Campaign Design Journal – Stage 4: Lifepaths

Every RPG seems to have some design element that rapidly expands beyond the designer’s control. Every new sourcebook adds more of it. D&D2e had kits. D&D 3e has prestige classes and feats. World of Darkness has Merits and Flaws. Rifts has…well…everything (it isn’t the only RPG to sell separate index books for nothing). Classic Battletech RPG has Lifepaths.

Lifepaths first appeared in GDW’s classic Traveller. Basically, they flesh out your character’s backstory while providing random events that can help or harm him or her. Traveller’s original tables were so harsh that it was actually possible for a PC to die during character creation. CBTRPG’s tables aren’t quite so bad, but there are a lot of them if you count in everything that was added in sourcebooks. You can download the Master Lifepath Table from Catalyst yourself and see what I mean.

I had basically two goals with my hack of this document:

1. Change the lifepaths to better reflect Star League era Battletech.
2. Cut down some of the fluff-specific lifepaths to avoid confusing new players.

 I didn’t feel very guilty about that second one. Most of the new lifepaths are various academies, many of which either weren’t in operation or VERY different in the 2750 era. Also when it comes down to it, do you really NEED a separate table for every military academy in the Federated Suns? Especially when there’s already an excellent generic Military Academy table?

Beyond cutting down the academies, most of the work involved changing the existing paths so they didn’t lead to paths I’d deleted. Some paths had to go entirely (the ComStar and Word of Blake paths, for instance), and others needed some modification (Clan War Orphan became Hidden War Orphan and got some flavor changes while the NAIS path became the SLDF’s War Triad (Sandhurst, War Academy of Mars, War Academy of Aphros) but remained the same except for the name).

I also added three new paths. I replaced CBTRPG’s Tour of Duty: Inner Sphere path with two new ones: a revised TOD: Inner Sphere and a new TOD: Periphery. This reflects the fact that at the time your service experience in an SLDF or House unit depended a lot on if you were stationed in one of the relatively peaceable Inner Sphere Member-States or in the wild-and-wooly Periphery Territorial States. You might compare this to the vast difference between serving in a “fashionable” regiment of the British Army at Home in the 19th Century, and service in India.  

I also created an entirely new path for the SLDF’s famous Gunslinger Program, which I’m sharing below. Comments are, of course, welcome.

GUNSLINGER PROGRAM

Originally developed in the late 27th Century as a crash course to counter the individual combat superiority of Kuritan MechWarriors, the Advanced Combat and Maneuvering Skills (ACMS) program continues to train the SLDF’s best and brightest in the finer points of BattleMech combat. Graduates gain the right to wear the highly coveted Gunslinger’s crossed pistols on the lapels of their uniform.

Entry via event roll only
Time: 1 year
Traits: Sixth Sense or Natural Aptitude: Piloting (‘Mech), or Natural Aptitude: Gunnery (any one) This trait is specifically allowed as a second natural aptitude if the character already possesses one.
Skills: +3 to any 4 skills in the MechWarrior field.
Next Path: Police Academy (3), Covert Ops (4, Special Forces or Scout-trained characters only), Ne’er-Do-Well (4),  Tour of Duty: Periphery (4), Tour of Duty: Inner Sphere (4),

Gunslinger Program Events
2. Goose! Eject! A terrible training accident claims lives, and there are some who say it was your fault [Bad reputation (3), Combat Paralysis, STR -1, REF -1, Survival +2)]
3. Sent West. You just didn’t have what it took to make it through the program. [-2 to all MechWarrior field skills, Timid] 
4. 4AM already? Too many late nights studying tactics [Poor Vision, Tactics (‘Mech) +1
5. That’s Iceman…as in cool as. Rival pushes you to excel. [Enemy (1), +1 on any two MechWarrior field skills]
6. I aim with my eye… +1 to any one Gunnery skill
7. Sumimasen, Taira-san! One of the expatriate Kuritan instructors takes you under his wing. [Martial Arts +1, Protocol: Draconis Combine +2]
8. I know my enemy… You’ve studied the tactics of the House armies…and how to beat them [Tactics (‘Mech) +1, Protocol (any two) +1]
9. Take my breath away… An affair with a civilian instructor gives you a useful contact [Contact (2), Bureaucracy (Terran Hegemony) +1]
10. Let the word and the legend go before…Your performance raised some eyebrows and marked you out for greater things [+1 on any three MechWarrior field skills, Promotion]
11. I cry your pardon, Gunslinger! You graduate ACMS at the top of your class! [Promotion, Good Reputation (1), +1 on any three MechWarrior field skills]
12. Choose one or roll twice and apply both results