Merc 2000

[Southernap]

Licensing issues and Lore Issues

The C&D book most definitely lacks in some areas and story hooks is one of them. Taking Southernap's comment from the initial post about Merc: 2000 being the bastard child of T2k, I'd be inclined to disagree with that and argue that C&D was the bastard child!

I mentioned that the background given in the book is comprehensive and it is sufficient to give a condensed background of the original material but the book never develops anything with it. For example, it's implied in Xenozoic Tales that the Wassoon tribe want a strong alliance with the City by the Sea but if an alliance cannot be achieved then acquiring technical knowledge from the City by the Sea should be attempted.
It's also hinted at that the City by the Sea, while using a collection of mismatched equipment for farming that does give them the edge over other tribes in the region, is having problems with expanding its agricultural industries and it's hinted at that the Wassoon tribe have a more sustainable approach to agriculture that may solve the problems the City by the Sea is having.

There is a throw-away part of the game book that shows this, it's one panel from the comic and while it states the situation clearly, the book never goes further with the notion.

The game book also doesn't really stress enough the almost druid-like treatment the Old Blood Mechanics receive (not just because of their mechanical skills but also because of their attempts to preserve the balance of Nature in the world). This sets up a number of minor and a few major conflicts between the Old Blood Mechanics and members of the Tribe who are pushing for the expansion of various industries e.g. mining, or who are involved in various criminal enterprises e.g. poaching.
It also doesn't really push the idea that the Tribe of the City by the Sea are the most successful society in the region, having well developed primary industries and a scientific branch that is attempting to research the world around the City by the Sea, learn what various items of equipment in the Vault are used for and how to operate them, reverse engineer equipment as well as understand the past history of the Tribe.

Unfortunately, success also breeds corruption and smuggling and poaching as well as stealing equipment from the vaults are good money earners for a number of people of the Tribe. (The vaults are the shelters the people inhabited when the world turned apocalyptic, they are controlled by the scientists but the Old Blood Mechanics have a lot of sway over what equipment can be recovered, the Old Bloods fear that if people become too technologically advanced or too reliant on tech, they will damage or destroy the world like their ancestors did.)

All of that can easily lead into story hooks but the game book just doesn't seem to go there. It's as if the writers felt that GMs would be experienced enough to extract those ideas themselves. This is very similar to the situation in regards to Dark Conspiracy - there is little to no guidance on how to use the background material presented in the book as it seems expected that experienced GMs will run the game and known how to use the book.

So I did some digging through the internet. One of the hard parts with C&D is that the licenses were all over the place and with only 14 issues of the original comic to draw from and only 13 episodes of the cartoon to draw from, it seems hard to make lore for it. Then not stray hard from the original intent of the creator.

In addition it appear that the creator of Xenozoic Tales had to pay a licensing fee to General Motor for every last car that was featured in the cartoon and the right just to use some of the descriptions of cars that he drew about with trademarked names, including Cadillac.

So this is one that if anyone wanted to renew it, they would either have to have big money upfront to pay the royalties or find a way to heavily sand it into something useful with more generic names or obvious parody names.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

And to further muddy the waters... of the original 14 issues done by Schultz, some also had guest artist do stories in the Xenozoic world. Later reprints by publishers such as Dark Horse do not include these extra stories (I assume because they didn't get any agreement with the authors).
Those stories are parts of the world and you do miss out on further information if you don't have them.

So, not only would you have to navigate through all the other licensing details, you have to contact those other authors and get some agreement with them as well.

[Adm.Lee]

So with all that said, my question for debate on the floor is this:
Was it a good addition to the rules as we had them Did it provide something for players to get their fix of the game engine without having to deal with nuclear weapons and still not be under the thumb of military leadership. Or was it a complete waste of time and effort by GDW

I rather liked Merc; I ran a 1- or 2-year long game of it in the mid-90's. It took me too long to get a copy of Bangkok, but I had all the other books.

I ran an episodic-style game using the Biafran and several of the Caribbean-region missions, often with names & places changed. My group had a flying boat and flew to their missions that way. (Yes, I was deep into a Jimmy Buffett phase at that point, what's your point I liked Miami Vice a lot, too.) I created "Big Bob's House of Boom" as a hiring hall and weapons store (stores in Miami, Manila, and Las Vegas, ask Bob about franchise opportunities!).

I hadn't really done much with v2 or v2.1 within the Twilight setting, so this was my opportunity to learn that game engine, so yes to the 2nd part of the question.

Question 2: So does this deserve a reboot sometime or even a fan made new source book taking in the modern era of the post 2001 environment and entities like Blackwater, Aegis Defense Services, or Paladin Group

I'd be OK-ish with a reboot using the v4 rules, I'd be happier with a revision/collection of v2.2, perhaps adding some of the gear from various other sources.

I'm not sure I would like a setting update, though. Call it what you like, but I like my RPGs both gritty and still fantastical, in faraway places with often made-up names (San Cristobal, Ruritania, Rio Lindo, etc.).

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee
"I created "Big Bob's House of Boom" as a hiring hall and weapons store (stores in Miami, Manila, and Las Vegas, ask Bob about franchise opportunities!)."

Ok that is out and out genius -I love that name - makes me laugh every time I read that - must have been one fun campaign

[StainlessSteelCynic]

As an item of interest for Merc campaigns, one that can be used as a roadmap for planning out the shady connections of the corporate world and/or the black market, the following video is quite useful.

It covers an investigation by the New York Times into oil smuggling to North Korea and shows how intricate the operations are to avoid complying with UN sanctions against North Korea.

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=hDTCHdcPYTQ

[Southernap]

I created "Big Bob's House of Boom" as a hiring hall and weapons store (stores in Miami, Manila, and Las Vegas, ask Bob about franchise opportunities!).

That reminds me of this from the old Jagged Alliance 2 game, Bobby Ray's Guns and Things.

[Adm.Lee]

Bobby Ray's a cousin of Big Bob, I'm sure.