Combat Drugs for BattleTech: Beyond Electrodrome:
-For Beyond Electrodrome: a Custom BattleTech Fan Expansion-
Special thanks to Tamer Poyraz for letting me use their piece “Brainstorm” as the cover art for this post. You can find more of Tamer’s jaw-dropping work HERE.
<I will be returning to refine these rules in the not-so-distant-to-the-very-distant future.>
I love the BattleTech board-game. I have loved it since I first stomped my little brother’s Archer’s head in way back in the early 90’s. The techno-barbarian universe is interesting, the hardware, while impractical, is gritty and iconic, and the gameplay, while plodding at times, is violent and satisfying.
One of my major complaints with the game however is that the pilots, the actual characters themselves, are oft ignored. They don’t level up. They cannot hack the initiative phase. Sure, they can gain perks like Fire Fist, or Speed Demon, but really though, for the most part they sit in the cockpits of their heaving death machines, twisting knobs and pulling levers, with little more influence on the battle’s outcome than their gunnery skill, their piloting skill, and whether or not they’re going to become crimson scrambled eggs with a name tag, cooked inside of a shuddering and overheating battlemech.
Pathetic.
MechWarrior: Destiny has rules on how to use other pilot skills such as Artillery, or Perception during Classic BattleTech play, but until that book is released and ready to rock, why not expand something that already exists in the BattleTech universe?
What do I mean?
Well. How do you get your MechWarrior pilot character to participate more fully in a Classic BattleTech combat scenario? Eject and run around on the battlefield with a ballistic rifle? Should they keep a jetpack and a light TAG system in a bug-out bag just in case? Maybe they can float serenely above the fracas in an artillery spotters’ dirigible.
No. Wait. I have a better idea.
GIVE THEM DRUGS. LOTS AND LOTS OF DRUGS.
The ones that make your heart go BOOM BOOM BOOM. The ones that make your arms feel like electric eels. The ones that make 'mechs look like the sunflowers with death-spewing skulls at their center. The drugs that go “bing!”
Building off of the drugs and the drug rules found in 2005’s Combat Equipment supplement, I have taken liberties with the BattleTech universe in order to make my own personal rules expansion (BattleTech: Beyond Electrodrome) a more interesting place to live, do drugs, fight, and die.
How To Take Drugs In The Future Of Armored Combat
Taking Drugs: In order for a pilot to use combat drugs during a combat scenario, they must be in possession of the specific drugs they desire to use, and said drugs must be loaded into a drug buddy (see below), which is a reflex-controlled drug caddy and injector. Unless otherwise stated, the effects of any drug last until the end of any given bout.
When a player takes a drug, they must roll for its effects.
First they must roll 2d6 + STR and meet/exceed the drug's check value. Rolling a 2 is an automatic failure. Failing this roll means that the drugs provide neither the positive or negative effects listed beneath the specific drug taken and their current resistance level (CRL) increases by 1.
The character must then roll 2d6, add the drug's Strength, subtract both their character's STR and WIL attributes (Mechwarrior: Destiny) and then consult the Bad Trip Table, found at the end of this post. This will determine if the drugs do nothing or if they do something terrible to the taker.
These rules are based off of the drug rules found in Combat Equipment, though are modified slightly to reflect the new MechWarrior: Destiny (MW:D) rules. Yes, I realize that this book is not available to the general public yet, but you can convert an original MechWarrior to a rough approximation of a MW:D character as follows:
BLD/2 = STR
INT/2 = WIL
CHA/2 = CHA
Street Drugs Vs. Designer Drugs: the quality of a drug will have much to do with the quality of the experience. Street drugs are cheaper by half but add +1 to the drug's strength and check values. Designer drugs are 10x as expensive and subtract 1 from the drug's strength and check values.
