MASS COMBAT
Greetings fellow Dungeon Worlders. I’m relatively new to DW and bran spanking new to using G+, so forgive me if this information has already been discussed. I’m looking for ideas on how to do large scale engagements in DW with something other than the wave of a hand.
I like the basics of Apocalypse World, where gangs are just a trapping that a character wears to augment himself. I’m thinking of going that direction. But, I wouldn’t necessarily mind something more abstract, like a move that involves commanding troops in battle.
Thanks for your insight!
Pirate World has rules for scrums, ship battles and mobs/crowds. If you’re looking for larger, there’s a war supplement coming out soon!
We are in the midst of writing a whole supplement for this action, but keep in mind that the groundwork is there already. Anything we write will be built on the framework of moves, principles, agendas, fronts and tags.
That’s exactly what I want to see. I want something that allows players to use initiative and some degree of set-piece battle strategy-if they want too-but work it into the narrative of the game.
I want this specifically to inject it into my Exalted hack that I’m cooking up.
Olly brought it up a while ago and we had all sorts of goodness come out of the discussion 🙂
http://www.story-games.com/forums/discussion/comment/371797
My boarding move from my DW pirate sourcebook (but it can work for any mob fight)
Boarding
The boarding move uses a Mob Buff: This is an arbitrary modifier from -2 to +4 assigned by the GM that reflects the PC’s ship’s crew’s chances against the crew of the enemy ship.
When assigning a Mob Buff, the GM takes into account:
• The size of the 2 crews, including casualties taken before boarding happens. Remember that casualties taken during a naval battle are proportional to the damage the ship has taken.
• Are the crews merchants or marines? Merchant sailors may be helpless against even small bands of trained fighters.
• Individual actions of PC’s during boarding.
• Tactical advantages such as swivel guns.
• Specific moves PC’s may have that modify the Mob Buff
.
For a more or less 50-50 fight, assign a Mob Buff of 0. Seldom assign a +3. Try not to go over +3, unless the PC’s have a definite chance of winning.
Boarding happens as follows:
First, describe the start of the boarding battle in the fiction. Then describe and resolve individual PCs’ fights against enemies during the battle according to the normal Dungeon World procedure. Remember that PC actions can swing the battle, for instance if they take down the guy who mans the swivel gun, or if they set off a powder keg in the arsenal! Lastly, resolve the battle using the Boarding move.
The Boarding move
When you are part of a group consisting of more than just the player characters fighting against a large group of opponents: Roll+ Buff
On10+: The crew wins the battle with very few casualties. The enemy takes heavy casualties and will rout or surrender.
On 7-9: The crew wins the battle with up to 40% (1d4 x 10 %) casualties. There are also other complications.
On 6-:The crew loses the battle with up to 60% (1d6 x 10 %) casualties. The GM makes a hard move against the crew.
Examples of hard moves: Make the NPC members of the PC’s crew retreat, rout or surrender. Kill a named NPC. Take a NPC captive/hostage.
Notes: PC’s will never die because of a Boarding move. They can only die because of damage taken.
It is not necessary to calculate the exact amount of casualties since it is not a simulation. But it is important to reflect the casualties taken in the fiction.
The boarding action move is what I expected to find, and it looks good. Though after playing some games with group-management rules (like Reign) I have found it un-satisfying when the players do something cool, then roll bad on their group-dynamic roll. I.e. do something awesomely heroic, then end up losing anyway. Have you run into this using your boarding action rules with Pirate World?
Your concern is entirely valid. That is why it specifies that player actions influence the Mob Buff! And do not forget that when the players do grand and heroic things but lose the battle new and interesting plot twists happen.
They flee and are pursued. They are captured and held prisoner. They parley with the enemy…
A defeat in battle can be one of the most interesting plot hooks.
I… wish I could agree! But unfortunately my players are still recovering from playing too much DND and Exalted, where you don’t EVER lose. They also don’t watch any movies ever, since they aren’t familiar with the dramatic excitement of defeat. But DW has been an eye opener, maybe it’ll change our perceptions.