You're the British military. Defend Avalon from my PCs.

[RangerWickett]

I'd like some help. In my D20 Modern game, the PCs are going to be trying to get into Avalon, so they can save the world. As one is apt to do.

In this game, I decided that I would have Avalon exist at a location known as Glastonbury Tor, in sort of a parallel reality.

In order to enter Avalon, you have to take water from the chalice well, bring it to the top of the hill, then cast a spell that only a few people in the world have access to. One of these people is a PC, the rest are all badguys.

The badguys have done some magic that's hurting the world, and they know that the PCs are planning to go to Avalon to try to reverse this magic. The badguys, with the aid of magic, have basically gotten the British government on their side, and so they have the aid of the British military. They need to guard the Tor for three days, and if the PCs can't get in by that time, the badguys will have won.

So, you're the badguys, trying to make sure a group of 7 people don't reach this one location. Your resources include the entire British military, but you can't use too many units because not everyone in the government is under your control. You also have three fairly powerful magic users -- one specializing in illusions and movement, one specializing in attack magic, and one who uses magic to create weapons and augment his fighting ability.

You know from previous interactions with the PCs that they include:

1. A guy who is fragile, but a fast talker. He's the one with access to the spell that will let them get into Avalon.
2. A woman who is an incredible, almost superheroic brawler.
3. A gunslinger who has great defenses so bullets can barely harm him.
4. A woman with powers similar to Magneto's, but weaker. She's practically impervious to metal attacks, but she can't stop hundreds of bullets or crush cars or anything.
5. An assassin with great speed and stealth, who supposedly can be killed in a single hit if you strike him with an unhallowed cross.
6. A psychic who can scry, see the future, and meddle with memories.
7. A D&D-style wizard, with a wide variety of spells.

How do you make sure that, for three days at least, these people do not get into Avalon? I have until Saturday to plan this.

 

[Agent Oracle]

Hmmm... okay, this is going to take some serious effort on your part, as a DM. First off, when you say, you have controll over "some, but not all" of the british military, how many troops can you safely command without arising nay suspicion? 50? 100? 200? Here's a quick guide:

brigade / 3000–5000 soldiers / 2+ regiments or 3–6 battalions
regiment / 2000–3000 / 3–4 battalions
battalion / 300–1000 / 2–6 companies or squadrons
company or squadron / 60–250 / 2–6 platoons or troops
platoon or troop / 30–40 / 2+ squads or sections
section or patrol / 8–12 / 2+ fireteams
squad or crew / 8–12 / 2+ fireteams
fireteam / 4–5
fire and maneuver team / 2

Now, I'd start with the Illusionist. He's probably a master manipulator, so he'd want a level of authority which, while keeping him well away from conflict, would permit him a maximum amount of control, without having to leave either of his companions in evil to questions of authority. I see him as impersonating a captain (captain is a very authoritative name. People know where they stand with a captain.), and overseeing a company of elete soldiers, like british special ops. Then, he puts a platoon under the command of the attack magic specilist (as a first lieutenant) and a patrol under the melee master (as a battle-hardened Sgt. at-arms).

Making life difficult for the party, the master of attack magic and his troops are patrolling the city and woods around the hill itself. any attempt to approach will be undoubtedly me6t with strong resistance, including (but not limited to) tanks, Armored personel carriers, Humvees, helicopters, and anything else you can justify using in a wargame. Just describe it as intimidating enough for the party to realize that a frontal assault would be fruitless.

Your Precog should probably scan for "safe" ways to approach that tower (which is obviously going to be riddled with snipers), and have a brief vision of a few seperate key landmarks which lead to an office complex on the far side of the hill. (or a warehouse nearer to the party, or a subway access tunnel, or another location that is man-made and is appropriate for this kind of work, while avoiding being cliche.) The first level of defenses is the weapon-master and his elete special ops team. When the party heads into the cliche level, they will find it crawling with ultra-elete special-ops teams. There are only a few of these guys, but they are tougher than any other soldiers, os it should be a fair fight. pull out every just-this-side-of-impractical weapon from any FPS you've ever played. For instance, Crossbows with ceramic tips (goes past that pesky "magnetic-powered girl's defenses) Laser-trip bombs, smoke grenades, sticky shockers. open up your splinter-cell bag 'o goodies when arming these guys.

