RangerWickett said:
I'd like something with a vibe like Game of Thrones/Clash of Kings type stuff - wheter there are elements of will they be our ally, won't they, and maybe an ally turning on the PC's as part of the story arc
There should be opportunities for capture and escape (both of PC's, their allies, and their enemies), perhaps even rescue if PC's want to rescue one of their own - but doing so should be risky. Ideally, the choice to go or not will not be a foregone conclusion for the players of GM.
I like some of the elements of the Black Company (first three books). I think incorporating some elements where even your allies might sometimes undermine each other, and consequently the greater cause.
There should be opportunities for PCs to fail in their mission. In some cases, escaping a botched field mission may be the success of the night, rather than a heroic victory.
Sometimes the intelligence PCs get from other sources should be wrong. Sometimes that should be no big deal, sometimes it should cause problems. This might take the form of greater risk (reinforcements arrived faster than predicted and are now there when the PCs show up), or emergency changes to the PCs plan (the enemy moved out with the widget the PCs need earlier than intelligence reports said they would - or the PC's defeat a decoy group that doesn't have the real item).
Allies that the PCs like should sometimes live and grow, and sometimes die - maybe by someone intended to become a target for PCs later.
Avergage troops should die and litter battlefields.
The consequences of war should begin to impact the economy, scarcity of imports or metals, maybe food shortages, rising prices, devasatated forts along the countryside which lead to migration of rural populations and maybe a rise in undead in despoiled areas that remains forever after.
Perhaps face the players with a choice of the lesser of two evils as allies - if not for the entire war, then maybe for a part of it, one battle/mission or one outpost, etc.
Maybe they can't always rescue everybody. Maybe sometimes they'd like to have time for two heroic missions, but only have time for one, and have to choose which.
There should sometimes be odds stacked against the PCs. Even better if their side is tricked into walking into those odds, or ambushed by them, instead of always being able to prepare.
PCs should sometimes seem to fail, without derailing the storyline.
