CLASSIC BATTLETECH CATALYST game labs

I was actually tapped by Randall at some point many months ago to write up some assistant developer's "blogs" which would in turn be added to the Battlechats we've not been seeing for a while. It was my intention, at least for the first one, to explain the new peculiarity of my "Standard Answers" in there, including how and why they came about. However, I've yet to even write a single blog, but I have decided--after it occurred to me in one response that I just may have crossed someone needlessly--that these should really be explained in full here, where all can see, especially in case we have some other board reset and/or I change my siglines someday in the future...

So, without further ado, I present....

The (Herb's) Standard Answers, EXPLAINED!

The standard answers were conceived after as astute fan in another thread (which I'm still too lazy to look up, sorry) essentially wouldn't let an issue about something go. After trying to explain in my usual long-winded style cost me many hours of potentially useful wriuting and development time, it suddenly occurred to me that just about all questions directed at the PTBs (writers/developers/creators) boiled down to four main topics:

Question Topic #1: Game Rules - A question or perceived conflict in the rules in which various fan interpretations have developed key differences that have yet to see an official resolution (perhaps because the specific situation in question was not considered at the time).

Standard Answer #1: "If it works for your game, whatever you want it to be."

Reasoning: BattleTech is a game, not the laws of physics, not an immutable universe. Game police will not come to your door and arrest you for playing with proxy minis or "house rules".Heck, you can concoct your own D20 version of BT and if it's as legit to you as a "straight" CBT game, have a blast! Just don't stop having fun, or you may as well quit. Seriously.

Question Topic #2: "But why...?" - A question about what decision making process went into a rule, a universe event, a character name, death of faction/unit/character, tournament rule, and so forth that we deemed necessary for the plot, game balance, universal balance of powers, and so forth.

Standard Answer #2: "Because we say so, that's why!" (PTB and tourney judges only)

Reasoning: In the case of game rulings and tourney judge rulings, it's the only way to set a standard is to have someone make a call, to keep the official event rolling on the same track--especially if it's one of the Agent worldwide events, which have to be tallied among several groups who have to have the same playbook to have any real connection. In the case of storyline events, simple fact is, we write the books; it's our call what happens. Always has been. Always will be. But if none of your players are tourney judges or PTBs running an official event, or if you're playing an "alternate" campaign in BT, this one commutes to a Standard Answer #1

Question Topic #3:"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" - The fan wants an explanation, details, or behind-the-scenes info of an event in fiction or upcoming rule modification/addendum NOW...whether or not one has even been written yet.

Standard Answer 3: "If it ain't published, I can't tell you, so wait and see."

Reasoning: We all sign NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) when we take on the responsibility of writing, playtesting, fact-checking, developing, designing CBT products. These are legally binding documents. It's not a tease when we say we can't say. It's the fact that we can be fired and even sued for revealing information that has not yet gone to publication. And some of us have gotten comfortable with what little money we make in this business....

Question Topic #4: We're running late - Ok, I admit it; the schedule we offer on product releases is really....bad. Products slip during the writing, development, editing, and review processes a lot now, but I personally think that the quality is better than ever (still not perfect, but better than ever). I also get this question from writers and such on the "inside" who wonder where their "author copies" are.

Standard Answer #4: "The product will come out when it's ready, and not a moment before."

Reasoning: Unless and until we actually delete a product from the schedule, the one thing we can say for certain is that it WILL come out. I can't help but notice that a lot of the movies I have anticipated the most for the last several years have come to the same fates of delays upon delays, and my comp copies for books I wrote and which hit the shelves almost nine months ago have still yet to materialize on my doorstep. I'm a patient fellow, though. I can wait. The product is worth it after all. And so, I hope, can you guys....and maybe forgive us for the delays.

Question Topic #5: Not really a question, but more an angry/confused/disappointed response, discomfort over other answers, and/or perceived insult from what could be interpreted as a glib or sarcastic response from me (or others) that is neither intended nor expressed.

Standard Answer #5: "We apologize for the inconvenience."