Think three steps ahead when running these guys. They are ultra-elete special operatives, play them like it. Use supressive fire, grenades to flush out the heroes. have alternative means of quick movement scattered around the premises (like ropes outside windows, or cargo nets stringed up in strategic locales)... if at all possible, these guys should have a few levels of Monk for the close-quarters-combat effectiveness and the mobility options. You might want to play hit and run against these tough PC's.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

How many soldiers do you have?

From the look of it, it's pretty bare of cover. Good. Surround the thing at the top with a camp, including some artillery. Then put some troops (and artillery?) in the bushes around the Tor, so heroes attempting to climb the Tor either have to kill those troops or risk being attacked in the rear.

Unfortunately, ordinary soldiers are rarely a match for adventurers. Maybe you could use some commandos, but they're generally better at attacking than defending (IMO). The commandoes should include at least one melee specialist (either machete or martial artist) who should not immediately charge into melee. Wait for the brawler to come to you, then try to cut them into pieces or smash them with cool martial arts moves. Note that any PCs climbing the Tor takes twice as long to reach the summit; that's twice as many chances to shoot.

(Artillery should use the trap rules, taking into account their firing/aiming time. An artillery cannon that fires every round and does 8d6 damage would have a CR of 11 by itself.)

Ordinary soldiers would have the following type of organization:

Platoon
One lieutenant (uses Plan or Inspiration)
Three sergeants (one is the highest level NPC)
Fouteen regular soldiers (three use heavy machine guns)

The group splits into two. The officer, one sergeant, all the machine gunners, and most of the soldiers would be on the Tor. They might be defended by pits, foxholes, trenches, claymore mines, etc.

The highest level sergeant, one other sergeant, and a few other soldiers will plan a flank attack. Heroes climbing the hill will (hopefully) get pinned in place by all the attacks coming at them from above. The second group will try to sneak up on them, and despite its smaller size has the most dangerous soldier among them.

Commandoes
One officer (rank is either Captain or Major; has Plan talent)
One second in command (either Top Sergeant or Warrant Officer; highest level character)
Eight other soldiers, with specialties in things like medicine, communication, combat, engineering and intelligence. If you want to spend a lot of time making NPCs, the group should have two of each basic type of soldiers.

They use similar techniques but are stealthier and are generally higher level.

Note that seeing the future pretty much messes with every plan the villains might have.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, according to this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Armed_Forces - England has about 190,000 active troops. Less than 1/3 of 1% of the population is military. Hmm. Also, as of September 2004 there were 8000 British troops in Iraq, so I'll say 200 soldiers. A large amount, enough that people will be talking and the PCs won't get caught off guard, and too many to fight directly.

I want at least one or two helicopters on patrol. I mean, you've gotta understand, the PCs have recently killed an ancient Sumerian demon. I want to actually up the danger on the way to the final conflict, and this will be a sort of encounter that's fresh to them. They'll probably find a way around it all, but I want to have things thought out so I can challenge them and respond to whatever they do.

Of course, I don't want to spend too much time on this, because I've still got to plan Avalon itself.

 

[RangerWickett]

How many soldiers do you have?

200. Since you'll be guarding 24 hours a day, that's probably no more than 50 people active at once.

I'll agree that only a few should be above 4th level. But they are soldiers, and in d20 modern it makes sense that any soldier should have a level of the 'Soldier' advanced class, since modern militaries train their men. The PCs are ninth level, but have an overabundance of magic items for their levels. Of course, since the NPCs will have no magic (except for three mages who aren't really supposed to be part of the chain of command), the PCs are probably more equivalent to 11th or 12th level.

From the look of it, it's pretty bare of cover. Good. Surround the thing at the top with a camp, including some artillery.

