Last time we talked about using a siege battle to provide an epic climax to a campaign. While a siege does serve that purpose admirably, why stop there? There are so many more stories that can be told in a city under siege, ranging from the heroic to the desperate. After all a siege is, by its very nature, a lengthy affair. Given how many different ways there are to portray a protracted siege, why not set an entire campaign in a besieged city or castle?

In this particular article, we're going to go through two different ways to set up a siege campaign, and the differing themes and possibilities of each.

Walled (or Medieval)

A castle or walled city, in this instance, is any settlement surrounded by an insurmountable or difficult-to-circumvent system of fortifications. Most common in medieval settings but by no means limited to that time; this could be a castle wall, a high-tech force field, or even a minefield in a pinch. Anything that provides a clear border over which neither side is willing to cross will do. In these scenarios, the siege is largely static, focused entirely on the defenses. Once they fall, the siege is basically over. Encounters in these sieges tend to be thematically separated by location. Combat encounters, for example, usually occur on or near the walls. See the previous article for examples of those sorts of encounters. However, there is so much more that can happen over the course of a long siege.

Because of the immense cost and risk associated with storming strong defensive works, most besieging commanders will try every other possibility before launching a frontal assault. Stealth and trickery, therefore, are essential to any siege-based campaign, and have been the undoing of many a complacent garrison. An excellent example is provided by the seizing of Roxburgh Castle in 1314. A large and well-garrisoned fortress, Roxburgh was essential to English control over the Scottish countryside. As long as it remained in English hands, rebels like Sir James Douglas would never be able to establish an independent Scotland. Unfortunately, the rebels lacked the numbers to storm the walls and the siege equipment to reduce them. Douglas however, was not one to give up easily. In the middle of the night, he disguised a small force of his best men as cows and snuck right up to the walls. Once under the view of the sentries, he used rope ladders and scaling hooks to mount the walls while the garrison celebrated Shrove Tuesday. In less than an hour they had captured the entire castle and all of its defenders. The entire fortress was then destroyed before English reinforcements could arrive. Any commander worth his salt knows of these tactics, and players defending the walls should learn to be wary of quiet nights. After all, any noise or shady-looking curfew-breaker that isn't investigated thoroughly could lead to an unexpected and disadvantageous combat encounter.

Stealth is not a tool solely of the besiegers. History also presents a long tradition of loyal defenders attempting to run the blockade at night. An excellent job for a small adventuring party, sneaking past the enemy's siege lines could serve a number of purposes. The blockade runners of history frequently returned with provisions to keep the garrison from surrendering or starving to death due to lack of food. Others escaped to call on allies to bring reinforcements to lift the siege. One of the most famous of these was a man named Torii Sune'emon. A samurai loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu, he was trapped with a small garrison when Nagashino Castle was besieged. Sune'emon agreed to sneak past the siege lines and alert Ieyasu to the dire straights faced by the defenders. Their food stores were depleted, and would not last long against their determined foe. Without reinforcements, they would have to surrender soon or die. Sune'emon managed to reach Ieyasu and garner his help, but knew that his lord would arrive perilously close to the end of his comrade's supplies. He was captured and executed trying to sneak back into the fortress, but not before he'd yelled up to the defenders that help was on the way. In order to sneak past siege lines, a party of adventurers has to travel alone and unsupported into the heart of the enemy's power. They must sneak past the most clever traps and snares that the besiegers can devise to stop people just like them from doing exactly what they are attempting to do.

Finally, there are roleplaying challenges behind the walls. These will make up the meat of the campaign, taking up much of the waiting time between assaults. While that may make them sound like filler, they are anything but. The non-combat sections of a siege are filled with just as many - if not more - set piece moments than the combat-oriented ones. Set piece moments like the desperate fight to get civilians out of the path of a fire spreading through the narrow streets. Consider slowly discovering a plot among the defenders to turn over the city to the besiegers, and racing to uncover the details of the conspiracy before you are all sold out to the enemy. There are so many challenges and unique moments to be shared. An entire session could be spent trying to find the source of a sudden outbreak of sickness. Is it disease or poisoning by the enemy? Can the players find the source or cure before the enemy realizes how few defenders are capable of fighting? These big action moments lend themselves excellently to an episodic-style of game where all of the actual filler - the waiting - can occur between sessions.

There are also smaller moments which can be inserted into each session that define the characters. Deciding how to deal with deserters, or simply reminding the defenders why resistance is worth the seemingly-endless hunger and loss force players to confront difficult issues. These moments can add an incredible amount of internal conflict to a game, providing different but no less intense challenge than the accompanying external conflicts.

Unwalled (or Modern)

In the modern world - or in game settings using comparable technology - massive defensive walls have disappeared from military technology. Sieges still happen despite this lack of walls, but they are very different in feel and scope to the traditional ones discussed above. Modern sieges are not static affairs. There is no waiting, no lengthy periods of inaction or quiet. Instead, they are characterized by constant conflict and daily struggles, stretched over months and years.The longest siege in modern history, the siege of Sarajevo, lasted for nearly four years, and provides a powerful example of this type of conflict. In 1992, well-equipped Serbian soldiers attempted to seize the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo from a combination of undersupplied Bosnian units and nationalist militias. When the initial attempt to storm the city ended, the Serbs settled in for a long and devastating siege. The conflict became an endless battle for neighborhoods, or even individual buildings under the constant barrage of mortar fire. Armored units were surrounded and attacked by guerillas with hand-held anti-tank weapons. Food and medical supplies from outside the city were cut off, forcing the defenders and citizens of Sarajevo to scavenge and loot just to stay alive. Daily life under the siege was perilous, with fronts shifting randomly. One might never know which soldiers would be outside their homes the next day. Both sides hid snipers in tall buildings or along key roads with orders to fire on anyone who came under their sights. Buildings weakened by mortar fire collapsed without warning, killing anyone taking refuge inside them.

These conflicts are hectic, messy, and bleak. The struggle of those living in Sarajevo was not to win the war or defeat the enemy, but simply to survive. Instead of recording tales like those of Douglas' ingenuity or Sune'emon's heroism, history remembers Sarajevo for its list of atrocities committed over the course of a long and brutal conflict. Unlike the medieval conflicts, modern sieges aren't separated into zones. Within the area of a single city block, players will have to fight and barter and sneak and scrounge. Thus, they work best as continuous games, where the next session picks up the moment after the last left off. These campaigns should play through every day, since every day brings the threat of unforeseen dangers and unavoidable perils.

There is nothing inherently fun or amusing about a long siege. The sensation of being trapped by a larger and more powerful enemy is in fact inherently disempowering. However, it does provide intensity, excitement, and creates incredibly high stakes while keeping the scale small. Whereas most lengthy adventures send players across continents, a campaign under siege can be contained to a single city or even a neighborhood. Without having to design an entire world or constantly introduce new settings, you can create an experience that feels like a legendary saga.

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Our Story is a column about using history in your roleplaying. Whether you need ideas for a character, an adventure, a campaign, or a world, history is rife with examples and inspiration, and I will be digging them up every month. Feel free to ask any questions in the forums, or send me an email at ourstorycolumn@yahoo.com.