Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Idea for a mass combat scenario, seeking advice
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="msherman" data-source="post: 4871528" data-attributes="member: 77344"><p>I've got a scenario coming up in a month or so in my game which will have the PC party visiting a dwarven fort while it is besieged by gnolls. I've read through a bunch of different mass combat systems, but they all seem overly heavyweight to me. I've come up with what I think will be a fun light-weight way to run the scenario, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas or feedback to offer.</p><p></p><p>The pcs will be assigned one of the main gates of the fort to defend. They'll fight 3 or 4 separate encounters of the usual size, against small waves of enemies -- gnolls, demons, and some interesting monsters they've impressed into their army, such as a gauth. The terrain will shift over the course of those encounters, as enemy sappers cause cave ins and collapse walls and such. Between each fight, allies will relieve the PCs, so they can fall back and take short rests to spend surges and regain encounter powers.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, I'll be showing the larger battle on a separate map, at a larger scale, with minis representing platoon or company sized units on both sides. I'll use simple opposed d20 checks (skill checks?) between units to resolve the mass combat, once per round.</p><p></p><p>During their fights, the PCs will be able to use minor actions to make skill checks, to relay orders to various units on the large map. So for example, an Intimidate check to whip up a unit to fight harder, a Heal check to send combat medics to back up a unit that's taking a pounding, or a Bluff check to order a unit to feint and flank an enemy unit. They'll also get a chance to use one minor each for orders between each fight.</p><p></p><p>So, any ideas or advice on how to improve this? The one part of this that still feels a bit weak to me, where I'd really like some tips, is how to resolve the unit-vs-unit fights, as simply as possible. I definitely don't want to go with detailed hit points and attacks for units -- I'd like something lighter weight than that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="msherman, post: 4871528, member: 77344"] I've got a scenario coming up in a month or so in my game which will have the PC party visiting a dwarven fort while it is besieged by gnolls. I've read through a bunch of different mass combat systems, but they all seem overly heavyweight to me. I've come up with what I think will be a fun light-weight way to run the scenario, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas or feedback to offer. The pcs will be assigned one of the main gates of the fort to defend. They'll fight 3 or 4 separate encounters of the usual size, against small waves of enemies -- gnolls, demons, and some interesting monsters they've impressed into their army, such as a gauth. The terrain will shift over the course of those encounters, as enemy sappers cause cave ins and collapse walls and such. Between each fight, allies will relieve the PCs, so they can fall back and take short rests to spend surges and regain encounter powers. At the same time, I'll be showing the larger battle on a separate map, at a larger scale, with minis representing platoon or company sized units on both sides. I'll use simple opposed d20 checks (skill checks?) between units to resolve the mass combat, once per round. During their fights, the PCs will be able to use minor actions to make skill checks, to relay orders to various units on the large map. So for example, an Intimidate check to whip up a unit to fight harder, a Heal check to send combat medics to back up a unit that's taking a pounding, or a Bluff check to order a unit to feint and flank an enemy unit. They'll also get a chance to use one minor each for orders between each fight. So, any ideas or advice on how to improve this? The one part of this that still feels a bit weak to me, where I'd really like some tips, is how to resolve the unit-vs-unit fights, as simply as possible. I definitely don't want to go with detailed hit points and attacks for units -- I'd like something lighter weight than that. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Idea for a mass combat scenario, seeking advice
Top