AndyC

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

@AndyC, Sorry for the double-post, but are there any forbidden 'High Concepts', such as 'Unhinged Lunatic' or 'Heir to a Throne'?

@Letter Bee

They're all on the table. Though "Heir to a Throne" would be the heir to a Periphery world or a corporation, rather than the heir to a Great House or the like.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

Heck yeah, time to roll.

I hope I roll well.

*Rolls*

...I literally got a shopping cart with a pistol zip tied to the side of it.

@Th3King0fChaos

Ah, good, I was hoping we'd get an Urbanmech in the group.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

<Snipped quote by AndyC>

Random roll is love.

@Abstract Proxy

On that subject, I've created a full-on character generator, complete with links to any information about the various factions, and different types of 'Mechs and vehicles available. You can use it to roll something at random, or go shopping for whatever you like.

Check it out here.

Note: Rare/Extremely Rare, LosTech, and Assault 'Mechs can only be rolled for.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

Will this RP have a Discord Server?

@Letter Bee

Once OOC goes up, probably.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

Soft interest. I like the premise, but have no knowledge of the franchise it’s based on. For vehicles, would we be designing our own or using existing machines?

@Randomness

Working with existing machines. I'm actually putting together a couple of tools specifically to help people who aren't familiar with the setting, allowing them to either shop for the machine they want or randomly roll for one.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

How grim is the RP supposed to be and what is the 'morally brightest' faction?

@Letter Bee

Battletech's not as over-the-top grimdark as something like 40k, but depending on the era, things can get pretty messy. During the time period this game is set, the late Succession Wars, overt warcrimes like WMDs or direct attacks on civilians are pretty rare and a major scandal when they happen. That said, collateral damage does happen. Think along the tone of most Gundam series set in the One Year War timeline; generally Battletech rarely goes beyond PG-13, with the truly nasty stuff only implied rather than shown directly.

As for the most morally bright faction, that really depends on who you ask. In a lot of the earlier novels, The Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth (House Davion and House Steiner) were generally considered the 'good guy' factions, but later novels sort of rounded everyone out. I'd honestly say the closest thing to a full-on Lawful Good faction in the Inner Sphere are the Eridani Light Horse or the Kell Hounds.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

A government in collapse. A world up for grabs. Millions of lives in the balance. And a mountain of cash for those brave, skilled, or crazy enough to take it. The work is usually difficult, often dirty, and always dangerous. If being a mercenary was easy, everyone would do it.

EPISODE I: BORN TO LOSE

PREMISE:

The year is 3030, and Gawain’s Green Knights, a small mercenary command operating in the contentious Andurien region of the Inner Sphere, have found themselves in a situation. Originally under contract with the Capellan Confederation, they had been hired for garrison duty on the backwater border world of Espia, keeping the peace while the regular Capellan forces moved off-world to fight their hated enemies in the Federated Suns. It should have been easy money, chasing off bandits and looking good for photo opportunities while the local governor signed over fat stacks of cash until the regulars returned from the fighting.

Unfortunately for the Green Knights, things didn’t turn out that way. The Capellan Confederation lost their fight with the Federated Suns, and lost badly. While reeling from their disastrous war, the Capellan government withdrew its support from several border worlds, leaving Espia to twist in the wind. This resulted in protests, protests which became riots, riots which became a military coup. The new regime managed to seize most of the world’s military and economic assets….including the Green Knights’ Dropship, and the several million C-Bills the mercenaries were promised. Despite the local military seizing power, things continued to spiral out of control, erupting into a full-on civil war.

Now Gawain’s Green Knights are stuck without an employer, without a paycheck, and without a way off-planet. Between fanatical Capellan loyalists, opportunistic agents of the neighboring Free Worlds League, and radical Independents, the world is embroiled in a civil war which threatens to leave the entire planet in ruins. In the middle of this, Colonel Gaius Wayne and his band of mercenaries have to find a way out, either by finding the right client and rallying around their cause, or by grabbing enough loot in the chaos to pay for passage out of the system.

