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Okay... after thinking about the merc campain I've realized that most of my players have very little experiance playing Battletech.
Some havent even played. So I leave it to Dakka to decied what we do.


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I misspelled house... some one shoot me...

Do an RPG with Battletech thrown in. Also, using the entire Mercenary Force rules from FM: Mercs will make your players hate you. A lot.

In this situation I would use the "Chaos Campaign" tracks out of the Jihad Hot Spots series (Or just download the product "Chaos Campaign" from Battlecorps.)

The Warchest system is simple and reasonably easy to use, even for a new player. It is also easier for a GM to manage.

When I ran that campaign, I had my four regular players make a Faction Specific lance at 8000 BV WITH PILOTS. This was BV 1, BTW. The players could NOT tell each other what they made. When the campaign started, they had to pick and choose the units from each of their lances to send into battle. Made for a nice mix of units and capabilities.

I've looked at the chaos Campain but it really dosent stand out to me.

I'm surprised only a couple of people have voted. Must be less Battletech players here.

I have ran about 3 MW: Campains.
The Advice i could give is based on the idea that you have played for some time.
Start with a 3025 Campain, get one of the old "Canned" adventures off RPGNOW.com or E-bay.
-Fox's Teeth
-The Galtor Campian [Though this is a BattleForce book it is full of ideas]
Have them spend some time learning the game, then go for the MW: RPG, personly I would Sugest MW: 2nd edetion, 3rd is overly complecated.
-After you are done with the 1st part, then move on to later time times.

Thats true... I've got to talk to them. I don't have much confidance in 2 of them... the third might be able to handle it though...


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Okay Mattlov This ones for you... what book has The BV rules? How would i make my own Tracks?
Only one of the newbs even knows the diffreances of the mechs, so I think I should pick. I think I should change the how leveling up G and P is.

Most current BV rules are in TechManual. But I would recommend downloading Solaris Skunk Werks (google it, it should be easy to find) to get an up to date 'Mech editor. It should also have files for most of the canon 'Mech chassis in the universe. That will also have the BV of the 'Mech. Also, it's free.

The REALLY OLD system for leveling skills was based on being in combat. If you survived 5 or 6 fights, you could upgrade EITHER of the skills one point. Very simple.

Another possibility is while you are playing, Battletech, keep track of how many times you roll a 2 or a 12 when firing or making piloting checks (not hit locations). You got a "skill point" every time you got a 2 or 12. Once you get 10 points, you can upgrade a skill. Another variant of that method assigns the skill points to each skill when it is rolled, so after you get 10 results on your Gunnery, it goes up. Problem is, your piloting goes up a LOT slower due to far less rolls being made.

Making your own tracks is not easy. It might be better from you to find a PDF (if it is out there) or a hard copy of a scenario book called "Operation Stiletto." It was a very generic campaign that could be fit to any type of play era, and had some pretty good ideas for scenarios in general.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Essay:_My_Chaos_Campaign_Track_System Well the stuff thats on the web site helped me understand the concept better. How hard is it to make the tracks because thats something I'm interested in.

Making a track isn't hard, especially if you keep it pretty generic. Make sure any scenario has the following:

Obvious Attacker and Defender.

Define a Terrain Set-up. Also make a point to give a guideline of how big a set-up it should be. The general way to play is a up to 2 maps per TOTAL lance of force. Generally, a map sheet per 3 'Mechs is a good guideline. Throw in Clans with their speed and range, and an extra map is usually needed.

Define any weather conditions or other battlefield effects.

Define Objectives for both the Attacker and Defender. This is obviously wide open, but remember both sides don't need to have the same objectives. Also, if the objective is for one side to destroy a building and the other side defend it, give the defenders some kind of chance. Make it very hard to fire on the building, or very difficult to destroy.

