Approximate length: 431 pages in the core book, including game mechanics, and there's also more books on other locations in the setting, such as the Karrakin Trade Baronies and the Long Rim. These provide information on the factions that are less explored in the core book. There are game modules and a few short stories as well!
Where is it found?: The core book's player-facing section is free, but that does not include the section with the majority of the setting's lore. The core book with the lore section costs 25 bucks digitally so please buy it from Massif Press if possible. Ask me if you need any of the books and can't afford them, I have bought them all and am willing to share, provided you don't share them with anyone else. The Harrison Armory and Aunic Ascendancy Draft Field Guides are free and available in the pilotNET discord if you search for them, but I do also have the PDFs.
Elevator pitch of what it's about: MECHS. The year is 5016u, over ten thousand years since humanity has survived an apocalypse of its own making and spread to the stars. Union, in its recent third iteration, is the government that has united mankind across these stars, and despite its flaws and the sins of its predecessors, it is trying to spread utopia to all people.
Mechanized chassis are the weapons of choice in this age, for both governments and corprostates alike, and in a deeply flawed world still full of corporate greed and colonial desire, but one that is also pushing towards hope, what are these powerful weapons used for?
Also, there may or may not be a shackled extradimensional math being living in your mech, god created itself from a computer and stole Deimos and later vaporized a specific fascist, and god 2 electric boogaloo (who was there first, actually) founded a theocracy that may or may not be about to get into a war with Union.
Content warnings: Violence, war, genocide, implied slavery, exploitation, colonialism, theft of indigenous land, body horror, existentialism, apocalyptic themes, corporate injustice, classism, oppression, directed hate, and more, potentially.
There is a page in the core book (even the free version) that discusses the setting's relationship with its content warnings titled "On Content, Discomfort, and Lancer," which I recommend giving a read.
What do you love about it?: The world it depicts is deeply flawed, but is also striving to do good, like our own. Players are encouraged to explore their relationship with this world and attempt to change what they can, even if the systems that undergird the world's injustices are deeply entrenched. It's also queer-inclusive!
There's a bunch of different factions, so you can really have whatever flavor of mecha you like. If you like gritty war stories where you're probably not the good guy, there's Harrison Armory. If you like the reality-bending psychological and metaphysical stuff, there's HORUS. If you like fucked up eugenics corpro, there's SSC. If you like space truckers and the military industrial complex, there's IPS-N. And those are just the big four manufacturers, not to mention how you can mix and match these themes as you like!
The worldbuilding is detailed while also not being restrictive, and I really like how it gives GMs the opportunity to expand upon the lore in their own campaigns.
I'm also just a sucker for mecha media, the interplay between human and machine. When you ride in the mech, is it just a tool, or an extension of your body? When given so much destructive power, how can you use it to do good?
With so many factions, it's really easy to come up with a casefic/mission idea, especially since there's a mercenary faction (Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company). The books also provide some plot hooks (called Flashpoints)!
What kind of themes would you request for it?: Will admit I'm a sucker for SSC and the Aunic Ascendancy (aforementioned theocracy). I love how SSC is seething over trying to figure out Aunic Firmament senitivity (SSC really wants to know how to make people that are Firmament-attuned, aka, able to use semi-psychic powers) and it's really fucked up the lengths they'll go to figure that out, but I like seeing that explored. SSC even has its own group of superspies/pseudomilitary agents called Constellar Midnights who go out and do the dirty work to get their hands on stuff.
I think Aunic stuff also hasn't been explored enough (which is understandable considering the Aun don't have a complete and published Field Guide yet) so I always like to see it intersect with anything.
I also really like the Baronies! With its hierarchical nature, it makes a good place to have a mystery set, and there's lots of societal pressure inherent in that stratification. Would love to see some Pankration Mekani, maybe some mystery surrounding that.
In terms of missions, there's a lot of options, and I'm not even opposed to ditching the mechs entirely for a more intelligence-based mission haha. Lancer's world is so big that you could swing practically anything, from just protecting a shipment of cargo out in the Long Rim to infiltrating a Baronic ball to obtain vital information on passing the blockade over Free Sanjak or something.
I'm also a big fan of the Big Spoiler People (who shall thus remain unnamed) from No Room For A Wallflower.
In terms of themes, I like the paracausal/reality bending stuff, but I also like seeing the grounded interpersonal relationships between pilots and how their ideals impact the work they're able to do. I love intelligence-based or spy-related stuff, which is pretty easy to wiggle into the setting, despite the guns-blazing mech combat focus. But honestly, any Lancer content is good content!
