A broken siege - Write me a story...

[WalkingTheShade]

So, I'm DMing a 3.5 adventure, and am currently out of ideas. As an experiment, I'm asking you guys to help me with a story for our incoming game session.

Here's the situation:
- Group of level 1 and 2 characters, classes unimportant.
- World is very low magic (think A Song of Ice and Fire, not Eberron), early middle ages technologically (crossbows are rare, no full-plates, units of mounted knights are beginning to come into use).
- PCs are grunts and NCO, in the same platoon, for kingdom Alpha.
- The army of kingdom Alpha is currently besieging city Charlie of kingdom Beta.
- Charlie is on the sea cost, and has tree layers of walls.
- Army Alpha has breached the most exterior wall, and put the city under maritime blockade.
- The platoon of the party (over which the PC have some meager authority) is currently positioned between the most exterior wall, next to the coastline with orders to guard their position against enemy sallies.

Last session:
- PC were attacked by sallying troops during the night and managed to fight them off.

What's supposed to happen soonish:
- Army Beta is going to feint a land assault (PCs previously gathered intel regarding land movements, but nobody knows it's a feint, yet),
- Navy Beta is going to use superior sea power to break the maritime blockade and land reinforcements both inside the city and on the coastline.
- This should break the siege and force army Alpha (whose main body of troops is still just outside the city) to fall back and regroup in order to avoid being surrounded.
- The PCs platoon risks being stranded inside the city, surrounded by army Beta.

While I have plans at the macro level, I can't figure out how to make the scenario engaging for the players. I'm afraid it's going to end up like playing through a video game cinematic, thus quite boring.

[Flickerdart]

Just skip it? Take 5 seconds to go "you are awakened by the sound of fighting, it looks like the cavalry is here to break the siege." As low-level grunts, in a setting without modern logistics, they'll be lucky if anybody tells them anything at all about what's happening.

[WalkingTheShade]

Just skip it?
I thought about that... But find it even less engaging. Also, that's what happened to them during the sally, and it'd feel like a repeat performance: "once again you are attacked by surprise during the night".

If I do it, the main question is: what happens to the characters then? Just one long action scene after which they are either killed, captured or manage to flee the city?

[Geddy2112]

Don't focus too much on the macro. Tell the PC's the enemy army is making a land move and the city is sending the majority of their forces to meet them. Then tell them a bit later that ships are landing, and see what they do.

Focus on small micro events that the PC's do. They know the battle is happening around them, but don't provide details other than very broad strokes. Keep encounters and movement to the party, and don't give them omnipotence. Give them ways to estimate the results of their choices, and indicators on how the battle is going etc.

It brings up the question-can the PC's make a meaningful difference in the outcome of the siege based on their actions? Will kill/capture result as long as they stay no matter what? If they run, will it be easy or feasible? Will they run? What is your plan after this? What if they do something you don't expect, like defect to Army beta?

[WalkingTheShade]

Don't focus too much on the macro. Tell the PC's the enemy army is making a land move and the city is sending the majority of their forces to meet them. Then tell them a bit later that ships are landing, and see what they do.

Focus on small micro events that the PC's do. They know the battle is happening around them, but don't provide details other than very broad strokes. Keep encounters and movement to the party, and don't give them omnipotence. Give them ways to estimate the results of their choices, and indicators on how the battle is going etc.
Thank you. I'll keep this in mind.


It brings up the question-can the PC's make a meaningful difference in the outcome of the siege based on their actions?
I'd have to think about it, but I might think that since there platoon will be on first line after landing, deciding whether to run away, how to fight, etc. might result in bogging the enemy down, giving more time for their allies to regroup.
Running right away (or even retreating to better ground) might cause a general rout on their side of the battle. So yeah, their choices might count in the long run. They won't be able to predict how, however.


Will kill/capture result as long as they stay no matter what?
Unless they find a smart way to hide for some time in the city, yeah.


If they run, will it be easy or feasible?
If they run right away, they will probably escape being surrounded. Later, looks more difficult.


Will they run?
At least one player has reliably played his character as ready to die in combat. Others might or not, depending on their perception.


What is your plan after this?
Not much plans actually. I'm leaving it open ended on purpose. They might get separated from the main army body and have to fight a rear-guard action, they might desert, might get captured, etc.


What if they do something you don't expect, like defect to Army beta?
Well, I'm counting on them thinking up unexpected things to spice up the game. However, I still want to have an outline and options of what can happen to them in case they don't come up with anything too crazy.

