Operation Solstice Rain
A downloadable game
Your mechs are prepped and loaded aboard the dropship, ready for deployment. Through your chassis’ camera feeds, strapped securely into the cockpit, you watch as the hatches slide closed around you and the hangar airlocks open for launch. From up here, Cressidium looks peaceful – a shimmering jewel hanging in space.
“Ten seconds to drop.”
You take a breath as the pilot counts down. Inhale. Exhale. Then your stomach lurches as the clamps disengage and the dropship’s thrusters kick into full burn.
***
For 500 years, the planet Cressidium has been isolated from the wider galaxy. Turned from a fledgling colony into a refuge for those fleeing from the fall of the Second Committee, the people of Cressidium have struggled and fought to build a home for themselves while casting off the shadow of SecComm’s tyranny.
Five centuries later, an encounter with a Union exploratory mission has ignited an interest in rejoining the galactic community, but not everyone on Cressidium sees the Third Committee as potential allies, but rather usurpers of humanity’s rightful legacy among the stars. Now, the arrival of a Union diplomatic delegation may be the spark that causes simmering tensions between nations to erupt into all-out war.
***
Operation Solstice Rain is a structured mission module for Lancer, written and designed by Kai Tave, and designed to introduce new players and GMs to the game and familiarize them with its blend of tactical combat and narrative challenges.
This module will take characters from License Level 0 to LL2 across two missions of pitched urban combat in the city of Nov Elysia. As a squad of rookie Union pilots, the PCs are tasked with undertaking a daring rescue operation when fighting breaks out during tense diplomatic negotiations between two of Cressidium’s largest nations, the Leandric States Alliance and the Vestan Sovereignty. Though this may be their first time in actual combat, they’ll need to use every bit of their training and push their mechs to the limit if they want to survive, but if they can make it through this then they’ll be well on their way to being able to call themselves lancers.
In addition to six combat scenes spread across two missions, complete with extensive tactical advice to help new GMs to learn the ropes, this module also contains new player options suitable for any Lancer campaign:
- The GMS Chomolungma - A new GMS mech available from LL0 onwards, the Chomolungma represents the latest in GMS electronic warfare design, with an array of powerful, flexible tech options including an integrated Advanced Intrusion Package.
- New Talents - Become an expert at handling explosives with Demolitionist, or use Sysop to safeguard your allies from physical and electronic battlefield threats.
- Exotic Gear - New prototype GMS weapons and equipment may give you and your allies a needed edge in combat.
- The Ebro-class Light Carrier - For use in Lancer: Battlegroup, the Ebro-class is a fast, responsive light carrier that brings additional tactical options to a naval commander’s portfolio.
Each combat encounter in Operation Solstice Rain is also accompanied by its own fully illustrated tactical map, with design by Dunya Kat and artwork by Conner Dodd, made for use with both square grids and hex grids depending on your group’s preferences. Additional artwork provided by E.M. Fields, Peyton Gee, Juan Gee Tan, and Gwen Williamson come together to bring this story to life.
The .lcp files included also contain all the player facing content for COMP/CON, our free character builder tool, and will remain free to download (see the 'demo' file below).
[Editor's note: The .lcp has a little more work to do on it and should be arriving in a few days]
***
There’ll be more missions in your future, maybe here on Cressidium, maybe a hundred worlds away, with new wonders to experience and new threats to face – new powers to contend with and new causes to champion. There’s a whole galaxy out there beyond the peace and safety of the Core worlds, waiting for someone like you to come along and make a difference.
Time to get to work, pilot.
[Image credit: Tom Bloom, Peyton Gee, E.M. Fields]
Updated | 23 days ago |
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (20 total ratings) |
Author | Massif Press |
Genre | Role Playing |
Tags | lancer, lancer-rpg, Mechs, Tabletop |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $15 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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This module has excellent plug-and-play potential. It does come at the cost of an extremely barebones story, but for me that's no problem. The encounter design is also perfect for showing newcomers to Lancer how to make challenging + interesting enemy compositions, and how to set up battlemaps (something that No Room for a Wallflower notably did not do...at all). The GMing advice for running each combat encounter is extensive and also incredibly helpful for newbies.
