Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Creating space and place
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6666160" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>In a sense, that's precisely what I'm trying to do. The above sample encounter locations makes up a random list that I can choose from when something happens so I know where it happens. The 6 or 8 I listed are actually a small sample of the 40 or more that I've already made. I was hoping to get some inspiration on creating more.</p><p></p><p>Having a random table for main foliage, main feature, obstacles and steepness of the battle field might be interesting but that's a lot of rolling and doesn't help address the questions, "What sorts of interesting foliage might you find in a jungle?", "What landmarks might you find in a jungle?", "What obstacle forming terrain might you find in a jungle?", that are really the core of what I'm hoping to get help brainstorming.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I get what you are saying, but as a point of historical fact, as soon as missile weapons were invented spreading out was a viable first order tactical solution all the way back into prehistory. This is essentially skirmisher tactics, and the general paradigm here is you spread your force out over a fairly large area. If a warband tries to concentrate force against a small point of your line, that small point concentrates on evading your attack while the remainder of your force attacks with missile weapons from multiple angles - hopefully negating your shield and otherwise catching you defenseless. The result of attacking skirmishers with concentrated force is that a large percentage of your force is tied up attacking a small percentage of the enemy force, while the majority of the skirmishing force can still reply with missile fire. This is probably the dominate tactic in ancient warfare until the invention of heavy infantry which uses heavy armor and mutual defense to negate light missile attacks. Pretty much every culture developed it in some form, and some mastered it. In fact, this tactic can still be seen used in the modern day by traditional warbands in places like Kenya and New Guinea. </p><p></p><p>Quite a few monster types in my campaign world utilize and specialize in skirmisher tactics like this. In essence, the math of this is that if the party stays together and tries to melee beat down the foes, it's going to take about 2 rounds x the number of opponents to kill them, and during that time they get attacked by all surviving skirmishers. On the other hand, if the party replies with missile weapons, at least some of the parties most powerful attacks will be negated. And if the party splits up, they risk being isolated and surrounded. These tactics allow relatively low CR foes to successfully harass and sometimes defeat PC's and other powerful opponents. I don't cheat as in "Tucker's Kobolds", but lots of things are too clever to go toe to toe with a heavily armed PC party.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't buy that at all. Massed missile fire is a different strategy than skirmishers, and can successfully counter some things that skirmishers are relatively weak against (cavalry, both heavy and light, for example). But that in no way implies that units of individuals capable of acting on their own initiative were unknown in antiquity. And certainly, in any culture with a hunting tradition, archers could be found that could fire aimed shots and not merely massed volleys aimed in the general direction of the enemy. Beyond that, massed missile fire is effective from much further than just 100 yards. If the enemy has functional military units of archers or slingers, the initial engagement is going to be 200 or even almost 300 yards away.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I actually do to a certain extent, but in a more organized way. I feel that the ranges that the RAW indicate are too extreme, and so have halved the range increments of most missile weapons in the SRD (except the sling, which has had its range increment increased and is now an exotic rather than simple weapon). So instead of 300 feat being just 3 range increments for the longbow (-4 to hit), it's actually 6 (-10 to hit). This makes the Far Shot feat much more attractive and to me better simulates historical distances. Additionally, for each 40 feat that the target moved on its prior turn, it receives a +1 dodge bonus to its AC with respect to missile fire. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't understand; what's wrong with that? That happens all the time in my campaign, except that generally, the PC's discovered way back at 2nd level to quickly close the distance with skirmishers, so that it's not unusual to see sprint actions, overruns, tackles and charges in the early rounds of combat if the terrain is relatively open. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sure. That works if both sides have the strategy of closing to close range and trying to overwhelm the other by brute force, and one sides morale doesn't fail, and both sides aren't mounted in some fashion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6666160, member: 4937"] In a sense, that's precisely what I'm trying to do. The above sample encounter locations makes up a random list that I can choose from when something happens so I know where it happens. The 6 or 8 I listed are actually a small sample of the 40 or more that I've already made. I was hoping to get some inspiration on creating more. Having a random table for main foliage, main feature, obstacles and steepness of the battle field might be interesting but that's a lot of rolling and doesn't help address the questions, "What sorts of interesting foliage might you find in a jungle?", "What landmarks might you find in a jungle?", "What obstacle forming terrain might you find in a jungle?", that are really the core of what I'm hoping to get help brainstorming. I get what you are saying, but as a point of historical fact, as soon as missile weapons were invented spreading out was a viable first order tactical solution all the way back into prehistory. This is essentially skirmisher tactics, and the general paradigm here is you spread your force out over a fairly large area. If a warband tries to concentrate force against a small point of your line, that small point concentrates on evading your attack while the remainder of your force attacks with missile weapons from multiple angles - hopefully negating your shield and otherwise catching you defenseless. The result of attacking skirmishers with concentrated force is that a large percentage of your force is tied up attacking a small percentage of the enemy force, while the majority of the skirmishing force can still reply with missile fire. This is probably the dominate tactic in ancient warfare until the invention of heavy infantry which uses heavy armor and mutual defense to negate light missile attacks. Pretty much every culture developed it in some form, and some mastered it. In fact, this tactic can still be seen used in the modern day by traditional warbands in places like Kenya and New Guinea. Quite a few monster types in my campaign world utilize and specialize in skirmisher tactics like this. In essence, the math of this is that if the party stays together and tries to melee beat down the foes, it's going to take about 2 rounds x the number of opponents to kill them, and during that time they get attacked by all surviving skirmishers. On the other hand, if the party replies with missile weapons, at least some of the parties most powerful attacks will be negated. And if the party splits up, they risk being isolated and surrounded. These tactics allow relatively low CR foes to successfully harass and sometimes defeat PC's and other powerful opponents. I don't cheat as in "Tucker's Kobolds", but lots of things are too clever to go toe to toe with a heavily armed PC party. I don't buy that at all. Massed missile fire is a different strategy than skirmishers, and can successfully counter some things that skirmishers are relatively weak against (cavalry, both heavy and light, for example). But that in no way implies that units of individuals capable of acting on their own initiative were unknown in antiquity. And certainly, in any culture with a hunting tradition, archers could be found that could fire aimed shots and not merely massed volleys aimed in the general direction of the enemy. Beyond that, massed missile fire is effective from much further than just 100 yards. If the enemy has functional military units of archers or slingers, the initial engagement is going to be 200 or even almost 300 yards away. I actually do to a certain extent, but in a more organized way. I feel that the ranges that the RAW indicate are too extreme, and so have halved the range increments of most missile weapons in the SRD (except the sling, which has had its range increment increased and is now an exotic rather than simple weapon). So instead of 300 feat being just 3 range increments for the longbow (-4 to hit), it's actually 6 (-10 to hit). This makes the Far Shot feat much more attractive and to me better simulates historical distances. Additionally, for each 40 feat that the target moved on its prior turn, it receives a +1 dodge bonus to its AC with respect to missile fire. I don't understand; what's wrong with that? That happens all the time in my campaign, except that generally, the PC's discovered way back at 2nd level to quickly close the distance with skirmishers, so that it's not unusual to see sprint actions, overruns, tackles and charges in the early rounds of combat if the terrain is relatively open. Sure. That works if both sides have the strategy of closing to close range and trying to overwhelm the other by brute force, and one sides morale doesn't fail, and both sides aren't mounted in some fashion. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Creating space and place
Top