#lancer is better

[state-of-beeing]

Let's Dance<< put on your red shoes and dance the blues let's dance to the song they're playing on the radio

-----

Having a lot of feelings about them. Last session did things to me.

[sylvanus-cypher]

It's weird that the people I see with the most vitriolic disdain for Lancer aren't the conservative, chauvinistic, right-wing morons who the game explicitly criticizes, but a lot of far-leftists whose policies line up pretty damn close to Union's but disagree with its existence for seemingly incomprehensible reasons; I think it perfectly demonstrates how pervasive Capitalist Realism is that even many leftists reflexively denounce the idea (and it is the idea, because it's in a sci-fi TTRPG) of a democratic state that genuinely has the people's best interest at heart

[oceom]

I found out about the LANCER ttrpg system today and uh. Man I love cool mecha designs and games...

[bananonbinary]

danny phantom had a lot of great material but "guy who swears entirely in classical literature titles" is one of the funniest things ive ever heard in my life and more people should talk about it

[the-meme-monarch]

spades king better either genuinely make it up to his son or rot in that cell for the rest of the game

[prunpplee]

Deltarune pants for the one and only @purplebehittindifferent 💜

[msmc-796-official]

Alright folks, time for another status update, and an important one:

As of today, the one-month deployment probation set for MSMC-796 in the wake of the Fireman Saga has officially ended!

(Well, technically it ended two days ago, but might as well line it up with the beginning of a new month for ease of record-keeping.)

Starting today, our squad is once again available to accept missions, go on combat deployment, and otherwise resume our business as hired mercenaries.

Secondary news, but also important - Kennedi just got cleared by the MSMC medical team to be able to pilot mechs again, so as soon as we get her new Caliban frame printed and calibrated, we'll be back up at full strength and ready to go.

Thank RA that's all over with; we were all going a little stir-crazy in here. It'll be good to get back in the hangar and out among the stars again, where we belong.

Maybe we'll post our updated loadouts here, now that everyone's had a chance to reprint and update their mechs with the new HRA licenses we got. (Not a whole lot has changed, but it crossed my mind that y'all don't know our builds, so we might as well share and get some feedback.)

In summary - MSMC-796 is back!!!

-- Angel

[disastrousfeline]

sometimes you just gotta black out and make designs for some random ass npcs (they are all long dead (beyond dead (it may be a fate worse than death)))

edit: haha Hi i made. more of these. sorry

[personwho1s]

Commission finally done. This was v fun.

[flowersnax]

more of this fuckin guy

[running-on-coffee-and-anxiety]

Notice But Hoping For The Best Part 4

Mister Lancer is the first person to truly say something is wrong with Daniel Fenton. That boy was never the most attentive student- He was loud and prone to goofing off with his friends in the back, though he wasn't too disruptive- but he was a good student. If it was a topic he was passionate about, such as science- something he certainly got from his parents- or when they covered the stars? He went from being a good student to one of the best, though he never quite beat his older sister Jasmine's performances.

Which was why the change was enough to spot and be a cause for genuine concern; at least, now it was. Though it may not seem like it, and though he may struggle to be unbiased, Lancer truly cared for his students. So when Danny started turning in work with poor handwriting that was at times hard to read, he started grading harsher. When he started sleeping in class, he made sure to wake the boy up and at the very least give him a mild verbal slap on the wrist. It seemed like the youngest Fenton was randomly deciding to slack off, which Lancer would not tolerate in his class!

Then the worry started to set in as his condition slowly, day by day, ended up deteriorating. At first, it was the messier clothes, the food-stained shirt and poorly tied shoes. Alright, miss Manson was probably the one behind his style, then, and her family randomly deciding to extend their trip meant clothes likely weren't Daniel's first concern. But then it became more serious, looking like he was struggling to brush his hair before coming to school, small tics with his hands- well, usually only his left hand- that he quickly pressed the other hand to suppress and hide, and random twitches that seemed to be focused more around his left side, but were echoed- albeit much weaker- on his right as well. The fact it seemed to coincide with the decreasing quality of his handwriting was very telling, and the fact the deterioration started when the ghosts began attacking... It was easy to sense something was going to break soon.

