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[Darrian Wolffe]

Gentlemen.  Ladies.  Dan.

I'm working on getting the rules for the next campaign typed up and posted while we have time to look them over and tweak them.  There is a specific format for these rules that will not be changed, because this campaign is going to serve as a VERY special event.

This campaign will serve as an informal playtest for integration of a limited A Time of War ruleset into the BattleTech game proper.  This is a first step toward getting a persistent and national ATOW campaign that will enable gamers to take their characters and play their same PC at conventions and official events across the country.  Want to go play a Trial of Bloodright with your avatar at GenCon?  Once rules come out, you'll be able to!

Thus, over the next several days (off work with a broken elbow) I'll be posting up the first draft of the ruleset we'll be playing under during the next campaign (after Travis & Mike's storyline comes to an end).  Please hold all questions regarding posted rules until I give the go-ahead, so save on thread clutter.

I'm really looking forward to this, guys.

And as a teaser:

The year is 2765, and you are members of the 741st Royal Striker Regiment, an elite unit where the only things more deadly than your cutting-edge hardware are the men and woman that use it.  Two months ago, eighteen worlds of the Taurian Concordat declared their independence from the Star League, and reports of mass uprisings and executions of Star League citizens have filtered back to you.  The Star League Defense Force is going in to rescue its people and guide the separatists back to the League's side, and as the nearest Striker regiment, you'll be the tip of the spear.  Do you have what it takes to help keep the Star League together in the face of the greatest war the galaxy has seen in two hundred years?  Find out in the ground-breaking new Cincinnati BattleTech campaign series:

Apocalypse Rising

[Darrian Wolffe]

Campaign Overview

Synopsis
Apocalypse Rising (AR) is a BattleTech Total Warfare (TW) campaign designed to be used in conjunction with a limited A Time of War (ATOW) Role-playing Game ruleset.  While the primary focus in gameplay are the TW-level rules, ATOW elements will be included in such a manner as to add to the overall experience, both between and during individual games.  This will allow players to, in a reasonably balanced and predictable manner, expound on the abilities and background of their MechWarrior beyond just a Piloting and Gunnery score.  It will also aid in the shared storytelling experience, allowing the gamemaster to challenge characters in ways other than that found solely on the TW game board.

What Apocalypse Rising is NOT:
1) AR is NOT a full-bore tabletop roleplaying game.  While, in theory, the characters generated by the players would in fact be used in an ATOW persistent campaign, at not point during the campaign will players be expected to sit down at a shared venue and actually act out their character's dialogue, or any of the other "normal" tropes associated with a standard RPG.

2) AR is NOT a forum-based, play-by-post RPG.  Players will not be expected to hold conversations in-character (though this is not discouraged) across forum software.  At most, players may be asked how their character might react to a given situation, but the gamemaster will perform all relevant dice-rolling and sundry activities to generate in-play results.


Example of Play:
Members of the player character's unit, the 741st Royal Striker Regiment, are tasked with assaulting a Taurian outpost and extracting a scientist whom the SLDF believes has information regarding the defense grid around an important world.  The mission calls for the 741st to be hot-dropped directly onto the outpost, which is guarded by a mixed company of medium-class Mechs and  tanks, along with a squad of infantry, all Green in quality.

Maria's character believes that this mission is too easy; why send an elite unit to deal with such easy pickings?  After the briefing is posted online, she asks the GM if she can dig up any additional information on the mission.  The GM asks her what skill she'd like to use to find out the information.  Maria looks at her ATOW character sheet, and notes that during the character creation process, she made sure to buy her Administration skill up to a +4 modifier (a pretty good score!).  She informs the GM that she's going to use her Administration skill under the guise of some botched paperwork to see if she can get a more complete mission briefing out of the SLDF red tape.  The GM agrees with the method in which she will use the skill, and so rolls out her attempt using the standard ATOW rules, resulting in a success.  An important bit of information emerges from a classified psych profile: the scientist is a Taurian loyalist who truly loves his nation (and thus builds weapons to defend it), but is something of a pacifist and hates the thought of people dying.

Armed with this knowledge, the mission proceeds as planned.  The players hot-drop onto the battlefield; a complex of office buildings.  Using standard TW rules, they engage the enemy.  Unfortunately, mission intelligence was unable to pinpoint the specific building the scientist was thought to be inside.  David, driving an Ostscout armed with an impressive sensor suite, evades the enemy and decides to make a sweep of the area of high concentrations of electronics to try and pinpoint a laboratory (reasoning that the scientist, being a scientist, would probably be in or near a lab).  The GM rolls out his Sensor Operations skill check (deciding to give a small bonus to the roll for the 'Mech's advanced sensors), and David pinpoints the only lab building in the complex.

Continuing the TW game, the members of the 741st eventually finish off the mechanized defenders, but they're left with the thorny problem of having to extract - alive - an unwilling scientist from a building while under the watchful eyes and weapons of a squad of heavily-armed Taurian infantrymen.  Enemy reinforcements are surely on their way, and the team doesn't have much time.  Travis, the commanding officer, doesn't like the odds of dismounting from their 'Mechs and getting into a firefight, so he dismounts himself and asks to speak - at a distance - with the scientist.  He appeals to the scientist's love of his nation's people; thousands more Taurian citizens will die due to the defense grid if the SLDF Navy is forced to bombard the planet from space to knock it out.  The GM feels this constitutes a Negotiation check, which Travis's character doesn't have.  Using the rules in ATOW, the GM makes an untrained Negotiation skill roll (a single-attribute check) for Travis, which succeeds!  The scientist gives in and hands himself over voluntarily.  The characters remount their 'Mechs and skedaddle, ending the scenario.

