Category: Numenera Penar Campaign

Summary

Welcome MechWarrior to the professional world of UrbanMech tag team ring fighting!! The following is a custom scenario for fun skirmish battles set in the Battletech Universe.

The way in which this scenario differs from classic battletech is through a defined ring area, an event card deck (called the “twist deck”), and a victory points rules table.

The “Twist” deck changes the board state through either changing terrain or the conditions of play. The deck of cards for the purposes of this demo is made of 10 cards (one per round). The scoring chart provides a themed scoring system for both players to define victory and sprinkle in that magic of theme. Bringing the two together in a defined battle arena within the map referred to as the Fistfight Floor.

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Table Setup

The most important part of table setup is defining the fighting arena inside of the battle map. As pictured above the arena is defined using the Hextech Trinity Plaza, all Level 1 raised areas of that terrain piece are the arena. 3d printed terrain isn’t mandatory, any starter boxed battle map and some dice are all that’s needed.

The key elements of the table setup…
Battle Map: The entire map is a battle area separated into inside and outside of the arena.
Ring: Defined in my example using the Plaza base, as long as both players have a clear idea of what counts as arena and that it’s clearly marked with the overall battle map. This could be as simple as declaring a set of hills as the arena.
Ring Spawn: Only a single mech per team can start in the arena. Define before the game starts where mechs start in the arena. Starting positions using the Plaza are pictured below in Team Setup.
Team Entry: As per normal games, each team should have an edge to deploy non-arena mechs from.
Changing Terrain: Starting in position 1, see Arena Twist section below for full details. But have an idea of how or what changes in the arena.
Twist Deck: This scenario uses a twist deck which needs to be shuffled and placed where both players can easily read it.

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Team Setup

Each team consists of two or more battle mechs. In the demo scenario we are using teams of two UM-R60 mechs.

Setup for the game follows the normal rules, alternating mech deployments with the exception that no more than a single mech per team can be placed in the arena and that mech counts as Throwing Down! (see Team Declaration below).

At the end of the first turn or later turns, it’s possible that a team might declare Tagged-In! In this scenario whichever mech is now the arena mech is placed in the nearest arena hex to it’s previous position. If the previous arena mech is still active, then it’s placed in the nearest hex outside of the arena. In both cases the mech’s new facing would reflect the path they took to get to the hex.

When setting up mechs in the arena, it’s suggested that the first player placing a mech in the arena does so in one of a few different fixed positions and then any other mechs are positioned equidistant from all other mechs in the arena based on the number of teams taking part. Below is an example for how the arena looks on the Plaza terrain.

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Arena Twist

At the start of each turn after initiative has been decided, the team with initiative draws a card from the Arena Twist deck. That team then has decide to either keep the initiative (and give the twist choice to the opponent) or keep the twist choice for themselves (and give initiative to an opponent).

Each Twist card has two effects listed on them. The chosen team picks one of these two effects to apply to all players this turn. The effect is active until a new Twist card is drawn and it’s effect comes into play.

The twists are listed below:

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Team Declaration

At the end of each turn every team declares one of the following:
Throwing Down!: The mech currently designated as the arena fighter is staying so.
Tagged-In!: The mech designated as the arena fighter is swapped to the teams mech not currently designated as the arena fighter.
Tapped Out!: the team withdraws from the battle. A team reduced to 0 mechs automatically has this declaration.

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Win Condition

After all declarations have been made if all teams but 1 have Tapped Out! Calculate each teams victory points (VP), the winner is the team with the most VP.

In the years following the end of the 4th succession war Comstar tried a number of initiatives to encourage the great houses to compete in violent but not world shattering ways… one such initiative was the BattleTech Olympics. Few records survive from the era but what is known is documented below:

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Players: 2-6
Battle Value (BV) Limit: 4k
Mech allowance: Minimum of a full 4 mech lance but no upper limit.
Number of events: 5
Events List:
01) Race
02) King of the Hill
03) Tag
04) Brawl
05) Shooting Gallery

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Mech Limitations:

The intention of these limitations are to make the experience fun while also challenging players. The 4k BV limits combined with the historical technical readouts means that players with access to only a limited set of mechs aren’t penalised and neither are players with access to all of the mechs able to badly game the system. The technical readouts available are limited to this succession wars document, there’s a separate article covering which mechs these are. Players are expected to field a minimum of a full 4 mech lance but there is no upper limit. There’s also no buying better pilot or gunnery skills, everyone starts on 4/5 and gain improvements during events.

