To War!

[Jack7]

Over the many years I have played D&D I have employed many different methods of fighting wars. Wars in my D&D worlds and campaigns have been important aspects of the milieu, just like in real life. Few campaigns go by without at least a border skirmish in which the characters are directly or indirectly involved.

Some of the ways in which I have fought wars in-game have been very experimental, successful, fun, exciting, even fascinating. Some methods I have employed I have considered far less than optimal, interesting but ineffective, or even outright failures.

It occurred to me last night, having been on these boards awhile now, and having seen the range of various playing experiences expressed, that some of you might have also experimented with your own methods of game-warfighting. After all the precursors to D&D were wargames.

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So, tell me how you handle wars in your campaigns and in your worlds. Do you involve the players directly, or not? Do they lead units, scout, act as spies, or try to stay out of the way? (The characters in my games used to commonly lead or take command of various forces – large or small - but now they tend to act more as spies, scouts, saboteurs, and special forces operatives when they go to war. Occasionally they will still take or be given direct command of military forces, but when they do it is usually of fast raider forces, recon groups, or for limited special operations.) How often do wars break out, and for what kinds of reasons? Things like that.

But I am also especially interested in what gaming methods you use to depict and fight wars. Everything from small skirmishes of ten men or so, to large-scale battles of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of men. Maybe someone has come up with a much better method of conducting in-game warfare than anything I’ve ever thought of, and so I’d like to hear some new ideas.

I’m interested in everything from how you’ve handled disorganized, chaotic, and barbarian warfare, to how you fight well-ordered and sophisticated warfare involving discreet and disciplined units, even units of highly trained, professional specialists.

I’m interested in how you handle things like warfare at sea, warfare involving ballistae and siege-engines, technological clashes, magical warfare, maneuver, cavalry operations, inventions, ambushes, and so forth. Do you give racial bonuses to war and combat units - make Elven archer groups artillery specialists, hamper inexperienced units, what? How do you handle tactics, strategy, any part or all of it?

If you have an interesting method of warfare or an interesting anecdote about warfare in your game then share it. I’d like to see how you handle it.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Usually in the campaigns I run if there is warfare it is part of the setting. In that it gives flavour, plot points, etc. to the game but the PCs don't need to be actively involved in the war.

So the PCs may come across stuff like:

• Butchered villages.
• Having to escape troops rounding up civilians to serve in armies.
• Using battles or armies to mask their own movements.
• Hiding within the ruins of a city recently destroyed by war. Or perhaps amongst the dead piled up in the ditches along the roads.
• Coming across/travelling in large caravans of refugees.

Occasionally they may become more directly involved but more in doing such things as say... Rescuing someone from a military prison, stopping a group of soldiers from raiding a village, etc.

But overall warfare and war in my games is more just another means to generate atmosphere and theme. That generally being one of tension, chaos, upheaval, etc. I rarely if ever show the opposing armies in a good light (even if a army is dealing with some monstrous foe they are still doing stuff like forcing people to serve, scorched earth tactics, etc.)

The reasons for warfare in the setting alter depending on the setting. But usually things like profit, cultural views, long-standing rivalries, etc. are the main reasons.

I also use post-war scenarios in lots of my settings. So the PCs for instance may have grown up in a ever moving refugee caraven because no lands will accept these refugees of war while they are dealing with their own issues.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

In the OD&D Companion Set they led armies, and the results of their decisions could be decided using a set of rules for large scale battle.

 

[Jack7]

I also use post-war scenarios in lots of my settings. So the PCs for instance may have grown up in a ever moving refugee caraven because no lands will accept these refugees of war while they are dealing with their own issues.

That's a good point FS. War affects many more things, before and after, than just the course of battles.

In the OD&D Companion Set they led armies, and the results of their decisions could be decided using a set of rules for large scale battle.

I used to use some of the old war-rule sets. I thought they were okay, but hardly optimal.

But I would like to see some sets of war-gaming rules included in modern D&D, like in the oldest versions. If nothing more than as direct tie-in supplements.

It would be nice to see D&D at least proficiently capable as a supplementary wargame.

 

[the Jester]

I've run warfare in my games over the years on quite a few occasions, using every level of pc involvement from "it's offscreen in the background, the pcs aren't involved" to "here are your troop units, let's do some wargaming."

In the past I've used 1e and 2e Battlesystem rules, but I just got done running a series of games wherein the pcs were besieged. The games leading up to it had them freeing the awesome general from prison in the Black Tower (he was framed!) and doing various things to prep. Then we had several sessions that involved a mix of "scenarios" (unit-level combat), "encounters" (standard pc-level combat) and skill challenges.

(In case it isn't obvious, this is a 4e campaign.)

