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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1296807" data-attributes="member: 15043">By the seat of my pants. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />At the time I only had the three core rulebooks, the Arms and Equipment Guide, and the DM's Toolbox, so I didn't have any set of rules on how to conduct one, so I used some info I know from medieval history and threw in some LotR for flavor.  I prepared ahead of time by writing down on blank sheets of paper each group of monsters and their stats, so I had as many of them as possible on the same sheet, and thus didn't have to flip... I also scribbled down what I wanted their tactics to be during the fight... the goblins were to be skittish, etc.  It saved my behind many a time!I used some dice to simulate most of the monsters (I also have a shortage of miniatures too), and tried to combine some of the weaker unit actions (such as the goblin arrow volleys) into a smaller number of rolls.I ended up rolling a d20 attack roll for each set of four goblin archers, for example, and then used a percentile dice to figure out how many arrows hit the target (as volley fire isn't as accurate as aimed fire, 01-50 = 1 hit, 51- 75 = two hits, 76-95 = three hits, 96-100 = four hits).  The system worked pretty well, at least for these purposes.  Somewhere out there is likely a good ruleset for conducting these affairs, and I'll likely find it eventually.  Other than this, the battle was conducted mostly according to standard D&D combat rules, with initiatives and everything.  Once people got into a groove of rolling, things went rather smoothly, and my goal of getting the players to feel some panic was accomplished well... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />The ice hobgoblins, etc. I applied the cold template from the Manual of the Planes which I borrowed from a friend of mine.  The idea of using spiders, fireflies and the like as mounts came from teh Arms and Equipment Guide, and the idea for the specific ice spider in the siege was loosely based on a homebrewed monster I saw on the Wizards of the Coasts boards called the Tarantella (poison makes the victim dance until dead... I modified it til unconscious, and instead gave the creature 1d6 extra cold damage, making it an ice spider).The next session won't be for a bit, so there's going to be a little lull.  If everything goes well, there will be a minigame shortly (next week) tied in with this campaign that will get posted here as well... a roomate of mine wants to learn D&D so he'll have a little campaign that'll lead into him joining this one. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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