So in my last session my players defeated a colossus made of corpses ( it was basically a big fleshy zord)
This thing attacked in the middle of a Tournament and killed lots of people including The Cleric.
It was all a big distraction for the big bad to rob a Vault of powerful, dangerous magical artifacts.
The guys are all royally pissed at the necromancer who arranged this and gave told me OOC that they are all planning to get as many people to flock to their banner as they can and bring the hurt to the big bad.
I’m thinking his next move is to march a huge army of corpses on the capital city as his plan is to make it to the throne room and use it as a channelling area for a spell to convert the entire kingdom into his undead thralls via a ritual he set up thousands of years ago when he was the First King of the kingdom…
First of all does anyone know of any rules for PC’s leading squads of hirelings?
Secondly does anyone have any ideas for stats of a huge undead horde? Or ways to make the combat or conflict against them interesting? I’m concerned it would just turn into a long slog against them 🙁
You said zord…
I was raised on power rangers 🙂
Awesome. And awesome story.
When facing similar situations in the past we distilled large combat into single rolls. Essentially like a 4th edition dnd skill challenge. Each pc can be in charge of a group they roll for their group as a whole.
The perpective essentially can shift from the usual zoomed in on the characters directly to a zoomed out over head description of the battle. Zooming back in on the different groups as things progress.
Basically you would/could create a few new moves for this perspective. Maybe somethings like;
Covering fire, flanking manuever, charge, retreat, hold the line… Etc
Its kind of messed up but you could even treat the group sizes like ammo/hp where hard decisions are losing people, maybe specific follower types unlock some of the specialty moves previously mentioned.
Actually, there should be a supplement just for that things (armies, war, etc), Inglorious. I hope I’m not being annoying, but I’m tagging Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel on this one.
I’ve tried to find it in the past but my google fu is weak 🙁 I’ll give you a puppy for a link ( puppy is subject to availability)
Apply bonuses for all rousing speeches the players actually make in character. Make them actually rally people to their cause. Maybe list the diffrent assets they might gain from different allies and have them go about it that way. Lord so-and-so has cavalry so we need him on our sides, what do we know about him? That sort of thing.
Special Moves (Joseph Madigan)
When you fight the zombie horde, roll 2d6+STR:
10+ choose 2
7-9 choose 1
You avoid being caught by the zombies
You land a meaningful hit, roll damage against a zombie.
You maintain your position in the face of the zombie horde
You help another person escape the zombies
When you’re caught by zombies, roll 2d6+STR:
10+ You escape their grasp
7-9 You aren’t mauled or eviscerated, but they worsen your position – pin you down, take a weapon away, etc.
6- The undead horde tears you to shreds and feasts upon your bits