The Tactical Repertoire
- Thread starter Jack7
- Start date
Umm, yeah. I'm afraid I'm unable to read it in this form.
Ydars
Explorer
Jack7 I find specifics to be far more helpful than generalities; unfortunately once we get to specifics, every edition of D&D would necessitate a change of tactics as they all model combat differently.
I would value your insight into the specifics for 3.5E or 4E combat in terms of small unit tactics. What moves do you find effective and employ to cover retreats. Similarly, how should one approach a flying monster in 4e? I know some of this depends upon party composition, but specifics are very useful in the end.
I would value your insight into the specifics for 3.5E or 4E combat in terms of small unit tactics. What moves do you find effective and employ to cover retreats. Similarly, how should one approach a flying monster in 4e? I know some of this depends upon party composition, but specifics are very useful in the end.
Jack7
First Post
I understand exactly what you are saying Ydars, especially as regards tactical matters. Maybe it is the scientist in you that wants specific equations. And occasionally I will give specific examples of what to do, such as I did with the five techniques of how to achieve Misfortune Countermeasures in entry 9 above.
But if I posted entries as to how to specifically apply individual combat techniques to your particular situation then first I'd have to know your situation, the edition you play, and then I'd end up writing a book on every particular situation and the variables that influence or dictate the flow of action in that situation. And we could argue, and sometimes rightfully so, those variables and what the real implications of those variables are, and in what way each set of circumstances should be treated to best resolve a particular situation, until, as we say round here, the possums light at daybreak.
So, given those parameters (the fact that I don't know exactly what you're fighting, when, where, by what means, how often, etc.) I'm not going to be giving specific examples of how to retreat. (For instance if you have a Paladin in your party you might develop specific rearguard and retreat tactics, peculiar to your own party, that are quite different than if you feel a Ranger is the best man to cover a retreat, or even if you don't have a Ranger or a Paladin in your party. Then again a retreat through a narrow tunnel is conducted differently than if you are retreating across open ground with an incremental rate of disengagement. A fighting retreat is different than a dispersal in different directions to confuse pursuit. And so forth and so on. I could write a lot about each one but then again I'd have to know every circumstance and how you and your party are operating. Who you are and how you act. And I can't know and don't wanna know because that would make my job, in this respect, impossibly complicated, not to mention time-consuming.)
For those reasons think of this more as a Tactical (and in some cases a Strategic) Primer. My job is to present new ideas that you may have never thought of, or old ideas that you may have never considered in quite this same way before. My job is more like a game developer (in respect to this thread), I just present the general basic concepts and then you, as DM, GM, player, or just interested party develop your own particular tactics and strategies to best exploit the conditions of whatever specific situation you face. Because I could tell you, if I were you, how I would arrange the members of your team into an effective and capable marching order for situations of limited maneuver (assuming I knew things like the class composition of your party members, which I don't) but then again you might develop a far more effective marching order for situations of limited maneuver than I could because you know the people you are operating with. You know your men and you know how they fight, and in what way, and who works effectively with whom to best compliment the capabilities of the other, and so forth, and so on.
So, let me use the analogy of a military trainer or commanding officer. I instruct you or suggest to you good, solid, tactical principles that you should consider in developing methods through which you can successfully complete your mission. But it is your job to take those principles and apply them to your specific situation and then improve your own methods over time. If, for instance, it was as easy as telling a junior officer what he should be doing and exactly how to do it, then any junior officer who was well instructed would become a good officer. That's simply not true. The best officer takes general, solid, tested principles and applies them to his own situation in new, creative, inventive, and effective ways. So I'm just presenting information and principles, it's up to you to decide how to apply that information and exploit those principles. I will of course occasionally give examples to illustrate a point, but then again so can you.
This thread is not like a book you dare not write in or scribble notes into (personally, unless a book is a collector's edition or some such thing I don't believe in the book you can't take notes in or the source of information you cannot modify, enhance, or change). So if you want to suggest your own tactical or strategic principles then go ahead. I may increate them into what I'm writing or your suggestions may stand alone as separate advice.
