Mercenaries Supplemental Update.pdf: 31 MB. BattleTech MapPacks bring back BattleTech’s classic map sheets in printable form. BattleTech: Mercenaries Supplemental Update. Classic BattleTech Mercenaries Supplemental Update details the fall-out of the opening years of the Jihad and how it relates to mercenaries. Providing updates on all major mercenary commands currently embroiled in the Jihad, as well as covering the various Hiring Halls, this product also details brand new mercenaries commands springing up from the shattered remains of commands destroyed in these opening Jihad years.
So I'm trying to learn and run Battletech (I think it's 3e)/Mechwarrior (2e) in 3025 and I'm trying have my players join a merc unit, but the rules for generating a unit feel so different for each source book.
Take the Mercenary Handbook: It uses a point buy system that I'm not a huge fan of. I like to randomize things a bit more. I think it adds more flavor in your unit if you have clear issues due to a lack of a perfect army.
The Field Manual: Mercenaries is a bit better for this as they have you generate a leader and then take them through some random assignment stuff, but goes back to essentially point buying your technicians and doctors and feels like they're there as an after though or contractors rather than part of your unit. Also they start using the Dragoon Rating system in contract generation that is entirely based on after discovering the helm memory core and the clan invasion and if you're playing in 3025, that hasn't happened. They even mention there's a difference between Level 1, 2, and 3 tech, but then only give you to use a system based on Level 2 or 3. Similar to the Mercenary Handbook, it also generates pretty large units. I think I had a whole battalion of Mechs before even getting to armor, aerospace, and infantry. Getting a even a small dropship is pretty difficult, so transporting your battalion feels difficult.
Field Manual: Mercenaries Revised does a better job making your techs and doctors feel special, and (from what I understand) makes a smaller sized mercenary unit (on the scale of a lance or two to a company of Mechs) which I think is better because it makes the players feel like their a part of things, not just another soldier. This also suffers from the Dragoon Rating and contract generation system specific to technology that doesn't exist at this point in the timeline. This also uses Mechwarrior 3e which has some different skills and abilities that don't appear in 2e, but matter in the unit generation.
Full version forever. The Mechwarrior (2e) book has a OK system, but it really doesn't generate a unit so much as unifies the group of players like D&D.
It's like I want a unit generated out of FM:MR, because I want the players to feel like they're a mildly important part of the unit on a personal level with their group and the techs/medics to feel like they're part of the unit too. I like the Dragoon Rating system for generating contracts and was thinking about porting over a similar kind of 'Mercenary World' idea into 3025, but it's rating and contract generation system is dependent on higher tech that doesn't really exist at this point. I feel like I need to pull rules and systems from 7 different books and mash them all together into one house-ruled system, but that feels intimidating for not only me to do, but my players to learn since we're all new. How do you guys tackle this problem and what systems do you use? Am I just biting off more than I should be chewing at this point?
Free Update Pdf File
Aside:
I guess my problem is that Mechwarrior and Battletech don't feel integrated very well into each other in scale and in rules. Am I just misunderstanding what I'm supposed to be doing here? I really want to play and introduce my group to this. The crunch doesn't bother me or my players, but there doesn't seem to be an elegant system for doing, well.. anything. On top of that, there's a number of source books on the level of D&D 3.5 with rules and different systems that all seem to contradict each other just enough to not mesh very well together. Am I just approaching Battletech/Mechwarrior with the wrong idea? I loved the Battletech Primer in the sidebar, but I really wish there was another Primer with actually running the game or more information on what systems to use for what feel of Battletech and Mechwarrior, similar to the /r/DnDBehindTheScreen and /r/DMAcademy. I feel like this game is severely missing a way to introduce new players or at least it's not very clear on how to do that and there doesn't seem to be a lot of resources out there. Am I just looking in the wrong spot?