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Post by padre on Jan 27, 2021 9:54:40 GMT
I think this is the right thread, as this is my (our) 'way of playing'. I moved this initial post from the painting thread, which was very much the wrong thread! My Tilean Campaign (https://bigsmallworlds.com/) We use WFB 8th ed. rules, but with various, modified campaign lists that were originally part of internet forum campaigns ('Animosity', 'Treachery and Greed', etc, from around 2008 to 2014) and so not ‘just made up’ by me. Most of the players run strongly themed armies, so not really power gaming. Any human player can employ units from the Tilean (Condottiere) list in their realm army, simply because this is Tilea. Several use that list as their main one, while one player uses the Empire list. We had a player who was a proper power gamer, but he ran the undead, which technically everyone else could (should and did) gang up on, so I was happy his armies were tabletop powerful as it was a balancing factor. (That player eventually left because he wanted a more football-league style play - equal points armies etc - and so the undead are now one of the many 'NPC' forces. The story of that departure is painful!) The players use their own figure or mine or a mixture. Some play politically, diplomatically and strategically, and rely on me to provide their armies and work out all the lists, supply issues, and sort out the recording of casualties and recoveries. If the players want to include something unusual, or not on their army list, they ask me and I come up with rules, Supply Point cost, etc. Such as the Portomaggioran player, Damian, playing Lord Alessio Falconi, who wanted a ‘colossus’ (a TK hierophant) guarding his city - a massive, magical construct, like the mythical colossus of Rhodes. So, he paid SP at over the army list cost, spent time building it (in the game world) and got one. He already had the model. When he wanted to take it on the march with him, I allowed it, but as I warned him it does slow him down considerably. A colossus ain’t easy to move! Strategy, allies, etc, are as important, if not more-so, than the size of armies. On several occasions the smaller army in terms of points wins, for various reasons ranging from luck to player decisions, from terrain to army composition (see below). The NPC rulers' armies, of which there are many, are very strongly themed. Some, like the Arabyan Sons of the Desert mercenary army, were included because of a spirit of 'waste-not,want-not' and my own figure collection. Some NPC armies arose from the story - for example, I had to build and paint an entire, nearly 200 model, flagellant/cultist army in robes, then later build 100 more, but undead, because they had lost a battle and been turned into zombies! The campaign rules are very a heavily modified and expanded version of Mighty Empires - changed over the decades, with ideas from other systems and players added in, and always interpreted by the GM. Players can give whatever orders they wish - even impossible or insane orders. What then happens out in the campaign world is a different matter! Players can ask to attempt anything they like, but the likelihood of success, and what it costs in time and money, that's for me to work out, and them to worry about! I use a lot of hastily made options tables and roll for it! There is a supply point system, which seems realistic, fair and keeps the game balanced. This system is what really controls the size of armies - players must supply their troops every end of season phase. Supply Points can buy new forces, and repair damaged ones, but if a player has spent all available points keeping their massive army fed, they ain’t gonna be able to buy any more! The players armies have to be fully balanced as per army list rules – but as a whole realm army. Big armies can split into banners, so that one banner (i.e. tabletop army that is marching around the map) could be all special and rare. But always, overall, as a realm total, it all has to meet army lists composition rules. This is the big control factor against one army becoming too powerful and large. And so far it has worked. (Alliance armies can get silly though, like the Living Army at Norochia which had 6 great cannons and 5 engineers which so annoyed the undead player. I tried explaining that three of the armies were NPC petty Tilean states, each of which had a commanding officer, some foot, missile and melee, some horse, and a piece of artillery with an engineer (gunner) to look after it. Like standing armies kept ready which form the core of whatever army the state raises. The rules cover all sorts of variations on forces, from Scouting Banners and Ambassadors' bodyguards to Standing Forces and Garrison forces. All these rules can and do change (with the players’ perusal and vote) as and when necessary, mainly to make the world more real, and to make things that seem perfectly right and reasonable, occur. Players can even hire mercenary companies. Lord Alessio hired the Green Corsairs (orc and gob pirates) to go east and disrupt Khurnag’s Waagh! The NPC Prince Girenzo of Trantio hired the Tilean half of the Compagnia del Sole condottieri army to raid Pavona! Then the dwarfs hired the Estalain half to assist in their campaign against the Ogres. Indeed the gold rich dwarfs also hired the Brabanzon to bulk out the force of their puppet Baron Garoy. There is only one GM - me – who is also the story writer, photographer, army painter, model and scenery maker, etc, etc. The players can paint and model as they like and occasionally co-write the stories with me, especially if their character’s words are to be involved. I keep most of the stories about NPCs and from NPC perspectives which gives me freedom to write about events without giving away players' actual plans