"Battles. Run! How?" - Richard

Continuing from last time, I'm going to break down a battle and how it could be run. Before that I want to make a few points.

You are more talented than you believe - in other words no matter what happens you can handle it. If things go off the rails then switch to horses. Key to this is dropping expectations, focus on the moment and deal with the adventure you're running not the adventure imagined in your head. Make the most of the scene you're running. Yes, keep the broader scope of the battle in mind but maintain your sights on what's happening right now and how you can make it better.

If you are using dice mechanics to determine outcomes of the battle then strongly consider rolling these in the open and sticking strictly to the results. When appropriate have the PCs make the rolls for their side of the battle. Yeah, dice rolls can produce unexpected and perhaps tragic results yet this is a powerful way to increase the tension.

Sometimes a battle adventure will be constant combat, yet narratively the best approach is to have ebbs and flows in the action. The lulls are important, they give the PCs time to regroup and opportunities for roleplaying.

The Castle Battle

The Enemy is advancing across the Kingdom's Northern Territories and must be stopped at the Castle, a fortification holding a strategic river crossing. The Enemy is numerous and thus far nothing has slowed them down. The PCs are part of the defenses of the Castle and need to hold until reinforcements from the Queen arrive.

Sound familiar? It should, this is a classic scenario that every GM has probably run at least a few times, it's the basis of countless works of fiction as well. There is nothing wrong with formulas, people use them because they work.

The PCs have tangled with the Enemy in a few skirmishes before, the Enemy are a persistent threat across the Northern Territories. Why? There's two reasons. First, the Enemy likes to raid these small communities for plunder. Second, the Enemy views the Northern Territories as encroachment upon its lands. How the GM balances these two reasons determines how the Enemy will be perceived by the players and PCs.

What are the GM's goals?

Our hypothetical GM has a few specific goals:

1. Create an exciting scenario for their players.
2. Shake up the Northern Territories where the PCs have been adventuring.
3. Give the PCs a chance to earn distinction to help them move from local heroes to regional ones.
4. Introduce some personalities from the Queen's Court.

Notice how the GM doesn't have any goals about strengthening the Enemy's story arc, in fact it appears that the GM intends to make this adventure the last hurrah of the Enemy. This helps frame the scope of the Enemy's force - enough to threaten the Castle yet not enough to truly threaten the Kingdom. Now this informs us of the Enemy's intention, they want to cause enough damage to destabilize the Northern Territories, annexation is out of the question, yet stalling the growth of the Northern Territories is definitely a possibility. So what's the Enemy's plan? They will send their main force against the Castle, hitting some communities along the way, while deploying numerous raiding parties across the Northern Territories. Even if they lose at the Castle they will still accomplish a lot of their objectives. If they do take the Castle, well, they'll plunder it and probably raze it to the ground.

As for the Enemy what information does the GM need? Who is in charge and how are they protected? Who handles their reconnaissance? What does a typical soldier look like? What are 3-5 of their special units that the PCs might have to battle? This is really all you need, and our hypothetical GM is very economical with their time.

The GM now how a basic idea of what's happening, ideally the Enemy's offensive will be foreshadowed in earlier adventures - this isn't necessary but can be useful. The next step is the hard one - figuring out what the PCs will be doing?

If you can pull it off, end a session with the revelation of the Enemy's offensive and giving the PCs a choice of assignments, whoever is in charge might give the PCs two choices out of five options:

Assassination: The PCs are tasked with eliminating the Enemy's leader or perhaps a powerful special unit, this can provide a really dramatic adventure yet has the best chance of getting the PCs killed.

Attack: The PCs are tasked with joining the effort in directly engaging the Enemy. Often in a scenario like this the NPCs calling the shots will be opposed to this option, yet if the PCs do a good job arguing for it then you should probably run with it.

Defense: The PCs are tasked with defending some position. This is the most common option and a good choice as you are dealing with a single location, it's a very manageable situation for a GM and gives the PCs a solid connection point to the battle.

Diplomacy: The PCs are tasked with winning the support of some individual of group who can turn the tide against the Enemy. This can be fun, though it really sidesteps the battle adventure, which is fine you can always recycle your work and ideas for a later time.

Reconnaissance: The PCs are tasked with gathering intelligence about the Enemy's force. This is actually the hardest of the options for the GM to execute well, there's too many variables and it's hard to run this without it seeming narratively forced.

Now our hypothetical GM wants the PCs to defend a small Keep a little ways from the Castle. He doesn't give them a choice and just has them ordered to that position. That's fine, especially, as the PCs don't have that much status with the leadership at this point.

Once you have an idea what the PCs will be doing you work on 3-5 ideas for challenges they will face. A couple of these should not be tactical, they should be moral or political. For example, what will the PCs do with the scores of refugees fleeing the Enemy who wish to seek shelter in the keep? Letting them it presents all manner of risks, perhaps opportunities as well, yet regardless it complicates an already perilous situation. What do the PCs do about a solider under their command who is caught trying to flee from the Keep? How they handle this will have an impact on morale.

By this point our GM has a rough idea of the various pieces at play. While the PCs might do unexpected things, there is a structure that should be followed:

1. Plan. Give the PCs time to plan their strategy, ideally give them some resources to utilize - like soldiers to command or special resources.
2. Prepare. Give the PCs time to prepare for the battle, not enough time to do everything, yet enough time to put a few key parts of their plan into motion. During this time the first moral/political problem should be presented.
3. First Engagement. This is the Enemy testing the Keep's defenses.
4. Lull. The PCs have a little window of time to regroup. The second moral/political problem should be presented.
5. Second Engagement. The Enemy begins the real attack.
6. Third Engagement. The Enemy throws a serious threat at the Keep.
7. Fourth Engagement. The Enemy throws another serious threat at the Keep.
8. Lull. The PCs have a little window that is just enough time to decide whether they should abandon the Keep or not.
9. Final Engagement. The Enemy makes their final assault on the Keep.

Now in the end the GM has the decide what happens with the battle. In the above scenario the GM has decided that if the PCs hold the Keep them the Enemy's attack on the Castle will be stopped cold. If the Keep falls then the Enemy will be able to cross the river and surround the Castle creating a siege that will last until the arrival of the Queen's Army. There will most likely be an outcome somewhere between these two results, the GM just has to make a determination. Best guess is more than enough.

Next time we'll do another battle with some more options and suggestions.