Do I need to do anything special to run AToW in other eras?

[FastConcentrate8]

Hey guys.

I've been trying to get my buddies into BattleTech as a setting and have been succeeding. However as we're mainly RPG nerds, getting them into the tabletop is going to be a little hard so I'm going to try to get them into the setting using the RPG. However, I do have a few questions about AToW.

Do you need to do anything special to run it an other Eras? I was planning on running this game during the Succession Wars.

What books do I need for more Mechs? From what I've heard the basic book has limited options and I don't want to go chasing around the books and wasting money on books I won't need for this. Do I just need The Fourth Succession War Recordsheet books or do I need the TRO and maybe the Star League stuff too?

Any general tips for running this system?

[Daryk]

Era Report 3052 has some tweaks for various factions you can use for the Succession Wars.

I might recommend my spreadsheet (linked in my sig block) to help with character creation.  In general, when I run, I just ask my players for their overall concepts, then do all the heavy lifting myself, with a round or two of tweaking between us.

[Failure16]

That's because you are used to dealing with lazy bastards like me.

FC8, Daryk pretty much has ATOW locked down, especially when it comes to character creation and the finer mechanical aspects of the system. He is and has some good resources.

[FastConcentrate8]

Era Report 3052 has some tweaks for various factions you can use for the Succession Wars.

I might recommend my spreadsheet (linked in my sig block) to help with character creation.  In general, when I run, I just ask my players for their overall concepts, then do all the heavy lifting myself, with a round or two of tweaking between us.

That's because you are used to dealing with lazy bastards like me.

FC8, Daryk pretty much has ATOW locked down, especially when it comes to character creation and the finer mechanical aspects of the system. He is and has some good resources.

Alright. Thanks you two.

I'm new to the system and am planning on picking up the corebook soon for my birthday. I just wanted to know what I'm getting into early.

[Daryk]

You're quite welcome!  I definitely recommend pdf... the rules are MUCH cheaper that way, and easier to search to boot.

Thanks for the double stamp F16! 

[guardiandashi]

it depends on your definition of the "succession wars"

personally I like the ~3025 era

the TRO's are the books with the additional chassis (designs)
lets say you were starting in 3000
the relevant tro's would be:
TRO2750 (with the understanding that almost everything in the book is 'extinct' )
TRO3025
TRO3026
 (you can also use TRO3039) which is a rollup TRO with 3025,3026 in it and some additional units that came out later)
you likely also want the versions that include the "record sheets"

without the record sheets you get the basic information to put together the record sheet but its going to be missing information like where various things are like heat sinks, ammo etc.

in 3025 era it doesn't matter "that much" but in other eras with things like endosteel ff armor and XL engines (and other advanced tech) it starts mattering a lot more especially with omnis

[Atlas3060]

Pretty much will echo what was already stated.
The Era Digests/Reports should get you moving along with some rules tweaked for the respective eras.
3052 covers from the 4th Succession Wars to the Clan Invasion era character building.

Tech Readouts are useful and if you're looking for specific cultures to pick up on, the old Housebooks can work (though they are now pretty much obsolete given how we have Handbooks for the Houses).

Though the listed TROs in other posts are useful, there's also the TRO: Succession Wars which covers a lot of the Mechs as well, but I think it misses a few chassis here and there. Plus for vehicles, it's probably better to get PDFs of the ones where the years are listed out.

Chaos Campaign Succession Wars is a free download which is a nice abstract way to get the shooting going.

Record sheets, I really recommend looking at the Forcepack pdfs in the download section of the site: https://bg.battletech.com/downloads/

Yes some of them are Clan Invasion era, but it's fairly easy to see what is where. That whole Kickstarter was a blessing for the Succession War and Clan era when you consider how many sheets are just there for free.

From a non 'Mech centric angle, most stories or scenarios from anything can be tweaked for a Battletech flavor, but I do know there's some Free RPG Day scenarios for AToW online.

Shameless plug here: Shrapnel, the magazine that gets released every quarter, sometimes has a few RPG scenarios you can adapt for your tables. A few of the authors enjoy trying to put more out there for the RPG when possible. Just read up on the reviews from the others in the forum when they release to see if a specific issue is worth a purchase for your needs.

From there its just up to you and the players on where you go.