Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be in the middle of a huge battle?
The tension as the armies face each other for the first time, the clash of calvary on the soldiers lances, the whiz of arrows overhead, seeing friends and fellow warriors fall to the sword, facing off against your arch-nemesis in the chaos of the battle, bloodshed filling every sense, the battle on the brink of defeat…
Have you ever imagined trying to roleplaying it?
While how to run small pitch battles and skirmishes is commonly described with a myriad of rules and advice in as many RPG rulebooks as you can find, similar advice and rules on running a large scale battle in a roleplaying game are rare. I’m not talking about the PCs playing the Generals of an army but the PCs embroiled in the conflict as soldiers on the ground, as defenders on the wall or as champions riding out to face the hoards. Of course, you can always grab a set of miniatures, buy a complex rulebook and play it out that way. Although this method is probably by far the most exact simulation, you lose the experience, drama and fun of roleplaying a character.
The Way of the Solider
It doesn’t really matter if the battle is set on a fantasy medieval world with elves and giants or on a planet far far away with drones and genetically modified beasties, much (if not all) of this advice still hold true. The *secret* is the same for running anything. A battle is just another _story_ and so you should focus on your PCs, what happens to them and their impact (if any) on the overall battle. Treat it as a complete self-contained story; it is a series of events, has a beginning, middle and end but can sidetrack just as easily as any other roleplaying game.
Such a large event like a battle should be a major denouncement in your chronicle. It is not something that happens every other week. If it happens too often you’ll not just wear out your PCs but also the players and that is something you really don’t want. Big battles should be tense dramatic affairs with the real possibility of death for the PCs (and any NPCs that are involved).
90% of War is Logistics
Plan your battle before you run it. Decide the outcome and how it should progress _before_ running it. Don’t try to _fudge it_. A battle often appears chaotic on the ground but it is not. Various plots and events do happen without any PC interaction with them. If the PCs can affect everything that happens then it is actually a skirmish (regardless of the number of foes) and the normal advice found in the majority of roleplaying books for running combat holds true instead.
As with planning any story, consider your PC’s specialties. If not all your PCs are warriors, make sure there is something for the others to do during the battle: a healer might have to save many wounded even as the castle walls crumble around him, a wizard may have to face his own battle on the magical plane or what have you or the socialite may discover the king has betrayed his people at the worst moment.
When designing the battle, don’t ever make it a pushover. If one of the PCs can take on the entire enemy army then this is not a battle. If the enemy can be defeated easily, it is just slaughter. The enemy should be more powerful (even if the battle is ‘equal’, the enemy should still seem as if they have the upper hand). You can always make the enemy appear weaker initially but then dramatically reveal their real strength. This can give a desperate feel to the fight.
There are many other factors you can include when planning: morale of the warriors (what happens when their King or leader is killed or their greatest warrior falls?), varying strategies of the armies (an army of supernatural demons would have very different tactics to an army of noble mortal knights), the nature and appearance of the warriors (monsters would have a powerful fear factor), the weapons (modern warfare is very different to medevial and supernatural weapons might be very exotic indeed), natural and manmade defenses and what the battle is over (holding the castle, defending innocents or even resisting an invasion).
The PCs can have an influence on any of these factors such as taking up the mantel of the fallen King, planning some unorthodox but clever strategies and getting to choose where the battle will happen. How much PCs can swing the battle is a very powerful influence on the feel of the battle. The more heroic you want it, the more impact the PCs can have on the outcome. If you want dark and gritty then the PCs should have little impact on the outcome and just be trying to survive. If you want the type of mythological heroism, the very presence and actions of the PCs should swing the battle at the last moment.
In the Heat of Battle
Battle never lets up and so the pacing should be relentless regardless of where the PCs are in the battle. There is little chance for rest in the heat of warfare.
Therefore all extended movement during a battle is dangerous be it running down a street in the besieged castle or attempting to dash across the battlefield to defend your King. In such cases, it would get a bit weighty if you went into a full contested combat with each attack that flies at you. You can treat these _minor_ attacks as static obstacles (i.e. uncontested rolls). However that doesn’t mean they can’t harm, maim or even kill the PCs.
In general there are two approaches to take when running (and planning) a large-scale battle.
The Open-Ended Approach
My favored approach would be to plan the general progress of the battle and then just dump the PCs in the middle of it and focus the narrative entirely on them. Give them a goal; do they hold the bridge or defend the civilians, what can they see, what are their orders, do they see their friends chopped down, do they try to save them, etc. and then see what happens.
Example: War of the Dark and Light
In this example the PCs are warriors of the Gods of Light. The Dark Gods have gathered a large army and intends to stomp all over the PCs’ home but unbeknownst to the players the GM has planned a surprise. The Dark Gods have managed to create a ‘tear’ and plan to bring forth terrible monsters during the battle.
