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Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group
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ogbendog
Heroic
Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 1905
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 Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="warrenss2"] | Quote: |
One of the rare times that Sean Bean doesn't get killed out. |
tell me about it. dude get's killed in almost everything he's in. |
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Thasmodious
Seasoned
Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 289
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| warrenss2 wrote: | Make units like characters. Units are troops that are trained and armed the same way. Shorten the unit profiles to just the essential skills needed.
Pace
Fighting
Shooting
Damage by weapon type
Toughness
Moral
Other than this use the SW rules.
Units take damage just like characters would.
Shaken troops - same way.
As units take damage they have to roll their Moral "skill", adjusted by their wound modifier. Fail and the unit routs and is no longer a combat force in the battle until a leader/character can make use of some sort of Leadership Edge/Skill to rally them. Leave the inventiveness of exactly how to do this up to the player/character.
Units are destroyed/routed beyond all ability to rally when they're incapacitated. This does not mean everyone is dead... just hauling @$$ to safety. The GM can use this to save any player/character that was in the routing unit. It would be fun to roleplay them trying to get off the battle field in one piece.
Most of the Edges & Hindrances can still apply, just on a unit level.
Doing this you can make ANY type of unit. Elven Archers, Dwarven foot troops, etc... Plus you could translate any monsters from the bestiary in to units too.
Examples of various unit types...
Foot Archers
Pace 6 (+d6 run/charge)
Fighting d4 (daggers/short swords)
Shooting d8
Damage/range as per bow
Toughness 5 (plus whatever light armor)
Moral d6 (or higher... depends)
Knights (elite)
Pace (as per their steed)
Fight d10?
Shooting d4-2 (no missile weapons... maybe a thrown dagger?)
Damage per lace or sword
Toughness 8 (+3 plate armor)
Moral d10
There are plenty of free unit COUNTERS and PAPER TROOPS that can be used in the battles.
All this is just off the top of my head and more details would have to be worked out, but it is, imho, very do able.
All this would have your players pushing troops/units around on the table and keeping them involved in the battle more and any abstract mass combat would. |
I REALLY like this idea. I'm going to have to play around with it. I like that it would fit somewhere between squad sized skirmishes where the PCs can just play their characters and a couple of allies each, and full scale army battles, which the token system works well for. It would also mesh well with the PC actions from the mass battle rules.
Thanks for all the other suggestions/advice all. Also a shout out to Wiggy from TAG who emailed me with some specific recommendations that fit very well, bought a couple of Hellfrost region guides, and I'm considering that siege adventure someone mentioned, as my game opens with one.
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There's more than seventy earths spinning 'bout the galaxy and the meek have inherited not a one. |
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Spongly
Novice
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 51
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:04 am Post subject: |
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Nothing to do with savage worlds, but have a look at Anabasis by the ancient Greek writer Xenophon. There's a free (but slightly old fashioned) translation here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QU0IAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y
It's great source material for a military RPG campaign. Basically, a bunch of Greek mercenaries get hired by a Persian nobleman to help him overthrow the king of Persia. They win the first battle, but the potential usurper is killed and his army disperses, leaving these Greeks stranded thousands of miles from home in hostile territory. Xenophon (who was a friend of Socrates incidentally) is one of the guys chosen to lead them home. Lots of good adventury bits and great inspiration. |
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Snate56
Legendary
Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Posts: 3629
Location: Monroe, Washington
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:53 am Post subject: |
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| Spongly wrote: | Nothing to do with savage worlds, but have a look at Anabasis by the ancient Greek writer Xenophon. There's a free (but slightly old fashioned) translation here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QU0IAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y
It's great source material for a military RPG campaign. Basically, a bunch of Greek mercenaries get hired by a Persian nobleman to help him overthrow the king of Persia. They win the first battle, but the potential usurper is killed and his army disperses, leaving these Greeks stranded thousands of miles from home in hostile territory. Xenophon (who was a friend of Socrates incidentally) is one of the guys chosen to lead them home. Lots of good adventury bits and great inspiration. |
Holy $$#@! Whatta ya think yer doin'? I might learn sumthin'!
