Home is the Regiment: A BattleTech Tale - a Fading Memory experiment.

[Fading Memory]

Home is the Regiment - A Battletech Tale

My experience and knowledge of the greater Battletech setting is, in a word, nascent. I've tiptoed around the setting for some time now, engaging in other hobby focuses such as D&D and Warhammer. Over time, my interest in BattleTech grew and I began to stick my nose into things. I've dabbled in playing Alpha Strike and Classic Battletech [though for the latter I've only just nosed into the Game of Armored Combat ruleset]. This lead to me wanting to take a bite into the setting a little deeper, and I've been reading the original Grey Death Legion trilogy (More correctly, listening to the excellent audio book versions of them).

My enthusiasm is incredible, but my specific knowledge is limited. I am by no means someone who knows the economics of BattleTech, how much a C-bill is worth, what reasonable mercenary rates are, etc., and only possess a basic comprehension of the greater timeline itself. However, what I have grasped from my audio book dabbling and my tabletop experiences is thus; 'Mechs are cool as hell, and the story possibilities in this setting are incredible.

What I'm interested in myself is, as my chosen working title may have hinted at, mercenary life. Biased as I may be from my readings, I really enjoyed the vibe of the Grey Death Legion's early days as scrappy, starving, looking for any job at all, up-and-comers. As such, I have a few fledgling ideas forming in my mind if anyone wishes to join me in learning, experiencing, and putting their own mark onto the Inner Sphere in the Renaissance Period of the Succession Wars as we approach the years of the Clan Invasion.

As a Game Master, my 'resume' so to speak is heavily steeped in Fantasy and Classical themes. Science Fiction, even as loose as BattleTech, is very new for me. My only experience in writing for the setting was when I tried to join a past BattleTech roleplay here on the Guild which did not make it far after launch due to the GM's personal circumstances changing. I am extremely enthusiastic, and having people to bite into the lore and setting with, especially with the goal of building our own story, will only stoke the coals that my tabletop wargaming has ignited.

There is scarce detailing ready for this at the present, as I wished to know if there was interest before I began to really form hard concepts. Additionally, I enjoy building the story with my players so as to foster investment and commitment; your characters, inputs, backgrounds, and OOC chatter will all be helping me discover BattleTech in a more enriching manner as well as guiding my decisions as a storyteller. Since it has been stuck in my head for some time now, I will paste the words to Home is the Regiment below to keep it fresh in the mind as people decide if they are interested in a timeline-crossing mercenary tale.

Home is the Regiment, across the sea of stars
On worlds hot, on worlds cold,
where Warriors tread afar.
Though place of birth and family,
though loved ones all be lost,
Home is the Regiment, across the sea of stars

Home is the Regiment, though warriors travel far.
They cannot take our home from us,
our home is where we are!
With brothers under arms we share
a bond that draws us where
Home is the Regiment, across the sea of stars.

Home is the Regiment, the price of glory high.
We stand with brothers at our sides
to pay that price, and die!
The blood of comrades cries to us
long after glory's past:
"Home is the Regiment, across the sea of stars."

Home is the Regiment, in honor's proud refrain -
blood brothers forged together as
drawn steel quenched in flame!
They stand by us in blood and fire
and share with us the cry:
"Home is the Regiment, our family and our own!"

[AndyC]

Always good to have another Mechwarrior around! I'm down to play. That makes three possible Battletech games going at once, between this, Disposable Heroes, and Rise Of Rasalhague. Kinda cool seeing this much stompy goodness on the Guild.

[Fading Memory]

Oh my goodness, that is some good attention! I’m certainly the fish out of water here it seems, but I’m glad to see there’s a community-in-the-making here for the content. Gives me good vibes and makes me excited.

[Letter Bee]

Oh my goodness, that is some good attention! I’m certainly the fish out of water here it seems, but I’m glad to see there’s a community-in-the-making here for the content. Gives me good vibes and makes me excited.

@Fading Memory

Can I be a lost Cameron? :P

Joking.

[Fading Memory]

You’re a Cameron, I’m a Cameron, that Taurian is a Cameron, in fact I think that Clan Smoke Jaguar pilot just declared his name was Cameron too. Everyone’s a Cameron, and I’m certainly lost myself.

