Impressions of Main Event and DRT

[Elmoth]

Well, just dropping by to say tha tI just read those 2.

I liked some of the characters and the haphazard unit of company size. I like small units.
And I hated Jeremiah Rose. That man is certainly a BAD commander. He looks like a good shot, but a very bad commander. I didn't lie his train of thought, his utter elitism (who te hell he think he is in the highlander capital?!) and he does not deserve most successes that he collects.

The stories were ok, except that it made the clans look like mindless baboons. If those were stories about mercs fighting pirates it would be cool, but against clans they are too successful. The clans are very bad tactically and.losr battles that they should have won. That put me out of the story.

I liked Riannon and Esmeralda. I also liked the trio of girls they pick on outreach, and the recon commander Ajax. I felt that they had good material to tell a story, but the attention was always centered in the least interesting character in the lot.

Final grade: 4/10.

Let's hope wolve sin the border and the books of Camacho's Caballeros are better.

[Mattlov]

I'll agree with most of the criticism of them.  They were too lucky.  Good side characters though.

You can look forward to the other books.  Wolves on the Border may be the best Battletech novel.  The Caballeros novels are fun.  Although the main character in them (Cassie) is a bit...ridiculous...with her abilities.

[Agathos]

Main Event felt like somebody’s Monty Haul campaign, which I enjoyed well enough when I was 13. Every time he wins a fight he comes out of it with more mechs. I may have used it as a model when I tried running a campaign with the Mercenary’s Handbook. DRT I found a bit boring in comparison, even at that age.

[MoleMan]

These were my first BT books and will always have a special place in my heart. I'm actually rereading them now and they don't age brilliantly, Jeremiah is such a douche :D

They are the ultimate ideal of a campaign in my eyes though, I often play MegaMek trying to emulate the exact kind of experience, i.e. raiding some Clanners and coming away with some fabulous Clan tech (and as for the Masakari  :smitten: that absolute beast is hands down my favourite mech), alas it never works out quite as neatly for me as it does for them (I usually get ROFLstomped, and pyrrically take 1 or 2 second line mechs in exchange for 6 IS mechs and 3 dead pilots, and then the maintenance kills me :D )

[Sharpnel]

I'll agree with most of the criticism of them.  They were too lucky.  Good side characters though.

You can look forward to the other books.  Wolves on the Border may be the best Battletech novel.  The Caballeros novels are fun.  Although the main character in them (Cassie) is a bit...ridiculous...with her abilities.

She's definitely a Mary Sue character, but I loved her anyway

[YingJanshi]

I loved Esmeralda and Badicus. The rest of the books were okay. The Black Thorns did have the best exit of any mercs during the Jihad. :D

[Mattlov]

I'll also point out the cover of DRT has lead to the belief in my group that the final point of damage to kill an Elemental is destroying his COMBAT THONG.

[Mendrugo]

Main Event and DRT (the Black Rose books) appear to be attempting to model a Clan Invasion-era RPG group - getting the gang together, pulling together equipment, then heading out to the contract site and facing off against the big boss, then reveling in the shower of riches afterwards.  Wash/rinse/repeat for DRT.

As an RPG campaign, it would probably be fun.  As prose, not so much. 

Plus, the settings never really came alive for me.  Despite having scenes set on Northwind, Solaris VII, Outreach, Borghese, Luthien, Wolcott and Courchevel, the scenes all felt claustrophobic.  For instance, Wolcott is a world under siege, and should have had DCMS forces rotating in and out, making strikes into Combine space.  Some should come back loaded with Clan salvage, others come back in tatters, or not at all.  Plenty of opportunities to get a sense of the Jaguar/Nova Cat OZ from scenes talking with fellow mercenaries on the world, expand the view of the universe, and communicate how dangerous the cat Clans are, giving them a sense of what they're getting into.  Instead, all the scenes on Wolcott are at an isolated training field in a swamp.  Aside from having to run a blockade to get in and out, there's no sense that being on Wolcott is anything special, setting wise.  Likewise, on Courchevel, there's no development of the society.  It's just hiding in caves with the resistance and fighting the Nova Cats in thongs.

Plus, there are some setting errors, like jumping directly from Borghese to Luthien (given the datestamps).  Also, there's a mention that the DCMS has built a huge battlestation in orbit over Luthien.  Despite that such a thing would be a major strategic factor, it's not mentioned in things like Jihad Turning Points: Luthien.

[Agathos]

Jeremiah Rose's account of Tukayyid is a little odd, too. If I remember correctly, he claims his level II fought pretty much every Clan on the planet, where most Com Guard units were done after one or two.

Were they important enough to get shuttled back and forth across the planet? Or did Rose perhaps spin a tall tale for his host, after deciding the truth was either too boring or too embarassing?

[Atlas3060]

Let's hope wolve sin the border and the books of Camacho's Caballeros are better.

Wolves on the Border will be entertaining.
The Caballeros will be interesting. Milan's writing "has no chill" at times and won't pull punches in describing some things.
Cassie is a bit of an action hero I'll admit, so if you roll your eyes at unconventional Anti mech attacks by one person then prepare your eye sockets.
As for the rest, some authors might allude that someone had something tragic happen to them "off camera". Milan's characters, naw you get told directly how badly the trauma stick smacked them. Aside from that decent readings, except for Daughter of the Dragon (but that's a Dark Age novel. So probably not something you'll get to quickly)

[Middcore]

Is it frowned upon to reply to a thread this old now?

I always somewhat enjoyed Main Event because out of all the BT fiction, it sort of had the feel of somebody's home campaign turned into an official novel.

Compelling characters? Nah. (Jeremiah's "You should create a whole new unit to fight the Clans and put me in charge of it" pitch is pretty laughable.)

Intricate plot? Nah.

Particularly "believable"? Definite nah.

But if you sort of put yourself in the mindset of "these are people's MechWarrior RPG characters, and the plot is just an excuse to roll dice, and they win because they're the PC's," it had a charm to it.

DRT... I honestly have to say I don't remember basically anything about DRT except for the cover with the mostly nude Elemental getting zapped, real candidate for the most embarrassing BT cover art there.

[DOC_Agren]

I loved Esmeralda and Badicus. The rest of the books were okay. The Black Thorns did have the best exit of any mercs during the Jihad. :D

And to be honest it was story about a gaming group who went off and became the heroes.

If that how it worked for Merc in the CBT life, well my groups have been doing it wrong for years.  We regularly come home and need to rearm/refit units and never unless we were really good captured as much goodies as they..

[Middcore]

I loved Esmeralda and Badicus. The rest of the books were okay. The Black Thorns did have the best exit of any mercs during the Jihad. :D

I'm not sure "Oh yeah, we forgot they were there, welp they're dead now" is even a unique way for a unit to be destroyed during the Jihad.

[Marveryn]

I'm not sure "Oh yeah, we forgot they were there, welp they're dead now" is even a unique way for a unit to be destroyed during the Jihad.

well it fit them.  I mean in both book, Units get completely destroy. but hey we capture enemy machines  now we are stronger.  The nuke just cut straight to destroy.  It just lack the spare mech to replace them.  OOPs oh well