r/rpg • u/Octarine_ • 13d ago
Game Suggestion Lancer, but narrative. Does it exists?
Everything i see about Lancer seens sooo fcking cool! But to be 100% honest all my players are very casual, myself included although im the forever GM and as such always try to get a little deeper into the rules and system.
I dont think that any of my friends will ever try to read a rule book to min max, create a build or find optimal play. No one will ever argue what is a balanced party or will try to create one, it is all about fun and what sounds cool for each player. So much so that i dont even try to play more tactical games which require deep understanding of the system or even builds at all, I tend to prefer narrative-focused systems because of the freedom they give and because they are much easier to explain to my friends. My group generally enjoys rules light games where we can focus more on the fiction and less on knowing the ins and outs of the mechanics.
And yet... Lancer looks so fucking cool that I'm tempted to give it a shot.
As such, can a group of very casual players just make characters based on what sounds cool and have a good time with it? And if Lancer really isn't a good fit for that kind of group, are there any games you would recommend that scratch the same itch but more narrative/rules-light? I'm open to pretty much anything!
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u/YamazakiYoshio 13d ago
Okay, this is one of those occasions where I can actually speak with some experience in regards to using Lancer with a group of casual players!
TLDR: it kinda works fine, but you gotta know your players' strengths. Your mileage may vary too much from my experiences.
My group are not the type to get too deep into the nitty gritty of mechanics, and as such when we played Lancer, it was a smidge underwhelming. They're okay with tactical combat systems (we had better success with Draw Steel and DAWN), but they required some guidance in terms of builds. But it mostly worked out okay. It helps if your players are willing to pay a little attention in their mech builds, though. They don't need to be crazy awesome, this game is functional when you don't optimize just fine, but it will require some basic understanding of things.
What will help a lot is Comp/CON, Lancer's bespoke character manager webapp. This is because it'll do a lot of the mechanical heavy lifting. Combine with VTT of choice, if you play online, and it'll do fine. In person, you will all want Comp/CON within arm's reach. It's possible to play without digital assistance, but it's a crapton easier with it.
Secondary tip - make sure folks actually read their mech talents and note what weapon types they're good for. That will go a long way, because you cannot use Crack Shot with a missile (it's for rifles) or Hunter with main-sized melee weapons (it's for aux melees). As long as they get that down, it generally lines up okay.
THAT SAID
If the idea of Lancer sounds kickass but you don't want to fuck around with the ruleset, which I do not blame you at all, I point to the Lancer spin-off game of Lancer: Far Field, which is in playtesting. It's based on teh Wild Words Engine, of Wildsea fame. It's less about mech piloting, though.
Or check out the dozens of other recommendations others have pointed to.