BattleBlog - A Time of War: The BT RPG Dilemma

[DeJaVu]

The RPG has always been the red-headed step-child of the BattleTech line of books, never really finding a good way to fit in. It doesn't help, of course, that BattleTech is a little odd. It's not a boardgame, it's not a pure table-top miniatures game, it's not an RPG...yet it has elements of all of that. It's what helps make BattleTech cool and I believe firmly what has helped it thrive for 25 years.

However, often what most players want (at least based upon observations from many, many years) is to plug elements of RPG play into their campaign play. Do some people play full-on RPG-style play in the BattleTech universe? Absolutely. But they're the minority. So trying to create a RPG that can please those players that play it as a full RPG as well as those that just want to drawn from it to add RPG elements to their campaign boardgame play? That's the dilemma and one not solved through three editions of the game.

The original RPG (published 1986) was about as barebones as you can go for an RPG (at least for the time period; there's some wicked cool indy stuff that are amazingly short), with a good chunk of space devoted to source material about the universe. The Second Edition (published 1991) went almost the same route; a MechWarrior character generator, with a pile of source material. The Third Edition (published 1999) tried very hard to move well beyond the "MechWarrior character generator" and to flesh the rules into a full-blown RPG where you could play any type of character. While it did many things right, it also once again dropped the ball, especially as it completely divorced the rules from the BattleTech boardgame. (I was intimately involved with the development of that rulebook and while it seemed the right direction at the time, hindsight showed me that was very much the wrong route to go.)

A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG attempts to 'fix' all those issues. Like Third Edition it is a full-blown RPG, with a robust character creation system and large traits and skills section, allowing you to create any type of characters. Unlike Third Edition, however, it recognizes that this is a universe about war and is geared in that direction. Additionally, like the First and Second Editions, we recognize that A Time of War is integral to the BattleTech boardgame; this is even more true under the current line of rulebooks where we've been trying so hard to tie every subsequent rulebook into the line, allowing for as easy plug and play as we can make it. As such, A Time of War far outstrips the original two editions in that department, including both a Combat section, as well as a Tactical Combat section allowing for direct porting of boardgame play; for those aware of the BattleTroops box set game (published 1989), this is effectively BattleTroops 2. And of course there's a host of sourcebook material, all geared towards making it easy for players to jump into the universe. What's more, I believe we've provided far superior tools than ever before to help the GM run a fun game that immerses his players. Looking at the GM section in proofing, it's 54 pages long, so I sure hope we made all of that helpful for that many pages.

Ultimately, of course, we won't know until you guys run headlong into it. And that won't happen for another few months...pesky over seas printing and shipping times. But in the grand scheme of the production of this book...we're getting closer.

Oh, a final comment. I saw this thread somewhere on the forums wondering why we chose a title for this book that seems so far divergent from the other core rulebooks of "Tactical Operations," "Strategic Operations" and so on. The reason I went with a more colorful title is that unlike those advanced rulebooks, A Time of War is actually a second entry point into the BattleTech line-up of rulebooks; i.e. an RPG player not interested in the boardgame might pick up the RPG and give 'another scifi universe' a chance. Total Warfare is the first entry point into the rulebook line-up and has a more colorful title that fits its theme. A Time of War (a phrase that's been used so many times before with BT) fit the more colorful aesthetic to pair with Total Warfare, but seemed more...personal, reflecting the RPG angle. If we wake up slightly insane down the road and decide we really want to add in an "advanced RPG rulebook" that would fit within the core lineup, we might call that book Irregular Operations to fit the "advanced rulebook" themes already established.

See ya next time!

Randall