The "Great Pendragon Campaign" in the 31st Century?

I like to tinker. That's what I do. I get ahold of things and I want to twist and bend them into new ways. That's probably why I'm not as successful of an independent RPG author as some of the OSR bloggers... I'm more in the "Oh, let me make this do that and something else."

Lately, I've been utterly fascinated by SirLarkins's posts on his blog RPG Corner about his solo Pendragon game with his wife. Pendragon is a game about life and family in the mythology of King Arthur - and it's one of the few games that assumes and encourages a campaign that spans generations of a family. I've found myself extremely intrigued by this concept, so much so, that I found the first edition boxed set on Ebay and got it for less than $10 - and now my wife and I have something new to try. I'm also going to pick up the PDF version of the "Great Pendragon Campaign" book which is essentially a chronological campaign setting that one can use to run their Pendragon campaign in tight context to the Authurian legends.

Add to this mix another bit - Erin and I have been discussing on comments and twitter about the old school concepts of Battletech and Mechwarrior - the fact that when first conceived, Battletech was similar to knights on their steeds coming to battle. 'Mechs were rare, extremely valuable and most often were family heirlooms to be passed down. If a family owned a Locust, it was likely that they'd always be Locust-drivers, even if they were fortunate enough to gain a bigger 'Mech somehow. I equate the training and 'loyalty' to their class similar to that of a light cav knight compared to a heavy cav knight.

The Battletech Universe is widely understood with a well documented canon to it, much like Arthurian mythology. It occurs to me that a grand campaign spanning generations of Mechwarriors across the Succession Wars as technology and governments reverted back to scavenging and almost 21st century technology would be fascinating! Add in the aspect of a family focus across generations and this could be a very interesting

Now it could be that this has already been done, to some degree. I don't recall all the supplements but I don't remember one that dealt specifically with family type issues or generations like Pendragon does. One could look at the Mercenary supplements to Mechwarrior for some inspiration. Still - creating a "Grand Mechwarrior Campaign" book/approach that follows the Succession Wars would be a fascinating exercise!

I don't have enough hours in the day to do all the neat crap I want to do. *sigh*

From Bad To Worse - Winter War Mechwarrior scenario

It was supposed to be a smash & grab mission - quick in and quick out. Everything went By-The-Book... Until Recon told us that everyone at the Steiner base was dead, and we saw that ancient Drop Ship circling the planet. What happened next... I don't want to talk about it. 'From Bad to Worse' combines a horror-sci/fi Mechwarrior RPG scenario with Battletech miniature battles. Pregenerated characters will be available.

The scenario is going to consist of three situations that I'd like to get through.

Situation 1:

The first is the opener. You're a member of a mercenary assault that attacked the small Steiner world of McFierney. Your unit's objective was to smash the small Mech outpost near one of the major cities. The jump to the pirate point was text-book and lucky, the landing unopposed. Then you saw them... all the dead bodies. Hundreds of them. Securing the base wasn't a problem, it was figuring out what the hell happened. Your lance dismounted to investigate the main base facility. You found more bodies, but none were decaying. That's when you saw it, a lab that held a strange piece of black metal that didn't seem to be there. Problem was, your presence there triggered a response and you found yourself locked in a sub-basement level, with only a "BIOHAZARD" flashing alert to keep you company. Then... about 30 hours later, the power failed and everything opened. That's when you noticed the bodies were moving...

The scenario objectives are simple - get something that will transport you across the city to the starport where your Drop Ship is. Will the players survive? This portion of the game will use the microMechwarrior rules.

Situation 2:

Now at your transport (Mechs, or tanks, or trucks or whatever the players have survived to find) you discover that things have gotten worse. This is where I'll be prepared with two different paths.

If the players made it to their Mechs or tanks, they have to make it through the city to get to the landing site. They will be opposed by a surprise Steiner Mech lance that had been out in the field. This portion of the game will use Classic/Intro Battletech rules. I'm prepared to go with QuickStart rules (heat, no internal structure) if most players are new to Battletech.

If players made it to other vehicles, it'll be a microMechwarrior encounter till they get to the star port, at which point, I'll have Mechs there that they can use to repulse the Steiners who've come upon them.

(In other words, we're having a Battletech fight at this point, dammit... how you get to fight big stompy robots is your decision.)

Once they reach the Star port...

The players will find out that there is a strange looking battered Star League era drop ship, sitting on the launch pad. They can go explore the drop ship, which will come to life and take them to Situation 3. If they choose to not go to the drop ship, or we're out of time, they will be taken up to their Jump Ship, where they'll be told there is a Star League Jump Ship in orbit around the planet. It's not responding to hails and it looks dead... and like it's been burned.

Situation 3 -

One of two deals - the Merc Leader wants to get that ancient drop ship with the possible Mechs AND he wants to explore the Jump Ship.

If the players want another Mech battle:

They go down in their Drop Ship only to find that the other Drop Ship has different ideas... and it's Mechs inside are rather protective of things. Undead Mechs. Ghosts in the Machine. Dont'cha love it? (no, I'm not using the Wizkids Undead Mech thing... no clue what that is and not sure I want to :P. However, zombie mechs will have an unusual twist or two... Oh yes. :> )

If the players want to do more RPG and explore the ship or they got into the ancient drop ship...:

Let's face it, you know what's coming. This ship has been to Hell and back and it's brought death with it. They'll dock at the Jump Ship and explore - they'll see other drop ships there full of Mechs, but no people, as far as they can tell. This is where the weird shit begins - and if you've watched Event Horizon, you'll know where I'm going... NPCs are going to start going nuts and yes, there will be real undead. The ship will begin prepping for jump... will the players make it out in time? (if they were shanghai'd there, will they survive/make it to the rescuing drop ship from the mercs?)