and dispositions, etc. As GM I can play about with NPC armies adding special things that seem right. Back when the Karak Borgo dwarfs were NPC, and they finally rolled (on my little penciled tables) to start acting more aggressively about the ogres blocking their trade routes, I thought they were the perfect realm to have a huge, wall-busting artillery piece, “Granite Breaker”, so I ordered the model. Sometimes I build them, like the Reman Maestro Angelo da Leoni’s marvellous inventions. His steam tank was a weakened Empire steamtank, mounting a helblaster, for example. I have 6 players, having lost one then gained one, and with some players having started out as one character but then become another as the campaign proceeded (when their character died). Some of the players are geographically close to me and so can play the rare games, but some too far away and so stand ins command in tabletop encounters. My newest player (two years commanding the skaven) is about 80 miles or so away and if it weren’t for the bleemin’ pandemic I am sure he would have travelled to play an actual game by now. He has, however, recently played in two play-by-email games, commanding his own forces in one and an NPC force (Biagino and his undead flagellants) in the other. He happens to have lovely armies of Estalians and Tileans and so I wish he lived nearer! The players are effectively roleplaying one character each, like a roleplaying game PC, who happens to be the ruler of a realm or 'other' form of force. These PCs can die, and several have! It then sometimes takes their new character, whether or not connected to the old one, a long while to establish themselves, or perhaps they just take up where the last one left off if they were in a right old pickle! Razger Boulderguts the Ogre tryant’s player turned into the Sartosan pirates when his character marched back into the Border Princes with all the loot he had taken. The player of the first Arch-lector of Church of Morr, Calictus II, became the Praepositus Generalis Father Caradallio of the Disciplinati di Morr when the arch lector died. When Caradallio died he became King Jaldeog of the Karak Borgo, although he is now way less hands on. He wanted to stay a part of it despite RL uber-busyness ‘cos the dwarf armies contain a lot of his old figures which he gave me in the early 90s! It has been about 8 years running. Battles take place anything from 4 to 10 a year, due to the preparation involved, my mad detail for all the stuff in between, and the fact that we are all working, family peeps with busy RW lives! I am so busy with painting I have just had to put aside the 24 gas-masked skaven machine guard aside in order to paint 24 heavily armoured swordmen for a garrison force. My photo technique has developed over time, the campaign reports being a visual record. I started hiding bases about half-way through but I really wish I had thought of it from the start! My own web site is always slightly behind the forums, but the blog part almost keeps up to date (https://www.bigsmallworlds.com) Photobucket wrecked many a forum thread with my campaign, but the people at one forum, the lovely Oldhammer, rebuilt all the photos with a technical trick for which they could never understand how grateful I still am. Nevertheless, having lost my faith in hosting sites, I built my own bigsmallworlds website to ensure against such a disaster happening again! I am now planning to continue this thread, if you are interested, by looking in more detail at aspects of my campaign rules and procedures. Does anyone want me to start with anything in particular?  |
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Post by padre on Jan 27, 2021 17:12:26 GMT
First Topic, and the aspect which lifted this campaign above my previous ones. SUPPLYI will cut and paste the various rules concerning this here, and add comments here and there. Supply Points and Reinforcements
(Introduction)Spending these is discussed more fully elsewhere, but for now I want to explain the difference between them. Reinforcements are Army List points. Supply Points are provided by Supply Centres or Towns. Think of these points as taking the form of manufactured goods, harvested crops, mined ores, etc. A city or a town is required to enable Supply Centres to turn their output into Supply Points. Supply Points can be used to pay for reinforcements (either new units or to patch up damaged units) or to build/repair things, or to maintain your existing forces, as well as other uses. The reinforcements you buy have to come from one of your homeland or new settlements, unless you are hiring mercenaries. So, reinforcements are one of the things you can buy with Supply Points, and they muster in either your homeland settlements or new settlements. You can save Supply Points, send them to other players or non-players, etc. They represent wealth created by your supply centres or stolen by looting, so you can think of supply points as gold, even though you (usually) get the gold by harvesting crops, trading goods, taxing your people, etc. In effect, SP can be turned into an equivalent amount of gold. This happens automatically when you store SP, or use SP to pay for things, like mercenaries etc. And gold can be turned into SP or used to buy reinforcements (army list points). Whichever form the SP is in, gold or other stuff, it is still SP! Once it is turned into reinforcements, however, you can’t turn it back into gold. ... Reinforcements
From the Settlement rules: When a campaign season ends each fully functioning Supply Centre will usually give you 2 ‘Supply Points’ (SP), each fully functioning Town will give you 1 Supply Point. At the end of the Winter season, however, Supply Centres only yield 1 SP, and towns yield none. At end of Autumn supply centres usually yield a bumper harvest of 3 SP.
