---

The year is 3034. The Fourth Succession war ended 4 years ago, the clan invasion of the Inner Sphere is still 15 years away, and Voice of Kerensky won't reach Terra for another 600 years. And whilst the great houses are hardly at rest, eagerly gnawing at each other as they have always done, trying to undermine each other's powers in the shadows, open war has once more faded into obscurity and a new era of peace reigns. With the looming birth of the FedCom alliance and the secession and establishment of new Inner Sphere nations like the Free Rasalhague Republic, a sense of normality seems to finally be returning to everyday life.

However, all is not well, and the first signs of a future conflict are already starting to appear on the horizon. Dark clouds gather on the borders of the major houses as they try to consolidate their assets in the new power balance. And whilst their own resources have dwindled significantly and open war seems out of the question with a super-state ruling over half of the Inner Sphere, mercenaries have once again the primary way to fight border skirmishes. A new age of prosperity is upon all the daring mechwarriors and mercs who take up the great houses on their contracts, and with the recent discovery of the Helm Memory core the toys available in their arsenal have expanded significantly. Old mechs born anew with SLDF era technology, weapons never before seen being fielded and a wide variety of cheap mechs available from the stockpiles of the Fourth Succession war as they arm themselves with newer gear, there has never been a better time to be alive in the Inner Sphere for a mercenary.

---

---

"That's where you come in. I'm legally obligated to give this to you before I continue." The gruff sergeant sitting across a mostly empty steel table slowly leans forward, and places a beat-up looking datapad down in front of you with a quiet clink. Scratches and smears cover the dim surface, but even in the hazy light of the recruitment office you can make out the details of the contract that is presented to you. You take a moment to pick up the tablet and read into the file a little, but you soon realize that it doesn't matter whether or not you understand or even agree with the contents: mechwarriors don't usually live long enough to hire a lawyer and get win their rights to a pension plan. The sergeant waits a few more seconds before his patience runs out and then reaches forward, grabbing the top of the tablet and pulling it back down on the table to show that your allotted time has ended to study your contract. So much for "fair terms". His fingers quickly run up and down the length of the contract with the dexterity of someone who's manouvered this exact contract upside down hundreds of times. Soon enough, a large square appears that asks for your fingerprint, and the gives you a hurried look. "If you'd place your thumb here please. This is your non-disclosure agreement, I'm sure you understand." Even if he tried he couldn't have made that attempt attempt at sympathy any less convincing, but you've already spent the last month sitting on a cramped JumpShip to get here, so you might as well hear him out. You press your thumb to the screen, and after a few moments of waiting and a surprisingly comforting chime later the datapad is already whisked away and placed back into the depths of the sergeant's drawer.

"Let me be frank with you. I don't see the need to hire untrained and unprofessional mercs like you, but that is what the powers that be demanded. The Free Rasalhague Republic is still young, and we can't be everywhere within the large territory we inherited to iron out every kink that the Kuritas might have left us. So-" He slowly leans back in his seat as he pauses for a moment, his arms crossed and eyes tightened whilst the man tried to decide how many weeks it will be before you manage to run your mech off a cliff or into a swamp. "the Rasalhague Republic is forming merc companies to help us. Under this contract you just signed, you'll be given a mech of your own from your surplus and assigned to one of our independent merc lances. We will give you financial aid to get your company off it's feet, but after that you'll be reliant on your merc job for c-bills. Your obligations will be first and foremost towards the Free Rasalhague Republic, but you'll be allowed to take contracts from third parties as long as it doesn't go against the interests of the state. Any questions?" Plenty, but the fact that the sergeant's face has gotten progressively more and more annoyed ever since you stepped foot in the room even though you haven't said a word makes you think that a simple nod will suffice. You don't need trouble with your new employer, and you certainly don't want a late night visit from a Mimir agent if they as much as suspect that you're going to tell anything you've heard here to, let's say, a Kuritan informant. "Perfect. "Off you go then. A shuttle is already waiting for you in Hangar Bay 1, along with all the new recruits. Try not to get lost." He shuffles inside his drawer one more time before handing you a new datapad, this one somehow looking even more beat-up than the last one. The screen is already illuminated with almost offensively simple instructions towards Hangar Bay 1. You sneak in one more glance over the top of the datapad at the sergeant, only to be met with a stern gaze. Right, this is where you take your leave. You think for a moment about saluting the man, but then decide it's probably best you left as fast as you could if you wanted to avoid a stern talking-to. Walking out the door and towards Hangar Bay 1, you have plenty of time to muse over how differently you imagined this situation going, but in the end you got the job you came here for. Certainly beats piloting busted-up AgriMechs on backwater planet until the rest of your days, or the next war between the great houses sees it, and consequently you, reduced to radioactive ash.

