Need Help With a Scenario

NMatuzic · Mar 18, 2011

Hi all,

I'm running a GURPS Fantasy campaign in my own game world which has a strong medieval and feudal feel to it. There is a scenario coming up which I have an idea for, but I'm not sure how to implement.

First, a quick rundown of the situation:
- The PCs have been installed as the temporary protectors of a village/town due to a few things:
1) The town's sheriff was killed
2) The local knight, responsible for the protection of several villages and towns, has been notably absent.
- A messenger (the sheriff's apprentice) was sent to contact the knight but has not returned.
- Lately, attacks and raids have been occuring on the local populace by goblin creatures. They used to be very tribal, and kept mostly out of sight. Now they seem to be more organised, and more bold.

One of the possible directions discussed by the group at the last session was to go to the knight's castle and figure out what is going on. That's where my latest scenario will take place.

When they arrive, they will find the knight has gone, along with almost his entire retinue. The only ones who remain are the very few sick, infirm or imprisoned (maybe half a dozen in total?) who simply can not make a journey out of the place. They heard that the knight had to vacate his castle to join up with the King's army, and that new tenants would be arriving shortly.

The new tenants arrive not long after the PCs get comfy - a band of goblins (there's background reasons to this, that don't really affect this scenario. The short version - the King is going mad). I'm assuming (dangerous, I know!) that the PCs will try to evacuate (not possible unless they leave the sick and inform to die), or try to defend the castle.

My idea for this scenario is the vastly outnumbered PCs try to defend the castle by using trickery and superior equipment/tactics. Think along the lines of that scene in Willow where Madmartigan and co. hold off the enemy in the Tir Asleen castle.

What I need, though, are ideas on how to provide the PCs with options that can help them even the odds, and how to present these ideas without being too obvious and/or just handing it over to them. I'm thinking obvious ways to defend a castle, like boiling oil and what not, but also after out-of-the box ideas, like dummy soldiers and the like, too.

I expect the battle to slowly go against the PCs and at the very last help them out with soldiers from a frontier post, who are returning for a regular report.

Many thanks for any help and/or ideas!

NewJeffCT · Mar 18, 2011

NMatuzic said:
Hi all,

I'm running a GURPS Fantasy campaign in my own game world which has a strong medieval and feudal feel to it. There is a scenario coming up which I have an idea for, but I'm not sure how to implement.

First, a quick rundown of the situation:
- The PCs have been installed as the temporary protectors of a village/town due to a few things:
1) The town's sheriff was killed
2) The local knight, responsible for the protection of several villages and towns, has been notably absent.
- A messenger (the sheriff's apprentice) was sent to contact the knight but has not returned.
- Lately, attacks and raids have been occuring on the local populace by goblin creatures. They used to be very tribal, and kept mostly out of sight. Now they seem to be more organised, and more bold.

One of the possible directions discussed by the group at the last session was to go to the knight's castle and figure out what is going on. That's where my latest scenario will take place.

When they arrive, they will find the knight has gone, along with almost his entire retinue. The only ones who remain are the very few sick, infirm or imprisoned (maybe half a dozen in total?) who simply can not make a journey out of the place. They heard that the knight had to vacate his castle to join up with the King's army, and that new tenants would be arriving shortly.

The new tenants arrive not long after the PCs get comfy - a band of goblins (there's background reasons to this, that don't really affect this scenario. The short version - the King is going mad). I'm assuming (dangerous, I know!) that the PCs will try to evacuate (not possible unless they leave the sick and inform to die), or try to defend the castle.

My idea for this scenario is the vastly outnumbered PCs try to defend the castle by using trickery and superior equipment/tactics. Think along the lines of that scene in Willow where Madmartigan and co. hold off the enemy in the Tir Asleen castle.

What I need, though, are ideas on how to provide the PCs with options that can help them even the odds, and how to present these ideas without being too obvious and/or just handing it over to them. I'm thinking obvious ways to defend a castle, like boiling oil and what not, but also after out-of-the box ideas, like dummy soldiers and the like, too.

I expect the battle to slowly go against the PCs and at the very last help them out with soldiers from a frontier post, who are returning for a regular report.

Many thanks for any help and/or ideas!

Would anybody in the town itself be able to help the players out? Even a few able bodies to help pour boiling oil, run a healing potion up a ladder to a sticken PC, or even knock down a scaling ladder would be a huge help. That might seem more realistic than a group from a remote border outpost.

Heck, just having an extra body to get to a PC who falls below 0 hit points and administer a healing potion might be helpful.

If you have a party of 4 or 5 PCs, though, it will be very difficult to defend a castle with only that many people. The goblins could just attack each of the 4 outside walls and they would have one PC against that wall's goblin attackers. (Is it 100 goblins or more, which would make it 20 or 25 to one?)

To be honest, if I were the PCs in that situation, I might take the fight to the goblins and do a series of hit & run attacks on them outside of the castle where I have a terrain advantage.

Also, if you're running a 4E game, maybe a skill challenge for any healers in the party to see if they can get any of the infirm within the castle to help them out.

One more thing: If there is one access point to the castle (i.e., a bridge across a moat or river), the PCs could take out the bridge, or else take their chances at wearing the goblins down from range as they control the one access point from on high.

NMatuzic · Mar 18, 2011

I forgot to mention that the village is some distance from the castle. I'm talking about half a day's ride? So it's just whoever is at the castle, basically.

Also, I'm thinking a smaller castle, like a keep with a wall, and not too much more than that.

The goblin numbers are undecided. I thught I'd do it in waves, to see how they're dealing with each as they arrive. That way I can easily add more if needed, or I can slow down the waves if they're REALLY struggling.

I don't mind if the PCs take the fight to outside the castle walls. Or even set traps and what not, that could work out well for them.