SteveN
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"We've got a blind date with destiny... and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." <The Shoveller> |
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FickleGM
Novice
Joined: 09 Sep 2010
Posts: 48
Location: Beverly, MA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:43 am Post subject: |
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| Spongly wrote: | Nothing to do with savage worlds, but have a look at Anabasis by the ancient Greek writer Xenophon. There's a free (but slightly old fashioned) translation here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QU0IAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y
It's great source material for a military RPG campaign. Basically, a bunch of Greek mercenaries get hired by a Persian nobleman to help him overthrow the king of Persia. They win the first battle, but the potential usurper is killed and his army disperses, leaving these Greeks stranded thousands of miles from home in hostile territory. Xenophon (who was a friend of Socrates incidentally) is one of the guys chosen to lead them home. Lots of good adventury bits and great inspiration. |
Ooh...I just got Beasts & Barbarians and will surely involve military aspects at some point, so this looks to be a good read. Thanks.  |
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warrenss2
Veteran
Joined: 12 Oct 2009
Posts: 867
Location: Augusta, GA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I REALLY like this idea. I'm going to have to play around with it. |
Thanks for the kind words. Let us know what all you've done with it and how it works out in the game.
Are you going to let the players form a fantasy commando team?
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Thasmodious
Seasoned
Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 289
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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*casts thread necromancy
| warrenss2 wrote: |
Are you going to let the players form a fantasy commando team? |
That's exactly what just occurred in game.
For anyone interested, a game report:
Brief background: 20 years ago the orcs, traditionally warring tribes, united under one kind, rose from under the mountains and waged war on the humans that have settled a large island off the coast of the mainland and a section of the mainland directly across from that with a shared mountain range. The orc army has two fronts, the island, and the riverlands where they have engaged the forces of several other races. About a decade ago, the war largely stalled, with stagnant fronts, the orcs controlled half the island, including the land bridge to the mainland and had taken most all the riverlands, held from expanding at geographical borders held by other races. The game starts with the various armies against the orcs becoming more organized and beginning to make a push.
We've been playing this campaign since the summer, it's going well. The game started with the PCs mid-action, about to attempt to overrun a small fort, and flashbacks covered recruitment and training. The PCs are part of a mercenary company known as the Grimm and are contracted backing the armies of the island humans. They fought in large battles and smaller missions as they ranked up (in the company and game wise, going from novice to veteran thus far) and became noticed for their varied skillsets and ability to get things done. They were eventually sent on a near suicide mission posing as sailors into a former human port town controlled by the orcs, who had enslaved the human population and made this town their naval base. The elaborate plan was part fake diplomacy to supply weapons to the orcs from worgen arms merchants (the worgen craft the finest weapons in the land) while the PC crew stayed dockside, made contact with a resistance movement, armed and trained them then led them in an effort to undermine the city from within while the army laid siege to it outside.
They were successful and once the navy was dispersed, their port burned, and the city taken, the orc army was driven across the landbridge and what was two armies is now one, surrounded on all sides by allied forces. A final offensive is set to begin and the PCs were promoted and put in charge of a unit within the Grimm designed as a commando unit. One PC is the captain, he hand picked his Lt., the other two are sergeants. They command three officer NPCs and 30 elite scout/soldiers. And they've just been sent behind enemy lines to take a strategically located castle and disrupt the orc supply lines. It's here that the game is about to get flipped on its ear a bit, as the orc war plotline is just Act 1.
Gameplay wise, it's been interesting with what has and hasn't worked. Thanks again to those in this thread (and Wiggy from TripleAce). I've used a bunch of the ideas here and whoever suggested I read Glenn Cook, thank you, the Black Company became direct inspiration for the game and, I think, really helped me visualize how life in a company could play out at the table.
Things that have worked well:
-Mass battle rules, especially with the expanded rules from Savage Insider Premium
-The RP around the day to day lives of mercenary soldiers has been a lot of fun, gambling, carousing, stories, contests and fights...
-The training flashbacks were fun, set up the mercenary company, the dynamic pretty well, got the PCs to grudgingly begin to understand the differences with a military game versus a party based game.
-The players have no problem with the overall early plot being on rails (ordered here, ordered there) as the means in which they achieve their missions are left to them, and they have relished rising from the lowly ranks where they were taking orders to commanding men and giving the orders.
Things not so well:
-It took more effort than I expected to get player buyin outside the PC party dynamic. Early on, they really considered all the NPC soldiers just fodder and their group of PCs the only thing that mattered. Using "Better You than Me" was funny and appropriate (goblin soldier squished by a rock hurling giant), the wizard indiscriminately torching the men in melee, knowing he would kill most of them, not so much. As some NPCs have survived and become a bit beloved and they've faced situations where having 20 extras is necessary, it's improved. I also implemented a few house rules/ideas to encourage that buyin.
-The only part of the mass battle rules that I don't like is how big an influence the PCs have on the knowledge battle rolls. I think it is a bit too much.
-My players really hate encumbrance
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There's more than seventy earths spinning 'bout the galaxy and the meek have inherited not a one. |
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kaltorak
Veteran
Joined: 11 Jun 2007
Posts: 544
Location: Turin, Italy
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