---

Hello, and welcome to all of you future mechwarriors

After a long, looooooooong absence from the site and RPing both, I have returned with a ravenous appetite for some BattleTech content, so without a further a-do, let me explain this RP.

Principally, this RP is a mix of the many mecha RPs you are familiar with, and the more open ended sci-fi mercenary RPs. However it is wholly unlike Gundam: the reality of BattleTech is that it is gritty, it is unforgiving, and wars usually play like games of Defcom, where casualties caused by orbital bombardments and nuclear strikes are touted as high-scores between the Great Houses. There is a long and rich lore for the setting, but let's just say I picked a part that has the least amount of things going on, whilst still giving plenty of fun options for us to explore. If you are a newcomer to the franchise who is completely confused by the lore, I will have a codex down below to explain the main points, but I promise you won't need to read it to understand the basics.



So, you'll be playing as a newly recruited Merc, short for mercenary, by one of the Inner Sphere's governments to join a mercenary unit of fellow Mechwarriors who will accept contracts to help them out with various issues. All of you are pilots, Mechwarriors who pilot bipedal mechs that are awesome tools of war, able to deal with just about any manner of threats that they may face of the battlefield. They come in many shapes and sizes, some designed for lightning fast precisions trikes and scout missions, whilst others clad several dozen tons of armor and carry weapons designed to obliterate smaller mechs in a single salvo. Gifted to your company by the government of the Free Rasalhague Republic, you'll first be equipped by surplus mechs of dubious quality, leftovers of previous wars and aging machines too expensive to keep in storage. You and your fellow pilots will travel in your company's DropShip from planet to planet and system to system, taking on jobs by various employers to keep the lights on and afford better equipment, whilst at the same time completing the orders of the government that helped form your lance whenever they need your help.

The primary plot points will be the struggle of staying afloat and not getting blown to bits, as a merc's life is as hard as it can be difficult. However, with time the "almost canon" part of the RP will come to life as your company will start receiving jobs that will take them deeper and deeper into political intricacies of the Inner Sphere. I won't spoil much though, you'll just have to stick around and find out ;)

All of you will be able to tend to and personalize your own mechs in the downtime, and hopefully do a good job of keeping them together when the going gets tough. Some game-like systems will be in place, but overall I plan on keeping the meat of the RP free and focused on your characters, the pilots. In the downtimes you'll have time to spar, chase down lucrative jobs and partake in the lives of most mercs, but in battles you'll have to do your best to keep each other alive. I'm hoping to see a group of pilots emerge who have been scarred by battle fought together, and have many stories to share over a couple of glasses of cold ones.



As far as battles go, we'll be using a significantly simplified system for combat. If you've ever played DnD, you know what I mean: depending on what you write and do in your own post, the chance to hit someone or evade an attack will become better or worse. Then, based on the result of a simple dice roll, in your next post you can explain just how you've succeeded or failed.

