M.A.I.D. Brigade - Lancer

War is not a clean endeavor, and rarely are battles fought without collateral damage. In a post-scarcity world, where massive mech frames can be assembled in multi-ton printers, and weapons of destruction outfitted to them just as quickly, a new kind of damage containment and cleanup is required.

When rocket-propelled defense systems falter and the line could not be held you need to call in the specialists.

You need to call in...

The M.A.I.D. Brigade

Militarized Antiseptic, Immunization, and Decontamination (M.A.I.D.) Units are frames that have been retrofitted and redesigned for a combat support role. Often seen in the aftermath or at the tail end of engagements these units excel at minimizing post-engagement hazards that remain on the battlefield, as well as beginning preliminary clean-up efforts.

Though the Brigade's original aim was to focus on bio-hazardous material that could affect ground troops following the reclamation of affected combat areas, the range of their capabilities gradually expanded over time. Because of this, while their equipment and weaponry have clearly defined designs, there are often secondary applications that pilots in M.A.I.D. units adopt as unofficial cleaning protocols.

Due to the less than glamorous prospect of acting as a clean-up crew to "real combatants" assignments to M.A.I.D. units have been treated as punishment by some for rebellious Lancer pilots more than a few times in the past. Though this is a belief held among many pilots from other units, few pilots under a M.A.I.D. unit have been known to tolerate such slander for long. Those looking to avoid having their frame filled with lemon-scented, industrial-grade disinfectant foam would do well to keep such comments to themselves.

Weapons and Systems

Due to the unpredictable nature of combat M.A.I.D. units nearly always have basic weaponry installed on their frames should they be needed for self-defense, or when engaging with straggler enemy units. In addition to this many of their weapons and systems have multi-use functionality built into them so that a M.A.I.D. is never truly unprepared for a battle.

Endothermic Foam Launcher: A versatile utility that can be used to contain stray reactor rods ejected onto the battlefield, cool down ally frames that are under extreme heat from external weaponry, or slow enemy frames and deployable systems.

Hydro-Pressure Cannon: Capable of outputting ~6,500 gallons per minute, this weapon applies a narrow cone of water pressure that can be used to douse flames or knock enemy mechs off balance at close range.

E-Duster: Modeled after typical feather dusters, this melee weapon takes the form of a thick, reinforced rod with thousands of brissels protruding from one end that can carry enough voltage to damage a frame's internal electrical framework.

Manufacturers

While M.A.I.D. unit frames are not linked to any one specific manufacturer, as they are often taken from older models and retrofitted as needed, there are a few methodologies that carry over from the manufacturer that originally designed the basis of the frame.

Smith-Shimano Corpro: The most common type of system utilized by M.A.I.D. units given how they favor mobility and speed over all else. Many such frames will often have additional flexible armor pieces affixed to protect the lower half, helping prevent mobility-disabling effects that target the frame's legs. Ablative additions can give an opportunity for a pilot to escape close-quarters combat if jumped by an enemy.

Horus: Characterized by a focus on cleaning up system viruses, these frames often deploy systems that attempt to counter-act hacking attempts or reverse non-Euclidean effects that have been weaponized against the internal hardware of an ally's frame.

Harrison Armory: Frames hailing from the HA lineage have been found to be particularly effective at using endothermic cleanup foams and exothermic reactants to leach heat from nearby allies and weaponize it to heat up their own systems to initiate weaponized heat syncs.

IPS-Northstar: Sometimes, when such situations arise, you need to clean something with the barrel of a gun as your primary tool. Could be organic infestations, berserk NHPs frames, or any number of things. When this need arises, M.A.I.D. units created from Northstar frames have invariably been the go-to option. Such frames are able to use their innate weapon systems to make sure that one mess is replaced with a much more manageable, less active mess.

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Just a little idea that has come up a few times when talking to a friend. If you think this is just some excuse to slap the idea of maid-themed mechs on the table and give them ablative armor skirts that can let them do a pirouette and explode nearby enemies then you would be right. However, I expanded on the idea a bit and came up with some additional ideas.

If I ever added mechanics to this it would probably be either as a Support type NPC or as a Smith-Shimano Corpro frame that could dance around the battlefield and support allies and then debuff enemies, where you can be more effective at both the more you swap back and forth, instead of just sticking to purely support or purely offensive.

Communication - Agnostic Advice

I've never considered myself to be much of a talker. If I get on a topic I enjoy or get into a good discussion I can go for a while, but I think that would describe lots of people. Outside of these situations, I prefer to stand on the sidelines. Because of this, you might find it strange that I think communication is one of, if not the most, important things about tabletop games. While there is the obvious fact that most tabletop games involve sitting around a room and talking about imaginary things for hours, there are other parts of communication in a tabletop game that help facilitate the game itself. Here are just a few that I've seen come up in the games I've run, or that I've seen employed by others.

