Life Amongst the Dragon’s Stars

["Black Marble" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video]

And we’re back with a look at the ongoing work in Handbook: House Kurita.

One of the more popular bits of the Handbook series is the Touring the Realm section, which provides a wide look at various worlds in the interstellar nation. Each author picks the worlds listed in the book for various reasons. I selected mine based on a few criteria. Each planet fits at least two from the following list:

• Randall listed it in the original outline
• It’s a District / Prefecture capital world
• It has a role of some sort in the history of the Combine (mentioned in the History section)
• It showcases a slice of life within the Combine borders
• I wanted a ‘fresh’ world to tinker with

So what we have are the four military districts with six to eight worlds highlighted from each area.

Rather than sneak a couple of the complete atlas entries, I’ll do something a little different. I’ll give a couple sentences from various entries, to whet the appetite. This is still a work-in-progress, as I’m still finishing it – along with finalizing editing notes on the other sections and bugging Randall for the opening fiction.

Luthien

The crown jewel is the sprawling Imperial City, home of the ruling Kurita family. It is a virtual fairy-tale of a city, surrounded by verdant gardens and hectares of natural forest. The impressive Unity Palace, which contains the seat of Kurita power, appears to hover on the horizon. Each of the five towers that form the palace is distinct, built along the aesthetics of a different architectural period from ancient Japan.

Bjarred

Evidence was presented that although exports were re-routed to Jaguar worlds, those raw materials were of much lesser quality and quantity. More importantly, a high percentage of smelted metals and manufactured steel contained numerous defects and weak spots. This created a substandard product that increased breakdowns and other trouble spots in Clan equipment and materials fashioned from Bjarred exports.

Irece

The response was overwhelming; the Bureau of Friendly Interior Comfort and Concerns constantly processes requests and handles the transport of citizens to designated worlds in the Bjarred and Qandahar prefectures. Because of the situation, the Bureau formed “resident zones” on all other systems in the prefecture. These zones are nothing more than large, sufficient enclaves under the domain of the Clan. Combine citizens are not permitted on the grounds unless they possess proper documentation and authorization.

Matamoras

Founded during the Age of Colonization by Soviet expatriates, Matamoras has never been considered more than a collection of mines and heavy industry. Few choose to travel to the world; fewer still remain to eke out a living. For a time, the DCMS maintained a prison facility on Siberia, the southernmost continent. Notorious for its small guard detail and highly corrupt administration, the complex was abandoned in the mid-2700s—with over three thousand male and female prisoners still locked down within.

Aix-la-Chapelle

The most famous is the Diplan Mechyard near Belnet. The factory uses an architectural design and construction similar to a Castle Brian and easily holds up against Class 9 storms (425+ kph winds). Such facilities were built with typical Kuritan foresight, as they easily serve as defensive bulwarks during times of crisis.

Proserpina

A series of industries centers around the study, capture, processing, and research of this tenacious predator. The blood limpet is indirectly responsible for scientific breakthroughs in such technologies as battle armor, MASC systems, genetic therapy, synthetic fabrics, and anesthetics. Regardless of industry, civilians who work with the blood limpet undergo a year’s worth of intensive training on the reptile.

Xinyang

The oyabun, Sean O’Clannahan, declared a vendetta against Robert Ivankov. The conflict escalated out of hand very quickly. For the next fifty years, several yakuza clans—headed by the Fuji Snow—invaded Xinyang and systematically pushed the vory v zakone from power. By 2960, the yakuza dominated the Xinyang underworld and remained in control despite two subsequent attempts from outside mafia families.

Galedon V

The hills of Paphos are renowned for its wine industry, often preparing vintages served in the Imperial Court. The volcanic chain—Steps of the Dragon—that border the eastern coastline of the continent is the source of valuable Galdeonian black and red diamonds. Strict security measures keep a tight grip on the production and export of these gems, making them one of the rarest and most expensive diamonds in the Inner Sphere.

Enif

Enivians dislike “the Newcomers” as they feel their pace of life is challenged and belittled. Loyal to the Kurita family and steadfast supporters of the Dragon, these citizens are nonetheless mocked for their simplistic lifestyle and nonconfrontational attitudes by the Newcomers. Because of Enif’s chronically poor educational system—even by lower class standards—Enivians are rarely accepted into military academies and few find their way past the lower ranks of the DCMS.

