LANCER: A Mech RPG

[Ninjaxenomorph]

"LANCER is the tabletop role playing game of mech combat created by Tom Parkinson-Morgan and Miguel Lopez. It is currently in public beta.
Each player takes the role of an upcoming mech pilot in the tumultuous year of 5014. The game features robust mech customization and deadly tactical combat."

Beta materials here (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2mQ7IPn-PsqNE9uYkp4Yjh6VUE). The subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/LancerRPG/) also has some neat stuff, including a Q and A thread, and to pimp out my own stuff, a thread for new opponents.

Lancer is fusion of a lite narrative game (the Pilot gameplay) with crunchy, but simple, mech combat. I've been obsessed with it for the past few weeks, as my RPG group will confirm. I like the setting, the lack of sentient aliens and widespread humans reminds me of old-school sci-fi. The mechs feel like a mix of Battletech (with hardpoint and heat mechanics) and Titanfall (with the overall scale and tactical approach). I'm greatly looking forward to this coming out of beta and getting a full release, if only for more lore.

[GimsonVanReich]

Just getting into it now, really enjoying that atmosphere it's creating in our group. Fun to RP as futuristic mech pilots instead of "ye olde adventurers".

[Knaight]

I'm liking this thus far, although I haven't gotten to mech combat and that's where most mech combat games lose me.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Well, the mech rules are where the meat of the book is. I like the bulk of rules; there are a few things I wish were added or tweaked. Like ranges, and more robust space combat.

[Knaight]

Well, the mech rules are where the meat of the book is. I like the bulk of rules; there are a few things I wish were added or tweaked. Like ranges, and more robust space combat.

Yeah, but it's not uncommon for a new system to have lost me by this point by simply being really poorly written, or introducing a stupid core mechanic, or clearly being a D&D knockoff with nothing original to it, or whatever else. LANCER hasn't.

[gtroc]

I keep reading through and I guess I am getting lost. What is the killer app of this game? Like what does it bring that Dreampod 9(heavy gear, Jovian Chronicles), Mekton, or Battletech do not? If that makes sense. It looks interesting and I will continue to follow its development, but I just can't figure out what to be excited about.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I keep reading through and I guess I am getting lost. What is the killer app of this game? Like what does it bring that Dreampod 9(heavy gear, Jovian Chronicles), Mekton, or Battletech do not? If that makes sense. It looks interesting and I will continue to follow its development, but I just can't figure out what to be excited about.

Well, it's simpler than most of those, I'd venture, having only browsed a couple Heavy Gear books. Pilots only have personality traits (which are also HP outside the mech) and talents; mechs start at 13 points to spend and capping at 27 if you don't 'multiclass', whereas if I understand a grunt-level mech in Mekton is about 100. I'm a fan of one of the authors; that's how a lot of people heard about it. The setting is unique, and I am familiar with the settings of the games you mentioned; Lancer's 'verse is a mix of old-school Starship Troopers/Asimov era sci-fi with more modern takes on AI and resources. The mechs themselves have a Titanfall feel, at least in size (ranging from 'just barely larger than a suit of power armor' to 'small building'), though dismounting your mech and fighting alongside it is probably a bad idea.

Plus, can you say that any of those other games have you print your mechs?

[Hypersmith]

Let me say, I think this is a really cool system so far, although I've barely started reading. I enjoy that the pilot is a thing without the mecha. I'll be reading though the handbook and hopefully seeing some way to get into this.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Mass/Space combat rules are slated to come out sometime this week, with the 1.5 update by the end of the year according to the Lancer twitter.

[SkipSandwich]

I really like the premise, and the progression system is both unique and helps stem the "too many options" issue that is common to the genre. It would be nice if there was more support for non-mech vehicles like tanks, planes, hovercraft and such. Overall though, i really like the way the various weapons and systems work together to form a quasi "class" system, though some system properties remain confusing, for example;

1) There seems to be no mechanical difference between Heavy and Superheavy weapons, so why the separate category?
2) Drones and Missile locks are stated to hit automatically as your End-Of-Round Action, but it is not clear if that means ALL of them or just ONE should you happen to have more than one weapon or system making use of the EoR.
3) The Treads modification for PC's gives +50% movement speed, at the cost of treating Difficult Terrain as Dangerous, preventing the unit from Climbing, Boosting or Flying, and making it more difficult to recover from the Prone condition. Later in the book there is a Tank enemy NPC with a Treads trait that simply has them treat all Difficult Terrain as Normal. And while it is made clear that enemies and players operate under different rules and I have no issue with that in general, this particular example just rubs the wrong way, since as a player, if I wanted to make a Tank-like mecha, and then fought against actual tanks, one of the core WEAKNESSES (navigating difficult terrain) of running a treaded vehicle as a PC is not only ignored but is actually a STRENGTH of enemy treaded vehicles.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I can answer at least two of your questions; Heavy/Superheavy weapons generate different amounts of Heat when fired while Overcharging; I had the same issue at first. If you have a mech with multiple end-of-round weapons, they ALL activate at the end of your round. It's what makes missileboats effective. As for the treads, you could justify it by tanks having additional, nonstated systems that allow the tank to do well in dangerous terrain.

I'm gearing up for a campaign in the coming months; I was expecting to start running it this month, but it looks like the Pathfinder game I play in has got some life in it still. My campaign will have the players working under a Union Intelligence Agency to support rebels in a system to overthrow a corporate regime, while also dealing with some dangerous xenotech.

[SkipSandwich]

So the 1.5 update has been out for a bit now, and I wonder what others think about some of the changes.

I like the switch stats working of a straight modifier in stead of being derivative. Though some of the hulls could do with tweeks. I like that lock-on can be shared with your team, but making System attacks require it now seems like an unneeded nerf to hacking builds.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Pretty much the same as you; on the subreddit I wrote a writeup on how bad a state hacking is in currently. One of the devs stated fixing that is on the board for 1.6. As well, some of the mech stats are screwed up (the Goblin, Hydra, and Death's Head IIRC), but those were pointed out pretty quickly. Also for 1.6 is an expansion for pilot gameplay, which while I am ambivalent towards, should still be exciting.