A New D&D Revolution: Nations & Cannons Core Rules Review

[Sparky McDibben]

Alright, friends! Almost done with this review. However, a quick note first. The Kickstarter for Nations & Cannons: The American Crisis has less than 24 hours left. It's like 4x funded, and there's a ton of stretch goals accomplished. If you think these rules are interesting, or you just like supporting non-WotC designers, might be worth a look.

Now, let's dive into opponents! The Core Rules have 28 statblocks for several different kinds of adversaries, divided into several broad categories:

1. Artillery - Big guns that go BOOM!
2. Beasts - New beasties customized to a more North American environment
3. Irregulars - Mercenaries, warriors, and special forces; have a d8 HD
4. Partisans - Militia or tradesmen not often on the battlefield; have a d6 HD
5. Soldiers - Trained troops, crack veterans; have a d10 HD

There are only two artillery statblocks, but they're quite interesting, because they're basically a swarm with a single big AoE attack. The Galloper Gun, for example, fires in lines with either cannister (3d6 ballistic damage, which remember cannot be reduced by resistance, but the line is 15' wide), or round shot (6d6 ballistic damage, but the line is 1,200' long and 5' wide). The base save DC is set at 11, but can be modified up or down by giving the gun a better gunner. The crew is actually six footmen (a separate statblock, each of them are CR 1/4), so when the gun is attacked, you have stats handy for the crew to defend their gun. Artillerymen get irrationally fond of their guns, so that tracks.

The beast options are the devs giving animals some teeth (pun intended and I HAVE NO REGRETS) by giving existing beasts some new options. So the black wolf has a howl option that can summon regular wolves, and the rattlesnake has a rattle that frightens (as the condition) anyone within 30 feet who fails a Wisdom save. I really like this - wolves and rattlesnakes should be scary!

Irregulars are light skirmishing forces, especially Native American warriors and frontier folks. The devs have avoided writing up an "Iroquois statblock" and focused on instead broad fighting archetypes that can be deployed easily by the DM. The one that sticks out here are the Hessians, which include the Hessian conscript and Hessian schasant (sergeant). This is where we start to see some real innovation by the designers, because there are several sets of statblocks that are meant to be used in large numbers together. These are typically noted by a trait or feature in their statblock like Regimented: "The conscript cannot score a critical hit. The conscript has advantage on attack rolls if an ally with the Regimented trait is within 5 feet and isn't incapacitated." So the designers give them the option of hitting more frequently, but cap the damage by nullifying crits. The other thing the advantage does is lower the risk of these guys misfiring with their weapons, and it encourages large groups of goons to bunch up, presenting well-equipped PCs with nigh-irresistible targets for grenades, gambits, etc.

The other thing with Regimented creatures is that they typically have a leader nearby with an ability like the schasant's Volley Fire: "The schasant orders allies with the Regimented trait and a loaded musket to prepare a volley. Any such ally within 30 feet that has not acted this round (or an ally that has taken the Ready action) can immediately move up to half their speed to close ranks. Participating allies can take no further actions this round.
If two or more of such allies form a continuous row they can fire their muskets in a volley, a 100-foot line that is 5 feet wide per participating ally. Each creature in that line must make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) ballistic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one."

So as you can see, large numbers of bad guys can coordinate on their off-turns and create some real nasty hazards. The thing that's nice from a GM standpoint is that putting all this movement and attacks into the hands of single creature (the schasant) without individual attack rolls meant that when I ran these guys, it dramatically reduced the workload of handling even upwards of a dozen creatures at a time. And that's without using any of the popular mob hacks like tracking damage as one big pool, etc.

Partisans are light militia, and include folks like minutemen, Highlanders...

Not that guy, but that movie is still one of my favorites. I mean these guys:

They look fierce, but really they just want a hug! (You'd want a hug too if you had to pull off that hat. I mean, I don't think I could pull that hat off, but damned if that guy isn't giving it a 100% effort). There are also stats for chaplains, provocateurs, machinists (who are more like general fix-its), etc. These folks are specialists, and you really only add them to encounters if there's something special you want to include.

