Lancer - a seemingly fun mech rpg

[BelGareth]

SUPERRRR interested.

Especially if Noble is running.

EDIT: for people who are new, this is a great resource

[ProgressPaladin]

Hey, I’m new to lancer, and I’ve been looking for a mech that can make a lot of attacks per turn. Does anyone have any recommendations? It would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

[Mousedigits]

Voicing interest! I'd love to play a Lancer game.

[ICN]

Hey, I’m new to lancer, and I’ve been looking for a mech that can make a lot of attacks per turn. Does anyone have any recommendations? It would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

Well, it depends exactly how you want to go about it. Once per round, you can skirmish as a quick action, attacking with the weapons on one mount, or you can barrage as a full action, attacking with the weapons on two mounts or one superheavy weapon. (Superheavy weapons can't be used to skirmish.) Since you attack with all the weapons on a mount, and flex or aux/aux mounts let you put two auxiliary weapons on them, if you're looking for a lot of attacks per turn going with auxiliary weapons can net you 4 attack rolls per turn if the mech has the right mounts. (Also, check out the gunslinger talent if you're going this route.) When considering mechs, there are two things to keep in mind with license levels; the mech frame you gain access to, and the gear that you gain access to.

The SSC Swallowtail license is a good choice if you go for the auxiliary spam route; the mech has the space to mount 4 auxiliary weapons, it gets a nice long range auxiliary weapon so you won't have to reposition as often, and as a mech frame trait allows you to shred a target as a quick action. (Shredding negates a target's armor, which is very useful if you're making a bunch of small attacks.)

If you want to go melee aux spam, the IPS-N Nelson is a good choice; it gets some useful weapons as part of its licensing, is speedy quick, and if you need to take a quick action to move into melee range, it gets bonus damage.

The Horus Pegasus has the mounts to put on 4 aux weapons, though it doesn't gain any from its license (the GMS equipment is available to everyone, but is generally a bit weaker than the stuff found in licenses.) What it does get is a frame trait that lets you automatically hit someone once a round for 1 armor piercing damage (it's better than it sounds; grunt enemies only have 1 hp), and it gets the autogun, which automatically shoots at the end of your turn, though doesn't trigger talents.

The SSC Monarch is where I'll start breaking from the aux spam option. It gets a ranged main mount weapon that can attack two targets at once, so if you have two of them you still get 4 attacks. There's also the AoE option; you won't attack as often, but since each attack hits multiple targets you still make a lot of rolls. The Monarch also gets a superheavy blast 1 weapon that attacks two different areas. The downside is it inflicts two heat on yourself, so attacking with it every turn likely isn't an option unless you build for it at higher levels.

Considering AoE, the HA Genghis gets a heavy cone 5 burn weapon (burn is armor piercing damage that will continue to hurt enemies if they don't save at the end of their turn) at license level 1, so it's a pretty easy dip if you just want the weapon.

You could even combine the approachs if you wanted. The IPS-N Raleigh frame has a trait that lets it automatically reload loading weapons if it didn't attack on its turn, and an integrated weapon that gets a free attack whenever you reload a weapon (they do work together). GMS has an auxiliary weapon that's blast 1, with the downside that it's a loading weapon. The Raleigh can spend a turn attacking with 4 of those, then next turn they do something else and get to reload them all for free and still fire a gun.

[ProgressPaladin]

Are Main/Aux mounts better than Aux/Aux mounts?

[Bitter]

Just to add a few more options:

The base mech, the Everest, is not weaker than the mechs you gain access to as you gain LLs and it comes with both lots of weapon mounts and a trait giving it extra actions.

The Harrison mechs in general can benefit from abusing Overcharge to get more actions and shoot more while the Sherman in particular has a NHP that can give it extra actions to shoot a lot more than normal.

The Blackbeard has an NHP that grants it an extra free melee attack while also making it beserk.

[Bitter]

Are Main/Aux mounts better than Aux/Aux mounts?

Yes. Weapon sizes in descending order of power are super heavy, heavy, main and aux. Main/aux gives you a better combo then an aux/aux because one gun is more powerful.

Not only that but if you really wanted to for some reason you can put smaller weapons in larger mounts so you could put an aux in your main slot if you really wanted to (don’t do this) meaning the main/aux literally does everything the aux/aux does but more.

[BelGareth]

Also worth noting, MOST of the starter non licensed weapons that are AUX are CQB/MELEE. there is the Nexus Light, and also the Missile Rack at range 10, but the Missile Rack requires reloading.