We used a system I tweaked out of the basic 4e ruleset. Each unit was approx. 20 individuals; I tweaked the numbers a bit to make damage more average and to speed up combat, and came up with a bunch of ways to allow the pcs to have a meaningful impact on the events and the actions of their troops. The pcs fought a holding action against the first few waves of oncoming troops, used a trapped gorge to inflict massive casualties, retreated to defend the walls and their food sources, dealt with miners and sappers, etc. It was awesome. I used a bastardized version of the victory point system in 3e's Heroes of Battle to rate their success after the last scenario concluded, and that determined how long the siege lasted. We consciously abstracted a lot of the battle; the battle on the walls lasted 1.2 sessions, but it represented action on the walls for the entire siege.

It was really fun, and the thing that makes me happiest about it was that the guy in our group who I thought was least likely to enjoy the wargaming elements really, really dug it.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Red Hand of Doom. Best war based module ever written - definitely the best module written for 3.x

The characters get to use their abilities to directly influence the outcome of the war.

 

[Jack7]

The Rules of War
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I've decided to include a War Rules Supplement as part of the game I'm developing for the Conjunction contest.

Tell me what you'd like to see in such a supplement.

For instance do you want to see rules to cover terrain, unit size, maneuver, race, prior combat experience, magical combat, what?

If you have any ideas regarding what you would like to see, or how you would like something to play then list it here.

I'll consider it and see what I can design.

Jack

 

[haakon1]

In my two campaigns (in the same setting), war is a constant theme, in the background. In that way, it's a bit like "Foyle's War" -- a British mystery TV show about a detective in Hastings in 1940. He doesn't do any fighting, but many of the plots revolve around issues like a murder suspect/fisherman being killed by the Germans during the Dunkirk evacuation, organized crime involved with rationing, a spy who's a witness to murder, etc.

Nature of my war: In Greyhawk, the Baklunish (quasi-Arabian/Mongol/Central Asian) land of Ket has invaded the March of Bissel (more European). The two have been at each others throats for centuries, but this time it's no skirmishing at fords -- the Kettites have brought in mercenaries from the demon-worshipped Ulis, to the skilled mountain crossbowmen of the Concatenated Cantons of Perrenland, to scum like orcs . . . and they are rumored to be secretly allied with Iuz (the evil god on Oerth of Greyhawk).

On Bissel's side, allied forces include the Knights of the Watch, a holy order, and the Brotherhood of the Sword, a less holy order that runs Gran March as a military state (look up the historical order, or think Spartan knights), plus the Archclericy of Veluna (an LG religious state).

How I do combat: No special rules. I role it all.

Why did the war break out: In a previous campaign, the PC's did "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth", and in the process stole Daoud's Magic Lanthorn, a relic of the religion of the Baklunish, for use by Bissel in helping war wounded from the various minor raids. Allegedly, someone messed with the monks of Xan Yae, too. Ket doesn't need much reason for war, but that's it.

Even less well known -- the PC's FREED Iuz's sister, Drelzna, using a Wish to move her from being a vampire to being a human again. Freed from her vampiric condition, she turned good and disappeared from the world stage, doing who knows what. Iuz is PISSED at Bissel for hiring the adventurers who got his sister out of stasis (now she can challenge him) and made her good again (IMC, she was her mom's general, but turned good leading to the fall of Iggwilv's Empire, so her mom had her made a vampire to turn her evil again).

In my email campaign, here's how it's played out, by adventure:
1) Keep on the Borderlands. With regular forces off in the war, the PC's will have to do to investigate the murders of merchants in the area. The PC's eventually ally with the King of the Goblins, but the other bad guys attack the Keep, with an army of undead and bandits!
>> I fought this out character by character, round by round. It took about 250 rounds, with constant "screen cuts" to the action in different parts of the Keep, as the PC's raced around trying to prevent intrusions, until the final fight in the dunjeon's great hall! Best combat EVER for me in D&D.

2) Cauldron of Plenty (from Dungeon). PC's are recruited by a government agent (who hires various adventuring parties) to get a magic cauldron for the war effort, since it can create mass quantities of meat for the troops. Only problem is, a giant has it, and it's cursed.
>> This is a non-combat, role-playing type adventure. The PC's managed to befriend the (non-evil) giant and make a powerful ally for their land.

3) Dzeebagd (from Troll Lords). PC's are hired by an injured merchant to recover his daughter. It turns out, she's been taken to a small, sacked castle. The PC's have to take the castle to rescue the girl. The enemy turns out to be both a local bandit organization AND humanoids who seem connected to Iuz.
>> Fought as a normal D&D adventure, albeit with a big, long bruiser of a main fight.