The break was both sooner- and more literal- than expected, when they were doing a lab for science class. Everything was going normally, Lancer wasn't paying close attention to anyone in particular, he simply happened to glance over at the youngest Fenton. Because of that, he was the only one to see his arm spasm, his fingers twitch and open reflexively- unwillingly. It was the breaking of the beaker that made everyone else turn to look after that. "Danny, clean up the glass and see me after class- and for the love of Shakespeare, don't handle any more of the glassware." He almost felt guilty after seeing just how close to tears that boy was at the order.

Daniel looked like he'd just predicted yet another ghost attack as he stood by his desk after class. Usually it would be a lecture, a detention, some form of punishment- but not today. Given who his parents were, what their jobs were and the fact the Fentons were targeting the ghosts with so much aggression- they were zealous in their work even before, but now there was a concern this was something much more personal. "Calm down, you're not in trouble-" Perhaps he had been a bit too harsh, given how the dark haired teen suddenly relaxed, as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "-we just need to talk about something."

Asking about what had happened with the ghosts and what sort of injury they had caused Danny felt personal. Especially since his parents were so aggressive about going after the ectoplasmic creatures now. Lancer knew he needed to be diplomatic about this, for once carefully selecting his words. "I won't ask for any details, but clearly something has happened." It seemed his student was growing anxious again, but he continued. "I have been harsh due to believing you were slacking off, but if this is a genuine problem, it's my job as an educator to make sure any special requirements you have are met. Now, the ban on you handling glassware will exist and stay in place-" There was an almost painful look of loss in Danny's eyes at that. "-however, you will be given paper assignments you can fill out instead of doing the lab. Partner with someone and watch the experiment, then fill out the sheet your given. Every time you submit a written assignment, I would like you to stay back and help me read it; your handwriting is like another language to me. Understood?" A nod. Daniel was never this silent... It was disconcerting. "Good. You're dismissed." The only words were a mumbled 'thank you' before he left. It was almost... Heartbreaking.

Lancer noticed, he would try to assist, but he could only hope for the best. After all, the Fentons were taking care of things, and while they were... wild, to put it mildly, they were good people. Of course they'd get their son the proper care.

Previous Next

[eyezackery]

They don't want you to know this but you can put ramjets on a Tortuga to make a giant Caliban

[sylvanus-cypher]

Vitriol aside, the people who criticize lancer re: Union are right about one thing: a better world is not for us. Any real good in this world is already twisted and corrupted beyond all repair, and so are all of us. We collapsed the only tunnel out of the cave quite a while ago.

I cannot stress enough that this opinion/attitude is literally everything I have been talking about. When I'm talking about how pervasive capitalist realism is, how pervasive the belief that capitalism has won and we're all fucked is, this is what I'm talking about. That narrative only benefits one group, and it's the capitalists; if they convince us that there's no hope, then it's much more likely that we'll lie down and rot while they steamroll us than rise up to make real changes, whether through a ballot or through revolution.

There are nearly eight billion people on this planet, and 90% of them are being screwed over by the systems we live under, more than enough to change the world for the better. It's just that most of them either A) have been duped into thinking the system benefits them, B) don't know what to do about it, or C) don't believe they can do anything about it.

Capitalist realism may be the single most insidious tool that the ruling class can use against us. The second we all surrender and accept the status quo is the second that it becomes true and the world ends. Don't fall for it. Don't sink into despair. Don't lie down and rot when a better world is possible.

I'm begging you. A better world is possible, and we can reach it if we try.

A better world is possible. Even if we have to fight for it.

[emilostingender]

Nice argument, but I cast fist 😎

[tysonfurybattlepass]

lancer hot take GO

1. CRIMINALLY underrated as a key player in the narrative. so often in fan content, he’s relegated to comic relief when in reality his character arc is the fucking CO-FOCAL POINT of ch1 (alongside susie’s)

but where susie learns that opposition isn’t always the answer, and it can lead to her hurting people she loves, lancer learns that the authority figure in his life isn’t omnipotent and perfect and he can stand up for what he knows is just. he can question the adult in his life he can BE HIS OWN PERSON and he doesn’t have to feel like he’s not good enough. fuck. not personal or anything prommy (lying)

2. i think he should be allowed to KILL. queen will livestream it. shit would be funny as fuck

[fiovske]

Do you have any recs for other non-DnD game systems? I've only ever played 5e, and I'm a little intimidated to get into other systems, but I also want to branch out and get away from WOTC's bullshit.

