[BT]MW3
nadin brzezinski
have decided NOT to spend the 40-50 hours at the least needed to produce it. If
anybody wants a Marik LP for MW 3, you can write your own. In other words,
since what I have done is obviously nothing good, I shan't.
Source material that I suggest you go through are the following works, and I am
sure I am missing at least one, but these are just from the top of my head:
House Marik SB.
FM: House Marik.
The Kerensky Trilogy. (In minor ways)
Star Lord.
Ideal War.
Bred for War
Assumption of Risk
The Twilight of the Clans Series, in particular Thom Gressman's work (Insofar
as the Knights of the Inner Sphere)
Shattered Sphere,
Inner Sphere.
AT 2
MW 3
Lostech.
The Intelligence Sourcebook
Here are the Academies that were going to be included:
Aitutaki Academy.
Allison MechWarrior Institute.
Athene Combat School.
Atreus Officer Training College.
Legionnaire Training Academy.
Lloyd Marik-Stanley Aerospace Institute.
Princefield Military Academy.
Orloff Military Academy
The Hero Training Institute.
Facts that you should take into account when writing this lifepath:
This life path should reflect the 5th of November Compact, and SAFE's efforts
to root them out.
You should also include some of Word of Blake's activities.
All Lifepaths most reflect the Free Worlds League problem with Prosthetic
devices as covered in the House Book.
have fun folks. I hope somebody does it, because I know I wont. I have other
things to do now. And now I know I can put all my BattleTech Material away, in
a box.
Nadin Brzezinski
Freelance Writer
http://hometown.aol.com/nadinb/myhomepage/profile.html
Scooter
wrote:
>I will add that since the Marik lifepath will not be OFFICIAL, or
>SANCTIONED, I
>have decided NOT to spend the 40-50 hours at the least needed to produce it.
>If
>anybody wants a Marik LP for MW 3, you can write your own. In other words,
>since what I have done is obviously nothing good, I shan't.
>
I understand such an undertaking would be foolhardy to do this
justice...
>Facts that you should take into account when writing this lifepath:
>
>This life path should reflect the 5th of November Compact, and SAFE's efforts
>to root them out.
>
>You should also include some of Word of Blake's activities.
>
>All Lifepaths most reflect the Free Worlds League problem with Prosthetic
>devices as covered in the House Book.
>
>
>have fun folks. I hope somebody does it, because I know I wont. I have other
>things to do now. And now I know I can put all my BattleTech Material away, in
>a box.
>
>Nadin Brzezinski
>Freelance Writer
>http://hometown.aol.com/nadinb/myhomepage/profile.html
>
Sniff, hopefully someone will attempt it
So Nadin any formula for converting even the stats.
Maybe a few of us FWLers can do the conversion piecemeal...
nadin brzezinski
MWII to MW3 Conversions
Guidelines for converting your MechWarriorÒ, Second Edition characters to
MechWarrior, Third Edition
There are two ways to make MechWarrior, Third Edition (MW3) versions of your
favorite MechWarrior, Second Edition (MWII) characters. The best way is
described in Using the Life Path, while a less fun method (but perhaps quicker
and more "accurate") is to make a Direct Conversion. Regardless of the system
used, equipment is easy enough to convert. Simply use the MW3 rules for the
same equipment, rather than the MWII rules. If there are no rules yet for a
particular piece of gear, the gamemaster can base its abilities on a similar
item from the Equipment section (MW3, pp. 129 to 157).
We assume that by this point you have already read the new Game Concepts and
Character Creation rules (MW3, pp. 13 to 61), so you should have a pretty good
idea how the new system works and know what the Attributes, Skills and Traits
represent. (If you haven't read that yet, go back and read it now; we'll wait.)
Gamemasters should note that this conversion material is intended to provide
guidelines only, not hard-and-fast rules. The goal of converting your players'
characters into the new game should be to preserve their abilities and flavor
as they make the transition into the new edition. Please feel free to alter
these guidelines as you see fit in order to accomplish these goals for your
players.
