Did you ever play the Mechwarrior RPG

jhkim · May 30, 2018, 07:08:19 PM

I played a short campaign that mixed Mechwarrior and Battletech back in 1990 or so when I was in undergrad. I didn't read much of any of the rulebooks at the time, though - I was just following along with others as I played.

HappyDaze · May 30, 2018, 07:31:18 PM

I do remember a few things in Battletech/MW that really bugged me. The first was the range issue. You can drop mechs from orbit and land them within 150m of a given point but your long-range missiles can only shoot 630 meters? A heavy machinegun can only reach out to 90 meters? But my 50 ton mech can use thrusters to jump 180 meters? What the fuck? It's even more fun when you move to MW where the guns the people carry can somehow drastically out range the BT stuff kicking immersion right in the dick.

Oh, and Phantom Mech Technique. Why the fuck did they go and add some psychic/spiritual weirdness into the game?

Kiero · May 30, 2018, 08:56:14 PM

Quote from: Bren;1041324Yes they are unrealistic. But so are lots of things...fantasy giants (cube-square law), giant insects (ditto, plus problems with breathing), Superheroes (radiation doesn't grant superpowers), Godzilla (see giants and superheroes)....

I loved the computer game.* Never played the RPG though. Read a fair bit of my friends setting stuff and I concur about the diffusion of focus in the later books.

* I especially liked how the game handled difficulty settings. The computer used a bunch of spheres to represent the various locations of the mechs - both yours and your opponent's. In effect, the mechs were represented by a humanoid figure made up of a bunch of connected spheres. Raising and lowering the difficulty adjusted the size of the spheres. So in effect, you became a better shot on easy settings (because the spheres you were targeting were bigger) while and your opponents became worse shots, i.e. you became harder to hit (because the spheres on your mech were smaller).

Yes, but it doesn't even pass the internal consistency test. In an otherwise pretty hard sci-fi setting, they had to dream up an entire tier of flimsy rationalisations as to why old weapon systems that had been around for centuries somehow didn't work any more. It was simply Handwavium because of the Rule of Cool.

I'd also note, I don't play RPGs featuring any of those things, partly because they're silly. I've gone right off fantasy, supers and any sci-fi that doesn't at least try to be internally consistent.

Again, I did enjoy one computer game, but I had an especially perverse pleasure in playing the smallest thing I was able to and zipping around knee-capping all these giant mechs.

Willie the Duck · May 31, 2018, 08:33:41 AM

Quote from: Kiero;1041396Yes, but it doesn't even pass the internal consistency test. In an otherwise pretty hard sci-fi setting, they had to dream up an entire tier of flimsy rationalisations as to why old weapon systems that had been around for centuries somehow didn't work any more. It was simply Handwavium because of the Rule of Cool.

Yes, everything about the Battletech/MechWarrior universe is about supporting the notion that giant, vaguely anthropomorphic piloted tank/robots fighting with each other on battlefields small enough that they visually look like a gridiron football field (or rough equivalent) is the tactically right way to conduct war. Every explanation as to why this is the case is after-the-fact justification to keep that central conceit going. I don't really disagree in any way, but I put in a 'yes, but...' in that Rule of Cool is pretty much the norm. Battletech is just more obvious about it.

Krimson · May 31, 2018, 08:53:38 PM

I did but I can't comment much because it was only for a few sessions about 15 years ago.

thedungeondelver · June 01, 2018, 01:43:27 AM

Played 1e religiously for a few months. Tried repeatedly to start a 2e game when it came out, nobody wanted to bite.

3025 era is the best.

However, the dumb weapon ranges and other sillyness just leaves me flat. Don't make the "But D&D and magic" comparison, either: MW/BT is pitched as a hard SF universe...yeeah, pass.

I fell in love with Heavy Gear when it came out but that's another story.

RPGPundit · June 06, 2018, 02:25:25 AM

As someone who didn't dig battletech, 1e Mechwarrior was essentially unplayable.

Did you ever play the Mechwarrior RPG

jhkim

HappyDaze

Kiero

Willie the Duck

Krimson

thedungeondelver

RPGPundit