Note that if the players had instead decided to storm the building, each would have had to make an opposed weapon skill check (probably Small Arms) against the weapon skills of the enemy infantry.  As long as one player succeeded on the check they'd get the scientist...however, anyone beaten on the opposed checks would take damage according to the Margin of Failure on the roll (translating into boxes of MechWarrior damage in TW play), which could be dangerous if they end up in additional combat to get off-world with the scientist.  A large enough Margin of Failure could even result in members of the unit being killed.  Further, a fumble on the Small Arms check might indicate that the scientist was accidentally killed in the crossfire, leading to a "mission failure" result.

Clearly, Gunnery/Mech and Piloting/Mech are not the only important (or even necessarily the most important) skills in Apocalypse Rising!

[Darrian Wolffe]

Character Creation

Overview:  The basic character creation system in ATOW is a point-buy system, wherein the player is given a certain number of XP (usually about 5,000) and turned loose to purchase attribute points, skills, and positive or negative traits to his heart's content.  ATOW does not contain a balancing system to prevent min-maxing attributes or skills, however, and it is trivially easy to start play with maximum values in relevant TW-related skills (Pilot/Mech and Gunnery/Mech) - equivalent to TW scores of -2/-2.  The idea of the system is to allow the GM and the group to set their desired "power levels" where ever they like; the system can support hyper-elite Manei Domini operatives as easily as it can support barely-trained farmboys struggling to figure out the differences between AgroMechs and BattleMechs.

However, for a campaign that has the potential to be nationally viewed, some level of balancing is in order.  After all, a campaign centered around BattleMech combat containing both Cletus, the AgroMech pilot from the Davion Outback, and Kai Allard-Liao's more competent half-cousin is going to be unenjoyable for at least one party.  Thus, AR contains balancing agents that attempt to maximize flexibility in character creation and still result in reasonably balanced characters.

Core Assumption: The AR campaign assumes that all characters are BattleMech pilots, who are members of the SLDF.  As such, all characters MUST possess the following skills at the end of character creation: Pilot/Mech, Gunnery/Mech, Career/Soldier.  All characters also must meet the following Attribute minimums: Strength 3, Body 3, Reflexes 4, Dexterity 4, Intelligence 2, Willpower 2

The Priority System: The character creation process begins with assigning priorities to different aspects of your character.  These aspects are Attributes (the numbers that describe your character's natural qualities, such as Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence), Skills (what your character knows how to do), and Traits (miscellaneous qualities that make your character unique, such as possessing Transit Disorientation Syndrome, or being highly resistant to pain, or even possessing special Pilot Qualities that make you a truly unique pilot).

These aspects are each assigned a Priority, A, B, or C.  Choose "A" for what the aspect you desire to be the most important for your character, and "C" for what you desire to be the least important.


Priority Tables

Attributes

Priority	|Attribute XP
A	|3800 XP
B	|3400 XP
C	|3000 XP

Skill Bonuses

Priority	|A	|B	|C
Row 1	|+6	|+5	|+4
	|+5	|+5	|+4
	|+5	|+4	|+3
	|+4	|+2	|+3
	|+3	|+2	|+2
	|+2	|+1	|
	|+1	|	|

Traits

Priority	|Trait XP
A	|900 XP
B	|500 XP
C	|200 XP

Using the Priority Tables:  Each Priority may be selected only once.  No character may have, for example, 2 "A" Priorities.  Upon selecting a Priority for a given character aspect, the character immediately receives the noted amount of XP which may be spent as the player desires on that aspect only.  The XP gain from selecting a "C" priority in Traits, for example, may not be used to purchase an additional point of Strength (which is an attribute).  Apart from this limitation, both the XP from Attributes and from Traits may be spent however the controlling player wishes, subject to the limitations in "Spending XP", below.

Skills, however, work slightly differently.  Upon selecting a Priority in skills, the character gains the number of skills which are listed (vertically) at the skill bonus levels listed under the appropriate Priority.  So, for example, if a player selected Priority "C" for his character, the character would then possess two skills at a +4 rating, two skills at a +3 rating, and one skill at a +2 rating.  Any skill listed in ATOW may be selected (the Master Skills List is on pg. 142 of ATOW).  Note that the number of skills granted in the AR campaign is significantly smaller than the number of skills most ATOW starting characters will possess.  The ATOW skill quantities are  function of the Life Module system, and the vast majority of skills granted will be in the +0 or +1 range.  Apocalypse Rising deletes these side skills in the streamlining to allow a greater level of focus on your character's specialties; skill bonuses in primary skills (such as Pilot/Mech for a MechWarrior) are identical to common starting skill levels withing ATOW.

Spending XP
Attributes:  There are 8 Attributes in ATOW, Strength, Body, Dexterity, Reflexes, Intelligence, Willpower, Charisma, and Edge.  They are each rated on a scale from 1-10 (no attribute may be a zero), where 4 is the human average, 8 is normal human maximum (sans Traits), and 10 is an exceptional attribute with a Clan Phenotype on top of it.  All attributes start at 0, and purchasing 1 level of an attribute costs 100 XP.  Partial attributes may not be purchased.

High Attribute ratings can give bonuses to skills (when used outside of TW play), accounting for some level of natural talent or ability.  Likewise, low scores will have the opposite effect.  A score of a "1" will apply a -2 penalty to all skill rolls linked to that attribute (such as Negotiation and Charisma), and a score of "2-3" will impose a -1 penalty of skill rolls.  Conversely, a score of "7-9" will grant a +1 bonus.

Traits: Any character may select any Trait, whether Positive or Negative, from the list of Traits, below.  They may also select from any of the listed "Pilot Qualities" (special abilities of elite pilots...presuming they meet the prerequisites listed).  Positive Traits cost 100 XPs per "level" of the Trait, while Negative Traits give your character a bonus 100 XPs per "level" of the Trait.  Thusly, a Rating 2 "Connections" Trait would cost 200 XP.  If only a single cost is listed beside a Trait, it must be purchased at that price; this includes all Pilot Qualities.  Partial Traits may not be purchased.
 