Some players might have slightly different arrangements due to the nature of their realm and their race, and all of you will have specialised ways of getting extra Supply Points every now and again. I will give each of you your special rules before we start playing. Each Supply Point can be converted into 200 pts of reinforcements - creating new units or reinforcing damaged units either back to a serviceable strength or increasing their size (including damaged standing forces if you like) etc. Alternatively, if mercenaries are available (they may not be), each Supply Point can used to hire mercenaries (perhaps 250 – 350 pts worth) – but these will only usually serve for 2 or 3 seasons, and then will need re-hiring, if they are willing. If you do use Supply Points to make troops, then these can be organised into new Banners, which start the new season at a named settlement of yours or can take the form of replacement troops to repair or expand existing Banners. Remember to pay for missing standards, musicians and champions if you need to and you want them. If you do not immediately repair Standing Forces, they will slowly repair themselves, provided that they are not embroiled in any fighting or raiding of any kind. If they have a whole year’s peace (4 looong seasons), they should return to their standard strength. I will try to record when they received casualties, and so should know when enough time has passed for the Standing Force to have returned to normal strength. It would help if you knew, however, in your own records. If you do not want to wait, then pay for the reinforcements using your Supply Points. Keeping existing troops supplied (‘Upkeep’)
(This rule was not part of my previous campaigns)
1 Supply Point must be spent at the start of every season for every 1000 points of existing troops you have left from the previous season (rounding to the nearest 1000) to keep them hale and hearty. It doesn’t matter where those Supply Points come from - a banner may be living off the land and has plundered to gain the supply point, or carrying spares in the baggage, most usually they will be part of your end of season settlement yield. This Supply point also renews/replaces the Baggage Wagon belonging to that 1000 pts. If you cannot pay 1 supply point for each 1000 points you have in your Army, then there can consequences – basically a reduction in points. Also, they will either lose their existing Baggage Wagon, or not receive a replacement. Example: If you have 2350 points of troops, you pay 2 SP for their upkeep. If you have 2850 you pay 3 SP.
The troops you are paying to upkeep do not have to be near your homeland or in your settlements. The upkeep SP represents all sorts of supply line shenanigans over the season. For every existing 1000 points that doesn’t have a Supply Point spent on it, the GM rolls a D6 on the following chart. Upkeep shortfall
1. Lose D3 x 100 points 2. Lose D2 x 100 points 3. Lose D2 x 50 points 4. Mutinous - do nothing on the first turn of the season (unless attacked, in which case they will fight) 5. Annoyed, but Ok 6. Ok Note: For those of you who have played in my campaigns before, this is a new rule. It is meant to be not only realistic, but also help prevent forces getting unrealistically too big, too fast. We’ve had silly sized armies in the past. If you cannot pay this Supply Point for mercenaries, they will consider this a breach of contract and will most likely leave your service. This only usually becomes an issue when you have 1000 + points of mercenaries. Smaller units are counted among your forces and absorb damage as from the above table. You could in fact allow these smaller bands of mercenaries to take all the casualties so that your own regiments do not suffer! ... Baggage (‘Trains’ or ‘Wagons’)
Each Banner (not Scouting Banners) gets a free Baggage Train when initially created, represented on the table-top by one ‘Baggage Wagon’ (or equivalent model) & 3 core troopers for every 1,000 points or part thereof in the Banner. A 2,250 Banner on the tabletop thus needs to represent a baggage train of 3 baggage wagons and 9 core troops. If baggage wagons are destroyed in a battle (or due to some other reason – perhaps a failed dangerous terrain test) then the banner needs to forage for provisions for the rest of the season. Failure in foraging may lead to points losses from the banner. So if you care about your soldiers try not to lose your baggage. You need a full Baggage Train (one wagon and 3 soldiers per 1000 points) to avoid these rolls. The ‘Upkeep’ Supply Point you pay per 1000 pts of existing troops in the end of season phase either replaces that 1000 pts’ missing baggage wagon or renews the one they have (i.e filling it up with supplies again). You can also pay for extra baggage, costing 50 pts per Baggage Wagon, so that a Banner is less likely to get in trouble on a long and perilous campaign, or to stock a fortification you think may suffer a siege that season. Scouting Banners don’t need a Baggage Train, they can (nearly) always forage successfully for themselves- they tend to be small and mobile, having not too many mouths to feed. If a Scouting Banner spends a prolonged time in a region of scorched earth or barren wilderness hexes, then the GM may apply some losses or difficulties. Baggage Wagons can be destroyed in battle, so must be represented in our tabletop battles. I have a variety of models for this purpose, but you can use your own. A unit in base to base contact with an undefended Baggage Wagon (whatever model is used) destroys it. If the enemy has Baggage Wagons you can use (which is not always the case), then you can try instead to capture them. To capture a wagon, then you need to defeat the three models defending it, then either win or draw the battle the battle, or move it off your table edge. Basically it will become yours if you get to keep it according the Casualties and Recovery rules below. It’s up to you what you use to represent baggage wagons! It’s fun to see what different race/players come up with to represent their own kind of baggage. Perhaps Vampire Counts will have rickety hearses and plague carts piles with corpses, and Ogres might have massive wains dragged by docile rhinoxen (I have four such massive wagons somewhere. But no draught animals). Most human armies will have carts and wagons. I should be able to provide something for most armies if you need it. Foraging Table (2D6) (The GM will often make these rolls. Trust the GM.)
