Lancer (role-playing game)

Lancer is a science fiction tabletop role-playing game about mecha pilots, created by Miguel Lopez-Hall (né Lopez) and Tom Bloom (né Parkinson-Morgan). The first printing of the core rulebook was published by Massif Press in 2019, followed by a second printing in collaboration with Dark Horse Comics in 2024.^[1][2] In deliberate contrast to dystopian settings, Lancer is inspired by classic science fiction set in post-scarcity utopias that nevertheless still face problems.^[3]

Lancer

Designers	Miguel Lopez-Hall and Tom Bloom
Publishers	Massif Press, Dark Horse Comics
Publication	2019, 2024
Genres	Tabletop role-playing game, science fiction
Website	https://massifpress.com/lancer

Gameplay

Player characters are mecha pilots, and the setting is on the outskirts of a far-future, post-apocalyptic, technological utopia.^[1][2] Lancer features tactical battle mechanics and detailed character customization. Instead of experience points, Lancer tracks character growth using milestones, allowing players to level up after each mission by hand-picking upgrades from any mech in the game.^[4][5] There are also rules for narrative play, although there are less mechanics regarding roleplay.^[6]

Themes

It was important to the creators for Lancer not to be a dystopian sci-fi setting, as they were tired of ''cynical'' sci-fi.^[7] They wanted the game to be fundamentally optimistic in its worldview, like classic sci-fi. According to Lopez-Hall, Lancer’s setting has a Gramscian-style pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will. The creators wanted player characters to focus on defending something dear to them. To help prioritize this, they avoided a monetary reward system.^[7] The creators also chose to add more narrative descriptions to mechanics in the rule book as well. Tom Bloom believes that it is important for tabletop role-playing games to have narrative surrounding abilities, citing it as something that Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition does well.^[8]

Publication history

Lancer was first independently published by Massif Press in 2019 after a Kickstarter campaign raised over $400,000.^[1] In an interview with Luke Shaw for Dicebreaker, the creators attributed their disciplined work ethic on the project to Lopez-Hall's recent MFA in Creative Writing and Bloom's previous work producing the weekly webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons.^[7]

In 2023, Massif Press announced a second printing, to be published as an illustrated hardcover book in collaboration with Dark Horse Comics.^[1][2][9] The second print run was released in July 2024.^[10]

ENNIE Awards protest

Lancer was initially nominated for the 2020 ENNIE Awards for "Best Electronic Book"; however, the creators later asked to be withdrawn from nomination, in protest against a 2017 ENNIE Judges' Spotlight award for an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons supplement named Broodmother Skyfortress, published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess and written by Jeff Rients, with art by Ian MacLean and Jez Gordon.^[11] In a public email to the awards committee, Massif Press said that the supplement contained "casual graphic sexual assault and racism."^[12][13]

Official supplements

• No Room For A Wallflower: A Lancer Narrative^[14]
• The Long Rim: A Lancer Setting^[14]
• The Karrakin Trade Baronies: A Lancer Setting^[14]
• Operation Winter Scar: A Lancer Narrative^[14]
• Operation Solstice Rain: A Lancer Narrative^[14]
• Dustgrave: A Lancer Narrative^[14]
• Siren's Song: A Mountain's Remorse^[14]
• Shadow of the Wolf: A Lancer Narrative^[14]