Hey y'all, I am running a campaign finale in a few days, and I was looking for any advice that I can get on how to do it well. Here is a little background:
Hundreds of years ago, a powerful necromancer known as the king in ruins resides in a tower called the Blackspire. This tower is able to magically move from place to place, allowing for a mobile means of attack. In the last session, the players stole a powerful weapon from the king in ruins on behalf of the capitol city, Breton, and its militia. When it comes time for the next game, I plan on sending out a warning on behalf of the king in ruins. The message is simple: return the blade by nightfall or he releases an all out attack on the city. Knowing my players, they will probably refuse, meaning that I will be running an invasion of undead on the city.
My question is this: How do I run a city invasion that feels narratively satisfying and wont make me lose steam halfway through?
I suggest using the mob rules in order to roll for the common enemies, like skeletons or zombies. Combat gets stale fast if you don’t shake things up, so I suggest not having it only be combat.
Maybe they have to assist the milita by creating barricades against breaches in the city, or defending people who are lowering the gate in order to stop the influx. Also, if you have the undead army clash with the human one, don’t roll for it, just describe the carnage around the party, no need to roll for something that doesn’t affect the party. Another important thing is to ramp up tension, don’t just slam them with the invasion immediately, have the environment react to the movement of the undead, maybe the animals are driven into a panic or the water fouls, that sort of thing.
Rather than trying to simulate the whole invasion all at once, instead focus on individual scenes where the players can make a difference. Also have different stages / waves of the invasion. You can see both of these things in play in famous battles from movies - e.g. Helm's Deep in two towers, there's individual scenes where each main character shines, but also it is broken up into distinct phases with short moments of RP in between them as the enemy over runs different portions of the fortress and the defenders are forced to pull back. You can also see it in the Battle of Whitestone in Critical Role, Distinct stages are: the party being chased by the horde of undead, finally finding a narrow passage they can barricade & fight back, Pike arriving & turning the battle, then cleaning up the undead giants at the end.
Pull up the Alamo attack to read about an invasion. The Mexicans overran the fort by attacking on all sides, but they did a few probing attacks before hand. Use that or a similar type attack history.
The 1st invasion (in spite of the announcement) is more of a probe, not very big (so easier to run). Show that the city is surrounded. Also, attacks not involving the Party can be "news and/or gossip". Not sure how big/level your party/players are, but the Town leaders can attempt to persuade the players. They can be the ones bringing the news/gossip.
Have a small citizen riot occur by/near the players and drag them in. The players will hear all of these rumors. They will be with all of these panicking city folk. They will be seeing people rushing with supplies to man the walls. Maybe have a super small squad of undead happen to have broke into the town head toward the party. Let them hear how big that initial force was (AKA 1000 zombies/skeletons) but only see e.g. 8).
Get the players emotionally involved with what is happening in the defense. That allows less actual combat running/rolls, and more description/roleplay from you.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hey y'all, I am running a campaign finale in a few days, and I was looking for any advice that I can get on how to do it well. Here is a little background:
Hundreds of years ago, a powerful necromancer known as the king in ruins resides in a tower called the Blackspire. This tower is able to magically move from place to place, allowing for a mobile means of attack. In the last session, the players stole a powerful weapon from the king in ruins on behalf of the capitol city, Breton, and its militia. When it comes time for the next game, I plan on sending out a warning on behalf of the king in ruins. The message is simple: return the blade by nightfall or he releases an all out attack on the city. Knowing my players, they will probably refuse, meaning that I will be running an invasion of undead on the city.
My question is this: How do I run a city invasion that feels narratively satisfying and wont make me lose steam halfway through?
I suggest using the mob rules in order to roll for the common enemies, like skeletons or zombies. Combat gets stale fast if you don’t shake things up, so I suggest not having it only be combat.
Maybe they have to assist the milita by creating barricades against breaches in the city, or defending people who are lowering the gate in order to stop the influx. Also, if you have the undead army clash with the human one, don’t roll for it, just describe the carnage around the party, no need to roll for something that doesn’t affect the party. Another important thing is to ramp up tension, don’t just slam them with the invasion immediately, have the environment react to the movement of the undead, maybe the animals are driven into a panic or the water fouls, that sort of thing.
Rather than trying to simulate the whole invasion all at once, instead focus on individual scenes where the players can make a difference. Also have different stages / waves of the invasion. You can see both of these things in play in famous battles from movies - e.g. Helm's Deep in two towers, there's individual scenes where each main character shines, but also it is broken up into distinct phases with short moments of RP in between them as the enemy over runs different portions of the fortress and the defenders are forced to pull back. You can also see it in the Battle of Whitestone in Critical Role, Distinct stages are: the party being chased by the horde of undead, finally finding a narrow passage they can barricade & fight back, Pike arriving & turning the battle, then cleaning up the undead giants at the end.
Pull up the Alamo attack to read about an invasion. The Mexicans overran the fort by attacking on all sides, but they did a few probing attacks before hand. Use that or a similar type attack history.
The 1st invasion (in spite of the announcement) is more of a probe, not very big (so easier to run). Show that the city is surrounded. Also, attacks not involving the Party can be "news and/or gossip". Not sure how big/level your party/players are, but the Town leaders can attempt to persuade the players. They can be the ones bringing the news/gossip.
Have a small citizen riot occur by/near the players and drag them in. The players will hear all of these rumors. They will be with all of these panicking city folk. They will be seeing people rushing with supplies to man the walls. Maybe have a super small squad of undead happen to have broke into the town head toward the party. Let them hear how big that initial force was (AKA 1000 zombies/skeletons) but only see e.g. 8).
Get the players emotionally involved with what is happening in the defense. That allows less actual combat running/rolls, and more description/roleplay from you.