Lancer - Last Contact (No Room for a Wallflower)

About the adventure

At the furthest reaches of space, beyond the utopian light of Union, Hercynia turns. Emerald Hercynia: green as a cat's eye, green as jade. Before Union stood for peace and solidarity across the galaxy, it was known as a violent hegemon, exercising imperial rule with gunship and mech. Its sins were countless - and the greatest sin of all was committed right here, on this garden world. Now the planet bears the scars of Union's wrath. Derelict mechs and unexploded ordnance litter the jungles; great swathes of the landscape lie barren, scoured by the fallout of barely-understood weapons. For 500 years, Hercynia has been healing - slowly, bitterly - but in peace... until now. A habitable world is too valuable to ignore. Despite the risks, the Landmark Corporation has been surveying the planet; five years ago, the colony of Evergreen was founded in its misty forests and began to thrive. But now they have sent a series of urgent increasingly distorted distress calls - first to their parent corp, and when they offered no help, to Union. To you. Your mission, Lancer, is to travel to Hercynia, secure the colony, and determine the nature of the crisis. Union is spread thin, and the colonists are not citizens, but it is not our policy to refuse aid when asked. You're going in blind, and we wouldn't be asking you to if you weren't the best. Why has the Landmark Corporation remained silent? What did the colonists find out there? What ghosts of Union's shame have risen to haunt us? What is the source of the distorting interference? These questions and more await you. Mount up, Lancer. It's time to get some answers.

Additional Details

How to prepare

We will be playing using Foundry VTT, a powerful application that contains virtual character sheets, dice, maps & miniatures, and rules reference. Since Foundry is hosted on my machine, players will not need to download any software - you can connect through your browser! In addition, we will be using Lancer's excellent digital character keeper program COMP/CON, which allows for direct importing of character data into Foundry. The only hardware players should provide (other than their computer) is a decent microphone. Foundry is a very visual platform; we likely will be focusing on the position of our mechs, so a webcam is not required. The player-facing rules for Lancer can be found for free on itch.io, but players shouldn't feel the need to read them thoroughly before the first session.

What I provide

I'll bring access to Foundry VTT and make sure that our game is set up and formatted before we begin. The official module that we'll be using, "No Room for a Wallflower", does have a lot of room for interpretation, and I will bring a richly realized vision of the planet Hercynia and the galaxy in general.

Gameplay details

We will use Lines & Veils to determine what content we are comfortable with in this game; bearing in mind that Lancer is a game about war and there is no way to predict every scenario that may arise, we will also be using the X Card to arrest any potentially-traumatic scene before it goes too far. The Open Door policy will be in effect - your life and well-being come before the game; while I appreciate a heads-up, should you need to step away from the game for all or part of a session feel free to do so, no questions asked. - Lancer has two sides: a rigorous tactics-based miniatures game representing mech combat, and relatively rules-light procedure for everything else. The ideal session will see a mix of the two, following our mech pilots on the battlefield as well as in their personal lives, negotiation with allies & opponents, exploration of the planet, and so on. Most combat will have an objective or "win condition" beyond simply defeating your opponent, like "extract the VIP" or "take & hold the landing zone". The outcome of combat always has an impact on the state of the game world beyond the Lancers' lives; as the GM, I will communicate the stakes for success or failure to you in advance of every mission.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Lines and Veils
Open Door
Session 0
Stars and Wishes
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Our first session of the game will be a session zero, where I will provide a light backstory, explain the circumstances your characters find themselves in, and go over the basic rules of the game; we will create characters during this session, and any more advanced or conditional rules will be taught in play. We will decide together how our characters know each other (if at all!) and what kind of outfit they are part of (military, mercenary, humanitarian, scientific, etc.)

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.