I don't know if you use artillery to defend locations, do you? I thought it was only good for attack. I can see machine gun batteries, though.

Then put some troops (and artillery?) in the bushes around the Tor, so heroes attempting to climb the Tor either have to kill those troops or risk being attacked in the rear.

Unfortunately, ordinary soldiers are rarely a match for adventurers. Maybe you could use some commandos, but they're generally better at attacking than defending (IMO). The commandoes should include at least one melee specialist (either machete or martial artist) who should not immediately charge into melee. Wait for the brawler to come to you, then try to cut them into pieces or smash them with cool martial arts moves.

So I'll have general soldiers set up in what limited cover there is, and then have the commandos ready to respond to an attack.

Note that any PCs climbing the Tor takes twice as long to reach the summit; that's twice as many chances to shoot.

(Artillery should use the trap rules, taking into account their firing/aiming time. An artillery cannon that fires every round and does 8d6 damage would have a CR of 11 by itself.)

I think that's a bit too much.

...clipped the rest...

One thing I want to add is a defense at the well. The well . . . which you can see here - http://www.chalicewell.org.uk/chalice-well.html (it's actually a pretty cool place; try looking at the virtual tour) - is much easier to defend since it has some cover, and the approach is limited.

 

[domino]

First thing to do, is set up defenses to limit the number of entry points. Concrete barricades or dragon's teeth backed by a multi-layer razorwire topped fence. Good illumination so they can't sneak in at night. Machinegun nests at the road and corners of the encampment.

If they've had time to prepare, two fences, with a minefield in between them. Use magic to conceal any/all of the defenses.

Snipers hidden outside the defenses, to pick off anyone attacking the defenses from the back, and also with gear, night vision, infrared, to find and counter any other snipers supporting an assault.

I don't know what the situation is in Britain, but they may also have the means to drag in local police units to supplement the military.

Also, orders to allow NOBODY in, bar none in the timezone. Even if they Queen herself asks to go in, she doesn't get in. It'll limit the incoming info, but also prevents someone from (easily) talking their way in.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

200. Since you'll be guarding 24 hours a day, that's probably no more than 50 people active at once.

I'll agree that only a few should be above 4th level. But they are soldiers, and in d20 modern it makes sense that any soldier should have a level of the 'Soldier' advanced class, since modern militaries train their men.

But can they turn them into heroes?

Not likely. Ordinaries don't qualify for AdCs, regardless of level.

 

[RangerWickett]

I should nip some of these ideas in the bud. They've only had about a day to set up. The badguys found out that the PCs had figured out how to get into Avalon, and they only had about a day to get defenses set up before the PCs arrived.

So no minefields or concrete bunkers. *grin*

Snipers hidden outside the defenses, to pick off anyone attacking the defenses from the back, and also with gear, night vision, infrared, to find and counter any other snipers supporting an assault.

I don't know what the situation is in Britain, but they may also have the means to drag in local police units to supplement the military.

I like the sniper idea. The police almost certainly would not be involved, though the PCs might actually be able to use the police as a method of gaining entry, since the cops might have a problem with a military occupation of their jurisdiction. I don't know how the demeanor of the British regarding the military coming into your town differs from that in America.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

How about guards set up on a perimeter so normal people can't make it through, mines surrounding the area, sniper on the tower who can see through invisibility, and oh, any particular reason they can't collapse the well or at least dry it up? If they want to get rid of the PCs they can have one last bottle of it in a heavily trapped room.

Edit-Er, missed your 'no mines' part, pardon

 

[domino]

Ah. Well, in that case, just some light barbed wire obstacles around the sides. If easily available, switchbacks (or a true wall) of jersey walls on the road, to prevent someone from charging up in a vehicle, and also to provide cover. Likewise sandbags barriers.

A wall of concertina wire takes maybe 15 minutes to set up, and can be built up to a height of about 6 feet easily enough. Won't stop a serious charge, but it'll take a short while to bypass, giving the soldiers time to respond.

It won't take much time or effort to put up some lights, allowing them to watch the outside area.