[n0ble]

Hey, I’m new to lancer, and I’ve been looking for a mech that can make a lot of attacks per turn. Does anyone have any recommendations? It would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

ICN has legit explained the breakdown way, way better than I ever could (my go to suggestions were the Nelson & Hunter Talent and the Swallowtail with Gunslinger). I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have and just wanted to mention two other things. One of the big things that sold me on Lancer is that you cant take any of the 3 LL0 Frames (Everest & two others found in supplements-which are all free as LCPs/file for comp/con) all the way from LL0-12 and still have a mech thats the equal of anyone else's on the team. Like. The Everest with the NHP that Bitter mentioned previously (ASURA NHP) will legitimately break the action economy over its knee.

The second thing is that the game has core bonuses that you get every 3 LL. For every 3 LL you have in one company besides GMS (IPSN, SSC, H0rus & HA) you can take one of their core bonuses. GMS-the LL0 faction/galactic standard of production-has its own series of core bonuses that you can always take every 3 LL. Two of them grant improved/extra weapon mounts: one replaces a mount with a Main/Aux mount (Mount retrofitting) and the other gives you a new Flex Mount (Improved Armament) but that latter one has a pre-req where your mech can only have two weapon mounts at base to take a third. Theoretically you could field 6 Aux/Aux mounts on something like a Swallowtail for example (not recommended though, the Swallowtails aux weapon also costs your mech System points/is so advanced as a weapon that it takes up hardware in the mech itself).

My general advice would be to pick a mech whose anime tropes and/asthetic best fit your playstyle/taste as a player and then try and match the keywords found in their weapons/gimmicks to some of the talent trees. IIRC most types of weapons have some kind of support via those and each mech entry is generally pretty good at spelling out what it wants to do with the gear/weapons its got. Again if you have any other questions just ask

Also just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who's posted or voiced interested so far-been really hard to find an IRL game with my usual crew so its nice to find such an enthusiastic community on here for Lancer

[Thunder999]

If this is still accepting interest I'm very interested in Lancer.

[ProgressPaladin]

Thank you so much! I was thinking about the Nelson hunter idea, and am gonna use it.

[Bitter]

My general advice for building a mech for the first time is find one that seems cool and where you can see how it is meant to work, then take your first three licenses in that mech.

Lancer mechs are modular and not only can you mix and match from different mechs but from LL4 onwards you will pretty much have to do so. However each mech is also a fairly self contained little package that focuses on its own thing. If you take all three levels in a license you won’t ever be going wrong and then by the time you get to LL4 you’ll have picked up enough in game experience to make informed choices about what you want to add onto your mech from other licenses.

So the Nelson for example is focused on moving in quickly, and hitting people hard with a skirmish and then getting out. Manuverable and packs a punch.

In it’s three LL3 you get stuff to help that manuverability, you get good weapons which fit the Nelson mounts, you get the ability to negate grapples on you (which will be the enemy’s main way of trying to lock a Nelson down) and all together they also add some knockback capability which also means that when you jump in and hit that vulnerable backline NPC, you’re not just hitting hard; you’re also knocking them out of cover for the rest of the team.

Edit: or just ask me to build your mech as I will happily build a mech for kicks!

Here’s an LL3 Nelson!

-- IPS-N Nelson @ LL3 --
[ LICENSES ]
IPS-N Nelson 3
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Overpower Caliber
[ TALENTS ]
Hunter 3, Duelist 2, Skirmisher 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:1 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:16 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+0
SPD:6 EVA:13 EDEF:8 SENSE:5 SAVE:12
[ WEAPONS ]
FLEX MOUNT: Power Knuckles / Power Knuckles
MAIN/AUX MOUNT: War Pike (Thermal Charge) / Power Knuckles // Overpower Caliber
[ SYSTEMS ]
Bulwark Mods, Personalizations, Armor-Lock Plating, Ramjet

And here’s one at LL6! The main idea is on a typical turn your boost in, hit for 2d6 with your chain axe (3d6 if you use a thermal charge) and shred on a crit, hit with power knuckles for another 1d3+1 (Prone on a crit), trigger Ram with Duellist 3 which benefits from Juggernaut 2 and Siege Ram. You gain accuracy from Duellist 1 and Juggernaut 1. Catalytic Hammer is there is you need to try locking a bad guy down for a turn with stun and the other gubbins are for general survivability or giving more grapple options.

