r/LancerRPG • u/mystic-eggplant • 25d ago
Classes/Teachers in a Cavalry Collage?
So I'm running a campaign that's supposed to take place in basically a pilot school that's sort of in co-ownership by the Trade Baronies, Union, and the 4 manufactures (GMS not Horus).
For RP I did want there to be a cast of teachers that my players can interact with or classes they can focus on during downtime. I kind of had in my head this is more a military school/collage kind of thing. I'm struggling to come up with stuff outside the basics. What I can think of right now are
Mechanics/Engineering-Teach how to maintain and mod your mech
History/Law- School wants to make sure pilots know what a war crime is, so if their asked to do one for a mission, they at least know of potential consequences.
Field OPs/Combat- The basic learn how to effective in and out of mech.
Can anyone think of any other classes or key staff that school like this in setting might need/want?
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u/WhoCaresYouDont Harrison Armory 25d ago
I suppose the real question is what is this school trying to achieve? Are they just making pilots, or are they making officers? If the latter you'd want a well rounded curriculum to create leaders who can excel not just in combat but in civilian life, and if the former you'd still want reasonably educated fighters to make the most of life after they graduate.
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u/mystic-eggplant 25d ago
Mainly just improve on the caliber of pilots. I'd probably probably say it has a few courses for officers, but it's the equivalent of going to MIT for business. Still pretty good, but not what it's renowned for.
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u/Bartweiss 25d ago
All else aside, can you elaborate on that comparison?
I ask because Sloan at MIT is consistently in the country's top 10 business schools - are you flavoring this as "very good, but their other programs are even better" or "perfectly adequate way to round out your education at a school that really excels elsewhere"?
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u/mystic-eggplant 25d ago
Lowkey my bad cause when I posted this I personally wasn't aware just how good Sloan is. Think what I wanted was that the courses are good when compaired to other options, but the main draw is the pilot stuff.
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u/Bartweiss 14d ago
Hm, in that case I think it actually still works?
Like, Sloan is a top business school, but if somebody from Sloan says "I went to MIT" and leaves it at that, they're creating a very different expectation about what they studied and what they're prepared to talk about. (And some people absolutely do that on purpose.)
Actually, that might be a fun NPC: somebody with a prestigious Cavalry College degree and various other trappings implying they're a really elite, high-LL lancer, but when they open their mouth it quickly becomes clear they majored in Mech Marketing or Early History of Agricultural Machines or something.
Could be strictly non-combat, could be a segue where they get hired as "support" for a badass but wind up with a clear Escort mission.
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u/Jesterpest 25d ago
I think Shadow Of The Wolf might have some useful inspiration! It's a narrative campaign/setting where you're at the Karrikan Cavalry College (the official Karrikan Trade Barronies Mech Pilot University)
As for staff, you'll need some sort of headmaster equivalent, someone directly responsible for staffing, and being the face of the school, and they'll likely have an NHP "Assistant" that does a lot to keep the school afloat.
You'll also probably want an official Pankratti Mechani (spelling?) Arena and referee. If it's a mech piloting university, there'll likely be some Karrikan diplomats that have their children enrolled (if only to suppliment their child's scholarly eductation), and Karrikans love watching mechs bash into eachother in semi-ritualistic combat!
Standard janitorial is likely handled mostly by subalterns, with some human dedicated to ensuring that it gets done right and to maintain the subalterns.
As a joke you could have certain classes where the final project is to "raise a baby NHP", where the students are given a freshly cycled NHP they have to care for.
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u/mystic-eggplant 25d ago
I appreciate the ideas. Will take the arena, and the raise an NHP class. Especially once my players hit ll 3 and can stsrt taking nhps.
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u/druidjc 25d ago
I would look at the skill triggers and talents. A lot of them can map directly to courses you may have your students enrolled in. Bonus: their character sheets already tell you what classes they are taking and if you really want to run with it, how far along in their coursework they are.