4) The Standing Stones. The PC's are sent by their government patron to the isolated village of Ossington, in no-man's-land in the forest beyond the realm. Ossington provided food and charcoal to the Dwarvish miners/smiths of the Barrier Peaks, who were making arms and armor for the war effort. Ossington hasn't sent supplies, hasn't been heard from, and the dwarves who investigated did not return. Go there and get the place running again (and if you don't mind, claim it for the realm).
>> Run as written, essentially. In the end, the PC's stayed for a few months to get the village up and running again. The PC's now carry a LOT of food in their Portable Hole, just in case something like this happens again.

5) Buckbray Manor (Dark Furies). The PC's are sent by their government patron to a manor that won't send its feudal host to the war front. The PC's are to get the troops going and deal with the petty complaints about orcs and wolves in the area, even though such things are beneath the now-famous PC's.
>> Run mostly as a normal D&D adventure, with two big fights where the PC's were the stars but the local troops, NPC's, and even peasant militia were involved. Every die roll was done like a normal fight (doable with email time speeds and many d20's). My own plot involved enemy agents sent to sew chaos and political problems in the realm. The enemies are werewolves, who have infected local orcs. One of the werewolves is a cleric of Iuz. Also unclear so far why the dwarf in the manor was secretly making silver weapons, and was consorting with a former party member who switched sides during the Keep on the Borderlands and got away. Bwahahaha!

6) The Last Baron (Paizo). Haven't run this yet.
>> The PC's will go to the border and meet with the army, who will ask them to infiltrate a traitorous castle, to take the ruler out without the army having to besiege loyal citizens with an evil ruler.

In my live campaign, we've run two adventures so far, both run as normal adventures.

1) Three Days to Kill. The PC's are hired to kill bandits, allegedly by merchants who can't get protection from the overstretched government -- actually by other bandits.

2) The Sunless Citadel. Arrest for horse theft (taking bandits horses that had been stolen from merchants) the PC's are offered a way out for doing a mission for the government guy who acts a patron to adventurers. The mission is to get healing apples for the war effort, and rescue some missing kids of local leader.
>> The PC's befriended Meepo, who leveled up with them and took over the place. Later on, Meepo will give early warning of the Red Hand of Doom, if I decide to go that way.

 

[Cadfan]

Depends on the power level of the characters.

Usually I follow Heroes of Battle pretty closely. The PCs are a heroic strike unit that might join other units and lead them momentarily, but who mostly fight specific targets instead of just wading into the general melee.

But if the PCs are important enough to be commanding armies, I let them command armies. I'm part of the new old school, so I'm cool with resolving a war with a miniatures game or something.

 

[Jack7]

In that way, it's a bit like "Foyle's War" -- a British mystery TV show about a detective in Hastings in 1940. He doesn't do any fighting, but many of the plots revolve around issues like a murder suspect/fisherman being killed by the Germans during the Dunkirk evacuation, organized crime involved with rationing, a spy who's a witness to murder, etc.

Haak, I personally happen to love Foyle's War. He's a helluvah Dick for his time, and his cases are often quite fascinating. I like the way he plays close and ruminates on things carefully before really disclosing anything, even to his fellows.

Sounds like you run some interesting campaigns.

You also reminded me something about mercenary forces. I need to construct different morale, discipline, and combat dedication rules for them than for standing, professional, or even amateur forces.

The PCs are a heroic strike unit that might join other units and lead them momentarily, but who mostly fight specific targets instead of just wading into the general melee.

That's generally they way most of my parties fight now CF. As Special Forces units.


So far, for the Rules of War I am devising Rules for:

Terrain and obstacles
Maneuver and movement
Weather
Battlespace Magic - magic user involvement
Battlefield Miracles - clerical involvement
Communications between forces - for instance if two or more players take command of separate force units can they communicate effectively before or during battle, or are they cut off from one another
Resupply and logistics - ditto
Special Forces Operations
Special Units - war dogs, elephants, magical creatures, monsters
Cavalry and Heavy Units
Weapons Employed
Armor and Defenses
Artillery and ammunition
Special Weapons and Technological advantage
Fixed emplacements and fortifications
Experience (untested, mercenary, veteran, etc.)
Leadership and force morale
Heroic company - Character players as unit forces or unit commanders
Determination or surrender
Strike bonuses
Defensive bonuses
Espionage
Ambush
Skirmish lines and skirmish engagements
Force density and outnumbering opponents
Politics - not very important in single battles, but an important consideration in long campaigns or during periods of extended warfare

Special Modifiers - like race, size (giants - a character race in my setting, but giant characters are between 7 and 12 feet tall), expertise, sabotage, etc.

I'm gonna leave operations and planning factors all to the players, War Combatants, and Commanders.
Let all that kind of stuff be strategic and unmodified based on the behavior of those responsible for organizing their war parties.

When it comes to combat I hope to devise a system that will resolve everything in dual combat rolls, one for attack, one for defense, each time combatants engage. And a good defense roll might have counteractive effects upon aggressors.

That's what it is looking like so far.