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D&D and War
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<blockquote data-quote="Shadowdweller00" data-source="post: 9119832" data-attributes="member: 6778479"><p>War pops up occasionally in my games, both as a player and DM. More often then not it's a background element, as the mere logistical concerns of simulating mass numbers of individuals - particularly if you're not using ToTM - is a bit of a chore.</p><p></p><p></p><p>As DM, I VERY rarely feel the need to use any sort of (directly) randomized mass combat system. (For reasons such as complexity, effort in setup, working out or choosing a reasonable mass combat system, communicating it to the players....) I think it's generally better design from a player standpoint to set things up so that "bad things happen unless the PC's succeed at objectives" rather than rolling dice to determine which way things swing. Instead I might give the PCs tasks that can be broken down into specific fights or localized encounters - like kill enemy captain X, or destroy the catapults. One can, of course, use abstractions and background effects in a fight to kinda simulate larger scale battles. Like "enemies" that are a unit of troops. Or asking the PCs to make a dex save vs an incoming wave of arrows. It's just that I choreograph the action taking place outside the encounter.</p><p></p><p>While war as a plot element might well creep up, it's only really if I want or need the PCs to be commanding troops or the plot necessitates some measure of chaos that I'd bother with mass combat systems.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shadowdweller00, post: 9119832, member: 6778479"] War pops up occasionally in my games, both as a player and DM. More often then not it's a background element, as the mere logistical concerns of simulating mass numbers of individuals - particularly if you're not using ToTM - is a bit of a chore. As DM, I VERY rarely feel the need to use any sort of (directly) randomized mass combat system. (For reasons such as complexity, effort in setup, working out or choosing a reasonable mass combat system, communicating it to the players....) I think it's generally better design from a player standpoint to set things up so that "bad things happen unless the PC's succeed at objectives" rather than rolling dice to determine which way things swing. Instead I might give the PCs tasks that can be broken down into specific fights or localized encounters - like kill enemy captain X, or destroy the catapults. One can, of course, use abstractions and background effects in a fight to kinda simulate larger scale battles. Like "enemies" that are a unit of troops. Or asking the PCs to make a dex save vs an incoming wave of arrows. It's just that I choreograph the action taking place outside the encounter. While war as a plot element might well creep up, it's only really if I want or need the PCs to be commanding troops or the plot necessitates some measure of chaos that I'd bother with mass combat systems. [/QUOTE]
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