PDA

View Full Version : Need idea for a military campaign



SolkaTruesilver
2007-04-10, 09:58 AM
Hello, I plan to make a military campaign (with the help of Heroes of Battle, a must if you like the War Movie genre). However, I want my PCs to have varying genres of ennemies. So it means different armies are attacking theirs. (the idea was having all there ennemies master-minded by another race. Don'T know which one yet - probably homebrew -)

So, I though progressive exposition:

Lvl 1+ : Orc & Gob army
Lvl 14+ : Demon army (probably final)
Lvl 6+ : Undead Army
Lvl 9+: Giant Army

Off course, a lvl 15 party could still find a decent mission against the Orc army. Just make them fight Obould Many-Arrow. So it's not on the figure of "decent ennemy encounter" that I have a problem coming up. It's inspiration about the storyline involved that I have a problem.

I just don't know how to pull armies out of the hat (well.. Undead and Demonic armies, I know. Pretty easy). But what about the others? What would be their stake?

If I want to trap the PCs in "ennemy territory" (for a Resistance story arc), I'll need an invader that doesn't raze every town he meets.. (that's where the "hidden manipulator" enters))

Just throw in some ideas. That's how inspiration sparks :smallsmile:

Hazkali
2007-04-10, 02:48 PM
Okay, perhaps follow the example of The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Shannarah, Darkness at Sethanon and practically every other work of heroic fantasy there is. A huge invading force, composed of many different kinds of evil beings, assaults the lands of men (elves, dwarves, gnomes etc) from their land of darkness, with the intent of crushing the free world under its steel boots.

It starts with Orcish recconisance raids, isolated incidents of the Dead rising and so on, which point to a coming invasion. You can have diplomatic missions to gather together forces (or even to convince the powers that be that there is a real threat) before some real set-piece battles against waves of minions, and then the climax pitting the PCs against the enemy general and his retinue.

If you keep to one race (Undead or Orcs, which can have many different challenge ratings) rangers become very powerful with their favoured enemy class ability.

TheThan
2007-04-10, 03:47 PM
One thing you’re going to have to remember is that magic changes the face of combat, large groups of enemies are going to become nothing but cannon fodder when the wizard/sorcerer gets access to AOE spells like fireball and cloudkill.

That’s why I think making the heroes a unit of Special Forces type warriors is the way to go. Commandos that work behind enemy lines and commit acts of sabotage, reconnaissance, spy work, assassination, etc.

For example a team consisting of a wizard, cleric, rogue and fighter (a ranger would kick butt), could be put to work with destroying a bridge, thusly severing enemy supply lines. Or they could be sent to sneak into an enemy castle and open it up to attack from an outside force. They could be ordered to assassinate a high ranking military officer. The possibilities are endless; I’d just go nuts.

Hazkali
2007-04-11, 02:34 AM
To TheThan: Just restrict the number of AoE spells casters get. If it's going to screw the game up if the wizard takes fireball then don't let him take fireball. Simple as that.

Plus, nobody said that spellcasters have to be prolific or even the standard Wizard/Sorcerers in this campaign world. There could be Warlocks, Beguilers or any other sort of caster. There might be only one caster on each side, or no primary casters at all. In The Lord of the Rings there was only Gandalf on the side of Good, and his spells wouldn't have been able to shift the course of the whole battle.

A Paladin or Healer (from the Miniatures Handbook) would be able to dish out the healing without affecting the balance of offensive magic too much.

Grr
2007-04-11, 02:48 AM
Plus, nobody said that spellcasters have to be prolific or even the standard Wizard/Sorcerers in this campaign world.Hahaha, get used to every Tom, Rich, and Harry expecting every campaign setting to be 100% accurate to the PHB/DMG/MM trio. If it falls outside of those boundaries, most of them start crying about it not being D&D.

Iron_Mouse
2007-04-11, 04:32 AM
Do you know the Myth series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_(computer_game))?
If not, you might want to check it out. It's almost exactly what a HoB campaign should look like, I think. A great war in the background, but you play mostly small-scale missions, away from the large battlefields, using selected (limited!) troops and heroes.

Neko
2007-04-11, 08:44 AM
An interesting idea that I've thought about doing myself. I think a good way to do it.. especially higher up.. is a mixed army... goblings and low level cannonfodder outfront... followed by regiments of diffenrt types.. as well as clerics and spellcaster regiments guarded by combat types.... and have lots of dispell magics or anything to counter AOE spells on hand

SolkaTruesilver
2007-04-11, 02:27 PM
Thanks you all your input, but I alread know how to run a military-style game. Heroes of Battle is "Military-Dnd 101", and I recommend it to anyone who wants that kind of stuff.

What I want, is a good story to run my PCs in. For example, here is what I though for the beggining of the game (lvl 1)

The PCs are stationned in an outpost, which is guarding the entry of an inhabited valley. On the other side of the outpost is the hinterland, a place of barren lands, and there isn't much civilization over there...

...that we know off. Off course, except the occasional orc raids, which is why the outpost has been built there.

There is about 40 soldiers stationned in this outpost, 1 Capt (5-6th level Fighter), 1 lieutenant, 2 clerics and low-level warriors.

At first, the PCs will have to scout the threat, discover it size, and evaluate it's intend. (500 orcs, heading in the valley. Pillage and killing-party). I intend to have the Lieutenant be killed really soon.

