In Nehal Blue is a third-party mission in development for Lancer, designed for groups who enjoy nail-biting mech combat amidst a tense political backdrop. It casts the players as low-ranking Karrakin mech pilots tasked to stop the machinations of the Sculptor, an enigmatic, ecofascistic terrorist who seeks to cleanse the city of Vitrine. To do so, the PCs will have to scour the city for clues and venture forth into the rad-strewn forests of the Nehal Exclusion Zone, facing down kaiju and biohorrors at every turn.
This quest will not be simple. The Stadtholder of Vitrine demands results, and the eyes of the city watch their every step. The PCs will have to balance currying favor and sating the pressures of the state with maintaining their own moral code and ensuring the safety of the citizens they supposedly protect.
This mission is designed for 3-5 players at LL3 and is expected to run for around 6 sessions, with three combats and a fully-realized city full of investigative leads to explore. It is intended to be run alongside Field Guide to the Karrakin Trade Baronies, and is built to make full use of the Bonds, Stress, and Clocks narrative systems introduced therein - though they are not strictly necessary for play. In Nehal Blue also references NPC templates and classes found in the third-party supplement Field Guide to Suldan and the first-party module Dustgrave to further elevate mech combat to more challenging and evocative heights.
Credits:
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Content warnings: terrorism, ecofascism, class conflict, ecological disaster, bigotry towards immigrants and the working class. Edges of animal exploitation and mutilation.
Please note: this mission is feature-complete and can be run front to back, but has not yet been playtested! Its combat mechanics and clock structuring may require tweaking, and will hopefully be refined in future edits to the document.