Lancer: The One-Eyed Foxes
A Starter Squad & Introductory Mission for Lancer
"Dirty Dozen" meets "Kelly's Heroes" — five misfits, one stolen casket, and two factions who want them dead.
What Is Lancer?
Lancer is a tabletop RPG about pilots and their mechs. It sits at the intersection of narrative role-playing and tactical grid combat: you'll spend part of each session talking, scheming, and making choices as your pilot, and part of it fighting in a giant robot on a hex or square grid.
The setting is a far future where humanity has spread across the galaxy under the loose governance of Union, a post-scarcity hegemonic state. Massive corporations (Harrison Armory, IPS-Northstar, Smith-Shimano Corpro, HORUS) compete to sell mechs, weapons, and systems to anyone with the license to use them. Most pilots start with gear from General Massive Systems (GMS), the nationalized baseline manufacturer whose equipment is available to everyone.
The Mirrorsmoke Mercenary Company (MSMC) is a stateless clearinghouse for contract military work. They recruit everyone from veterans to convicts, take a cut of every contract, and maintain just enough organizational structure to keep their operators pointed at the right targets. The squad in this document — the MSMC 501st "One-Eyed Foxes" — operates under their banner.
Key Concepts for New Players
License Level (LL): Your pilot's experience tier. LL0 is a rookie with access to GMS gear only. After each mission, you level up, unlocking new manufacturers and equipment. The Foxes start at LL0.
The Everest: The GMS-SP1 Everest is the only mech frame available at LL0. It's a reliable all-rounder — not flashy, but solid. All five Foxes pilot Everests with different loadouts.
Narrative Play vs. Mech Combat: Lancer splits into two modes. Narrative play is freeform — you describe what your pilot does, make skill checks when outcomes are uncertain, and drive the story forward. Mech combat uses a tactical grid with turns, actions, and precise movement. This mission uses both.
Triggers: Your pilot's skills, used during narrative play. Each trigger is a phrase like "Blow Something Up" or "Act Unseen or Unheard" that describes something your pilot is good at. When you attempt something covered by a trigger, you roll 1d20 and add your bonus.
Talents: Mech-specific abilities that define your combat style. Each talent has three ranks — at LL0, you have three Rank I talents.
Clocks: A tracking tool borrowed from other RPGs and supported in Lancer's GM toolkit. A clock is a circle divided into segments that fill as events progress. When it's full, something happens. This mission uses clocks to track infiltration progress and escalating danger.
The Core Book: This handout contains everything you need to play the Foxes, but for the full rules — especially mech combat procedures — you'll want the Lancer Core Rulebook by Massif Press (available as a free PDF at massif-press.itch.io). Page references in this document use the abbreviation "CB p.XX."
The Squad
The MSMC 501st "One-Eyed Foxes" is a provisional squadron — five pilots assigned to a high-risk contract group. None of them chose each other. All of them need the money, the pardon, or the anonymity that Mirrorsmoke provides.
Their handler has rated unit cohesion as "volatile but functional."
Choose Your Pilot
| Callsign | Archetype | Play This If You Like... |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | The cynical leader | Tactical calls, holding the squad together, reading situations before they explode |
| Rubble | The volatile heavy | Hitting hard, absorbing damage, solving problems with demolition |
| Oddball | The eccentric tech | Drones, hacking, creative problem-solving, having a weird NHP companion |
| Smooth | The slick opportunist | Flanking, stealth, hit-and-run tactics, solving problems outside the cockpit |
| Ghost | The cold-blooded sniper | Long-range precision, protecting teammates from a distance, being the enigma |
Pilot Dossiers
MIRRORSMOKE INTERNAL — HANDLER EYES ONLY
1. Captain Emer Maddox — Callsign: "CAP"
Pronouns: She/her · Age: 41 standard · Background: Soldier
"I've liberated three worlds. You know what that means? It means I've invaded three worlds and someone in a nice office decided the word 'liberated' tested better."
Description: Maddox is a lean, weathered woman with close-cropped gray hair and the permanent squint of someone who has spent too many years reading tactical displays in bad light. She moves with the deliberate economy of a career officer — never hurried, never wasted motion. She has a low, dry voice and a habit of letting silences stretch until the other person fills them with something useful.
Backstory: Captain Maddox served twenty-two years in Union's Colonial Legions, most of it in expeditionary detachments tasked with "stabilizing" frontier worlds. She was good at it. Decorated twice, reprimanded three times — always for the same thing: filing honest after-action reports that contradicted the official narrative. After her unit was ordered to suppress a miner's strike on Khayradin and she watched a colleague open fire on a crowd, she walked. Not dramatically. She just stopped showing up, let her commission lapse, and spent eight months drinking on a station called Patience.
