Wartime Campaigns
- Thread starter Belen
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
Ya, I did a campaign that started with the kidnapping of the king, a evil uncle taking over and then the southern providence refusing to obey him and civil war erupted.
THe first few adventures they were in the capital city. THe kidnapping happened while they were there and the city was placed under martial law as the evil unlce took over everything. There was some fighting in the streets and many people ran from the city if they could. The party, like everyone else, was really caught unaware and ended up having to owe the thieves guild a big favor for being allowed to be smuggled out of the city.
From there the party spent a few adventuires dodging the evil king's men, as they tried to warn people and towns and spread the word as fast as they could. During this time, they actually befriended a goblin tribe and saved them from being exterminated by the evil kinds men as they were fortifying their power base.
Around session 10 they finally got father then the evil king could really reach. They vistied a good duke of the sourthern providence and while he had heard from other sources, the PCs were one of the few first hand accounts he got. Skirmishes on the border happened for a year as armies were raised. During this time, the PCs snuck across the border to help people escape the evil king and guide them to saftey.
After a year since the campaign started, it was spring ands war was declared as the evil king invaded the southern province. THe PCs heard where the armirs were but avoide3d them as much they could. The dealt with spies and sabatores when they could, other times they were the spies and sabetores. They rescued some high officals the evil king was not able to kill and help them escape during this time.
After the first year of the war, the PCs were seeing the sourthern providence was not doing well. So, in a very good move they went back to the goblins they had rescued. They spent a good six months building relationships with the goblins and helping them out and eventually got the goblins to invade the evil kings land from the north. THat idea was completely the players and it never would have happened if they didn;'t choose to help out the goblins early in the campaign.
With a 2 sided war, the evil kings army was fought back some but it was still a tough war. The PCs at this point choose to sneak into the capital were the campaign started. They jioned the thieves guild and organized them into a strike force to attack the city from inside and spy and sabatage everything they could. The thieves guild did okay, but were soon routed by the mages the evil king had. The PCs in a very bold move, attacked the mages in the kings castle and really hurt the kings power base as the mages were responsible for scrying, communications and import things like that.
THe PCs regrouped for a day and then figured it was their best bet to go after the evil king and rescue the rightful king which they were able to do.
So, as the war was the backdrop the PCs didn't participate in any huge battles. They played smart and choose their oppurtunities and missions. They never officially worked with the sourthern duke and actually chased some spies they didn';t know where secret agents of the south for a little bit.
THe first few adventures they were in the capital city. THe kidnapping happened while they were there and the city was placed under martial law as the evil unlce took over everything. There was some fighting in the streets and many people ran from the city if they could. The party, like everyone else, was really caught unaware and ended up having to owe the thieves guild a big favor for being allowed to be smuggled out of the city.
From there the party spent a few adventuires dodging the evil king's men, as they tried to warn people and towns and spread the word as fast as they could. During this time, they actually befriended a goblin tribe and saved them from being exterminated by the evil kinds men as they were fortifying their power base.
Around session 10 they finally got father then the evil king could really reach. They vistied a good duke of the sourthern providence and while he had heard from other sources, the PCs were one of the few first hand accounts he got. Skirmishes on the border happened for a year as armies were raised. During this time, the PCs snuck across the border to help people escape the evil king and guide them to saftey.
After a year since the campaign started, it was spring ands war was declared as the evil king invaded the southern province. THe PCs heard where the armirs were but avoide3d them as much they could. The dealt with spies and sabatores when they could, other times they were the spies and sabetores. They rescued some high officals the evil king was not able to kill and help them escape during this time.
After the first year of the war, the PCs were seeing the sourthern providence was not doing well. So, in a very good move they went back to the goblins they had rescued. They spent a good six months building relationships with the goblins and helping them out and eventually got the goblins to invade the evil kings land from the north. THat idea was completely the players and it never would have happened if they didn;'t choose to help out the goblins early in the campaign.
With a 2 sided war, the evil kings army was fought back some but it was still a tough war. The PCs at this point choose to sneak into the capital were the campaign started. They jioned the thieves guild and organized them into a strike force to attack the city from inside and spy and sabatage everything they could. The thieves guild did okay, but were soon routed by the mages the evil king had. The PCs in a very bold move, attacked the mages in the kings castle and really hurt the kings power base as the mages were responsible for scrying, communications and import things like that.
THe PCs regrouped for a day and then figured it was their best bet to go after the evil king and rescue the rightful king which they were able to do.
So, as the war was the backdrop the PCs didn't participate in any huge battles. They played smart and choose their oppurtunities and missions. They never officially worked with the sourthern duke and actually chased some spies they didn';t know where secret agents of the south for a little bit.
Mandeville
Explorer
Here is how I run a wartime game.
1st-5th level: Typical D&D type adventures. Dungeon crawls, helping the odd town here and there, generally making a name for themselves. Make sure that any tensions of the war remain back story, but ever present. Also, it is a good idea for the players to begin to feel the effects of the war in small ways: higher costs of items, travel curtailment, loss of a friend.
