In a galaxy as vast as this one, a distress call is a message in a bottle: sent with hope, and in the grim knowledge that, more likely than not, no one will respond in time.
No one but the Albatross.
“The Albatross”, Lancer, p. 409, emphasis added
One of the fantasies Lancer is sold upon is that of mech cavalry pilots: Big damn heroes who arrive in the nick of time to put an end to oppression and violations of fundamental human rights. No organization in Lancer’s setting exemplifies this more than the Albatross: So-called “relativistic paladins” who abandon their past lives for the sake of combating injustice across the stars. Therefore, I intend to create a campaign structure that captures the nomadic, first-responder lifestyle of the Albatross. This aim of this framework is to:
- Reward players for taking risks to help people in need (progressive advancement and rewards based upon risk to characters).
- Create a setting with numerous, varied locales to which players can travel (setting generator).
- Generate crises or hooks severe enough to require player intervention (hook generator).
- Encourage rapid movement from crisis to crisis (pressure mechanics, and an overarching goal or destination).
- Enables drop-in/drop-out play with a stable of characters of various experience levels (open table support).
- Espouses camaraderie, relationships, & growth within the players’ organization (downtime that undergirds the fantasy).
I plan to draw heavily from Band of Blades, Stars Without Number: Starvation Cheap, and FTL: Faster than Light as inspiration for this structure. Eventually, I plan to playtest a campaign using this structure, refine its rules and procedures, and formally publish it on itch.io and DriveThruRPG. Under this framework, Lancer tables will be able to create a variety of worldhopping campaigns (both Albatross and otherwise).
Relativistic Paladins Index
This section will expand as I add entries to this series.