Drug Paraphernialia
Drug Buddy: Beady, Deeb, Monkey, Mule, Phillip
Availability: Uncommon: 200 C-Bills
Players equipped with a drug buddy may instantly administer a single dose of any drug
Holds two doses of any types of drugs
May only use this device once per turn during BT:BE play
Deluxe Drug Buddy: Big Buddy
Availability: Very Rare: 2000 C-Bills
Players equipped with a drug buddy may instantly administer a single dose of any drug
Holds four doses of any types of drugs
May only use this device once per turn during BT:BE play
Luxury Drug Buddy: Beauty, Beauty Buddy, Luxabud, Bandolier
Availability: Unique: 6000 C-Bills
Players equipped with a drug buddy may instantly administer a single dose of any drug
Holds six doses of any types of drugs
May only use this device once per turn during BT:BE play
Same as the basic model but holds 6 doses
Crusted in synthetic glameralds, fliamonds, and super gold
3D Holo-etched with player's name and catchphrases
Super cool. Primo
Dope A.F.
Canon Drugs
(From Combat Equipment (CE), p.81-82)
The below drugs are slightly modified from those found in the previously named supplement.
RAGE
Similar to PCP, rage causes ego dissolution and violent behavior.
Stimulant. Strength: (5) Check: (4)
Availability: Uncommon
Cost/Dose: 8 C-Bills
Duration: 4 + 1d3 hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +2 REF, -4 to any piloting skills.
MechWarrior 4th Ed. Effects: ignore non-fatal wound TNs, +8/(CRL+2) to STR for Duration, +3d6 damage for STR-based skills with critical wounds or worse
Pro: -1 modifier to all gunnery to-hit numbers
Con: +1 penalty to all piloting targets. Pilot suffers 1 wound at beginning of scenario but makes consciousness checks as if they are one less.
Con: Infantry lose 1/4th of troopers prior to the start of the scenario
SPAZZ
Spazz is speed, but with a "sci-fi" sounding name.
Stimulant. Strength: (5) Check: (4)
Availability: Uncommon
Cost/Dose: 10 C-Bills
Duration: 3 + 1d3 hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +3 REF
MechWarrior 4th Ed. Effects: +12/(CRL+4) to RFL, +2 to DEX-based TNs, +Madness/Paranoia Trait for duration
Pro: -1 to all gunnery target numbers and -2 to all piloting target numbers
Con: -1 initiative to the drug-affected unit's team per unit on Spazz
Con: Infantry lose 1/4th of troopers prior to the start of the scenario
QUIKSTIM
As is apparent with the name, QuikStim is a fast stimulant.
Stimulant. Strength: (5) Check: (4)
Availability: Uncommon
Cost/Dose: 5 C-Bills
Duration: 72 + (CRL + 2) hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: -1 REF, Ignore negative effects from Fatigue Condition Monitor until staggered.
MechWarrior 4th Ed. Effects: Ignore Fatigue, +1 to DEX-based TNs for Duration, “Crash” for 2 Fatigue/hr x duration.
Pro: Allows pilots to ignore their first pilot hit.
Con: Suffer a +1 penalty to all piloting skill rolls.
Pro: Infantry suffer 1 casualty at beginning of scenario but add 1 point of damage per squad (a typical 28 man platoon is comprised of 4 7-man squads) for direct fire attacks made by the unit
Pro: Battle Armor suffer 1 wound per soldier at beginning of scenario but add 1 point of damage per soldier for direct fire attacks
Non-Canon Drugs
CRYSTAL RABIES
Crab Rangoon, Crag, Redfang
Crystal rabies make old Terran "bath salts" look like actual bath salts. The heart thunders. The lungs pump howls of burning rage past foam-flecked lips. Redfang users ignore pepper spray and tazers. Rubber bullets may as well be popcorn. The embers of redfang pipes burn in the shadows of a collapsed building moments before unearthly screams and frenzied infantry burst forth for a final glorious assault. Bloodshot eyes blaze forth from a shattered cockpit as the pilot within smashes their 'mech's armored fists down again and again and again into the metallic pulp of their slain enemy's head.
Stimulant. Strength: (5) Check: (4)
Availability: Rare
Cost/Dose: 12 C-Bills
Duration: 3 + 1d3 hours.
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +2 STR. Condition Monitor Penalties are halved.
Pro: Pilots/crew can only be knocked unconscious or stunned on a roll of 2, remaining in the fight until their vehicle is disabled or they are killed.
