Kap'n Kantrip's Epic Battle Rules, or, "Mass Combat Made Easy"

[smetzger]

Re: Alpha d20 Mass Combat Rules

Well, my gaming group recently had an epic battle with a horde of undead attacking a city and us players were helping defend the walls. Anyway, we played a large battle with a couple of hundred minis played with standard d20 combat rules. It was a blast but really, it was just a snippet of the greater battle as a whole that had 1000s of participants, and the greater battle's outcome was linked to this one battle. This is an okay way to move a campaign along since our characters weren't really in charge of the armies involved, but it seems insufficient if you really want to have the PCs as generals and leaders of large forces where they guide the troop movements of a battle. What is needed is a rule set that will stay true to d20 combat rules, but be abstracted enough to allow for a large scale battle.

I disagree. I don't think an abstract way of dealing with the battle would not work well enough to my satisfaction. This is mainly due to magic. A single high level spell caster or an Adult Dragon could have an immense effect on a battle. But how do your group these guys into units? How do you handle the saves vs. spells and breath weapons? How do you handle DR?

I think that concentrating on focal points in the battle is an excellent way of dealing with the problem. It lets you use the full array of D&D rules. I also think this would work well no matter what level the PCs are and even when they are the 'generals'. If the PCs are the generals they should draw up a detailed battle plan. The DM would also draw up a battle plan for the opposing forces. Then the DM looks at the two battle plans and determines what the turning points of the battle will be. The battle plans should be detailed enough to determine what forces will be involved in this focal point. The key is to let the players help determine the focal points.

 

[Errant]

I like it

I've just been re-reading the mass combat rules in the old ("basic" rules) Dungeons & Dragons Cyclopedia.

This looks like it would mesh nicely by allowing the PCs to play through "herioc actions" that could provide a bonus to their side's roll to determine the battle outcome.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

*bump*