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How the events work:

The mission for each event can be found below but are intended to be a focused experience where players aren’t just battling each other with weapons but are encouraged to compete for the objectives. Mechs (and pilots) gain upgrades as a result of winning events. The system is very simple, everyone competing in an event gets an xp, placing in the podium position (first to third place) nets the team/lance Victory Points(VP).

The podium positions of Gold(9vp), Silver(6vp), Bronze(3vp), participation (1vp) are awarded to the mechs but no team can claim more than a single position. In an event, a team that placed in more than one podium position (e.g. First and Second) would only receive the highest podium position. This is to balance VP between events as some require more than a single mech, this ensures there is clearly a winner without penalising those taking part as all mechs of a given team would count as achieving it.

The events have an intended minimum mech requirement and an upper limit. Each event has it’s own definition of how to handle more than the minimum mechs being submitted.

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Summary:

01) Only mechs from https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/267062/battletech-record-sheets-succession-wars

02) 4k BV to spend on a minimum of 4 mechs

03) Mechs can be entered into multiple events but carry damage over into each event.

04)

A fight for survival

Parting ways with Althalus the party finds itself further up the mountain but no closer to their goal. As daylight slips away and the atmosphere becomes more difficult to breathe a strange noise catches the parties attention…

DM: “Cast in silhouette by the burning sky of a setting sun. A Creature unlike anything you’ve seen before approaches… it’s burning eyes all that’s visible within the creatures outline.” 

Fight: The Nevajin appears

The point of this fight is to push the players and burn through as many pools as possible and end the scenario once all the players have at least one pool pushing them into an impaired. To that end it might be worth speeding up the process with an AoE cypher that generates an inertia bubble or life drain, or intelligence drain. It might be worth spawning another creature but the encounters got to be fun rather than oppressive.

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A Night in the cave

The part finally arrive at the entrance… accension is just beyond the next door…

DM:“Your trek up the mountain has ended. Before you lies the cave entrance exactly how it appeared in your vision. The stone arch a dull orange with engraved black ‘ADBADBDADABADCDABDBADBAADCDBDABDBABDADCDBABBDBBBDAABDABADCDAABADAADABADAAADBDCDAAADBDADABBADCDBDBBBDABBDABDABADBAADAAADCDABDAAADBABADADBADAAADAADBBBDBA’”  

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Althalus greets the players

DM: “”  

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Visions

DM: “After the trials of your journey here, the easy atmosphere of the ascension chamber and the dancing fire obscure the change in environment. You find yourself surrounded by darkness”

Players describe how their “matrix” self looks

Althalus no longer appears to be with you, around the fire there’s just two books. They look identical but for the embossed symbols upon them. ***Possible DM Intrusion as the book of chaos must be touched***

Book of Life: The group have a vision of a goddess. DM “Gravity vanishes and you fall into the sky, you keep falling, further and faster, the universe around you vanishes away under your feet. Before long you stand in black before the face of a god! She is infinite, she is life, she is ordered existence. For a brief moment you feel seen, filled to your very souls and upon your skin glows a pair of green eyes. As you look back up from the tattoo only the slowly flicker flames of the campfire can be found in the black…”

Book of Chaos: The group have a vision of the end. DM “As you sit taking in the natural beauty around you. the air fractures, gravity goes mad, increasing and decreasing randomly. Before you stands a mechanical deer, the glowing embers of the fracture behind it robbing you of all though as you die silently screaming into the void. As your vision goes black other images flash through your mind. A giant spaceship laying waste to a city… people of different races impaled on spikes… an army of robots killing all that off resistance and dragging off those who do not. Your eyes fall upon the fire once more…”

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Ghend

DM: “As the final vision fades a blue eyed gentleman is sat before you. Welcome! My name is Ghend, I need your help to change the world…”

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DM – Notes

Suggested Intrusions

A Rugged Nano that Rides the Lightning… and also some sick waves

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Skills

Skill	Level
climbing, jumping, running, and swimming	Trained
understanding numenera.	Trained
identifying or using natural plants.	Trained
Training, riding or placating natural animals	Trained (-1 Difficulty)
Light Weapons	Practised (no bonus)
charm, persuasion, etiquette, or deception	Inability (+1 Difficulty)
Medium and Heavy Weapons	Inability

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Equipment

• clothing
• one weapon (Light Ranged Bolas)
• an explorer’s pack
• Trident of Power (Cypher)
• Puka shell necklace
• A compass that always points somewhere (Oddity)
• Plasmar (creature L3 (9) p.98)
• A book about the numenera
• A bag of misc power cells
• Force Barrier Emitter L5: creates a wall of force in
• Click Button: When clicked all buttons of the same type click in the vicinity.