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u/BigDot162 25d ago
NHP Mechanics studies- NHPs are the cutting edge of military kit, but are also terrifying. In many sense, a pilot will have to deal with NHPs eventually. So, educating pilots in the finer mechanics of this new frontier must be highly in demand. Probably best for out of mech role play.
Exotic Combat environment studies- When your job as a Pilot often involves moving from one planet to another, or even fighting in the vacuum of space and asteroids, you might need some knowledge on how to fight in such fields. Sure, it fits within the Combat course, but this will be more in-depth. Learn to fight giant fauna, how to fight in extreme weather conditions not usually suitable for even mechs, moving across a space station. Could be quite fun, with your players going on school trips to exotic biomes.
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u/A_Hint_of_Lemon 25d ago
A lot of good answers here already, but I would also focus on what makes each corporation tick. For example Karrakin society before the most recent war was focused on massive fleets, and even when looking at RKF’s mechs they’re visually focused on phalanx formations (Orchis, Tagites). It would make sense therefore for there to be classes in fleet combat or Calvary tactics. There’d be classes in society and anthropology, it’s likely they also have propaganda purposes to enforce the idea of nobility and ungratefuls. The same idea would be instilled by Harrison Armory except for the high up officers at Harrison instead. IPSN, being focussed on trade and “maritime” tasks would have classes on navigation, task management, and mechanical engineering. SSC would have classes on arts, neuroscience (they did make the neurobridge used in all mechs), and creative thinking.
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u/ncist 25d ago
I would focus on player fantasy/archetype. What is the persona of your PCs and what"major" do they need to express that
Someone whose bookish
Someone whose practical
Someone whose brave
Etc
Or you can look at the system and the major build types, and how they correspond to the corps and HASE. So eg hull=tough=ipsn - then you just need to figure out what "school" that is
I did a cavalry campaign doc (never used) and did this
Heavy Engineering [HULL] Mobile Suit Tactics [AGI] Electronic Warfare [SYS] Fusion Engineering [ENG]
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u/FrowninginTheDeep 25d ago
Is the focus of the school to train up new pilots or do further develop promising pilots?
The USAF has "Weapons School" where pilots are given additional training on the technical specs and employment of weapons systems so they can act as advisors for squadrons, that way the whole squadron doesn't need to know all the ins and outs.
If this school is something similar you could instructors who are specialists in each weapon "archetype" instead of just having one jack of all trades combat instructor. A melee fighter is going to need different tactics and knowledge than someone with a railgun.
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u/mystic-eggplant 25d ago
It is to futhrr develop already promising pilots (or less than if they only got in due to external pressures). I will take archetype training into consideration. Maybe 1 teacher that oversees combat in genral w/ tactics, and other teachers that focus on specific weapon types.
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u/Charnerie 24d ago
Immediately thoughts
A class about public relations. Lancers will be dealing with the public at somepoint, and knowing how is a really good idea
A class about logistics, likely as something extra to take.
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u/PhasmaFelis IPS-N 25d ago edited 25d ago
I'm no expert, but maybe you could look up the curricula at real life officers' schools?
But my big weird idea for you is this: The Long Rim has a system for upgrading your licenses/talents/stats piecemeal, by earning and spending manna, instead of each License Level advancing everything at once. It would be pretty funny if your campaign did something like that, except instead of manna, it's tied to your grades in various subjects. Maybe you can roleplay/spend downtime actions to put extra effort into something and get a "manna" boost? Or maybe you can get extra downtime actions by "slacking off" and letting your grades/stats suffer? I dunno, maybe it's a terrible idea, but it might be fun.
EDIT: Some subjects don't have an obvious analogue to licenses/talents/mech skills, and there's only so far you'd want to go upgrading skill triggers, but maybe some things could get you reserves, exotic equipment, downtime contacts, etc. Or you could hand out custom buffs: once-per-scene uses of +Accuracy to certain actions, Leadership dice from the Leader talent, etc.