AWOL Productions
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AWOL Productions was a short-lived publisher that released FASA-approved paper magazines for Shadowrun and BattleTech/Mechwarrior.
MechForce North America[edit]
The first and most important MechForce was the MechForce North America (MFNA, also occasionally called "MechForce NA", "MechForce US" or "MFUS"). It is generally considered the "true" MechForce by virtue of having been the first MechForce established and also for being run directly by FASA, who set it up in ca. 1988. From 1990 to 1995 it was run by AWOL Productions, then reverted to FASA.
Despite its name, the MFNA was in fact open to players from across the globe; besides North America, it was explicitly meant to include players from countries where no national MechForce existed.
The MFNA produced a regular magazine. This was initially the MechForce News in the early days while FASA ran the organization. When AWOL Productions took over, they replaced the club letter with a proper magazine, Mech magazine; later, when the organization had reverted to FASA, it was renamed to MechForce Quarterly. These magazines could be regarded official products by virtue of being produced under a valid license from FASA in the second, and under FASA's direct aegis in the first and third cases; however, magazines ("even official ones like 'Mech") have explicitly been declared to be not among the canonical sources for BattleTech and can therefore be considered apocryphal at best.
Dwindling membership rendered the MFNA almost inactive since around the year 1999, and according to some officially folded in that year already. When FASA ceased its activities in 2001, the MFNA's license ran out, terminating the MFNA for good.