Pro/Con: Normally a pilot dies on their 6th wound. Characters on crystal rabies may survive their 6th wound by rolling a 5+ on 2d6. They may survive their 7th wound by rolling an 7+, their 8th wound by rolling a 9+, and their 9th wound by rolling a 12. For the 6th wound and every wound beyond, the pilot suffers a permanent -1 to their RFL stat but may use an Edge point to avoid this.
Con: Players on Crab Rangoon must succeed with a moderate WIL check (difficulty: 3d6) to move away from hostile characters, either tactically or in retreat.
Con: At the beginning of each combat round roll 2d6: on a 12 the pilot suffers a wound.
Pro: Foot infantry units gain +1 walking MP and when within range 0 of another infantry unit gain -1 to-hit for an alternative melee attack that inflicts 0.666 damage per soldier.
Con: Infantry units lose 1d3 troopers per turn.
KALEIDOSCOPE
Kaleido, Collider, Splash, Hannah
Kaleidoscope sharpens the visual senses such that users report being able to watch hyper-velocity autocannon shells spiral as they streak through the air. Missiles fly heavily like pollen-laden bees, serial numbers as clear as if the deadly weapons were sitting inertly on a workbench. This enhanced sensitivity to light can prove problematic, however, as even moderate doses of kaleidoscope can cause users to be blinded and violently ill from the noon-day sun. Laserlight and the blue lightning of PPC discharges can be tasted, even through closed eyes, as a nauseating metallic buzz at the back of the tongue.
Hallucinogen. Strength: (5) Check: (4)
Availability: Rare
Cost/Dose: 20 C-Bills
Duration: 6 + 1d6 hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +1 REF when firing/avoiding any projectile or melee attack. -1 REF when firing/avoiding any energy weapon attack. Ignore penalties for darkness.
Pro: -1 to-hit when firing ballistic or missile weapons
Con: +1 to-hit for any ballistic or missile weapons fired at you
Pro: -1 to-hit for any energy weapons fired at you
Con: +1 to-hit when firing energy weapons
Pro: +1 Initiative
Con: Ignore this drug’s initiative buff and initiative is reduced by 1 on the following turn for every energy weapon that strikes the body location mounting the cockpit.
ANTIDOTE
Tearjerker, Clear-Eye, Potion, Buzzkill, Grace, Sarah
A potent life-saving drug used to reverse the effects of most known drugs and poisons. Paramedic units of the realm have used this medicine for centuries to drag heavy abusers back from the verge of overdose-induced death.
Stimulant. Strength: (2) Check: (3)
Availability: Very Rare
Cost/Dose: 100 C-Bills
Duration: Instantaneous.
Pro: Clears your system of all poisons and drugs, ending good trips and bad trips alike.
Con: Does not take effect until the End Phase of the current turn.
Con: For every drug or poison cured you suffer -1 penalty to all skill rolls, gunnery, piloting, and initiative rolls on the following turn.
FTL
Warp, Melt, SlowGin
FTL (short for "faster than light") speeds up synaptic processing speeds such that reality is experienced at a much slower speed, causing each moment to be an explosion of pearlescent information and orgiastic sensation. The individual twitches of muscular tetany are visible like waves pulsing across an arm, the hairs of the skin send cascades of delightful impulses through the nerves with the slightest breeze. During combat, this heightened awareness and increased sensitivity allows a pilot to make many tiny corrections to their mech's movements, making them seem to weave through volleys of missiles and cannon shells, lasers tracking but never quite connecting. The drug, however, does leave its users somewhat prone to being lost in the deluge of exquisite sensations, distracted by things as simple as the sun scintillating on the wet leaves of a distant forest.
Hallucinogen. Strength: (4) Check: (4)
Availability: Very Rare
Cost/Dose: 200 C-Bills
Duration:
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +1 REF, -2 Perception
Pro: +1 to all enemy target numbers when performing ranged/melee attacks against this pilot
Con: -2 to initiative rolls
Con: Infantry lose 1/4th of troopers prior to the start of the scenario
SNAPPER
War Turtle, Clobberine, Tusk, Lucha, Smash'emup, Seeya
You are no longer human. You are Boundless Fury. You are a long lost barbarian god of slaughter, returned and clad in steel. You are a nuclear bomb slowly detonating from within a flesh and metal vessel, energy tearing through you, spraying out in all directions as flame and light and death.