Mirrorsmoke found her the way they find everyone: broke, bored, and just angry enough to still be dangerous. She took the handler's offer because it came with one thing the Legions never gave her — the right to refuse a contract.
What she wants: To run one clean operation. Just one where nobody dies for a lie. She knows it's a stupid thing to want in mercenary work, but she hasn't fully admitted that to herself yet.
Squad dynamics: She treats Rubble like a blunt instrument that needs careful aiming — respectful of the damage he can do, wary of where he points it. She's the only one who can talk him down, and she does it not with authority but with a very specific tone of tired disappointment that somehow works. She doesn't trust Smooth at all, but she relies on him constantly. She sees something of her younger self in Ghost — the competence, the detachment — and it makes her uneasy.
Cap — Mechanical Summary (LL0)
| Frame | GMS Everest |
| Mech Skills | Hull +2 (HP 16 — base 10 + 4 Hull + 2 Personalizations) |
| Talents | Leader I (Field Commander — Leadership Dice), Tactician I (Opportunist: +1 Acc melee w/ ally engaged; Solar Backdrop: +1 Acc ranged from elevation), Exemplar I (Honorable Challenge — mark enemies, Punishment reaction) |
| Weapons | Heavy Machine Gun (Heavy), Assault Rifle (Main), Tactical Knife (Aux) |
| Systems | Personalizations (+2 HP, custom flair) |
| Pilot Triggers | +2 Lead or Inspire · +2 Pull Rank · +2 Read a Situation · +2 Stay Cool |
2. Dariusz "Dar" Kovac — Callsign: "RUBBLE"
Pronouns: He/him · Age: 34 standard · Background: Penal Colonist
"They put me on a rock and told me to break smaller rocks. For four years. You want to know what I learned? I learned I'm real good at breaking things."
Description: Rubble is built like the demolition equipment he used to operate — wide, dense, and covered in scars that look structural rather than decorative. His hands are disproportionately large, even for his frame, and his left ear is a cauliflowered mess from fights he mostly won. He has a broad face, a gap-toothed grin that shows up at exactly the wrong moments, and a voice that carries whether he wants it to or not. He shaves his head because hair is flammable.
Backstory: Kovac was a combat engineer in a local planetary defense force. When his world was "annexed" by a Harrison Armory subsidiary, his unit was dissolved. He was offered a choice: re-enlist under the new flag or find other work. He found the HA regional supply depot and turned it into a crater.
The HA tribunal sentenced him to twelve years of hard labor on a penal rock. He served four before Mirrorsmoke brokered his release in exchange for a five-contract indenture. He doesn't talk about what happened on the rock, but he flinches at small enclosed spaces and he never sleeps with his back to a door.
What he wants: To finish his five contracts, collect his clean identity papers, and go somewhere no one has ever heard of Harrison Armory. He's aware that this place probably doesn't exist.
Squad dynamics: He respects Cap because she doesn't flinch when he gets loud. He has an unlikely friendship with Oddball — they share a mutual appreciation for things that go boom, and Oddball is the only person in the squad who doesn't seem afraid of him. He doesn't like Smooth. Can't articulate why. Something about the way Smooth always has an angle makes Rubble's hands itch.
Rubble — Mechanical Summary (LL0)
| Frame | GMS Everest |
| Mech Skills | Engineering +2 (Heat Cap 8) |
| Talents | Juggernaut I (Momentum — BOOST enhances next Ram: +1 Acc, +2 Knockback), Brawler I (Hold and Lock — +1 Acc melee vs grappled), Brutal I (Predator — natural 20 crits deal max damage) |
| Weapons | Heavy Charged Blade (Heavy), Shotgun (Main), Segment Knife (Aux) |
| Systems | Pattern-B HEX Charges (Mines and grenades) |
| Pilot Triggers | +2 Apply Fists to Faces · +2 Blow Something Up · +2 Threaten · +2 Survive |
3. Sunday Okafor-Lín — Callsign: "ODDBALL"
Pronouns: They/them · Age: 28 standard · Background: Mechanic
"The machine doesn't lie. The machine doesn't have an agenda. The machine just... is. You put power in, work comes out. People should be more like machines. No offense."
Description: Oddball is wiry and restless, the kind of person whose hands are always doing something — disassembling a pen, rewiring a connector, tapping out rhythms on their thigh that might be code or might be a song only they can hear. They have dark brown skin, a cloud of natural hair stuffed under a battered mechanic's cap, and wide, bright eyes that focus on details other people miss. Their fingernails are permanently stained with reactor lubricant. They talk to machines the way most people talk to pets: softly, patiently, and with total sincerity.