-- IPS-N Nelson @ LL6 --
[ LICENSES ]
IPS-N Nelson 3, IPS-N Blackbeard 1, IPS-N Tortuga 2
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Overpower Caliber, Reinforced Frame
[ TALENTS ]
Juggernaut 3, Duelist 3, Skirmisher 2, Hunter 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:4 SYS:2 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:20 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:6
TECH ATK:+2 LIMITED:+0
SPD:7 EVA:15 EDEF:9 SENSE:5 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
FLEX MOUNT: Catalytic Hammer
MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Chain Axe (Thermal Charge) / Power Knuckles // Overpower Caliber
[ SYSTEMS ]
Siege Ram, Synthetic Muscle Netting, Ramjet, Armor-Lock Plating

[CateranEnforcer]

There's also a series on YouTube called Lancer Custowerks that goes over a lot of potential build ideas that can kickstart your imagination and show you what is possible.

[n0ble]

Hey all, sorry for the silence. Between Forum issues and IRL stuff I've been pretty busy but I managed to write down some friendly NPCs that are fixtures in Golgotha/the Rebellion-antagonists should also be up sometime this week.

Spoiler: NPCs: The Revolution

Show

Commander Emil Karst, Father of the Revolution: Karst is ex-Albatross, and it’s the remnant of forces still loyal to him that form the hardened core of your burgeoning revolution. Emil is an old man in his late fifties, always clad in some sort of military apparel that typically favors black as a color. It has been a long, long time since he’s been in the cockpit of his Nelson-the Last Call-but if the scraped together pilot simulators found underneath Golgotha’s surface are any indication time apart has done nothing to dull the betrayed Commander’s skills as a pilot.

While the Commander personally divulges little regarding his imprisonment, its still relatively easy to piece together what happened to the former Albatross member. Karst’s wing arrived to Shortora in answer to an alleged distress signal. What followed were a gradual series of concession-betrayals which culminated in the Commander’s imprisonment and the ascension of Commander Gorth’s father to the head of the “Loyal” Wing remnants that would go on to form a nominal Baronic Free Company under Governor Cannamos’ purview. Many wonder what will happen when Emil meets his former friend’s son in battle.

Karst’s role in the revolution is twofold: while Kareftis might have a mind for politics and Liz for engineering, it is the Old Man alone who knows how to command a war. The second feature is that, aside from the aforementioned Albatross veterans he brings with him, Karst has been able to scuttle, import and steal a sizable amount of munitions and armaments for you and the revolution to use, all the more impressive for how he did so from the bowels of Golgotha. He’s seen a great deal many weapons on a greatsame many worlds in his time as a cosmopolitan, which has made the unforeseen betrayal of his former comrades sting all the more. Worse than any warpike’s bite.

Lady Irimloza Kareftis: The lady Kareftis is far from home. Raised on the icy sepulcher of Begum, Irimloza was provided with an education classical to the House of Remembrance: a mix of genetic education and the sort of cutthroat political acumen sorely missing from the revolution. Its these two pillars that the exiles and former noble members of Klataua have subsequently flocked to, deferring to the noblewoman for her her superior ranking amongst them as much as for her scientific acumen in the field of biology.

It was this very same skill that saw Irimloza to Shortora, ostensibly on a survey mission investigating remnants of genetic diversity in the Long Rim. What she discovered was a truth known to some but not all: Karrakis was late to arriving on Shotora first. Naturally, Governor Cannamos could not let such an idea propagate amongst the lower rungs of Klatauan society. Public censure did little to curtail Lady Kareftis’ research into prior colonial elements and, undisuadid by threat or promise of reward, the Lady kept looking. Too high within her the House of Moments to risk the fallout of a death abroad, Governor Cannamos instead opted to “reassign” Irimloza to the depths of Golgotha.

Now amongst the lowborn (and a few sympathetic nobles), Kareftis acts as the informal head of the Revolutions intelligentsia, having accrued intellectuals and thinkers the way a sponge sops up water. While Karst might have a mind for war and Liz for machines, it is the Lady and her thinkers that are concerned not only with maintaining the haleness of the prison’s population (as she’s keen to remind other Karrakin nobles technically it is Doctor Kareftis) but with their education in the political as well. Irimloza, like Karst has seen what the rest of Union space contains in terms of its peoples and their myriad outlooks. Time will tell if her work yields something entirely new in terms of thought or if it is the genesis of Shotorans thinking like a more established entity.

Liz & SLATE: The laborers of Golgotha are an informal bunch, much more inclined to their work then they are to socialize with the prior to factions of the Revolution. Publically, their representatives are a wizard of an engineer and her hulking guardian of an NHP. The dyad of woman and artifice (Throne only knows where and how she cycles it below ground) have been instrumental in ensuring not only that Golgotha’s quotas are met via the repair of essential mining tools, but that the bare minimum of provided habitation technology that allows for work underground is maintained so as to preserve the prison-community’s “ecosystem”.

