[campaign help] War scenario

[root.tar]

In my campaign there is an ongoing war between two fractions.

The characters in my campaign decided to join side and help a besieged city. They want to sabotage the attacking armys food storages.

This twist totally surprised me, because I did not plan a siege or war campaign. We already played Red Hand of Doom, with the dramatic siege scenario at the end.

Does anyone has an idea:

- how to find an extraordinary siege twist, that is totally different from Red Hand of Doom

- some nice and short inderlude ideas

- even better: a hook, that draws the PCs away from the battle to an other adventure.

Thanks for help.

 

[roguerouge]

Try letting the players have what they want for a while. Check our Heroes of Battle for some ideas on what to do with this opportunity. Also, what level are they? A 12th level party can handle tasks that a 3rd level party should never be assigned. Finally, what edition are we talking about here? Military tactics change hugely by edition.

 

[root.tar]

Its 3.5E, 8th Level Party. Problem is, that I used nearly all "Heroes of Battle" ideas already in Hand of Doom.

 

[roguerouge]

All righty... [warning: serenity plot spoiler]

In a siege, food and water supplies are paramount. Send the party on a quest to get wagons of water and carts of food into the city. They have to get out without being seen, stealthily search for supplies, find them, and somehow get enough of them back to make a difference. Possible solution: reduce item.

Fetch the plot coupon: Go out, find an army, convince them to be reinforcements. This can be a mercenary company, a neutral noble, or the Serenity solution: tick off a bunch of barbarians and lead enemy B to fight enemy A.

We're all going to die, so here's what YOU'RE gonna do: The PCs' job is to escort the women and children to a safe haven. The commander has NO troops to spare on this task.

In addition, you could just let them be military commanders. Let them fight mobs of soldiers (DMGII). Let them run the defenses of a sector, as if it were a war game. Come up with a quick and dirty system for mass combat, give the players the rules, and let them run things. There's several systems out there for d20 mass combat, you could pick one of those.

 

[Blue Sky]

Do you have a plan for the campaign already? If so, let them sack the food stores of the invading army like they want, then find something that indicates that the bad guys you were already using are backing the invasion. (a note, one of the big bad's lieutenants, etc.)

 

[Herobizkit]

Here's some twists:

- The PCs backed the wrong horse: The side that the PCs decided to help are the 'bad guys' in the war. PCs may or may not learn about this mid-battle, and get to be jailed for their efforts regardless of which side wins (or hunted, should they choose to flee).

- Chivalry is not dead: "Romeo and Juliet" have been separated from each other for far too long. Juliet knows that her Romeo will be on the battlefield of the opposing army somewhere, and asks the PCs to deliver a love letter to him, or secret her there personally.

Complications:
- The love letter is poisoned/contains explosive runes/summons demons to decimate the invaders
- Juliet is actually a spy for the opposing army and needs to get the defender's logistics information to them asap

- ... all of a sudden, a superior third party decides to invade and slaughter both sides.

By the by, I haven't read either texts.