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Abilities

Hedge Magic (1 Intellect point): You can perform small tricks: temporarily change the color or basic appearance of a small object, cause small objects to float through the air, clean a small area, mend a broken
object, prepare (but not create) food, and so on. You can’t use Hedge Magic to harm another creature or object. Action.

Push (2 Intellect points): You push a creature or object an immediate distance in any direction you wish. You must be able to see the target, which must be your size or smaller, must not be affixed to anything,
and must be within short range. The push is quick, and the force is too crude to be manipulated. For example, you can’t use this esotery to pull a lever or even close a door. Action.

Shock (1 Intellect point). Your hands crackle with electricity, and the next time you touch a creature, you inflict 3 points of
damage. Alternatively, if you wield a weapon, for ten minutes it crackles with electricity and inflicts 1 additional point of damage per attack.
Action for touch; enabler for weapon.
Charge (1+ Intellect points). You can charge an artifact or other device (except a cypher) so that it can be used once. The cost is 1 Intellect
point plus 1 point per level of the device. Action.

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Story Links

 Pew

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Trident of Power

It is said the wielder of the Trident is the undisputed ruler of the seas. While equipped the wielder never fails to skewer a fish in water and the oceans seem to calm and anger with the wielders mood.

Tier 1 (upgraded via DM favour as part of levelling character Tier)

Lightning: trident gains medium ranged weapon

Tier 2

Returns: When thrown the Trident returns to the wielders hand

Tier 3

Wrath: nature bends to the wielders destructive will

Tier 4

Wild Horses –  secret

Tier 5

Sharknado –  secret

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Tattoo

Nevajin (construct 4(12))
Mark of Ghend
Virtual Environment (Level 2)
MoneyBug (Level 5)
Valkyrie (Level 12)

A Cheerful Glaive that Controls Beasts

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Skills

Skill	Level
climbing	Trained
woodworking	Trained
making friends, ending conflicts, and making a positive first impression on strangers.	Trained (-1 Difficulty)
detect falsehoods and disguises	Inability (+1 Difficulty)
crafting numenera	Inability (+1 Difficulty)
salvaging numenera	Inability
understanding numenera	Inability

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Equipment

• clothing
• one weapon (Light Ranged)
• one weapon (Light melee)
• light armour
• an explorer’s pack
• Beast Pelt (Cypher)
• Penny Whistle that plays tunes of its own accord (Oddity)
• 3 days worth of pet food and tack
• Density Sword (Medium Weapon) On activation it does +2 damage per tier per day
• Click Button: When clicked all buttons of the same type click in the vicinity.

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Abilities

Weapons and Armour: May use any weapons 

Combat Prowess: You add +1 damage to one type of attack of your choice: melee attacks or ranged attacks. Enabler.

Trained in Armour: You can wear armour for long periods of time without tiring and can compensate for slowed reactions from wearing armour. You reduce the Speed Effort cost for wearing armour by 1. Enabler.

Impressive Display (2 Might points): You perform a feat of strength, speed, or combat, impressing those nearby. For the next minute you gain an asset in all interaction tasks with people who saw you use this ability. Action.

Misdirect (3 Speed points): When an opponent misses you, you can redirect
their attack to another target (a creature or object) of your choosing that’s within immediate range of you. Make an unmodified attack roll against the new target (do not use any of your or the opponent’s modifiers to the attack roll, but you can apply Effort for accuracy). If the attack hits, the target takes damage from your opponent’s attack. Enabler.

Beast Companion: A level 2 creature
of your size or smaller accompanies you and
follows your instructions. The beast companion acts on your
turn. As a level 2 creature, it has a target number
of 6 and 6 health and it inflicts 2 points of
damage. Enabler.

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Story Links

 Pew

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Beast Pelt

The wolf calls, the bear roars, and the stag leaps. The Beast Pelt transforms it’s owner into a form that changes the wearers armour and weapons. By default it transforms the owner into a dwarf with light arms and armour.

Tier 1 (upgraded via DM favour as part of levelling character Tier)

Wolf form: medium weapons and armour

Tier 2

Bear form: Heavy weapons and armour

Tier 3

Stag form: charge two additional movement distances and also gain a +4 to damage for the first subsequent attack.

Tier 4

Squirrel form –  secret

Tier 5

Tiger form –  secret

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Tattoo

Fenrisian Wolf (cyber wolf Level 4 (12))
Nevajin (construct Level 4(12))
Mark of Ghend
Living Statue (Come and bare witness to our end)
Virtual Environment (Level 3)
MoneyBug (Level 5)
Valkyrie (Level 12)

Building my first Battletech game board, one designed to be used for the Battletech Olympics campaign.