-Negative Traits: Negative Traits give XP back to your character.  These are "free" XP, that may be spent on additional Traits, Skills, or Attributes.  Each increment of 100 XP of a given negative trait may be applied to either your Attribute or your Trait pool.  If you decide to spend this XP on skills, each increment of 100 XP will give you three additional +1 skill rankings that may be used to either purchase new skills, or be added to already existing skills.  However, no skill may be improved above the skill bonus listed in Row 1 of the skill priority you selected.  Therefore, if you had selected Priority C for Skills, no skill could be improved above a +4 rating.  Finally, no more than 300 XP may be gained from taking Negative Traits (additional Negative Traits taken at Character Creation or acquired during gameplay grant no XP benefit).

-There's Traits missing!  Aficionados of the normal ATOW ruleset may notice that there are several Traits which are not available in the list below.  They may also have noticed that the characters one can put together under this system will total significantly less than 5,000 XP.  In the normal ATOW ruleset, a very large portion of one's starting XP would go toward securing a BattleMech and other equipment; characters must pay XP for Rank, Vehicle Weight, access to advanced technology, and so forth.  Because characters in ATOW are not necessarily MechWarriors, this makes sense from a game balance perspective.  However, as all characters in AR are assumed to be SLDF MechWarriors (and personal BattleMech ownership is all but nonexistent at this point in the timeline), the XPs and Traits that reflect such things are deleted from this system.  This does not reduce character "power" relative to each other, and AR characters will still compare favorably to standard ATOW-built characters.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Master Skills List

Skill	Linked Attributes
Acrobatics	RFL
Acting	CHA
Administration	INT+WIL
Animal Handling	WIL
Appraisal	INT
Archery	DEX
Artillery	INT+WIL
Career/X	INT
Climbing	DEX
Communications	INT
Computers (basic)	INT
Computers (advanced)	INT+DEX
Cryptography	INT+WIL
Demolitions	DEX+INT
Disguise	CHA
Driving	RFL+DEX
Escape Artist	STR+DEX
Forgery	DEX+INT
Gunnery/X	REF+DEX
Interrogation	WIL+CHA
Investigation	INT+WIL
Leadership	WIL+CHA
Martial Arts (basic)	RFL
Martial Arts (advanced)	REF+DEX
MedTech	INT
Melee Weapons	DEX
Navigation/X	INT
Negotiation	CHA
Perception	INT
Piloting/X	RFL+DEX
Prestidigitation	DEX
Protocol/X	WIL+CHA
Running	RFL
Science/X	INT+WIL
Security Systems	DEX+INT
Sensor Operations	INT+WIL
Small Arms	DEX
Stealth	RFL+INT
Strategy	INT+WIL
Streetwise/X	CHA
Support Weapons	DEX
Surgery	DEX+INT
Survival/X	BOD+INT
Swimming	STR
Tactics/X	INT+WIL
Technician/X	DEX+INT
Thrown Weapons	DEX
Tracking	INT+WIL
Training	INT+CHA
Zero-G Operations	RFL

Subskills:  Any skill which is listed with a cadence of "/X" requires a subskill or specialization.  For example, one does not simply buy the "Protocol" Skill, as protocol differs from place to place.  One would instead have to purchase "Protocol/Star League" or "Protocol/Draconis Combine".  As a rule, subskills are fairly obvious in their specific divisions; generally by Faction, by environment (Survival/Woodlands; Tactics/Land), or by specialty (Technician/Weapons; Piloting/Mech; Science/Biology).

[Darrian Wolffe]

Master Traits and Pilot Qualities List

Note on Legality:  Specific game effects are not listed here unless they differ significantly from what is listed in ATOW.  The full effects of Traits may be found on pages 108-128 of ATOW, and the full effects of special Pilot Qualities may be found on pages 219-225 of the same volume.

