Lancer - a seemingly fun mech rpg

[Darkstorm]

Hello all. Found myself reading Lancer rules.

Overall they seem fun and easy to play, and also have some tactical depth.

So, is anyone interested in that game? Any GM that wants to run one game?

[Volthawk]

It's one of those systems that comes up here a fair bit here and there, but one where I've never see a game actually last. Still interested, though.

[Darkstorm]

Maybe due to being map dependent and added worload.

For me it seems something I would love to try.

[Ricka Draws]

I've never actually played it but have the book

If possible it would be cool to begin at licence 3 or so to avoid ending with everyone piloting a Everest for what would be a long time here in play by post x.x

[Darkstorm]

From reading the book, everything besides LL0 allows diversity.

LL1 I think is enough for diversity, and allows development possibilities in the game (faster level ups) than starting higher levels.

[n0ble]

Definitely interested! I'm for sure going to be running a game once the Interpoint Map Maker is out-should cut down on the burden of encounter design significantly I'd think Otherwise totally down to play in a game of lancer too.

Edit: Noticed the idea of LL 1 which im totally down with-would you be allowing the variant Everest Chassis found in No Room for a Wallflower and Operation Solstice Rain? They're LL0 frames but focused on defence and tech action control respectively

[Darkstorm]

Well after reading the rules a bit better, and seeing it needs LL2 to access frames, what I would do would be start at LL1 but have access to LL2 frames (like they were given by the merc. company or so) or start at LL2.

[Ricka Draws]

You need LL2 to use frames besides the Everest and that's where the fun and customization begins

[Bennosuke]

THIS IS NOT A GAME OFFER, but at some point in the future, when I have the capacity, I am planning on running a Lancer based Gundam game, set in an alternative timeline but based heavily off of Universal Century and maybe a bit of wing. But I need to have more bandwidth, and with it, the time to finish setting up the base level mechs and some of the homebrew to adapt to the setting.

Sorry that's not very helpful, but thought I'd mention it since it's a goal at some point.

[Volthawk]

THIS IS NOT A GAME OFFER, but at some point in the future, when I have the capacity, I am planning on running a Lancer based Gundam game, set in an alternative timeline but based heavily off of Universal Century and maybe a bit of wing. But I need to have more bandwidth, and with it, the time to finish setting up the base level mechs and some of the homebrew to adapt to the setting.

Sorry that's not very helpful, but thought I'd mention it since it's a goal at some point.

Thanks for mentioning it anyway, because that sounds cool as hell. I'll keep an eye out for it in the future.

[Darkstorm]

THIS IS NOT A GAME OFFER, but at some point in the future, when I have the capacity, I am planning on running a Lancer based Gundam game, set in an alternative timeline but based heavily off of Universal Century and maybe a bit of wing. But I need to have more bandwidth, and with it, the time to finish setting up the base level mechs and some of the homebrew to adapt to the setting.

Sorry that's not very helpful, but thought I'd mention it since it's a goal at some point.

Yeah! That sounds great fun! Whenever you have time!

[Bennosuke]

Thank you, I'm currently running four other games, but hopefully I have the time at some point. However, will keep my eyes on this game and if anyone has any thoughts about how to adapt the rules and setting, I would be more than interested in discussing. Could maybe start a separate thread so that it doesn't distract from this game's recruitment.

[Bitter]

Just mentioning that I would kill for a Lancer game so +1 to the interest. Happy New Year everyone!

[Kuro Dmon]

Also putting a bookmark in this. I would need to find Lancer (so I might be putting the Gundam before the horse, so to speak), but be it Mech Warrior, Gundam, Zoids, or some of the other variants out there, Giant Robots are always a fun time.

[n0ble]

Pitching my idea: rebels of the Long Rim, on a planet far removed from Union's big internal conflict-The Dawnline Shore-you start as labourers in a penal colony. The planet you've been imprisoned on is one that falls under the purview of the House of Stone, one of the most hagiographic/conservative leaning noble houses in the Karrakin Trade Baronies (themselves the settings big Monarchist faction, a civilization born from a generation ship). Touchstone-wise it would probably be close to Spartacus, Red Rising and of course Gurren Lagann with the first "arc" being escape into the wilds of the planet from the penal colony/mine the players & supporting NPCs have been consigned to.

