D&D 5E Mass Combat Rules?

[Garthanos]

That link won't load for me either. Other sites and pages are working OK so it's clearly something about that earthlink site.

can you ping the site?

 

[Lanefan]

I havent fully worked it out yet but here is some handwaving.

Basically playing a land becomes gaining control of a resource or capturing a space that has that resource (pre defined battle area perhaps with some resources upside down til you move creatures on to it). And playing a creature card is in general marshaling troops.

It would definitely be a variant game.

So much so, I think, that it'd almost be its own unique thing.

The main thing needing added is perhaps a sense of creature location. There are now many many cards that have appropriate battle context like ones that enhance allies which attack with them.

And there is a pretty cool expansion (actually they feature in more than one expansion but like the guilds of ravnica) But also this one where the idea can be capturing the crown. The Monarch
There are cards like one that allows a player to decide this turn they get to choose which creatures attack and which defend... a Warlords gambit kind of card.

Adding locations
Variants of magic the gathering let you chose to put cards in separate piles so one could draw a land card or gain a creature. There is already an expansion where there is a monarch card. And creatures with various warlording abilities are big in it.

Some abilities might be given with custom pregame cards

For instance one where you can call a retreat order by paying a creatures casting cost and save it from death (discard a card too maybe?)

Terrain could be predefined and place on the field and acquired by using a creature to take control of it instead of attacking the enemy with it. (like how some cards might allow you to tap them to draw another card)

Quick idea: what about reserves?

In a real battle, most commanders keep some troops in reserve.

In Magic, this could be achieved by a player having more than one library; with the secondary library (libraries?) being of very limited size and all creatures. To begin with these libraries are off limits.

Then, either some specific card(s) allow limited access to a reserve library (e.g. one of the xxx Wish cards from Judgment) or something in the game state allows open access e.g. if you are losing by more than x-margin or are outnumbered by more than y-creatures you may access your reserve library (IRL this is when you'd commit your reserves).

In Chainmail they included this option to allow details of the terrain in a battle to be player defined...
A. On a number of 3" x 5" index cards draw the following: 1. Two with rivers 2. One with a marsh 3. One with a pond 4. One with a gulley 5. Two with woods 6. One with rough ground 7. Four with variously shaped hills 8. Eight blanks B. Each opponent draws up to four times: 1. The weaker or defending side draws first. 2. Terrain is placed anywhere on the table at the drawing player's option

That'd be cool, if you could find a way to mesh it into Magic (a task I don't envy you!).

 

[Lanefan]

can you ping the site?

Not sure what you mean by 'ping'.

Whether I click on the link or type the URL in longhand - or even just type in http://home.earthlink.net/ as shown above to get to the homepage, all I get is a blank screen and endless loading. Typing in 'www.earthlink.net' works.

Googling shows it to be an internet service provider based in Atlanta Georgia, I wonder if it doesn't like that I'm not in the USA.

 

[Garthanos]

So much so, I think, that it'd almost be its own unique thing.

Almost but there are variants with a lot of features that could go into it.

For instance another location style is one where the battle keeps switching planes (each with its own enchant land or similar card that describes its environment specific rules.)

Quick idea: what about reserves?

In a real battle, most commanders keep some troops in reserve.

In Magic, this could be achieved by a player having more than one library; with the secondary library (libraries?) being of very limited size and all creatures. To begin with these libraries are off limits.

Then, either some specific card(s) allow limited access to a reserve library (e.g. one of the xxx Wish cards from Judgment) or something in the game state allows open access e.g. if you are losing by more than x-margin or are outnumbered by more than y-creatures you may access your reserve library (IRL this is when you'd commit your reserves).

Definitely need to include the reserves concept (its arguably a recent invention but a good one)
Another representation of reserves might also be a card you play that lets you pull creatures directly into battle during the combat phase after the enemy has chosen which to block with or something similar and they can only block the new creature with one of their remaining creatures they haven't already declared a blocker.

That'd be cool, if you could find a way to mesh it into Magic (a task I don't envy you!).

The whole idea is potentially pretty extensive. Almost all of the ingredients though I think are there right now with the right emphasis and selection of existing cards in everyones deck.

 

[Garthanos]

Not sure what you mean by 'ping'.

Whether I click on the link or type the URL in longhand - or even just type in http://home.earthlink.net/ as shown above to get to the homepage, all I get is a blank screen and endless loading. Typing in 'www.earthlink.net' works.

Googling shows it to be an internet service provider based in Atlanta Georgia, I wonder if it doesn't like that I'm not in the USA.

there is a utility that one can type from a command prompt
ping "https://urltotest.com"
and it will tell you how long it takes to get a response.

nslookup "https://urltotest.com"
is another that tells you ip addresses etc.

I know there are parts of the web that sometimes are temporarily hard to reach on occasion no matter where you are.

 

[atanakar]

I love risk but have been reading Chainmail and I didnt notice if anyone here recommended it?

Which version? The original 70s version by Gygax-Perren or the 2001 version?

 

[Garthanos]

Which version? The original 70s version by Gygax-Perren or the 2001 version?

I am reading 70s material

 

[jgsugden]

If you're not going to have a lot of mass combats in the campaign then I suggest: No rules.

Instead, tell the story of the mass cmbat like you tell the sory of the weather - as background noise. Have the battle instead turn on what the PCs do, with their actions being what turns the tide for the overall battle.

 

[Todd Roybark]

For a down a dirty simulator what do people think about applying the Swarm template to say the Veteran NPC stats to represent a squad , increase size to a 10’ square, and leave the PCs as is.

I foresee a castle siege in a campaign future, and want some quick and dirty rules.

 

[Shiroiken]

The easiest Mass Combat rules for D&D I've seen are found in the Rules Compendium for BECMI. It requires a few base assumptions and a bit of math, but a combat can be handled fairly quickly. Unfortunately it doesn't take heroic actions by the PCs into consideration, as it assumes the PCs are the commanders, which isn't the norm for most mass combat adventures. For your purposes, you could break up the overall combat into several combats for each player's formation, with the overall result being based on the average result of the group.