Backstory: Okafor-Lín grew up in the maintenance bays of a Long Rim station, raised by an aunt who ran a freelance mech repair shop. They never went to an academy, never enlisted. By twenty, they could strip and rebuild a GMS Everest faster than most licensed technicians.
The problem was the NHP. Okafor-Lín found a damaged casket in a derelict's salvage pile and, against every Union regulation and most common sense, managed to reboot it. The sub-sentient intelligence inside — they call it Pocket — is fragile, eccentric, and technically illegal to possess without a license. When station security started asking questions, Mirrorsmoke offered Oddball a berth where nobody would look too closely at their toolkit.
What they want: To keep Pocket safe and operational. Everything else is secondary to the strange, quiet bond they've formed with a mind that exists in a box the size of a coffee can. They also want, privately and impossibly, to build something beautiful. Not a weapon. Something that just works, perfectly, for no reason other than the elegance of it.
Squad dynamics: They adore Rubble in the way a watchmaker adores a sledgehammer — the man's approach to problem-solving is so philosophically opposed to Oddball's that it circles back around to fascinating. They find Ghost unsettling. They are quietly, intensely grateful to Cap for never asking about Pocket.
Oddball — Mechanical Summary (LL0)
| Frame | GMS Everest |
| Mech Skills | Systems +2 (Tech Attack +2, E-Defense 10, SP 7) |
| Talents | Grease Monkey I (Unsanctioned Capacity — spend 2 Repairs to replenish LIMITED), Drone Commander I (Shepherd — drones gain +5 HP, move a drone as protocol), Technophile I (Servant Fragment — custom NHP "Pocket", 0 SP AI system) |
| Weapons | Heavy Machine Gun (Heavy), Nexus (Hunter-Killer) (Main), Missile Rack (Aux), Missile Rack (Aux) |
| Systems | Turret Drones (2 SP), Servant-Class NHP "Pocket" (0 SP) — 5 SP remaining |
| Pilot Triggers | +2 Hack or Fix · +2 Invent or Create · +2 Spot · +2 Get a Hold of Something |
4. Eamon Altay — Callsign: "SMOOTH"
Pronouns: He/him · Age: 36 standard · Background: Criminal
"Everybody needs something. Most people don't know what it is yet. That's where I come in."
Description: Smooth is, irritatingly, exactly as put-together as his callsign implies. Medium height, medium build, medium handsomeness — the kind of face that belongs in a crowd, which is precisely the point. His most distinctive feature is his voice: warm, unhurried, and calibrated with a grifter's instinct for exactly how much charm a given situation can bear. He dresses better than the rest of the squad, keeps his dark hair neat, and has the kind of easy smile that makes you check your pockets afterward. There's a thin scar along his jaw from someone who wasn't fooled.
Backstory: Altay was a fixer on Cornucopia, one of the dense city-worlds where the gaps between corporate jurisdictions create a thriving gray market for everything from reactor parts to forged transit papers. He wasn't a thug — he was a facilitator. Need a cargo manifest to say "agricultural equipment" instead of "military-grade chassis components"? Smooth could arrange it, for a reasonable fee and a favor to be named later.
The system worked beautifully until one of his clients turned out to be running a scheme that defrauded a Landmark Colonial subsidiary. Altay had nothing to do with the fraud itself, but when the subsidiary's legal apparatus came looking for someone to punish, "the guy who made the introductions" was easier to find than the actual perpetrators. Mirrorsmoke intercepted the warrant and offered the standard deal: your skills for our protection.
What he wants: Leverage. Always leverage. Smooth thinks in terms of debts, favors, and positioning. He wants to build enough contacts through MSMC contracts that he can eventually set up his own operation — somewhere comfortable, somewhere warm, somewhere with a functional legal system he can exploit.
Squad dynamics: He and Cap have a wary, transactional respect. She uses his skills without trusting his motives; he follows her lead because she makes good calls. Rubble dislikes him and Smooth knows it — he files it under "useful information." He's the only person who actively tries to talk to Ghost, mostly because a silent person with a mysterious past is either an asset or a threat.