Lancer as a setting really likes 3D printing as a means of building things-the plan is to have a ramshackle printer thats usable to actually make your mechs. I have a couple of plot hook ideas for how PCs might have acquired things like Everest print codes while imprisoned. Here are a few, but obviously these arent the only reasons, just ideas to get people brainstorming:

Spoiler: How did you get your Mech?

Show

This is by no means an exhaustive list/reason you were able to get your hands on a mech-just some ideas I had while thinking how the heck a bunch of prisoners could get their hands things like the Everest

Company Person: With things heating up in the Dawnline Shore, everyone is looking there and not where corporate interests should be looking: Shotora, the planet playing at host to your current prison, Golgotha. Tasked by your superiors with infiltrating the planets government, you decided the best way to do so was directly connecting with pro-labor movements in the form of bogus (legitimate?) incarceration in the depths of Golgotha. Armed with precious else but a printer code issued by your company, you've already connected with Ungrateful elements in the depths.

A Message from doG: You've never seen the light of day above ground. Maybe, born to someone in the belowground workers ghetto that forms Golgotha's civic quarter, never having seen the sun. Never truly acknowledged. Until, somewhere in the depths, something reached out to. Found among an arrangement of curiously aligned rocks. From a piece of labour camp graffiti or on a drunken worker's tattoo. Or perhaps discovered from a mech found buried in stone deeper than anyone else has ever gone. A GMS print code, beamed into your mind like divine revelations from on high.

In Blood, Mettle: Golgotha is but a symptom of the root cause plaguing Shotora as a whole: the excess of the Karrakin nobility found in the capital-Klataua-extracting what is needed to fuel their excesses far away from the eyes of Union and Throne Karrakis. For a time, this was you. Enjoying the heights that Shotara's slow death could afford you. All the father to fall when something-a scandal, a death, a coup-brought you lower than you could have ever thought. Small miracles that your former station afforded you a printer code for your family's frame.

What a Lovely Day: Few in Golgotha are afforded the privilege of working above ground, but Warden Rhosyane has deemed it necessary when it comes to harvesting the foliage-trees for lumber, plants for pleasure & medicine and a few rare minerals found above ground. And the sun. It allowed you to witness one of the grand truths about Shotora: Karrakis was not the first to come here. Amongst the quiet of the trees and foliage, you found your first evidence of this: the carcass of an old mech, the gutted legacy of whoever came before. It took time and patience to smuggle it down below on your returns to Golgotha, but what else was ever at your disposal until now?

[Volthawk]

Oh fun, I haven't come across a game directly dealing with the Baronies before. Naturally a full concept will need a little more thought, but speaking generally I'm finding that last idea of a labourer finding and fixing up an old chassis cool as hell.

[ICN]

I like the sound of that, n0ble. I'm not familiar with a lot of the setting specific details of Lancer, but the general outline/feel looks good to me. Marking interest if this gets off the ground.

[n0ble]

I like the sound of that, n0ble. I'm not familiar with a lot of the setting specific details of Lancer, but the general outline/feel looks good to me. Marking interest if this gets off the ground.

Thanks! The lore can definitely be a bit intimidating, especially because a lot of it isnt really spelled out except for a backsection in the paid for book. Theres a whole youtube series that I found really helpful, but we're also going to be playing far enough in the reaches of Union space that Im hoping there isnt too much burden on the players to know the lore outside of what we engage with. I'd also be happy to answer any questions though lore-wise my answers might change about the immediate setting/planet in the future just because im still working on Shotora as a setting

Edit: Also if people want to feel I'm down with folks using the supplemental frames, talents weapons etc. from Massif

[Ricka Draws]

Well it sounds promising

I've read the lore but I'm not terribly knowledgeable about the karrakin baronies, still interested nonetheless

It gives me a Riddick vibe

[ProgressPaladin]

I’d love this!