Whether they choose to fight for a higher cause, for the downtrodden caught up in the crossfire like them, for the money, or for each other, the only way out for the Green Knights is to fight their way through it. What remains to be seen is if they’ll still manage to get the money they were owed….or if any of them will be alive to spend it.

---

ABOUT THE GAME:

Disposable Heroes is an episodic sci-fi military roleplaying game set in the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe. Players will not need to be familiar with the wider lore of the setting in order to play, as the majority of the action will take place on a single locale (for this episode, the planet Espia), and details of the various factions and the broader history of the setting will be explained if and when they become relevant.

Players will be allowed up to two characters, playing the roles of Mechwarriors, tank commanders, aerospace fighter or helicopter pilots, infantry squad leaders, or other members of Gawain’s Green Knights. If players wish, their secondary character can be a member of one of the opposing factions. In this case, PvP is allowed (and encouraged). However, killing another player’s character or destroying their vehicle is prohibited unless both players agree on it beforehand.

The GM and AGM, playing the roles of Colonel Gaius Wayne and of the opposing forces, will provide mission objectives and general orders, as well as describe enemy actions and give the occasional nudge to keep the plot moving. In general, these orders will be very hands-off, allowing the players more or less free rein over how they carry these missions out. In addition, the GMs will play the role of referee, enforcing the usual Guild rules and mitigating any conflicts that may arise, and determining how much the general lore is allowed to stretch and bend without breaking it.

---

ABOUT THE SETTING:

The Battletech universe is equal parts action-packed heroic pulp fiction, gritty hard-nosed war drama, grand sweeping space opera, and cloak-and-dagger political thriller. While the larger interstellar factions of the 31st Century are usually morally gray, each side has plenty of genuine heroes and villains to go around, and the conflict of characters is often just as important as the clash between Great Houses and their awesome mechanized armies.

The primary factions in the setting at large are the five Successor States, each ruled by a noble Great House which espouses an old-world culture: the Federated Suns (House Davion, primarily English), the Draconis Combine (House Kurita, primarily Japanese), the Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner, primarily German), the Capellan Confederation (House Liao, primarily Chinese), and the Free Worlds League (House Marik, primarily Austro-Hungarian). Collectively, the Successor States and the worlds they occupy are known as the Inner Sphere. These states are mono-cultural, but multi-ethnic, meaning that a citizen of the Draconis Combine, for instance, could be of Asian descent or white or black or Middle Eastern or any number of other ethnicities, but would always be expected to speak and read/write Japanese and understand the tenets of traditional Japanese culture out of loyalty to the ruling Kurita family.

In between these huge interstellar empires and their constant battles are a number of smaller states known as the Periphery, shadowy organizations such as ComStar (who own the only existing technology allowing for interstellar communications), and countless mercenary companies that do whatever jobs these larger powers are willing to pay for. Mercenary commands can range from massive professional armies with enough skill and firepower to rival a Great House, to solo freelancers or tiny outfits that are little more than a pirate band with delusions of legitimacy.

After hundreds of years of unrestrained total warfare, the massive armies of the Great Houses have dwindled, the apocalyptic fleets of Warships have faded into distant memory, and both political expediency and strained resources have limited most conflict to the terrestrial battlefield. And in this theater of small-scale land-based combat, the Battlemech is king. As such, Mechwarriors are often held up as the new knights of the 31st Century, since they wield tremendous power that takes incredible skill and years of experience to master. Mechwarriors often have bombastic personalities, are prone to competitiveness, and will develop rivalries that can last lifetimes (lifetimes that are, just as often as not, cut spectacularly short),

The tone, aesthetic, and technology level of the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe can best be described as “mud and lasers.” Fantastical technology like faster-than-light travel and 20-meter-tall Battlemechs exist and are the focal points of most stories, but other common sci-fi staples such as aliens, nano-machines, and artificial intelligence either don’t exist at all, have been lost due to centuries of brutal warfare, or are simply too expensive and impractical to use. Computers are often bulky and slow, data is stored and carried in physical media like floppy discs and tapes, and hacking an enemy computer requires you to physically plug into it since the 31st Century equivalent of the internet is primitive and basic. In short, it’s the future, but it’s the 80s future.

