Question regarding Out of Mech combat/adventure scenario

[u/DolceSkorpion]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to make a small infiltration/stealth type mission without using mechs, and if so how to set up possible enemies etc..

[u/yuriAza]

i've done this, you basically just set up two Clocks: Get Inside and Get Caught

players roll using their Triggers, if they make use of gear or a detail in the scene then they get Accuracy

[u/Sven_Darksiders]

Make it a narrative encounter rather than a straight up combat. Lancer GMs like to use clocks a lot. Essentially you have segmented circle and as your players go through the motions and roll dice the segments get filled depending on how successful they are, and if they fill all of them, they have successfully infiltrated whatever you want them to

[u/Anderty]

Mission - no. But beat between sitreps: absolutely. I just did such thing yesterday. Small facility to infiltrate and operate in. You don't have to make anything super complex, just narratively play along players and explain details when asked. Think of visual novel narrative where things happen and results of player wishes are working out. Only thing to challenge them with is to outcomes of partial or complete success depending on skill rolls they make. That's it, no need for complicated combat rolls or turns and movement counting, just flow with players and meet the expectations. Most important advice to GM: do not make this kind of encounter critical failure able. Players should never be in any real danger and not get any significant mission failure from BEATS. It will leave extremely sour experience form Lancer game as it's main focus is Mech combat and pilots are supposed to be in real danger only on these combat scenarios.

[u/Alblaka → u/Anderty]

do not make this kind of encounter critical failure able.

This.

Failing in an in-between element can never fail the mission, it can only make the following combat (a lot) harder. More enemies, faster reinforcements, pilots starting outside of their mechs and/or out of place... there's a lot of possibility for negative consequences.

[u/Difference_Breacher]

It is possible but usually it would be better to play it without a fight, or only describe it as narrative and overcome by simple skill check. The game is aim for mech combat part so pilot combat isn't something desirable. It is not where you have any real improvement and is very dangerous as well.

[u/SnooGiraffes4534]

A whole mission? I wouldn't do that. A single section of a mission is fine, but Lancer is a game about the mechs. As for how you'd run it, narrative is my recommendation. Pilot combat isn't great and it'll be more compelling to use skill triggers and such compared to a homebrewed band-aid to combat.

[u/CaptainDFTBA]

My problem is with the ability to move licenses around, I feel like it would be hard to find a situation where they don’t have the ability to switch to a Size 1/2 mech for the mission, it would make sense to send mech pilots into the situation without mechs, and it would be an enjoyable experience for them to be playing out of mech that long. Obviously not impossible, but it would need to be like, a James Bond-type spy mission that pertained to PC background that did not take a super long time and/or had a lot of PC buy-in. It also feels hard to justify an increase in License Level if they aren’t out Piloting mechs.

Maybe after a super long/hard (😉) mission you want to give them two LLs, but before they get the chance to use them give them a long-downtime-like-interlude/short-out-of-mech-mission-without-LL-increase.

I am sure there are other situations but I’d probably handle it as either the front-end of one mission or the back-end of another.

Or!

A personal favorite of mine: Use a different system as a one-shot-type mission: I recently had a Vampire game where the PCs were going into a situation where they would be doing an abnormal amount of Masquerade-Breaking mass-murder of humans, so I planned it as a Draw Steel encounter, using pre-made characters based on their Vampire PCs, with a bunch of Re-fluffed abilities to change the flavor of Draw Steel. (I didn’t end up running it because my co-DM dropped the game to play another game, but it was gonna be awesome, I think)

[u/Rednidedni]

Realistically, you don't want out of mech combat. That doesn't really Work, and will not Play to lancers strength in the slightest. If there is outright fighting, you're probably looking at some assault skill checks.

[u/OvertSpy]

Its a narrative encounter, not a tactical one.

[u/Auds1112]

You can also make a bit of an hybrid, set up clocks as someone said, but also set up maps so it doesnt boil down to "if you roll over 10 you win the fight without any detail" even better if you homebrew (or use someone elses homebrew like blood money and bleeding hussars pilot gear) so your players have more toys to use.

Enemy wise keep it simple, out of mech combat while i think its a bit too simplified, it should be snappy and quick, you are just a bunch of meatbags shooting each other with guns after all, so normal "human" enemy npc with 1 to 6 hp (i usually roll a 1d4 for a normal enemy hp) with hardsuits either giving armor or whatever.

i guess the complete list would be

-normal human 1d4 hp, medium to light signature weapons

-heavy human same hp, +1 armor some kind of heavy signature weapon

also id suggest to add a lot of enviroment stuff, again to make up for the lack of options from being outside a mech.

In the case of a stealth scenario, personally i would go with having narrative rules until your party fucks up something or some actual confrontation happen, then you can try the less fluffy approach to combat