Comments on: War in Low Level Campaigns http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/ The Journal of Gamer Culture Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:53:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: March RPG Bloggers Carnival Roundup! - The Dice Bag http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65456 March RPG Bloggers Carnival Roundup! - The Dice Bag Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:08:55 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65456 [...] Critical Hits War in Low Level Campaigns [...] [...] Critical Hits War in Low Level Campaigns [...]

]]> By: Pain of Campaigning: Actually Planning | Critical Hits http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65455 Pain of Campaigning: Actually Planning | Critical Hits Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:35:12 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65455 [...] My own article, and Original Sultan’s comments supporting my “War is Hell” flavored D&D campaign caused me to consider a fun way to have high fatality games. [...] [...] My own article, and Original Sultan’s comments supporting my “War is Hell” flavored D&D campaign caused me to consider a fun way to have high fatality games. [...]

]]> By: 1001 Bobs » The Third Week of March in the Year 2009 http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65454 1001 Bobs » The Third Week of March in the Year 2009 Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:35:22 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65454 [...] my campaigns so I’ve not been as involved in these posts this week. The Critical Hits post on War in Low Level campaigns has me intrigued, as have the posts by A Butterfly Dreaming on A Harvest of [...] [...] my campaigns so I’ve not been as involved in these posts this week. The Critical Hits post on War in Low Level campaigns has me intrigued, as have the posts by A Butterfly Dreaming on A Harvest of [...]

]]> By: TheMainEvent http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65453 TheMainEvent Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:45:01 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65453 @Sultan: Yeah, if you want to really make a game gritty its a good time to be liberal with the body count. After re-reading my own article I was considering the possibility of running this kind of game with a 'stable' of characters (like a four man team) for each player where after the brutal low levels end each person has 1-2 dudes survive. @Bart: Glad you liked the article. Having the PCs encounter the uber powers is a double edged sword: its a good foreshadowing device, but you have to temper it with them having the ability to affect things. One of my early DMing mistakes was to have sensible things occur between NPCs in "Cut Scenes" that really stole the limelight from the PCs. Its a very tough call sometimes, but just cognizant of it and you'll probably do better than I did... oh... 12 years ago... @Sultan: Yeah, if you want to really make a game gritty its a good time to be liberal with the body count. After re-reading my own article I was considering the possibility of running this kind of game with a ‘stable’ of characters (like a four man team) for each player where after the brutal low levels end each person has 1-2 dudes survive.

@Bart: Glad you liked the article. Having the PCs encounter the uber powers is a double edged sword: its a good foreshadowing device, but you have to temper it with them having the ability to affect things. One of my early DMing mistakes was to have sensible things occur between NPCs in “Cut Scenes” that really stole the limelight from the PCs. Its a very tough call sometimes, but just cognizant of it and you’ll probably do better than I did… oh… 12 years ago…

]]> By: Bartoneus http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65452 Bartoneus Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:51:33 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65452 As usual, I get 7 or 8 ideas for my game from reading this, thanks! I think you could actually build quite a lot more around the "grazing with the REAL powers on the battlefield" concept, giving the PCs a glimpse of what they could become but also reminding them of how utterly outmatched they are. Plus you could have a PC get very lucky and have a crowning moment of awesome and actually manage to take out (or at least help) one of the big bads! What I think is great about these ideas is they force the party right into the crux of the fates of nations. In order to make low level PCs matter in a large scale war, they have to be involved in that one crucial fight or that special tide turning position. That's where the good stories come from. As usual, I get 7 or 8 ideas for my game from reading this, thanks! I think you could actually build quite a lot more around the “grazing with the REAL powers on the battlefield” concept, giving the PCs a glimpse of what they could become but also reminding them of how utterly outmatched they are. Plus you could have a PC get very lucky and have a crowning moment of awesome and actually manage to take out (or at least help) one of the big bads!

What I think is great about these ideas is they force the party right into the crux of the fates of nations. In order to make low level PCs matter in a large scale war, they have to be involved in that one crucial fight or that special tide turning position. That’s where the good stories come from.

]]> By: OriginalSultan http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65451 OriginalSultan Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:27:34 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65451 Low-level war-based campaigns are perhaps the optimal time to run a very brutal kill-the-PCs-in-droves game, if ever there was one. The PCs don't feel so bad because 1) its war, and 2) they are low level, so they don't have as much invested in their characters and it is easy to make a new one. Low-level war-based campaigns are perhaps the optimal time to run a very brutal kill-the-PCs-in-droves game, if ever there was one. The PCs don’t feel so bad because 1) its war, and 2) they are low level, so they don’t have as much invested in their characters and it is easy to make a new one.

