Player Handout: Lancer, Operation Solstice Rain

The game

Lancer is a tactical mech game. You play a pilot and their mech. Out of the mech you roleplay; in the mech you fight on a grid, working together like a squad. You don't need to know the rules beforehand. We'll learn as we go.

The setting

Lancer is set thousands of years in the future (it's 5016u by Union's calendar). Humanity has spread across the galaxy, and most of it is tied together by Union, a huge interstellar government. There are thousands of worlds, some run by corporations, some with no outside contact who think they are the only ones left. A lot of them at war.

Union hasn't always been nice. The old version, the Second Committee, was a humans-first regime that conquered and colonised a lot of worlds by force. It got overthrown, and the Third Committee runs things now. These days Union is mostly the good guys. It tries to help worlds out, share its tech and not boss people around, though it doesn't always get that right.

A few things worth knowing:

• Mechs are everywhere. They're big armoured walking war machines, each driven by one pilot. You need a licence to fly one, and the better your licence the better the mechs you can use.
• Mechs are printed, not built. Union has huge printers that can make almost anything if you have the licence for it. Losing a mech is a bad day but you can print another one. Losing a pilot is a lot worse.
• NHPs are Lancer's version of AI. Some ships have one running them, and they're people in their own right.
• The omninet is basically the galaxy's internet. It lets messages travel between star systems instantly.

Where you are: Cressidium

About 500 years ago, while the Second Committee was falling apart, a lot of its officials and officers ran. Some of them fled with their families to a newly settled planet called Cressidium. Then they wiped it from the records and wrecked its omninet connection so nobody could follow them.

It worked. Cressidium went its own way for five centuries. The early years were rough, with fighting over land and over who was in charge, and eventually it settled into a few big nations. Most people there assumed Union had collapsed. Then, recently, a Union survey team found them.

The two nations that matter for us:

• The Leandric States Alliance (LSA). Lots of smaller states that banded together against the Sovereignty. They're friendly and keen to join Union.
• The Vestan Sovereignty. Founded by the descendants of those SecComm officers. They're authoritarian and expansionist, and they don't trust Union. For a while it looked like they were softening, but a run of assassinations has put the hardliners back in charge.

They've been in a cold war for decades. Union is on its third visit, and Ambassador Nilan Bannerjee is hosting peace talks between the two in the LSA port city of Nov Elysia. If it works, it ends the cold war and Cressidium probably joins Union. Cressidium's tech is about as good as anyone's, but they don't have proper printers, or faster then light travel. That's a big part of what Union is offering.

Who you are

One thing to remember about Lancers (you) is that you are the BEST of the BEST spec ops ultra pilots, not everyone can be a lancer and YOU are. In certain places you might be a minor celebrity just because your a pilot.

You've just graduated from pilot training, and this is your first proper posting. You were sent to the UNS-CV Rio Grande, a Union Navy light carrier sitting in orbit over Cressidium. You probably know each other from the academy, but you might not have worked together as a squad before.

Life on board is mostly drills, maintenance and briefings, plus card games (Kapkat is the big one), chess, omninet dramas, and trying to beat each other's scores on the pilot simulators. The ship's marines like to call you lot "fancy suits".

People you'll know:

• Captain Brigid Farris: runs the ship. Calm, well respected, used to work at her family's bakery.
• 1st Lieutenant Alex Kim: second in command. Newly promoted, a bit too keen on regulations, and unbeaten at Kapkat.
• Rio: the ship's NHP. Cheerful, chatty and loves her dramas.
• Staff Sergeant Omari Garcia: the marines' sergeant. Tough as nails and always has a dig ready for the pilots, but he'd walk into fire for anyone on the ship.
• Ambassador Bannerjee: comes up from the planet now and then for meetings. Dry sense of humour, and a really good poker face.

The mission

Officially it's escort duty. The Rio Grande ferries diplomats, scientists and cargo up and down, and keeps an eye on things. Cressidium doesn't really have a navy, so nobody's expecting a fight. It's been quiet for weeks.

Thinking about your character

None of this needs to be decided before Session 0, it's just stuff to think about:

• Where are they from? A big core world, a backwater colony, a ship, a space station. Union is huge, so pretty much anything works.
• Why did they become a mech pilot? Was it their choice?
• How did they do at the academy? Top of the class or only just scraped through?
• What do they think of Union? It doesn't have to be positive.
• Do they already know anyone else in the squad?
• What do you want to do in a fight? Soak up hits, move fast, or hack enemies and mess with them? You'll pick between two mechs: the Everest, a solid all-rounder, or the Chomolungma, which is the hacker. Everything else we'll sort out together.

The free core book has a list of backgrounds from p.20 if you want ideas.

Lancer is a big universe, you could be an old veteran who just qualified, a backwater sand farmer who somehow got into an academy, you name it. NHP's (sorta like AI but not really) are pretty common, you could be a robot, a fucking fish idk make something up.

Links

• Our Owlbear room (the map):
• COMP/CON (character builder): https://compcon.app. Free.
• Free Lancer core book (player rules): https://massif-press.itch.io/corebook-pdf-free. Optional reading, seems complicated but really isn't, don't worry we will take it super slow.
• RetroGrade minis: https://retrogrademinis.com/
  A really cool website for designing your own mech sprite that we can use on a table or online. Completely optional but if you want to have a play go for it, most mechs in Lancer can look however you want, some of the later ones do have official art if you want to use it.

Before Session 0

• Nothing is required
• Optional: open compcon.app and click around.
• I'll send you a small file (Operation Solstice Rain data for COMP/CON). Install it in COMP/CON's content manager. It unlocks a new mech frame and talents.

At Session 0

1. Join Discord voice and open Comp/con.
2. Join the Owlbear Room.
3. We'll build pilots together in COMP/CON at License Level 0. I'll screen-share. With the imported Json in Comp/Con you will only be allowed to build legal mechs and characters.
4. When you're done: in COMP/CON, export your pilot data file (.json) and post it in Discord. Make sure you choose Json 2/legacy option.
5. In Owlbear, open Witchdice (top-left toolbar) and import the same .json file. That's your character sheet and dice for every session.

How a Combat turn works (the short version)

• There's no initiative roll. Players go first, and you choose who. Then turns alternate: one player, one enemy, one player…
• After your turn, you pick which player goes next.
• On your turn: move (up to your Speed), plus 2 quick actions or 1 full action. (sorta like action and bonus action in DnD)
  • Quick actions include Skirmish (attack with one weapon), Boost (move again), Scan, Quick Tech, Hide.
  • Full actions include Barrage (attack with two weapons), Stabilize (cool down and repair), Disengage.
• Overcharge: take one extra quick action at the cost of heat.
• Reactions happen outside your turn: Brace (take less damage) and Overwatch (attack someone moving near you).
• Rolling: d20 plus bonuses. Accuracy adds a d6 (keep the highest) and Difficulty subtracts one. Witchdice does this for you.
• Your mech has HP and Structure. At 0 HP you lose a point of Structure and roll to see what breaks. Mechs are tough, and pilots usually survive their mech.

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