TL;DR: take the hot-shot fighter pilots from Top Gun, the lo-fi cassette-futurism of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and the Machiavelian intrigue of Game of Thrones, and you’ve more or less got Mechwarrior.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

TUESDAY

"Franklin!" Kori exclaimed with a bright cheerful smile, gracefully weaving between classmates in the crowded hallway of Jump City High, her feet not even bothering to touch the ground. A few months ago, this would have sent students running in panic and confusion, but by now the super-powered alien girl was old news. While Kori certainly still drew plenty of attention, it was now of the more mundane variety: guys ogling her body as she passed, girls whispering salacious gossip or muttering jealously about her looks, and more than a few doing vice versa.

"Oh, uh, hey Kori," Frankie Crandall said with an uneasy chuckle as the orange-skinned beauty floated towards him. "Uhhh, what's up?"

"A relative direction signifying an increase in altitude," Kori answered, tilting her head to one side. "I was led to believe that Earth children were taught what the 'up' was at much younger ages. Should I explain the 'down' as well?"

Frankie stared at her blankly for a moment, blinked a few times as if to restart his brain, then shook his head. "Ah, no no, I was just saying, y'know, how are you doing?"

"Doing what?"

"No, I just..." Frankie sputtered for a moment, then shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"Then I shall have the worries no more," Kori smiled, before taking the boy in a tight hug and nuzzling her cheek against his. "I am with the great happiness to see you."

"Oh, yeah, uhhh....me too," Frankie said, growing increasingly aware of how many people were staring at him.

Frankie Crandall was the Senior Class President, as well as the first-string QB of Jump City High's football team, the Titans. He'd come from a rich family, was the alpha-male of his group of friends, and he'd had nearly every girl of any kind of social status in their school drooling over him. Throughout his junior year, he'd used his charm, his Abercrombie & Fitch looks, and his influence to get to at least second base with sixteen female students....and two teachers. It was no surprise, then, that when Junior Prom came around, he was the shoo-in to become Prom King, and his opposite number, Kitten van Cleer, would be Prom Queen. And they'd go into Senior Year as an unbeatable power-couple who would have their way with anyone and everyone.

Except Kitten wasn't voted Queen. In a surprise democratic uprising from the normies and nerds, Kitten lost out to a new student, Kori Anders, or "that hot alien superhero girl" as many of the ballots had said. While Kitten was humiliated by her freak loss (or in her words, her loss to a freak), Frankie didn't think it was all that bad. If dating a rich girl would cement his reputation, imagine being the first guy at Jump City High to go all the way with a superhero....

"I have been doing much thought," Kori said, her emerald eyes twinkling, "Of activities in which we can participate on the ending of this week. We can read the poetry together, or make the walking together in the park, or perhaps go to the theater of moving pictures! We could view the latest film, the Top of Gun!"

That was how he'd thought at first, but over the past few months, it had started to get old. For starters, as much as she fawned over him, gave him gifts (usually weirdo alien gifts that he didn't understand), there was no connection there; they were literally from two different worlds. Worse, his rep didn't get nearly the boost as he'd wanted, since almost nobody saw him as the alpha male anymore, the king of the Titans; now he was just "Starfire's boyfriend." And while Kori was very affectionate and tended to be quite 'hands-on' when displaying that affection, she always stopped just short of doing anything really fun. And it didn't help that any time he tried to convince her to go a little further, that goth emo sidekick of hers would interrupt and ruin the mood.

He had to admit, the drawbacks of dating an alien were really starting to outweigh the benefits....

