In Times of War

[Dr_S]

Hey all, I'm about to start running a new campaign, and I'm still relatively new to DMing. None of my group browses these forums and you've been helpful in the past, so I thought I'd turn to the playground.

For those who need some background on the campaign:
Based on my vision for this campaign it seems incredibly likely that our heroes continent is going to war. The entire continent is one huge powder keg, and some idiot just lit a match.

One of the countries on this continent is more powerful than the rest, because relations between the remaining countries are not strong, none of them are willing to engage this threat for fear that their "allies" will leave them out to dry.

One General from a country not of our heroes origin has enacted a plan to "Julius Caesar" his country, by tricking another country into declaring war and convincing the ruling council of his country to join the war. He plans to declare martial law and take control of the country when the war starts.

Anyway, Large scale war is likely as a result and as I am new to DMing I'm not sure what that will do to a setting.

Aside from the obvious travel, what other major changes do you guys implement during war time settings? (I.e. mandatory draft might reduce number of competent city guards increase non-war related trouble, or prices and availability of goods will be impacted etc.)

My heroes won't be generals, or military commanders, how do you handle battle? do you keep your heroes as far away as possible? Perhaps a cool scripted battle sequence in which they're delivering orders from one unit to the next all while navigating the battle field? This seems like it might be difficult to come up with a good one on my own, but maybe I'm wrong.

[SilverLeaf167]

It's a common and good idea to keep the PCs as some kind of special ops group, delivering precise strikes to supply lines, enemy commanders etc. instead of participating directly in the battle. This will give you a much larger choice of adventures to choose from and thus will most likely be more fun for the whole group (especially because D&D doesn't really handle mass combat that well.)

The other option is doing something similar to the battle of Azure City in OotS. While the armies fight, the PCs stand back, buffing soldiers, using battlefield control and countering any specific threats.

Sorry, I don't really have much to contribute on the rest of the subject... one good, simple piece of advice I can give regarding trade is that if there is any political warfare or blockades against international trade, any luxury items and other imports should be very expensive or even not available at all.

[Kol Korran]

if you can, grab Heroes of Battle. it deals precisely with your problem. not all of it will be relevant, but the basics of how to integrate "adventuring" (as we know it) to the battle field.

one part of it deals with small focused missions "around" the battlefield- disrupt supply lines, gain info, surgical strike against siege engines and the like. another deal with what to do IN battle.

if you can't buy the book, than basically it's as follows: you arrange how the battle goes in a few stages on your grid/ notes whatever (the forces are prepared. first assault by the humans and the worgs counter attacking, resuplying by night with guerilla hobgoblin troops, second assault by morning and so on) WITHOUT the PCs there. the purpose of this is so that you'll know what is going on if the PCs decide to do something unexpected (as most likely they should)

then you arrange a possible mission for the PCs given by their commander (you can have a selection if you wish). as the above poster suggested, this the PCs should be an elite team. the mission should go like a flow chart, each segment either an encounter or a decision point (i'll give an example):

1) achieve goal A (conquer the fortified position on the midway hill.) if the orcs raise an alarm, move to encounter 1A (cavalry, no rest)), if they succeed move to 1B (building defenses, rest time), if they don't, orcs reinforce and PCs get a small unit to support. element of surprise blown.

2) as they are in the fortified section,, let them roll perception. (enable finding all kind of things): PCs can notice a new siege engine brought, or part of the cavalruy trying to circumvent defenses, or some mage arriving on a manticore. the PCs need to decide, what next? move to appropriate encounters (some might require stelath, some other stuff and so on...

you move from an encounter to encounter on the flow chart, each of the PCs doings makes SOME difference to the battleground. you decide how much, but it should be felt. (even if it's a defeat it could mean how much of our forces were saved, what intel was gained on the enemy or how many losses they suffered)

as to units- keep them simple, and unless the PCs directly confront them, forget about them. the book has sample of units and the basic idea is to keep them comprised out of 2 kinds of "base soldiers" (maybe a commander to boot) Th PCs should mostly face more interestign threats than simple troops.

i hope this helped, it may seem like a bit of work, but it can be quite fun! most likely your PCs will want to get a piece of the action, so i suggest to let them. :smallbiggrin:

[Dr_S]

Thanks, I'll check out that book, and thanks for the general advice.


most likely your PCs will want to get a piece of the action, so i suggest to let them.

I was actually thinking just that, I was going to give them the opportunity to stop the war if they decided to, by revealing the true culprit and renegotiating peace between the countries effected by the plan, but the way my party thinks? They'll probably say "if this other country is such a threat, lets look the other way and help rid the planet of them." instead of you know... preventing war.

What about the non-battle impacts on the rest of the world? is there a book that addresses that?
In towns nearer the front lines, what percentage of people will have abandoned their homes?
What percentage will be conscripted?
How will people react to strangers? (How do those who support/oppose the war differ? What if the strangers are countrymen/foreign allies/mysterious origin)
How does one cross enemy lines in a fantasy setting without being spotted?
Will allies restrict border crossings between shared borders? Or will ally status grant people free passage?
Where and how frequently are military checkpoints to be established?

[XionUnborn01]

One campaign I ran in that was during a large war had an interesting twist. Instead of Gold/Silver/Copper for the monetary system, the DM decided to use Steel/Iron/Bronze (or something to that effect, I can't remember for sure). It didn't really have any impact on the game but made for a interesting and unique twist to the campaign.