The Taste of Time
Jannis flicked the controls of her drug-buddy and felt her thigh melt into warm fiberglass. The sensation crawled into her groin, her abdomen, as the little device dumped a bolus of designer-grade FTL, a gift from her favorite dealer, into her femoral vein. The chemical climbed, paused, pooled, purred in her inferior vena cava like a beloved pet before it dove into her heart and punched straight up through her mind, out her eyes, and into the goddamned universe.
Just in time.
She took a breath and it echoed like a snapping stalactite, waiting for a crash. The golem stood yonder, a mountainous, hunched thing. Fire erupted in the depths of the cave it bore on its shoulder. There was a burst of light, a swarm of lethal projectiles pushed forward by centimeters. Sabots split and spun free, each a shining flower petal dancing in the shockwave wash of their murderous payload.
Her nerves were rivers of lightning, screaming high-voltage command lines, impulses travelling so fast that she risked a burn-out with every twitch. But even processing reality at this speed, the autocannon slugs were faster. Much faster. Such was the way of things. She'd jinked her Kintaro mere feet to right, and praise sweet Space Jesus, it was enough. The first round ripped a gouge through her 'mech's scalp and rung it like a gong when it burst. Flying shrapnel tittered like fairy bells against the spall liner. A shower of firefly sparks curlicued languidly through the air as the other rounds flew harmlessly past. Screens flickered with desperate information. Alarms. The acrid reek of burning synthetics.
Jannis pulled her trigger slowly, sweetly, like a concert violinist dragging her bow through its first mellifluous draw.
Her lasers were instantaneous, lances of collimated light, all but invisible were it not for atmospheric blooming and the HUD's visual overlay, painting the beams bright green to assist with targeting. They cut and gouged, hot wires sliding through styrofoam. She micro-adjusted her sticks to trace cursive tracks across the housing of the Hunchback's mighty weapon casing. Why not? The weapons' capacitors gave her the time to embellish, to write her son's name in flame. A mixture of hot-loaded long range missiles and brutal short range missiles, in the meantime, seemed to take days to reach their target, pushing plumes of smoke and fire from their tails with such restraint that she doubted their commitment to their task.
"Patience, Jannis" she cooed, as the little darts found their marks, punching into the liquescent seams opened by her lasers. Her machine continued its tectonic shift to the right, into the cover of a shattered apartment complex, as the first cannon round in a long chain of cannon rounds cooked off. She watched from cover, a look of glittering relish in her eyes, as the street was sprayed with Hunchback fragments. A stumpy severed arm spun lazily through the air, and she playfully traced its path with her glowing targeting reticle.
Aye, what a lovely day to be alive.
Meds, Drugs, and Poisons
Folks, its time to make the move: BattleTech: Destiny is here to stay, and I, for one, embrace our new, sleek, reptilian overlords at Death From Above Wargaming.
And so with that having been said, I have spent the last few days/weeks/months reworking all of the meds and drugs and poisons PREVIOUSLY designed for the BattleTech: Beyond Electrodrome unofficial arena expansion for Classic BattleTech, and converting them to BattleTech: Destiny rules, which are faster, slicker, and more enjoyable. Destiny still requires some refinement, sure, and it cannot be overstated that it stands upon the shoulders of a mile-high giant, but honestly, I think its the version of the game that we’ve all been waiting for.
Shut the fuck up. You know I’m right.
About the meds: nothing comes without a cost. Using the standard meds will cost you initiative. Using more advanced meds will cost you initiative and potentially kill you. Using powerful meds will give you the shakes and is much more likely to kill you at the end of the scenario.
About the drugs: I’ve deliberately made drug-use a risky enterprise. Every combat drug comes with its own powerful effects, which are always balanced out with other negative side effects. But before a pilot even comes to that point, they run the risk of having a good old fashioned bad trip, screwing them over for the rest of the scenario. Have fun and roll high, but my recommendation is to reserve combat drug use for only the most dire of situations.
Then again, who am I to tell you how to have fun?
And then there are the poisons. Ah, the poisons. First off, it is difficult to actually poison someone: the odds are stacked heavily against you. Second off, if you make a habit of poisoning your foes, you will swiftly gain a reputation as a douchebag, and people will stop gaming with you. So in that regard, its not an advisable tactic. Especially if you hope to continue on with your glorious gaming hobby.
I see poisons more as a thematic tool, deployed by pirates and dishonorable mercs. I see them as something that a sort of NPC enemy or scenario force would deploy against hapless “good guys” to ratchet up the tension and to make things a touch more interesting. Add a little toxic spice to make things nice.
Below you will find rules for purchasing and using in-cockpit medical supplies, combat drugs, and poisons, as well some pleasant narrative fluff about drugs that turn you into human-exterminating juggernauts and poisons that turn your enemies’ guts into slush.
Enjoy!
Closing
If you think that MechWarriors wouldn’t do drugs, then you’re clearly no student of history. The Nazis and Japanese used them during WWII. I suspect that, had the Allies lost, the history books would reveal our own soldiers’ use of methamphetamines. Modern militaries use androgen tapers and drugs like modafinil to gain the edge over their opponent. No judgement here. Whatever it takes.
100% dark chocolate. Oh, and Meth. Don’t forget the meth.
If your life were on the line and someone offered you a chemical that would give you even a 1% increase in victory, in survival, don’t even tell me you wouldn’t push the plunger.
Thats biology for ya.
Anyhow, leave a comment, ask a question, or make a suggestion. More stuff is always in the works.
-Rob
