No Room For A Wallflower: A LANCER campaign
No Room For A Wallflower
The first official campaign for LANCER was a big part of what drew me to the system. I loved the story, as incomplete as the first drafts were, and knew I was going to run it someday. Post-graduation, I decided that time was now, and got together a small group of friends, trying to avoid my "everyone invited!" habits, and see what a smaller, more focused playergroup would be like. I am posting this shortly before No Room For A Wallflowers official release, and have been running the game from playtest drafts. These logs are also summarized from player notes, and so are mostly from the players perspective. All the same, there will be spoilers.
Please note that LANCER in general, and Wallflower specifically deal with heavy themes. This is the warning I gave to my players.
The module I am intending to run is not a light one. I don't intend it to be grimdark, I have no doubts there will be moments of levity. There also will be heavy choices, questioned allegiances, and "we survived." being the best thing that can be said about the situation.
No Room For A Wallflower treats specifically on themes of: War, both out of necessity, and pointless. Colonialism/Imperialism, both blatant and subtle. Trauma, both personal, and inter-generational.
Thunderbird Squadron
Union Auxiliary Peacekeepers, Thunderbird squadron is a three person pilot team. They have gone through extensive training, but this is their first fully deployment. They pilot mechanized cavalry frames, and are on a two year subjective time patrol.
Hannah "Dead Air" Sen, pilot of "Remember Why You Are Here"
Pilot Sen grew up on a core world, a relative utopia overseen by Smith Shimano Corpro. Earmarked for combat training from a young age, she graduated with solid marks, and a reputation for sometimes unsettling thoroughness. At her Academy mentors suggestion, she enlisted with Union, and took to the stars.
Jenna "Zephyr" Lyndale, Pilot of "Conquest Of The Mind"
Pilot Lyndale joined the Union Auxiliary to support her family back home in a non-core system only recently entered into Union administration. There may have been a sticky situation enlisting got her out of, or not. If it is true, it likely involved hacking, and demonstrated her talent enough to single her out. She doesn't talk much about it, though overall maintains a sunny disposition.
Drevyvus "Torch" Krell, Pilot of "Walking Under Fire"
Pilot Krell has lived the majority of his life in the Union Auxiliary, initially as a civilian dependent on capital ships, later working as mechanic. His eccentric try anything approach to engineering has left with with a lot of experience, and an unfortunate accident left burn scars over half his body. He refers to it as his 'How Not To Do Things' reminder. Officially in-charge of the squadron, he tends to let the new recruits take point.
A Distress Call
Thunderbird squadron, aboard civilian freighter Comfort are forwarded a distress call from Patience, an NHP (Non-Human Person, effectively a sapient hyper object filtered into a human-relevant subjectivity) in charge of Evergreen, a colony on the planet Hercynia. Patience reports that the colony has been undergoing raids by an unknown force, and long-term defense of the colony may be non-viable.
Welcoming Committee
Touching down on scarred but verdant Hercynia, Thunderbird Squadron is greeted by Militia Commander Brava Hadura, and a small detachment of colonial militia. The militia are jumpy, unused to combat stimulants or discipline. Only a few months back they were farmers and mechanics, and have had to learn quickly. They mutter to themselves about Bugs in the jungle, about 'the damn egs'.
Brava talks with the players, about the frequent sniper attacks, mostly targeting infrastructure, and the toll the lack of peace has enacted on the colony.
Arriving in Evergreen, the players find it to be a strange mix of rustic and colonial, and forward facing. Buildings wait shrinkwrapped for the population to meet it's growth quotas, and printed modern tech sits side by side with rough hewn wood and salvaged ship plating. The pilots stand out against these familiar face, but are met with smiles. The cavalry is here now, help is at hand.
Meeting Patience
Patience meet the squad in the Governors Farm, a walled compound serving as the administrative heart of the colony. Patience welcomes them, and debriefs them on the situation.
The raiders have been using biological armor, attempting psychological warfare. A eusocial insect species native to Hercynia doomed a prior colony five centuries, and required a large military intervention to be brought under control, the signs of which still dot the landscape. Fear of the return of these 'Egregorians' has spread like wildfire through the colony, despite Patience's best efforts, and limited video footage disproving it.
" I fear death for my people, I fear total colony collapse, I fear a failure of my mission. Most pressing, I fear the spread of this hysteria. People are willing to believe the most fantastic things so long as it renders them special in their misfortune, instead of yet one more colony under an attack by an-all-too-familiar enemy."
The colony is outmatched by the mech-scale weaponry the raiders use, and do not have the resources to flush out the hit-and-run combatants. Although lower than expected, the death toll rises steadily. This is where the pilot's expertise can hopefully turn the day.
After some more Q&A, the pilot head to colony's printshop, and meet Kyle, who fanboys excessively over getting to print Actual Honest-To-Goodness Lancer Frames. They manage to confirm he won't test-drive the mechs, and confirm their print orders.
The colony has a single schedule-2 3d-printer, capable of printing whole trucks at a time, fueled up and ready to go. The Comfort did not have the ability to store nor shuttle mechs, so our pilots are printing them locally.
Heading to their accommodations, a set of rooms above the local bar named The Bottom Of The Well. They meet Nim Bahadur, the proprietor, and chat for bit before eating and retiring Before falling asleep, Jenna receives an omninet message from a certain Jacob Merrick, requesting to meet. He says it would be mutually beneficial, but only gave directions to a meeting place outside of Evergreen, and no details.