New to A2089. Ideas & Scenarios Needed.

[trideau]

Hello,

I have owned A2089 since it first came out and I have just recently rejoined Mongoose Infantry. I am extremely interested in A2089 and I believe that I could get others to play it if I GMed but I have never GMed before.

I was hoping that some of the A2089 GMs out that would share some of the ideas/scenarios with me.

Most of my friends play miniature game (Warhammer 40k, Battletech, Heavy Gear, Starship Troopers, etc). As a GM how do you keep your players interested, if most of there games are combat missions? I would assume they would be if your players are Warmek pilots.

Actually, focusing on combat missions may not be a huge problem for me since most of my friend are miniature players and would prefer Mek combat but I also want to include some RPGers since they will add the RPGing flavor to the games.

Thank you in advance,

Terrence

 

[Utgardloki]

I am not familiar with the A2089 setting (although I have seen the books in the store -- I just can't buy everything or else I'd have bought it by now.)

But I have picked up a few tricks and techniques for putting a story together that are applicable to any RPG setting.

I. What I usually do when starting a new campaign is to go through the published adventures I own and see if there are any that I can convert over to the new setting. Most of my campaigns have started from a single adventure that I just expanded upon and expanded upon.

II. Another approach I've found successful is to imagine that I am pitching this idea as a new TV series. I find that this gives me a good focus on what the PCs will end up doing.

III. The six journalistic questions come in handy: Who, what, where, when, why, and how? Think in terms of the NPCs in the world. Who are they? What kinds of things do they do? Why do they do it? For example, is there some brilliant conquerer who wants to fashion an empire in this world? Maybe there is some artifact that competing factions can compete over, one of which asks the PCs to be its agents. Maybe some religious fanatic wants to impose his vision as far and wide as he can.

IV. With regard to a future history setting, it is helpful to think of the world and how people in it might react to events in the future. For example, with the Macho Women with Guns setting, I've decided that the North/South divisions in the United States have opened up a Second Civil War, which provides much opportunities for RPG adventures, as PCs have to fight Texas Rangers and Confederate Stormtroopers, who may end up fighting each other given that Texas would probably dominate a Second Confederacy more than the other states involved would like.

I hope this helps, even if I can't be very specific.

 

[lastbesthope]

Hi Terence,

If you can find it, the A:2089 novel "Standing Alone" by Michael J Dougherty might give you some ideas.

Contact sales@mongoosepublishing.com to see if they have any copies left.

Welcome to the boards.

LBH

 

[Lane Shutt]

Adventures in A:2089 can be as simple or complex as you want.

Since the setting is Near Future Hard Sci-Fi you can base adventures on almost any present day military, spec ops, corporate espionage novel or news report. Many sci-fi novels work as well, most David Drake novels have sub plots that would work well. History tends to make good plots as well.

A well balanced (RPG vs Combat) introduction would be

Players are hired a garrison force at a small outpost.
They relieve the current Mek company, quick turn over, got to catch a ship for a new contract.

Once there they find out previous units have come under heavy attack but the post is rarely damaged.

There are no records of the attacks are available, only a few comments by the local staff and a few shell craters. Further searching will only reveal that Mek companies have been transported here, supplied for a few weeks and no further record. This happens every two to three months. No record of the unit they relieved having left the country, in fact records show (DC 20+) they have been here for several years.

Compound is attacked by light raiding force, easily driven off.

Characters are sent out on patrol.

By now the players should be suspicious and expect an ambush.

Encounter with a single high power Mek or several slightly larger Meks, players should be able to get away but damaged.

Further research reveals that the neither raiders or ambushing units are in the area. However there is a suspicious amount of salvage being shipped out. Tracking this will reveal the enemy base.

Smart players will find a way to ambush the attackers and/ or take out their base. If they attack the base they discover the unit they relieved is there.

If the players manage to take out the base and all enemy units (destroy or driven off) they reveal the "garrison forces" have in reality been used to train pilots or test a new weapon system (most likely a improvement on a current model, cheaper/ more reliable/ lighter).

The players have to be discrete about destroying the enemy base, since it is a setup the friendly base may become hostile and may have more garrison forces as well.

If the enemy base is not taken out the first time the ambushing Mek unit is replaced a couple months later, shortly before the contract ends.

If the players survive the contract but do not destroy the enemy base they are replaced, paid and go home. They keep any salvage but base staff will make an effort to prevent the PCs from discovering any experimental equipment.

If the players discover the double cross they are not paid (contract has bulk of payment at completion) but keep any salvage they can carry away. They have made a corporate enemy who show up in later adventures, either direct conflict or indirect support to their enemies.

If the players recover and identify "experimental gear" they will be able to sell it to a competing company for 50+5D10 times the base price and make a corporate ally. This assumes they can deliver, the original owner will try to get it back by theft or further attacks.

Clever players may even figure out that the banks holding the loans to all the victim Mek companies would like to know about the double cross since they lost millions of dollars.

 

[trideau]

Thank you for the info and wow that is an excellent adventure. I have looked at the post in this forum and I am starting to get a feel for what the adventures are like.

If you have others that you could share please do.

Terrence