War-themed plots?

[fba827]

If you play in any of my games, stay out.
You know who you are.


Brief general-version of the scenario:
* New war
* PCs are on the side of the "resistance"
* Neither odds, nor power, nor hope are on their side
* Those who are on the resistance are broken up and scattered in isolated pockets

(Obviously, more going on, but I'll leave it at that for the sake of this post)

Here are some adventure ideas that I've thought of already

* Attack a small unit of enemies that has separated from its main force
* Secure a key position (be it building, or bridge, or geographical area)
* Infiltrate enemy lines and take out a key target
* Infiltrate enemy lines and rescue someone (or something)
* Deliver information/people from one resistance cell to the next
* Help defend against the current siege against the/a city
* Escort civilians out of the war zone

What are some other adventures that I can do with PC-sized units? (trying to avoid mass combat for the moment)

Thanks in advance!

 

[ajanders]

What rules are you using?
Who's the good guys, who's the bad guys?
Tell us about your party.

 

[Charger28Alpha]

To show the lack of "odds, power, and hope" to the PCs. Run a few of the ideas you have posted, be sure to include NPCs that the PCs look to as friends or mentors. Then have the enemy attack a "safe house" where the PCs and some of those NPCs are hiding out.

* If your players are the type that will retreat from a superior force have one of more of the NPCs make a last stand that allows the PCs to escape.

* If PC death is something your players can handle, let one or more of them make a last stand so the rest of the PCs and NPCs can escape.


Both of these can be followed up by the party being actively hunted by the enemy.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Sabotage - Destroy some key installation of the enemy.
Assassination - Infiltrate some place and kill an enemy leader. Could also be a traitor, etc. This could be a good 'moral quandry' mission.
Espionage - Spy on the enemy. Could involve going under cover, etc.
Diplomacy - Try to convince some foreign power to come to the aid of the resistance.
Counter Intelligence - A leak has developed in our organization! Especially good if the PCs could be implicated (IE framed by the real traitor).

 

[gamerprinter]

Top 10 other ideas...

1. You say the resistance is broken up into small pockets. Why not make attempts at uniting these desparate groups to try an organize a single front. At least share information and logistics with other groups.

2. Become decoy and distracting forces. While larger units attempt actions crossing a river, and other things that might put them in a precarious position, have small PC force causing a distraction to draw enemy forces away from the other unit, then must escape their own capture with enemy on PCs trail.

3. Make contact with underground member in enemy camp and provide assistance.

4. Military prison break needs some outside help, the PCs are flankers, distractors as in number 1, fire support for fleeing detainees.

5. Instead of assassination, how about a kidnapping. An enemy general is on leave, and known to be appearing at some public event. Find him, and take him into hidden custody. Its harder than assassination.

6. A resistance safe house or camp has been compromised documents regarding your own group's entire infrastructure may become compromised, those documents must be recovered.

7. A larger group of resistance fighters have setup an ambush for the approaching enemy convoy, but someone has to be "bait" to cause enemy to give chase and catch them in the larger ambush in waiting.

8. Rescue a scientist wizard and his daughter that is being held for knowledge in a new type of weapons development. Then covertly get them out of enemy territory.

9. One of the resistance groups have turned to terrible atrocities in your side's name, and public support is dropping, another resistance group has got to stop them, redirect them or eliminate them as being a threat to your cause.

10. The PC mission team has been captured and being held at a prison camp, they need to organize and break out and escape!

GP

 

[fba827]

Thanks for the comments so far! You've already (directly or indirectly) sparked some ideas. I do appreciate it.


To answer a couple questions and clarify a couple things ...

(Being my first time DMing in a long time I stuck to some simple things)

It's D&D, 4.0 set in a somewhat standard type environment (some kingdoms, etc).

There is the "Big Bad Evil Guy" and his force trying to take over the kingdom.

Up until now, things have been "quiet" and the PCs have unknowingly been working against the Bad Guy, and every success/failure that the PCs have had so far has either weakened or strengthened the Big Bad Guy's forces. (essentially, this was the story for levels 1-10 of the campaign)

But it's all about to boil over at the start of 11th level, so levels 11-20 will be set with war as the background (at least that is my plan). So I was trying to get ideas that I could use for those levels as the PCs make their way towards the heart of the Bad Guy's forces and it it builds up to the final show down with the Bad Guy himself.


When I said hope was not on their side, I realize it didn't write it as I meant it. I should have said hope is not on the side of the resistance/kingdom. The PCs, however, will emerge as the hope, both for their own capabilities, and the knowledge that they have about the big bad guy (they'll start to realize things they learned over the first 10 levels were connected to the now-present war; so they have an understanding of things that the kingdom forces do not).

Of course, just working in very general terms for now since the players always end up doing things I never expect. So they may just try and not help anyone and go directly to the bad guy's stronghold... but i still want to have some ideas to flesh for plots along the way ...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Here are some adventure ideas that I've thought of already

* Attack a small unit of enemies that has separated from its main force
* Secure a key position (be it building, or bridge, or geographical area)
* Infiltrate enemy lines and take out a key target
* Infiltrate enemy lines and rescue someone (or something)
* Deliver information/people from one resistance cell to the next
* Help defend against the current siege against the/a city
* Escort civilians out of the war zone

What are some other adventures that I can do with PC-sized units? (trying to avoid mass combat for the moment)

1) Attack supply lines of the enemy.