[ICN]

Thanks! The lore can definitely be a bit intimidating, especially because a lot of it isnt really spelled out except for a backsection in the paid for book. Theres a whole youtube series that I found really helpful, but we're also going to be playing far enough in the reaches of Union space that Im hoping there isnt too much burden on the players to know the lore outside of what we engage with. I'd also be happy to answer any questions though lore-wise my answers might change about the immediate setting/planet in the future just because im still working on Shotora as a setting

Edit: Also if people want to feel I'm down with folks using the supplemental frames, talents weapons etc. from Massif

Thanks for the link, that playlist will be helpful. It's nice that everything's clearly delineated too; it makes it a lot easier to brush up on a specific subject than the three hour unbroken deep dive a lot of youtubers favor.

[Kuro Dmon]

I wonder if the op has seen that this has a DM now, it seems....

Also, just to be clear, which version of Lancer is supposed to be available/in use? Happy to get into a new thing while trying to read the lore, at least while I still have time....

[ICN]

For Lancer, there are 3 major resources I'm aware of. The first is the core rule book, which is free, though you can toss some money at the publishers if you'd like. IIRC, second edition is a second hardcover printing of the core rule book which isn't out yet. There's the youtube series that n0ble helpfully linked to, if you want to learn more about the lore. The final is Comp/Con, a slick character building app. It comes with the core rulebook stuff already loaded in, and more 1st and 3rd party stuff can be added through the content manager. Comp/Con isn't useful just yet, but it's good to know about.

[Bitter]

Ungrateful time! Now all I need to do is think of a name as perfect as Tyrannocleave.

[Darkstorm]

Back and UAU! Thanks!!

Still interested of course

[ProgressPaladin]

Can I build my character without comp/con?

[Bitter]

Can I build my character without comp/con?

IMO not using comp/con is shooting yourself in the foot. It’s very easy to use, there’s no download, it’s free and it’s so smooth it puts a lot of character creators from much bigger companies to shame.

Edit:

Like here is a LL0 mech I threw together in 50 seconds in Comp/Con just to show how quick and easy it is:

-- GMS Everest @ LL0 --
[ LICENSES ]
N/A
[ CORE BONUSES ]
N/A
[ TALENTS ]
Combined Arms 1, Vanguard 1, Executioner 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:16 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: Shotgun
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
HEAVY MOUNT: Heavy Charged Blade
[ SYSTEMS ]
Type-3 Projected Shield, Pattern-B HEX Charges x3, Personalizations, Custom Paint Job

[n0ble]

Thanks for the interest everyone! And thanks to those that mentioned comp/con-its the way to make characters IMO.

I'm still a ways out from being able to run my proposed idea as a campaign but can for sure post a recruitment thread link here when its time to avoid cluttering other people's pitches. The other thing I wanted to mention from a GM perspective is that playing Lancer via play by post is really two different games played together-the combat missions (I plan to use roll20 & hexes with the finished interpoint map maker to cut down on encounter design, and Retrograde Minis for players & NPCs) and the downtime/prep for the next mission.

I think the latter of these is probably best handled via freeform RP until you want to roll for a pre-mission reserve-games inspired by Forged in the Dark like Lancer's out of combat rules tend to be hard/require a ton of work to do properly via play by post. Theres also the fact that combats go on for a while via play by post but I'm hoping to counteract this by having the action be meaningful in terms of stakes and always try to move the story along with each combat as well. LL0-12 is a lot of levels for dramatic beats in between too I think

[Bitter]

The compromise I made for out of combat skill checks when I GMed a PBP game offsite is basically to get rid of step 2 and condense the rest so it’s less of a dialogue and more of a straight forward roll like you see in most RPGs. The PC doesn’t know the consequences or the roll is risky/difficult/heroic but that’s not exactly a unique thing in RPGs and means that it can be resolved in two posts: the PC saying what they want to do and rolling what they think are the appropriate dice then the GM letting them know the result.

[CateranEnforcer]

Oh yeah, Lancer is great. Making maps is the trickiest part for me. But it's great fun. I'll keep an eye out here. It's also one of those things I'd love to try to gm, just haven't had the time. But comp conn is great for playing around in in the meantime.