For a campaign, creating the reward is often the most difficult part. It is really one of those things it takes time to figure out. You can't give too little, unless you want the players going into the next fight missing arms, but if you give them too much, they get too powerful. Honestly, this is the part you probably need the most advice on, but there is little to give. I don't know how the writer's do it, there isn't a set guide to my knowledge. I can try to find out though.

Mattlov, Thanks! This will make it alot easier. any help I could get would be great. One more thing How long is the avarge track?

Thanks,
Dragonfire

Usually until one side completes their objectives, or is driven from the field. Games measured in actual turn limits are pretty rare, but they are out there. If you want to figure out a turn limit, it is VERY dependent on the size of the map and forces. A small map with just a few units? 10 turns or so. 9 maps of heavy terrain, and a company or more on each side? I'd give 15 to 20 turns. Maybe more depending on the objectives.

As for rewards. here a a few:
-1 to gunnery skill or piloting skill so long as the mech is never destroyed.
special ammo. like thunder or swarm.
star league mech.
+20 to 50 tonnes for the next fught.
1-3 smr carriers for the next fight
1-3 lrm carriers for the next fight.
1 extra light 20 to 25 tonn mech for the next fight....
its really easy to reward winners of a match. but dont forget the loosers. if they randomly generate mechs then its a good idea to
allow them to change mechs to advantage. noone likes being stuck in an ostscöut.....


there are all sorts of fun things.

Yeah Ostscouts = screwed. Okay track would be between Lyrans' and Marik. Probley the 36th Lyrans Guards Vs.....
Unfortuntly I cant make heads or tails of the house marik scourcebook. What Marik uints are around Soliras?


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I've rolled up a couple of lances worth of mechs... how heavy mech's should they get?



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Okay... first misson's enemys are a SHD-2K ShadowHawk, WVR-6K Wolverine, SDR-5V Spider and 4 Platoons of Energy infantry. Vs 2 WLF-1 Wolfhounds, 1 FS9-H Firestarter and 1 JR7-D Jenner. Mission Objective: Destroy the Ammo Dump and 3 support vechiles.


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Okay... first misson's enemys are a SHD-2K ShadowHawk, WVR-6K Wolverine, SDR-5V Spider and 4 Platoons of Energy infantry. Vs 2 WLF-1 Wolfhounds, 1 FS9-H Firestarter and 1 JR7-D Jenner. Mission Objective: Destroy the Ammo Dump and 3 support vechiles.


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The Missions called Hit em' where it hurts! objective is to severaly damage the House Kurtia ammo sitiuatuion on planet.

Sounds nice already.

In the previous edition of B-tech I ran a simple merc campaign somewhat based on the MW2:Mercenaries PC game.

So basically players started in simple Light mechs and had to choose contract from the ones I gave them a choice of (behind which were campaigns, or tracks if you will). Battles started simple of course and the players could salvage enemy mechs and vehicles and so develop their Merc company. In the meantime contracts stipulated the rewards in C-bills and possible bonusses that could be gained. This money was used to repair damaged mechs and sometimes to buy new ones after a campaign.

We had great fun with it.

Good mission, just be careful that the ammo dump and support vehicles are not too easy to draw line of sight to. The disadvantage of the defender is those objects are generally VERY easy to hit, even at long range, since they are immobile.

Yeah... this mission is gonna be simple so the players can concentratre on having fun... and dying.......

Yeah Ostscouts = screwed. Okay track would be between Lyrans' and Marik. Probley the 36th Lyrans Guards Vs.....
Unfortuntly I cant make heads or tails of the house marik scourcebook. What Marik uints are around Soliras?

Well...since Solaris-VII is on the Lyran-Marik border, the enemy Marik forces may originate from Uhuru where the 31st Marik Militia would be based. Others nearby could be The Silver Hawk Irregulars "Gryphons" on Kalidassa, the merc unit Dragon's Breath at Rochelle, 30th Marik Militia at Amity or the 20th Marik Militia at Concord.

Plenty of notable units to choose from to form the basis of their first engagement.