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D&D General GM's Closet for the CONAN RPG
- Thread starter Water Bob
- Start date
MASS COMBAT!
So, you want to play a scenario with Bossonian Archers, Gundermen Pikemen, Aquilonian foot soldiers, and mounted Knights from Pointain, all waging bloody war against a horde of savages from Pictland?
How do you do it?
Mongoose's Conan RPG gives you several options, depending on the type of game that you want to play and the tone of the game that you want to set for your players.
CORE RULEBOOK MASS COMBAT
The rulebook tells us that the majority of a nation's military forces is composed of 1st level Soldiers with the lower ranking officers being Soldiers of the 2nd-5th level. Higher ranking officers are usually Nobles or Noble/Soldier multi-classed characters. Peasant armies are composed of 1st level Commoners. (See page 30, Conan RPG 2E).
The Gazetteer chapter of the rulebook describes the Military Forces typical of each kingdom in the known world, and spread throughout that chapter are combat notes on Terrain Features.
The Campaings chapter suggests running large army engagements as colorful background (see page 407, Conan RPG 2E) description for heroic adventures. Enough information is given in the core rulebook such that the GM will have enough information to describe the incredible battles that happen around the PCs as the game is focused, like a movie or a Conan short story, on the specific events as played out by the PCs.
TRADITIONAL MASS COMBAT SYSTEM
If you like the old wargame approach to mass battles played out on a large map with counters to represent groups of soldiers on the field, then you may want to look at Mongoose's MASS COMBAT SYSTEM FOR THE CONAN RPG.
This is a free set of table top combat rules that Mongoose gave away for free.
CONAN THE FREE COMPANIES
This game book is all about war. It includes an interesting system that allows the GM to conduct a narrative style battle that does include player input and some dice rolling. The GM manages the battle behind the scenes and describes the results as dramatic action to the players. Like a movie that zooms wide one moment to take in all the carnage, then focuses on the heroes for most of the battle as they strive to succeed at their goal.
This system is similar to that recommended in the core rulebook, except that the battle itself is given structure. The system is really a marriage between the traditional board game style of mass combat and the free-flow description from the GM as he makes up the battle completely in his mind. The results of the dicing is what the GM uses to describe the events to the players, and because there is dice throwing, the battle is not up to the whim of the GM.
The battle is instead played out in an abstract style. But, the GM only describes the part of the battle that the player characters can see, and he focuses the game on the PC actions.
CONAN CIMMERIA
Included in this book are bare bones notes for abstracting shield walls and taunting those savages on the other side of the battlefield. This is not a complete combat system. Rather, it is a tool for the GM to use with the system described in the core rulebook. It can be adapted to most of these narrative Conan Mass Combat Rules, too.
CONAN THE WARRIORS COMPANION
Finally, there is an Epic Narrative Combat System included in this supplemental book. This system is really designed for PC vs. multiple-enemy scenarios. The idea is to replace a scenario where the PCs are fighting so many enemies that the game gets bogged down in dice rolls with a system where the enemies are abstracted somewhat, and the GM comes alive with fierce, Conan-style bloody description. The dice rolls for the GM is greatly decreased, allowing him to describe the frantic action and keep the game on an exciting pace.
This system does somewhat skew the combat into the PCs favor in that it combines and abstracts enemies into a few die rolls against the PCs, where as, if the GM did roll all of those attacks, the PC would be exposed to a lot of damage.
On the other hand, the system relies heavily on GM narration. So, any margin of safety that the rules may bring to the PCs, the GM can certainly render moot with his narration of the action.
So, you want to play a scenario with Bossonian Archers, Gundermen Pikemen, Aquilonian foot soldiers, and mounted Knights from Pointain, all waging bloody war against a horde of savages from Pictland?
How do you do it?
Mongoose's Conan RPG gives you several options, depending on the type of game that you want to play and the tone of the game that you want to set for your players.
CORE RULEBOOK MASS COMBAT
The rulebook tells us that the majority of a nation's military forces is composed of 1st level Soldiers with the lower ranking officers being Soldiers of the 2nd-5th level. Higher ranking officers are usually Nobles or Noble/Soldier multi-classed characters. Peasant armies are composed of 1st level Commoners. (See page 30, Conan RPG 2E).
The Gazetteer chapter of the rulebook describes the Military Forces typical of each kingdom in the known world, and spread throughout that chapter are combat notes on Terrain Features.
The Campaings chapter suggests running large army engagements as colorful background (see page 407, Conan RPG 2E) description for heroic adventures. Enough information is given in the core rulebook such that the GM will have enough information to describe the incredible battles that happen around the PCs as the game is focused, like a movie or a Conan short story, on the specific events as played out by the PCs.
TRADITIONAL MASS COMBAT SYSTEM
If you like the old wargame approach to mass battles played out on a large map with counters to represent groups of soldiers on the field, then you may want to look at Mongoose's MASS COMBAT SYSTEM FOR THE CONAN RPG.
This is a free set of table top combat rules that Mongoose gave away for free.
CONAN THE FREE COMPANIES
This game book is all about war. It includes an interesting system that allows the GM to conduct a narrative style battle that does include player input and some dice rolling. The GM manages the battle behind the scenes and describes the results as dramatic action to the players. Like a movie that zooms wide one moment to take in all the carnage, then focuses on the heroes for most of the battle as they strive to succeed at their goal.
This system is similar to that recommended in the core rulebook, except that the battle itself is given structure. The system is really a marriage between the traditional board game style of mass combat and the free-flow description from the GM as he makes up the battle completely in his mind. The results of the dicing is what the GM uses to describe the events to the players, and because there is dice throwing, the battle is not up to the whim of the GM.
The battle is instead played out in an abstract style. But, the GM only describes the part of the battle that the player characters can see, and he focuses the game on the PC actions.
CONAN CIMMERIA
Included in this book are bare bones notes for abstracting shield walls and taunting those savages on the other side of the battlefield. This is not a complete combat system. Rather, it is a tool for the GM to use with the system described in the core rulebook. It can be adapted to most of these narrative Conan Mass Combat Rules, too.
CONAN THE WARRIORS COMPANION
Finally, there is an Epic Narrative Combat System included in this supplemental book. This system is really designed for PC vs. multiple-enemy scenarios. The idea is to replace a scenario where the PCs are fighting so many enemies that the game gets bogged down in dice rolls with a system where the enemies are abstracted somewhat, and the GM comes alive with fierce, Conan-style bloody description. The dice rolls for the GM is greatly decreased, allowing him to describe the frantic action and keep the game on an exciting pace.
This system does somewhat skew the combat into the PCs favor in that it combines and abstracts enemies into a few die rolls against the PCs, where as, if the GM did roll all of those attacks, the PC would be exposed to a lot of damage.
On the other hand, the system relies heavily on GM narration. So, any margin of safety that the rules may bring to the PCs, the GM can certainly render moot with his narration of the action.
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