Game: MechWarrior (third edition – FASA, 1999)
My Experience: I will admit to having owned the first two editions of MechWarrior, and even having built characters in them, but I can’t recall ever playing before third edition. Back in the day, Little Sister ran a somewhat hyperbolic campaign in which I and Methrys were the primary players. We may have invented the new war crime of planetary-scale psychological warfare.
Sao-shao Aleksey Sokolov, Electronic Warrior at Large
Born to Capellan merchants, Aleksey Sokolov’s life as a citizen and servant of the state was planned well in advance. He was to attend an appropriate preparatory school, sit for the civil service placement exams, and settle into a good, safe, routine job as a bureaucratic functionary in the star nation’s government. That plan went straight to hell, though, when he fell in love with a girl from the wrong class of people. Aleksey followed her straight into the Sian Center for Martial Disciplines. The relationship didn’t last, but Aleksey found himself succeeding despite his own expectations. His class rankings qualified him for Sian University’s Officer Candidate Program, followed immediately by MechWarrior training.
After commissioning and qualifying as a MechWarrior, Aleksey expected to be posted to a unit on the Federated Suns or Free Worlds League border. Instead, he was offered the opportunity for additional military education – and, from there, a chance to serve the Capellan Confederation in a nonspecific role “particularly suited to his talents.” Having learned by now that a “no” would be a permanent blight on his record, Aleksey accepted, and found himself at the schoolhouse for the CCAF’s top-secret electronic warfare program.
Assigned to pilot an advanced-model Raven BattleMech, Aleksey spent the next five years providing EW and crypto support for various covert operations on the Capellan Periphery border. This came to an abrupt end, though, when a well-meaning but clueless reporter compromised his identity and his unit’s mission. The reporter disappeared into re-education and Alexei was abruptly reassigned to a line unit on the Free Worlds League front. Four years of a stalled career and endless raids and skirmishes were enough to cement the fact that his career had irrevocably stalled. Neglecting his duties, Aleksey sank deeper and deeper into a gambling addiction. He’d wasted most of his savings before one lucky break enabled him to cut his ties. Resigning his commission and paying a staggering amount of bribes, Alexei obtained forged paperwork which titled his Raven in his name and promptly hopped the first tramp freighter for a mercenary hiring center.
Traits
Attributes
Strength 5
Body 5
Dexterity 5
Reflexes 7
Intelligence 6
Willpower 7
Charisma 5
Edge 9
Social Standing 4
Skills
Academic/Capellan History +1
Academic/Military History +1
Administration +1
Art/Landscape Design +0
Bureaucracy/Capellan +1
Career/Military Scientist +1
Career/Soldier +1
Comms/Conventional +2
Computers +1
Cryptography +3
Disguise +0
Fast Talk +0
First Aid +1
Gambling +0
Gunnery/Ballistic/Humanoid +1
Gunnery/Laser/Humanoid +2
Gunnery/Missile/Humanoid +2
Language/English +1
Language/Mandarin +1
Language/Russian +1
Language/Scots Gaelic +0
Leadership +2
Martial Arts/Gung Fu +0
Martial Arts/Military +1
Navigation/Ground +1
Perception +1
Piloting/Mech +3
Pistols +2
Protocol/Capellan +1
Rifles +1
Sensor Operations +3
Stealth +0
Strategy +1
Streetwise/Capellan +0
Streetwise/FWL +0
Swimming +0
Tactics/Ground +1
Tactics/Infantry +1
Tactics/Mech +1
Training +1
Traits
Brave
Commission (Rank 4)
Vehicle (2) / Custom Vehicle (2) / Owns Vehicle
Enemy (1) – relatives of the disappeared reporter who blame Alexei
Enemy (3) – Maskirovka agent who believes (correctly) Alexei never should’ve been allowed to leave Capellan service
Equipment
“Immaculate Deception” – RVN-3X Raven BattleMech
revolver w/ 5 reloads
jumpsuit
ablative/flak jacket
medical kit
military communicator
advanced field kit
171 C-Bills
Notes and Afterthoughts
So. Much. Lifepath.
I actually rolled uncharacteristically well with most of Alexei’s life events, especially the early OCS opportunity. My intent had always been to try to build a Raven pilot, but that suggested some interesting twists. The end result is, I think, a decently competent, if a bit old (he’s 39 at game start) mercenary MechWarrior with an interestingly checkered past.
I did take some liberties in selling off both positive and negative traits, but the “gambling debts” roll at the end of his final life path phase provided a decent story hook for explaining what happened there. Effectively, I traded Wealth and Well-Equipped in favor of Owns Vehicle and a bump up in his Custom Vehicle to ensure he’d have a Raven (rather than risking a random roll that might result in an UrbanMech). I also sold back his Vehicle advantage, taking him from a heavy- to a light-class ‘Mech, for the same reason. The earlier event of media compromise during his covert ops career phase also gave me a plot hook for buying off his In for Life disadvantage that normally would have come with that career – effectively, once his identity and affiliation were know, the intelligence community just didn’t have a use for him.