So I have this idea for an arc that incorporates some of my player's backstory. An army of bugbears, as well as a fomorian are trying to break into the city and kill one of the members of the party.
I have a plan for a later arc involving the main villain where he actually lays siege to the city, so I want this to be a little minor in comparison. Nothing too grand, but I wanted some ideas on how to run it, especially on what happens when they get into the city, ways to draw the party out or ways that the party could essentially defeat the army without actually defeating the entire army.
If you want a near-perfect blueprint of how to run this sort of thing, you may want to look up "The Chaos in Melvaunt" series on the DM's Guild Website.
CCC-BMG-01 CORE 1-1: A Scream in the Night - Deals with an assassin infiltrating the city to kill various people, and possibly the party if they get in the way.
CCC-BMG-01 CORE 1-3: A Hole in the World - Deals with a city caught between an invasion of Orcs, preceded by a tactical squad of Orc Sappers firebombing various parts of the city to soften it up for the invasion, and an unstable dimensional hole with an army of Modrons on the other side, just waiting to spill out and cause destruction, preceded by a small tactical squad of modrons running around trying to eliminate whatever might stop the portal from opening.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
In my opinion, there's a few different ways you could go. But before you decide which way you want to go, is there a city guard? Is there anyone else besides the party that is fending off this invasion? If there is, can the do it without the party, or will they lose without help? Basically, if the party decides to not help, (which is a real possibility, players will do literally anything), is the city doomed? Or is the party the only line of defense? If there is no city guard or other adventurers to fend off the attack, then the invasion force should be relatively smaller. Anyway, here are some of the ways i would do it.
The first is to literally just have like 40 bugbears enter the city. Have them split up, since a hoard of 40 bugbears would be deadly to most groups of adventurers, but still have a few groups of say 8 or 10. Have the players hear shouting from the city guard, screams from a frightened mother, and the growling of the invading bugbears. The first encounter is probably just one or two bugbears. Pretty easily dealt with. But then they find 4 more. Then 6 more come up from behind while they're fighting the last group. Bugbears aren't the hardest things to kill, but even goblins are dangerous in large numbers. You could even make the bugbears a little weaker depending on your party's level. But the key is to make the party feel like there's no end to this army of bugbears. If the bugbears are trying to kill a certain party member, maybe make them try to separate that adventurer from the rest. And, since its an invasion, you could even let the players hide away and take a short rest. Invasions take a while after all, and there's most likely some city guard helping to fight back against the bugbears (hopefully). Once your players realize that this invasion force could be the end of them, they'll realize this is gonna take more than just mindless basic attacks. It'll take thought, planning, and execution. Of course, they could also just decide to run away. That's happened too. But, if they emerge victorious in the end, they will feel very accomplished for defeating that many enemies, and the city guard could even offer them a small reward for helping defend off the invasion. Perhaps their now the heroes of that city, and become sort of famous there.
The second way I would do it is a little more in favor of the bugbears, but also requires there to be a city guard. Basically, have a set number of city guards and bugbears. Then, when the invasion starts, you could roll a d20. On 1-10, the bugbears kill 1d10 of the guards. On 11-20, the guards kill 1d10 of the bugbears. If the party is fighting bugbears near city guards, the guards should probably not kill the bugbears that the players are fighting. This way, it feels like the party is fighting ALONG WITH the city guard instead of fighting FOR the city guard. This could also make for an interesting aspect of a losing fight.
Those are the ways i would choose to do it. Depending on what level your party is, you may want to scale down the bugbears, giving them less HP, AC, or damage, but avoid doing all three as that would make it too easy.
Hope this helps, and good luck with your invasion!
I don't feel like reposting the details here, but we had a similar discussion in another thread. It's not a long read, but I had the same challenge that you have and i went about it through a multi-stage skill challenge. In the end, the players had a LOT of fun with it and they got a good battle as well.
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"Not all those who wander are lost"
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So I have this idea for an arc that incorporates some of my player's backstory. An army of bugbears, as well as a fomorian are trying to break into the city and kill one of the members of the party.
I have a plan for a later arc involving the main villain where he actually lays siege to the city, so I want this to be a little minor in comparison. Nothing too grand, but I wanted some ideas on how to run it, especially on what happens when they get into the city, ways to draw the party out or ways that the party could essentially defeat the army without actually defeating the entire army.
Published Subclasses
If you want a near-perfect blueprint of how to run this sort of thing, you may want to look up "The Chaos in Melvaunt" series on the DM's Guild Website.
I don't actually have the funds to pay for those adventures......I wish I did though!
Published Subclasses
In my opinion, there's a few different ways you could go. But before you decide which way you want to go, is there a city guard? Is there anyone else besides the party that is fending off this invasion? If there is, can the do it without the party, or will they lose without help? Basically, if the party decides to not help, (which is a real possibility, players will do literally anything), is the city doomed? Or is the party the only line of defense? If there is no city guard or other adventurers to fend off the attack, then the invasion force should be relatively smaller. Anyway, here are some of the ways i would do it.
The first is to literally just have like 40 bugbears enter the city. Have them split up, since a hoard of 40 bugbears would be deadly to most groups of adventurers, but still have a few groups of say 8 or 10. Have the players hear shouting from the city guard, screams from a frightened mother, and the growling of the invading bugbears. The first encounter is probably just one or two bugbears. Pretty easily dealt with. But then they find 4 more. Then 6 more come up from behind while they're fighting the last group. Bugbears aren't the hardest things to kill, but even goblins are dangerous in large numbers. You could even make the bugbears a little weaker depending on your party's level. But the key is to make the party feel like there's no end to this army of bugbears. If the bugbears are trying to kill a certain party member, maybe make them try to separate that adventurer from the rest. And, since its an invasion, you could even let the players hide away and take a short rest. Invasions take a while after all, and there's most likely some city guard helping to fight back against the bugbears (hopefully). Once your players realize that this invasion force could be the end of them, they'll realize this is gonna take more than just mindless basic attacks. It'll take thought, planning, and execution. Of course, they could also just decide to run away. That's happened too. But, if they emerge victorious in the end, they will feel very accomplished for defeating that many enemies, and the city guard could even offer them a small reward for helping defend off the invasion. Perhaps their now the heroes of that city, and become sort of famous there.
The second way I would do it is a little more in favor of the bugbears, but also requires there to be a city guard. Basically, have a set number of city guards and bugbears. Then, when the invasion starts, you could roll a d20. On 1-10, the bugbears kill 1d10 of the guards. On 11-20, the guards kill 1d10 of the bugbears. If the party is fighting bugbears near city guards, the guards should probably not kill the bugbears that the players are fighting. This way, it feels like the party is fighting ALONG WITH the city guard instead of fighting FOR the city guard. This could also make for an interesting aspect of a losing fight.
Those are the ways i would choose to do it. Depending on what level your party is, you may want to scale down the bugbears, giving them less HP, AC, or damage, but avoid doing all three as that would make it too easy.
Hope this helps, and good luck with your invasion!
I don't feel like reposting the details here, but we had a similar discussion in another thread. It's not a long read, but I had the same challenge that you have and i went about it through a multi-stage skill challenge. In the end, the players had a LOT of fun with it and they got a good battle as well.
"Not all those who wander are lost"