Positive Trait	Value	Modified Effect
Alternate ID	200 XP
Ambidextrous	200 XP
Animal Empathy	100 XP
Attractive	200 XP
Combat Sense	400 XP
Connections	100 XP-1000 XP
Exceptional Attribute	200 XP
Fast Learner	300 XP	-10% on XP costs after character creation, add one additional skill at +2 of your choice
Fit	200 XP
G-tolerance	100 XP
Good Hearing	100 XP
Good Vision	100 XP
Gregarious	100 XP
Natural Aptitude (non-combat skill)	300 XP
Natural Aptitude (combat skill)	500 XP
Pain Resistance	300 XP	-1 bonus on Consciousness TNs in TW play
Patient	100 XP
Sixth Sense	400 XP
Tech Empathy	300 XP
Thick-skinned	100 XP	-1 Bonus on TN to resist Pilot damage from high heat in TW play
Toughness	300 XP	Ignore the first MechWarrior hit in a scenario during TW play
Negative Qualities	Value	Modified Effect
Animal Apathy	-100 XP
Bloodmark	-100 to -300 XP
Compulsion/X	-100 to -300 XP
Enemy	-100 to -300 XP
Glass Jaw	-300 XP	Start each TW scenario with 1 Pilot Hit box filled in
Gremlins	-300 XP
Handicap	-100 to -300 XP
Impatient	-100 XP	May not take advantage of Hidden Unit rules
Introvert	-100 XP
Lost Limb	-100 to -300 XP
Poor Hearing	-100 to -300 XP
Poor Vision	-100 to -300 XP
Slow Learner	-300 XP	+10% to all XP costs after character creation, reduce one +2 skill to a +0 skill
Thin-skinned	-100 XP	+1 penalty to all TNs to resist Pilot damage from high heat
TDS	-100 XP
Unattractive	-100 XP
Unlucky	-200 to -300 XP	Every 100 XP of this Trait gives the opposing side 1 Bonus EDG used only against you per scenario
Misc Traits	Value	Effect
Reputation	-300 to 500 XP
Custom Vehicle	200 to 400 XP	Allows choice of Stock Vehicle within faction (200), any Stock Vehicle (300) or design own Vehicle (400).
Design Quirk	-300 to 500 XP	Allows access to Strategic Operations design Quirks; 1 Quirk point/100 XP, no more than 3 Quirks total per Vehicle
Special Pilot Abilities (Gunnery)	Value	Prerequisites
Blood Stalker	120 XP	WIL 6+; Compulsion/Any; Gunnery/X 5+
Fist Fire	150 XP	Gunnery/Mech 5+, Melee Specialist SPA
Marksman	200 XP	DEX 5+; Good Vision; Gunnery/X 5+
Multi-tasker	50 XP	WIL 6+; Gunnery/Any crewed unit 5+
Oblique Attacker	50 XP	INT 5+; Gunnery/Any 5+; Sensor Operations 5+
Range Master	100 XP	Sniper SPA
Sharpshooter	100 XP	Marksman SPA
Sniper	150 XP	DEX 5+; Good Vision; Gunnery/X 5+
Weapon Specialist	150 XP	DEX 5+; Gunnery/X 6+
Special Pilot Abilities (Piloting)	Value	Prerequisites
Dodge	100 XP	RFL 5+; Piloting/X 5+
Hot Dog	50 XP	BOD 5+; Thick-skinned; Piloting/Mech or Areospace 5+
Heavy Lifter	50 XP	DEX 5+; Natural Aptitude/Piloting/Mech; Piloting/Mech 5+
Jumping Jack	150 XP	RFL 5+; Piloting/Mech 5+
Maneuvering Ace	100 XP	DEX 5+; Piloting/X 5+
Melee Master	150 XP	RFL 6+; Ambidextrous; Piloting/Mech 6+; Melee Specialist SPA
Melee Specialist	100 XP	RFL 5+; Piloting/Mech 5+
Natural Grace	150 XP	RFL 5+; DEX 6+; Natural Aptitude/Pilot/Mech; Computers 4+; Any of: Dodge; Maneuvering Ace; Melee Specialist; or Speed Demon SPA
Speed Demon	100 XP	RFL 5+; Piloting/X 5+
Special Pilot Abilities (Miscellaneous)	Value	Prerequisites
Combat Intuition	200 XP	INT 4+; Sixth Sense; Tactics/Any Appropriate 5+
Demoralizer	150 XP	WIL 6+; CHA 4+; Acting 4+; Leadership 5+; Piloting/Any appropriate 4+
Tactical Genius	150 XP	INT 6+; Combat Sense; Leadership 5+; Tactics 5+

[Darrian Wolffe]

Making a character ready for play

Equipment and money:  Don't worry about it.  No, really.  Don't worry about it.  You're soldiers for the SLDF, with the greatest logistic support the Inner Sphere has ever and likely will ever see.  BattleMechs (or LAMs) and appropriate gear such as cooling suits and neurohelments will be assigned to your characters according to their abilities, and new ones will be assigned to you if you get shot out of the cockpit (and survive).  If you want a readily-available small arm that will easily fit in your cockpit for some reason, you can get it.  If you want a Man-pack PPC and don't have both and Infantry MOS and a high Support Weapons skill bonus, then the supply sergeant is going to laugh at your requisition.

Logistics:  All you'll need to do is print out a copy of an ATOW character sheet and fill it in with your choices of skills, attributes, and Traits from the character creation process.
-Damage: To streamline the differences between ATOW and TW play, all characters have a number of damage boxes equal to their BOD score, plus one.  Each of these boxes is a direct match to one of the six boxes of MechWarrior damage on the TW record sheet (thus, to have available all six boxes of damage capacity in TW play, a character must have a Body score of 5 or greater).  No character may have more than 6 boxes of damage in TW play - but if the character has a BOD score high enough to survive after the sixth TW pilot hit, he will have a chance of survival - though he will be automatically knocked unconscious and be unable to participate in the remainder of the TW scenario.  Any pilot that begins a TW scenario with pre-existing damage on his ATOW sheet must mark off a corresponding number of boxes on his MechWarrior Damage Track, though no consciousness rolls are required until the character actually takes additional damage during TW play.

Remaining XP:  Any XP remaining at the end of character creation is retained as "free" XP.  However, this is subject to two limitations.  First, the amount of "free" XP may not be greater than 99 points (as 100 is sufficient to purchase another point in an attribute or a level of a Trait).  Secondly, any remaining XP must be tracked separately and may not be spent to upgrade existing skills, but only to be put toward Traits (or buying off Negative Traits) or Attribute increases, or to purchase new skills.



Conversion to TW play

Skills: Pilot/Mech, Pilot/Areospace, Gunnery/Mech, and Gunnery/Areospace all convert from ATOW scores rated from 1-10 to TW scores rated from 0-8.  Subtract your ATOW Skill bonus from 8 to find your TW skill score.  Note that TW-converted skills to NOT receive bonuses in TW play for high attributes under normal circumstances.  However, they may in "narrative" play between TW scenarios (such as using a BattleMech to help construct a fortification).  Example: Travis's character has a Gunnery/Mech score of +3 under ATOW rules.  8-3=5, so his effective Gunnery Score while driving a 'Mech in TW play is a 5.