Smooth — Mechanical Summary (LL0)
| Frame | GMS Everest |
| Mech Skills | Agility +2 (Evasion 10) |
| Talents | Infiltrator I (Prowl — hide in plain sight during your turn), Skirmisher I (Integrated Chaff — soft cover at start of turn), Ace I (Acrobatics — +1 Acc Agility checks while flying, dodge on miss) |
| Weapons | Heavy Machine Gun (Heavy), Thermal Rifle (Main), Thermal Pistol (Aux), Tactical Knife (Aux) |
| Systems | Pattern-A Smoke Charges (2 SP), Rapid Burst Jump Jet System (2 SP) — enables Ace I flight |
| Pilot Triggers | +2 Word on the Street · +2 Charm · +2 Act Unseen or Unheard · +2 Get Somewhere Fast |
5. Rin — Callsign: "GHOST"
Pronouns: She/her · Age: Unknown (estimated late 20s) · Background: Outlaw
"..."
(Ghost's handler notes that the above is representative of a typical interview response.)
Description: Ghost is small, still, and easy to overlook — which is the most dangerous thing about her. She has East Asian features, sharp cheekbones, and dark eyes that track movement with a patience that most people find uncomfortable. Her black hair is cut short and functional. She never gestures when she speaks, which isn't often. There's a quality to her stillness that isn't calm, exactly — it's more like the stillness of something that has already decided what it will do and is simply waiting for the right moment.
She has a tattoo on the inside of her left wrist: a string of numbers in a format that doesn't match any standard Union identification system.
Backstory: Almost nothing in Ghost's file is verified. What Mirrorsmoke knows: she appeared on the Long Rim three years ago with a bounty attached to her name from an authority that declined to identify itself. The bounty was substantial enough to attract serious hunters. She killed two of them. The third brought her in, and the local magistrate — who had no extradition framework for a warrant from an unnamed party — was preparing to execute her as an "unaffiliated combatant" when an MSMC handler intervened with a provisional contract and a lot of paperwork.
What Mirrorsmoke suspects but cannot confirm: "Rin" is not her original name. Her combat training is consistent with Union Special Operations methodology. The tattoo on her wrist may be a service number from a program that doesn't officially exist.
What she wants: That's the question. Ghost operates with mechanical precision and total disengagement. She does the job, collects her share, and retreats to whatever interior space she occupies when she's not behind a scope. The one observable fact is this: when the squad is in danger, Ghost doesn't run. She finds a vantage point and she starts shooting. Whether this is loyalty, habit, or something else entirely is an open question.
Squad dynamics: She is Bonded to Oddball. During a pre-deployment training exercise, Oddball's drone array malfunctioned and nearly brought a maintenance gantry down on them. Ghost — who was sixty meters away and nominally not involved — crossed the distance faster than anyone thought possible and pulled Oddball clear. She has not explained why. Oddball, for their part, has simply accepted it, and now leaves a second ration pack outside Ghost's quarters every evening. Ghost has never acknowledged this. She has also never left one uneaten.
Smooth keeps trying to get her to talk. She finds this somewhere between tolerable and annoying, which by Ghost's standards practically qualifies as a friendship. She follows Cap's orders without hesitation or commentary, which Cap finds both reassuring and slightly alarming.
Ghost — Mechanical Summary (LL0)
| Frame | GMS Everest |
| Mech Skills | Hull +1, Systems +1 (HP 12, E-Defense 9) |
| Talents | Crack Shot I (Stable, Steady — Immobilize self for +1 Acc on Rifles), Walking Armory I (Armament — Ammo Case with custom ammo types), Bonded I (I'm Your Huckleberry — bondmate: Oddball, +1 Acc on checks/saves when adjacent) |
| Weapons | Anti-Materiel Rifle (Heavy), Assault Rifle (Main), Tactical Knife (Aux) |
| Systems | Type-3 Projected Shield (Anti-ballistic barrier) |
| Pilot Triggers | +2 Take Someone Out · +2 Spot · +2 Stay Cool · +2 Survive |
Squad Relationship Map
The 501st is not a family. They're five people in a lifeboat, and the lifeboat is on fire, and two of them might be arsonists. But they work — not because they like each other (though some of them are getting dangerously close to it), but because each of them is exactly the kind of broken that fills the gaps the others leave.
CAP
/ | \
/ | \
trust tired wary
/ respect \
RUBBLE ---dislike--- SMOOTH
\ /
unlikely curiosity
friendship /
\ /
ODDBALL ——bonded—— GHOST
\ /
unsettled silent
by each regard
other
The fault line: Rubble and Smooth. If the squad fractures, it will be along this axis. Cap knows it, and she has quietly positioned herself as the buffer between them.
The anchor: The Oddball–Ghost bond. Strange, unexplained, and possibly the most genuine connection in the squad. If something threatens Oddball, Ghost will burn the mission to protect them. This is either the squad's greatest strength or its greatest vulnerability.
