Mass Battles

[Donny D.]

Since the campaign I'm developing will have massive battles I'm wondering how to portray this in game.

I was thinking maybe I would have PC's fight a number of individual fights during the mass battle but I'm not sure a good method of allowing 'great deeds' on the battlefield (ala fighting thier way to the big baddies etc.)

How have you all done mass battles?

[Kaare Berg]

Hi Don,

The following is an amlagation of something I began over at the Forge (www.indie-rpgs.com). Lack of feedback made me drop the thread since I got busy on another project.

I'll resurect it here. (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4647#4647)

However as to not hijack your thread here are some general advice:

1. Is the outcome of the battle pre-determined or not?
Have you as the GM pre plotted the outcome or is the end result dependent on your players action.

2. Define what role the players are to play in the battle.
Are they going to be generals and commanders, or are they caught in the middle of events larger than themselves.

3. Will their actions have anything to say.
Will it be a struggle for survival amidst a chaos of death and flailing steel, or does fate present them with a chance to turn the tide by capturing banners, defeating enemy champions or holding breaches in the wall.

Once you have the answer to one and two, think about three and set up a few oppertunities for them to choose.

What ever you do, limit the actual scripted fighting to fights of consequence. Do not have them script their way through hundreds of mooks before they end up infront of the big bad. Fun in beat 'em ups and video games, tiresom in Rpgs.

Peace K

[Donny D.]

Well, It really all depends on the purpose of each battle but I see at the beginning of the campaign the battles being fought on pretty much equal ground (Dwarves vs. Humans probably, so it wouldnt be 'set' who would win) but as the campaign progresses and the real threat emerges the good guys will be vastly outnumbered. I can't see the good guys winning battles much in those days but I would still like to have any participating characters still have a possibility of heroic deeds. Even if the battle is lost it could be possible to take out a leutenant or fight valiantly to give the remains of the army time to escapes into caves or something. I would like to come up with a way to vividly portray these battles other than just narrativism (if that is possible).

Perhaps I could have the PLAYERS (Out of Character) come up with the strategy and tactics their side uses in the fight, but I still need a way to actually have the fight fought.

What about a few charts using the Die of Fate? Hmmm

[Kublai]

Luke has a system for resolving mass battles with a single roll. I looked for it but it's not around. It's called Gang Wars ( :oops: ) and it works pretty well, but you'll need a whole mess o' dice!

Basically, you take the leader's skill, either Command or Weapon depending if he's leading from the front or back, and add in all his FoRKs and then add in bonuses for appropriate traits. Then you add in helping dice from all the troops. Either divide the result down or dump the bucket of dice as is. There was a chart to tell you who won and by how much.

[Donny D.]

I would be very interested to see the charts etc. for this system.

[Viper]

Found 'em.

http://www.burningwheel.org/pdf/gangwar_mook_mech.pdf