Mechwarrior Damage: The number of boxes a Mechwarrior in TW play has available is no longer automatically six.  Instead, the number of boxes is equal to the character's BOD score plus one, with a cap of 6 boxes.  Unconsciousness TNs do not change (although they might once Traits are taken into account), but the TN of the last box of damage the MechWarrior has available will always read "Dead" instead of a number.

EDGE: Each point of Edge possessed by a character is equivalent to one point of Edge as described in Tactical Operations.  Note that Edge is not spent - it is burned, and must be repurchased with XP during game play under most (but not all) circumstances.

Fumbles: While fumbles are possible while rolling dice under ATOW rules, they are not possible while rolling skill rolls which are converted over to TW rules.  Thusly, a character may not fumble a weapon to-hit roll using his (converted) Gunnery/Mech score, but may fumble a Sensor Operations skill roll during TW Play (as it is an ATOW skill that does not convert).

Special Pilot Abilities: All SPA's in the ATOW rulebook are written in TW "jargon".  They do not convert, as there is no need for them to convert in the first place.  SPAs are always available to your character, whether in TW or ATOW play.

Character Advancement
At the end of each session, XP will be awarded to members of the group who played their PCs in the scenario.  The specific reward will vary, but will generally be between 10-20 XP per session.  Advancement costs are listed below:

Increase an Attribute	100 XP per point
Buy a Trait	Listed Cost
Buy off a Negative Trait	Positive amount of listed XP cost
Purchase a new skill rank	20+(new skill rank x 10) XP

Scheduling
It is an unfortunate occurrence that everyone wants to play their PCs all the time.  Tragically, somebody has to play the opposing forces, and unlike in an ATOW game, the GM is unable to do it all by himself.  Therefore, no more than 2/3rd of the number of players attending a session may play their PCs; the other 1/3rd MUST play the opposing force.  Secondarily, no player may play more than 2 sessions in a row with their PC; they must play OPFOR at some point every 3 game sessions.  This is rationalized in-game by a third of the player's force performing rear-echelon tasks or being otherwise unable to engage in the battle at the decisive moment.  Consider it one the vagaries of war.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Character Creation Example

Rob is going to create a character for Apocalypse Rising.  Liking the idea of taking advantage of the high-tech possessed by the SLDF Royal Regiments, he decides to create a Land-Air-Mech pilot named Max Sterling who is a phenomenal pilot.

Rob begins with his skills.  To operate a Land-Air Mech, the pilot needs to be proficient in both Areospace and Mech operations.  Thusly, Rob decides to give Max a Priority A in Skills.  He wants Max to be a quiet introvert, and so decides he doesn't need to worry much about Attributes not connected to piloting, and so gives Attributes Priority C.  By default, Traits end up with Priority B.

Ready to assign points to his Attributes, Max has 3,000 XP to work with.  That's 30 points of attributes (at 100 XP each), which Rob arranges like so:
BOD - 4
STR -3 (-1)
DEX - 6
RFL -7 (+1)
INT -4
WIL -2 (-1)
CHA -2 (-1)
EDG -2

Looking at Skills, Rob sees that he's got 7 to work with.  He decides to arrange them in the following manner:
+6: Pilot/Mech
+5: Pilot/Areospace
+5: Gunnery/Mech
+4: Gunnery/Areospace
+3: Sensor Operations
+2: Career/Soldier
+1: Small Arms

Finally, Rob moves to Traits.  Because he selected Priority B for Traits, he has 500 points to work with.  Rob really would like Max to have additional skills, however, and so starts off by looking at Negative Traits.  He can only take 300 bonus XP in Negative Traits, and decides he'll need all of them.  He takes Introvert (-100 XP), Thin-skinned (-100 XP) and Poor Vision (-100 XP).  Because the lowest level of Poor Vision can be corrected by glasses, he talks to the GM who approves the glasses (so Max won't take the negative modifiers while wearing them), but tells Max that failing Piloting Skill rolls or similar circumstances may cause the glasses to be knocked loose mid-combat.  Rob accepts the warning, and gets back to creation.

With the first 100 bonus XP from his negative Traits, Rob gives Max +3 additional skill points.  He'd really like to improve his Pilot/Areospace, but it'll be unable to be improved past +6 - the skill bonus on Row 1 of the Skill Priorities Table.  He bumps it up to the maximum; +6.  With +2 remaining, he decides to branch out into skills that will make him useful as something more than just another pilot.  He purchases Security Systems at a +1 bonus, and Zero-G Operations at +1, noting that in his youth, he was a spacer with a penchant for breaking and entering (a habit that eventually landed him in front of the judge who gave him the choice to go to jail or enlist in the SLDF).

Finally, Rob goes back and looks at Traits for Max.  His total modified pool for Traits after buying the extra Skills is 700 XP (500 base + 200 for Negative Traits).  He especially wants to get a Special Pilot Ability to make Max stand out as a great pilot.  He really wants to get the "Natural Grace" SPA, but it's a ways off.  Therefore, Rob focuses on "Maneuvering Ace" as the best "entry-level" SPA.  He checks the Prerequisites for both SPAs, and notes that he has to have the Natural Aptitude/Pilot/Mech to be able to someday get "Natural Grace".  Pilot/Mech is a combat skill, and thus the Natural Aptitude Trait will cost 500 XP to purchase.  Rob swallows hard at spending that much XP, but he goes ahead and writes it on his sheet.  With 200 XP remaining, Rob has sufficient XP left over to purchase the "Maneuvering Ace" SPA (after checking his prerequisites), and with his final 100 XP, he buys the "G-tolerance" Trait to protect himself against all those high-stress maneuvers he'll be making!

