Sk8ter274
2024-04-17, 11:12 PM
Party Comp
Lvl 3 Satyr Hexblade Warlock
Lvl 3 Human Circle of Fire Druid
Lvl 3 Half-orc Zealot Barbarian
Lvl 3 Tiefling Samuria Fighter
Lvl 3 Harengon Witch (Kobold Press Class from Deep Magic Vol. 2)
I won't go too far in the minutia, but TLDR I'm running an Isekai campaign. So far they've doing normal standard game stuff. Buying land, establishing a home, making contact with factions. etc. They're about to hit level 3 and I've been hinting that the city they are currently at is about to be attacked because after returning from quests, which they believe are being manipulated by a faction in order to spread the city's forces thin, the city has slowly becoming more and more fortified with more siege defenses and several mercenary companies camping in or around the city. In short, I want them to hit lvl 3, give them a shopping session as the quest they're completing allows them to access the magical district of the city, then an in game day of rest before the enemy army arrives.
I'm currently at a loss at how to proceed. Story wise I want to play it out as holding out for reinforcements to arrive from the "nearby" forts similar to the Battle for Helm's Deep in LOTR, but the city is designed like Minas Tirith built into a mountain with seven levels. Obviously the enemy is going to have the numbers advantage, but the city is going to have the tech advantage since an isekai'd Artificer established the city. The enemy will have muskets at the absolute most advanced, trebuchets and catapults, and the occasional ballistae. The city will have renaissance era style cannons that can tilt back for more range ( ala the USS Texas maneuver https://youtu.be/3oJSRAFkJIs?si=CzcxsuoxALdLXFWX&t=162). The city will have also established a colossal minefield before the enemy even gets in range of the cannons along spiked pit traps and other various obstacles that'll make it impossible for cavalry. The issue the city will have is the obvious lack of ammunition because they were caught off guard and the fact blackpowder is time and resource consuming to produce and the city will had prioritized feeding its people. So the enemy will suffer heavy losses at first, but the long the fight draws out the better for the city since it buys time for reinforcements to arrive. The enemy will know this which is why they won't opt for a blockade to starve the city which is impossible since the city secretly has access to the sea via a hidden dock inside the mountain (established by the previous owners of the city).
I thought to maybe have them do several things around the city as it's being sieged to "slow down" the assault, but I'm at a loss how to go about doing that. Do I have to establish the exact numbers of the enemy and city and figure then figure out via dice rolls how many they lose? How do I convey the desperation of the situation? Do I employ a time limit of sorts and how? Like the reinforcement will arrive in X amount of days at best, but the enemy will overrun the city in half that time so go do X and Y to extend the time by a day? Perhaps infiltrate the enemy camp to poison their food or free prisoner or assassinate commanding officers or steal plans, etc?
Need suggestions and advice
It also goes without saying that they will likely not beover in a single session, but I don't want it too go to long.
Lvl 3 Satyr Hexblade Warlock
Lvl 3 Human Circle of Fire Druid
Lvl 3 Half-orc Zealot Barbarian
Lvl 3 Tiefling Samuria Fighter
Lvl 3 Harengon Witch (Kobold Press Class from Deep Magic Vol. 2)
I won't go too far in the minutia, but TLDR I'm running an Isekai campaign. So far they've doing normal standard game stuff. Buying land, establishing a home, making contact with factions. etc. They're about to hit level 3 and I've been hinting that the city they are currently at is about to be attacked because after returning from quests, which they believe are being manipulated by a faction in order to spread the city's forces thin, the city has slowly becoming more and more fortified with more siege defenses and several mercenary companies camping in or around the city. In short, I want them to hit lvl 3, give them a shopping session as the quest they're completing allows them to access the magical district of the city, then an in game day of rest before the enemy army arrives.
I'm currently at a loss at how to proceed. Story wise I want to play it out as holding out for reinforcements to arrive from the "nearby" forts similar to the Battle for Helm's Deep in LOTR, but the city is designed like Minas Tirith built into a mountain with seven levels. Obviously the enemy is going to have the numbers advantage, but the city is going to have the tech advantage since an isekai'd Artificer established the city. The enemy will have muskets at the absolute most advanced, trebuchets and catapults, and the occasional ballistae. The city will have renaissance era style cannons that can tilt back for more range ( ala the USS Texas maneuver https://youtu.be/3oJSRAFkJIs?si=CzcxsuoxALdLXFWX&t=162). The city will have also established a colossal minefield before the enemy even gets in range of the cannons along spiked pit traps and other various obstacles that'll make it impossible for cavalry. The issue the city will have is the obvious lack of ammunition because they were caught off guard and the fact blackpowder is time and resource consuming to produce and the city will had prioritized feeding its people. So the enemy will suffer heavy losses at first, but the long the fight draws out the better for the city since it buys time for reinforcements to arrive. The enemy will know this which is why they won't opt for a blockade to starve the city which is impossible since the city secretly has access to the sea via a hidden dock inside the mountain (established by the previous owners of the city).
I thought to maybe have them do several things around the city as it's being sieged to "slow down" the assault, but I'm at a loss how to go about doing that. Do I have to establish the exact numbers of the enemy and city and figure then figure out via dice rolls how many they lose? How do I convey the desperation of the situation? Do I employ a time limit of sorts and how? Like the reinforcement will arrive in X amount of days at best, but the enemy will overrun the city in half that time so go do X and Y to extend the time by a day? Perhaps infiltrate the enemy camp to poison their food or free prisoner or assassinate commanding officers or steal plans, etc?
Need suggestions and advice
It also goes without saying that they will likely not beover in a single session, but I don't want it too go to long.