MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game

MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game
Product information
Type	Rulebook
Development	Jordan K. Weisman Karen Vander Mey (Production Managers)
Primary writing	Donna Ippolito (Senior Editor) Richard K. Meyer Walter H. Hunt Evan Jamieson L. Ross Babcock III Kevin Stein Jordan K. Weisman Patrick Larkin William H. Keith, Jr.
Pages	144
Cover Artwork	Jim Holloway (front) David R. Deitrick (back)
Interior Artwork	Jeff Laubenstein Todd F. Marsh Dana Knutson
Publication information
Publisher	FASA
Product code	1607
First published	1986
ISBN-10	0931787580
ISBN-13	978-0931787584
MSRP	$12.00
Content
Era	Succession Wars era
Timeline	ca. 3025
Series	MechWarrior (RPG)
Followed by	MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game, Second Edition

Rear cover of MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game

Description

MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game was the first iteration of the MechWarrior RPG series. The system is geared towards integration and expansion of the tabletop game and provided rules for creating characters and military units. The book also provided rules for handling personal combat, as well as encounter tables for random events in adventures. The final Appendices portion of the book provides a wealth of information about the BattleTech storyline, including descriptions of each of the Successor States and ComStar, space travel and Inner Sphere economics circa 3025.

From the back cover

“

It's Not Just A Job, It's An Adventure... Ten thousand years of organized warfare have culminated in that fabrication of arms and armor, of mobility and strength, called the BattleMech. The typical 'Mech stands 10 to 12 meters tall. Vaguely humanoid, it is an armored giant of myth and legend come to life. The lightest weigh 20 tons, the heaviest 75 tons or more. Even the smallest 'Mech bristles with lasers, particle cannons, long- and short-range missile launchers, autocannon, or machineguns which make it striding, thundering death for any unarmored army silly enough to stand and fight. MechWarrior includes the rules and other game information necessary to role play the men and women who pilot these monsters of destruction. Lists of skills and equipment, as well as extensive rules for personal combat are provided. Also included is substantial background information on MechWarriors and their 'Mechs and on the Successor States and their endless wars. Descriptions of each major house, its leaders, major planets, and its best regular and mercenary 'Mech units provide the beginnings of endless adventures and campaigns. There are also enough facts and figures to run a mercenary unit, including extensive mission tables and random encounter events. The information on titles and nobility—the goal of every MechWarrior—describes land holdings and, more importantly, annual revenues collected by typical holdings. The most spectacular section of MechWarrior is the 16-page full-color section illustrating some of the uniforms and equipment used by major houses and mercenary units.

”

Contents

• A History of Human Space
  • Prelude (2001 – 2100)
  • Exodus (2102 – 2313)
  • Consolidation (2314 – 2398)
  • The Age of War (2398 – 2550)
  • Imperium and Reunification (2551 – 2600)
  • The Good Years (2601 – 2750)
  • Crisis and Civil War (2751 – 2784)
  • The Succession Wars (2785 – present)

• Creating MechWarrior Characters
  • Planning a 'Mech Unit
  • Designing MechWarrior Characters
  • Skill Areas

• Other Character Types
  • Techs
  • Aerospace Fighter Pilots
  • Scouts
  • NPCs
  • Experience Points and Character Advancement

• Creating a 'Mech Unit
  • Determine Unit Size
  • Determine Aerospace Support
  • Determine Unit Type/Affiliation
  • Create NPC MechWarriors
  • Create Unit Support Personnel
  • Generate Initial Unit Assets
  • Typical BattleMech Assignments

• The Crests, colors, uniforms, and equipment of the Successor States

• Equipment
  • Tech Levels
  • Medical Equipment
  • Repair Equipment
  • Robotics
  • Security Systems
  • Personal Equipment
  • Vehicles
  • 'Mech Components
  • Equipment Costs

• Combat
  • Combat Round Sequence
  • Determining Initiative
  • Movement Phase
  • Reaction Phase
  • Ranged Combat Phase
  • Melee Attack Phase

• Damage
  • Determining Damage Location
  • Allocating Damage
  • Effects of Damage
  • Critical Hits
  • Consciousness Rolls
  • Healing and Medical Care

• Expansions to BattleTech
  • Sequence of Play
  • Other 'Mech-Related Rules

• Events and Encounters
  • Using The Encounter Tables
  • Generating Opposing Forces
  • General Encounter Descriptions
  • Battlefield Encounter Descriptions
  • Major Events
  • Random Events
  • Reaction Table

• Economy
  • Currency
  • Mercenaries
  • Landholds in the 31st Century
  • Trading Cartels

• Map of the Successor States

• Appendices
  • The Successor States
    • Federated Suns
    • The Lyran Commonwealth
    • The Capellan Confederation
    • The Draconis Combine
    • Free Worlds League
  • ComStar
  • The Games
  • New Avalon Institute of Science
  • The Periphery
  • Vessels
  • Titles and Nobility

Notes

• This book was superseded, understandably enough, by MechWarrior, Second Edition.
• The rulebook is almost entirely geared towards MechWarriors, at the expense of other character types. This lack was progressively addressed in the succeeding editions.
• There are at least three different printings. One has an alternate back cover, glossy color plates, an abridged 'Mech list, and alternate vehicle costs. The other two share a back cover, 'Mech list and price guide; one prints the color illustrations on the same matte paper as the rest of the pages, and one prints them on glossy paper.
• Characters can be converted to the BattleTroops board game for squad level skirmish combat that can include 'Mechs or vehicles.
• The credit page masthead and trademark have the title as simply MechWarrior.

Foreign-Language Editions

French

A French edition, translated by Michael Serrat, was published in 1989 by Hexagonal as Les TechnoGuerriers - Le Jeu de Rôle de BattleTech.

Spanish

A Spanish edition was published by Diseños Orbitales in 1990 as MechWarrior: El juego de rol del universo de BattleTech.

Gallery

• 

  Spanish edition.