idea: Chaos March militia.

You joined for patriotism, because you’re sick of the Sucessor Lords raping your planet or just because uniforms gets chicks.
After a couple years in grade, the raiders come calling and you’re the hero of the fray.
Now, you’ve spent a couple years honing your craft, you have the reputation and hero status, people will willingly follow you (maybe half your old company declares they want to form their own outfit with you at the head after an epic drinking session).

So... who would refuse you a loan? Maybe you’ll even get government backing and some discounts while buying equipment if you offer to stick around for a bit.

Now you’re a merc. You spend a couple years working the Chaos March - nothing flash, lots of small time contracts helping governments put down insurgencies, lots of garrison and defence work.
But now you have a rep - honest and hard working. But Kell Hounds you ain’t.

So, now you get a sponsor: the Word of Blake is looking for hardworking types to help them restore order on a couple world.
Now, you’re getting wealthier - finally you can afford that second company and fill out your armour company.

[Daemion]

A Merc isn't a hero until he has gone interstellar.

What do I mean? Don't despise small beginnings.  Don't fret starting local, or assume that there's nothing local to do.

Each BattleTech World is chock full of millions of people. A good portion actually have a couple billion. Many of these worlds have those populations broken out and down by levels of nobility overlords.

It's not hard to assume, in a neo-feudal society that there are generational grievances and grudges constantly leading to small, isolated conflicts.  For that matter, nobles jockeying for power could lead to machinations that result in a small armored battle in the countryside somewhere. 

Whether this conflict is handled by a lord's bodyguards, or some of his vassal retinues disguised as pirates/mercs, or by honest hired mercs, is up to the people styling the conflict. But, you don't need to go interstellar to start looking for trouble that may or may not pay.

You build your reputation on the planet, and if you do well enough, handle yourself honorably enough, and are generally discreet, it might not take long before you have your first interstellar contract.

[JPArbiter]

Step 1) Get a Battlemech

Step 2) do something REALLY DESPERATE AND STUPID that looks totally awesome from a third person perspective (See the Pacific Rim Flare Gun Scene)

Step 3) Hire a PR Agent

Step 4) Paint your Panther Pink

The legend of Ace Darwin in a nutshell

[truetanker]

Yeah, until you get bush wacked in a dark alley by a Waco Warhammer on Outreach just before you deploy for a contract!

TT

[Nav_Alpha]

Yeah, until you get bush wacked in a dark alley by a Waco Warhammer on Outreach just before you deploy for a contract!

TT

Dude, that's the way Ace wanted to go! There's old mercs and bold mercs - no old, bold mercs...

[truetanker]

Dude, that's the way Ace wanted to go! There's old mercs and bold mercs - no old, bold mercs...

I don't know... Snord Cranston was old and bold, shewed as hell too!

TT

[Kitsune413]

I'm pretty sure the real answer is just simulator time anyways...

Like... How does an Olympic Athlete go from zero to hero?

Well.. they were a zero when they were like.... 4.

It doesn't seem to me that Phelan Kell and a Clan Trueborn had that wildly different of an upbringing.

So just start good. Or die. Or become dispossessed.