Much more cagey than Kareftis in the origins of her incarceration, it’s a matter of hotbutton conjecture the prison over just what Liz did to land themselves in Golgotha, to say nothing of how it’s a topic of frequent good-natured debate between the Revolution’s Laborers and Intelligentsia. There's even a small betting pool going on. There's an unspoken expectation that the reveal and conclusion of the betting will be timed to coincide with the “Big Push” as Karst puts it, no doubt blared out via whatever speakers Liz’s NHP has been able to suborn.

While not an active combatant, Liz and SLATE bring the full technical expertise of the laborers and their engineers to the revolution’s cause. This is displayed is a strange knack for improvisation, a talent which plays no small part in their ability to maintain the many work machines the laborers use for mining Shotora’s flesh. It was only natural that this technical acumen could be further applied to the mech frames that made the revolution a feasible option for Liz and her NHP. Rumors abound that the young Shotoran native is working on converting SLATE’s chassis into a mech-frame of their own

Spoiler: NPCs: Antagonists (Golgotha)

Show

Warden Rhosyane-Ludra: a governor writ-small against the backdrop of the would-be kingdom that is Golgotha, the warden is a brutal individual. She sees the prisoners under her thumb as little more than economic units, numbers that run up and down alongside other tallies such. It is an earned cynicism, accumulated like so many layers of sediment after a long and storied career abroad in the House of Stone’s Paragon Company. The brutality of this outfit-and the commanding position she held within it-made her well suited to controlling mining interests far away from the Capital.

This totalitarian haigography is all fueled by a common, well known origin in the Long-Rim putting down pirates on various satellite planetoids in defense of the House of Stone’s economic holdings abroad. It was during this service to the House that Rhosane-Ludra was injured against a paracausal entity. The wound has since permeated her body, leaving the austere woman unable to leave the confines of her mecha, The Gavel.

Something of a careerist, its never personal with the Warden. Its just business. Well. Sort of. When the Warden came to Golgotha they came with family. A son, the result of some sort of dalliance on an off-planet colony during her time in service. Bashir-her progeny-is the only person in all the prison who does not call her Warden.

Security Chief Harkon: A big bull of a man on an extended leave from the Capital, Harkon is the much more public facing middleman between the Warden and Golgotha’s prisoners. Where the Warden is a careerist who sees herself as the head cog in the prison machine, Harkon has something arguably more dangerous than duty: ambition. Not for some petty position lording over the condemned but a return to the sunshine and leisure of the capital.

in keeping with his role as the Warden’s presence, Harkon’s reasons for exile from the capital are unknown, though whatever nobility might have been involved in the Security Chief’s departure has long since be eroded away by the confines of his current environment. Now he acts as a bully first and head of security second, readily abusing his authority in a manner that’s seen Golgotha take a remarkable turn towards corruption under the Warden’s current tenure.

In this sense, Harkon fills a vital niche in the prison’s economy: he’s the go to person for acquiring things not readily available from the surface. Karst has had to take great pains to circumvent Harkon’s parasitic stranglehold on Golgotha’s prison economy. This has played a large part in the decision to excise the Security Chief as a part of the Revolution, to say nothing of the fact that Golgotha boasts a readily available complement of security personnel, many of them hand-chosen from the Warden’s former unit. It galls the Security Chief all the more that these veterans recognize that he’s never served and so afford him the requisite amount of respect.

The OVERSEER: While Warden secures Golgotha’s place in the greater planetary ecosystem and Harkon sees to order at the end of a gun barrel, the actual administration of the prison has been given over to an NHP given the simple designation of the OVERSEER. The being is responsible for ensuring that the quotas stripped from Shotora’s flesh are processed and melted down into something more suitable for transport to the capital.

Much like the Warden, the OVERSEER is a dispassionate worker, largely framing itself as an ally when the reality of its cognition is that it is incapable of feeling things like cruelty, joy or contempt for those around it. This dissmemination has a flaw insofar as the OVERSEER has a prime unit it typically occupies close to the upper levels of the prison.

Typically, the OVERSEER occupies a number of RPV chassis, haunting the various work crews and prisoner mining outfits with a ghoulish sort of indifference. Beyond the filling of quotas that is. Thus, the OVERSEER stands as a sort of mocking reminder: Golgotha could be wholly capable of mechanizing its production and focusing on the reform of its prisoner elements. But it hasn’t.

[Darkstorm]

Very deep NPC's. Cool.

I've drafted a character - a former noble lady, wich family had a windfall and got usurped by the rival family, driving the remaining (potential heirs) to the mines, but still have to connect all to the nobles and factions in lancer.

[Bitter]

I’ve got the general structure of a character that taps into the “Lancer universe is big and weird” vibe.

