Comments on: “This Means War!”: Making huge armies practical (Part 2 of 6) http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/this-means-war-2-of-6/ Expert tips and how-to's on every aspect of creating and running exceptional campaigns. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:02:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2378 hourly 1 By: March RPG Bloggers Carnival Roundup! - The Dice Bag http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/this-means-war-2-of-6/comment-page-1/#comment-756 March RPG Bloggers Carnival Roundup! - The Dice Bag Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:25:35 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=478#comment-756 [...] Mastery This Mean War - Part 1 This Mean War - Part 2 This Mean War - Part 3 This Mean War - Part 4 This Mean War - Part 5 This Mean War - Part [...] [...] Mastery This Mean War – Part 1 This Mean War – Part 2 This Mean War – Part 3 This Mean War – Part 4 This Mean War – Part 5 This Mean War – Part [...]

]]> By: Mike http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/this-means-war-2-of-6/comment-page-1/#comment-620 Mike Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:44:55 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=478#comment-620 Tried that, TrueNeutral. Sure, one could do such a table, if the point of the exercise was to keep the war at arm's length from the PCs. For that matter, you could simply decide and announce the results arbitrarily. For that matter, why bother with tracking the different combat modifiers of the PCs and the ACs of the various foes they confront? A single arbitrary table can do that job, as well. The result is less than satisfying to all concerned, in both instances. The goal here is to enable the PCs to immerse themselves in the war going on all around them, and to participate in it. It's the difference between being told the results of the battle afterwards and the battle for Helm's Deep as shown in the Two Towers movie. The only way around this is to make umpteen thousand die rolls, which is about as dull as it gets. Furthermore, in order to get the tables anywhere close to acccurate, you would have to base them on this sort of calculation anyway. It's also worth noting that players tend to dislike the GM being so arbitrary; they like to know there are reasons for the GMs decisions that are grounded in the game mechanics that they have to live by. Finally, I think that the system offered is actually a lot less work than creating and endlessly revising and reworking a table to accommodate circumstances. Tried that, TrueNeutral. Sure, one could do such a table, if the point of the exercise was to keep the war at arm’s length from the PCs. For that matter, you could simply decide and announce the results arbitrarily. For that matter, why bother with tracking the different combat modifiers of the PCs and the ACs of the various foes they confront? A single arbitrary table can do that job, as well.

The result is less than satisfying to all concerned, in both instances. The goal here is to enable the PCs to immerse themselves in the war going on all around them, and to participate in it. It’s the difference between being told the results of the battle afterwards and the battle for Helm’s Deep as shown in the Two Towers movie.

The only way around this is to make umpteen thousand die rolls, which is about as dull as it gets. Furthermore, in order to get the tables anywhere close to acccurate, you would have to base them on this sort of calculation anyway.

It’s also worth noting that players tend to dislike the GM being so arbitrary; they like to know there are reasons for the GMs decisions that are grounded in the game mechanics that they have to live by.

Finally, I think that the system offered is actually a lot less work than creating and endlessly revising and reworking a table to accommodate circumstances.

]]> By: TrueNeutral http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/this-means-war-2-of-6/comment-page-1/#comment-619 TrueNeutral Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:01:05 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=478#comment-619 This whole article is amazing and it's great to see as close to realistic probability these engagements can be modelled, but really, can't a DM not be a bit more arbritary or at least just make a table to decide the result? (modify roll if the unit had strong or overwhelming superiority) This whole article is amazing and it’s great to see as close to realistic probability these engagements can be modelled, but really, can’t a DM not be a bit more arbritary or at least just make a table to decide the result? (modify roll if the unit had strong or overwhelming superiority)

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