Shadow of the Wolf

You stride through palatial halls lined with statues of legendary mech pilots, their faces weighted with gold and a thousand years of history. Perhaps one day you will join their ranks. Ancient doors open and music spills out from a grand ballroom filled with elegantly dressed nobility - your peers, your friends, and your bitter rivals. Each is one of the most promising mech pilots Karrakis has seen in a generation, and all have the same goal: to become the best of the best.

A sneering voice in the crowd cuts above the conversation. “Looks like someone decided to be unfashionably late.”

The fighting's begun and you haven't even gotten into your mech yet.

***

The Karrakin Cavalry College is the most prestigious finishing school for mech pilots in the Orion Arm. Here, pilots train in an intensive program designed to push them to their intellectual and physical limits – they study advanced tactics and cutting-edge weapon systems, engineer their mechs with the latest experimental technology, and engage in no-holds-barred duels designed to test their skills in combat.

As always in Karrakin society, things are never as simple as they first appear. Schemes within schemes are afoot, and the great Houses use pilots as pawns in their political games. A fight for the future of the Baronies is taking place behind the scenes – and for the latest group of students admitted to the College's storied halls, their choices may end up determining the fate of Karrakis itself.

***

Shadow of the Wolf is a mission series for Lancer written by Katherine Stark, designed for groups who enjoy roleplay and politics alongside challenging mech combat. The mission series takes player characters from License Level 0 to LL2 across two densely-packed missions. In these missions, PCs encounter an ensemble cast of NPCs who could help or hinder them, political scheming and conspiracies, and nail-biting mech combats at the heart of one of Lancer's most evocative settings: the Karrakin Trade Baronies.

This mission series is designed to be compatible with Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies, but is still fully playable with only the Lancer core rulebook. No supplementary content is required – the book includes all the relevant setting information needed to run the game.

In addition to the mission series, the book contains:

• A setting primer giving you and your players all the information you need to know about the Karrakin Trade Baronies and the campus of the Karrakin Cavalry College
• Beautiful illustrations from Lancer artists Tom Finnbarr Carroll, Ares Bor, Bastien Aufrere, Conner Fawcett, E.M. Fields, and SIEGEFAULT
• Three new mechs – variant frames manufactured by the Royal Karrakin Foundries:
  • The RKF Taraxacum –a flying Lancaster variant that carries its allies above the battlefield and supports them with precision scan data
  • The HORUS Hecatoncheires – a stealthy Balor variant used by Karrakin deniable-ops forces as a weapon of terror
  • The RKF Tagetes – a rifle-focused Sherman variant equipped for long range combat and supporting allies
• New pilot gear and exotic systems that can be acquired during the mission series
• Backgrounds for Karrakin characters to inspire you during character creation
• Four new bonds for use with the optional systems introduced in Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies:
  • The Firebrand – a revolutionary who rails against the system and fights for a better world
  • The Celebrant – a pleasure-seeker who brings enthusiasm and an open mind to everything they do
  • The Knave – a ruthless antihero whose ambition propels them to great heights
  • The Seneschal – an honorable hero who embodies loyalty, responsibility, and integrity
• Tactical maps designed by Dunya Kat and fully illustrated by SIEGEFAULT, designed to be compatible with both square and hex maps on your virtual tabletop of choice

***

Karrakis' fate balances on the edge of a knife. An empire that has stood for ten thousand years must face revolution and change, for better or for worse. Which future will you choose?