Now, I already hear some of you clicking away, but please stay for one more second. I love number crunching, but even I hate when there are too many rules involved. However, in BattleTech mechs can survive some surprising amount of punishment, and foes are usually numbered few but highly dangerous, so there needs to be a system to make sure it isn't just a simple "I kill him with my pew-pew" for every mech. However, this system only applies when fighting other mechs; when your party faces infantry or other vehicles, it will be a first come-first served basis of combat, unless specifically stated by me. Proper fights should be tough and unforgiving, but all the more awesome in the end, when the twisting fates of the dice gods give us plenty of writing material.



Every RP needs active players interested in the setting to survive, so I'm hoping that the many sci-fi nerds and mech lovers can come together on this RP, and I get to share one of my favorite franchises with fellow vets and interested newcomers. I'll do my best to guide anyone new through some of the more "confusing" aspects of the BattleTech, but honestly this is probably one of the easiest sci-f setting to get into. Certainly much easier than something like Warhammer 40k, or Star Trek.

Before I give you the CSs, there are a few simple rules I'd like for everyone to follow. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it's best not to tempt fate and write them down :)

• No Powergaming: Plain and simple. The premise is that everyone is either new or simply ill-equipped, I'm not looking for people who want to have characters with the "endgame" characters. As always, looking for people who enjoy the setting, and want write cool stories with others. If you want to shoot stuff to bits in every post, this isn't for you.
• Ask First: If you are confused or don't know something, ask before you write. A lot of headache can be saved by proper communication.
• Respect: Respect each other's decisions and writing. It's as simple as that, I don't want people arguing OOC over what someone wrote in their post during or outside of combat. If there is beef, make sure it's in the form of a well written collab post :)
• Schedule: We'll try and stick to frequent posts if possible, so if you can't handle that because something comes up, make sure to tell us. Might not be as important during downtime when characters are interacting, but during combat I'd like to wait no more than 2-3 days between GM posts to make sure things go smoothly. The exact details we'll figure out once we have the full team, but for the sake of everyone else, I won't wait weeks for a single person.

I promised it would be simple. Other than this, the "standard" forumwide rules apply, you all know the drill by now haha.

There will be a Discord channel, and the invitations will be sent out via DMs on a need-to-know basis. I've seen enough trolling and bot spam on public servers to know that I don't want to deal with that, but don't be afraid to ask for the link from me if you are interested in the RP but ultimately undecided, and you want to ask some questions without the forum delay :)



The fun part! The CS will be split into 2 sections: your Pilot, and his/her/their mech. For now, leave the Mech part empty and focus on coming up with a character. What motivations do they have to leave their old life behind? Maybe they got bored of being a farmer or a delivery driver who already used IndistrialMechs, maybe they are an ex-military veteran who wanted to get a more lucrative career, or maybe your home planet was ravaged during the last succession war and you have nowhere to go. Whatever you might come up with, know that your character means everything: even the strongest of mechs can fall to the superior skill, or motivation, of their adversary, so make your Mechwarrior someone we can all cheer for.





That's about it. If the need arises I can provide an example character for both lore and formatting purposes, but I prefer to let people be creative with their characters ^^

---

And that's it, we have a wrap! This should be all the things you need to get started on making a character and deciding if you want to play the RP with me even if you are a newcomer. Of course, feel free to check out the Codex for more tidbits and sources where you can find other info and see if you'll like the setting. I think everyone will pick it up as we go, so I hope to see plenty of people interested in becoming a mercenary and piloting giant mechs in combat with their lancemates and having epic adventures. Don't be afraid to ask questions if there is anything that you feel I didn't explain or that you are interested in!

Hope to see all kinds of applications, and until next time, stay safe Mechwarriors!

Oooooo~ Fancy! I'm definitely interested!

Interesting. I'm running another Battletech RP on the other end of the Inner Sphere around the same time period, so it might be fun to get a big inter-game collab going at some point.