2) Escort resistance leaders to locations of strategic importance (safe houses, strong points, massing counter-strikers, other countries, etc.)

3) Deliver/escort material- raw OR finished goods- to others in the resistance. IOW, Caravan detail.

4) Smuggling and other "illegal" activities to raise funds for the resistance.

5) Bust someone out of a prison or guarded camp.

6) Bust someone into a strategic location.

7) Hit & Run raids, especially if they are attributed to some charismatic resistance leader who doesn't exist, in coordination with other small units doing exactly the same thing elsewhere. IOW, drive the foe nuts by making them chase a fictional leader loose among them.

 

[ajanders]

It's D&D, 4.0 set in a somewhat standard type environment (some kingdoms, etc).
There is the "Big Bad Evil Guy" and his force trying to take over the kingdom.

What kind of big bad evil guy? A general with an army? A vampire with a brood? A warlock with a cabal?

Up until now, things have been "quiet" and the PCs have unknowingly been working against the Bad Guy, and every success/failure that the PCs have had so far has either weakened or strengthened the Big Bad Guy's forces. (essentially, this was the story for levels 1-10 of the campaign)

If the PC's have been unknowingly working against him, your BBEG probably knows about them.
He might stage a commando raid to capture or kill them. Or to get friends and family as hostages.

General adventure ideas not already touched on...
Recruiting allies? Even the strangest of bedfellows...as in "The mindflayer is on our side! Mostly..."
Gathering materials for a super-ritual ("This is the Trollhattan project: we're trying to develop a spell called Power Word Nuke.)
Everybody else has hit most of the good stuff, I'm afraid.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What kind of big bad evil guy? A general with an army? A vampire with a brood? A warlock with a cabal?

That's actually a great question- it will affect the types of adventures that make sense. For example, in another thread, I proposed that the "Army of Darkness" was headed by the BBEG's 2nd in command...but that the BBEG was actually a Lich with "Alzheimers"- by the time the Army is doing all its evil, the Lich had forgotten the events he had set in motion and was content perusing (and re-perusing) the tomes in his magical library.

A BBEG like that is not a proper target for an assassination attempt, though his commanders may be.


General adventure ideas not already touched on...

Recruiting allies? Even the strangest of bedfellows...as in "The mindflayer is on our side! Mostly..."

"Enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a good plotline!

Gathering materials for a super-ritual ("This is the Trollhattan project: we're trying to develop a spell called Power Word Nuke.)

Harry Turtledove did just this in his Darkness novels, to great effect. In that series, he also had also morphed the "Final Solution" into a Necromantic ritual that needed to be stopped...

 

[Jack7]

I'm gonna concentrate for a moment on the PC Hope Principle.

If the PC's truly are the hope in a war then why are they such a hope? Surely it won't be just because of "their powers." For sentence in a war, with so many forces at play, individual powers, like superhero powers, are not really tide-turning factors, unless these superhero, or in this case, fantasy powers, are directed specifically at vital, hard targets with some chance of success. in a D&D game "powers" give real tactical advantages, but against foes with real organizational military strength tactical advantage is not long-lived (especially when badly outnumbered) if it lacks strategic application. In other words a well armed and experienced army will quickly overwhelm and kill more individually powerful men who lack organization, numbers, resources, and a functional strategy. D&D parties are created for their abilities at the tactical level, their "powers" are far less impressive in a war campaign. So since war is a tonally different game than mere combat PCs have to become effective in a totally different way.

If that is not the case, if the PC's cannot isolate or kill or assassinate vital targets with some chance of real success, then they must have some other vital function to make them the hope of the resistance. If they cannot be directly and immediately effective against strategic targets then they must be indirectly effective at a strategic level. You don't win wars by being good fighters, or trackers, or by throwing around magic spells. You win wars by the strategic application of power towards concrete and effective, realizable objectives designed to exploit the weaknesses of the enemy, and to amplify the strengths you possess. War is not about "powers" flashily employed, but about strategic power carefully and purposely exercised in the most judicious and efficient manner possible. Otherwise you merely end up in a war of attrition, and small, outnumbered, badly-organized forces almost never win wars of attrition. There is little hope in the war of attrition for the underdog unless the enemy simply gives up the fight.

Some good tactical mission scenarios have already been suggested, but some good ideas about scenarios in which they could emerge as a real and strategic resistance hope have also already been offered, such as them uniting various fractions in order to provide a more unified and coherent and effective resistance.

One thing I can think of is the political or military "turning" of various agents working for the chief bad guy (or his main commanders or advisors), so that at important moments his strategic operations, rather than just his tactical ones, are betrayed and/or sabotaged from within. The party could begin helping "to turn" the agents and operatives of the bad guy.

But whatever happens the party will have to move from being just a tactical threat and enemy and become a very real strategic threat and enemy, if they are to provide a real hope of winning the war itself, rather than just assisting with the winning of a few scattered and isolated engagements.

Their role will have to transform from that of being mere tactical agents to that of becoming strategic leaders.

If they are to help win a war against a superior enemey.