Battletech and Mechwarrior, Does anyone play other fanpro games? Options

[Mana Child]

I was wondering whether anyone out there playes these 2 fanpro games as well as shadowrun.

And what is the latest edition in mechwarrior?

[bwdemon]

Yep! I've played BT and MW for longer than I've played SR. MW3 is the latest incarnation of the Mechwarrior rules and it's met with some opposition, but I like it more than the previous versions...

[Swansonegger]

MechWarrior 3 is now called Classic Battletech RPG, and it has a new companion which allows players to create PCs with points, rather than the controversial Life Path system. MechWarrior 2 is what I still use, when I play in the odd blue moon during the summer solstice.

And of course, gotta throw out favourite 'mechs. Mine was the Wolverine-M, 3025.

[Cray74]

[Moirdryd]

Yep, Play em both when i can, Havent got the Classic Battle Tech RPG Compendiumbook yet though. Favorite mech... WR-DG-02FC War Dog

[Cray74]

[Swansonegger]

[Cray74]

[Mana Child]

if i could get the books in australia i'd play

[JongWK]

What are the core books you need to play them?

[Mana Child]

mechwarrior 3rd edition or this new battletech classic rpg

[lodestar]

Heretics! Battletech is the only incarnation of the game! You'll all cower under the might of my ARC-3R's LRM barrage!

[Cray74]

[Mana Child]

if thats the case then i know where to get MW3 for $50 AUSTRALIAN.
sweet.
but then id have noone to play with.

FROWN.

As it is noone plays anything like this in my town the closest thing was dnd when tim was in town but hes gone now to i rely on net games.

[Daishi]

Well, I'm currently running a MechWarrior campaign for two players. It's actually just battletech matches with some out-of-mech interaction and vague story development slapped on before and after the match. Since it's in the context of a GM-Player dynamic it allows to us to play with some fog of war, team dynamics, and other factors in addition to an opposing tactical battle. It's also set in 3030, 'cause we're just that old school.

[Mana Child]

kewl.

what is the system like ?

hard to learn (i'm talking about mechwarrior 3)

[Daishi]

MW3 is a very simple system mechanically. It uses a 2d10 system in which the GM assigns a TN and the player rolls his 2d10, adds his appropriate skill bonus and compares to the TN. The degree of success or failure is a factor in the actual result. The TNs are largely fairly arbitrary with a table that provides guidelines for GMs on what sort of things to apply and how much to apply as a modifier. Combat becomes much stricter in the sense of modifiers, but not as complex as shadowrun. Up to this point, it's pretty simple.

Stock character creation uses a life path system in which a player moves through stages of his character's life picking up attributes, skills, and traits through the type of life they choose at each stage, and through random events rolled at each stage. I think it's fascinating and quite fun to see what you come out with. Turning this life-path into a character requires some convoluted mathematics in translating skill points into actual skills bonuses, balancing traits and the nine (!) attributes with everything required during the life path. With something like 120+ seperate skillls listed in the mainbook, it requires a fair bit of number crunching. It takes some time to get used to, but it's fun to see how characters turn out. Adds some very interesting quirks along the way, while still being sufficiently flexible enough to give player lots of room. I haven't tried the point system yet, but I think I will pick up a companion and give it a shot.

The combat system is straight-forward until someone gets hit. Then a great deal of numerical gymnastics are required to figure out the damage dealt, which is then translated into the wound received. The optional rules are a blast, but absolutely insane. We have never had a game in which all players left with all limbs still attached while using the optional rules.

The system is largely free-flowing and fairly straightforward, but the final stages of character creation and the first dozen times you handle combat damage bog down quite a bit. I happen to like the system quite a bit though.

[Mana Child]

sounds interesting,

when ive payed back dad for my Ati Radeon 9600XT video card i'll buy the core rule book.

Just as a last check thats "Mechwarrior 3rd Edition" right?

[Daishi]

Yup. Or "The Classic Battletech RPG." Both are completely identical except for the name. I don't know why they changed the name, but I presume it was because of the way FASA's copyrights got divied up.

[Cray74]

Daishi gave a good summary of MW3. Pay attention to his closing comment about chargen bogging down, though - it can be a shock after making characters with quick point-based systems like SR.

[Mr. Boombastic]

[Swansonegger]

[Adam]

[JongWK]

So when's this CBT set? I read a few BT novels years ago, and I loved Hanse Davion and Co. (pity he died during the Clan invasion).

Are you able to simulate old mechs _and_ the new ones? I mean, suppose I want the players to be Inner Sphere guys and the OpFor are Clan mechs... will the difference be visible?

[Cray74]