Doughnut Master
2015-03-22, 02:13 PM
Currently I'm running a game that's essentially a D&D version of WWI. Very quickly I discovered the frustration of mass combat and balancing realism with not having to roll 1000 d20s. Working out this problem with my friend led us to making this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iomofwxhry2wts9/Battle%20Calculator.xlsx?dl=0
Basically, it's a battle calculator that tracks losses and morale. The highlighted stuff represents almost everything you'd need to keep track of to manually enter. Everything else is just excel calculations. Each "round" of battle involves opposed attrition checks. The DM is free to determine how much these checks are worth. When there's attrition, mark it down in %Casualties (.01 numeric represents 1% losses).
The attrition modifiers represent the tide of battle and can be influenced by temporary actions, such as charging. Morale checks start with the top commander, and only when that leader fails do they start to cascade downwards. This way, you don't have to make checks for every single unit every single time. But it still gives some granularity as you work your way down to smaller commands.
Morale progresses through 4 phases. Shaken, which imposes the same penalty as it does to individuals. Frightened, the unit will attempt to withdraw. Panicked, the unit is broken. Routed, the unit is broken and permanently off the field. Throughout this process, commanders can attempt to consolidate their unit and improve their morale status by one (unless they're routed).
The nice thing for the DM here, is that you only have to add or subtract along the Shaken --> Routed line, and the tool factors in how this affects the rest of the army automatically.
Now what about the players? The thought here is that the battle occurs in the background and the players can either go on mini-quests or face random encounters to attempt to turn the tide. For instance, they may find an enemy command unit exposed, and can go and try and take it out, forcing a morale check on the larger unit.
This is still a prototype, so any comments and suggestions for improvement are most welcome. Still, I hope this proves useful to all you future warlords.
-DM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iomofwxhry2wts9/Battle%20Calculator.xlsx?dl=0
Basically, it's a battle calculator that tracks losses and morale. The highlighted stuff represents almost everything you'd need to keep track of to manually enter. Everything else is just excel calculations. Each "round" of battle involves opposed attrition checks. The DM is free to determine how much these checks are worth. When there's attrition, mark it down in %Casualties (.01 numeric represents 1% losses).
The attrition modifiers represent the tide of battle and can be influenced by temporary actions, such as charging. Morale checks start with the top commander, and only when that leader fails do they start to cascade downwards. This way, you don't have to make checks for every single unit every single time. But it still gives some granularity as you work your way down to smaller commands.
Morale progresses through 4 phases. Shaken, which imposes the same penalty as it does to individuals. Frightened, the unit will attempt to withdraw. Panicked, the unit is broken. Routed, the unit is broken and permanently off the field. Throughout this process, commanders can attempt to consolidate their unit and improve their morale status by one (unless they're routed).
The nice thing for the DM here, is that you only have to add or subtract along the Shaken --> Routed line, and the tool factors in how this affects the rest of the army automatically.
Now what about the players? The thought here is that the battle occurs in the background and the players can either go on mini-quests or face random encounters to attempt to turn the tide. For instance, they may find an enemy command unit exposed, and can go and try and take it out, forcing a morale check on the larger unit.
This is still a prototype, so any comments and suggestions for improvement are most welcome. Still, I hope this proves useful to all you future warlords.
-DM