Mechwarrior Rpg Handbook To Higher

There were threads and threads about it. What TPTB decided was that after a number of years of statflation moduleflation etc. 3rd edition (which came out in 1999) had gotten to the point that it was irrecoverably broken, in addition they looked at YEARS worth of grips and complaints about incompatibilities between the RPG, and the tactical board game, and tried to go back to what 1st and second edition had which was essentially direct rpg to board game skill translations which IMO they pretty much nailed.

I don't consider flipping a sign on modifiers that big of a deal personally. My biggest issues with ATOW have more to do with organization, the amount of space dedicated to various explanations (that arguably aren't needed) and the leaving out of numerous 'GM quick roll' encounter tables and idea hook generators that have never been reprinted between editions. For example first and second edition had 2d6 percentile tables, for things like random assignment tables, event tables, battlefield event/encounter tables, reinforcement tables etc.

Many of which boiled down to something like. Gm is stuck for ideas for what to have happen for tonight. Rolls on table 1 gets raid, or invasion, or vip, or reinforcements arrive, supplies arrive, lostech cache. Then rolls details of the event, and on and on until they have the thread of an idea for a basic plan to have happen.

And this is where forums need an upvote or 'Like' option, seriously. The math is not all that difficult and that's coming from someone who absolutely despises math (sorry monbvol). Hyperbole doesn't help here and it doesn't help the designers learn where they need to fix their mistakes. And yes 4th has its share of mistakes, but claiming the math is a 'calculus test' is disingenuous. Could the chargen use some streamlining and maybe some options to make it quicker? Absolutely, and I'll be the first to say so. I would love to see them put out a free PDF that cleans up the chargen process.

Either that or a chargen program to help make it a little less tedious. And this is where forums need an upvote or 'Like' option, seriously. The math is not all that difficult and that's coming from someone who absolutely despises math (sorry monbvol). Hyperbole doesn't help here and it doesn't help the designers learn where they need to fix their mistakes. And yes 4th has its share of mistakes, but claiming the math is a 'calculus test' is disingenuous.

Could the chargen use some streamlining and maybe some options to make it quicker? Absolutely, and I'll be the first to say so.

I would love to see them put out a free PDF that cleans up the chargen process. Either that or a chargen program to help make it a little less tedious. I was not saying the math was hard, it was a figure of speech. The sheer level of math involved (not how hard it is) turns players off even before they get to play.

When you get to the table and have to pull out a spreadsheet to make character gen doable within a day it kills the game for most players before you even start. I can personally finish a PC in about 30-45 mins, but new players with no idea about the universe have to learn about it and learn a long draw out character gen system on top of that and its a quick turnoff. See I don't think it is that bad that someone completely new to Battletech couldn't generate a character in more than a couple hours. In my regular group there is someone who has only a GED with very limited familiarity with Battletech that I would not call good at math, a guy who did professional QA testing for a couple video game studios that also has a limited familiarity with Battletech, and Liam's Ghost. The main reason it takes us more than an hour to do up characters is more due to our lack of focus and decision overload that is not unique to AToW.

The guy with the GED has been with us since 3rd edition but still hasn't invested in becoming as familiar with Battletech like me and Liam's Ghost have but I can tell you that without a doubt character generation has gone faster and with fewer overall errors ever since we switched from 3rd edition to AToW. So I tend to believe if it taking more than an hour or two it is not a rules problem.

Okay okay.let's not pile on the idea that a GED is somehow lesser. I have my GED which I studied for and received at the beginning of my junior year in high school. This was due to many and varied reasons and ultimately I've done fine for myself. ANYWAY - another similar story would be my step-son who knows absolutely zero about this setting outside of his one failed attempt at playing MWO (he stated that the controls were messed up). He sat down with me and we whipped up a character in about an hour despite his ADHD and his very anemic reading abilities (despite being 18, he's probably at a 6th grade reading level due to factors in his early life and the ADHD of course).

Mechwarrior Rpg Pdf

The extra time was due to him being a slow reader and of course some of the decisions that he needed to make. He did pick up on stuff pretty quick though, and immediately picked up Fast Learner with his left over XPs. I had the other two players pick out their life modules due to lack of time to fully make their characters when they came over (we had about 45 minutes before they had to go) and then I had them tell me what type of character they wanted so I could build their skills towards that concept.

It took me all of an hour or so to get both of their characters done later that evening. We just had our second session earlier this afternoon and I've heard zero complaints about how their characters turned out. Honestly that's what I hate about this D&D 3.X generation of gamers. They feel they're entitled to everything and they're more worried about gaming the system than actually making a viable character. Most characters these types of players make would be worse than the worst cardboard cutout/wooden actor in Hollywood. Either way you know what I do when I have players like that? I make the campaign about role-playing and politics more than anything.

Oh, you have a 6 Skill in Small Arms, Martial Arts, Melee Weapons (and other combat skills) starting out? You find yourself aboard a jumpship on your way to meet an administrator from the Capellan Confederation to negotiate your contract. How were those social and mental skills? Non-existent or at level 0?

Well this will be an interesting round of talks to secure your contract, hope you roll high. Most players that are like that tend not to last long in my games and end up leaving out of frustration due to the rest of my group being perfectly fine with sessions of nothing but role-play and politics and build well-rounded characters. Either way you know what I do when I have players like that?

I make the campaign about role-playing and politics more than anything. Oh, you have a 6 Skill in Small Arms, Martial Arts, Melee Weapons (and other combat skills) starting out? You find yourself aboard a jumpship on your way to meet an administrator from the Capellan Confederation to negotiate your contract. How were those social and mental skills? Non-existent or at level 0? Well this will be an interesting round of talks to secure your contract, hope you roll high. I think that's why I tend to enjoy the current ruleset more than earlier ones.

Books like MW1e and MW2e felt more like 'We've expanded your guy to be more than Gunnery/Piloting'. However they still didn't add much to them beyond mostly combat skills. MW3e had a better take, but the combat and damage was horrific.

Also the rolling for life paths irked me a bit. With AToW, sure there's a lot of skills; it just means a creative GM can have more fun with the players. Your face man character may be gregarious and have decent administrative skills, but the VIP seems to be chatting it up more with your Noblewoman technician. Oh his interests line up with her tech skills, they can talk shop.

Quick use her socials for seduction roll and get more info from him! I think that's why I tend to enjoy the current ruleset more than earlier ones. Books like MW1e and MW2e felt more like 'We've expanded your guy to be more than Gunnery/Piloting'.

However they still didn't add much to them beyond mostly combat skills. MW3e had a better take, but the combat and damage was horrific. Also the rolling for life paths irked me a bit. With AToW, sure there's a lot of skills; it just means a creative GM can have more fun with the players.

Your face man character may be gregarious and have decent administrative skills, but the VIP seems to be chatting it up more with your Noblewoman technician. Oh his interests line up with her tech skills, they can talk shop. Quick use her socials for seduction roll and get more info from him! See that's where, as I look through MW2 again, I appreciate AToW's system for damage.

You have fatigue points separate from actual wounds. That way you can't die from bruising damage or whatever they called it. Armor I'm kind of iffy about. Earlier editions were just 'add more hit points to you'; AToW actually takes into consideration that some guns have piercing power and some are just raw damage, but can't penetrate cardboard. Also for the record, I didn't mind the history generated by the life paths in MW3. I just hated how my character could be a paraplegic, chain smoking, blood marked man with three dependents just before the game even starts.

I'm still reading all the editions over combat damage, physicals for example, to see what I liked best.