Help - Arriving in a town as its under attack. Looking for ideas

[Derren]

This is true, but a work around is to take the E6 approach. Your PCs are already 6th level, but you could cap the world at E8 or E10 to allow the PCs to really matter here. A world that caps at 8th level characters (or 8th level and feats) wouldn't have too many characters above 5th-6th level.

Its not so much a level issue. Even when they are at the top, 6 PCs can't fight an empire. And while Hollywood always shows Pirates as superb fighters they are nearly always completely outclassed by national navies lacking specialized fighting ships, high quality weapons (naval and land), training and morale. When a kingdom wants to destroy a pirate port there is hardly anything the pirates can do to prevent that unless they are sponsored by an equal nation.

Pirates rely on stealth and surprise. A known port wouldn't be much use for them anyway.

 

[Razjah]

Yeah, I meant that the level cap would allow the PCs to matter in the fight. The level cap would allow the PCs to remain relevant in the battles while allowing the naval focus to remain. In higher levels with flight capacity, the naval battles will no longer be relevant to the party.

 

[haakon1]

Why are the attackers attacking the town? I like military-style campaigns, and I like well-motivated antagonists, whose goal is not "get killed for XP and donate their gear to the PC's", but something a little more in their own interests!

Figure out why the attack is happening, and you're on your way to crafting an adventure. Some possibilities:

-- "Gun Boat Diplomacy" -- It's a murder raid to punish the town for something it did. Most likely, since your PC's are pirates, it's to punish the town for hosting pirates, and specifically for hosting the PC's.

-- "Protectorate" -- The goal is to make the local ruler knuckle under and surrender to colonization by the invaders. Their goal is either to kidnap the grandee, steal something that matters to him, or kill a lot of people and destroy a lot of stuff to make him lose face.

-- "Conquest" -- The goal is remove the local rulers and replace them with new rulers. The mission is to kill or drive the military and the ruler(s).

-- "Overlord" -- The goal of the invasion is to remove the evil foreigners who rule the town. The invaders are the good guys.

-- "Rescue Mission" -- The attackers are trying to free some of their own who are being held prisoner, or free slaves or kidnap victims held in the town.

-- "Viking raid" -- The goal of the raid is money. They are happy to bribed to leave, to steal anything that isn't nailed down, or take hostages.

-- "Slavers" -- The goal is to take slaves.

-- "Hostile takeover" -- The goal of the raid is to steal ships or otherwise horn in on local trade/resources.

-- "Hit and Run" -- The goal of the raid is to destroy resources and eliminate personnel. This is a good goal for a force that's strong enough to win with surprise and concentrated forces, but can't stand and fight -- a guerrilla force.

-- "Pre-emptive Strike" -- The goal of the raid is to destroy resources and eliminate personnel that were being readied for an attack on the attackers.

 

[Derren]

Why are the attackers attacking the town? I like military-style campaigns, and I like well-motivated antagonists, whose goal is not "get killed for XP and donate their gear to the PC's", but something a little more in their own interests!

Considering that the town is a pirate port and apparently also rebels against the Empire "Kill them all, loot the treasure, deny the port" seems like a logical motivation.

 

[haakon1]

So the goal is to exterminate the town's entire population? That seems unlikely, with human attackers on a human town. People are usually more valuable alive.

 

[Derren]

So the goal is to exterminate the town's entire population? That seems unlikely, with human attackers on a human town. People are usually more valuable alive.

Not always. Remember Carthage.
It only makes sense to destroy a pirate port utterly as it likely is not in a location where it would be useful for you (thats why it is hidden). The residents are all criminals anyway and the normal punishment for pirates is death.

 

[3catcircus]

I'm gonna stop your plot in its tracks: what if the PCs see the town under siege as they arrive and decide to turn around and ride to a different town instead? I know that that is what my players would do unless they were playing Dudley-do-Right or law-and-order types of characters.

I'd make it a little bit less obvious, even if your players are playing goody-two-shoes characters. Perhaps a quick raid and not an all-out attack as they are arriving - something the town militia can repel. Then, while they're in town, the reconnaissance and escalated attacks leading to the all-out assault begin.

 

[Relique du Madde]

There is also the chance that they are ripe bastards and decide to wait out the attack so they can raid the town or attack the raiders afterwards (less competition/resistance).

-Sent via a cybernetic device.