@AndyC

I could've sworn I checked to see if there was another Mechwarrior RP before posting this and didn't find anything. But there it is now, like a sneaky Raven with a Guardian ECM popping around the block to alpha strike your rear armor

I don't mind, of course. I see plenty of familiar faces in your gang, I see no reason people can't double-dip from the goodness that is Mechwarrior. If this RP gets off the ground and we get into a rhythm, I wouldn't mind some cool collab posting, or at the very least some fun cameos.

I might steal the idea of those cute bite-sized images from your OCC for mine once it gets up too, I like the way it looks haha. But I can definitely see that we went for very similar settings and mechanics. Honestly, if I didn't know that my dumbass brain probably scrolled over your RP a dozen times and said "nope, nothing here", I would think I'd have copied your homework :D

Though I suppose we do differ, I thought best to just entirely avoid the TTRPG rulebooks and go for a more open approach, with only Alpha Strike for reference when it comes to combat haha

Anyways, I could talk for hours about Battletech and nobody could stop me, but I'll keep this brief here. I expect we'll talk more in the future about all things mech related, given the overlap with our RPs and the limited pool of people who are probably interested ^^

@AndyC

I could've sworn I checked to see if there was another Mechwarrior RP before posting this and didn't find anything. But there it is now, like a sneaky Raven with a Guardian ECM popping around the block to alpha strike your rear armor

I don't mind, of course. I see plenty of familiar faces in your gang, I see no reason people can't double-dip from the goodness that is Mechwarrior. If this RP gets off the ground and we get into a rhythm, I wouldn't mind some cool collab posting, or at the very least some fun cameos.

I might steal the idea of those cute bite-sized images from your OCC for mine once it gets up too, I like the way it looks haha. But I can definitely see that we went for very similar settings and mechanics. Honestly, if I didn't know that my dumbass brain probably scrolled over your RP a dozen times and said "nope, nothing here", I would think I'd have copied your homework :D

Though I suppose we do differ, I thought best to just entirely avoid the TTRPG rulebooks and go for a more open approach, with only Alpha Strike for reference when it comes to combat haha

Anyways, I could talk for hours about Battletech and nobody could stop me, but I'll keep this brief here. I expect we'll talk more in the future about all things mech related, given the overlap with our RPs and the limited pool of people who are probably interested ^^

No worries; our game activity kind of goes in fits and starts, so we might've been buried a few pages back when you looked for another game.

The TTRPG/tabletop stuff was an experiment that I probably won't re-use (or if I do, I'll move the game from Casual to Advanced). But yeah, I'm always happy to see a fellow Spheroid out and about.

Don't know if I can commit to multiple games, but consider me interested. At the very least, it oughta be fun to trade notes.

@6slyboy6, Oi, I'll make the time to join. Have some room?

Having recetly lost a game and completed anther exam period, I definitely have time.

I'm contractually obligated to join any BT RPs posted here, so I am interested.

I will almost certainly write up a wandering former member of the Arkab Legion (given the interesting relationship between the Draconis Combine and the Rasalhague Republic, I think that would be a pretty fun angle).

@Starlance Glad to see you again Starlance, hopefully this time we'll get to play more than a few posts together haha

We're getting up to a solid Lance's worth of people now, I'll wait maybe a day more to see who else shows up, and then I'll make the OOC and send out the invites to the Discord server. Until then, hang tight and think about your characters everyone :)

I’m entirely new to BattleTech but have been interested for a while now, I’d like to give it a shot if you’d have me.

@SmikeOf course, I'm more than happy t help out any newcomers to the franchise. This was very much designed for new people who were interested, so you'll fit right in :)

@SmikeOf course, I'm more than happy t help out any newcomers to the franchise. This was very much designed for new people who were interested, so you'll fit right in :)

Awesome! Doing some preliminary digging around, will ask questions later

Howdy! I'm interested, and hope to apply soon!

Hamazasp Sulser

Nickname:

He trims his beard regularly. He always carries a smile but never shows his teeth. He throws his shoulders back and walks upright, making him appear taller than he actually is. He wears a plain T-shirt and thick slacks inside his quarters but wouldn't be caught dead outside without his overcoat.