Using the Life Path
The recommended way to bring your MWII characters into the new edition is to
use the MW3 system as it was intended, using the Life Path to create
Attributes, Traits and Skills appropriate to the character's background and
previous gaming experience.
Starting with the appropriate Affiliation, run each character through the
standard character generation system, with the following exceptions.
Path Limits
Unlike the usual starting character, you can continue to choose Paths beyond
the normal limit of eight in order to duplicate as closely as possible the
character's actual gaming experience during MWII play. Continue to choose Paths
that match the character's career until the gamemaster and player agree that
the Life Path and ending age match (as closely as possible) the character's
history.
Note that the abilities generated in this way will replace advances gained
through AP and Skill Point expenditure.
Events
Because an existing character has a pre-defined background story, it doesn't
make sense to generate Events randomly. Instead, the player may simply choose
an appropriate Event for each Path (with the gamemaster's permission, of
course).
Traits and Skills
Using the Life Path may not grant the character all the Traits and Skills that
he needs to match his abilities from MWII. During the Finishing Touches stage
of the process, you may add additional Skills in excess of the usual limits
(with the gamemaster's permission).
Direct Conversion
A less "organic" method than using the Life Path system is to directly convert
Attributes, Skills and so on from MWII terms to MW3 terms. The MW3 game system
is significantly different from its predecessor. As such, an exacting
mathematical conversion between them is not possible. However, using the
following guidelines and the gamemaster's judgment, you can update your MWII
characters to MW3 terms.
Affiliation
Every character in MW3 must choose an Affiliation. It should be a relatively
simple matter to choose an appropriate one for each character based on his
background. Make a note of any Bonus Traits or other factors related to the
chosen Affiliation (MW3, pp. 26 to 32).
Attributes
The range of normal human Attributes changed from 1 to 6 in MWII to 1 to 9 in
MW3. In addition, the number of Attributes increased from five to nine, and
there are no longer any Characteristics.
First, find the MWII Attribute used as the source for the new Attribute on the
Attribute Equivalency Table (use the average of RFL and ITN, rounded up, to
find the source for Reflexes). Then, cross-reference the MWII Attribute rating
to find the MW3 Attribute value on the Attribute Value Conversion Table. For
exceptions to this procedure, see the following two sections.
ATTRIBUTE EQUIVALENCY TABLE
MW3 Attribute MWII Source
Strength BLD*
Body BLD*
Dexterity RFL
Reflexes (RFL + ITN) ÷ 2
Intelligence LRN
Willpower ITN
Charisma CHA
Edge *
Social Standing *
* See special rules
ATTRIBUTE VALUE CONVERSION TABLE
MWII Rating MW3 Value
1 2
2 3
3 5
4 6
5 7
6 8
7 9
8 10
Strength and Body
Both these Attributes are derived from the MWII Build Attribute, but not using
the same direct conversion as other Attributes. You can choose to take both
Attributes at 1 point lower than listed on the Attribute Value Conversion
Table, or one at the listed value and one at 2 points lower than listed. For
example, a character with BLD 5 (which converts to 7 in MW3) could choose to
have both Strength and Body of 6, or could choose to have one at 7 and the
other at 5.
Edge and Social Standing
Neither of these Attributes have direct equivalents in MWII. The gamemaster
will have to use the Attribute Table (MW3, p. 55) and his best judgment to
arrive at reasonable levels for these. In the case of Edge, the character's
MWII Edge can be used at least in part to determine the Edge Attribute; because
there is no upper limit to MWII Edge, a direct conversion is not possible.
Compare all the characters' Edges in the group, and give the characters with
the most Edge higher Edge Attributes.
Traits
All of the Advantages in MWII can be converted directly into positive Traits
from MW3, though the gamemaster will have to determine the exact level of each
Trait (note that MWII Reputation converts to Good Reputation).
There are far more Traits in MW3 than there were Advantages in MWII. The player
and gamemaster will have to work together to decide if the character should
have any of the new Traits (positive or negative) based on his background and
experiences.
