Thanks Dragon Cat, I went to the Catalyst Games Store and download the free PDF. Looks like a fun little supplement. Of particular interest is the Tournament listed in the back. I wonder could this be a take on the Grand Tournament?? Among the sources I looked up was FM: Mercenaries Revised [FANPRO10977] and on page 16 under The Solaris Games it says the "Big Five Days" - The Grand Tournament - are the most important of all. Now if you relate the three day Tournament detailed to a potential five day tournament held at five different arenas some structure falls into place. Does anyone have more info on the Grand Tournament?
I make no guarantee Abele, please fire away on your thoughts.
Researching old sources led me to MechWarrior 2nd Edition page 131 entitled The Games which is revealing. The first paragraph tells you a bunch about mercenaries going to Solaris. "Scores of struggling units, battalion-sized or smaller, who fight day after day and year after year, half the time not knowing where their next meal or load of spare parts will come from. Sooner or later, many of these warriors become so desperate for cash that they travel to Solaris VII to try their luck at the games." Now that tells me that battalion-sized (which I believe are the rare exception) and smaller size company, lance, or even individual mercs are the more common size 'units' to come to Solaris. Often on their last legs looking to hit it big before their fate catches up to them. Like playing the lotto or worse these dreamers likely don't often win.
Paragraph two gives us a rowdy frontier world which is accurate but also speaks of a planet which has switched hands frequently which is not correct. It has been fought over obviously but I can only remember the one time which the planet changed hands from Marik to Steiner. It speaks of a planetary government which sponsors the Games but doesn't give any details. What type of government does Solaris have? I can't find a ruling noble which is unusual for the InnerSphere to say the least. I would have expecting the Lyrans to have installed at least a figurehead planetary ruler after taking it from House Marik.
Paragraph three says a few details on fighting itself. There is a 5,000 C-Bill entry fee and the loser must pay the winner a ransom a 100,000 C-Bills plus losing hurts your reputation obviously. Then there is the Purse which is a topic I wanted to hit on. Here it says the winnings are based on total number of entrants with a contestant needing to win seven to nine total matches for a championship. Contestants also receive salvage rights on all 'Mechs they destroy in combat. So in all battles do the winners take all? I thought more established matches like the Grand Tournament don't have Mechwarriors risk their ride per say with winners taking just money and not necessarily the defeated person's Mech. Is that correct?
The last two paragraphs give some loose adventure seeds for GMs and players looking to role play on the Game World. This hits on the various underworld activities from gambling to the rest plus Successor State intrigue from rival spies and law enforcement agencies. I also think a big part of Solaris is the Media too. After all coverage and distributing everything that the planet does must be a huge angle. Wonder if ComStar was behind the growth here? Did their News Bureau always play up the Games to the InnerSphere over the HPG network? If not it would be a major business opportunity for others which I can't believe would be overlooked.
What do you think guys?
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Topic: Let's talk Solaris VII: Gaming for the Game World (Read 16871 times)