User Blog:
Holy Crap! We Have Game This Weekend? - Everyone Dies, and Battletech

So you have game this weekend and don't know what to do? 

Kill everybody. 

There. Now, wasn't that fun? I mean sure, your players are mad. But they'll get over it. Character sheets are just pieces of paper, in the scheme of things. 

(I'm joking. Sort of.) 

Next week, you're going to feature a mass murder, spree killing or serial killing as the driving force of your game. This week, you're going to run a mass murder, a spree killing or a serial killing as your game. When your players sit down at the table, hand them each a sheet. That sheet will go through hell. That character will die. Play it up, enforce the fright and disgust of the act. Heighten the drama, make sure the characters sympathize with the victims. Kill one early. Make sure the players understand what's ultimately going to happen, so they can invest themselves more in the narrative.

When a character dies earlier in the game, replace it. The replacement can be another victim, or a survivor (making for a great witness next session!) 

The most important thing is, you have to make sure the killings resonate with the players. This way, when you revisit the killings, the players will have an investment in the events. They'll understand the killings as more than just murders, they'll see them as tragic losses of life. 

Another important rule: Don't be cornball. Except when you should. Cornball deaths tend to devalue the lives, and help the players gloss over what's happened. However, cornball has its place. If you're tired of massive levels of darkness and attachment in your games, try running a cozy. Nothing says RPG plot like Murder She Wrote or Monk (oh Monk, how we'll miss you.) If it's done right, a lighthearted murder story can allow the players to delve deeply into who the victims were, without focusing so much on the actual deaths. 

That aside, you want free stuff? That's great. Have you ever played old Mechwarrior (the RPG, not the video game series, although they're related?) Well, Catalyst is re-imagining the Battletech RPG line with A Time of War. You can get a comprehensive quick-start guide here. It does well to overcome Battletech's biggest problem -- the high entry level for new players. It digests quite a bit of history into a very small, very concise package. If you're interested in delving deeper, Catalyst has a setting guide, also free, over here. It helps extrapolate on the history and politics of the game. So if you're an old fan, or you're just looking to play people that pilot giant robots, check it out.