An army with insufficient baggage wagons to support itself (one wagon and 3 soldiers per 1000 points) has to roll on the following table every turn. 2. Disaster. D6 x 10% casualties in own troops & become ‘Scattered’. Lose all mercenary units. 3 D3 x 10% casualties in own troops & become Scattered. Lose all mercenary units. 4. Lose D6 x 5 % pts of your own troops. Lose mercenary units on a D6 roll of 4, 5, 6. 5. Lose D3 x 5% of your own troops. Lose mercenary units on a D6 roll of 5, 6. 6 – 8 Movement halved this turn (while the banner desperately hunts for supplies). There may be also scenario consequences if the banner is to fight a battle (or assault) this turn. 9 – 10 Manage to find what they need for this turn. 11. Successful foraging, acquiring a new Baggage Wagon. 12. Very successful foraging means you acquire two new Baggage Wagons! Die Modifiers to above table +1 If you have at least one wagon (or army equivalent) left, no matter how big the banner +1 If the banner is in an unrazed Supply Centre, Town or City hex +2 If the banner is in a friendly hex Also, an army which sacks a settlement (see the rules below) may gain or regain baggage wagons.  Undead Clarification re: Supply Points
Vampire and necromancers cannot summon new army troops between battles (their magic is expended maintaining the current strength, and the summoners can’t just keep up the strain of doing that kind of powerful magic). They only get to repair forces after a Draw or a Victory, just as the battle ends. But Undead realms do get supply points troops at the end of the season as normal. This represents the troops they gain from petty necromancers who are in their Supply Centre(s). Such petty necromancers are not represented on the field, nor counted in their army lists, ‘cos they do the kind of summoning which takes lots of time and ingredients - not battle-magic type summoning like Invocation of Nehek - and as such they cannot fight as part of an army. Imagine little, old twisted men with all sorts of graveyard diseases slaving through the dark hours to draw pentagrams and chant time consuming summoning spells. The Supply Point reinforcements also represent what little in-between turn summoning has been done by the real battle necromancers. (NB: See the casualty rules above for Vampire Counts’ casualty recovery). NB: Undead usually destroy any baggage they gain, effectively infecting then abandoning it.  ... I will leave discussion of razing (plundering) etc to another post. Also Pirates, Undead and Skaven have modified Supply rules. Skaven have their own kind of Supply Points even! I will leave that to a post discussing different armies' rules. |
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Post by Naitsabes on Jan 29, 2021 3:24:45 GMT
so after an army lost a battle, whatever models got lost are gone? and then the units need to be replenished later? Seems hard to move into enemy territory, even if you win a battle you typically lost a substantial percentage of the army. and then how do you keep pressing the attack? Tell us more!
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Post by padre on Jan 29, 2021 8:23:47 GMT
I will put up the post tabletop game casualty recovery rules as soon as I can get to my computer!