His final character sheet looks like this:

Attributes BOD 4 STR 3 (-1) DEX 6 RFL 7 (+1) INT 4 WIL 2 (-1) CHA 2 (-1) EDG 2 Skills Pilot/Areospace +6 Pilot/Mech +6 Gunnery/Mech +5 Gunnery/Areospace +4 Sensor Operations +3 (-1 to checks for low WIL score) Career/Soldier +2 Small Arms +1 Security Systems +1 Zero-G Operations +1 (+1 to checks for high RFL score) Traits Natural Aptitude/Pilot/Mech 500 XP G-tolerance 100 XP Maneuvering Ace 100 XP Introvert -100 XP -1 penalty to ALL social checks (in addition to penalties from CHA score) Thin-skinned -100 XP +1 penalty to all TNs to resist Pilot damage from high heat Poor Vision -100 XP Offset with Glasses; glasses may be knocked off during combat at GM's discretion Miscellaneous Damage Capacity (BOD+1): 5 TW Pilot/Areospace: 2 TW Pilot/Mech: 2 TW Gunnery/Areospace:4 TW Gunnery/Mech: 3

[Darrian Wolffe]

<Reserved for addendums or clarifications>

[Darrian Wolffe]

The floor is now open for discussion and commentary on these rules.

Enjoy!

[serrate]

So, even though this is primarily a TW campaign, all players will really have to get to know the AToW rules pretty well, correct?  I've never had much intention of getting involved in AToW, although I am fully on-board with a TW campaign in which elements of the rp game are used.  For myself and any others who feel similarly, how will we be able to create effective characters that won't be completely gimped up next to a PC from an experienced role-player, or at least someone who has more than a passing interest in AToW?  What about those who don't own AToW and don't plan to?  Will they receive GM assistance in creating a useful PC?

This is a first step toward getting a persistent and national ATOW campaign that will enable gamers to take their characters and play their same PC at conventions and official events across the country.  Want to go play a Trial of Bloodright with your avatar at GenCon?  Once rules come out, you'll be able to!

Sounds cool, and I don't know enough about rp to really comment, I just wonder how you balance characters randomly created across the country, what with their various skills, quirks, abilities, etc, including possibly different starting XP alotments and so on.  It seems like creating a character for a game like this has got to follow some pretty specific GM-mandated rules or you end up with massively overpowered PC's running along with newbs.  Again, I freely state that I just don't have any experience in this arena, so I'm not questioning that it can be done, but merely stating that I wish someone would explain it to my under-educated arse.

Synopsis
Apocalypse Rising (AR) is a BattleTech Total Warfare (TW) campaign designed to be used in conjunction with a limited A Time of War (ATOW) Role-playing Game ruleset.  While the primary focus in gameplay are the TW-level rules, ATOW elements will be included in such a manner as to add to the overall experience, both between and during individual games.  This will allow players to, in a reasonably balanced and predictable manner, expound on the abilities and background of their MechWarrior beyond just a Piloting and Gunnery score.  It will also aid in the shared storytelling experience, allowing the gamemaster to challenge characters in ways other than that found solely on the TW game board.

What Apocalypse Rising is NOT:
1) AR is NOT a full-bore tabletop roleplaying game.  While, in theory, the characters generated by the players would in fact be used in an ATOW persistent campaign, at not point during the campaign will players be expected to sit down at a shared venue and actually act out their character's dialogue, or any of the other "normal" tropes associated with a standard RPG.

2) AR is NOT a forum-based, play-by-post RPG.  Players will not be expected to hold conversations in-character (though this is not discouraged) across forum software.  At most, players may be asked how their character might react to a given situation, but the gamemaster will perform all relevant dice-rolling and sundry activities to generate in-play results.

No question on this, just wanted to say that it sounds like it's made of win.

In the normal ATOW ruleset, a very large portion of one's starting XP would go toward securing a BattleMech and other equipment; characters must pay XP for Rank, Vehicle Weight, access to advanced technology, and so forth.  Because characters in ATOW are not necessarily MechWarriors, this makes sense from a game balance perspective.  However, as all characters in AR are assumed to be SLDF MechWarriors (and personal BattleMech ownership is all but nonexistent at this point in the timeline), the XPs and Traits that reflect such things are deleted from this system.

How are battlemech assignments determined?  Will players simply pick a starting mech based on what they want to play?  Will the GM use some other system?

Equipment and money:  Don't worry about it.  No, really.  Don't worry about it.  You're soldiers for the SLDF, with the greatest logistic support the Inner Sphere has ever and likely will ever see.  BattleMechs (or LAMs) and appropriate gear such as cooling suits and neurohelments will be assigned to your characters according to their abilities, and new ones will be assigned to you if you get shot out of the cockpit (and survive).

Essentially the same as the question above, but here it sounds more specifically like the GM will assign mechs.  Is that the case?  Perhaps that's why it might be important to buy the Custom Vehicle trait?  If you buy it, then you can conceivably choose or design your own mech, and if not, the GM assigns you a mech?

Tragically, somebody has to play the opposing forces, and unlike in an ATOW game, the GM is unable to do it all by himself.  Therefore, no more than 2/3rd of the number of players attending a session may play their PCs; the other 1/3rd MUST play the opposing force.

Will we also have allied forces that we'll be running along with our PC's, or will we generally only be running a single mech (PC)? 

EDGE: Each point of Edge possessed by a character is equivalent to one point of Edge as described in Tactical Operations.  Note that Edge is not spent - it is burned, and must be repurchased with XP during game play under most (but not all) circumstances.

Is that in TacOps?  I couldn't find any mention of Edge in any of the current rulebooks, although I did look at the free preview of the AToW ToC, and it looks like it might be on page 42 of that book.  What is the XP cost of Edge?  Can some starting XP be used to purchase a point or two?

His final character sheet looks like this:....

