Battletech Hot Spots Draconis Reach (GDR)

Hot Spots: Draconis Reach builds on the updated campaign system that was first seen as part of the BattleTech: Mercenaries expansion, then further expanded upon with Hot Spots: Hinterlands. Hinterlands was clearly intended to be the first of many Hot Spots campaign books, with the series providing players with an opportunity to take Your Dudes™ across the Inner Sphere’s many conflict zones in search of riches and glory in the ilClan era. When it released, my group aggressively worked through Hinterlands in a PvE league format, and while we found the book generally enjoyable, it became plainly evident early on that the Mercenaries campaign system was still in need of some tweaking, as did the generic Tracks that each individual Contract was composed of. My group in Austin’s focus on playing a PvE league (which was mostly supported by the book) to avoid having games become a zero-sum affair also resulted in us finding some rather unique issues with how GM-run opposing forces were constructed and employed, especially at Scale 1.