]]> By: wickedmurph http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65450 wickedmurph Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:16:25 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65450 I completely agree. I'm a huge Erikson fan, but reading it as a DM, I would use his stuff as a handbook for incorporating high-level NPC's into a game world. Guys like Icarium and Kharsa Orlong are more like natural disasters than characters. I find the similarities between the authors quite interesting, and although Cook was definitely an influence on Erikson, I find both authors are drawing a lot from Vietnam-era military novels. The soldier in a high-magic setting like Cook's and Erikson's is fundamentally similar to the modern-era soldier, in that they have to deal with extremely powerful forces on the battlefield. A powerful wizard or demon is pretty similar to a modern tank or helicopter - capable of dealing terrific damage and requiring specialized tactics to defeat - unless you have a tank or wizard of your own. Another military-type series that might be good is the Damastes a Cimabue series, the Wizard King, Demon King and Warrior King, by Chris Bunch, now that I think about it. <abbr><em>wickedmurph´s last post: <a href="http://kootenaygamer.blogspot.com/2008/09/writing-adventure-4e-style.html" rel="nofollow">Writing an Adventure, 4e-style</a></em></abbr> I completely agree. I’m a huge Erikson fan, but reading it as a DM, I would use his stuff as a handbook for incorporating high-level NPC’s into a game world. Guys like Icarium and Kharsa Orlong are more like natural disasters than characters.

I find the similarities between the authors quite interesting, and although Cook was definitely an influence on Erikson, I find both authors are drawing a lot from Vietnam-era military novels. The soldier in a high-magic setting like Cook’s and Erikson’s is fundamentally similar to the modern-era soldier, in that they have to deal with extremely powerful forces on the battlefield.

A powerful wizard or demon is pretty similar to a modern tank or helicopter – capable of dealing terrific damage and requiring specialized tactics to defeat – unless you have a tank or wizard of your own.

Another military-type series that might be good is the Damastes a Cimabue series, the Wizard King, Demon King and Warrior King, by Chris Bunch, now that I think about it.

wickedmurph´s last post: Writing an Adventure, 4e-style

]]> By: TheMainEvent http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65449 TheMainEvent Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:38:24 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65449 @wickedmurph: The Black Company is great for that... so is the Black Company inspired Malazan book my Steven Eriksons (though only portions of those books focus on grunts in combat). @wickedmurph: The Black Company is great for that… so is the Black Company inspired Malazan book my Steven Eriksons (though only portions of those books focus on grunts in combat).

]]> By: wickedmurph http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65448 wickedmurph Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:06:29 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65448 DM's wishing to run a campaign like this can get some great inspiration from Glenn Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company. The Black Company is a small, skilled mercenary band that operates like a medieval "special forces" unit. They have skilled warriors, rogues and middling or weak wizards, but the enemy often includes very powerful sorcerers or large armies. It's a great example of a military-style RPG campaign for low to mid-level pc's. <abbr><em>wickedmurph´s last post: <a href="http://kootenaygamer.blogspot.com/2008/09/writing-adventure-4e-style.html" rel="nofollow">Writing an Adventure, 4e-style</a></em></abbr> DM’s wishing to run a campaign like this can get some great inspiration from Glenn Cook’s Chronicles of the Black Company. The Black Company is a small, skilled mercenary band that operates like a medieval “special forces” unit. They have skilled warriors, rogues and middling or weak wizards, but the enemy often includes very powerful sorcerers or large armies.

It’s a great example of a military-style RPG campaign for low to mid-level pc’s.

wickedmurph´s last post: Writing an Adventure, 4e-style

]]> By: Wimwick http://critical-hits.com/2009/03/19/war-in-low-level-campaigns/#comment-65447 Wimwick Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:03:23 +0000 http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=3370#comment-65447 Your post reminds me of one of my favourite campaigns from the past. Our characters had all been recruited into the army and were sent as advance scouts. Our goal was to explore a vast forest, perform reconaisance on the enemy and engage where possible. However, we had to ensure that no enemy survived as the kingdom we were fighting for wasn't ready to engage in a massive war yet. We had many small skirmishes, taking out patrols and enemy forward observation posts. That game eventually went to epic levels and we unofficially retired the characters at 27th level. Many accolades were awarded to our characters. My characters final full title with all honours was: Chas Lockwood, Warden of the North, Commander of the Kings Own, Champion of the Giant Wars and Companion of the Ghosts. <abbr><em>Wimwick´s last post: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DungeonsMaster/~3/1tDMLnVv_O8/" rel="nofollow">Split the Party</a></em></abbr> Your post reminds me of one of my favourite campaigns from the past. Our characters had all been recruited into the army and were sent as advance scouts. Our goal was to explore a vast forest, perform reconaisance on the enemy and engage where possible. However, we had to ensure that no enemy survived as the kingdom we were fighting for wasn’t ready to engage in a massive war yet.

We had many small skirmishes, taking out patrols and enemy forward observation posts. That game eventually went to epic levels and we unofficially retired the characters at 27th level. Many accolades were awarded to our characters. My characters final full title with all honours was: Chas Lockwood, Warden of the North, Commander of the Kings Own, Champion of the Giant Wars and Companion of the Ghosts.

Wimwick´s last post: Split the Party

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