I've got to say that looks like a pretty sweet starting PC, based purely on his excellent gunnery/piloting, and the fact that he's got other abilities as well.  Perhaps this is intended for the entire force, since we're in an SLDF Royal unit.  Why choose "G-tolerance"?  Does that actually transfer over into TW play?

[Darrian Wolffe]

All good questions.

So, even though this is primarily a TW campaign, all players will really have to get to know the AToW rules pretty well, correct?  I've never had much intention of getting involved in AToW, although I am fully on-board with a TW campaign in which elements of the rp game are used.  For myself and any others who feel similarly, how will we be able to create effective characters that won't be completely gimped up next to a PC from an experienced role-player, or at least someone who has more than a passing interest in AToW?  What about those who don't own AToW and don't plan to?  Will they receive GM assistance in creating a useful PC?

Honestly, not a lot of ATOW experience is required, aside from what's already been typed out.  You want high attributes, high skill bonuses, and some Traits to make your PC flavorful.  It's really hard to get gimped in this system due to the minimum requirements listed, and the fact that the skill bonuses are chosen for you ahead of time (priority depending).

As long as you've met the minimum Attribute standards and don't deliberately tank your Piloting and Gunnery scores, it should be theoretically impossible to build a totally gimped PC using this system.

Sounds cool, and I don't know enough about rp to really comment, I just wonder how you balance characters randomly created across the country, what with their various skills, quirks, abilities, etc, including possibly different starting XP alotments and so on.  It seems like creating a character for a game like this has got to follow some pretty specific GM-mandated rules or you end up with massively overpowered PC's running along with newbs.  Again, I freely state that I just don't have any experience in this arena, so I'm not questioning that it can be done, but merely stating that I wish someone would explain it to my under-educated arse.

You balance character precisely like I've done here - with strict GM standards about what can and can't be taken, and in what quantities, during character creation.  ATOW demands this; to paraphrase how CGL views things:

"Game companies have spent the last 15-ish years trying to build systems that intelligent and highly-motivated people are incapable of "breaking" to screw up a game experience. They have universally failed. Thusly, screw it. We're going to design a game that is concerned with reasonably accurately portraying the game world, and aside from very gross checks and balances, we're not going to bother trying to keep every munchkin out there from gaming the system. No really. Go ahead. You want to have a Pilot/BattleMech skill of +10 (equivalent to a negative Piloting skill in Classic BattleTech) just out of character creation? You can. We feel it's up to the Game Master to decide what power level he would like the game to be run at, and to use his discretion to enforce that power level. That means every game will be house-ruled to an extent, and we support that."

Because of this, the game actively supports fairly-heavy-handed GMing when in comes to balancing the system.

How are battlemech assignments determined?  Will players simply pick a starting mech based on what they want to play?  Will the GM use some other system?
...
Essentially the same as the question above, but here it sounds more specifically like the GM will assign mechs.  Is that the case?  Perhaps that's why it might be important to buy the Custom Vehicle trait?  If you buy it, then you can conceivably choose or design your own mech, and if not, the GM assigns you a mech?

See, this is why I like releasing beta rules to players.  They see wording issues I may have missed.

Yes, the idea is that BattleMech assignments are a GMs call.  However, if you have the Custom Vehicle Trait at 200 XP, you may choose any Mech available to your faction (SLDF), if you have it at 300 XP you may choose any Mech available in the Inner Sphere, and if you have it at 400 XP you may essentially design your own Mech (take a stock chassis and modify it as you desire).  All of these are, of course, subject to GM approval; your SLDF MechWarrior cannot have a Dire Wolf, regardless of how many Custom Vehicle XP you spend.  GM Mech assignments are based on the context of the setting and the abilities of the PCs.  In the case of AR, the PCs are members of a Royal Striker Regiment, which means you'll have access to Royal Mech designs, LAMs, and the best tech the Star League has to offer.  Striker Regiments tend to be medium and fast heavy Mechs, with Assaults being almost non-existent (they MUST be 5/8 or equivalent to keep up).   Likewise, if you had the Fist Fire SPA, which allows you to make a weapon attack simultaneously with a punch with a weapon mounted in the same arm, the GM would assign you a Mech that can actually take advantage of the capability to a meaningful degree (ie, not a Rifleman, but something with a weapon in the arm and a hand actuator).

As the campaign progresses and people get shot out of their rides, Mech assignments may change depending on "what's available" and how well people make skill rolls to get access to other Mechs.  Likewise, you may get pressed into another design relative to "needs of the mission"; if you normally drive an ICE-engine AgroMech (for some reason), and the mission is on an airless moon, you'd be issued a BattleMech for that mission.

Will we also have allied forces that we'll be running along with our PC's, or will we generally only be running a single mech (PC)? 

To begin with, you will only be running a single PC as we get used to and test out the system.  That may change as the campaign progresses: you'll only ever be running one PC, but you may receive allied Mechs to command.

Is that in TacOps?  I couldn't find any mention of Edge in any of the current rulebooks, although I did look at the free preview of the AToW ToC, and it looks like it might be on page 42 of that book.  What is the XP cost of Edge?  Can some starting XP be used to purchase a point or two?

Blargh.  Edge is Edge, just like always been running it.  Wherever the hell it's detailed, that's what I meant.  In regards to purchasing it...EDGE is an attribute, the same as any other.  Therefore, purchasing a replacement point of Edge has the same cost as any other attribute.  Yes, this is how ATOW handles it too - it's not a houserule I just made up.

EDGE can come back on its own under limited circumstances - but those circumstances are situation-specific enough that I didn't bother typing them out.   Plus, there's the whole "legality" thing regarding reproducing large swathes of text.

I've got to say that looks like a pretty sweet starting PC, based purely on his excellent gunnery/piloting, and the fact that he's got other abilities as well.  Perhaps this is intended for the entire force, since we're in an SLDF Royal unit.  Why choose "G-tolerance"?  Does that actually transfer over into TW play?

