how to do a "defend the castle" adventure?

[Switchblade]

Unless you want your PC's to sit in the castle twiddling their thumbs waiting to see which side dies of dysentery first you should look at how you want your attackers to try to get into the castle. Only then do you need worry about what the attackers are. Are there going to be sappers trying to undermine the walls? Archers with mantlets keeping the defenders pinned down. Trebuchets battering the wall. Or the dirrect assault with battering ram and ladders for those to whom life is cheap. Once you have the style you can taylor the attackers to fit.

This can also lead on to what the PC's can do, sallys to destroy the baggage train to break the siege, burn the siege tower/trebuchet or counter mine the tunnels.

Can the attackers sustain heavy losses? Do they have time to wait out the castle? Are they an organised force with pickets or a rabble who fail to post sentries? Ask yourself these questions and the rest will take care of itself.

You may want to look in detail about the castle and the area. Few castles were build in the open, most were unassailable on all sides, using cliffs, ravines, rivers or lakes. They usually held the highest ground as well, only truely huge castles were ever built in valleys. Where it is will affect the battle greatly and affect options both to attacker and defender.

Once you have the general overview then fill in the details, what magic is available to each side (create food/water pretty much knackers a siege, but does the other side know that?) and how can each side use that. Illusion can be far more usefull than a fireball for example, distracting defenders to make sallys against illusionary siege engines, hiding damage to the walls etc. Are there any "specials" that can bypass historical defences such as flight, etherial or teleport?

Specials are just the thing to give PC's something to do, from etherial assasins trying to take out PC casters while they rest to leading sallys to remove machines. I would leave the rank and file as a backdrop to the game rather than having the PC plow through waves of attackers though, leave that to the NPC defenders.

Hmm, I seemed to have waffled on longer that I intended, ho hum.

 

[haakon1]

great ideas!

and what about the monsters?

did you just put them togheter (every monster for himself!), or you did something like "orcs commands goblins and kodolds, who commands some wolfes, etc"

Actually, I was using the 2nd Edition module, "Return to the Keep on the Borderlands". The attacking forces were the folks allied to the temple:
-- Evil clerics
-- Their champion "The Black Knight" and his ranger ally
-- The Master, an evil mage and his minions
-- Lots of skeletons
-- Lots of zombies
-- Evil halfling bandits
-- Human bandits
-- Spies within the Keep -- an evil merchant spellcaster

I didn't really use humanoids at all. At that point, let's see:
-- Orc caves had been wiped out by the Temple forces (it was already this way when "Return" starts)
-- Goblins, hobgoblins, and the few remaining bugbears were allied under an ancient goblin "king", who was opposed to the Temple forces. The PC's fought them, and one PC was captured. After negotiations, the PC's made peace with the goblins (paying them with cattle) and got them to stay out of the fight. Later, the goblins even sent a Meepo-like scout to help the PC's clear the remaining Temple caves.
-- Troll was loosely allied with the goblinoids.
-- Minotaur was never discovered.
-- Lizardmen in the swamps were hostile to everyone, but kept to themselves.

So mostly it was humans, evil halflings (a lot of fun), and undead. With low level militia, having the evil merchant cast Sleep on the guards at the front gate was very effective -- that's how the baddies first got in, in addition to undead with siege ladders at other parts of the castle.

 

[haakon1]

You may want to look in detail about the castle and the area. Few castles were build in the open, most were unassailable on all sides, using cliffs, ravines, rivers or lakes.

Nod. I put my version of the Keep with a cliff to the north and west, and a steep hill going down to the south. The entrance was on the east (at the top of the hill), then a series of right turns (shield goes on the left, so you're more open to missile fire) led to an interior gatehouse. After that, there was a large field -- once a practice field, now a vegetable garden for safer food supplies. Across the field was the dunjeon, in the center of the north wall, over the cliff.

As in the module, I had a tiny village (pub, smith, merchant's guildhouse, Temple of St. Cuthbert, etc.) nestled inside the outer bailey of the Keep, but the inner was (mostly) military. Economically, my Keep was a truckstop of a road from Bissel to Highfolk, skirting the southern edge of the Yatil Mountains. The locals do limited farming and herding, mostly on the big grassy hill near the Keep for safety, and a few more daring locals hunt for food and hides in the woods nearby.