Sure thing! I am also including a link to the itch.io pages since that's where i get most of these games!

Blades In The Dark: i'm mentioning this first bc the rules are very easy to grasp and if you're looking for a setting that has a touch of ghosts and steampunk, this game is the perfect gateway to that! it's the best for a heist i have found and the game mechanics and names are so soo sick here's just a slice from their itch.io page:

personally i find the setting and the stress mechanic very cool, because it takes into account the mental toil that an action can have and i find games with inbuilt consequence mechanics very compelling! it introduced the concept of clocks to me and i am obsessed.

a) adjacent to Blades, are all Forged In The Dark Games which are third-party blades games, and the most notable of them is Scum and Villiany which is space-western setting and also my favorite and if you're looking to play a game in the breadth of star-wars like interplanetary politics and everything, i highly recommend this game! b) if you're looking for a Blades game with mechanics to suit something more royalty-adjacent, with court-politics and agendas and masquerade parties and all, like say d20's court of fey and flowers vibe then i recommend Court Of Blades! I havent gotten around to playing this yet but it looks really promising and i soo badly want to play a game in this setting!

2. The Ground Itself : this is a world-building game. focused on one single place over time and how it changes and how it's people change, the events of this game can be spaced out from a week to several millennia depending on the rolls of ur dice or your choices! i have found that this game serves very well as say, a session zero game also, for setting up a place before you play in it, and not only a very fun session of making a place together for your party to play in, but also not leaving all the work to the gm! so it's a win win situation!

tbh, all games by everest pipkin are very good! i wanna get my hands on world ending game as well bc it is a game about giving your campaign, your world-building and your characters the perfect send-off.

3. Wanderhome : if you're looking for something ghibli-esque (this is the closest i can come to defining this game thru popular media) then i highly recommend wanderhome! it's got a very cozy pastoral vibe to it and the art is really beautiful and you get to pick from a range of animal-folk to play as it's very cool!

also honorable mentions,

a) Sleepaway is a game by the same creator in which ur a camp counsellor to a bunch of misfits and horror stories around campfires ensue! b) Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast which is an upcoming game which you can still back and it looks really interesting so i'd recommend checking it out as well!

4. Lancer: this game has mechs it has space-battles and you get to be a pilot in a future set years in the future and a thousand directions to take ur campaign in! he relationship between pilot and mech is smth that can be so personal.....

i wanna play lancer sometime it has very cool mech designs and it has very much piqued my interest, if i find ppl who wanna play lancer w me im 🏃🏃!

5. Heart The City Beneath : honestly, one of my fave settings of all time, it has strong horror components so mind the cws! but the classes and the game mechanics are very intuitive and overall it helps you not only build a character that feels natural and organic, but since this is a horror setting, things do not have happy endings... however it will ensure that your characters have a well-built journey whose ends will be terrifying and magnificent.

I got introduced to the fallout mechanic through this game and oooo how i love it, it's the perfect blend of your actions have consequences + every consequence is interesting and will affect your character deeply and emotionally, which is <33

this list got too long so i will just mention some more here:

the quiet year (very good map-making game, for before the frost shepherds arrive in winter.)

beam saber (forged in the dark game that deserves its on mention! austin ramsey's games i highly recommend!)

thirsty sword lesbians (ecactly what it says on the tin, i wanna check this game out also)

lotr's one ring rpg (this one is the closest substitute to classic d&d bc lets be real. tolkien is where d&d got it's shit from. and i have heard good things abt this game even tho i've never had the chance to play it)

mothership rpg (space horror whose build mechanics are very easy and user-friendly and i've had a LOT of fun with this!)

orbital (one very beautifully written rpg about life in space and it's only 32 pages but well-worth the time, highly recommend)

that's all i can give off the top of my head, i might've missed a few but these are strong standouts, so i hope u find at least one to your liking!