Empires Aflame

Empiresaflame.jpg
Empires Aflame
Product information
Type Scenario Pack (RPG Adventure) (PDF)
Primary writing Herbert A. Beas II
Pages 55
Cover Artwork Ray Arrastia
Interior Artwork Ray Arrastia
Jason Vargas
David Allen Kerber
Publication information
Publisher Catalyst Game Labs
Product code E-CAT35HLW14
First published 31 October 2014
MSRP Free
Content
Era Early Republic Era
Timeline 6 February 3095
Series BattleTech Adventures
Preceded by Necromo Nightmare
Followed by War of the Tripods


Released on Halloween 2014 as a free download, Empires Aflame is an adventure module published specifically for the latest edition of the BattleTech role-playing game, A Time of War.

Set in 3095, the adventure puts the players on a mission for the RAF Material Oversight Division to bring decommissioned weapons to a Republic bone yard on Rigil Kentarus. However, a misjump occurs that takes them out of the BattleTech universe and into a noncanonical alternate universe for the setting, one in which the Exodus never occurred.

Official Product Description

There May be Some Turbulence…
The year is 3095. Ten years after the Jihad, peace has finally reached most of the Inner Sphere. Within the newly created Republic of the Sphere, the post-war drawdowns have made industry of disarmament. But even here, not every mission goes smoothly—for, sometimes, the universe itself has its own agenda!

BattleTech Adventures: Empires Aflame takes players into a whole new adventure, when a misjump during a routine mission strands the crew far from home. Can your team discover where they’ve come, and escape to tell the tale? Empires Aflame includes a guide to a whole new area of BattleTech lore, complete with personal biographies on several key players, and adventure Tracks designed for use with A Time of War: The BattleTech Role-Playing Game and A Time of War Companion, as well as special rules, map, and Record Sheets for key non-player characters unique to this story.

Canonicity

The main portion of the adventure, especially the alternate universe it details, is a Halloween special and not meant to be canonical; it has been declared noncanon. However, the parts set prior to the misjump (i.e. in the normal BattleTech universe) have since been declared fully canonical. This includes the JumpShip Celeste, the DropShip E.F. Marie and their respective crews and histories as well as the background and agenda of the RAF Material Oversight Division and facts about the state of the mercenary trade in 3095. This was officially confirmed by author Herbert A. Beas II himself in the "Ask the Lead Developers" section of the official BattleTech forum,[1] He later also expressly confirmed the canonicity in another posting elsewhere on the forum.[2]

Featured BattleTech

(This section only lists units that appear in the canonical part of the adventure.)

References

  1. In this thread, Herbert A. Beas stated that the events occurring in the mainstream BattleTech universe can be considered canonical, including the existence of the Celeste and E.F. Marie and their crews, but that all information pertaining to the alternate universe that the JumpShip entered is not to be considered canon, and should not be used to contradict assertions that alternate universes do not canonically exist in the BattleTech universe. It was also copied to this article's Talk page for reference.
  2. In this posting: "And, as already mentioned, yeah, that's all pretty much canon--right up to the point the players' ship fires up its KF drive for the last leg of its journey...and vanishes from the Prime setting forever."