The goblins, i should mention, are not an overly brave bunch, and can be easily spooked.

Numlock · Mar 18, 2011

If it were me, I'd tell my players that there could be options to defend the castle and that normal fighting isn't the only option. The players will start coming up with tricks and traps. If these are somewhat plausible, then I let them. Of course they'll need time to set traps and such. Maybe a half hour break between the Goblin scouts and the main army?

Don't try to quantify the inventory of the castle beforehand, just wing it when a players comes up with something. Prepare some traps you think they will use, and go from there/see how it goes.

BTW, the wave idea is very good, because no matter how crappy your players perform, they'll always think they beat the Goblin army. Make sure your players don't notice that your determining your forces on their performance.

Gilladian · Mar 18, 2011

three things that I would do:
1) give the small keep a moat and only one crossing point to the gate. This way for a long while, the goblins will focus their attack there. If/when they do cross the moat (boats? Bridges?) it will be very obvious.

2) provide a last-ditch fallback spot in the castle (the chapel?) that the PCs can retreat into or at least put the wounded/infirm into as an inner sanctum. Maybe even provide an escape tunnel from there so they can flee at the last minute if all is lost.

3) If the PCs lack certain skills or knowledge, give them access to one or two NPCs that DO have that knowledge. Maybe a mason/builder has broken leg - can't fight, but can give advice on how to rig traps/repair stuff. Maybe the priest is too busy helping a woman with a difficult delivery/labor to come out and man the walls, but will do some buffing spells if called upon?

NewJeffCT · Mar 18, 2011

NMatuzic said:
I forgot to mention that the village is some distance from the castle. I'm talking about half a day's ride? So it's just whoever is at the castle, basically.

Also, I'm thinking a smaller castle, like a keep with a wall, and not too much more than that.

The goblin numbers are undecided. I thught I'd do it in waves, to see how they're dealing with each as they arrive. That way I can easily add more if needed, or I can slow down the waves if they're REALLY struggling.

I don't mind if the PCs take the fight to outside the castle walls. Or even set traps and what not, that could work out well for them.

The goblins, i should mention, are not an overly brave bunch, and can be easily spooked.

I had a similar scenario a few years back, only instead of a keep, it was a grove that had a dryad's tree at its heart - the players had time to set up static defenses, and I had made it clear that they had extra protections within the grove because of the dryad and her unicorn steed (the dryad was an ally, but because she was a dryad, could not leave the grove/ stray too far from her tree)

The players were faced with a seemingly overwhelming force of orcs and slavers (evil clerics, drow and other non orc warriors). Oh, and they had a hill giant with them as well.

I had thought for sure the players would take advantage of having a dryad and a unicorn on their side (the unicorn's protection from evil 10' radius can come in handy) and stick close to them. Maybe set up some areas where the ranged people in the party could get partial cover behind old logs/boulders/etc.

However, the players decided to take the fight to the bad guys by correctly deducing that the much larger attacking force would likely move more slowly than a small fast team of PCs (the PCs did not know it at the time, but the lead evil cleric was on a palanquin carried by a group of slaves...nice image, but not exactly fast)

So, they got their bows/arrows and attacked the bad guys from the edge of their range, then retreated and fired again. Then retreated and fired again, and so on and so forth. With the evil spellcasters being mostly clerics, they did not have long ranged spells to counter-attack and the orc arrows were mostly ineffective against the players. Though, the hill giant did nail one NPC with a thrown rock.

It ended up being a highly effective way for the players to wear the bad guys down before they finally retreated to the grove and used their remaining healing to get ready for the showdown. (the slavers were certainly not going to stop to heal up fallen orcs...)

NMatuzic · Mar 19, 2011

Thanks for the feedback, some very nice ideas in there!

I'm thinking of a limited attack path, but not a moat- perhaps a hill or some such, with some steep, almost clifflike sides?

I very much like the idea of the last bastion of defence- most probably the chapel, as suggested.

I had indeed planned of having NPCs who could help indirectly. Perhaps even a young squire who is probably not ready for battle, giving the PCs a choice of morals vs survival. Within the party there is already a priest and an tinkerer, so healing and traps should be fine, but that doesn't mean that others couldn't help in this regard.

I'm feeling a lot more confident now of this scenario working. Please keep the ideas coming! One week till the session runs, and I'll let you all know how it turned out too.

WHW4 · Mar 19, 2011

Maybe you could give the group a good opportunity to leave the castle itself, and spook the goblins by setting fire to their supplies/killing their commander/pretending to be orcs.

In fact, what if the party did just that? Had someone disguise themselves as an orc (or analogous "bigger fish" humanoid) and try to talk/intimidate the goblins to leave. I find this approach hilarious, myself.

NMatuzic · Mar 19, 2011

Heh heh, summon bigger fish...

I'm happy for the PCs to sally forth and disrupt the attack, that could work just as well as a last stand at the castle itself. Thanks for the headsup, I'll have to plan out a surrounding area map just in case!

Whisper72 · Mar 21, 2011

Well... if the goblins are easily spooked, one way to do this (from the player's perspective), is to hide inside the castle and make it seem haunted. Find hiding spots. Let the goblins take possession of the castle (locking the infirm and such away in a room where the goblins cannot easily get to, the cellars etc. and block these up / hide behind mounds of supplies etc.), and during the night, start murdering the sleeping goblins. Do this in such a way that it appears as though ghosts are active. Come morning, the goblins, that survived, are all running away...

Need Help With a Scenario

NMatuzic

First Post

NewJeffCT

First Post

NMatuzic

First Post

Numlock

First Post

Gilladian

Adventurer

NewJeffCT

First Post

NMatuzic

First Post

WHW4

First Post

NMatuzic

First Post

Whisper72

Explorer

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