In unarmed combat, Tusk users are likely to end up smashing an enemy's face into red mush with a shattered forearm and a pulverized fist. ‘Mech combat is likely to end in a similar though considerably more expensive result.
Stimulant. Strength: (5) Check: (4)
Availability: Very Rare
Cost/Dose: 200 C-Bills
Duration: 6 -1d3 hours.
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +2 STR, may reroll failed melee attacks (in and out of ‘mechs).
Pro: If this pilot misses a melee attack they may perform that attack again for free (this does not include charges or DFA). All melee attacks inflict +2 damage.
Con: Each time this pilot makes a melee attack (whether it fails or if it is a re-roll as above), they must roll for criticals in whichever limb/limbs are involved (both legs for DFA, one arm for hatchet etc.) with a -1 modifier.
Pro: -1 to Infantry anti-mech skill rolls
Con: Infantry units suffer 1d6 casualties during end phase for every turn they are swarmed or whenever they perform a leg attack (whether successful or not).
GLASS CANNON
G.C., Jeezy, Juice, Hype, Huntsman
Glass Cannon is a hyper-focus drug, commonly taken by elite hackers and their kin to accomplish huge amounts of work while ignoring any and all distractions including eating, toileting, and sometimes breathing. Glass Cannon works by temporarily modifying the nervous system to more closely mimic a fiber-optic computer, boosting nerve impulse speeds considerably. Unfortunately this causes a condition known as glitterbrain, a sometimes-permanent vitrification of otherwise pliable brain tissue.
Stimulant. Strength: (6) Check: (4)
Availability: Extremely Rare
Cost/Dose: 250 C-Bills
Duration: 12 + 1d6 hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: Gain +1 to +3 bonus to any REF or INT skill or attribute check. Choosing a +3 bonus first requires a CON roll.
Pro: This pilot may take -1 to -3 modifier to all gunnery target numbers. This modifier applies to all gunnery rolls for that turn.
Con: Whatever modifier this pilot applies to their gunnery skill, they also apply it to their initiative for the following round. If this pilot applies a -3 modifier to their gunnery, they must first make a consciousness roll.
Con: Due to temporary glitterbrain, every time this pilot suffers a wound due to falls or 'mech damage they suffer two wounds. Chronic use of Glass Cannon can cause permanent glitterbrain.
Con: Infantry units suffer +1d6 casualties every time they suffer damage
BIFF
Shit, Liquid Snake, Karma Kandy
Biff users claim their sight can pierce the fabric of time and space and to see the future, watching the universe disintegrate before their very eyes like a bejeweled porcelain lover tumbling down concrete stairs, exposing their every inner working. This effect rarely extends further than ten seconds into the future and the resulting headaches, muscle spasms, and hemorrhaging may limit the ability to use the information gleaned from this precognition.
Hallucinogen. Strength: (6) Check: (4)
Availability: Extremely Rare
Cost/Dose: 800 C-Bills
Duration: 5 + 1d3 minutes
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: While this drug is active the affected character may reroll a number of dice equal to the results of 1d6. Any reroll that results in a second failure inflicts a single wound.
Pro: Allows a pilot to re-roll any single roll at a -2 penalty to their roll.
Con: Rolling a 2-5 results in automatic failure and one wound being inflicted on the pilot and they must make the resultant consciousness roll immediately after resolving their re-roll.
PERSEPHONE
Queen, Black Eye, Witch, Bitch, Zombie
No fear. No remorse. No pain. Your memories dissolve. There is no past or future but for visions of a titanic black tower reaching up into the heavens like a clawed fist buried in a sacrificial victim's chest. You, obsidian, monolithic, stand surrounded by golden deserts pocked with the sunken tombs of a trillion dead. The world bows before you, trembling in terror and adoration as you roll over it, a stone-faced, black-eyed destroyer.
Depressant. Strength: (6) Check: (4)
Availability: Unique
Cost/Dose: 1500 C-Bills
Duration: 24 +2d6 hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +2 to any ranged weapon or gunnery rolls. All physical damage against this character is reduced by 1. If this player is receives a mortal wound while under the influence of this drug and successfully avoids death (EDG+EDG vs. Easy/Average/Hard) they gain a permanent +1 to their EDG.