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Buildings, Roads and Hills

All the buildings were printed from the Thunderhead Studio designs

Hills: https://thunderhead-studio.com/products/hextech-simple-hex-hills-free-a-game-of-armored-combat-map-set

Free Buildings: https://thunderhead-studio.com/products/hextech-free-sample-pack

Roads: https://thunderhead-studio.com/products/hextech-2-lane-road-system

Walls: https://thunderhead-studio.com/products/hextech-facility-walls-mk-iii

Expansion Buildings: https://thunderhead-studio.com/products/hextech-trinity-city-urban-development-expansion-bundle

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Painting

Base board: The board itself was primed in light grey. The green grass colour was Army Painter Air Warpaint Gremlin Green. Due to the light base colour, the shades of green were achieved by varying the density of the applied paint.

Building: printed in black pla, the buildings were primed with Colour Forge Standard Grey.

Hills: Printed in grey/white pla, primed light grey, sprayed Army Painter Air Warpaint Gremlin Green, and stippled with Citadel Layer dawnstone

Roads: Printed in grey/black pla, primed black, sprayed Army Painter Air Warpaint Regiment Grey.

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Lesson Learned

The hardest part of the project wasn’t the planning but my previous experience building terrain. The original plan was to glue and paint the buildings first. However either due to tiredness or distraction, at some point a few hills got clued to the board with the buildings. The attempt to remove them produced a wood splintering sound so all got glued on lest they end up different colours. Next time the plan is to paint all of the terrain before glueing them to the base board. Lookout for board 2 in the future

A day at home

Players introduce themselves and what a day in their characters life looks like on Penar.

DM: “As the sun sets you feel energised, excited, restless. A voice whispers in your ear ‘go to the cave’, the mental images of the ancestral ascension chamber fills your minds eye. Your bones tell you that tomorrow your journey to the cave begins.” 

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Travel and Meeting up

The players start somewhere on the Penar map as chosen by them and describe how they are getting to the cave of ascension (aka the red triangle). Generate small encounters for each player as DM intrusions to help facilitate learning the new system.

DM Note: Using the sci-fi theme to create doors and mirrors able to link places is a great enabler for character interactions as they travelled to the cave and also as they join DM intrusions to bring them together despite the distance they might be apart.

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A night in the Wild

An island located in the sea of secrets, it’s considered both a mystery and a ruin. The island is isolated from the mainland not just by the sea but an energy barrier. It’s not clear who, or why, or how the barrier was created but it’s been present as far back as history records. The barrier doesn’t prevent all access to the island but many have tried and failed to pass unharmed attempting to visit.  

Life on Penar 

Penar is quite peaceful but is no stranger to conflict, while safe from most of the outside world internal politics and  feuds still exists between people families factions and even cities. Most of which is placated by the faction system and the islands dependency on the main land.  

Penar residents all belong to one of the 5 factions; military, agriculture, education, science and faction less.   All who have not ascended belong to the education faction or unless they chose the faction after ascension. The Military faction are both the Policemen and Military. The agriculture faction grows, stores and distributes food. The Education faction  

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Ascension 

At some point in every Penaran’s life they feel the pull to the caves. They trek into the cave systems in the western part of the island, emerging a day later with or without tattoos. It’s these tattoos that are believed to enable people to leave the island. None remember anything beyond falling asleep in the cave. All the tattoos are distinctive, the designs are more or less unique but all share the same black colour.  

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The ferry 

Every week the ferry leaves the ruined structures on the east of the Island making it’s way to Rachar. A small contingent of Islanders live and run a tavern/embassy near the docks of Rachar, they are rotated annually so that all capable of leaving the island get a years world experience after ascension. The ferry itself is run by Alisdair Blint, strict task master and feared combatant. Alisdair is the only Penarian to have journeyed beyond the steadfast and has accumulated 20 years experience in the world. 

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Industry 

The island isn’t immune to weather, crop failure, disease and has very little facility for industry. Trading with the mainland is important because of this. Each week the cargo ferry automatically leaves it’s port mooring and begins the trip to Rachar, none have been able to stop it from doing so. 

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Population 

Penar has an estimated population of 300k. 

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Society 

Decisions that affect the entire island are made by the council of 9, which comprises of two representatives from each faction and the peoples champion. Each faction has to have a male and female representative. 

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Faction Leaders 

Military/Police

 • James Haversham 

Agriculture 

 • Aron Baker 

Education/Science 

 • Nathaniel Burrows  “Fuddy” 

 • Isabelle Hansen 

Peoples Champion/Faction less 

 • Eric Kanto/Althalus 

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Cities 

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