Finally, we have the soldiers. These guys are also designed to be used in large groups, with sergeants, field officers, and even drummers (who get a fun ability to suppress the frightened condition). There are also more specialist troops, like the fusilier and the grenadier, both of whom get fun abilities that reflect their more aggressive combat roles. Fusiliers especially are nasty boys - two of these guys almost wiped the floor with a 4th level barbarian who came at them with party support.

There's two things I want to highlight here. Except for specific ones like highlanders and Hessians, most of these statblocks can be used by either side of any conflict. An eagle warrior could be a doughty Iroquois ally of the French, or one of the brave Stockbridge warriors, etc. The footmen, likewise, could be Redcoats or Continentals.

The second thing is the Trappings system. With unique or more difficult statblocks, the designers added a little blurb underneath the statblock about what you could find on these folks. So when you defeat a field officer, for example, you have a 50% chance to recover a gorget and a 50% chance to recover a dueling pistol. You could get both, either, or neither. Most foes won't have trappings, but the ones that do will be the ones that the PCs will remember.

All in all, these designs help me run linear warfare-style scenarios without having a calculator and an aide-de-camp. Honestly, that's exactly what I wanted, and I applaud the devs for it. Well done! Next time, we'll round it out with the Invasion of Canada!

What time is it? SYRUP O'CLOCK!

 

[Sparky McDibben]

Alright, friends!

Now, we invade liberate Quebec! Those poor Quebecois have too long labored under the British yoke, forced to eat substandard bacon and above-standard maple syrup! We march north! FOR FREEDOOOOOOOM!!!

Quick history: Yes, America actually invaded Canada early in the Revolutionary War. The goal was to open up another theatre of the war by convincing the Quebecois to rise up against the British. This did not go well, and notably resulted in the loss of many troops under PATRIOT #1 SUPERFAN Benedict Arnold, and actual Patriot #1 Superfan Daniel Morgan.

However, this adventure isn't concerned with the battle of Quebec, but with one of the early successes of the invasion, the siege of Fort St. Jean. The fort is under siege as the adventure begins, with the Patriots commanded by General Montgomery, with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys under him.

One of the things I really like about N&C is that the writers try to avoid putting any kind of spin on a given person. And the key person for this adventure is Ethan Allen, the hero of Fort Ticonderoga, and the most iconoclastic thing to come out of Vermont (yes, including Bernie Sanders). This guy literally founded Vermont as an independent republic because he hated land speculators from New York. Allen resounds as a character from the page, with all the complexities that that entails, but he comes across as foolish and headstrong (which is fair, as we'll see in a moment).

We transition from the camp into a quick recruiting montage as the party is sent out with Allen to help recruit a Quebec militia. This happened a lot during the 18th century; they hadn't really gotten conscription or recruiting down yet, and it kind of came down to a popularity contest. A guy could go to Congress (or the Brits) and get a warrant to raise some number of troops, and be incorporated into the force structure. So to lead, you needed a silver tongue and a reputation as a winner. Allen has both, and the PCs are making Persuasion checks to gather more folks to the banner.

Next up, Allen has to go confer with some of his associates, and there's a bonus scene with a trading party of native Oneida at a nearby village that the PCs can try to convince to help. This is interestingly structured; you're essentially arguing across from a British officer who speaks fluent Iroquois that the Oneida's interests are more closely aligned to those of the Patriots. The scene rings with dramatic irony, as we know that whoever wins that negotiation, it's not going to go well for the Oneida. It's run as basically a skill challenge, but with a neat twist. You make several ability checks (the adventure lists seven options) and total your rolls. At the end of it, the GM rolls a d100. If the d100 is below the total of the party's checks, they convince the Oneida.

My only problem with this is that due to page count restrictions, the writers aren't able to plant a lot of this information, so the GM will have to telegraph some of it during play, and that can be rough if you're limited on prep time. For example, one of the checks is to find a large herd of game animals the Oneida aren't aware of. Unless you specifically mention to the PCs that the Oneida are short on food, or show them that fact, the PCs are probably not going to guess that they can use Survival.