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Post by padre on Jan 29, 2021 9:22:04 GMT
CASUALTIES AND RECOVERY
Any troops who were not present on the field (i.e. over and above the 5,000 points on the field) are presumed to survive. (Note: We have, if room is available, i.e. a bigger table, allowed more than 5000 pts onto the field)The winner
Still has all troops left alive on the table. Regains all troops who routed off the table (any edge), plus half the casualties received on the table. Only one third of casualties are regained from destroyed units. For rounding purposes, roll a D6 - 1,2,3 round down, 4,5,6 round up. Dead heroes are recovered on a D6 roll of 4+, unless they were “over-killed” in a challenge, in which case they cannot be recovered. On a D6 roll of 5+, recovered heroes roll on the Character Injury Chart. D6 roll of 4+ to recover lost champions, standards and musicians. Remember champions can die in a challenge in battle, or if enemy rank and file are specified as attacking the champion. Army Builder printed lists might struggle to show these results (due to unit minimums etc) so it is advisable you pencil the amendments onto the hardcopy and keep that copy in case it is needed later in the same season. (Note: In actuality it has been myself, the GM, who does a lot of the work here, not just for NPC armies)The loser
Roll a D6 for every unit or character still on the table - on 4+ they are destroyed, on three or less they escape alive. Lose all casualties, but regains all troops who managed to retreat or rout off their own table edge, plus half of those who routed or retreated off another table edge. He loses his baggage train to the enemy unless the train successfully withdrew from his own table edge. If the baggage escaped from another table edge, it is lost, but the enemy only captures it on a 4,5 or 6 roll. Dead heroes roll on the Character Recovery table below, unless they were over-killed. Drawing armies (i.e. who agree to cease hostilities or cannot fight on for other reasons) All troops on the table survive. Regain all troops who routed off the table, plus one third of all casualties on the table (rounding down). Lose all casualties from Destroyed units. Dead heroes are recovered on 5+ roll, unless they were “over-killed”. On D6 roll of 5+ recovered characters roll on Character Injury Chart. They only lose baggage if it was destroyed during the battle. Special considerations
If the losing army surrenders all routers & casualties are lost & all survivors/baggage on the table are captured. Captured Rank and File troops are lost to the player. Only captured characters are still in the campaign, and can be ransomed or imprisoned etc (see below). If the loser is granted permission to retreat, the army regains all who routed off the table (any edge), & those who withdrew (including baggage) off the table edge in an orderly manner. Individual mercenary units who rout off any table edge are entirely lost to the army on a roll of 3+ if the army loses, and on 5+ even if the army wins. Individual mercenary units with 50% casualties and/or lose their leader (champion or hero) must test their loyalty on a D6 - 4+ then they too are lost. Mercenary units who are part of an entirely mercenary Banner follow the normal casualty rules. Vampire Counts Banners work differently. If they lose a battle, they lose all casualties on the field, including all characters, but they retain any extra troops summoned during the battle. If they draw then each magic user with Invocation of Nehek gets one automatic casting of the spell to repair casualties (on any unit). If they win a battle, every magic user with Invocation of Nehek gets to cast it D2 times. A vampire count army could potentially grow from turn to turn if it has a succession of easy victories in which it summoned more troops and repaired losses. They can, however, use Supply Points to repair their strength in the end of season phase. (Note: I may have to modify these rules if they seem to easy or too harsh in practise cf other armies)  Character Recovery table (for heroes killed on the losing side who were not over-killed) Modified from General's Compendium, p.72
2D6 2-6 = Dead 7-8 = Injured & Captured. Roll on Character Injury Chart. 9 = Stunned & Captured. Full recovery. 10 = Recovery. Roll on Character Injury Chart. 11 = Full recovery, rejoin banner if possible. 12 = Full recovery, rejoin own banner if possible, but now hates the enemy who laid him low. Character Injury ChartModified from Compendium, p.72
2D6 2 = Severe Injury: Choose loss of arm (-2 WS, no great weapons of shields) or loss leg (1/2 M) 3 = Battered: -1 T 4 = Head Wound: Suffers Stupidity. 5 = Eye wound: -2 BS 6-8 = Beaten Down: half attacks for next two turns. 9 = Old War Wound. -2 Init. 10 = Leg wound: -1 M 11 = Lost Hand: May have a hook. Can’t carry great weapons, or fight from a horse. 12 = Impressive Scars. Causes Fear. Captured Characters
The captor can imprison them (dungeons etc), attempt to ransom them back or chain them up in the baggage train indefinitely. If you want to execute a character, however, you must roll on the following table Execution ChartModified from General’s Compendium execution chart, p.73
2D6 2 = Disaster. The character flees, with all his equipment, taking all other characters he wants with him. 3-4 = Character overpowers his guards and escapes. All his possessions are lost. 5 = Character disappears. On a 4+ roll he will reappear in his realm’s capital in D6 turns. 6 = Character is helped to escape, meaning there is someone you cannot trust in your forces. 7 – 11 = Character is slain Intentionally attempting to capture foes
You may attempt to capture foes deliberately during a battle, rather than just waiting to see if you caught anyone at the end of the battle. If this is the case, use the following rules… Only characters can attempt to capture enemy characters. When attacking an enemy character in hand to hand combat, and the character in question is down to their last wound (or may lose it during this combat), declare whether you want to try to capture them. Roll the attack as normal. If the attack and wound are successful, and any saves fail, roll a D6. If a 5 or 6 is scored, the character is captured. If a 3 or 4 is scored, you’ve accidentally killed him! If a 1 or a 2 is rolled, they still have one wound and can fight on. Ward saves can be taken as normal. If it is an enemy Ruler Lord you are trying to capture, the GM may use a more complicated system.