6th-9th level: Players can start to take a role in the war. Because war is such an overwhelming thing, players will usually be lost and not know how or when to participate. I like to use the local government step in and give direction. By now the players have made a name for themselves and the local government would like to use them in whatever way the players might find interesting. Such options might be:
Special strike team (go behind the front lines and take out targets chosen by the leaders). Maybe there is a group of NPC bad guys that need to be dealt with.
Covert missions (players have to get into enemy locations “dungeons” and retrieve items that are helping the enemy or NPCs that have been captured). This is an easy way to work dungeon type and city type adventures into the game for mid-level players.
Diplomacy (players are sent to other neutral nations to bring them to their cause. This includes lot of overland travel into far off lands. Meet new cultures and have side treks on the way. Of course something is preventing a particular government from helping or joining a side ad the diplomats may need to step in.
10th-15th level: By this point, the players have been successful in whatever it was they choose to do. When I play this type of campaign I let the players take a more active role in calling the shots and driving the war to an end. This may involve; being generals, raising armies from land they have acquired, maybe having to bounce around the planes for that certain powerful magic item that can bring an end to the fighting.
I try to have the war over by this point so that the super high level players an deal with the fallout of a war that took this long to play out. Important empires may need new leadership. Plagues from the massive amount of dead need to be dealt with. Reconstruction type adventures could involve dealing with displaced warlords who refuse to give up or more diplomacy with finding a lost race to help pick up the pieces. Maybe a powerful lich/dragon/underdark warlord decides that the vacuum left from the war is a great time to seize power.
This type of game can be very free form and the hardest part is offering clear choices to the players to give you time to get something ready. It is also important that the campaign be made up of lots of conclusions. Make sure that no matter how the players take part in the war that there are clear objectives that progress the course of it.
There is one more inportant thing: be prepared for the players not to take part. A war type game requires a certain type of player. And maybe the PCs just want to adventure and get rich. Be prepared that the players may go off in a direction that you never foresaw. After the Good leader offers several choices of duties maybe the players decided to become profiteers. Run with it. As long as they state that is what they want, you can come up with adventures to suit it. And if they don’t want to take an active role in the war, don’t force them. Let it remain in the background. Don’t let the hardships press to much into their world, then they may feel as if they are being punished for their choice of non-involvement. Besides, you never know if they may come around.
That was just some quick ideas off the top of my head. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.
1st-5th level: Typical D&D type adventures. Dungeon crawls, helping the odd town here and there, generally making a name for themselves. Make sure that any tensions of the war remain back story, but ever present. Also, it is a good idea for the players to begin to feel the effects of the war in small ways: higher costs of items, travel curtailment, loss of a friend.
6th-9th level: Players can start to take a role in the war. Because war is such an overwhelming thing, players will usually be lost and not know how or when to participate. I like to use the local government step in and give direction. By now the players have made a name for themselves and the local government would like to use them in whatever way the players might find interesting. Such options might be:
Special strike team (go behind the front lines and take out targets chosen by the leaders). Maybe there is a group of NPC bad guys that need to be dealt with.
Covert missions (players have to get into enemy locations “dungeons” and retrieve items that are helping the enemy or NPCs that have been captured). This is an easy way to work dungeon type and city type adventures into the game for mid-level players.
Diplomacy (players are sent to other neutral nations to bring them to their cause. This includes lot of overland travel into far off lands. Meet new cultures and have side treks on the way. Of course something is preventing a particular government from helping or joining a side ad the diplomats may need to step in.
10th-15th level: By this point, the players have been successful in whatever it was they choose to do. When I play this type of campaign I let the players take a more active role in calling the shots and driving the war to an end. This may involve; being generals, raising armies from land they have acquired, maybe having to bounce around the planes for that certain powerful magic item that can bring an end to the fighting.
I try to have the war over by this point so that the super high level players an deal with the fallout of a war that took this long to play out. Important empires may need new leadership. Plagues from the massive amount of dead need to be dealt with. Reconstruction type adventures could involve dealing with displaced warlords who refuse to give up or more diplomacy with finding a lost race to help pick up the pieces. Maybe a powerful lich/dragon/underdark warlord decides that the vacuum left from the war is a great time to seize power.
This type of game can be very free form and the hardest part is offering clear choices to the players to give you time to get something ready. It is also important that the campaign be made up of lots of conclusions. Make sure that no matter how the players take part in the war that there are clear objectives that progress the course of it.
There is one more inportant thing: be prepared for the players not to take part. A war type game requires a certain type of player. And maybe the PCs just want to adventure and get rich. Be prepared that the players may go off in a direction that you never foresaw. After the Good leader offers several choices of duties maybe the players decided to become profiteers. Run with it. As long as they state that is what they want, you can come up with adventures to suit it. And if they don’t want to take an active role in the war, don’t force them. Let it remain in the background. Don’t let the hardships press to much into their world, then they may feel as if they are being punished for their choice of non-involvement. Besides, you never know if they may come around.
