The RDG Rank System

  Every RDG Member and their Persona share a rank.  This is a measure of seniority and experience within the organization, and within the game campaign.  As a member and their persona’s contributions accumulate, their rank will increase accordingly.  The important thing to remember is that while rank does confer some authority as far as organizing and leading members at events and meetings goes, it is really much more a responsibility than anything else.  Having the rank means doing the job that comes with it – and a Sergeant will find themselves much more concerned with helping their subordinates to learn the rules of the Battletech game and RPG than they will with giving orders and lording it about over their peers.  Remember that positions of authority within the organization can be removed just as quickly as they are granted – just like the mercenary unit we all portray in-game. 

Enlisted Grade – Everybody’s Got One

  With a rank system,  some people who may have been members of fan organizations or LARPs with rank or nobility might ask – how do you keep from getting top-heavy?  How do you avoid the all chiefs and no indians effect?  What happens when a Captain retires from commanding the Company?  Well, here’s how our system works.  Everyone – and we mean EVERYONE – has a permanent enlisted grade from E-1 to E-6.  This is what we call “Permanent Grade”.  When someone gets appointed to an NCO or Officer job, they get a rank that goes with it for the duration of the job.  When they leave that job, they either go to the rank their new job carries or back to their Permanent Grade if they’re going to fill a MechWarrior slot.  They can choose this time to start a new Persona, or the Game Master staff will work with them to work the change into the story.

  Just as some modern armies make a distinction between specialists, technicians and actual non-commissioned officers, the Royal Dragoon Guards have non-leadership grades up to E-6 to allow a member/Persona a path to advancement even if that member or Persona does not wish to take a leadership role.  No sense in keeping a Sierra Hotel MechWarrior a private forever just because he’s a lousy small-unit tactician.  The Technician or Specialist grades allow a Persona to move up in-game and rate more pay without being tasked with a leadership function.  For example, a MechWarrior and a Corporal are both Grade E-4.  They will both draw the same pay in-game, out of game the Corporal is expected to assist with the organization and administation of their Lance, the MechWarrior is not.  Conversely, in a situation in which there is no officer present, a Corporal will take charge even if multiple E-5 and E-6 MechWarrior specialists are present.  The Corporal is an NCO, the specialists are not.

Non-Commissioned Officers : The Backbone of the Unit

  Just as in the real military, the Officers rely on Sergeants to get jobs done.  In the Royal Dragoon Guards, a member appointed to an NCO job is given a measure of responsibility for their Lance or Company, and is tasked with leading and instructing the members under their care.  Lance NCOs are expected to help their lancemates learn the rules of the game, the traditions of the Unit, and be well-informed about meetings and activitites.  Company NCOs handle the training and discipline for every non-officer member of their Company, with the Battalion Sergeant Major having the same duties over all the companies in the battalion.  While the officers are ultimately responsible for all facets of their units, it falls to the NCO to handle the details and make sure every enlisted person in the unit is up-to-speed.  A Leftenant can’t plan their reconnaissance raid if they’re too busy wondering of Private Smith finished his sensors qualification course or Technician Jones remembered to requisition those film canisters for the recon cameras.  The Lance Sergeant takes care of the details, so the Leftenant doesn’t have to.

Company Grade Officers : Leadership on the Line

  The officers most likely to be seen directly leading troops in the day-to-day operations of the battalion are the Company Grade Officers, Leftenants and Captains.  Typically, a Lance is lead by a Leftenant, with a Company lead by a Captain.  Officers are a special type of member in the RDG.  They are elected to do the jobs they do, and as such are responsible for quite a bit besides just showing up to events and rolling dice.  The officers, by definition, are responsible for the operations of their units in-game and out.  In addition to playing a leadership role in the campaign, they also assist the Game Master staff in operating the club as part of their duties.  An officer who does not live up to his subordinate’s hopes will find themselves voted out of a job rather quickly.  With great power comes great responsiblitiy, and all that.

Field Grade Officers : Attack of The Brass

  There are three officer ranks within the Field Grade heading, Major, Leftenant Colonel and Colonel.  By tradition, Colonels lead Regiments- so it is unlikely there will be a full Colonel in the Royal Dragoon Guards any time soon.  Leftenant Colonels serve as Regimental Executive Officers, and sometimes as senior Battalion Commanders.  House Steiner actually wedges in another rank between Major and Leftenant Colonel for just this purpose.  At it’s inception, the entire battalion was commanded by a Major.  As the organization grows, the battalion commander will likely be appointed a Leftenant Colonel with a Major as the executive officer.

  Field Grade officers are responsible for much larger formations than the Company, and as such generally have a staff to assist them.  A basic staff consists of an Executive Officer, the Adjutant – who is reponsible for personnel and administration, an Intelligence Officer, an Operations Officer and a Supply and Logistics Officer.  Add to that the Battalion Sergeant Major, and you have the full compliment of the basic staff.  The reason for this addition is the sheer amount of planning, book-keeping, research and other tasks required for a Field Grade Officer to do their jobs.  A Captain can reasonably be expected to know the supply and repair status of each of the twelve BattleMechs in their Company, but for a Battalion Commander to keep abreast of fourty machines while juggling ammunition and replacement spares inventories while studying the satellite reconaissance for a planetary assault simultaneously with ensuring that each MechWarrior, Technician, cook, rifleman and armor crewman is fed, trained and has their ComStar Life Insurance Policy paid up would be quite overwhelming – hence the help.

  In the Royal Dragoon Guards, the Field Grade Officers will most always be Game Master Staff.  Rarely will their Personae participate with the Battalion in a combat operation with a detached Company, but during large and important mission in which the Battalion drops as one unit, it is possible the CO and XO will be out there on the line with the rest of the MechWarriors in the Company.