Allen returns, and we get a quick scene with the militia forces the PCs and Allen have recruited. The PCs can try to persuade the locals to help them out, particularly by procuring more boats, guides, and beer. If the party has impressed or gotten in good with Allen so far, he tells them about his plan. See, Allen was ordered to simply go out in the countryside and recruit a militia. But Allen's hungry for glory and land, and he's re-written his orders to instead invade Montreal.

(Ethan Allen's planning process)

The party can't talk him out of it, and the adventure assumes they go along with the scheme; if your players instead say, "Naw, son, I'm out," you can skip straight to taking Ft. St. Jean. If the party continues, they're making Intelligence (Stealth) checks to help ferry Allen's troops across, with potential random encounters including British patrols and terrible weather. Unfortunately, one group of troops seems to have gotten lost, and the PCs are sent to find them. They walk into a tough fight with Brits and some Mohawk warriors having ambushed the other troop contingent. Everything goes straight to hell in a handbasket, and the militia get routed by the British (who attacked with 2:1 numbers and veteran troops against some green militia). At one point, an NPC shows up and lets the PCs know that Allen got captured, their reinforcements never showed up, and things are pretty desperate.

Personally, I'm thinking even level 2 characters are going to interpret "Allen's been captured and there's no way we can get to him" as a personal affront and promptly will try to Metal Gear Solid an entire British army camp. They'll also ask, reasonably, that if they just recruited the militia, can they go re-recruit the militia?

That's reasonable, and the adventure provides no support for those options. However, it's fairly simple to improv something like a camp, and you can use the previous recruiting structure at a higher difficulty to run re-recruitment. There's also a quick table given for the march back to the besieged Fort St Jean, which sounds like a fantastic exploration challenge to me. Once the PCs make it back to Fort St Jean, they find a camp that's being barraged from the river by a small British warship (a schooner named the HMS Royal Savage).

(On left: an actual royal savage; also Jack Black)

The siege is progressing, but the Patriots are too few and too poorly supplied to make an earnest assault. The commanders are confident they can starve out the British, but they have to maintain the countryside, and the Royal Savage is keeping the Brits' spirits up.

There are two ways to deal with the ship. The Patriots have a small artillery battery set up, and the PCs can use it to bombard and sink the schooner, or they can try to board it and blow it up with bombs. The artillery duel is a series of attack rolls, basically. While the artillery rules in N&C allow for the PCs to help, really only one person is having fun here, and that's the gunner. I'd recommend sprucing this up with a sally from the fort at the same time, or letting the PCs try to render aid to the wounded, rebuild fortifications, or salvage another gun.

If the PCs try to board the Royal Savage, it's a pretty tough fight, made tougher by the fact that the PCs have to approach the ship across open water (and can't really try swimming, because it's winter in Canada - you'll freeze to death well before you reach the ship). I do give the adventure props for considering that PCs are going to want to board this thing, because c'mon! How could you not!

After that, the PCs go back to besieging the fort. This is set up as mostly downtime, where the major challenge is preventing men from leaving. Remember, these guys are militia, and they've got crops to harvest. Also...this is practically begging the PCs to launch an assault on this fort.

For reference, here's a terrain model of the fort in question:

That's gotta have at least 15 guys per bastion, and probably a reserve of another 10 to 15. Your PCs are going to have to be lucky, quick, and clever to take this thing. Another point the adventure doesn't go into is why the army can't just bypass the fort and move on (because the soldiers in the fort will absolutely wreck their supply lines, not to mention counterattacking into the army at the worst possible time). I think that would have been useful for GMs who don't know the history, and are not familiar with logistics.

So instead, what happens is the party gets to fight a relief force. This is made up of two waves of five guys each (four footmen and a sergeant). If the PCs get beat down, they get rescued by some friendly NPCs. I really don't like the rescue since it dilutes the stakes for me; I'd prefer if the PCs failure encourages the troops in the fort to launch a sally out, potentially imperiling the entire operation.

Once the relief force is repelled, the fort surrenders, and the PCs are congratulated. From there, some hints are dropped about Henry Knox needing a few good folks to move some cannons!