Pro: -1 to all attacker and target movement penalties
Pro: Any time your pilot suffers a wound there is a 50% chance to avoid it entirely.
Con: Any time your pilot suffers a wound and fails to avoid it there is a 50% chance that they suffer a second wound that they must also roll to avoid which may result in a third wound which...
Con: Cannot attack more than one target at a time.
Con: Wounds sustained whilst on Persephone take twice as long to heal and medical costs are doubled.
SIX DEMON BREW
Jack, Magic Potion, Egg Wash, Giga, Godfather, Shen, Ambro
While Seven Demon Brew does have a general tonic effect on those that drink it, it has a different major effect on each individual, seeming to magnify the person, to take that which they do best, and make them do it better. This effect is poorly understood as it seems somewhat...unstable? Unpredictable? The recipe for Six Demon Brew is as variable as its effects, and each brewmaster guards the secrets of their concoction like a glowering feathered dragon. Suffice it to say that when users refer to it as a magic potion rather than as a drug, they are reaching deeply into the waters of truth.
Hallucinogen. Strength: (3) Check: (3)
Availability: Unique
Cost/Dose: 2000 C-Bills
Duration: 2 + 1d3 hours
MechWarrior Destiny Effects: +1 EDG, +1 REF. Any time this character rolls a 6 it explodes and may be rolled again and added to their result. May explode multiple times.
Pro: For every weapon/melee attack made against this pilot roll 1d6. On a 6 the attack misses automatically.
Pro: Improves Piloting or Gunnery by 1 point, whichever is better.
Pro: Gain +1 temporary Edge point.
Con: +1 to all gunnery/physical attack rolls against this unit.
Pro: Infantry ignore d6 casualties every time they suffer damage.
Con: Target numbers for attacks against affected infantry are -1
Buying Drugs
When a player decides to buy drugs (for their pilot) they must first find a drug dealer and then determine whether or not their dealer has the drug they desire. For each drug that the player wishes to buy they must determine not merely whether or not the dealer has said drug, but how many doses of said drug said dealer has, which is determined as the score value.
Score Value: 2d6 (6's explode) + CHA + Streetwise + Stable Rank + Reputation Level, round to nearest 5/10.
Players not using BattleTech: Beyond Electrodrome rules will not have a stable rank or a reputation level, and so will simply roll 2d6 + CHA + Streetwise +6. Round to the nearest 5/10.
Intersection of Availability and Score Value indicates number of doses available for purchase.
Try this: roll for your score value and then, based on your score, pick the available drug at random.
BAD TRIP TABLE (2d6 + Drug Strength - STR - WIL)
*: may not exceed walk/cruise MP
**: suffers 1 pilot wound
***: must use run/flank MP at all times, entire team suffers -1 penalty to initiative per unit under the influence, -3 max
****: roll d6 every turn: 1 = must alpha-strike nearest combat/support unit regardless of affiliation, 6 = spend max MP attempting to retreat to edge of board (may not fire weapons, if reaches edge of board unit is considered lost)
Robert Ward knew the importance of drugs and annihilation. You should too.
Closing
Aside from giving extra tools and toys for players to use during their gaming sessions, I see combat drugs and the economic and legal aspects of these wares as a really fun and interesting way to add depth and richness to the Circinus Federation’s gladiatorial culture. They summon to mind black marketeers, criminal enterprises, kingpins, lowlives, degenerates, hustlers, bad cops, good cops, corrupt politicians (as if there’s any other kind of politician).
In a land where everyone is desperate to survive and death walks out in the open without wearing so much as a bath towel, you’d have to be some sort of fool to pass on anything that will give you an edge. Besides, if everyone fighting in the Electrodrome is on high-potency government-created reality-dissolving drugs, then effectively no-one is on high-potency government-created reality-dissolving drugs, right? Right?
Anyhow, that’s it for now. Load your MechWarriors up on the good stuff and let me know how it goes.
Next up: Maybe poisons (Crude, Dayglow, Spectre, Cuddlefish), or maybe a few nigh-imaginary and fully imaginary drugs.
Be creative. Have fun. Get weird.