Also if you, or anyone else, wants to take what I have posted and then say, "I thought about what Jack said in regards to retreat and using my own party and our situation I developed a plan of retreat and redeployment. Then we got into a game and during a bad fight we undertook an organized retreat and disengaged from our combat, healed ourselves quickly and safely and then immediately attacked from another direction taking the monsters completely off-guard and killing them easily in an ambush as they were returning home. Let me tell you exactly how we did this..." Well, that kind of thing is more than fine by me. I'd enjoy reading about how these principles are applied to specific situations and others would probably enjoy such stories and examples and it would probably give other people something productive to think about. To help them develop specific tactics and battle plans of their own.
So, do to time and information constraints I'm not going to be giving specific examples of how to implement the ideas and principles I present, not in most cases anyways. But you can. So can anyone else. As I said this is not a book you can't write notes in, it is a Working Manual of how to solve certain game problems, with some application to real life as well, depending on the circumstance. (You don't wanna kill your business competitor of course, but you might wanna think about how to outcompete him using tactics of Unorthodox Maneuver. I always try to compose things in such a way as to have multiple functions, to have both situational game application, in this case, as well as real world application.)
The important thing to me is usefulness. Practicality. Actual function. I can describe to you what is generally useful in general terms, but it is really up to you and others to decide what works best in your specific circumstance.
Sp take these ideas and principles and experiment. Develop your own battle plans and your own set of tactics. Practice, drill, learn what works best in your situation(s), then modify, refine, and improve. Constantly experiment and improve. That's your job and you will become better, and better, and better at it the more you do it. But I cannot dictate to you the perfect solution for every circumstance. Because situations like combat are not like chemical demonstrations with well known and absolutely repeatable results. There are always unknown variables and unexpected catalysts that sneak into every reaction. However with some experimentation and practice you can find the best solution on your own. So run man, run... find your trail, think about what or who you hunt, and run down your quarry.
Then tell us how you did it.
And good luck and Godspeed.
(Well, I gotta get back to work now. I noticed that you are a lecturer and have an interest in biochemistry. We have a common interest there. I have always liked biochemistry and genetics, and I've done a lot of chemical experimentation, for developing non-lethal weapons, for purpose of invention, and what not. Maybe one day we can share notes on that kinda thing too.)
blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
This is a great thread idea, Jack7! One of my favourite tactics is to prevent my opponent from being able to make their best move effectively.
An example for 3.5: If I'm fighting a big strong monster that has multiple powerful melee attacks, I know that it will generally need to stay put to make the most of that ability. The easiest way to block its best move (a full attack) is to force it to take a move away from its spot.
Once I've forced them to move, the next step is using tactics to maximise my own combat effectiveness, whatever that may be. If my party members and I can use our best moves while restricting the enemy to their worst moves, it will tilt fights drastically in our favour.
-blarg
An example for 3.5: If I'm fighting a big strong monster that has multiple powerful melee attacks, I know that it will generally need to stay put to make the most of that ability. The easiest way to block its best move (a full attack) is to force it to take a move away from its spot.
Once I've forced them to move, the next step is using tactics to maximise my own combat effectiveness, whatever that may be. If my party members and I can use our best moves while restricting the enemy to their worst moves, it will tilt fights drastically in our favour.
-blarg
This does not sound like the recipe for a thrilling tale of high adventure.
We're learning how to pretend we're elves?
As a DM you can teach your players how to play D&D with you as the DM. Other DM's can and will evaluate the usefulness of specific tactics and strategies according to their own judgment, knowledge and/or whims. This is the reason why universal claims of being "good at D&D" are problematic.
Great post, Jack (and I say this as someone who prefers D&D to be more like a storybook and less like Advanced Squad Leader w/elves), with one quibble...
... a lot of RPG systems --like most editions of D&D, for example-- invalidate the above advice. It's my experience that most realistic tactical considerations are secondary to the use/deployment of wahoo, of either the sparkly or technological variety.
... a lot of RPG systems --like most editions of D&D, for example-- invalidate the above advice. It's my experience that most realistic tactical considerations are secondary to the use/deployment of wahoo, of either the sparkly or technological variety.
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Jack7
First Post
I agree. A weakness too many currently have.
