Military Themed Campaign Advice?

[Wolffenjugend]

You may want to find out if your players want to play this type of campaign. In the past, I've found players don't like having superiors to report to or orders that they're expected to follow...

 

[reiella]

You may want to find out if your players want to play this type of campaign. In the past, I've found players don't like having superiors to report to or orders that they're expected to follow...

Well, the situation here is unique, it will most likly be an online campaign and the group of folks who've been bugging me to run a game were already amiable to this idea, so I decided to run with it .

 

[DMScott]

You might want to pick up The Deed of Paksenarrion which is a reasonably current release that was originally published as three novels - Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance, and Oath of Gold. All three are worth reading, but the first one features the title character joining a mercenary company that operates in a D&D-style world.

Another good source for a soldier's-eye view of a fantasy world is Harry Turtledove's series about a Roman legion (and one Celt) who get transported to a magical world: The Misplaced Legion, An Emperor for the Legion, The Legion of Videssos, and Swords of the Legion.

 

[ErichDragon]

I have played in/run several campaigns of this type. In the most recent the players were all Vigilants of Vesh in the scarred lands. It was great because the vigilants have a wide variety of missions open to them that require specialization in diplomacy, stealth, leadership and straight up toe-to-toe slugfests. Our group was also granted enough autonomy to seek out and find our own missions. Suprisingly, even the most greedy players chose to look for missions that were the most strategically or politically valuable to Vesh over lining their own pockets.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

...The Deed of Paksenarrion...

...The Misplaced Legion, An Emperor for the Legion, The Legion of Videssos, and Swords of the Legion.

What, no love for The Black Company?

Another reading suggestion would be The Forever War, which is sci-fi but is a damn good read anyways.

Oh, and of course, The Art of War (Non-Fiction).

You should also be able to find books on military organization, tactics, methodology, etc., at your local library.

 

[Theocrat]

Group Dynamics

Hi all-
I've been DMing for my group for about the past 4 years. A couple of them have been around a bit longer. So I know my players, and usually they like whatever style of game I throw at them. This is also why I was wondering about the code of conduct. Sure PC's are unruly, and a Barbarian will likely get in enough minor trouble to warrant a demotion, but I don't see them getting kicked out of the military. Although I have had a whole party kicked out of a town and almost excummunicated from the Pale, that player is no longer with us.
As far as getting ideas and such, I've just started watching SG1. Watching it off and on, I'm getting a couple of ideas. The ideas with diplomatic missions are a little suspect in my regards - since we're at war with the Orcan empire. But being that the Imperial Pale is also at war with another theocracy worshiping Pholtus wrongly, I think a couple missions can follow that diplomatic route with them.
Your online game - is it going to be a message based game, email or chat room? I'd love to either be a part of it or able to read it for ideas.
Thanks -

 

[billd91]

You should also be able to find books on military organization, tactics, methodology, etc., at your local library.

I'd pay especially close attention to books on logistics and military life. Being able to pull in small details based on this kind of research, even if not important to the plot, can really help get the players into the whole environment. There's a fair amount out there on the Roman legions and how they set up their base camps and legionnaire life. But I'm sure there's something out there on medieval armies too.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

There's a fair amount out there on the Roman legions and how they set up their base camps and legionnaire life.

"Bloody Rome Week" on Discovery was last week... Lots of great stuff in this vein was included.

(Moral Lesson: Never discredit Cable/Sattelite stations as information sources... One of my more intensive sub-plots came after watching a documentary on Messopotamia).