Skills
Converting your character's skills is probably the most difficult part of this
process, and will require a healthy dose of judgment on the part of the
gamemaster and plenty of cooperation from the player. It is unlikely you will
feel your character's skill list is precisely the same after the conversion
process. MechWarrior, Third Edition is a different game, so this discrepancy is
only natural. The point here is to get the two versions of the character as
close as possible without worrying too much about making an exact replica.
Because the game works differently, you probably don't need an exact replica
anyway.
The first step is to determine into which MW3 skill (or skills) each of your
MWII skills will convert. The Skill Equivalency Table lists skills that have
changed from MWII and their equivalents in MW3. Note that if a skill has the
identical name and function in both games, it has not been included on the
table.
Many skills now have integral subskills which did not exist before, including
Bureaucracy, Protocol, Streetwise and Tactics. Choose appropriate subskills
based on the character's background and experience.
There are several new skills that have no equivalent in MWII. These include
Animal Handling, Fast Talk, Free Fall, Intimidation and Sensor Operations. In
these cases, the gamemaster should decide if a character should continue to
have these skills or not. (See the Sensor Operations Skill, below).
Once you have determined the skill to which an existing skill will convert, you
then determine the MW3 Skill Bonus for the skill. This is done by adding 10 to
the Skill Target, and then subtracting the Skill Level. Find the result on the
Skill Bonus Conversion Table to find the MW3 Skill Bonus. If the character had
Natural Aptitude with the skill in MWII, add 1 to the final Skill Bonus. (Do
not apply this if the character gained Natural Aptitude after being converted,
such as trueborn Clan characters.)
For example, a character with Acrobatics at Skill Level 3 with a Skill Target
of (6+) would have a MW3 Skill Bonus of +1 (10 + 6 - 3 = 13, which results in a
+1 on the table).
SKILL EQUIVALENCY TABLE
MWII Skill Equivalent MW3 Skill(s)
Alternate Identity Alternate Identity (Trait)
Blade Blades; Staffs; Whips
Drive/Ground Piloting/Hover, Tracked, Wheeled
Drive/Naval Piloting/Naval, Sub
Gunnery/Aerospace Bombing; Gunnery/Aero*
Gunnery/Artillery Artillery
Gunnery/BattleMech Gunnery/Humanoid*
Gunnery/Battlesuit Gunnery/Humanoid*
Gunnery/Conventional Gunnery/Conv.*
Gunnery/Spacecraft Gunnery/Space*
Impersonation Acting
Medtech First Aid; MedTech; Surgery*
Navigation Navigation/Jump Drive*
Piloting (any)* Sensor Operations*
Piloting/Aerospace Piloting/Aero, Aircraft, VTOL
Piloting/BattleMech Piloting/'Mech, Quad
Piloting/Spacecraft Piloting/Aero, Jump, Spheroid
Small Arms Pistols; Rifles; Shotguns; Submachine Guns
Special Interests Academics; Arts; Interests; Languages*
Technician/Aerospace Technician/Aeronautics, Fusion, Jet, Mechanics, Support*
Technician/BattleMech Technician/Fusion, Mechanics, Myomer, Support, Fusion*
Technician/Battlesuit Technician/Mechanics, Myomer, Support*
Technician/Electronics Technician/Comms, Electronics*
Technician/Mechanic Technician/ICE, Mechanics, Rotor, Support*
Technician/Spacecraft Technician/Aeronautics, Fusion, Interplanetary, Jump
Drive, Support*
Technician/Weapons Gunsmith; Technician/Ballistics, Lasers, Missile*
Tinker Engineering
Unarmed Combat Brawling; Martial Arts*
*See special rules below.
SKILL BONUS CONVERSION TABLE
10 + MWII Skill Target
minus MWII Skill Level MW3 Skill Bonus*
15 or higher +0
13 to 14 +1
11 to 12 +2
9 to 10 +3
8 +4
7 +5
6 +6
5 +7
4 +8
3 +9
2 or lower +10
* Add 1 to the Skill Bonus if the character had Natural Aptitude in MWII.
Dividing Skills
Most of the skill names stayed the same from one edition to the next, but in
some cases what was once one skill has become several skills in MW3. For
example, the Small Arms Skill has essentially fragmented into the Pistols,
Rifles, Shotguns and Submachine Guns Skills. This will be a fairly easy
transition if your group was using the Specializations rules from the
MechWarrior Companion (MWC, p. 13).