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Post by padre on Feb 4, 2021 15:50:39 GMT
so after an army lost a battle, whatever models got lost are gone? and then the units need to be replenished later? Seems hard to move into enemy territory, even if you win a battle you typically lost a substantial percentage of the army. and then how do you keep pressing the attack? Tell us more! As you can see from above, models could be recovered, at different rates according to how they dead and whether the army won, lost or drew. Is there any other aspect of our campaign rules you would be interested in seeing? |
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Post by Naitsabes on Feb 4, 2021 21:04:12 GMT
All aspects?!? Do you have a pdf you could share with all the rules? filename: 'Campaigning according to padre - a success story'
I like how you gave undead special reinforcement rules. and yes, that must be hard to balance. I suppose this is where an all powerful GM can put a finger on the scales.
One consideration with map campaigns is that often players are more or less shoehorned into butting heads for reasons of geography. Is that something you mitigated? maybe by allowing sea travel around the peninsula or whatnot? or maybe you don't see it as an issue in the first place?
Is there a grand campaign map you could share?
Fun read throughout here, padre. Thanks for indulging us.
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Post by padre on Feb 5, 2021 15:09:58 GMT
I will put some maps up first, here, and address your very interesting point re: players being forced to 'butt heads' later. (And yes, I did have to give that thought.) This is an in-world map of Tilea ...  Here is the same map with information on it concerning PC and NPC realms (this is the mid-campaign situation and quite different to the start!) ...  Here is the technical play version of the map with hexes on it for movement (etc) purposes, which is so big I have split it in two to scan it ...   In player reports etc I always put the name and the hex coordinates, usually in square brackets, for example Ravola [D26] Here are some orientation maps that were made during the campaign, quite late on ...   In my basement 'office/game room' I have the actual game map, with pins all over it. The players started the campaign with full game maps but each had more information in or near their realm, and less detail further away. Of course, at any time, they could have demanded a servant cartographer, clerk or academic to give them more detail about an area, as there is that roleplaying element. But it never occurred to many, if any, to ask! |
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Post by padre on Feb 6, 2021 10:56:41 GMT
Are there any aspects of the campaign rules any of you would be specifically interested in? Movement? Politics? Settlements? Scouting? Forces? Communications? Ship rules? Pirate rules? Skaven rules? NPC realms? Fleeing from battle? etc.
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Post by knoffles on Feb 7, 2021 9:49:36 GMT
Loving the maps. The detail is excellent. Did you get some of it from here www.gitzmansgallery.com/warhammer-maps.html or elesewhere? I also had a listen and can't add much more to the comments Naitsabes already made. I like the short format of it as it allows you to dip in and out between dealing with kids! I'd definitely listen to some more (and have subscribed in anticipation. It may be deliberate but this one isn't showing under your You tube account. You can only appear to get to it via the link posted above. |
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Post by padre on Feb 7, 2021 10:40:08 GMT
It has been put up as 'unlisted' that's why it doesn't show up. I wanted to test the idea first and see what a few people thought before I made it public. I will be making a special channel for them and I will put the link here. Once they are public hopefully they will show and they will be searchable on the internet.
Thanks for subscribing - you're the first person who was ever subscribed to a war games story of mine.
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Post by adso13 on Feb 27, 2021 2:13:36 GMT
I'm loving this. I'd really like to know how you handle NPC realms. My "playgroup" (which consists of two people) is thinking about doing a campaign, but two players might make it a bit boring, so any info about how your campaign handles that would be fantastic. Thanks!
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Post by padre on Feb 27, 2021 17:57:40 GMT
Now that is a good question, adso13.
There are a lot of NPCs in the campaign, and as a GM I want them to act as if they are not mere puppets of my god-like GM powers to see and know everything! I want them to act in such a way that I cannot predict their next actions with certainty, no more or less than any other characters. That way I get to watch the story unfold, never knowing what either PCs or NPCs will do. I write it up, but as a record, not just making it up. I am more 'historian' than 'author'!
In terms of their realms and logistics, their armies and settlements, I put those things on the map at the start of the campaign, and then looked at my figure collection to work out what sorts of units were available for them. Once I had painted several different large regiments of 'standard' Tilean militia (swords, pikes, crossbow, mounted nobles) that gave me more leeway. I had to think hard about all this because I wanted to avoid a situation were NPCs ended up allied wth each other &/or a PC - I did not want to be caught out by the fact that two armies on the tabletop technically contained the same models! That would not do.
