Mice in Mech Suits

A few weeks ago I found the Battletech Technical Read Out 3025 book at Smith Family book store for $5.  

I snapped it up and spent a while thinking about how to best introduce the bad ass mechs to my Mutant Future campaign.  I didn't really want to ramp the power level of my game up to the point that these mechs would take it, but I thought the book was too cool to just ignore.  And then I figured it out - Mice in Mech Suits.  The lowest levels underneath the Ooh-Oh Monks have been sealed off for centuries.  They are occupied by the mutated descendants of lab mice, who reprogrammed a robot manufacturing plant in the lower levels and created "giant" human sized mech suits that they roll around in.  These mice believe that all life in the outside world has been completely destroyed by the FDF7 virus.  The mice have formed what they call the Kingdom of the Pure, modeling their kingdom on a holy book that they found, an illustrated relic of the ancients.  The mice live by the code of chivalry that features prominently in the book, and are ruled by a king and a council of knights who sit at a round table.  Each of these knights has a unique mech suit named after the holy figures from the book.


As I mentioned in this prior post, the PCs observed a squad of warangutans blasting into a sub-sub-basement level far below the Ooh-Oh Monks, and after chasing the warangutans away, the PCs investigated the area that the warangutans were attempting to enter.  They came to a locked blast door with a video screen next to it - pressing a button below the screen caused it to flicker to life, and they were greeted by a startled looking mouse who introduced himself as Nicodemus the door guard.  

Nicodemus was astounded to be talking to living beings from the outside world, and refused to open the door.  Bozko tried to convince the mouse that his kingdom was in danger from the warangutans and Julius Corple, and explained that they were probably after the robot manufacturing plant (the PCs had learned of its existence and a little about the mice in a meeting with Flipsham Eggwar, the leader of the Ooh-Oh Monks).  Bozko asked for assistance in fighting the Warangutans and also inquired about the possibility of getting a mech suit for himself if he could supply the raw materials needed.  Nicodemus told Bozko to come back the next day after the king and his knights discussed what to do.


The next day, Nicodemus told the disappointed PCs that the king (Arthur, if you hadn't guessed) had decided that it was too risky to sortie out to meet the warangutans - the king was concerned that if he sent his knights out, the kingdom of the pure would be defenseless.  The dragons in the upper levels had been more active lately, and he felt that he could not risk making a move (the "dragons" referred to by the king are mutant, firebreathing winged cats that terrorize the mice).  Nicodemus said that the knights all favored going forth to meet the warangutans and win glory in battle, but the king had the final word.


At that point, someone interrupted Nicodemus off screen and a mostly inaudible conversation occurred between Nicodemus and the unknown intruder.  Shortly, a second mouse appeared and introduced himself as Jonathan, a Knight of the Round Table and the proud pilot of the Lancelot Mech.  He was disobeying the order of his king and was going to accompany the PCs in their quest to fight the evil war monkeys because he felt it was the honorable thing to do.  While he owed fealty to his lord King Arthur, he understood his chivalric duties to his kingdom to be even more important, and he felt that idly standing by while the Kingdom of the Pure was invaded by outsiders was unacceptable.


Here are the stats for Jonathan and the Lancelot Mech (inspired by the WSP-1A WASP mech from the Battletech Technical Readout):

Jonathan, Level 5 Mutant Mouse
(Mutant Mice are a new "species" of mutant animal that have a -4 penalty to STR, -4 to CON,+2 to WIL, +2 to DEX and have 1d4 beneficial mental mutations and the physical mutations Pituitary Deformation and Quickness):

HP:20
AC:9

STR:4
CON:6
DEX:15
INT:13
WIL:19
CHA:16

Mutations: Quickness, Pituitary Deformation, Combat Empathy, Force Screen, Quick Mind, Neural Telekinesis

Jonathan is the size of a large rat and wears a jedi-style cloak and tunic outfit.  He has an extremely fast mind and is a fearless combatant.  Even outside of his mech, he is far from helpless with his strong mental mutations and incredible willpower.  He fights with a vibro-dagger (+2 to hit, 1d4+6 damage) that is the size of a large sword to him.

Lancelot Mech:
HP:150 (head pod:35)
AC:1
Top Speed: 40 MPH (detachable head pod: flying, 100 MPH)
Jump: 60' in any direction
Force Field: Absorbs the first 30 damage each round
Weapons: 1 Twin Rack Mini Missile launcher (two shots per round, 20 missiles total, 7d6 damage, 30' radius explosion), arm-mounted "Lance" - either projects a laser torch "sword" or "lance" (4' long or 10' long) or shoots bursts of high intensity laser (all do 10d10 damage, the sword can be used to attack twice per round, the lance can only be used with a charge or jump attack and does double damage with only one attack per round, and the laser can only fire once per round before needing to recharge but has a nearly unlimited effective range, losing 1d10 damage for every two miles the laser burst travels)

The free hand can lift up to 2000 pounds.  The "head pod" that Jonathan rides in can detach from the suit and fly; the head pod itself is what generates the force field.  The suit can be remote controlled from the head pod but is without the protection of the force field while the head pod is detached.

As a rule, I don't normally have NPCs join the party under my control.  I made an exception in this case mostly because I am looking forward to seeing how the party deals with having a member who insists on following a strict code of conduct.  The party has been very opportunistic and at times have made some morally questionable decisions, to be charitable.  I am going to be reading up on the code of chivalry, and it will be interesting to see how far the party is willing to humor the noble knight to possibly win the backing of a powerful faction that has as of yet stayed out of the fray.