The PCs will have to help the evacuation of the valley, and disrupt the advance of the orcs by any mean necessary. Luckily, it's not a strong united warband, but a coalition of sparsed tribles.. so it's periodic attack. (Except, off course, the final show down which will gather about 200 orcs).

The PCs will have to hold off long ennough to evacuate the valley, but not waste too much soldiers in suicide mission. There will be 2 measure of "success degree": the % of people that manage to get out, and the number of soldier surviving. (20 surviving soldiers will be good, where 1-2 is kinda poor).

After the PCs will have had a chance to shine, the Captain will make their most charismatic member his 2nd in command (note: make sure the PCs KNOW it's not a blank-commanding-check. You don't want a player orders the other around everytime). Eventually, I hope to have the Captain killed, so the PCs will be the ones having to make the tough decision (specially when the final horde-attack arrives.. Make a final stand, or run?)

It's a good location-based serie of adventure, and the PCs are clearly on the defensive. You have to make them understand that even a defeat did not mean they haven'T succeded in their "quest".

They can grow to know the little valley, there is room for neutral NPC intervention, and a little story is progressing trough the whole combat. When they will retreat, it is up to them to choose what they'll do (escort the villagers to safety? Scout the ennemy horde? Go alert the nearby keeps?)

This is the kind of input I need.. be it a location-based serie of adventures (example: they have to join the resistance movement in conquered land. What kind of quests do they need to achieve, what kind of setback can happen, etc...) or big mission-based (example: infiltrate the ennemy chain of command/HQ, intercept ennemy spies, etc...)

I always though that multi-brain storming is more productive than one brain's work :-)

Vorpal Pete
2007-04-12, 11:04 AM
Make the orcs in the first scenario slave-takers rather than simply slaughterers. That opens a possibility for a rescue mission immediately following the evacuation where the players have to strike deep into enemy territory, recover a target/several targets, and exfiltrate.

Later, when the orkish armies and their monstrous slaves conquer an entire region and enslave its people, the PCs can join the slaves in a resistance movement. Maybe they can set charges on the army's dragons while the dragons are still in their hangars :).

EvilElitest
2007-04-12, 11:10 AM
Thanks you all your input, but I alread know how to run a military-style game. Heroes of Battle is "Military-Dnd 101", and I recommend it to anyone who wants that kind of stuff.

What I want, is a good story to run my PCs in. For example, here is what I though for the beggining of the game (lvl 1)

The PCs are stationned in an outpost, which is guarding the entry of an inhabited valley. On the other side of the outpost is the hinterland, a place of barren lands, and there isn't much civilization over there...

...that we know off. Off course, except the occasional orc raids, which is why the outpost has been built there.

There is about 40 soldiers stationned in this outpost, 1 Capt (5-6th level Fighter), 1 lieutenant, 2 clerics and low-level warriors.

At first, the PCs will have to scout the threat, discover it size, and evaluate it's intend. (500 orcs, heading in the valley. Pillage and killing-party). I intend to have the Lieutenant be killed really soon.

The PCs will have to help the evacuation of the valley, and disrupt the advance of the orcs by any mean necessary. Luckily, it's not a strong united warband, but a coalition of sparsed tribles.. so it's periodic attack. (Except, off course, the final show down which will gather about 200 orcs).

The PCs will have to hold off long ennough to evacuate the valley, but not waste too much soldiers in suicide mission. There will be 2 measure of "success degree": the % of people that manage to get out, and the number of soldier surviving. (20 surviving soldiers will be good, where 1-2 is kinda poor).

After the PCs will have had a chance to shine, the Captain will make their most charismatic member his 2nd in command (note: make sure the PCs KNOW it's not a blank-commanding-check. You don't want a player orders the other around everytime). Eventually, I hope to have the Captain killed, so the PCs will be the ones having to make the tough decision (specially when the final horde-attack arrives.. Make a final stand, or run?)

It's a good location-based serie of adventure, and the PCs are clearly on the defensive. You have to make them understand that even a defeat did not mean they haven'T succeded in their "quest".

They can grow to know the little valley, there is room for neutral NPC intervention, and a little story is progressing trough the whole combat. When they will retreat, it is up to them to choose what they'll do (escort the villagers to safety? Scout the ennemy horde? Go alert the nearby keeps?)

This is the kind of input I need.. be it a location-based serie of adventures (example: they have to join the resistance movement in conquered land. What kind of quests do they need to achieve, what kind of setback can happen, etc...) or big mission-based (example: infiltrate the ennemy chain of command/HQ, intercept ennemy spies, etc...)

I always though that multi-brain storming is more productive than one brain's work :-)

Nicely done, keep a count of your men. The PCs may feel good, but when thier men are being picked off one by one we have a problem. forthem at least
From,
EE

Indon
2007-04-12, 11:14 AM
Another good idea would be to have a lesser, weaker force _fleeing_ a more powerful one; perhaps tribes of goblins from the north on the run from the army of a Lich, and raiding to get food to survive. The multiple raids from large goblin tribes are mistaken as a coordinated invasion, and the call comes out for adventurers.

SolkaTruesilver
2007-04-12, 11:41 AM
That was a possible senario. Just like the Goth who rans from the Huns, the Orcs are fleeing an invasion of the "hidden ennemy".

I still have to find what kind of ennemy that will be..

XtheYeti
2007-04-12, 01:24 PM
maybe they are running from the next army, or even the third army that you characters must flee, which makes them find the second army they face.