This is a repost of a blog entry on ENWorld. Come join us there for more Pathfinder RPG blog posts and a few Traveller entries as well.
Mechs make fun toys. No matter what setting they’re in, I love mechs. DragonMech, Exalted’s warstriders, BattleTech, Mech Warrior and many others. There’s just something about piloting a giant robot that can punch down a building that appeals to me. Maybe its the way they make the ground shake as you approach. Maybe its the giant guns. Or maybe I really just want to be a dinosaur and this is the easiest way to do it. I don’t know. But they’re fun nonetheless.
So for my first major print product for Traveller, I had to do a Mech book. My company was the first to publish a Mech for the current edition of the game and soon we’ll be the first to publish a supplement devoted to these monster trucks on legs. Not much I can talk about at this point in time, but I can show you the cover.
I can also let you in on a bit of the design philosophy that I am using. Let me state right off the bat that I am not using the Vehicle Design Rules from the Civilian/Military Vehicles books published by Mongoose Publishing. Why? Two simple reasons. 1) They are not OGL. As of the date I stated writing up my own Gundam, the rules were not available for other publishers to use. So I am doing what I can with the Traveller Main Rulebook, High Guard, and Mercenary (yes I am using all 3). And 2) using the book goes against my commitment to require as few books as possible. My own experience with writing for D&D 3.5 tells me that you can never make the assumption that anyone has any book beyond the core rule book (unless you’re doing a psionic supplement, but that’s about it). With that in mind, I am using High Guard, but I am making sure that High Guard is not required to get full use out of this book.
The only part of Mercenary that is required are the Mass Combat rules. In my experience, a great way for a game to feel larger than yourself is to have mass scale combats. When you command 100 souls and know that your actions determine their fates, you cannot help but feel apart of that world and to know your place in it. So far, I have not seen any mass combats be encourages in supplements, so I am going to help that along by including stats for a armies and mercenary companies or simple defense groups this and future supplements. If nothing else, it will be a fun experiment to see what people think of such stats included in the book.
Until Next Time, Have Fun.
“Traveller” and the Traveller logo are Trademarks owned by Far Future Enterprises, Inc. and are used with permission. The Traveller Main Rulebook is available from Mongoose Publishing.