The feel of the campaign is mythic heroic with the PCs pulling off legendary feats regularly. The PCs are the champions of a medium-sized army and are expected to lead the charge to stop this invasion. If any of the PCs are magically inclined there is room for attempting to close the tear and sending the monsters back.
This is how the GM would plan to run it:
- The armies face each across the battlefield. This is meant to set the tension as the armies evaluate each other.
- The champions of both armies ride forth to meet each other. This is an opportunity for some roleplaying.
- At an unspoken command, the infantry of both armies rush out and clash, led by their champions.
- The PCs’ army will gain the upper hand yet, quite obviously, the leader of the Dark Gods’ army does not engage in the battle.
- The wizards of the Dark Gods open the tear and huge black dragons rage on to the battlefield, followed by the leader of the Dark God’s army. It will be a devastating blow to the PC’s army destroying their morale even more so than men.
In the normal course of events the Dark God’s army would win but the GM wants to leave the window open for the PCs to swing the battle. Some possible ways they could swing the battle are:
- The PCs take down one or two of the dragons and bring back morale to their army.
- The PCs manage to maim or kill all the enemies’ champions or their leader and so break the Dark Gods’ army morale.
- The PCs manage to close the tear and so send the dragons back to the darkness.
The Scripted Approach
The open-ended approach may not suit everyone’s style. A more static method is to create a list of events and associated possible encounters.
For each key event, the GM should generate a list of possible encounters. These encounters may also have a list of even more possible encounters.
Key Event #3:
Enemies’ dragons arrive at the battle!
Possible Encounters for the PCs:
- Dodge fire from the sky.
- Opportunity to fire arrows at the dragons’ underbellies.
Example: The Last Stand
In this example the PCs are mortal warriors who are members of a Celtic tribe. The campaign has only a slight supernatural tint that is more for flavor than any sort of practicality. The PCs’ tribe has been at war with an enemy tribe for most of the campaign. This enemy tribe is dark and exotic and does not fight like the Celts; they are able to fight at night as if it is day.
In a previous adventure the PCs managed a secret raid and killed the enemy leader (but failed to kill their morbid oracle). This has given their enemy a powerful rage but their direction is erratic. It is obvious that the assassination will drive the enemy to a full attack on the PCs’ fort.
In the previous adventure the players spent the session discussing and organizing tactics. They plan a range of different traps to slow and harass the enemy. The GM considers these traps the PCs’ saving grace. The enemy tribe has overwhelming numbers but has decided that the preparations by the PCs will be enough to reduce the threat so that the Celtic tribe will survive and even triumph in the end.
In essence, the PCs must just survive to the end.
- Key Event: The enemy runs into the elaborate traps
- Encounter: Shooting arrows at oncoming enemies
- Key Event: The enemy swamps the walls
- Encounter: Direct charging attack
- Encounter: Saving friend NPCs
- Key Event: The Celtic Chief is killed
- Encounter: Defeating the enemy who killed the Chief
- Encounter: Defending the body of the Chief from being stolen
- Encounter: Rally the warriors
- Key Event: The enemy breaks the walls
- Encounter: Chasing runaway enemy warriors through the fort
- Encounter: Defending/Saving the non-fighting NPCs
- Key Event: Cleaning out the enemy survivors
- Encounter: Taking down their surviving warriors
- Encounter: Surprise enemy pretending to be dead
You can’t have a fight in a Vacuum!
A large-scale battle will work best if there is a build up to it over the course of a few sessions. If you plan to have a battle as the climax in your campaign, make sure you include it in all your plans, possibly foreshadowing it quite early.
If the battles are part of an ongoing war, you want to have the feel of the background of war in your campaign. Like a battle, a war progresses with and without the PCs interaction. The PCs at least should pick up news of how the war is going elsewhere, such as fails and success of other battles. Resources, trade and law in any land will be influenced by war.
Like in battles, how much influence the PCs exert on the war affects the feel of your campaign. But also how much involvement they have in the war, be it as agents, spies or just civilians.
Arch-nemesis make perfect NPCs in battles; with the real possibility of PC and NPC death they give an edge to the drama. But like the device of war, they have to have had more than a few run-ins with the PCs previously so that the players know how frustrating and ‘bad’ they are.
The Commandments of Battle
While it may seem like a daunting task to GM a big battle, if you remember some key points it can make things easier or at least give you some grip on it:
- Remember it’s a story like every other.
- Focus on what the PCs do.
- Plan and decide the outcome of the battle before running it.
- Try to build up to it in previous sessions.
Large-scale battles are a wonderful climax to any heroic or warrior chronicle. PCs can face heroic deaths, overcome old enemies and find hope in the very face of despair. I hope this article provides you with enough to plan and run your own dramatic battles.
Thanks
Thanks to the folk on the fudge list and on the irishgaming.com forums for their input and advice.
This was originally published in FudgeFactor (September 2005 Issue).