My players are about to enter a plot of political intrigue, plots and schemes centred around a players backstory that I am expecting to likely turn into a civil war for a few sessions.
I was hoping some of you might have some advice or experience in running a more tactical strategy based period of combat at your tables. Any tips on running combat on a large scale and running the resources and strategy of a war would be really appreciated.
First, civil war = can't trust anyone with friends on each sides. Brother against brother. Consider at least one betrayal and at least one honorable enemy that refuses to be evil.
Huge battles tend to be messy. I generally prefer the party to be an 'elite' squad sent to a specific mission. They have to sneak to the location without getting involved in regular battle then do their job.
Other way is to have them hold a specific location for an extended long fight with constant reinforcements. Enough time between battles for a ritual or two, but no certain rest till nightfall. Short rests could be chanced, with a 50% chance of interuption. Expect at least 8 such fights in a day.
My players are about to enter a plot of political intrigue, plots and schemes centred around a players backstory that I am expecting to likely turn into a civil war for a few sessions.
I was hoping some of you might have some advice or experience in running a more tactical strategy based period of combat at your tables. Any tips on running combat on a large scale and running the resources and strategy of a war would be really appreciated.
My tip on running large scale combat is "Don't try to run large scale tactical combat, it will take forever and be boring".
Are you looking to run it as more narrative or dice dependent? I can't help for dice heavy, Warhammer type, playing.
However, if it is narrative I would handle it like Helm's Deep where a lot of it is in the background and does not affect the PCs unless they are necessary for the plot. It was a battle that lasted all night but we only saw about an hour of action. Think of it as one-on-one combat in a dangerous environment rather than a ton of bad guys all focused on the PCs.
I just finished up a large battle and kit-bashed some rules that cranked out dramatic film-like scenes. In brief, I just simulated the non-plot essential fighting with the following: I just spread out the time (the rounds were still six seconds long but after each round time moved faster), the battle field was treated as difficult terrain, and at the end of each round the PCs and major NPCs took some damage. All this simulated a bunch of goons, which are easy to dispatch, just getting in the way. They don't really matter and get killed with one-shots. Think of the Fellowship's last battle; the Uruk-hai all had helmets on that hid their faces. It was only the one that killed Boromir that we can see his face and he got the most screen time.
Also, I focused the major bad guys on the PCs while the major good NPCs were blockers. We all had a lot of fun as the player felt like they were the center of attention, which they were.
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My players are about to enter a plot of political intrigue, plots and schemes centred around a players backstory that I am expecting to likely turn into a civil war for a few sessions.
I was hoping some of you might have some advice or experience in running a more tactical strategy based period of combat at your tables. Any tips on running combat on a large scale and running the resources and strategy of a war would be really appreciated.
First, civil war = can't trust anyone with friends on each sides. Brother against brother. Consider at least one betrayal and at least one honorable enemy that refuses to be evil.
Huge battles tend to be messy. I generally prefer the party to be an 'elite' squad sent to a specific mission. They have to sneak to the location without getting involved in regular battle then do their job.
Other way is to have them hold a specific location for an extended long fight with constant reinforcements. Enough time between battles for a ritual or two, but no certain rest till nightfall. Short rests could be chanced, with a 50% chance of interuption. Expect at least 8 such fights in a day.
My tip on running large scale combat is "Don't try to run large scale tactical combat, it will take forever and be boring".
Are you looking to run it as more narrative or dice dependent? I can't help for dice heavy, Warhammer type, playing.
However, if it is narrative I would handle it like Helm's Deep where a lot of it is in the background and does not affect the PCs unless they are necessary for the plot. It was a battle that lasted all night but we only saw about an hour of action. Think of it as one-on-one combat in a dangerous environment rather than a ton of bad guys all focused on the PCs.
I just finished up a large battle and kit-bashed some rules that cranked out dramatic film-like scenes. In brief, I just simulated the non-plot essential fighting with the following: I just spread out the time (the rounds were still six seconds long but after each round time moved faster), the battle field was treated as difficult terrain, and at the end of each round the PCs and major NPCs took some damage. All this simulated a bunch of goons, which are easy to dispatch, just getting in the way. They don't really matter and get killed with one-shots. Think of the Fellowship's last battle; the Uruk-hai all had helmets on that hid their faces. It was only the one that killed Boromir that we can see his face and he got the most screen time.
Also, I focused the major bad guys on the PCs while the major good NPCs were blockers. We all had a lot of fun as the player felt like they were the center of attention, which they were.