ghostrider
07/09/18 03:11 AM
66.74.61.223
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Has anyone run a campaign where the players are house units?
Or is it just mercs?
Had a good run in one house unit campaign that really told alot about what it is like to follow the orders of those above you, no matter what you have or don't have.
The fighter example came from one of those missions. Aerospace superiority was established, though the one we lost was a do or die mission.
We survived, but wasn't in any shape to show we did.
Well most survived. Three people had their units blown up, and we all agreed any strafes that had the downed mech in their path was attacked as the strafe should do.
And that killed the three. The first pair of fighters took out the leg on one, gyro on the second, and headshot/unconsciousness had the third immobile.
The second pair finished them off.
And with this, I don't mean the adventure packs ones. I mean you make a unit and use them in all missions. No bv matching. No weight matching. You ran the mission, which normally ran into the second one once the first was done. Random roll was used to see if and how much time we had to fix and reload. Some were nasty. Others easy. Luck had something to do with it, but not all.
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Cray
07/09/18 05:59 PM
97.101.136.19
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I got to write the Campaign Operations' rules for building military forces. Not just mercs anymore - these added support for House and pirate forces, and how to transition between each type.
But go figure: all the campaigns I've run in the past 4 or 5 years have been mercs. 
My players favor mercs because they pick their own destiny and get to build up their force from whatever little starting point. In House forces, you don't own the gear at the end of the day and don't get to expand the size of your force (except by being assigned more troops). I think I could talk them into a pirate game, though.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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Karagin
07/09/18 07:18 PM
72.176.187.91
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Sure my group has done that maybe three times. We have had some long running games with these types of settings. All depends on how the group dynamics work out and if you can keep track of the details.
Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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wolf_lord_30
07/09/18 07:22 PM
74.214.54.153
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Mercs are just easier to run. Even with finances and negotiating and transport. Everyone has a favored faction and not everyone can always agree on a single house to play as. At least with mercs you can come from a background you want. It could be a soldier, an explorer, a rich brat, an uncommon thug. Maybe own your mech, maybe stole it, maybe took it since you weren't paid, maybe you dont own one but you're good enough the merc company still wants you. All of these options appeal to a wider variety of people.
I have a campaign I'm working on right now that is a small company of mercs. It's got an overworld map, like the RPGs of old, with random encounters and patrols and objectives lined up.
One of my favorite campaigns that I have run is where my group were pirates. I had them on a rampage and when we had to call it quits, they were poised to take over their own planet.
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ghostrider
07/09/18 11:27 PM
66.74.61.223
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Easier to run, only in being able to say no to some missions. Having the house funds all repairs, ammo, and even replace mechs when it is called for does have some appeal.
A few have stated, that orders don't have to be followed if you don't like them. This suggests no courtmartials or any other really negative results from it. Mercs get blacklisted when they do this even more then once. And just because they don't feel like it isn't a good enough reason.
The game master we had blacklisted a few units, as a certain few would run as soon at they where hit. No internal damage. Most were light, long range hits. And not against the clans. Against IS forces.
Eventually it came down to boot the players, or not even try to start up another unit. They ended getting booted. Having to remake characters several times, instead of playing the game forced it.
For the game we had fighters hitting us, we were on our way to a pick up point after a raid. Someone forgot to take out a light mech they spotted in the trees, and didn't tell us about it. GM said it called for the strikes.
Using stock fighters, they were thunderbirds with full board strafe. Had they been limited to the few hexes in later rules, we would not have lost the three mechs, and the unit would have extracted without much of a problem.
And so you know, they first mech down was a rifleman. Ammo weapons were dumped into them as well as the laser strafes. Never stood a chance.
And these were tied to mechwarrior first edition RGP. So it wasn't as simple as just recruiting someone to fill their spots, and let them take over.
So we could swap out lances in battles going on at the same time, but in different locations we have 1 warrior in 2 companies. This would allow us to somewhat interact with each other, but only in determining if the enemy got reinforcements to next weeks battle, or if we took an ammo dump, make their lives a little easier. It was set up well, but not always easy.
Playing merc would have been less stress, as the ability to call in reinforcements at times would help, including armor and infantry. Take and hold an ammo dump while the army sent in people to loot it takes time as most were sitting in the forward base. Sometimes 20 or so klicks behind the lines. That got nasty at times. Other times, the gm just took us back to base to start the other units into action.
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ghostrider
07/10/18 11:24 AM
66.74.61.223
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A follow up question with this.
Are the players the ones in charge of the merc unit?
Or do they get orders from someone else?
Curious on if people have had issues of some players failing to follow orders given to them, even in a merc unit.
One I knew, would never do anything they are told, and had to be the leader of the unit at all times. The person had no skills really, in game or out. The Beserker, when it came out, was the only mech he would use. Yes. Physical combat was all. Range shots? No thanks.
He was one of those people that made his characters that were supposed to be leaders, yet none of them had leadership skills in the game.
The rest of the group was decent to good.
And with starting a merc unit, do the players only run mechs until they start making money?
Or do you have a mixed unit to begin with? IE fighters and such?
Mechs was the only thing anyone wanted to run for a long while. Only when we ran a unit of militia that was in vehicles did we start with something else. Had to kill and claim mechs for the unit. A bit harsh, as you had to divert points into other skills then mechs. Vehicle gunnery was needed to even hit something.
Again. Someone didn't understand that and was left out of the game. He wouldn't play infantry either, so useless.
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wolf_lord_30
07/15/18 01:47 AM
74.214.54.153
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I have one of my players in charge of the rest. It's not much fun from a storytelling perspective if I'm shoving all the ideas in their face and they have to go along with everything. Players need freedom to make the game theirs. There will be guidelines, of course. Having choices and having complete freedom are very different. From a GM perspective, complete freedom is impossible. What is needed is the illusion of freedom. In my opinion though, if they don't have a bit of say, there isn't much point in playing a storyline game.
If it is more of a tournament or linear campaign, that's a different story, but characters aren't really created for that the same. There's not the same investment in it either for the players.
There is a difference between being a leader and not working with the group unless you have the power. One who wants to be in charge just for the sake of being in charge is not a leader. I had one like that. He was made pond scum until he learned to work with the rest. When he decided to not work with anyone else and tried to call all the shots, I got tired of his antics and turned on friendly fire for the next game. He quit after that and the group dynamics stabilized and everyone was much more relaxed.
I give my players a choice on what they want. Most pick mechs. It's easier. They are big, mean, and have the best shot at survival. It is a game about mechs after all and who really wants to pilot a Scorpion Light Tank as their vehicle of choice? Game over, man. Game over. If it is a simpler campaign, mechs might be their only option I give them anyway.
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