Battletech Campaign - gauging interest, come and take a look inside!

[Yskonyn]

Hi guys,

I want to inquire about the interest for setting up a Battletech (yes the miniatures wargame) campaign amongst us Grogs.
The idea is to have a narrative going on the individual level, like a light RPG using the rules from corebook 35005 'A Time of War'.
Every player will create a character using these rules.

The battles between the Mechs will be hosted on the excellent free 3rd party program called MegaMek, which can be found here: http://megamek.info/.

It will be a slow paced game. While the battles are turn based, all participants need to be present during the match. There is no play by email supported. With different time zones this might result in a fair bit of time passing between battles.

I am also looking for one or two people who would like to run the campaign with me.
As I am not always around due to irregular working schedules and trips abroad, it would work best if the campaign is run by multiple people so there is always someone to push it onward.

Rather than sticking to stringent lore, the aim is to have a credible, but fun gaming experience in the Battletech universe.
You will be able to config and upgrade your Mechs and equipment as you go.
Normal rules from the BT core rulebooks apply.

Before kicking off properly I would like to see if any of you would be interested at all.
If you are, please also state if you would like to participate as a gamemaster and of course, if you have any preference for era and general plot, be sure to drop it down here too.

The whole process would be mainly forum based initially, except for the battles in MegaMek, but there might be ways to elevate gameplay. I am thinking about a dedicated website with story synopsis, current status, etc. But I would need help with that as I am a lousy webdesigner. :D

[bayonetbrant]

tenatively interested, but will have to poke around MegaMek and make sure it works OK w/ my machine, and then it'll depend on scheduling.

Did you maybe want to look at trying to get folks together for 1-2 'one off' brawls first, and then transition to a campaign?  Or is MegaMek more conducive to campaigns?

[Martok]

Sigh.  If my availability wasn't even more notoriously unreliable than usual lately -- I work nights, and the last month or so I've been going to bed between 10:00 & noon and sleeping til anywhere between 5:00 & 8:00 -- I'd love to participate.  :(  It's been ages since I've played.  As it is, though, I'll have to content myself with watching from the sidelines. 

[Yskonyn]

I would love to have you, Martok.
Perhaps once everything gets fleshed out more you might reconsider? I don't think we will kick off anytime soon(tm) anyway?

[MetalDog]

I have all my 3025 and 3050 stuff.  Rulebooks, Technical Readout, 20 Year Update and a bunch of other stuff.  Having said that, I would laso be tentatively interested and might even be able to help GM.

[Martok]

I would love to have you, Martok.
Perhaps once everything gets fleshed out more you might reconsider? I don't think we will kick off anytime soon(tm) anyway?

That's a possibility.  I might have a different job in another month or so anyway, at which point I'll probably have a more definite idea of when I'm available to play. 

I have all my 3025 and 3050 stuff.  Rulebooks, Technical Readout, 20 Year Update and a bunch of other stuff. 

Same here.  I mostly played in the era between the Fourth Succession War and the early Clan invasions. 

[Yskonyn]

Thats the era of which I have most stuff too.
Apart from the Jihad era, I find 3050 the most fun to play. Perhaps it is because of the familiarity of the era due to the computer games?

Bayonet; I think we can always run some MegaMek brawls to get things going and get a feel for how the game plays in MM.
While we get our adrenalin pumping this way, the guys who should like to help devise the campaign will have some time to get things fleshed out in the mean time.

Perhaps its best to keep the campaign focussed on the wargame part at first, but over time I would love to see the Pen & Paper RPG of A Time of War getting involved as well.

The narrative of the campaign can run in a dedicated thread here on the forum.
MekHQ will be used to manage the inventory and funds of the campaign.
MegaMekLab or SolarisSkunkWerks (or plain old pen and paper) will be used to config / upgrade the units.

[Yskonyn]

Would you guys be prefering an Inner-Sphere campaign or a Clanner campaign?

Or perhaps a less obvious Warden Clan, Merc Unit or Pirate band campaign setting?

[Martok]

I'm not picky.  Our gaming group usually played a mercenary unit back in the day (in hindsight, I wonder if this was to make it easier for our GM to justify sending us to various different locales), but I honestly have no preference.  Doing the merc thing again, or something else entirely, it's all good as far as I'm concerned.  :) 

[MetalDog]

I'm a Davion homer.  Always saw them as the good guys.  Steiner was cool, too.  I dug the history measured out in the pilot descriptions in 3025 Technical Readout.  But I love the Double Heat Sinks and better arms and armor of the Clan period. So, either/or.  What time period we pick would determine the plotine for me.  3025 would be a unit of regulars in a House Army.  Clans would be invasion.

[Martok]

Heh.  I was going to add that -- having given it further thought -- I'd just as soon not fight under the Kurita or Liao banner (they've always struck me as SOB's).  I'm not a big fan of ComStar either (including both factions after the schism). 

So if we're talking about fighting for one of the major houses, Davion would be just fine by me (in addition to Steiner and Marik).  :) 

[mirth]

I'm interested. My experience playing is all pre Clans, but I'm cool with either era.

[Double Deuce]

Like Martok, I work nights (and through the weekend) so my participation would probably be iffy, at least for the MegaMek parts, but it depends on the days/times. I am definitely interested though.

[Yskonyn]

I have been reading up on House Davion and there are plenty of interesting times to run a campaign in.
I would prefer to start somewhere before the Clans invaded and if we run long enough, we could progress into the Clan Invasion era.

I am not too sure how quick or slow a typical pace of a campaign is, but we will see.

Would you guys be wanting to command a whole Lance and perhaps some additional assets or would you rather stay at the individual level of focussing on commanding one Battlemech and fleshing out that player character while we all form one or more Lances together?

Then there is the question of OpFor. MegaMek features a bot , but while it has been upgraded over time I feel human oposition is unmatched as far as tension, excitement and challenge are concerned.
So in every game we will need someone to play OpFor in turn.

[MetalDog]

Think it would really depend on two things: the number of participants and how battle oriented vs. rpg oriented you want to play.