I have three problems with this adventure, two minor ones and one major one. In minor-league territory, we have a lack of maps. I get not having maps for small engagements like the one where Allen gets captured, but if you're going to put a besieged fort in front of the PCs, we really need a map of the fortress so the PCs can problem-solve. Secondly the adventure refers to check difficulties as "Hard" or "Medium" instead of giving the DCs. Just spelling out the check DC might be more useful to the GM running the adventure.

My major concern is stakes. The PCs' actions have few consequences that come off the page (the Oneida can come back to help them, which is nice). To borrow from McLuhan, the medium is the message. And the unique strength of RPGs is that you can affect the outcome, that your choices matter. For those choices to matter, we need to set them up to have weight.

I'm going to cut the Nations & Cannons team some slack on the adventure, though, for two simple reasons: 1) This is the first time anyone's covered a topic like this in a TTRPG, so there's bound to be hiccups. 2) Page count. After all, I can say whatever I like in a world where I don't have to pay the printer, but this was designed to help educators, a group with a notable lack of extraordinary funding.

Overall, I give Nations & Cannons Core Rules a strong 8 / 10.

1) It's a lot of fun to play!
2) The rules set is well thought out, well laid out, and a simple permutation on core 5E mechanics.
3) It's a fresh new time period for RPGs to explore, and my hope is that this project spurs more interest in historical gaming.

Downsides:
1) The options get a touch fiddly in some places
2) The starting adventures asks a lot of a GM to bring it to life.

My overall verdict is that it's well worth your time, and if you're interested in adventures in the 18th century, practically mandatory.

Happy gaming, you lovely nerds!

 

[NRSASD]

Hello Sparky! Followed you here from the GitP forum because your (and Libertad's) reviews are one of the primary reasons I visited that site. You can't lose me that easily!

Regarding Nations and Cannons, where was this system last year when I needed it?! I just finished a homebrewed supernatural French Revolution game, and I would have killed to have this ruleset at the time.

How easy would it be to pick up this ruleset and drop it in another setting, ie Napoleonic France or the Haitian rebellion? Do they have any rules on how it handles artillery vs structures?

 

[Sparky McDibben]

Hello Sparky! Followed you here from the GitP forum because your (and Libertad's) reviews are one of the primary reasons I visited that site. You can't lose me that easily!

Regarding Nations and Cannons, where was this system last year when I needed it?! I just finished a homebrewed supernatural French Revolution game, and I would have killed to have this ruleset at the time.

How easy would it be to pick up this ruleset and drop it in another setting, ie Napoleonic France or the Haitian rebellion? Do they have any rules on how it handles artillery vs structures?

Oh snap! Hello, friend!

Yeah, it's a pretty easy port; you can also just pick up Flintlocks & Fulminates, which is mostly the same ruleset with some wacky variant weapons (like the Fergusson Rifle, etc).

On artillery vs structures, I haven't seen rules for bombarding a stationary target. However, if the PCs are defending, I'd suggest giving them a round limit (They'll breach the curtain wall in 10 rounds...). If they're attacking, I'd recommend having the PCs split up to do recon, find weak points, conduct counterbattery fires, etc.

 

[Libertad]

Thank you for covering this book, Sparky. Historical fantasy is perhaps one of the rarest tabletop RPG genres, particularly for 5e.

I'm looking forward to the Ben Franklin: Banshee Slayer expansion.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I hope not to be off-topic if I mention a Spanish historical character who help Northeamericans in the indepence war.

Bernardo de Gálvez - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Spain.

Gálvez's actions aided the American war effort and made him a hero to both Spain and the newly independent United States. The U.S. Congress endeavored to hang his portrait in the Capitol, finally doing so in 2014.

In 2014, Gálvez became one of only eight people to have been awarded honorary U.S. citizenship

 

[Sparky McDibben]

I hope not to be off-topic if I mention a Spanish historical character who help Northeamericans in the indepence war.

Bernardo de Gálvez - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Spain.

Gálvez's actions aided the American war effort and made him a hero to both Spain and the newly independent United States. The U.S. Congress endeavored to hang his portrait in the Capitol, finally doing so in 2014.

In 2014, Gálvez became one of only eight people to have been awarded honorary U.S. citizenship

That's awesome context! Thanks!