Mass Combat D+D

[Kevin O'Reilly]

So, with the final demise of Chainmail, arguments aside that it was actually only a skirmish game, do people want a d+d mass combat game?

If so, what elements are important

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I deffinately want one, and i don't think i'm at all alone.

I think the rules should be clear and easy to understand, they should run fairly fast and there should be a direct logical conversion between mass combat and standard play.

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

bump -

Lets see if we can get 50 replies

 

[NiTessine]

Hmm... Don't we already have a mass-combat ruleset, in Sláine? "Eyes Without Life, Sundered Heads, and Piles of Corpses", or something to that effect?

And, as I recall, Malhavoc Press is coming out with another next year. Written by Skip the Sage himself, unless my memory fails.

 

[Crothian]

Hmm... Don't we already have a mass-combat ruleset, in Sláine? "Eyes Without Life, Sundered Heads, and Piles of Corpses", or something to that effect?

Yes they do. There is also one in AEG's War and Mongoose's Quint Fighter. So far I like Slaine's the best, but it is in a low magic setting, so I thing high magical places will mess it up.

 

[NiTessine]

Yes they do. There is also one in AEG's War and Mongoose's Quint Fighter. So far I like Slaine's the best, but it is in a low magic setting, so I thing high magical places will mess it up.

Is the one in The Quintessential Fighter any good? I've been thinking of buying it, because stuff from it seems to be cropping up in campaigns I'm involved in...

 

[Crothian]

Is the one in The Quintessential Fighter any good? I've been thinking of buying it, because stuff from it seems to be cropping up in campaigns I'm involved in...

I find it a little sloopy. I like the book very much, but that's one chapter I doubt I'll ever use. So, there are good reasons to buy this book (prestige classes, feats, fighting stlyes), however the mass combat is not among them.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Is the one in The Quintessential Fighter any good? I've been thinking of buying it, because stuff from it seems to be cropping up in campaigns I'm involved in...

For straight unit vs. unit combat it's decent However, I'm not at all pleased with how it handles magic, so that's what I'm looking for most in future products.

 

[Kevin O'Reilly]

Re QF

Unit vs unit is fine, though it lacks any detail for battlefield, strategy, magic or really morale and the role of leaders. Its truely a lots of creatures vs. lots of creatures set of rules.

Not bad though, especially in a book where you already get a boat load of value.

What is truely missing is a set of rules where you can do with armies what you can do with characters, without each comabt taking two weeks

 

[shadow]

I deffinately want mass combat rules. There have been situations in games I have run that required mass combat.
In one 2e game I ran some time ago a player had the noble kit (from Skills and Powers) I allowed him to start out with a manor and a small army (for role playing purposes). However in one game, the PCs and his army were drawn into battle against a dark hord. I thought it would be a neat idea if we would actually play the battle out. I let each of the PCs be commanders of a group of units. However, lacking mass combat rules, I really had to "wing it".
If WotC does make a mass combat system, I would like to see the following things:

1. Allow PCs to enter the battle as "Champions" (I imagine other soldiers would be 1st lvl warriors, so the PCs would be kind of like epic heroes.)

2. Allow the use of miniatures for tactics. Others may disagree, but I find it fun to play out the battles in a wargame-like style. I don't want a simple roll to determine the entire battle. However, I don't want Warhammer, where I'm forced to shell out a small fortune to buy the official miniatures. The rules should be compatible with any type of miniatures (or even coins or poker chips for us low on money)

3. Easy to convert units to standard D&D rules and vive-versa. I don't want to have to spend a lot of time converting monsters/PCs from their individual stats to some wildly different unit stats. Moreover, the rules should be similar to standard d20. That is to say 20+ mods vs AC