In February 2017 we presented the Classic BattleTech Bundle, featuring the 2006 Classic BattleTech RPG from Catalyst Game Labs. BattleTech is a space opera set in the 31st Century, a future where humanity has spread to the stars and spawned titanic interstellar empires. Each nation in this factional, militarized universe controls hundreds of worlds spanning a thousand light years. Against a backdrop of Machiavellian politics, armies of BattleMechs, “tanks on legs,” clash across the colonized planets of the Inner Sphere. Mercenaries are the wild card that can tip the balance in combat. Running the razor’s edge between legend and destruction, MechWarriors possess the necessary skills and luck to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Initially published in 1984 as a FASA board game, BattleTech grew into a multimedia franchise, with novels, computer games, toys, miniatures, and a roleplaying version that has gone through several editions from diverse publishers. This offer presented everything you need to start your own roleplaying campaign of intrigue, espionage, and ‘Mech warfare in the year 3060, amid the cataclysmic Clan Invasions.
There were four titles in our Warrior’s Collection (retail value $51), including the complete Classic BattleTech RPG rulebook from 2006 (retail price $18; originally published by FASA in 1999 as MechWarrior Third Edition) and three Field Manuals: Mercenaries (Revised), Crusader Clans, and Warden Clans (retail $11 apiece).
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got our entire Gamemaster’s Collection with seven more titles (retail value $83) drawn from all three editions of the MechWarrior / Classic BattleTech RPG support line:
- Interstellar Players (retail $18): The hidden organizations and societies that (may possibly) secretly influence interstellar events.
- Sourcebooks for three of the great Successor Houses of the Inner Sphere: Kurita (The Draconis Combine) (retail $7.50), Marik (The Free Worlds League) (retail $15), and Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth) (retail $7.50).
- The Periphery First Edition (retail $7.50): The many small and unorganized yet pivotal kingdoms and alliances at the fringe of the Inner Sphere.
- Combat Equipment (retail $20): A 192-page book of gear and mechs, plus rules for building noncombat vehicles.
- Shattered Sphere (retail $7.50): This postscript to the Clan Invasion brings the timeline forward to 3062.
[Note: The .PDFs of several older titles — the Clan and House sourcebooks and The Periphery — are image scans of the original printed books with OCR (optical character recognition). The text is readable but not always crisp.]
That’s a US$134 value, priced cheaper than one gyrojet SI-445 cone rifle shell. Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to this offer’s designated charity, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