Personality wise very much a DOJ/HR or Albatross style crusader who understands both the utopian potential of Union and the current problems it faces; but from a much weirder organisation. Likely got imprisoned while trying to take direct action against the House of Stone in one way or another.

Part of a group that is part religious order, part philosophical working group and part mad science experiment. The idea is they’re working on transhumanism that perhaps pushes past the boundaries of what the First Contact Accords allow and goes beyond simply “humans but better with perfect genes”. Key features are a tripartite mind (each portion mapping to one of the three divine characteristics of the order) with machine assisted load balancing and semi-independent cephalopod based nervous systems. In effect this will mean that when he’s concentrating on something especially difficult , non-pertinent parts of his brain may be temporarily repurposed to help in that task which can result in some weirdness e.g. in a fight he may be perfectly competent and rationale from a tactical
perspective but temporarily have no idea of who he is, why he’s fighting or why his body should do things like automatically withdraw from pain because all the parts of his brain involved in that have been reformatted to helping him do 360 noscope headshot.

[n0ble]

I’ve got the general structure of a character that taps into the “Lancer universe is big and weird” vibe.

Personality wise very much a DOJ/HR or Albatross style crusader who understands both the utopian potential of Union and the current problems it faces; but from a much weirder organisation. Likely got imprisoned while trying to take direct action against the House of Stone in one way or another.

Part of a group that is part religious order, part philosophical working group and part mad science experiment. The idea is they’re working on transhumanism that perhaps pushes past the boundaries of what the First Contact Accords allow and goes beyond simply “humans but better with perfect genes”. Key features are a tripartite mind (each portion mapping to one of the three divine characteristics of the order) with machine assisted load balancing and semi-independent cephalopod based nervous systems. In effect this will mean that when he’s concentrating on something especially difficult , non-pertinent parts of his brain may be temporarily repurposed to help in that task which can result in some weirdness e.g. in a fight he may be perfectly competent and rationale from a tactical perspective but temporarily have no idea of who he is, why he’s fighting or why his body should do things like automatically withdraw from pain because all the parts of his brain involved in that have been reformatted to helping him do 360 noscope headshot.

Ohhh very cool! Kind of reminds me of Murderbot by Martha Wells-at least based on what I've heard about the book

Very deep NPC's. Cool.

I've drafted a character - a former noble lady, wich family had a windfall and got usurped by the rival family, driving the remaining (potential heirs) to the mines, but still have to connect all to the nobles and factions in lancer.

Nice! Did you want to make her part of the Revolutions intelligentsia at all?

Also made up some local antagonists:

Spoiler: Antagonists (Golgotha)

Show

Warden Rhosyane-Ludra: a governor writ-small against the backdrop of the would-be kingdom that is Golgotha, the warden is a brutal individual. She sees the prisoners under her thumb as little more than economic units, numbers that run up and down alongside other tallies such. It is an earned cynicism, accumulated like so many layers of sediment after a long and storied career abroad in the House of Stone’s Paragon Company. The brutality of this outfit-and the commanding position she held within it-made her well suited to controlling mining interests far away from the Capital.

This totalitarian haigography is all fueled by a common, well known origin in the Long-Rim putting down pirates on various satellite planetoids in defense of the House of Stone’s economic holdings abroad. It was during this service to the House that Rhosane-Ludra was injured against a paracausal entity. The wound has since permeated her body, leaving the austere woman unable to leave the confines of her mecha, The Gavel.

Something of a careerist, its never personal with the Warden. Its just business. Well. Sort of. When the Warden came to Golgotha they came with family. A son, the result of some sort of dalliance on an off-planet colony during her time in service. Bashir-her progeny-is the only person in all the prison who does not call her Warden.

Security Chief Harkon: A big bull of a man on an extended leave from the Capital, Harkon is the much more public facing middleman between the Warden and Golgotha’s prisoners. Where the Warden is a careerist who sees herself as the head cog in the prison machine, Harkon has something arguably more dangerous than duty: ambition. Not for some petty position lording over the condemned but a return to the sunshine and leisure of the capital.

in keeping with his role as the Warden’s presence, Harkon’s reasons for exile from the capital are unknown, though whatever nobility might have been involved in the Security Chief’s departure has long since be eroded away by the confines of his current environment. Now he acts as a bully first and head of security second, readily abusing his authority in a manner that’s seen Golgotha take a remarkable turn towards corruption under the Warden’s current tenure.

In this sense, Harkon fills a vital niche in the prison’s economy: he’s the go to person for acquiring things not readily available from the surface. Karst has had to take great pains to circumvent Harkon’s parasitic stranglehold on Golgotha’s prison economy. This has played a large part in the decision to excise the Security Chief as a part of the Revolution, to say nothing of the fact that Golgotha boasts a readily available complement of security personnel, many of them hand-chosen from the Warden’s former unit. It galls the Security Chief all the more that these veterans recognize that he’s never served and so afford him the requisite amount of respect.

