Building a Horde (help me create my campaign!)

[Taloras]

Didn't i see this in Independance Day? ;-P

Pretty much.

For some reason, settling down just doesnt occur to them. They are raised from a very small age to fight and do little else. As for the leadership, I was thinking of having a general for each of the races, with an overlord whos race noone knows (he never shows his face). Of course, everything is split into military groups (legions, etc). I did put around 20000 sorcerors. Wizards are a lot less common, somewhere around 600. Their main purpose is to cloak the portal from scrying until there is enough of an army across the portal to do some damage. The wizards are rarely combatants.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Hmmm, this sounds very Zentradi/Robotech Masters or the Riftwar saga.

You'll need to come up with the overriding goal of your Horde. Sure, the Horde is a great device but.... why? What does the overlord gain? Does he repopulate after they move on with slaves, does he capture souls, do they worship him as a god, do they decore the planet in a giant sacrifice to him, what?

And how? Moving 1,000,000 beings plus baggage train pan-dimensionally is not easy. No books handy, but the number of high level casters required is not small.

Next up, supplies. A million beings is a lot of structure or megawaste. So is it a rigidly ordered horde or are they locusts, consuming far more than an equivalent population? Or do you have a third option, some magical cornucopia? Personally, I'd go that route. The Overlord acquired a magic item that provides nearly infinite amounts of food but it turns those who consume it into berserkers or at least increases their testosterone level by 500%. The grunts eat pure dambrosia and become combat junkies, leaving the loot for the generals who eat captured food that doesn't rot their mind.

But you still need a purpose. If nothing else it means the heroes can defeat (or at least be instrumental in defeating) the horde by impacting the goal or the control structure. Destroy the combatcopia and no more horde. Heck, just knowing that's the control system would be a big knowledge advantage, thus making the PC adventures pivotal.

And it all comes down to the PCs. What will their role be?

 

[Taloras]

Ive statted it up a bit, and with between 600 and 700 wizards. They will all have something similar to the red wizards circle feats. They also have a magic item that creates a portal (has anyone read the Riftwar saga by Raymond E Feist?), however, it needs casters continually working with it to keep it open.

As for the reason, these people are similar to locusts. They move into an area, eat it bare (using the few slaves they capture to harvest everything), then move to another area. They destroy everything. Once they move into an area, they leave nothing behind. Their creed is destruction. If nothing stops them....well, lets just say Faerun will end up looking like the Anauroch desert. They kill all adults who stand up to them. Those who surrender are made into slaves. Children under 5 are adopted into the Horde and raised to become new members. Those over five who can work are made to. Those who cant......you get the picture. They dont care for anyone but themselves. The Horde started out on one world, after it had destroyed everything, the wizards developed a machine to create portals to other worlds. That was a thousand years ago. Now, none of the wizards understand how it was made. They just know how to work it. The PCs will be charged with finding a way to destroy it. Hopefully with some of the Horde on the other side still.

The Horde is split up into military groups, similar to the Roman military. 80 men to a century, 6 centuries to a cohort, and 10 cohorts to a legion. 10 legions comprise an army. Each army is named after a predator, with the legions using numbers. so you might have III Wolf, IV Lion, and I Leopard as three different legions. Each century is controlled by a centurion, each cohort by a High centurion, and each legion is controlled by a Legate. The one thing they DONT have that the Roman legions had was a tight military formation. They dont use standard equipment, instead picking whatever they like. However, they do understand how to put melee fighters in front, with those with reach weapons 5 foot behind, and ranged fighters behind that. The first cohort in each legion has only 5 centuries, with about 500 or so experts with them....engineers, blacksmiths, cooks, etc. These are the people who fix the weapons and armor, take care of meals, and make the siege engines. Each legion also contains 100 dwarven miners/sappers.