Luckily I had enough old figures to work with, and have added many more since. Sometimes, however, I do have to churn out a new regiment for and NPC (or even PC) force, like recently when I needed 36 foot men-at-arms. With 25 newlt modelled and painted ones, and 11 re-purposed ones, I managed it in time for the game. I changed the paper flag on one of the already painted ones and Wa la!
The campaign started with a whole army of mercenaries (mentioned below), which I already had, and one player was using my figures too for their forces. Now there are 4 players using my figures!
I also came up with a very brief, thumbnail description of each NPC ruler or realm - just enough to help with the process described below.
The really interesting part about NPCs is how I determine their reactions and actions - what decisions they make in response to events, or to the PCs' and other NPCs' actions and words. That's where I can add an process that means they are not merely puppets of my own ideas and decisions.
Basically, whenever an NPC ruler has to decide anything, from answering a request to dealing with a threat, from responding to events to expressing their own opinion, and also whenever they have to make any strategic decisions, I use use a method combining dice rolls and quick lists.
If an army is approaching, for example, I will first consider what they know of the enemy (more accurately what they believe they know from scout rolls etc), what forces they have available and what their defences are like, as well as the notes regarding their personality I made when I first created them. Then I might roll a D6 to determine the 'aggressiveness' of their response. A 6 does not mean they will march straight out and attack, and a 1 does not necessarirly mean they will immediately surrender, however, because I have to take into account those other factors.
For example, if I roll a 5 or a 6 on agressiveness for a confident, brave or impulsive NPC, who believes the enemy is weaker than their own forces, then yeah, sure, they will likely march out and attack. But if that 5 or 6 was for a peaceful sort, with a small standing army but good defences, then it might mean they order their defences put in order and their soldiers onto the walls, sending out word that they will not yield without a fight, praying this is enough to discourage the foe.
A roll of 1 or 2 for the brave/impulsive character might mean they send out a warning before they march out, informing the approaching army that if they do not leave they will be destroyed. A roll of 1 or 2 for the peaceful character might mean they offer terms, like trying to buy the enemy off, or that they order an evacuation of their citizens and a general flight to a neighbouring, friendly realm.
This still seem like I am ultimately making the decision, even though the die roll and other factors have guided me, but not really, because I never choose just oen idea, but several options in a little list, then roll a second dice to decide between the specific actions.
I think it is best if I use an actual example from this campaign season, lifted from a page of my scribbled pencil record ...
The NPC condotierre General Mazallini commands the mercenary army the 'Compagnia del Sole' and rules the recently re-captured city of Campogrotta, gifted to him as part of his payment for service against Razger Bouldergut's ogres in the employ of a large joint force put together by the rich dwarfven king Jaldeog.
At the very start of the season a traveller appears with a letter he claims he got from a dying man he encountered to the north, near Buldio. The letter is from the wizard Perette (an ally to the north) and says that the city of Ravola has been beseiged by ogres. Perette requests a relief force be sent immediately to help Ravola. It seems that Razger, or at least some part of his forces, are back in Tilea!
(Note: Of course as GM I know the actual truth about the letter, the messenger and the dying man, and it is all quite Machiavellian in nature. As ever! Let's just say that the city is already in the possession of the Skaven, and Perette is actually hiding in the forests!)
So ... now I pick up my dice. For my first guidance I decide to roll 2D6 to gauge how keen Mazallini is to help. I already know he is an experienced soldier, who knows how to keep his army intact (at least so far). I roll 3. Oh, I think - he really is not keen to help. Why?
I decide to roll a D6 - on 1-3 he is not keen because he suspects the message/messenger and on 4-6 it is becuase it is 'not his problem'. I roll 1 - he suspects the messenger.
Now I don't bother with a roll for this next bit, as I know this is how he has operated so far. You see there is a dwarfen noble, Lord Narhak, Thane of Dravaz, in the city of Campogrotta, left behind by King Jaldeog to advise Mazallini in this 'protectorate' realm, at least for a few seasons, all as contracted and agreed to, until Mazallini has proved himself capable. Mazallini has taken advice from this dwarfen lord before, and was happy to do so. I decide he will ask the dwarfen thane about this situation. I roll 2D6 for the thane, and get a 7. He is pretty neutral on the issue. That doesn't help Mazallini decide!
So I quickly come up with a D6 chart ...
