CHAPTER 2
Redraw the Flowchart: Even if the players confound the links on your flowchart, you’ve still got a bunch of well-designed encounters you can throw at them. Don’t be shy about changing the links and presenting those encounters in a different context. If the PCs ignored the retreating enemy cavalry, for example, you can use that encounter later by having the cavalry unit charge the PCs. If the PCs head into no-man’s-land rather than assist in the defense of the trench network, you can stage an encounter in an abandoned trench network near the enemy lines, using the trench map you’ve already prepared. As long as the PCs are running around the battlefield having fun encounters, you’re doing your job as DM, and you’ve got all the tools you need (victory points, recognition points, XP, and gold) to reward the characters. Let Them Go: You’ve already established the overall flow of battle, you’ve got a series of battlefield maps, and you know the general makeup of both armies. That means you’ve got all the tools you need to improvise a battlefield adventure. If you’re comfortable designing interesting encounters on the fly, let the characters do what they want, even if their actions don’t appear on your flowchart. To throw together a quick encounter, sketch out an encounter map based on where the PCs are on your battlefield map. Then come up with an enemy maneuver element with an EL appropriate for the PCs’ level. Quickly assess how many victory points and recognition points are at stake. Then spend a moment to think of a wrinkle: something positive or negative to spring on the PCs during the fight. Reinforcements could join one side or the other, the whole battlefield could get bombarded, or a random event could occur (such as ankhegs emerging from underground and attacking everything indiscriminately). Finally, think of something you can do at the end of an encounter that will guide the PCs’ next actions. For example, you could have a surrendering enemy trooper blurt out some valuable intelligence. Maybe the PCs spot some activity elsewhere on the battlefield that requires their attention. Or perhaps the sky grows just a little darker over the watchtower on the nearby hill.
BUILDING ADVENTURES
Up the Ante: If the PCs are going to go their own way on the battlefield, take a moment to ask yourself why they’re rejecting the choices you presented them (the paths on your flowchart). If the players don’t realize the options they have, you can make them more obvious, or even have an NPC advise them of what their options are. It’s more likely that the players aren’t taking certain actions because they don’t think the ratio of reward to risk is high enough. If that’s the case, you can either increase the reward or reduce the perceived risk. You can make a particular course of action more tempting by offering more victory points, recognition points, or potential wealth. If the characters are reluctant to chase down the retreating drow, for example, you can mention that they seem to be forming up around a particular cave entrance (one that leads to an underground tunnel network, making it an important maneuver point). You can also up the ante by reducing the perceived risk of a course of action. For example, characters worried about attacking an enemy stockade might think better of the idea if you describe drowsy guards or an unobserved approach to the walls. One way to reduce the PCs’ perception of risk is to have a friendly unit arrive and offer to assist the PCs. Getting to the stockade is easier if griffon-riding allies swoop overhead to distract its defenders. Provide Intelligence: Many times characters will get stuck on the battlefield because they don’t know how to proceed. Worse, players will have their PCs argue with each other over the best course of action, and your battlefield adventure turns into a debate competition. Obviously, it’s okay if the PCs spend noncombat time discussing strategy, but you don’t want the conversation to drag on beyond the point where everyone’s having a good time. If the players honestly don’t know how to proceed, you should provide them with more information or, better yet, the opportunity to uncover intelligence for themselves. The PCs might spot enemy cavalry bearing down on a friendly supply train that’s unaware of the danger. They could discover war plans on the corpse of an enemy they’ve just defeated. They might attain a vantage point from where they can see how the battle is unfolding, with the left flank of their own army about to collapse. Reconnect Them Later: If the PCs look like they’re going to head down an unforeseen path, you can let them do so, give them a fun encounter, then reconnect them to your adventure. If high-level PCs take off in pursuit of low-level enemy men-at-arms, you can give them the encounter they seem to want: a blowout in which they wreck an enemy unit at little risk to themselves. (Players like to be challenged, but they also enjoy the occasional cakewalk.) Afterward, give the PCs plenty of opportunities to get back onto the flowchart in the form of skirmishes they see elsewhere on the battlefield, friendly units asking for help, and commanders checking on them. You’re giving the characters a sense of independence, but you’re also showing them the way back to the challenges you’ve prepared.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
Regardless of how closely or loosely the PCs adhere to the flowchart you’ve built, you’ll find a good random encounter table to be a useful tool during a battlefield adventure. A random encounter table isn’t intended to be demographically accurate. It should provide interesting encounters of an EL appropriate for your PCs, not an accounting of what units are most likely to be found on the battlefield. A random encounter table for high-level PCs, for example, will feature high-level opposition even if the two armies involved have mostly low-level troopers. In a particularly large battle, you might want to design several random encounter tables based on geography (one table for the underground tunnels, another for the surface
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