The OVERSEER: While Warden secures Golgotha’s place in the greater planetary ecosystem and Harkon sees to order at the end of a gun barrel, the actual administration of the prison has been given over to an NHP given the simple designation of the OVERSEER. The being is responsible for ensuring that the quotas stripped from Shotora’s flesh are processed and melted down into something more suitable for transport to the capital.

Much like the Warden, the OVERSEER is a dispassionate worker, largely framing itself as an ally when the reality of its cognition is that it is incapable of feeling things like cruelty, joy or contempt for those around it. This dissmemination has a flaw insofar as the OVERSEER has a prime unit it typically occupies close to the upper levels of the prison.

Typically, the OVERSEER occupies a number of RPV chassis, haunting the various work crews and prisoner mining outfits with a ghoulish sort of indifference. Beyond the filling of quotas that is. Thus, the OVERSEER stands as a sort of mocking reminder: Golgotha could be wholly capable of mechanizing its production and focusing on the reform of its prisoner elements. But it hasn’t.

[Bitter]

Ohhh very cool! Kind of reminds me of Murderbot by Martha Wells-at least based on what I've heard about the book

Thank you! Not quite a Murderbot type character as there won’t be a focus on an internal narrative of social awkwardness which defines Murderbot and for all their “I was so weirded out that this person hugged me that my efficiency rating dropped 23%” talk, Murderbot is in many ways a very human character when I want to focus more on transhumanism. A bigger inspiration was the genetically engineered squid in Children of Ruin and their Reach and Crown dynamic.

Can I just check will all first party books be allowed? The mechanical aspects of them are all available for free via the comp/con downloads at https://massif-press.itch.io/

Spoiler: Antagonists (Golgotha)

Show

Warden Rhosyane-Ludra: a governor writ-small against the backdrop of the would-be kingdom that is Golgotha, the warden is a brutal individual. She sees the prisoners under her thumb as little more than economic units, numbers that run up and down alongside other tallies such. It is an earned cynicism, accumulated like so many layers of sediment after a long and storied career abroad in the House of Stone’s Paragon Company. The brutality of this outfit-and the commanding position she held within it-made her well suited to controlling mining interests far away from the Capital.

This totalitarian haigography is all fueled by a common, well known origin in the Long-Rim putting down pirates on various satellite planetoids in defense of the House of Stone’s economic holdings abroad. It was during this service to the House that Rhosane-Ludra was injured against a paracausal entity. The wound has since permeated her body, leaving the austere woman unable to leave the confines of her mecha, The Gavel.

Something of a careerist, its never personal with the Warden. Its just business. Well. Sort of. When the Warden came to Golgotha they came with family. A son, the result of some sort of dalliance on an off-planet colony during her time in service. Bashir-her progeny-is the only person in all the prison who does not call her Warden.

Security Chief Harkon: A big bull of a man on an extended leave from the Capital, Harkon is the much more public facing middleman between the Warden and Golgotha’s prisoners. Where the Warden is a careerist who sees herself as the head cog in the prison machine, Harkon has something arguably more dangerous than duty: ambition. Not for some petty position lording over the condemned but a return to the sunshine and leisure of the capital.

in keeping with his role as the Warden’s presence, Harkon’s reasons for exile from the capital are unknown, though whatever nobility might have been involved in the Security Chief’s departure has long since be eroded away by the confines of his current environment. Now he acts as a bully first and head of security second, readily abusing his authority in a manner that’s seen Golgotha take a remarkable turn towards corruption under the Warden’s current tenure.

In this sense, Harkon fills a vital niche in the prison’s economy: he’s the go to person for acquiring things not readily available from the surface. Karst has had to take great pains to circumvent Harkon’s parasitic stranglehold on Golgotha’s prison economy. This has played a large part in the decision to excise the Security Chief as a part of the Revolution, to say nothing of the fact that Golgotha boasts a readily available complement of security personnel, many of them hand-chosen from the Warden’s former unit. It galls the Security Chief all the more that these veterans recognize that he’s never served and so afford him the requisite amount of respect.

The OVERSEER: While Warden secures Golgotha’s place in the greater planetary ecosystem and Harkon sees to order at the end of a gun barrel, the actual administration of the prison has been given over to an NHP given the simple designation of the OVERSEER. The being is responsible for ensuring that the quotas stripped from Shotora’s flesh are processed and melted down into something more suitable for transport to the capital.

