Reverse RHOD Advice (Spoilers)

[AMFV]

As an important note if you guys are my players, I'm the guy holding the game on the Cathedral of Learning, please don't read any further. If you aren't my players go right ahead.

I've recently sent my players to a mirror universe through a portal in Ravenloft. Suffice it to say it's a long story. The mirror universe has the whole mirror of opposition theme, so alignments are flipped directly.

I'm about to start a reverse Red Hand campaign. My intentions are start with the fall of the Skull Gorge bridge to give the players a dramatic and awesome start. I have a few problems though.

First, I need to portray an aggressive military campaign in a good light, which is difficult in the extreme, so if anybody can help me justify the Hobgoblin's actions that would be amazing. Secondly I need to think of ways to restructure the campaign so that the Hobgoblin side is losing and in a good light would be amazing. So far I've mostly rethought the fall of Skull Gorge.

I should note that I've got so far an extremely racist human sect of Pelor "The Burning Hate", working with evil imperialist Elves, who are playing the part of the Tiri Kitor (or whatever they were called)

Any help would be appreciated.

[Story]

If you optimize the "PCs" then it's entirely plausible that the hobgoblins are losing. You generally need to buff up the enemies in RHoD for it to be a real challenge anyway.

[Gwachitallemall]

I don't know much about the RHoD, so I can't help you on exact advice here, however I can give a few pointers about a "Good" Aggressive military campaign.

Some of these mainly stem from games and TV shows, however, so you'll have to take what you can get.

1. Refugee Army Fleeing Destruction. Alright, this one is actually pretty common in some circles, but can still be done if used correctly. Your citadel has already been crushed. So what you are doing is fleeing the attackers, trying to get as far away from them as possible. If that requires going through some other groups, so be it. After all, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to be faster than the other guys. This might require making a new more powerful attacker though.

2. Counterattack after supplies are poisoned. Whether they limited your fertility rate, poisoned your water, destroyed your crops, these all work for this one. You're trying to get access to a new resource, because your old one was already taken out by the enemy. Now, this does require the enemy attacking first, but I doubt that's really a problem to fluff in.

3. Propaganda. This one isn't so much making the aggressive campaign good, as it is painting it in a good light. Obviously you've probably already thought about this, but you could use a couple of different options here, I don't know how many would work. Trading has been shut off so you're trying to open up trade routes, taxes are too heavy so you're trying to force them to bring them down, your people can't get work so they're rebelling, there's plenty of history on this sort of thing happening in the real world, just go look for some examples.

I don't know if I really helped, I hope I did, or at least gave you some food for thought. If I think of any other routes to paint it in a good light, I will be sure to post them. But right now I can't think of anything else.

[AMFV]

If you optimize the "PCs" then it's entirely plausible that the hobgoblins are losing. You generally need to buff up the enemies in RHoD for it to be a real challenge anyway.

I'm trying to present a scenario in which the horde is losing more generally rather than create an alternative party for the players to fight against. Ergo if the players don't become involved all of the victory conditions eventually get reversed and the horde suffers a catastrophic failure.

[AMFV]

I don't know much about the RHoD, so I can't help you on exact advice here, however I can give a few pointers about a "Good" Aggressive military campaign.

Some of these mainly stem from games and TV shows, however, so you'll have to take what you can get.

1. Refugee Army Fleeing Destruction. Alright, this one is actually pretty common in some circles, but can still be done if used correctly. Your citadel has already been crushed. So what you are doing is fleeing the attackers, trying to get as far away from them as possible. If that requires going through some other groups, so be it. After all, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to be faster than the other guys. This might require making a new more powerful attacker though.

2. Counterattack after supplies are poisoned. Whether they limited your fertility rate, poisoned your water, destroyed your crops, these all work for this one. You're trying to get access to a new resource, because your old one was already taken out by the enemy. Now, this does require the enemy attacking first, but I doubt that's really a problem to fluff in.

3. Propaganda. This one isn't so much making the aggressive campaign good, as it is painting it in a good light. Obviously you've probably already thought about this, but you could use a couple of different options here, I don't know how many would work. Trading has been shut off so you're trying to open up trade routes, taxes are too heavy so you're trying to force them to bring them down, your people can't get work so they're rebelling, there's plenty of history on this sort of thing happening in the real world, just go look for some examples.

I don't know if I really helped, I hope I did, or at least gave you some food for thought. If I think of any other routes to paint it in a good light, I will be sure to post them. But right now I can't think of anything else.

These are pretty good, probably 1 would fit most effectively with RHOD. It's very difficult to explain an offensive war in a positive light in this particular day and age, I'm considering having it be an offensive campaign in what began as a defensive war, although I'm not sure if that's the best way out.

[Fouredged Sword]

Liberating army. The humans of the Vale use goblin and hobgoblins as forced slave labor, and they don't acknowledge any greenskin as more than an animal. The army is one of slaves who freed themselves and organized in a nearby valley. They have joined forces with the kind and generous green dragons there to take the vale back and create a land that goblins can live in peace.

[Story]

Whats stopping the humans from just being evil?