Obviously in a fantasy RPG (or most any RPG) the effort is not to produce a specifically realistic simulation of combat. That is a secondary consideration overall to the game, despite how important combat is as a game activity. But in becoming so obsessed with the "fantasy aspect" (I am using this term widely to mean unrealistic rather than narrowly to mean just fantasy) too many RPGs have lost their heritage (as evolving from the wargame) as being good sources through which one can learn effective, organized, combat principles. In an effort to be so fantastic too many games have swung too far in the direction of being useless as real tactical and strategic thinking tools.
I am also not in favor of turning RPGs into strict wargames Mal. If one wants a wargame then one can just play a wargame or re-enact an historical battle. Nothing wrong with that, I do it from time to time. One role-plays though to role play, for which battle and combat (although an important aspect of most RPGs) is just one element or component of what is actually role-played. But when combat is role played then I think it should also be role-played as if it were exciting, dangerous, interesting, tactically challenging, and as useful an activity as any other in-game activity.
That is, RPGs don't have to be, and really shouldn't be, Either/Or activities. When role playing and pursuing interesting plot developments I'm all for imaginative and clever adventure, in the most open sense of the term. But when engaged in combat I'm also all in favor of cunning, decisive, organized warfare.
Good role play does not necessitate the need to abandon all realism and tactics in combat, and good combat tactics do note mean that an RPG should be all about units of soldiers moving from one engagement to the next in endless succession. A good adventurer for example is like a good explorer, he would have to know many things. How to survive, interact with natives, hunt, fish, map, etc. He would also have to know how to fight if necessary. So being a good explorer does not mean you go about any skill you possess in a haphazard or sloppy fashion. A good adventurer would have to know how to do a lot more than fight in order to be able to survive and thrive at his occupation. But then again if he doesn't know how to fight well and effectively he isn't likely to live long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labor. So it's not a competition between capabilities, it's more like, how can I best improve every capability I really need?
Jack7
First Post
10. Communications – Have a way to establish and consistently maintain good communications with any and every necessary party member, or concerned party. This is especially true regarding the individual members of your own operating team. You need methods of creating and securing both immediate and long-term means of communications. Good lines of communication are vital to effective accomplishment of your mission, as well as being a superb method of avoiding and averting self created disasters through misunderstanding and ignorance of your true situation. Also it is imperative to establish methods of communication that are peculiar to your own set of circumstances and yet that will allow you to communicate in covert and useful ways with anyone with whom you need to communicate.
For example, the main party in my D&D milieu uses a simple series of numbered and prepared message codes written on paper. These messages say things like, “Way ahead blocked, circling back, meet you at designated spot.” Then when it is necessary for the party to split, voluntarily or involuntarily, these notes are dropped so that those in other groups can later find them and know what they mean. However these messages are also coded – for instance the message, “Retreat – danger ahead!” will actually mean, “We have taken a concealed position ahead, will await your arrival and signal before we attack. Approach slowly and from another direction.” In this way notes that are discovered by enemies will be misinterpreted and the real intent of both the note writer and the note reader will remain concealed and the integrity of the message will be preserved.
It is very important that the potentiality of good communication methods not be underestimated. For instance, imagine the advantage to the party, if surrounded, of having a good set of simple word codes that could be shouted to redirect combat formations, or simple hand signals (such as were used by the Indians and are still used today in many military forces) when messages need to be passed in absolute silence so as not to reveal position. Simple and effective communications are vital tools to achieving your mission successfully.
In the same respect protect your own lines of communication and never let (if possible) your enemies disrupt your ability to communicate effectively and ably. If you are in a fantasy game setting then develop or exploit magics, and other means, specifically designed to maintain and enhance good communications. If in a modern or futuristic game setting then find redundant and backup methods of communications when your normal ones inevitably fail. Always secure, test, and retest your methods and make sure they work correctly. Do not rely upon chance as a carrier wave for what you need to say, and for what you need to hear. If your communications are disrupted or worse yet, corrupted, then your ability to operate properly is compromised and this may well lead to disaster, especially when you are unaware of the defects of your own communication weaknesses, but your enemy is not. Any thinking enemy will exploit your inability to properly communicate your objectives to each other - to summon aid and relief forces, to extract yourself from a dangerous situation, to mount proper defenses, to counterattack timely and effectively, to resupply, even to scout and reconnoiter properly.