If you want to GM Lancer but you're not sure exactly how to start, this book is a must-buy.
If you don't mind me asking, what do you mean when you say "plug-and-play potential"?
When I say that, I mean it's easy to take what the module gives you and change it around to fit it to a custom setting/story. It gives you the stuff you actually need to run sessions of Lancer, mainly the enemy compositions and battle maps, and just enough narrative framing for it all to make logical sense within a narrative. The minimalistic story is admittedly a downside for those who want more interesting and complex roleplay in their sessions. But greater complexity means less plug-and-play, typically.
Is there anything else for Battlegroup in here or is just the Ebro?
Just the Ebro.
N00b question: How do you display the exotic gear on COMP/CON? Can't see it on compendium.
You have to click the "show exotics" option in the comp/con settings iirc
Would love things not to be in rar format, there something wrong with zip? now I have to download a program that looks like it'll give me some virus just to extract it
I assume you're talking about WinRAR? You don't actually need to use that specific program to extract .rar files. 7-Zip works as well. (I just tested this on my machine and it worked.)
You may find 7-Zip to be easier to use and safer looking. It's also totally free and doesn't show a pop-up asking you to buy a license every time you open it. (Although to WinRAR's credit, it is an extremely well-known and reputable program.)
Hey
If anyone's having trouble getting the map grids to align in Foundry, see here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LancerRPG/comments/10t1rsd/comment/j77npzm/?utm_source=...
(Credit to Perijove on Pilot NET for figuring this out!)
Any chance of getting "clean" versions of the maps? Just the art, without the terrain and cover markings?
Yes, here's a link that the artist shared on Pilot NET (publicly and freely). You might want to download copies in case this share link ever becomes inactive.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LmNFCaoJMdThqkP-ZQ8x0mm5r5KlPyG3
Thanks!
Anyone have settings for importing these maps into Foundry? Having some trouble getting the grids aligned. The hexes just don't want to play nice for me, Which is a shame because I'm really loving this module.
You know, it helps if you read the Read Me files. LOL now I feel like an idiot. Gotta say really impressed with the quality of this! Great work all around folks
I give serious props to Kai for all of the awesome GM advice and tips strewn throughout this module. And to all the artists and designers for including premade maps with measurements for Foundry and roll20. This has set a very high bar for beginner-friendly Lancer modules!
Oh that sounds fantastic thanks for leaving this comment, I’m giving this a second look because of it!
This was perfectly timed as Im getting my own group started and worried about balancing encounters for my first time running
Let's get more players into Lancer!!!!
This might be exactly what I need to feel confident giving this game a try as a GM! How many players is the module intended to support? I need to figure out how many friends I'll need to pester.
Between 3 and 5 players and one GM, though 4 is the 'Lancer standard'.
Congrats, Kai and the whole team! This has been so cool to watch unfold over the past many moons. Looking forward to digging in to this, finally.
For those asking, it says in the body of the listing that the .lcp still needs some time in the oven. Patience. Lcp files are incredibly useful, but also pretty damn finicky to make work smoothly. Glad they're ironing out the bugs for now.
Babe wake up, new Lancer module just dropped
bröther, may I have some lcp
Did you read the following?
[Editor's note: The .lcp has a little more work to do on it and should be arriving in a few days]
available now :)
where is my .lcp?
Its going to require more work, its not ready at the moment
available now :)
Dropped right before starting a new campaign. Been debating on how to start one, since it'll be my first attempt playing it. This may be the answer. Excited to see this getting more support.
Sweet sweet LCP, I need ittt
available now :)
Ohh, new GMS? Count me in!
Please may I have some .lcp
available now :)