Hachiman

Partly due to the influence of its unofficial lord Chandrasekhar Kurita, Hachiman is considered the place to find everything from forbidden Steiner entertainment discs to shadowy mercenary assassins. The Coordinators of the Combine have allowed this well of depravity to exist within the Combine’s walls, primarily as a funnel for foreign spies and malcontents. With the superior electronics produced by the planet’s hard-working citizenry over the centuries, the Kuritas have permitted Masamori’s existence as a form of stress relief.

HBHK: Arrogance in Character

Been a few weeks, so I thought I’d share a bit more from the ongoing HBHK project.

One of the biggest challenges to this particular book is trying to convey the arrogance of the Kuritas (as it’s from the perspective of a Combine historian) without sounding overdone and silly but still convey important information. The trick is to use the proper turns of phrase and word choice, which makes the entire process a tad challenging. By a factor of ten.

The only other option is a textbook-style read, which is, to be frank…BORING. With the difficulties this series already faces, I’ll do whatever I can to boost this last installment’s success.

Initial feedback from my reviewers has indicated I’ve been pretty successful in hitting that arrogant-yet-informative balance I want. Hopefully those who do read it in full will agree.

Okay, enough rambling.

Ever Forward the Dragon Creeps

 

 

 

And we’re back with the next installment of HBHK, letting you peek behind the Dragon’s curtain at the mysteries within.

Or something like that.

Anyway, progress continues forward. I’ve pulled some material for preview; the selections this week are scattered across multiple sections.

Devotion to the Success of the Combine Through Proper Work

“Devotion to the Success of the Combine Through Proper Work”
(Dictum Honorium VII, 215-216)

Devotion to duty, perfected through greater self-discipline, leads to an improved state of personal freedom and sense of joy focused on fulfillment in one’s work.

[Commentary: Business is war on the field of numbers. Financial ruin from poor decisions and improper decorum is as deadly as badly considered tactics and unconsidered strategies. In the great machine, one faulty gear can create a catastrophe; one poorly maintained part could destroy a company. It is the duty of the worker to give all he is to the success of his endeavor. For the smallest part plays the largest role in the success or failure of the greater purpose.]

Worlds of Chaos

Partial look at “Rules of Engagement” by Matt Plog

A continuing look at my latest Catalyst Game Labs BattleTech project, Total Chaos. We left off taking a look at the mercenaries selected for the project. For those interested, the PDF version of the book is now for sale; the print version is tentatively due in August 2012.

One of the ideas that came out of discussions with Øystein and Herb was the ever-present request by players to have detailed synopsis of the Jihad on various planets. We knew there was no way we could do such a comprehensive volume that would be profitable. And spending time and resources on a PDF-only product makes no business sense. I believe Øystein even calculated that a unit-by-unit movement table (such as seen in the FedCom Civil War sourcebook) would alone take up nearly 300 pages – and that assumed small font size!

With both Øystein and myself wanting to delve deeper into Operation SCOUR and Herb intrigued with our initial idea to do a planet dossier of that conflict, we struck a compromise. Why not select roughly 30 of the more intense conflict worlds and do sidebar write-ups on those?

Then, one final thought hit me: why not make it a little more palatable and include brief rules for running a mini-campaign on that world?

Mercenaries and Mass Chaos

Partial merc “portrait” (unnamed unit) for Total Chaos, by Chris Lewis

The Jihad was not just a time of intense violence and interstellar war. It was also a breeding ground for the rise (and fall) of the mercenary trade. Some experts postulate that one in every five mercenary commands survived the fourteen years of incessant war. Looking back through the carnage, one can trace the success and failures of many of these groups through the recent conflicts; I’ve opted to focus on three different commands for this project. Each one began with dissimilar origins and followed a divergent path through the Jihad. While their success is relative to their own goals and vision, these men and women possess a rare common bond.