Much like the Warden, the OVERSEER is a dispassionate worker, largely framing itself as an ally when the reality of its cognition is that it is incapable of feeling things like cruelty, joy or contempt for those around it. This dissmemination has a flaw insofar as the OVERSEER has a prime unit it typically occupies close to the upper levels of the prison.

Typically, the OVERSEER occupies a number of RPV chassis, haunting the various work crews and prisoner mining outfits with a ghoulish sort of indifference. Beyond the filling of quotas that is. Thus, the OVERSEER stands as a sort of mocking reminder: Golgotha could be wholly capable of mechanizing its production and focusing on the reform of its prisoner elements. But it hasn’t.

Very cool!

[n0ble]

Thank you! Not quite a Murderbot type character as there won’t be a focus on an internal narrative of social awkwardness which defines Murderbot and for all their “I was so weirded out that this person hugged me that my efficiency rating dropped 23%” talk, Murderbot is in many ways a very human character when I want to focus more on transhumanism. A bigger inspiration was the genetically engineered squid in Children of Ruin and their Reach and Crown dynamic.

Can I just check will all first party books be allowed? The mechanical aspects of them are all available for free via the comp/con downloads at https://massif-press.itch.io/

Very cool!

Thanks! Its been a ton of fun conceptualizing the broad strokes of the campaign so far-should have Antagonists from the capital up sometime over the weekend/next week. And for sure! All first party contents good with me!

[Bitter]

I’m not particularly attached to any role or mech type and if I’ve got chosen I’m happy to fit in any party composition, but here are my top builds so far (assuming LL0 start):

Sagamartha melee build that would go towards Empakaai. This is my favourite just because I can work in a hook about having this old frame.

-- GMS Sagarmatha @ LL0 --
[ LICENSES ]
N/A
[ CORE BONUSES ]
N/A
[ TALENTS ]
Pankrati 1, House Guard 1, Executioner 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:14 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:5
TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
HEAVY MOUNT: Tempest Charged Blade
[ SYSTEMS ]
Armament Redundancy, Personalizations, Custom Paint Job, Pattern-A Smoke Charges x3, EVA Module

A Chomolungma which would either go some generic hacker route or maybe a Minotaur melee-grapple-stun build I’ve been thinking about.

-- GMS Chomolungma @ LL0 --
[ LICENSES ]
N/A
[ CORE BONUSES ]
N/A
[ TALENTS ]
Hacker 1, Centimane 1, Spotter 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:0 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:12 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:4
TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:12 SENSE:15 SAVE:11
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Hunter-Killer) / Nexus (Light)
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
[ SYSTEMS ]
Personalizations, Pattern-A Jericho Deployable Cover, Custom Paint Job, Type-3 Projected Shield, Armament Redundancy, Manipulators

A CQC build that could either develop into a Tortuga or a Genghis:

-- 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]

I’m not particularly attached to any role or mech type and if I’ve got chosen I’m happy to fit in any party composition, but here are my top builds so far (assuming LL0 start):

Sagamartha melee build that would go towards Empakaai. This is my favourite just because I can work in a hook about having this old frame.

-- GMS Sagarmatha @ LL0 --
[ LICENSES ]
N/A
[ CORE BONUSES ]
N/A
[ TALENTS ]
Pankrati 1, House Guard 1, Executioner 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:2 AGI:0 SYS:0 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:14 ARMOR:1
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:5
TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:10
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN MOUNT: SUPERHEAVY WEAPON BRACING
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
HEAVY MOUNT: Tempest Charged Blade
[ SYSTEMS ]
Armament Redundancy, Personalizations, Custom Paint Job, Pattern-A Smoke Charges x3, EVA Module

A Chomolungma which would either go some generic hacker route or maybe a Minotaur melee-grapple-stun build I’ve been thinking about.

-- GMS Chomolungma @ LL0 --
[ LICENSES ]
N/A
[ CORE BONUSES ]
N/A
[ TALENTS ]
Hacker 1, Centimane 1, Spotter 1
[ STATS ]
HULL:0 AGI:0 SYS:2 ENGI:0
STRUCTURE:4 HP:12 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:4
TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+0
SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:12 SENSE:15 SAVE:11
[ WEAPONS ]
MAIN/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Hunter-Killer) / Nexus (Light)
FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle
[ SYSTEMS ]
Personalizations, Pattern-A Jericho Deployable Cover, Custom Paint Job, Type-3 Projected Shield, Armament Redundancy, Manipulators

A CQC build that could either develop into a Tortuga or a Genghis:

-- 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

Woah those all look awesome! I've been working on a Calendula build for the minotaur myself and it was a little tricky but I got something thats pretty fun eventually by doing Lesson of Thinking Tomorrow's Thought, Ophidian Trek from Metafold Carver & the Mourning Cloak's weapon suite

