Topics primarily focusing upon Lancer, the mud-and-lasers mech role-playing game.
Lancer implements “wound”-like rules for when a mech suffers damage or strains their reactor. However, if a mech is unlucky, these “wounds” can cause them to lose a turn, take double damage, or destroy them outright. While many players in the Lancer community find these consequences acceptable, this system has prompted others to develop more […]
Lancer House Rules: Structure & Overheating Read More »
(Part of my Modular Objectives series. Prototype Pattern Groups includes the latest version of these rules.) Command can’t get a visual on the objective — you’re going in blind. You know what to do once you find it. Triangulate models situations where the PCs Search for an objective purposefully hidden from them. It is a
Modular Objectives – Triangulate Read More »
(Part of my Modular Objectives series. Prototype Pattern Groups includes the latest version of these rules.) Folks are depending on this medicine shipment. The corpo who owns it won’t give it up without a fight. Transport models a situation when the PCs attempt to move an object valuable to their enemies across a dangerous location.
Modular Objectives – Transport Read More »
(Part of my Modular Objectives series. Prototype Pattern Groups includes the latest version of these rules.) The opposing force possesses materiel we don’t want them to have. Seize the assets by force. Seize models situations when the PCs attempt to wrest control of strategic objects or locations through sustained application of force. It may be
Modular Objectives – Seize Read More »
(Part of my Modular Objectives series. Prototype Pattern Groups includes the latest version of these rules.) The surface-to-orbit cannon is charging, but only if its batteries remain intact. Keep the enemy away! Fortify models situations when the PCs attempt to retain control of strategic objects or locations despite mounting hostile pressure. It can be used
Modular Objectives – Fortify Read More »
(Part of my Modular Objectives series. Prototype Pattern Groups includes the latest version of these rules.) Sending you the target coordinates; hit them fast and hard, and we’ll be home in time for dinner. Blitz models situations when the PCs attempt to quickly secure or destroy multiple targets. It is a flexible, low-complexity sitrep that
Modular Objectives – Blitz Read More »
Lancer’s sitreps make large strides towards objective-based gameplay in a TTRPG genre often geared towards “killing the other team more efficiently.” However, they often struggle to anchor themselves in the fiction: What do “control zones” and “victory points” mean in a diegetic sense, and how come a character can earn points just by standing in
Modular Objectives Read More »
The Lancer RPG pulls substantial inspiration from its predecessor, the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (aka 4E). Like 4E, Lancer classifies its mechs using a “Role” system, which broadly indicates how the mech will behave in tactical combat. 4E originally had four roles for its character classes, exploring the dynamics of Damage (dealing and
The Six Combat Roles of Lancer Read More »
Lancer Objectives are weird. When the goal is to Escort or Extract an Objective from the battlefield, the Objective is neither a “Character” (like a piloted mech or bus) nor an “Object” (like a wagon full of rocks), but a “secret third thing” that is treated as neither. Nominally, this is because Lancer has a
Putting the “Object” Back into “Objective” Read More »
Earlier in the Solstice Rain Remix, I presented my own take on how to structure the module’s combat encounters. In this Remix Addendum, I am revisiting Solstice Rain’s fights through a different lens. While my initial lineup attempted to adhere to the module’s original goal of presenting all of Lancer’s standard NPC types, I now
Addendum: Revisiting Solstice Rain’s Fights Read More »