The way to handle this is to take the Skill Bonus for the skill and divide it
among the multiple skills that are found in MW3, using your Specialization (if
any) as a guide.
If you simply want to choose a single skill from among those available, convert
it normally. Your character does not have any of the other skills. If you want
more than one of the skills listed, the Skill Bonus is reduced by one for each
skill chosen after the first.
For example, a character needs to convert the Small Arms Skill. He has figured
that his Skill Bonus would be +3. If he wants to choose only one of the four
skills listed under Small Arms, such as Rifles, he simply has a +3 Skill Bonus
with Rifles. Instead, he can choose to have a +2 Skill Bonus with two of the
skills instead, or a +1 Bonus with three of them, or a +0 bonus with all four.
Of course, this is a very coarse conversion, and the gamemaster is welcome to
alter it in any way he feels is fair to the player.
Medtech is a special case, because each skill is progressively more
complicated; rarely would a character have Surgery and not First Aid. To
represent this, the skill is converted as First Aid. If you want MedTech Skill,
add that skill first (reducing the Skill Bonus for both by 1). If you want
Surgery, take that second (reducing all three Skill Bonuses by 2). Note this
means you cannot choose to have Surgery Skill unless your Skill Bonus in
Medtech was at least +2.
Note that Special Interests are not divided using these rules (see Special
Skills, below).
Combining Skills
If you have multiple skills that equate to the same MW3 skill, use only the
highest resulting Skill Bonus from among all such skills.
For example, if a character has both Engineering and Tinker in MWII, these both
convert to Engineering in MW3. If the character's converted Skill Bonus in
Engineering would be +1 but his Skill Bonus in Tinker converted to +2, the
actual Skill Bonus in the MW3 Engineering Skill would be +2 (the higher of the
two).
Special Skills
Some skills are unusual and require a bit of additional explanation to help you
convert them accurately.
Gunnery
There are actually three distinct Gunnery Skills in MW3: Ballistic, Laser and
Missile. These are further divided into vehicle-specific subskills as shown on
the Skill Equivalency Table. Use the Dividing Skills rule (above) to determine
your character's Skill Bonus with these three skills for each of your
character's Gunnery Skills.
Navigation
The Navigation Skill in MWII was exclusively used for calculating hyperspace
jump points. In MW3, there are Navigation subskills for air, land, water and
interplanetary space as well. There was no equivalent skill to these in MWII,
so the gamemaster should decide if the character should have any of these
subskills. Use the Occupational Fields List (MW3, pp. 53 to 54) as a guide
depending on the character's job and training.
Piloting and Sensor Operations
Sensor Operations is a new skill that has no MWII equivalent, but it is vital
to the operation of any advanced vehicle, including a BattleMech. If a
character has any Piloting Skills, also give him the Sensor Operations Skill
with a Skill Bonus equal to the lowest Piloting Skill Bonus among them.
Special Interests
What was once the Special Interests Skill is now divided into four categories.
It should be a simple matter to decide in which category a skill belongs. For
example, a character who had SI/Oil Painting would now have Art/Oil Painting.
Do not divide the Special Interest Skills as you would other skills that show
multiple MW3 equivalents, unless you feel the skill should be divided for some
reason.
Technician
There are several more subskills for the Technician Skill, and they are now
divided by task, rather than vehicle type. Use the Dividing Skills rules to
determine Technician Skills, but also apply your judgment; some characters
might need a few extra points of Skill Bonus to accurately reflect their
technical skills.
Unarmed Combat
Unarmed combat ability has been divided into the Brawling and Martial Arts
skills, and Martial Arts is further divided into several subskills to reflect
specific styles. You should choose an appropriate subskill from among these to
fit your character's background and training: formally trained fighters should
have some form of Martial Art, while those who learned to fight through the
school of hard knocks should have Brawling, instead. Rarely should a character
have both, or multiple Martial Arts subskills, unless the gamemaster feels it
is appropriate. In that case, use the Dividing Skills rule.