Age: 26 Earth years

Origin: Born and raised in the Taurian Concordat

Personality: An offensive baseliner. In socials, in combat, in romance, he won't engage before calculating a high probability of "success," or his definition of it, then storm forward with full investment. He can wait hours, days, weeks for this opportunity depending on the situation. He's quite patient and observant, though sparingly few friends realize it. He talks so boorishly that acquaintances dismiss him as an irrelevant triviality. Whether this is a front or a genuine aspect of his character, not even he knows himself. He has pondered that occasionally in moments of self reflection. From the perspective of others, the vast majority of interactions are bright, brief, and brash.

Where are the allegiances of such an elusive fellow? They lie with small creatures. After all, he was an outcast once; he sympathizes. He recognizes death and loss; he's seen and caused plenty over his short lifetime. Nonetheless, he'd open up his hatch to release an entrapped dragonfly should the need arise. If he finds a homeless person, he'll divert his routine to keep the vagrant warm and well fed. He'd do his best to reroute his vehicle around buildings, roads, and electric lines, if only because he understands their vitality to the common man's everyday activities. His quest to find purpose will cause no collateral damage.

History: The Sulser's dairy industry, like most on Illiushin, was renowned throughout the known galaxy. The youngest of six siblings, however, Hamazasp was impeded from higher positions of company leadership. He found solace in mech simulations. His older sister fell ill, and he assumed her duties. Misinterpreting his benevolence as a power grab, she demanded his exile when she recovered. Instead, his mother assigned him a role in their newly-established branch within the Draconis Combine, the family's furthest domain: banishment in every way but name, thankfully with honor still intact.

He labored diligently towards his newfound duty for little benefit. Unfortunately, despite his product's quality, brand recognition prevented it from mainstream attraction. Illiushin's gouda advertised and sold itself with its reputation; Shinonoi colby jack felt offbrand and fake. He tried to market through his home network, but they wouldn't return his calls. Finances forced him to downsize, eventually to where he himself operated the machinery. Managing a franchise doomed to fail depressed him, but the levers' and switches' methodical coordination calmed and comforted him. His childhood simulations provided useful advice, but practice was another matter entirely.

He steered the business until its dying day. He personally slaughtered each of the remaining cattle, the last employees long since departed. His hands' work stillborn, he roamed the Inner Sphere for new opportunities. One night, while contracting on Vega VII, he received a quarter life crisis. He wondered how it would feel to handle a metal titan for real. He knew that mechanical operation was different but wanted to know the extent of its difference. Foolhardy? Sure, but he had nothing better to do. Would it kill him? Maybe so, but his parents wouldn't miss him. Very well. He'd sign himself up in Rasalhague.

Skills:
Gunnery: 1
Piloting: 2
Guts: 4
Tactics: 5

Abilities:

Misc: Keeps a pocket harmonica, and plays it as the mood arises. Maintains a physical library of novels and reference material in his cockpit, as space allows. For growing up on a world that specializes in cheeses, is oddly lactose intolerant.

Name: Hamazasp Sulser

Nickname: He registered under the callsign "Battleax Bulldog", but he's certainly open to new (and better) alternatives

Appearance: [+]

He trims his beard regularly. He always carries a smile but never shows his teeth. He throws his shoulders back and walks upright, making him appear taller than he actually is. He wears a plain T-shirt and thick slacks inside his quarters but wouldn't be caught dead outside without his overcoat.

Age: 29 Earth years

Origin: Born and raised in the Taurian Concordat

Personality: An offensive baseliner. In social life, in combat, in romance, he won't engage before calculating a high probability of "success," or his definition of it, then storm forward with full investment. He can wait hours, days, weeks for this opportunity depending on the situation. He's quite patient and observant, though sparingly few of his friends realize it. He talks so brashly and boorishly that acquaintances dismiss him as an irrelevant triviality. Whether this is a front or a genuine aspect of his character, not even he knows himself. He has pondered that occasionally in moments of self reflection.