I put in a secret escape passage from the basement under the Great Hall of the dunjeon to the bottom of the northern ravine. The PC's nearly had to use it.

After the big battle, the PC's have used the Keep as their base between adventures.

 

[Switchblade]

Several of the castles in south wales have you ziging and zaging past the arrowslits trying to get up the (steep) hill to the castle, only to find the gate is on the other side leaving no room for siege engines or battering rams up there. The thought of trying to assault Llanstefan castle is a horifying one, small as the castle may be. Bigger isn't always better, just more exposed. Pity so many of them were intentionally pulled down to prevent bandits using them, I'd have loved to see them in their hayday.

 

[haakon1]

Several of the castles in south wales have you ziging and zaging past the arrowslits trying to get up the (steep) hill to the castle, only to find the gate is on the other side leaving no room for siege engines or battering rams up there. The thought of trying to assault Llanstefan castle is a horifying one, small as the castle may be. Bigger isn't always better, just more exposed. Pity so many of them were intentionally pulled down to prevent bandits using them, I'd have loved to see them in their hayday.

Nod. Edward I's castles in north Wales are supposed to be some of the best designed in the world -- supposedly using the best of Crusader ideas, Byzantine ideas, and homegrown English designs. Caernarvon is the only one I've actually been to. It's large and impressive (it's the seat of the Prince of Wales even today). It's located between the walled town and the river, with a commanding view over the river and harbor. Strategically, the goal was to complete the conquest of Wales by cutting off the wilds of Snowdonia (Mount Snowdon national park now) from the grain supplies on Anglesey island, so that the Welsh rebels could hide in the mountainous woods or eat, but not both.

(Note: Edward I is the bad guy in "Braveheart", who they call by his nickname Longshanks. Historically, he conquered Wales and made a good start on Scotland too, after fighting in the Crusades. A very interesting period of British history.)

The other castle I'd most recommend researching is Edinburgh Castle. Its location on a spur of volcanic rock with cliffs on 3 sides is just amazing. But again, it is a huge castle, since it was the capital of Scotland. It's not in quite as medieval a state as Caernarvon, as it was rebuilt in early modern times.

I'm not sure of a smaller castle that's in good condition, or well-researched.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

My all time favorite anti siege tactic : There's a large dog loose in the woods! Also seen in Galaxy Quest and Serenity.

I would follow your players' lead. If they want to micromanage defender placements and add fortifications cool, if they want to let someone else do that and lead a strike force, cool as well, if they have a wacky heroic idea, don't shut it down as no oppertunities for it...

 

[White Whale]

Some ideas:
-Have the players design the castle themselves.
-If they know the army is coming, they should use the time well: Harvesting food/water, securing walls, have enough ammunition, make traps, maybe use hit-and-run tactics on the advancing army, look for help (hired?)

Also, why is the castle attacked? (Treasure, land, politics, strategic site?)

 

[haakon1]

Some ideas:
-Have the players design the castle themselves.
-If they know the army is coming, they should use the time well: Harvesting food/water, securing walls, have enough ammunition, make traps, maybe use hit-and-run tactics on the advancing army, look for help (hired?)

Also, why is the castle attacked? (Treasure, land, politics, strategic site?)

When I ran the attack on the Keep on the Borderlands, the PC's sent a rider and a bird with a message (thanks to the druid) to the capital for help. This resulted in a local high-level Ranger (retired PC, unretired for one adventure) showing up during the fight (about 36 hours after the message was sent) and a company of heavy cavalry arriving the morning after the fight (about 48 hours later).

For the preparation for the battle, I'm reminded of the preparations in "13th Warrior" and to a lesser extent in "Conan the Barbarian". Good stuff in both.

 

[haakon1]

My all time favorite anti siege tactic : There's a large dog loose in the woods! Also seen in Galaxy Quest and Serenity.

I would follow your players' lead. If they want to micromanage defender placements and add fortifications cool, if they want to let someone else do that and lead a strike force, cool as well, if they have a wacky heroic idea, don't shut it down as no oppertunities for it...

What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?