Also for everyone, the Lancer map maker is coming out this Friday-I think I'll get to posting an official recruitment thread on-Forum then if that works for everyone. With the Forum having issues in terms of getting up posts I'll keep recruitment open long enough for everyone who's posted interest so far here to get an entry in. All first party content is fine and so is the latest stuff in playtest from Winter Scar & Shadow of the Wolf-would be happy to hear peoples thoughts on it for feedback that we can take back to the creators too. If anyone has any other questions they want to ask here about character creation in the meantime just let me know! Recruitment should be up Friday along with some additional lore bits for folks

As a final note I work 4 days on 5 off with my last two shifts being night shifts and with a pretty big test coming up that I need to study for Im going to try and keeping posting steady and consistent for folks even if it means a bit of a slower pace. To help remedy how this can make combat annoying to run I'll do my best to make sure the action actually moves the plot along in a meaningful manner and that it actually has dramatic weight/stakes that you as players can engage in. I feel like a discord server will definitley help manage things like reactions and questions about combat so I'll for sure get that up along with player selections when its time. Really looking forward to seeing peoples entries

[BelGareth]

Woah those all look awesome! I've been working on a Calendula build for the minotaur myself and it was a little tricky but I got something thats pretty fun eventually by doing Lesson of Thinking Tomorrow's Thought, Ophidian Trek from Metafold Carver & the Mourning Cloak's weapon suite

Also for everyone, the Lancer map maker is coming out this Friday-I think I'll get to posting an official recruitment thread on-Forum then if that works for everyone. With the Forum having issues in terms of getting up posts I'll keep recruitment open long enough for everyone who's posted interest so far here to get an entry in. All first party content is fine and so is the latest stuff in playtest from Winter Scar & Shadow of the Wolf-would be happy to hear peoples thoughts on it for feedback that we can take back to the creators too. If anyone has any other questions they want to ask here about character creation in the meantime just let me know! Recruitment should be up Friday along with some additional lore bits for folks

As a final note I work 4 days on 5 off with my last two shifts being night shifts and with a pretty big test coming up that I need to study for Im going to try and keeping posting steady and consistent for folks even if it means a bit of a slower pace. To help remedy how this can make combat annoying to run I'll do my best to make sure the action actually moves the plot along in a meaningful manner and that it actually has dramatic weight/stakes that you as players can engage in. I feel like a discord server will definitley help manage things like reactions and questions about combat so I'll for sure get that up along with player selections when its time. Really looking forward to seeing peoples entries

Lancer map making? more info please!!!

(also, if you would like DM assistance, i'd be happy to assist)

[n0ble]

Lancer map making? more info please!!!

(also, if you would like DM assistance, i'd be happy to assist)

Ralf/Interpoint Stations GM has been working on a map maker for Lancer on roll20 for a while thats coming out really soon-its mostly what I've been waiting on to run a game just because from the looks of things its really really going to cut down on the time it takes to make battlemaps for missions (honestly the biggest hold up/jam for me when it comes to playing Lancer).

And I wont say no but happy to have you as a player too!

[BelGareth]

Ralf/Interpoint Stations GM has been working on a map maker for Lancer on roll20 for a while thats coming out really soon-its mostly what I've been waiting on to run a game just because from the looks of things its really really going to cut down on the time it takes to make battlemaps for missions (honestly the biggest hold up/jam for me when it comes to playing Lancer).

And I wont say no but happy to have you as a player too!

Oh, that is nice.

[Volthawk]

Ralf/Interpoint Stations GM has been working on a map maker for Lancer on roll20 for a while thats coming out really soon-its mostly what I've been waiting on to run a game just because from the looks of things its really really going to cut down on the time it takes to make battlemaps for missions (honestly the biggest hold up/jam for me when it comes to playing Lancer).

And I wont say no but happy to have you as a player too!

Oh huh, that's pretty cool.

Still interested in the game, yeah, been loosely keeping tabs on the thread but various IRL things have been taking up my focus recently. Looking forward to the recruitment thread though.

[CateranEnforcer]

Yeah following along too, keeping an eye out for updates. I'm neck deep in mech building as always.

[Mousedigits]

Looking forward to an official recruitment post! No idea what Idea I want to build towards, maybe like a Sherman?

[CateranEnforcer]

And it's here!

I know I'm getting a copy.

[BelGareth]

And it's here!

I know I'm getting a copy.

Awesome, may have to grab it eventually if i want to run another lancer game...

[Bitter]

If 3 people all wanted to run Lancer games I would 100% play in them all.