Jokes aside, I slept on things and let my mind wander upon waking. I am not someone who is worried about keeping tightly to a canonical timeline in a broad sense, just to make that clear. I do not know enough about the key events across the timeline to be worried about such things without a lot of outside guidance. That being said, I think a good starting off point for concept is the 3028-3030 area of the timeline as the Renaissance era begins properly. My goals with this would be to somewhat arbitrarily have time move forward during jobs/between jobs as is thematically/narratively appropriate, picking and choosing canonical events and self/group-concocted operations as needed to give us our meat and potatoes for the roleplay.

[Letter Bee]

@Fading Memory, acknowledged, then. So just to make sure, you can play as a hidden heir to the Star League?

[Fading Memory]

While in a broad sense I could see there being escaped/refugee scions of House Cameron after the Amaris Coup, I think that that particular detail goes beyond what I originally had in mind for the scope of this. I appreciate you asking for clarity in my response.

Part of it just depends on what a potential group would want; if everyone was on board with a story evolving into ‘this one PC is now the core fulcrum of the story’, then there’d be discussion there— but where I’m leaning with my initial musings is ‘everyone’s a nobody trying to make it in a galaxy that doesn’t care’.

I could see spins on the idea that could prove interesting, like ‘all the characters are from a cadet branch that went into hiding in the periphery who became a mercenary company because they had the resources, and now it’s 300 years later’- but this is about the biggest stretch I’m willing to entertain on that angle, and would still be a ‘everyone in the group needs to be on board for that kind of story’.

I’m looking to capture the growth of a small-ish mercenary company over time, which does leave a LOT of room for origins and potentials, but even what I’ve mused about above goes beyond what I originally and gently prefer being the mindset of a potentially wide and diverse group of people from anywhere in the Sphere all bound by the Regiment rather than another cause (at first).

[Letter Bee]

While in a broad sense I could see there being escaped/refugee scions of House Cameron after the Amaris Coup, I think that that particular detail goes beyond what I originally had in mind for the scope of this. I appreciate you asking for clarity in my response.

Part of it just depends on what a potential group would want; if everyone was on board with a story evolving into ‘this one PC is now the core fulcrum of the story’, then there’d be discussion there— but where I’m leaning with my initial musings is ‘everyone’s a nobody trying to make it in a galaxy that doesn’t care’.

I could see spins on the idea that could prove interesting, like ‘all the characters are from a cadet branch that went into hiding in the periphery who became a mercenary company because they had the resources, and now it’s 300 years later’- but this is about the biggest stretch I’m willing to entertain on that angle, and would still be a ‘everyone in the group needs to be on board for that kind of story’.

I’m looking to capture the growth of a small-ish mercenary company over time, which does leave a LOT of room for origins and potentials, but even what I’ve mused about above goes beyond what I originally and gently prefer being the mindset of a potentially wide and diverse group of people from anywhere in the Sphere all bound by the Regiment rather than another cause (at first).

@Fading Memory

All of that is fine; sorry for going overboard.

[Fading Memory]

@AndyC

I appreciate you pointing out those other two roleplays, it gives me some formatting to steal from to organize my thoughts here as folks show up and discuss things.

[AndyC]

Lol, good artists borrow, great artists steal.

[Fading Memory]

Yeah over this coming weekend I’ll do a more professional looking writeup pitching my initial ideas in a more cohesive way.

[Fading Memory]

Apologies, I appear to have the flu and I spent the back half of the weekend in bed. Proper Sales-Pitch still inbound.

[geminironin]

You've got my interest, I'm a bit of a dabbler in BT lore but I have been picking it up through some of the more recent games and some BPL videos.

[Fading Memory]

Glad to have your interest in the ring! Feel free to chatter or make suggestions/voice what you’re interested in about BattleTech! I’ve discussed some of my initial ideas above, and I’m elaborating on those concepts as my brain fights through illness.

[Fading Memory]

Apologies for the delay, this whole week has been very busy helping my (soon-to-be) mother in law with her pets while she's on vacation. I'm still here and energetic about this, just delayed in my writeups and presentation.

[Fading Memory]

Alrighty, after a few weeks scrubbing across wikis and listening to audio books and tapping at keyboards, I think I need to refine and workshop this idea for a while longer before putting it to post. I was growing very ambitious and need to build up a fully coherent idea for this setting first before I start just swinging wild punches without being fully aware of what I'm doing. Appreciate the interest, and I'll hit you all up again when I decide to pull the trigger and launch a more held together concept.