Reasoning: It has become my opinion that not enough people in the world know how to say "I'm sorry" and understand it's meaning any more. I, OTOH, have been known to apologize for things everyone knows I didn't do. My reason for this is, "the people responsible probably won't apologize, so I'll just do it for them". I don't apply this to EVERYONE, mind you. There are plenty of things others have done that even I wouldn't apologize for, but I can be darned sure to at least incorporate the above response when I have to give someone Standard Answers to their questions.

And that, dear reader(s), is what I mean when I offer a Standard Answer, and even includes the why, and how behind them....I hope.

- Herb

BEHOLD: ALL NEW STANDARD ANSWERS!!!!!

Question Topic #6: What ever happened to...? How many of... are there? When we we get to find out...?

Standard Answer #6: "I haven't decided yet." (A.K.A.: The personage/unit/faction that you haven't heard from in a while has presumably died from slipping on the soap in the shower.  Unless we publish something else about them.)

Reasoning: Although this started as David "MacAttack" McCulloch's joke, the fact is, there are actually many things about the universe and story line that, frankly, we have yet to get around to making concrete decisions on. Thus, asking us to speculate on unpublished information--technically Answer #3 territory--can honestly also fall into the category of That Which We Have Not Decided. In the past and present, questions worthy of this answer have included "Who is Devlin Stone?" "Who is the Master?" "What happened to Clinton's Cutthroats?" "Where are the other three Hidden Worlds?" "Will any faction ever win all these wars?" and "Is there a God?"

Question Topic #7: Too numerous to list, but boils down to a Yes/No answer.

Standard Answer #7: "Yes"

Standard Answer #8: "No"

Standard Answer #9: "Maybe" (Note: This can sometimes be swapped for SA #3 or SA #6)

Reasoning: Hey, sometimes, we actually get a question we don't have to hide behind a Standard Answer on, or which you actually phrased in a way we can answer. But don't ask us what the magic formula is; it varies from topic to topic, after all. (Also worth noting; if any of us gives a Standard Answer number in such questions--instead of a simple Yes/No/Maybe, it's because we're feeling silly at the moment. Blame the drink of our choice or extreme sleep deprivation for that effect.) Key to these answers, though, is this: We may not elaborate further than the simple Yes/No/Maybe. We all went to the Vorlon School for Communications, after all.

Question Topic: "Is [announced product] ever going to show up in my lifetime?"

Standard Answer #10: "We're on it."

Reasoning: Hey, sometimes, we actually get a question we don't have to hide behind a Standard Answer on, or which you actually phrased in a way we can answer. But don't ask us what the magic formula is; it varies from topic to topic, after all. (Also worth noting; if any of us gives a Standard Answer number in such questions--instead of a simple Yes/No/Maybe, it's because we're feeling silly at the moment. Blame the drink of our choice or extreme sleep deprivation for that effect.) Key to these answers, though, is this: We may not elaborate further than the simple Yes/No/Maybe. We all went to the Vorlon School for Communications, after all.

Question Topic #8: "Is [announced product] ever going to show up in my lifetime?"

Standard Answer #10: "We're on it."

Reasoning: This may seem at first glance like a question worthy of Standard Answer #4, but in fact it varies in that the question asker is genuinely concerned that the product has died on the vine. While this CAN happen some of the time, it does so very infrequently. Details cannot always be provided in such cases, however, and the various delays and causes thereof may be enough to curl you into a fetal position. Rather than explain why, just know that we're on the case until we have to announce the product's death.

Question Topic #9: "Why was [insert character/unit/faction name] destroyed/given such a raw deal?"

Standard Answer #11: "They had it coming."

Reasoning: This is the ultimate, I'm-tired-of-answering-this-question answer to the "But why?" debate. (My writers still get a version of SA #2, punctuated by "...and I outrank you. Shut up.") What it amounts to is, as stated in SA #2, is that the universe and its events unfold the way we say, for whatever reason we feel they must. It's not always going to be pretty, or fair, or really even remotely nice, but believe you me: Everyone and everything in BattleTech has it coming.

And there you have it! Nine Eleven, NINE ELEVEN Standard Answers! Ah! Ah! Ah!

- Herb

[edited by GhostBear, because it's Agents now, not Commandos....]