History: The Sulser's dairy industry, like most on Illiushin, was renowned throughout the known galaxy. As the youngest of six siblings, however, Hamazasp was impeded from higher positions of company leadership. He found solace in mech simulations. His older sister fell ill, and he assumed her duties. Misinterpreting his benevolence as a power grab, she demanded his exile when she recovered. Instead, his parents bought him the battlemech he operates to this day, bringing honor to the family business in his own unique way.

Skills:
Gunnery: 3
Piloting: 2
Guts: 2
Tactics: 5

Abilities: Sensor Lock: Select a target within range to reveal it until end of current round and remove two of its EVASIVE charges.

Misc: Keeps a harmonica in his pocket, and plays it as the mood arises. Maintains a physical library in his cockpit, as space allows. For growing up on a world that specializes in cheeses, is oddly lactose intolerant.

Cantinera [+]

Type: Hunchback (HBK-4G), Modified (HBK-4L Brass Redemption)
Mass/Class: 50 tons, Medium-class
Armor: 6.5 tons of Starshield
Top Speed: 64 kph (40 mph)
Armaments:
2x Autocannon/5, General Motors (yes, that GM)
2 tons of ammunition shared between both systems
Laser (large), Krupp
Flamer (small), Pandora
Heat Sinks: None
Quirk: 2x Jump Jets

You know, I think this is probably a good time to address some of the things that I'm fairly certain I already mentioned, but ones that I can't stress enough. Don't think of this as a reprimand, but more of a learning experience :D

The most obvious thing here is that there is already a mech you've assigned to your MechWarrior, though I'll chalk it up as the mech bough for him by his family, according to backstory. In the RP I'll be sure to give you all "new" mechs, because I know people who are familiar with the setting are biased towards a particular few, and those who are new will likely get lost. This is to spice things up, I am sure you'll have fun learning some new mechs. (Also your mech has 0 heat sinks, apparently, which would turn it into a flaming ball after the first salvo of AC/5s.)

Going over the character, him having Sensor Lock is... well, my BattleTech obsessed brain knows that it checks out for the video game, but this part of the sheet is roughly based on the optional ruleset of Special Pilot Abilities, from a Time of War ruleset. They aren't based on skills; they give flavorful abilities that are unique to a pilot. That's also why earning them is an RP thing, not a number crunching thing. But if your character is already someone that relies on sensors a lot, I am sure they'll get something similar.

Finally, it's the characters that run the show. I'd appreciate slightly more detail in the personality section, and in the history a bit about HOW/WHY they became a mercenary. Especially someone from the Taurian Concordat: why did he travel alllll the way across the Inner Sphere to accept work for the Rasalhague?

This is relevant info for everyone, when you are creating your sheets. I know IC talks more loudly than OOC, but we can only rely on what we can see, and I can only judge based on what I read first. Either way, OC is coming today, so are Discord links, so make some time for yourself in the calendar :)

So I've been fooling around with character concepts, trying to think of something that'll stick. I've got a couple thousand random character portraits to use for MegaMek, so I decided to roll one up and random and see if something speaks to me.

I ended up getting this absolute rock star.

Tentative interest. Not sure If I can manage the posting frequency, but I would like to play a custom support character/mech, sort of the team's mobile repair bay and long range artillery piece anyway, which could let me get away with skipping a turn or two if need be. Would that work?

@ForsytheHeya, sorry for the late reply :)

Sure, we can arrange something like that! I'll send you a DM with the link to our Discord, we can talk over some of the possibilities for characters like that :)

Gonna express interest. I know the broad strokes of BattleTech lore, but not many of the specifics. Not too familiar with actually building mechs outside a few of the games, either.

That all said, if we're starting with shitcans, please let UrbanMechs be available.