They survived the Jihad.
—Belle Lee, A Treatise of Jihad-era War; Fortymile Standard Press, 3095

[A continuation of the developer's notes on the Total Chaos project, soon for sale in PDF format. Print version (tentatively) available in August.]

When looking over the vast number of tracks needing compiled for this book, one question really nagged in the back of my head. How would we turn this collection of previously printed tracks into something worth printing – and buying? True, adding in some of the JTP e-publication tracks would help. As would several new tracks. But there had to be something else as our ‘hook.’ This wasn’t a simple reprint compilation here.

I revisited the opening sections of the Warchest campaign in Dawn of the Jihad. Going over the setup, I realized what that hook could be. Mercenaries.

Mercs are the most common “faction” (used loosely) in the BattleTech universe. We have made hundreds of these units throughout the course of nearly three decades, and always suggest and hint that there are more. Many, many, MANY more that exist. It’s an obvious window for players to “enter” their own home-made unit into the universe for their personal games, as well as an easy ‘out’ for authors in case they needed a filler force for the protagonist or antagonist role in a project. The entire idea of the Chaos Campaign setup in DOTJ was that a player’s merc unit would be the principle star of the story, giving the author (me) a lot of leeway in crafting wide-ranging tracks that could then be tailored to specific player and house games. Changing up the minor details in a track to account for a House or Clan unit is left to the player and doesn’t take a lot of brain power to work that out.

So, mercenaries. One unit or more, then? Canon or new?

Chaos Theory, Redux

Portion of Plog’s interior chapter art.

Okay, so this may be a little redundant based on my prior post. I’m sure you, fair reader, can cope, as the in the last post I got a tad bit ahead of myself in describing the germination of the idea for Total Chaos. Let me back up a tad, back to just after the initial pitch but before the formalized outline, and restart.

The pitch idea was to compact all of the Jihad Chaos tracks into one volume, supplemented with selected tracks from the six JTPs published over the last four years. Revamping the rules and many of the older tracks to conform with the Total Warfare ruleset was priority as well.

But what if we also gave players the chance to run side missions? These generic tracks, first seen in the Starterbook series, were designed for quick-and-easy scenarios that could fill the gaps in the main track timeline. (As astute readers of the Jihad Hot Spots books have noticed, there can be several months between tracks, plenty of time for one-offs and side missions to augment their campaign play.) These generic missions would also give players a chance to rebuild and regain lost Warchest Points (WP) to prepare for the more brutal tracks ahead.

So I tossed all of the mission tracks from both Starterbooks onto the pile. And made room for two new ones as well: Stalwart and Pushback.

Achievement Unlocked: Origins Award

Last night, I reached a career milestone.

Most people, when you tell them you won an Origins Award, would look at you oddly, tell you politely “that’s nice,” and move on in the conversation. It’s not exactly the Oscar here.

But for people in the game industry, it’s somewhat of a big deal. Maybe not an Academy Award, but at least something like winning recognition from Cannes or the Sundance Film Festival. It’s a known award, and it’s considered something of value.

So last night, my project baby from 2011, The Wars of Reaving, won the 2012 Origins Award for Best SciFi/Fantasy Miniature Supplemental product.

Most games and game products that win are a team affair, and mine is not much different. I had a lot of help making WOR look pretty. Paul Sjardijn helped me construct the main “spine” of plot; Herb Beas gave me carte blanche on the entire project; and Ray Arrastia’s amazing layout skills made WOR stand out in a very unique way when compared to the usual BattleTech sourcebook.

I’m very thankful to all three of these guys, plus the artists, factcheckers, and playtesters that assisted in spiffing up the final product. And of course, to Catalyst for believing in me to do the project in the first place.

I’ve been part of an Origins Award winner team – Tactical Operations won in 2009 – but this is the first project I had the lead on to win. It was an honor being nominated, yes. And I was convinced all this week that Osprey Publishing’s Tomorrow’s War was going to win. (That book looked sleek and sporty on the table.) But winning the award – thanks in a large part from all the BattleTech fans who voted – means even more to me.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible. And more thanks to my wife, for her support and strength while I poured myself into the WOR project. It paid off, honey!

Onward now, to next year. I’ve got my sights set on repeating this success, and Total Chaos is the project that just may do it…