Communications are vital tactical tools, protect them, enhance them, enable and improve them. But do not forget this vital component of communications as well – if good communications are an asset of your tactical repertoire, then they can be a heavy liability for your enemy. Especially if you do more than just fundamentally exploit your own capabilities to communicate to their maximum effect. Imagine if you also fundamentally disrupt the communications capabilities of your enemies. What effect would this have? It could be potentially devastating to their ability to respond to your surprise attacks, guerilla tactics, traps, and ambushes. They would be ignorant of or unable to pinpoint your position. Their response time would lag, their resupply hampered, their intelligence and information stream weakened or dried. So to the end that you seek to improve your own abilities to communicate, to secure your own lines of contact and vital passage of important information, seek also to produce the exact opposite effect upon your enemies. Make their lines of communication insecure and unreliable. Break their codes and crypts. Eavesdrop upon their supposedly dependable exchanges. Harass and exploit liabilities. Hamper, both openly and secretly. Disrupt and scatter. Misdirect. In this way you will become a master of tactical advantage and clear communications, while making your enemy a disaster of failed opportunities and miscommunications.
For example, the main party in my D&D milieu uses a simple series of numbered and prepared message codes written on paper. These messages say things like, “Way ahead blocked, circling back, meet you at designated spot.” Then when it is necessary for the party to split, voluntarily or involuntarily, these notes are dropped so that those in other groups can later find them and know what they mean. However these messages are also coded – for instance the message, “Retreat – danger ahead!” will actually mean, “We have taken a concealed position ahead, will await your arrival and signal before we attack. Approach slowly and from another direction.” In this way notes that are discovered by enemies will be misinterpreted and the real intent of both the note writer and the note reader will remain concealed and the integrity of the message will be preserved.
It is very important that the potentiality of good communication methods not be underestimated. For instance, imagine the advantage to the party, if surrounded, of having a good set of simple word codes that could be shouted to redirect combat formations, or simple hand signals (such as were used by the Indians and are still used today in many military forces) when messages need to be passed in absolute silence so as not to reveal position. Simple and effective communications are vital tools to achieving your mission successfully.
In the same respect protect your own lines of communication and never let (if possible) your enemies disrupt your ability to communicate effectively and ably. If you are in a fantasy game setting then develop or exploit magics, and other means, specifically designed to maintain and enhance good communications. If in a modern or futuristic game setting then find redundant and backup methods of communications when your normal ones inevitably fail. Always secure, test, and retest your methods and make sure they work correctly. Do not rely upon chance as a carrier wave for what you need to say, and for what you need to hear. If your communications are disrupted or worse yet, corrupted, then your ability to operate properly is compromised and this may well lead to disaster, especially when you are unaware of the defects of your own communication weaknesses, but your enemy is not. Any thinking enemy will exploit your inability to properly communicate your objectives to each other - to summon aid and relief forces, to extract yourself from a dangerous situation, to mount proper defenses, to counterattack timely and effectively, to resupply, even to scout and reconnoiter properly.
Communications are vital tactical tools, protect them, enhance them, enable and improve them. But do not forget this vital component of communications as well – if good communications are an asset of your tactical repertoire, then they can be a heavy liability for your enemy. Especially if you do more than just fundamentally exploit your own capabilities to communicate to their maximum effect. Imagine if you also fundamentally disrupt the communications capabilities of your enemies. What effect would this have? It could be potentially devastating to their ability to respond to your surprise attacks, guerilla tactics, traps, and ambushes. They would be ignorant of or unable to pinpoint your position. Their response time would lag, their resupply hampered, their intelligence and information stream weakened or dried. So to the end that you seek to improve your own abilities to communicate, to secure your own lines of contact and vital passage of important information, seek also to produce the exact opposite effect upon your enemies. Make their lines of communication insecure and unreliable. Break their codes and crypts. Eavesdrop upon their supposedly dependable exchanges. Harass and exploit liabilities. Hamper, both openly and secretly. Disrupt and scatter. Misdirect. In this way you will become a master of tactical advantage and clear communications, while making your enemy a disaster of failed opportunities and miscommunications.