"That sounds, uh, sounds great, Kori," Frankie said as he tried to free himself from Kori's embrace, "But, uhh, I kinda...already have plans this weekend? You know, the uh, the big party Friday night? The one that Kitten's throwing? On her dad's cruise ship? You're, uh, you're coming, right?"

Kori blinked in surprise as she released the hug. "Oh, no, I was....uninvited."

"Oh, that's...aw man, I'm sorry," Frankie tried poorly to conceal the relief in his voice. "I mean, I was really hoping you'd get to come, but I mean....you've probably got superhero stuff to do that night anyway, right?"

"That...is a possibility," Kori nodded as her feet finally touched the ground. "But if I do not have the super-heroism to perform, then perhaps we could--"

"I mean, I kinda already told Chaz and Kyler that I'd see them there," Frankie said with a pained expression as he backed away. "And I mean, Kitten said there was gonna be a big surprise for everyone there, so....you understand, right?"

Kori's eyes started to well with tears. "You are...you are giving me the dumping?"

"Well, that is, I mean, it's just.....we're two different people, right? I mean, like, I'm a guy, and you're from outer space, and it's like, whaaaat? You know what I mean?" Frankie began to stammer, before a slim blonde girl nudged her way through the crowd and slipped an arm around his waist.

"What he means," Kitten van Cleer said with a triumphant sneer, "is that he wants to spend some time with some real people, instead of fooling around with the space-princess freak-show."

The crowd surrounding them erupted into ooohs and aahs; the un-crowned queen of Jump City High was making her play for the throne.

"Isn't that right, Frankie-poo?"

"Kitten," Kori growled, her eyes glowing and fists beginning to charge with green plasma. "I knew this subversion of our love was your doing! What have you done to him?!"

Kitten's tittering laugh was like nails on a chalkboard to Kori. "Oh, it's not anything I did to him. It's all the things I'm going to do with him this Friday, while you're spending your night pulling cats out of trees or fishing people out of vats of poop."

The blonde leaned towards Kori and pretended to sniff the air. "Ew, and speaking of which, you still smell like the sewage plant."

"That is untrue!" Kori shouted with outrage. "I have cleansed any and all residual sewage from my body and made certain I no longer have the smelling from it!"

"Ohhh, I'm sorry," Kitten mockingly apologized. "My mistake; that must be how you always smell."

This brought a chorus of laughs from Kitten's followers as Kori seethed with rage. "You....you are nothing more than a malfing g'norz'plaft!"

Kitten put a hand to her forehead and acted wounded. "Oh noooo, a g'norz-whatever, how can I recover from such a horrible insult?"

Sheepishly, Frankie tried to back away from the two feuding girls and lose himself in the crowd, but made the mistake of making eye contact with the humiliated Kori.

"Franklin," she pleaded, "How can you do this? Why would you bring the dishonoring on yourself by coupling with this doer of evil?"

"I, uhh, well, you know," Frankie shrugged. "It's, uh, it's not you....it's me."

Again, Kitten laughed, making Kori's blood boil.

"Oh, he's kidding," she said, hooking her arm around Frankie's and pulling him close, "it's totally you."

As the two turned and left, Kitten's entourage of suck-ups and hangers-on let out a chorus of cheers, jeers, and laughter, leaving the red-haired alien girl stammering.

"I...I do not understand..." she said quietly, as her eyes welled with tears.

Starfire was a hero, a champion of Tamaran and a protector of the people of Earth. She was all but unbeatable on the battlefield, and a tireless foe of the forces of evil.

Kori Anders, though, was a misfit, the weird foreign girl who kept finding out the hard way that she didn't belong. She had trusted someone, had loved him, and that someone had tossed her love aside for someone as vicious and vindictive as Kitten van Cleer.

She had failed, just like she had failed on her home planet.

Once again, evil had triumphed, and she had been powerless to stop it.

---

"Azerath......Metreon....Zinthos...." Rachel chanted the mantra quietly in the far corner of the Jump City High library, her legs crossed in a lotus position as she levitated a couple of feet off of the ground.

