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View Full Version : DM Help Players have a small militia at their disposal



Dayvig
2018-02-03, 10:18 PM
See title. Through negotiations, the players have banded up with a relatively large (About 50) militia of spirit warriors, and they're on their way to go fight some half giants (and full giants!). The players are around level 4 and the campaign is set almost entirely in a desert environment.

Have any tips for planning encounters? Should I let them stay banded up with the army, or find some way to isolate them a little bit more? Any tips on running more large-scale encounters well?

Hellpyre
2018-02-03, 10:57 PM
In general, unless the players want to play war games (in which case, try looking for a good system for that to supplement your current RPG system), really large scale conflict needs to be abstracted or it bogs down the game. Either focus on the PCs vs. elite enemies and throw some flavor of battle into your descriptions, or else pull the PCs away from the militia for combat encounters. That would be my advice. As far as level-specific challenge advice, you probably want to ask anything that isn't system-agnostic in the appropriate sub-forum. That will generally get better advice, and more invested eyes on the thread.

redwizard007
2018-02-03, 11:01 PM
Have any tips for planning encounters? Should I let them stay banded up with the army, or find some way to isolate them a little bit more? Any tips on running more large-scale encounters well?

I would suggest planning encounters to be just a little harder. Slightly tougher creatures, slightly more of them. Most of your militia won't significantly impact a fight against higher DC monsters, they just don't connect frequently enough. Don't make huge adjustments, smaller is better here. If you really want to let the players feel that they are getting the most out of their friends, have small groups of low level bad guys that the militia can engage while the PCs hit the big dogs.

The players may see the militia as a reward. Taking that reward away will not go over well unless you do it with style. Allow the militia to be useful, but whittle it down with casualties. The players will either use it up like a potion, retire it from combat and eliminate the problem for you, or begin actively recruiting in which case your game is about to change dramatically.

You to need to deal with some aspects of combat that may be new to you. Older systems had a"morale system" to determine when minions fled or broke ranks. It may be something you want to look into. There are also issues of loyalty, but that can often be dependent on the needs of your story.

I highly recommend pre-rolling a ton of results for any combat involving the militia, nobody came to watch you play with yourself. It can also be a good idea to determine what would happen if the PCs aren't involved in a fight and adjust accordingly based on what surprises the players have for you. That way the militia becomes a backdrop. Part of the scenery. It shouldn't overshadow the players that way. The 3rd edition book Heroes of Battle had some interesting ideas about running PCs in a larger battle. It is well worth the read.

Thrudd
2018-02-03, 11:24 PM
So are the giants expecting them? Are they entering a land controlled by giants? What's the actual situation here? Presumably they have an objective already, which is the reason why they sought to ally with the militia. So what's their objective? Where are they going and how would they get there? That should tell you what sort of things they'll encounter. Most creatures would stay away from a group this large marching someplace. So they will probably only be attacked by equally sized (or larger) groups, or something of equivalent power. I would assume this would be the giants they're planning on fighting. If they march conspicuously into enemy territory, they will be met with a force that seems sufficient to defeat them. If the enemy does not have adequate forces to stand up to the militia, they might attempt guerilla tactics like traps and ambushes that will wear down their numbers, depending on how smart they are and what their culture is like. Or they might retreat and seek allies or reinforcements before seeking battle.

I'm guessing this is some sort of D&D game. It helps with large groups to divide them into a manageable number of units and treat each unit of troops as a single character that moves together and attacks together on the same initiative. So for your 50 man militia, maybe you have them in five groups of ten. For example, maybe each militia man has 5 HP, AC of 15 and does 1d6 damage if they hit. On their turn, roll a handful of d20's, then roll a d6 for each hit they score. If the unit gets hit, subtract one soldier for every 5 HP that's lost. Don't bother keeping track of how much HP each soldier has, they are either alive or dead. For enemies that the PCs are fighting, treat things normally. It's only when you have units of NPCs and monster fighting each other that you use the shorthand method, or if the unit is fighting a big monster, like a giant.

Berenger
2018-02-04, 06:48 AM
Should I let them stay banded up with the army, or find some way to isolate them a little bit more?

Is this actually a militia? Because a militia can't travel far from home for extended periods of time by definition.

Clistenes
2018-02-04, 07:47 AM
What edition are you playing? And what CR are those Spirit Warriors?

Honest Tiefling
2018-02-04, 11:59 AM
Have any tips for planning encounters? Should I let them stay banded up with the army, or find some way to isolate them a little bit more? Any tips on running more large-scale encounters well?

Why are you asking us? We didn't force your players to negotiate with the militia, hopefully. Presumably they have SOME sort of plan. What were the players intending when they hired them on? You might get upset players who wanted to play battlefield commander or just have a really well guarded campsite won't be happy if their plans aren't fulfilled. So why not ask your players what they were intending to do in the first place?

Kaptin Keen
2018-02-04, 01:24 PM
I'd do this:

For any given objective, I'd set a cost. Let's say the players decide they want to Conquer the Leng Plateau. The base cost is 45 militia. As in, that many of your guys are going to die. Then I'd set a DC, against which the players could roll. Each player would have an option to roll to decrease the cost - one might lead, another decide on tactics, a third upgrade gear - whatever, basically.

And then I'd never get into the actual combat of the thing. Just say:

Conquer the Leng Plateau, with 3 successes to reduce the cost, will propably kill off half your militia. It happens thusly: [Insert fluff description of the battle and it's consequences]

Bohandas
2018-02-04, 03:28 PM
in the d20 system you can use the rules for mobs of creatures