Lines and Veils

While I won't be going into detail about it in this post, all you need to know is that Lines and Veils concerns subject matter that all participants at the table have discussed and are familiar with. This can be important if you are running a game with darker themes and subject matter, or to know if you need to make considerations for your players.

One of the groups I play with has two members that each have a phobia. The first has arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, and the second has ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes. Suffice to say, if I ran a game with spiders and snakes, and proceeded to describe scenes or events involving them with these two that would make me a real piece of work, and set me back two friends.

Knowing that information ahead of time can allow whoever is running the game to prepare an adventure better, or know what subjects players want to keep to the wayside. It can also act as a guide to know what subjects or things players are interested in, as it can be a lovely segue to talk about what people want to see after going through the possibly unpleasant, but necessary step of what should be avoided.

Every now and then it can be useful to update what Lines and Veils a group has by checking in with your players. This could occur between campaigns or could be prompted if there is something that arises that was not considered the first time around, and needs to be added in retroactively.

Clarification

I've had my fair share of one-shots or mini-campaigns that started with a single concept, and by the time everyone was sitting down at the table, it was a challenge to incorporate everything together. Heck, I once had a campaign end prematurely after a successful first session when a subsequent session involved the sudden stabbing of a Team Rocket style villain. A campaign that was conceptually a light-hearted romp where enemies could be recruited, and a TPK would mean awaking with missing loot and items rather than a swift death.

Both these issues were caused because I as the GM had neglected to clarify and properly make sure the players were 1. Onboard with the idea of the campaign, and 2. Were all on the same page with what that meant. While there are many things that a GM wants to make sure the players are aware of and understand, here are just some of the things I've found myself needing to clarify (which usually means I need to start getting them written ahead of time in a Campaign Bio).

• Tone: What is the intended vibe the table is aiming for? This is extremely helpful for players to know what types of characters they should be considering.

• Setup: What locals/genre is the game themed around? Also extremely helpful, as most characters need a world to inhabit and things to do, and a majority of the time this covers both those things in a general sense.

• System: If you like to use different systems it's better to explicitly remind players which one will be used in an upcoming campaign. Take care that if it's a system players are unfamiliar with you may have to help walk them through character creation or how checks are resolved.

• Mechanics/Exceptions: Free feat at level 1? Do we roll starting attributes? What level do we start at? etc. and all the other sorts of rules some might have if the system you play has many variants for setup.

Conflict Resolution

Sometimes, for one reason or another, there are circumstances that prompt an out-of-character discussion about some sort of disagreement that has started. There could be some dynamic at the table that is not working for those involved, or a player has acted out in a way that the others don't appreciate. While this is the kind of communication that most GMs do not want to deal with, there are times when not addressing an issue can further escalate or worsen the situation. I have thankfully not had to deal with this often, but there have been times when it has come up. Every time I have to be the one to lead a conflict resolution these are the two things I keep in mind.

1. Do No Harm
2. But Take No Bull

Now that might be a very simple list, and I will agree with that. It could be an unrealistic list, and I admit that. However for the time being those have worked for me, and I like to keep it simple, silly.

Most of the time the first step should just be talking to a player if an issue arises. People can't read minds after all, and part of doing no harm is to figure out if there is a valid issue in the first place, and if there is, bring it up to see if the player was aware. When doing this you want to be lazy. Not in the sense that you fail to address it, but in that, you want to make only the actions necessary to resolve the issue. No one likes to be called out (that's how you get people to double down), so instantly getting on the offensive and over-escalating doesn't help anyone. This has the benefit of, sometimes, resolving the issue itself if the player was unaware of their behavior and wants to correct it.

There's one GM that I have played with that, despite being a great storyteller and having a fondness for tabletop games, sometimes struggles to resolve minor conflicts. I've seen him run games before were part way through, another player will be dropped over something rather small or inconsequential. This is an example of someone not taking the right amount of action. Like using amputation to fix a scrapped knee, and cutting off an otherwise healthy part of the body. In this case, the body being a tabletop adventuring party, and the blood clotting around the wound the campaign's momentum. The majority of the issues that arise should try to be resolved by talking to the player in question and attempting to find a compromise.

The take no bull side of things comes in when you've ensured you've done no harm to the problem player and you've talked to them and attempted compromise, and they still act out, or have behavior that does not mesh well with the group as a whole. Everyone has their own level at which something enters this zone, but I like to at least talk to the problem player, and lay out what the issue is once or twice before escalating to this stage.

Anything on the tail end of this stage and beyond I consider to be in the infamous Tabletop Horror Story category of things. While I only have one real experience relating to this, the fabled Literal Murder Hobo of Halloween One-shot Manor (*lightning crash sound effect*) will have to be saved for another time I suppose. Suffice to say, if anything of that magnitude happens it might fast-track the usual methods.

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These are just some of the ways I have found communication to be a vital part of tabletop games outside of playing the actual game itself in the moment. I hope this posts helped you think about how you use communication in or out of your tabletop games.

Feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments, or let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see from me.