Orbiting around her like moons were three books, their pages spread open and turning as their knowledge passed in and out of her mind.

The first was an old worn hardcover copy of Magick: Liber ABA, the seminal work of the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley. Technically, given her half-demon nature, Rachel didn't need spells and incantations to perform supernatural acts, but she found that they were a useful framing device. Much like how one can better express complex and nuanced emotions through the rhyme and meter of a poem, or the lyrics and melody of a song, Rachel often found that working with the subtle and dangerous workings of otherworldly powers was best done by framing it with sigils and runes and magic words.

The second was a more modern paperback, called Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious. It was mostly new-age pseudo-science attempting to put some air of credibility onto what amounted to spoon-bending and parlor tricks, but Raven found it useful to frame her thinking. When she was younger, she would have terrible nightmares, only to see them come true on the news a few days later. It was only recently that she learned that she had the gift and curse of precognition, her half-demon soul able to project into time as well as space. Her visions were still...messy, however, too cryptic and obtuse to be useful.

"Azerath......Metreon....Zinthos...."

As she chanted, the pages turned, channeling more knowledge into the purple-haired girl's mind. Rachel was hoping that by combining the older framework of traditional occultist magic with the quasi-rational mindset of the pseudo-scientists, she could get clearer, more accurate--and most importantly, more actionable-- information out of her premonitions. These two books together, she hoped, could help Raven and Starfire save lives.

The third book, which circled around her in a faster, more urgent orbit, was her Algebra II textbook. She had a test next period and hadn't had the time to study last night.

"Azerath......Metr--AAAAAHHH!"

Rachel dropped to the floor, the three books thudding on the floor around her as she clutched her head.

She'd been trying to focus her precognitive abilities, to get more out of her premonitions.

She had effectively gone fishing in the proverbial deep waters, and something just bit.

Images flooded into her mind, all at once.

Fire.

Shock.

Burning.

Crushing.

Gouging.

Cutting.

Blood.

Blood everywhere.

Drowning in it.

Drowning.

Lungs filling with salt water.

Familiar faces, their skin peeling away.

Screams from all sides.

Hell?

No. Not hell.

Yo can't die in hell.

And people are dying.

Dying all around you.

Death surrounds you.

Engulfs you.

Takes you.

Takes h--

"NO!" Rachel shouted, and the library trembled, spilling books from their shelves.

Dozens of students looked up from their studies and stared at the pale-skinned witch girl. While she never really cared for the opinions of her classmates, she also didn't care for being looked at like a circus act.

"I'll, ah, I'll clean up in a second," she muttered, before hurrying out of the library and heading for the nearest bathroom. A few students whispered to each other under their breath, drawing some derisive laughs. Superhero or not, most of them had never really stopped thinking of her as a weirdo, a freak. Little episodes like this certainly didn't help.

In the girls' room, Rachel stood in front of the sink, turned on the faucet, and splashed a handful of cold water on her face to try and bring herself back to reality. As her heart rate slowed and her breathing returned to normal, Rachel slowly felt the panic subside....

....leaving only the certain, awful dread that now sat heavy in her heart.

"Something evil is coming," she finally spoke, her premonition now a prophecy. "No....a lot of somethings. All those people, they're all going to die..."

She looked herself in the mirror, and steeled her nerve. "....unless I do something about it."

Rachel Roth may have been a freak, a weird little goth loser whose only friend was the equally weird space-girl who didn't know any better.

But Raven was a superhero. Raven could stand up to the forces of hell itself and send them packing.

And if something evil, or a lot of somethings, were really coming, then she would be there to stop it.

Titans

I was gonna respond with a YJ Robin gif about being whelmed, but trying to share pics on my phone without signing up for some garbage-ass app is nigh impossible.

But anyway, yeah, I'm down for running as Robin. Expect an application soon.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

I just post my stuff, then correct the typos after the fact and hope nobody notices.