Hello, I am a reasonably experienced DnD gm who is looking to run something a little different. Namely, I would love to run a battletech campaign. A few caveats: I am rather rusty with the BT tabletop rules, and with the exception of briefly about a decade ago I have never touched the Time of War rules for general roleplaying in the setting. This may be a learning process for all of us, but I'm reasonably experienced with RP systems in general. Unless a ton of BT veterans pop out of the woodwork, we may spend a bit of time getting up to speed with the system. Also, because I prefer my tabletop battles to take hours, instead of most of a day, I would like to use MegaMek for the 'Mech combat. This should also make the game slightly more accessible for those with more enthusiasm for the setting than practical experience in rolling to hit battlemechs. My intention is to run the majority of the campaign with MegaMek, and then use the Time of War rules for when the players are out of the cockpit. Mech Jockeys should definitely spend some time bashing heads in bars, or trying to track down traitors in their midst. Our time breakdown should be about 10% on foot, 30% refitting, planning the next mission and just general RPing time, and about 60% in MegaMek risking our lives for either a good cause or a fat paycheck. I've had some good success playing with MegaMek, but it may require a little bit of technical proficiency on everyone's part to share files and connect with the server. Hopefully everyone comes with a fair store of patience. Another note: One thing I particularly like about battletech is how your margin of victory has a huge effect on your later battles. Bang up your mechs, and you'll find yourself shelling out precious C-Bills to get everything back in order. Cure Serious Wounds will not weld four tons of ferro fibrous armor back on to your Orion. I intend to at least make a good pass at using the logistics rules to simulate the travails of running a mech company in the 31st century. So this hopefully will end up being a more than a series of set piece battles connected by a narrative. One final word on the campaign, I am very firmly set on setting the campaign sometime during either the third or fourth succession war. Why? I think that era has a ton going on without the need for the Clans, and the simpler technology options available will simplify things somewhat. I know some people will be disappointed that they can't stomp around in a Mad Cat, but I wouldn't be opposed to doing a time skip after we have our feet under us. I have no strong preference for the house affiliation, as that will be a roleplaying choice for the players. We might want to stay away from the Capellans though, I can't do a chinese accent without being severely racist :) I'd love to hear interest in this, I'm a huge fan of the setting, and would like nothing more than to tell an awesome story starring you guys. Quiaff?