Just in case the intro blurb didn't make it clear:

Striker Regiments are VERY good-quality pilots.  You aren't all Elite (in fact, only a Skills Priority A will get you an Elite Pilot if you assign the best two skills to Gunnery and Piloting).  You are analogous to Special Forces.  Your pilots SHOULD be pretty awesome...but they should also have other skills outside of Piloting and Gunnery.  Being awesome is very much intended for the entire unit.

As for G-tolerance, it provides a bonus under TW rules for resisting pilot damage from High-G maneuvers.  In fact, many of the Traits have TW bonuses (Sixth Sense, for example, provides an initiative bonus).  Again, I just can't type everything out.

[agustaaquila]

Custom Vehicle   200 to 400 XP   Allows choice of Stock Vehicle within faction (200), any Stock Vehicle (300) or design own Vehicle (400).

What exactly does this do at each level?  What does within faction mean?  Does it mean that I am restricted to only SLDF units, so I cannot pilot a Zeus?  For the 300 point level, does that mean that I can now get a Zeus if I want one?  For 400, can I design a period appropriate unit, or can I design a 40 ton mech from scratch with all period correct equipment?  IS there any weight restriction, say taking a locust vs. a Mackie?  Finally, what if I don't take any of these?  Does the GM just assign the mech?  For example, I know you designed a LAM pilot but if the GM wants you can be in an Ostsol and never see a LAM.  A problem I have seen in national campaigns is that players and GM get into power races quickly, with no one winning.

Core Assumption: The AR campaign assumes that all characters are BattleMech pilots, who are members of the SLDF.  As such, all characters MUST possess the following skills at the end of character creation: Pilot/Mech, Gunnery/Mech, Career/Soldier.  All characters also must meet the following Attribute minimums: Strength 3, Body 3, Reflexes 4, Dexterity 4, Intelligence 2, Willpower 2

So the assumption is that I am a mech pilot.  I choose B priority skills, and give myself +2 gun/mech, +1 pilot/mech, +5 gun/ vehicle, +3 pilot/vee, and several other skills.  I also take the custom vehicle trait at the 200 level.  So Therefore I get to pick my Von Luckner tank, as it is in faction.  I am not longer a mech pilot however.  Would this be permitted?  Would it earn me another of your dirty stares?

More to come I am sure.

[Darrian Wolffe]

No issues or stares.     These are more clarifications based off of the forced truncating of the full ATOW rules that i had to do more than they are inherent design issues.

What exactly does this do at each level?  What does within faction mean?  Does it mean that I am restricted to only SLDF units, so I cannot pilot a Zeus?  For the 300 point level, does that mean that I can now get a Zeus if I want one?  For 400, can I design a period appropriate unit, or can I design a 40 ton mech from scratch with all period correct equipment?  IS there any weight restriction, say taking a locust vs. a Mackie?  Finally, what if I don't take any of these?  Does the GM just assign the mech?  For example, I know you designed a LAM pilot but if the GM wants you can be in an Ostsol and never see a LAM.  A problem I have seen in national campaigns is that players and GM get into power races quickly, with no one winning.

During this campaign, you are all playing SLDF MechWarriors.  Thusly, at the 200 point level of Custom Vehicle, you could select any Mech that appeared on the MUL with a "Star League" availability.  At the 300 level, you could select any BattleMech on the MUL - with the caveat that is must be available during the era of the campaign (again, no Dire Wolf).  At the 400 point level, you could either modify an existing mech or design one from scratch, using era-available technology.  There is no weight limit, but be aware of the nature of missions of a "striker" regiment and how they are structured.  A Mech unable to fulfill those mission requirements may end up being a bad selection.

However, in all cases, it must be approved by a GM.  This is a core tenet of the standard ATOW rules, and there is no "power race" between the GM and the players because if the players start one, the GM wins, and if the GM starts one (say, by giving a character with lots of Traits designed around Melee Weapon Combat a Longbow), the players leave.  In ATOW as written, you either trust the GM, or you don't play.  This is, I believe, CGL's natural (and reasonable) reaction to precisely the sort of shennanigans between GM and players you describe.

In the absence of a truly comprehensive Random Mech Allocation Table, taking into account EVERY Mech available to EVERY faction in EVERY time period, this is the only possible option.  

So the assumption is that I am a mech pilot.  I choose B priority skills, and give myself +2 gun/mech, +1 pilot/mech, +5 gun/ vehicle, +3 pilot/vee, and several other skills.  I also take the custom vehicle trait at the 200 level.  So Therefore I get to pick my Von Luckner tank, as it is in faction.  I am not longer a mech pilot however.  Would this be permitted?  Would it earn me another of your dirty stares?

It is legal in terms of skill allocation.  However, as you would not be a Mech pilot, you would be ineligible to play with that character.  Or, conversely, you could certainly have the tank, but you would be unable to either drive it in combat (having a Mech assigned to you instead) AND you would be unable to crew it (as you are only playing 1 PC, and a Von Luckner requires, IIRC, 5 crewmen to operate).

[ItsTehPope]

It is legal in terms of skill allocation.  However, as you would not be a Mech pilot, you would be ineligible to play with that character.  Or, conversely, you could certainly have the tank, but you would be unable to either drive it in combat (having a Mech assigned to you instead) AND you would be unable to crew it (as you are only playing 1 PC, and a Von Luckner requires, IIRC, 5 crewmen to operate).

Not if the Tank Commander is C. Norris.

Hey, I just found out the car needs a few hundred dollars in repairs (again), I get to make that sort of bad joke.

[Death or Glory]

Looks interesting.  I'll try to offer some more in depth feedback later after I have some time to give these rules a good analysis.