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Lancer - Massif Press (Roleplaying Game)
Date: 2025-04-15 08:44 pm (UTC)Media: Tabletop Roleplaying Game
Approximate length: 431 pages in the core book, including game mechanics, and there's also more books on other locations in the setting, such as the Karrakin Trade Baronies and the Long Rim. These provide information on the factions that are less explored in the core book. There are game modules and a few short stories as well!
Where is it found?: The core book's player-facing section is free, but that does not include the section with the majority of the setting's lore. The core book with the lore section costs 25 bucks digitally so please buy it from Massif Press if possible. Ask me if you need any of the books and can't afford them, I have bought them all and am willing to share, provided you don't share them with anyone else. The Harrison Armory and Aunic Ascendancy Draft Field Guides are free and available in the pilotNET discord if you search for them, but I do also have the PDFs.
Elevator pitch of what it's about: MECHS. The year is 5016u, over ten thousand years since humanity has survived an apocalypse of its own making and spread to the stars. Union, in its recent third iteration, is the government that has united mankind across these stars, and despite its flaws and the sins of its predecessors, it is trying to spread utopia to all people.
Mechanized chassis are the weapons of choice in this age, for both governments and corprostates alike, and in a deeply flawed world still full of corporate greed and colonial desire, but one that is also pushing towards hope, what are these powerful weapons used for?
Also, there may or may not be a shackled extradimensional math being living in your mech, god created itself from a computer and stole Deimos and later vaporized a specific fascist, and god 2 electric boogaloo (who was there first, actually) founded a theocracy that may or may not be about to get into a war with Union.
Content warnings: Violence, war, genocide, implied slavery, exploitation, colonialism, theft of indigenous land, body horror, existentialism, apocalyptic themes, corporate injustice, classism, oppression, directed hate, and more, potentially.
There is a page in the core book (even the free version) that discusses the setting's relationship with its content warnings titled "On Content, Discomfort, and Lancer," which I recommend giving a read.
What do you love about it?: The world it depicts is deeply flawed, but is also striving to do good, like our own. Players are encouraged to explore their relationship with this world and attempt to change what they can, even if the systems that undergird the world's injustices are deeply entrenched. It's also queer-inclusive!
There's a bunch of different factions, so you can really have whatever flavor of mecha you like. If you like gritty war stories where you're probably not the good guy, there's Harrison Armory. If you like the reality-bending psychological and metaphysical stuff, there's HORUS. If you like fucked up eugenics corpro, there's SSC. If you like space truckers and the military industrial complex, there's IPS-N. And those are just the big four manufacturers, not to mention how you can mix and match these themes as you like!
The worldbuilding is detailed while also not being restrictive, and I really like how it gives GMs the opportunity to expand upon the lore in their own campaigns.
I'm also just a sucker for mecha media, the interplay between human and machine. When you ride in the mech, is it just a tool, or an extension of your body? When given so much destructive power, how can you use it to do good?
With so many factions, it's really easy to come up with a casefic/mission idea, especially since there's a mercenary faction (Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company). The books also provide some plot hooks (called Flashpoints)!
What kind of themes would you request for it?: Will admit I'm a sucker for SSC and the Aunic Ascendancy (aforementioned theocracy). I love how SSC is seething over trying to figure out Aunic Firmament senitivity (SSC really wants to know how to make people that are Firmament-attuned, aka, able to use semi-psychic powers) and it's really fucked up the lengths they'll go to figure that out, but I like seeing that explored. SSC even has its own group of superspies/pseudomilitary agents called Constellar Midnights who go out and do the dirty work to get their hands on stuff.
I think Aunic stuff also hasn't been explored enough (which is understandable considering the Aun don't have a complete and published Field Guide yet) so I always like to see it intersect with anything.
I also really like the Baronies! With its hierarchical nature, it makes a good place to have a mystery set, and there's lots of societal pressure inherent in that stratification. Would love to see some Pankration Mekani, maybe some mystery surrounding that.
In terms of missions, there's a lot of options, and I'm not even opposed to ditching the mechs entirely for a more intelligence-based mission haha. Lancer's world is so big that you could swing practically anything, from just protecting a shipment of cargo out in the Long Rim to infiltrating a Baronic ball to obtain vital information on passing the blockade over Free Sanjak or something.
I'm also a big fan of the Big Spoiler People (who shall thus remain unnamed) from No Room For A Wallflower.
In terms of themes, I like the paracausal/reality bending stuff, but I also like seeing the grounded interpersonal relationships between pilots and how their ideals impact the work they're able to do. I love intelligence-based or spy-related stuff, which is pretty easy to wiggle into the setting, despite the guns-blazing mech combat focus. But honestly, any Lancer content is good content!