What to do with an army of dwarves?

[Oryan77]

This is a first for me as a DM. The party has gathered around 200 dwarves from a dwarven PCs clan. They are now marching through the planes to reach a long lost stronghold (which the PCs previously found). They plan to establish themselves as the new occupants, with the dwarf PC as the possible new king.

I have expected this for quite some time. I just wasn't sure if they would lead the clan there, or if they would give them directions so that the party can continue on adventuring. They chose to lead them there.

So here they are, about to enter the Infinite Staircase 200+ strong followed by a trip through the gate in Tradegate on the Outlands, and then up and across a layer in Bytopia.

I'm not really sure if we should play this out and I come up with some encounters for them using some sort of mass combat rules. Or if we should hand wave the trip and tie things up at the stronghold so that the PCs can continue on with their main adventure. I really have no idea how I can spice up a few sessions involving their trip across the planes with this clan. I'm not even sure if players would find it fun to play that out.

Any opinions or suggestions?

 

[Blackwarder]

Don't make the trip about using 200 dwarves in combat, that would turn boring quickly, make it about actually moving 200 dwarves from one place to another.

For example, how do you handle food? what about crossing rights? What if they are stoped by a mysterious stranger who wants to hire the party and their company for "a little side adventure" etc

Warder

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm not really sure if we should play this out and I come up with some encounters for them using some sort of mass combat rules. Or if we should hand wave the trip and tie things up at the stronghold so that the PCs can continue on with their main adventure. I really have no idea how I can spice up a few sessions involving their trip across the planes with this clan. I'm not even sure if players would find it fun to play that out.

I like [MENTION=6688285]Blackwarder[/MENTION]'s idea of securing passage rights thru Tradegate & Bytopia for the army. Also, we have some very interesting discussion about Bytopia over here: http://planewalker.com/content/planar-renovation-project-bytopia

I think it's a question of what approach your players would like & what you'd like to accomplish by running a game during the armies' "overland travel" instead of giving a quick one sentence narrative transition.

For example...

Do you guys want to make managing the army and getting to know the dwarven soldiers a part of play?

Do you guys want to start involving mass combat in your games?

Do you want to run an overland travel scenario where the army's numbers/morale are threatened a la "Voyage of Sinbad"?

Do you want to test the dwarf PC's leadership of his new army? Or test other PCs reaction/attitude toward the army?

Does the dwarf player have some specific goal he wants to use the army towards?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

See Lonesome Dove for a great epic adventure in moving a bunch of stuff from Point A to B.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Seek the source of Ambrosia, the ale of the gods.

 

[QuaziquestGM]

The Dwarves find that they are going "upstream" against The Great Modron March.

 

[GMMichael]

They plan to establish themselves as the new occupants, with the dwarf PC as the possible new king.
. . .
I'm not even sure if players would find it fun to play that out.

Just a couple extra points, due to lots of good ideas earlier in the thread.

If the dwarf PC wants to become king, you'll have to put him through the political wringer first. I hope Charisma wasn't his dump stat.

If your PCs thought it would be a good idea to march a company of dwarves around, AND made things harder on you in the process, you can make it hard for them as well. Which is to say, either hand-waive the situation, or make the PCs play drill-sergeant for a while. See how difficult it is to march a bunch of unruly dwarves across plains. Oh wait, we're talking "planes." Yeah, not easy. I don't even know the logistics of that, but I'm sure that not a few dwarves will have panic attacks when asked to leave the home-plane.

 

[Quickleaf]

You know, after re-reading about the Infinite Staircase, I think it's a rather confusing, disorienting, Escher-esque place. The descriptions remind me a bit of the way Mirkwood was depicted in The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, with how the dwarves all got turned around and addled.

Also, remember how the Staircase leads to what you most desire?