EDIT: Now that I'm thinking of it, I might prepare generic NPC stats for other soldiers on their side, with a few different classes, and hand out those as replacement characters is the party splits, in order for one player to have something if their character is split from the group, MIA or KIA.

[Chester]

Send the PC platoon on a recon mission. Otherwise, they'll find themselves in the midst of a massive battle with lots of DM turns.

So . . . they go on a recon mission, only to discover a group of goblins/orcs/gnolls/bugbears/monster race du jour trying to take advantage of the situation.

PCs get to do something that the rest of their fellow soldiers aren't doing. They uncover a greater threat (perhaps monster races uniting while humans fight amongst themselves), helping to forge the way for a temporary truce, gaining some reputation, and opening themselves up to more missions/adventures based on such a reputation.

[WalkingTheShade]

Send the PC platoon on a recon mission. Otherwise, they'll find themselves in the midst of a massive battle with lots of DM turns.
They're coming back from one... As for the rest of your post, that would be out of the tone I want to give to this game. Let's describe it as: gritty game of grunts garnered in the middle of war in which there are no heroes.

[Chester]

They're coming back from one... As for the rest of your post, that would be out of the tone I want to give to this game. Let's describe it as: gritty game of grunts garnered in the middle of war in which there are no heroes.

Fair enough.

I'll be around if you need me.

[DarkSoul]

Have you ever read the Heroes of Battle book? Since this war is going to be a focal point of the campaign, HoB has a lot of ideas that will help you out, like treating the battles as a backdrop and allowing the characters to influence the outcome of the battle by achieving (or failing to achieve) various goals, which provide the encounters for the "Siege of Charlie" adventure. It's got a point system that lets you set degrees of success as well, with very successful groups either turning the tide of the battle or giving their side a better result if the outcome is inevitable.

Some thoughts based on your "What's going to happen next" section:


- Army Beta is going to feint a land assault (PCs previously gathered intel regarding land movements, but nobody knows it's a feint, yet),
- Navy Beta is going to use superior sea power to break the maritime blockade and land reinforcements both inside the city and on the coastline.
- This should break the siege and force army Alpha (whose main body of troops is still just outside the city) to fall back and regroup in order to avoid being surrounded.
- The PCs platoon risks being stranded inside the city, surrounded by army Beta.

During the land assault one notable encounter the group could have is seeing someone running for their lines, being pursued by a group of Beta soldiers. Let the runner die in the fighting, but make sure he tells the characters he's got important intel that has to reach their commanders ASAP. It reveals the fact that the land assault is a feint, and the real strike will be from the sea. Command orders the characters to investigate because all reports they've received indicate that Beta's sea presence isn't enough to break their blockade, so obviously there's another factor at work that they haven't uncovered (secret weapons, allied navy arriving, something).

When the characters discover whatever it is that will let the navy break the blockade, they might have a chance to either destroy it (best-case), reduce its effectiveness (partial victory), or not affect it at all (failure). If the characters destroy Beta's ability to conduct a naval strike, then the siege is going to be successful in a very short period of time, and this Beta city is doomed. Reduced effectiveness could mean that the navy can't clear the coastline to allow troops to land but gets reinforcements into the city and secures a slim sea lane. This would draw out the siege to the point that without reinforcements, Alpha's army can't hold out and has to fall back, thus breaking the siege. This results in significant attrition on both sides, weakening both armies and forcing a stalemate for a time.

If the characters can't affect the potency of the naval strike, then their best-case scenario is to discover when it will take place. Alpha Command's reaction is to push ahead in a frontal assault to try to take the city before the naval attack makes it impossible. If the naval strike is impossible because of the characters, then the frontal assault takes place regardless. This ends up with the characters in the city ahead of the army. Retask them as a special forces unit and send them in to open the way for the assault, either overtly (destroy the gate, set the disintegrate charges on the base of the walls to open the way, etc.) or covertly (distraction elsewhere in the city, assassinate commanders in the beta army to sow confusion and delay orders being carried out, whatever else you come up with that doesn't involve blowing up large sections of something).

As a result of the assault, Beta's navy is forced to launch early. The blockade is broken and reinforcements stream into the city. The characters are:


captured by Beta,
trapped when their army is surrounded and separated from the main Alpha army is repelled, and they are assumed to be dead,
or they're knowingly sacrificed by Alpha Command as "acceptable losses" while the army withdraws without them.


Obviously, none of the above takes place if the naval strike is prevented and the city falls, and then you move on with the rest of the campaign.