That was just some quick ideas off the top of my head. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.
mcrow
Explorer
I draw a lot from the style that GRR Martin potrays war in his novels. Armies swaping control of towns & villages so @ one point in the campaign the village is friendly to the PC and another they practically lynch them. Show how everyone suffers in war, even the common man. As said above the cost of living rises, coinage may even become useless. Passing armies may consume all the crops and live stock leaving the commoners to scrap and fight for every meal. Free roaming raiders take advantage of the war by pilaging unchecked because all that could oppose them are off on the front lines. These types of thing leave a lot of low level war time campaigning. The hardest part is keeping lower leveled characters from being the main characters in the war. Sure characters should eventually become major heros of the war , if they survive, but @ low levels they should be given missions that definitely affect the war but not turn it to one side or the other. Things like rescuing a captured officer from behind enemy lines or recon types of missions work best. When it comes to actual in battle RPing I use the Heros of Battle book heavily.
Our first 3E campaign was set during a war. The "human" continent (where the PCs lived, obviously) was under attack by the "dracos", various reptilian races who lived on a large island.
The players didn't know about this until the first session. I had them create characters, and the first session started with their briefing before their first battle. The PCs essentially were a "Special Ops" squad, tasked with various missions over the course of the war.
The players had a lot of fun with it, but I think my group is pretty flexible about "taking the hook." I read a lot about players who get very particular about their character concepts, and aren't very good at fitting their PCs into the group or the campaign. If you've got players like that (e.g., the guy who'd insist on playing a dark, brooding, evil type in a "good guys save the world" campaign), a war campaign may not be for you, esp. if you intend on having the PCs be involved in any sort of military organization.
The players didn't know about this until the first session. I had them create characters, and the first session started with their briefing before their first battle. The PCs essentially were a "Special Ops" squad, tasked with various missions over the course of the war.
The players had a lot of fun with it, but I think my group is pretty flexible about "taking the hook." I read a lot about players who get very particular about their character concepts, and aren't very good at fitting their PCs into the group or the campaign. If you've got players like that (e.g., the guy who'd insist on playing a dark, brooding, evil type in a "good guys save the world" campaign), a war campaign may not be for you, esp. if you intend on having the PCs be involved in any sort of military organization.
IronWolf
blank
My campaign that recently ended was going to be heading into some rather large scale battles. Set in the Forgotten Realms in the Silver Marches. Long story short, the party died while navigating from a long since fallen dwarven stronghold and they were making their way towards the Underdark. They themselves had been chased out of the stronghold my an early part of the attacking force and driven downwards. They almost made it to where the map they did have would have helped them when an arachnid mouther (left as a guardian by the drow who were helping lead troops through the Underdark for a dual pronged attack) ended up killing all but one of the party members. That member fled back up towards the stronghold where he had already spent several years hidden. With the party dead and no early warning the city likely fell or took heavy casualties from the dual pronged attack.
Had the party lived the campaign was going to evolve into a war. But, we moved on to a new campaign since there wasn't any real hooks that left the story with any continuity.
Had the party lived the campaign was going to evolve into a war. But, we moved on to a new campaign since there wasn't any real hooks that left the story with any continuity.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
A hurricaine hits causing devestation and in its wake an invasion force overruns the city.
1. The PCs must escape the attack
2. The invaders are hunting down survivors (using their pet velociraptors) the PCs need to gather the survivors
3. Escape north to the old fortress
4. Only to find the old fortress overrun by goblins (sheltering from the huricaine)
5. negotiate an alliance with the gobs and defend the fortress
1. The PCs must escape the attack
2. The invaders are hunting down survivors (using their pet velociraptors) the PCs need to gather the survivors
3. Escape north to the old fortress
4. Only to find the old fortress overrun by goblins (sheltering from the huricaine)
5. negotiate an alliance with the gobs and defend the fortress
Evilhalfling
Adventurer
My group has played to military campaigns, in the first was the invasion of githyanki, we fought skirmishes and avoided a lot of fighting. We broke away from the command structure and quested to close a primary gate. It was a short campaign, and not the best as we lacked both wide perspective and military atmosphere - run by an ex navy DM
The second was on the edge of war, humans and elves vs dwarves no less, the war was officially over, but we had all been raised to think of dwarves as humanoids. We were a military unit and led by a PC based on sarge from Red v Blue. We had a Special forces recon char who was played by an afganistan vetern - demolitions unit. The DM was new (her first non-modual campaign) and as players we set the mood of a military outfit. We made up most of the details, and even though we were not at war it was a great game. Much of it was slowly manuvering with dwarven agents and suspected dwarven agents.
Unfortunatly she gave up running after 5 sessions.
The second was on the edge of war, humans and elves vs dwarves no less, the war was officially over, but we had all been raised to think of dwarves as humanoids. We were a military unit and led by a PC based on sarge from Red v Blue. We had a Special forces recon char who was played by an afganistan vetern - demolitions unit. The DM was new (her first non-modual campaign) and as players we set the mood of a military outfit. We made up most of the details, and even though we were not at war it was a great game. Much of it was slowly manuvering with dwarven agents and suspected dwarven agents.
Unfortunatly she gave up running after 5 sessions.
Similar Threads