Finally, there is the ultimate hazard of the Staircase, and the one most difficult for a berk to fight off, if they even wish to try. This realm is said to have the ability to sense a cutter's true wishes, their deepest heart's desire. And occasionally, it'll present it to them. When a person's traveling alone, they may find a new path, a stairway they never noticed before. Upon ascending it, they'll be led to a landing, on which is a portal that leads to the fulfillment of their deepest whim. A person that steps through this doorway and accepts their desire is never seen again, but a person that resists the temptation and leaves the landing can never again find that staircase or that landing. This only occurs to a lone traveler, but it is a true fulfillment. As far as anyone knows, at least.

Now apply that sort of challenge/temptation to each PC, combine that with some kind of Lead Them Thru Disorientation skill challenge that involves keeping the dwarven soldiers out of trouble, and you've got a nice setup to build off of.

That's the Infinite Staircase portion of the session/adventure. Next, for the Tradegate/Bytopia portion I would follow [MENTION=6688285]Blackwarder[/MENTION]'s lead to have the focus be on securing passage rights for the army thru the portal to Bytopia, and then thru a couple Bytopian realms of your choice. Finally, I'd have the stronghold have some kind of challenge in order to reclaim it...perhaps a spirit bound to the Forge of Power (the BD&D dwarven racial relic) presents three tests of character? Or an Adamantine Dragon makes its lair there now, and the PCs must negotiate return of the stronghold to the dwarves?

 

[Mirtek]

You actually don't need to worry that much, if Dwarf Fortress teached us anything is that your first (and second and third) army of dwarves dies in a few minutes anyway

 

[Oryan77]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I have definitely made some notes in my DM book based on some suggestions here.

I just went ahead and asked the players how they want to handle this. They said that they would like to see the trip played out and don't mind putting the adventure on hold in order to run this trip for a few session. So I have some work to do before this Saturday. I definitely did not plan for this sort of thing even though it was a possibility that has been in the back of my mind for over a year now.

You know, after re-reading about the Infinite Staircase, I think it's a rather confusing, disorienting, Escher-esque place.

Think "Labyrinth" with Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie. I always reference that movie so players understand what I'm talking about when we hit the Infinite Staircase.

Also, remember how the Staircase leads to what you most desire?

Technically, this only happens if a traveler is walking the stairs alone. I've never been too fond of that since the chances of a player playing alone are slim and this effect would most likely never come into play. I might hand-wave that because it might be really interesting to the players if their dwarven numbers slowly dwindled down a tad while walking the stairs. Mentions of dwarves missing could be intriguing. I'm not sure how I could finally reveal this so that they realize dwarves are not just falling off or getting lost, but actually wandering away to follow their hearts desire.

Tradegate/Bytopia

I'm thinking that they would flat out be refused entrance to Tradegate. They know how to use the gate though (make a trade with the bariaur named Master Trader who roams in the woods). I may have him refuse to open the gate for them since he probably wouldn't trust sending an army into Bytopia for any reason. This could lead them into finding an alternate portal on the Outlands to get to Bytopia. I do love the Outlands, so this is a chance to use a location that I have never DMed before.

Finally, I'd have the stronghold have some kind of challenge in order to reclaim it

Two of the PCs were involved in an adventure where they did reclaim the stronghold. I ran the Forge of Fury and placed the stronghold in the mountains near Martyrdomain on Bytopia. About halfway through the adventure, I had the idea to make the stronghold turn out to be the dwarven PCs forgotten ancestors stronghold. So he made it back to Arcadia to tell his kin about his find, and they are returning to reestablish it as a mining community/dwarven castle. They left behind a few NPCs to house sit.

They had to chase out a dragon, so I may have it return and possibly enslaved the house sitting NPCs so that the group gets to rescue them and kill off the dragon once and for all. Which could be interesting because a new player is running a PC that loves dragons, any dragon. This could be a moment where he chooses between joining the dark side (the black dragon) or helping his allies fight the dragon (I doubt it). I doubt he would fight the other PCs, but it's possible that he'd do something else that is unexpected. He seems to do that a lot.