1. Question the messenger further
(As GM I know this could lead somewhere, but that's not why the option is here, rather because it is a sensible option in the circumstances)
2. Send limited aid to Ravola, almost as a probing force, whilst keeping his strength here at Campogrotta
3. Send a purely scouting force, maybe just light horse, to confirm that Ravola is actually besieged by ogres
4+ Some other 'trickier' or more unusual action.
The 4+ option may seem odd, but I do this a lot. Why make loads of extra work for myself trying to come up with loads of options? Instead, I write down some of the more obvious and likely actions, leaving 4+ or 5+ or 6+ as tbis sort of clause. This means I only have to come up with more 'out there' ideas if that roll results!
Luckily for me, I rolled 2. I would need no more hastily scribbled lists. Mazallini would send limited aid, not a purely scouting force, but enough to potentially help if required. Not his whole army, but some portion he can risk losing.
Now I didn't bother with dice, but just looked at his available forces (the army list is all listed and filed). I chose a captain to command; 10 knights (mounted men at arms) and 10 Border Horse (light crossbow armed horse who would have been the scouts for option 3).
Then I remembered that Ravola was, like Campogrotta, also technically a dwarfen protectorate realm, part of a similar deal with the now dead Bretonnian Baron Garoy, which had become Perette's obligation. Surely Lord Narhak would want to help too? After all he scored 7 on keeness, not 3. But who to send? No roll required, as it seemed obvious who he would send. The dwarfen engineer Gruddic Greyfury had only just recently returned from Ravola, having assisted Perrete and the Brettonians take the city from the ogre garrison. He would go, because he knew the route and the lay of the land all the way there and around Ravola. He could guide the men appropriately. He would also take 20 quarellers with him, who had also been to Ravola and back! The men would ride, but sturdy dwarfs, without too mch armour, could run for many hours too!
My pencil notes then say "This force moves off north at the start of turn 2". They list the points value too, 530 pts men, 340 pts dwarfs = 870pts. so that I would know in case any enemies spot them and make a scout roll to learn about them.
Does all that make sense?
It all fits on one side of A4 paper, in scribbled pencil notes, and took a lot less time to do than to type out here! It's quite easy really.
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Post by padre on Feb 27, 2021 17:59:10 GMT
Just realised I never answered Naitsabes' question re: players butting heads. I will try to remember to do so soon. Right now, dinner beckons!!!!
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Post by padre on Mar 1, 2021 23:02:31 GMT
Naitsabes, you asked,
Basically I tried to factor in the element of 'natural enemies' into the very geopgraphy of the campaign.
I put the VMC in the very south, admittedly already in a way against Khurnag's orcs and gobs (an NPC faction with no real chance of reinforcing but two large armies - ome the Little Waagh! of goblins and one the Big Waagh! of mainly orcs. This meant that apart from the greenskins, the VMC, a foriegn faction being the officers and mercenaries of a Marianburg Trading Company, were not surrounded by suspicious Tileans. The Waagh! situation is what got the faction into the campaign, its back story - Alcente had basically made a deal witn the VMC offering a monopoly to the company on trading rights in return for saving the realm from the Mighty Khurnag's Waagh! (Perhaps inevitably, the VMC pretty mich became full governors of the realm, but they are no worse than a Tilean prince or a oligarchy of nobles would be, indeed, their rule might be mich better for the average citizen!)
Then there were the Tilean city realms stretched across the peninsula in the middle region - PC realmns being Remas, Pavona and Portomaggiore, with all sorts of other NPC realms too, scattered around them, from the Kingdom of Luccini and the large state of Trantio, to the smaller realms like Urbimo and Verezzo. Some were doing well, others had various 'problems' but they separated the PC realms nicely.
The really bad guys I put in the north - the PC factions of Vampires and Ogres. They were divided by some distance, but again, they weren't surrounded by enemies who might all just close and to mean that their time in the campaign ended almkst immediately.
The Dwarfs in the mountains have become a p;ayer faction, as have the Sartosan pirates, as I have the armies for the players to use. I have all the NPC armies. The Wood Elves have basically 'slept' undistrurbed throughout the whole campaign. The Skaven were mentioned in the background and reports from the start, and I had an outline of their very long term plans, and they became a PC faction when a new player joined us (rather than when an existing player's character died and they became a new faction).
So, basically, I spaced the PCs' realms out, and put the ones the rest might immediately become the target of alliances, in the peripheries.
Since then the campaign has spun on, as politics, wars, religion etc created alliances, distrust, opportunities and threats, and now it all spins on logically, driven by the cause and effect of history and the PCs and NPCs actions and words, and even as GM I feel just as much carried along by the story as the players!
Does all that make sense?
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