Goodwill's Grogheads - Battletech Campaign using MegaMek, all apply here!

Started by Yskonyn, March 30, 2018, 01:49:55 PM

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Yskonyn





Let me introduce yourself; You're a commanding officer in a military outfit called Goodwill's Grogheads. Wether you are affiliated to one of the big houses in the Succession Wars, or you are commanding a Battalion in a Merc unit remains to be seen, but what IS clear is that your job will be to command a sizeable force consisting of Mechs, MBTs, Infantry, Artillery and their support vehicles and crew.
VTOLs and Aerotech we'll leave out for now, but their might be featured later on.

There basically will be two sides to the story; Goodwill's Grogheads and simply OpFor. OpFor might have various identities. From powerful criminal organisatons or political splinter factions to opposing Houses or Merc units having sold their loyalty to the highest bidder.

The players taking a role inside Goodwill's Grogheads would preferably do some roleplaying to keep the creative juices flowing, but if you rather remain focussed on the technical aspects of gameplay that's ok, as long as we're all having fun.
But a good bit of narrative makes the campaign all the more enjoyable.

For those who think they lack the time and/or commitment to run a battalion sized unit and rather just engage in the campaign whenever they're available there's a place in OpFor.
No roleplaying is needed in OpFor as these forces just serve as the co-actors to facilitate our campaign for Goodwill's Grogheads.

The game will be managed in MekHQ, a companion application to MegaMek specifically aimed at managing a campaign. MegaMek is an unofficial program that facilitates Battletech Tabletop play, much like VASSAL does for various boardgames.

You do not need the rulebooks to play, but downloading and studying the BattleTech Quick-Start Rules available here will help you understand the game more quickly. I think there are enough players here on GH with Battletech experience, so that questions can be answered sufficiently when they arise. MegaMek automates a lot of stuff already; while it probably won't help you to learn the intricacies of the game, it does enable you to play along at least. Perhaps it will spark your interest and you'll be buying the rulebooks afterall (do it! They're great!)

Once all players are in, the campaign will be setup.
We will then enter a phase of administration to enable every Groghead to roll for and construct their assets and crew, purchase crew, spare parts and resources.
Depending on who we decide to be, we'll either obtain a contract as a Merc unit or we will get orders from the brass at one of the Houses and the game will be on.

Each Groghead player will need to make a game appointment (or several appointments as BT battles tend to be multi-hour endeavors) to run the battle.
This will generate a log file, which can then be loaded into the campaign in MekHQ which will parse the results.
After every player has run their battle we will enter an admin phase again where we will need to take care of the wounded, repair our Mechs and vehicles, order spares, train personell, etc.

My plan is to advance the roleplaying during each admin session and integrate stories from what happened on the battlefield.
In the event someone has consistent trouble with meeting for a player vs player battle there's also the option to run a battle against the MegMek bot in your own time, but its only an emergency option as the bot has several quircks and deficiencies.


I will use the Total Warfare line of books and Campaign Ops. And the campaign will run in the pre-Clan era.

So Grogheads? Who's in? :D

Not assigned:
Kushan
Gusington

Goodwill's Grogheads:
Yskonyn
Jamus
mirth
BanzaiCat

OpFor:
JasonPratt
MetalDog
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

JasonPratt

I may provisionally volunteer for occasional OpFor duty, as my role-playing juices could be very low.

If I get more into it over time, I can always find a way to segue in to Goodwill's Grogs. ;)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Although, wait, does the OpFor get to determine mech loadout, too? Because that's half the game, easily, and I'm picky about my loadouts.  :coolsmiley:
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

jamus34

I'm in. My time is somewhat limited but I'll see what I can do.
Insert witty comment here.

Yskonyn

Well, Jason, my job as a GM gets quite a bit trickier if I need to worry about customized OpFor units. That would mean OpFor players have ownage of their units and would basically need a complete seperate faction within the campaign with equipment and personell tracking.
We can do it if OpFor has their own independent GM running the show.

Having said that, I understand that building and equipping Mechs is great fun, so if you would be happy with building a suitable force on a per-scenario-basis I think we can work something out.
Please do understand OpFor is not a persistent force, only Grogheads will be.

IF and only IF someone else want to run and manage OpFor we could elevate it to the next level.

@Jamus welcome and thanks for showing interest!
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

JasonPratt

Yeah, no, I understand the Opfor wouldn't be permanent. I don't even mind rolling randomly for most things; I just want to be able to tweak the loadouts once my assigned force and pilots (and whatever else) is generated.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Kushan

If you don't mind someone who has no table top experience playing, I'm in.
PanzersEast: Have to think to myself.... will I play the first one by the Winter Sale?  Probably not, then I should remove Dragonfall
PanzersEast: but that is thinking too logically.... and Steam Sales are about ignoring Logic

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Twitter - @KushanGaming
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Yskonyn

Quote from: JasonPratt on March 31, 2018, 02:47:54 PM
Yeah, no, I understand the Opfor wouldn't be permanent. I don't even mind rolling randomly for most things; I just want to be able to tweak the loadouts once my assigned force and pilots (and whatever else) is generated.

I think that will not be a problem!
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn

Quote from: Kushan on April 01, 2018, 01:03:21 AM
If you don't mind someone who has no table top experience playing, I'm in.

Not at all! But I do require you to read the introductory rules (link above). Which side do you like to join?

@Jamus for you as well: which side?
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn



Commanding General Goodwill's waiting for his men and women to clear registration and housing. ;)

Starting date has changed slightly: we will kick off about one full year before the treaty between Steiner and Davion will be signed and about 8 odd years before the Helm Data Core will be recovered.

We can be a Merc unit amids the chaos or we can play as one of the Houses. Your call.

If you have any cool story hooks in this time period, be sure to drop em here and I'll try to incorporate them as best I can. The campaign will be a community effort and we should all feel as involved as we possibly can!
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

JasonPratt

I GET TO BE THE GOATEED SUPERVILLAIN ANTAGONIST!  :D


I shall practice my laugh, of which mine is evil. Mua ha ha ha ha ha haaaa.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

jamus34

I'll be part of Goodwill's troops!

Give me a 30,000 parsec viewpoint of where the player's characters fit in to the overall team and I'll start drafting my backstory.
Insert witty comment here.

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Yskonyn

"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn

Quote from: jamus34 on April 01, 2018, 09:48:12 AM
I'll be part of Goodwill's troops!

Give me a 30,000 parsec viewpoint of where the player's characters fit in to the overall team and I'll start drafting my backstory.

Coming up... stby
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."