Trollopulous Adjusted Session 11 (Machodor #3); TWO MASS BATTLES!

Introduction

This session was a really great one, but one of the things that made it possible was the use of 1 to 1 time  between sessions, since the calendar caught up with these PCs two weeks previously. During the downtime some of the players were training, but the others could, and did, move about the area gathering clues and tidying up loose ends.  So much happened that I've thought about doing a downtime session report. Anyway, when we started the session everyone was on the same page with what they wanted to do and where they needed to go.

Timekeeping (Aus)

This session took place on 24/Mar/2023 and the PCs adventured for 3 days.

Player Characters Present

Godleve (Level 5 Cleric of Machodor)

Giuseppe (Level 4 Paladin from Rome, Brovenloft)

Sever (Level 3 Ranger of Machodor)

Shamus (Level 2 Irish Fighter from Brovenloft)

Slippery Pete (Level 1 Thief of unknown provenance) broke a tooth in thief training and could not go

Leopold (Level 1 Fighter of unknown provenance, rescued from under Castle Von Necro)

Downtime Summary

Last session revealed that a group of Pilgrims were, in reality, Birdmen (aka Kenku) and that they were behind so much of the mischief that the PCs had been cleaning up. During downtime they worked out the likely location of the Birdman lair and the birdman they had captured (who had transformed himself to look and sound just like Slippery Pete) agreed to lead the party there. An army of Irishmen from Brovenloft had lost their leader and needed the party's guidance to rescue him. Not incidentally, a nearly fatal random encounter in downtime revealed the terrible reality of the Red Dragon "Lord Inferno".

Session Report

A new day dawned clear and bright over Schloss Ragnar. The party formed up with their Irish troops. There was a bit of talk about obtaining heavier mounts, but none were available in the dwarven stronghold. The group went north east to a approximately the centre of the bandit mountains and camped in a defensible valley near their destination. Nothing bothered the well defended force and the next morning also greeted them with clear weather.

Because I had such a good idea of what the players wanted to do, I could indulge in a bit of boxed text:

"At last you reach the face of the precipice itself, and find yourselves looking into the mouth of a dark tunnel at the foot of the vast wall of rock that forms the lip of the volcano, and which at this point towers up precipitously above you for fifteen hundred or two thousand feet. Out of this tunnel flows a considerable stream of water, and the channel was clearly deliberately carved to allow the water to flow next to a roadway about 8 feet wide.

The Birdman halts and says, "From here the way narrows considerably, and there are many stairs. Horses cannot follow."

There was some talk of leaving the Irish light cavalry behind to guard the baggage train, but, as they could fight on foot using their lances as spears, they were too valuable in a fight to leave behind. I'm not sure if any of the players caught the hint at this stage that they were going to need every last one of the Irish to face what lay ahead. The birdman assured them that his people rarely used the stairs, since they could fly, and that there was enough space in the tunnel for it to be a defensible position for the baggage train and the horses.

It did occur to everyone at this point that with the kenku having shown an ability to take on the forms of the party, more operational security was needed. They chose a password that I'm certain no one would ever think of.

After an hour or so they reached the top of the stairs and the path lead out through a pass in which the stone on either side had been carved to resemble rope hanging vertically. The Birdman warned them to be careful of a long fall ahead, and that also they were approaching an area the kenku used to get in and out of the mountain. Amazingly the path lead them up to a chunk of mountain shaped just like Mel Gibson's head (they had been standing in the mullet). What dark significance this could have had for the inhabitants of the area was unknown. 

not to scale

The path led them around to the front of the head, up the chin, and into the mouth. Giuseppe tried to detect evil but found none. They travelled through the mouth and found...  oh let's have some more boxed text:

"As anticipated, you have passed right through the precipice, and are now on the farther side, at the top of a slope which leads onto a glacier covered plain, several miles in diameter, surrounded on all sides by shear walls that extend a further 1000' into the thinning air. Light from outside somehow passes through Mel Gibson's head to relieve the gloom of the place, but no real heat is contained in this light. Out on the distant walls, there are other pinpricks of light which may indicate other similar apertures.

It is brutally cold.

Here, on a hellishly ancient table-land fully 1500 feet high, and in a climate deadly to habitation, there stretched to your vision's limit a tangle of huge orderly stone structures which only the desperation of mental self-defence could possibly attribute to any but conscious and artificial cause.

The effect of the monstrous sight is indescribable, for some fiendish violation of known natural law seems certain at the outset.

You can hear the murmurs of the Irish, they too are unnerved."

While the humans gathered their courage in the face of something completely alien to them, the birdman gave no indication that the city of cyclopean blocks bothered it in any way; but he did tell them they must not tarry outside due to the cold, and that the under levels where he must lead them were warmer; due to the still extant features of the city which make use of the heat from the deep in the earth.

The party agreed and soon they were travelling through a maze of labyrinthine complexity, involving curiously irregular difference in floor levels, and they blazed their trail in the sandstone blocks that were the main building material of the place. Giuseppe again tried to detect evil, but with no result. It was warmer though, so they began to feel a bit more confident, and as they travelled the lower levels the carvings and proportions began to conform more closely to human experience.

Many of the carvings had been destroyed by what they could easily guess to be large bird beaks getting sharpened, but in places they could make out enough to assemble of sort of history of the place; the previous inhabitants over used a fire source beneath the earth, depleting a very large reservoir which stretches underground for miles to the north, and that attracted the attention of a giant flying creature which lived at the other end of the passage; which came and destroyed them. Clearly metaphorical, the party speculated that it was a reference to climate change.

At last they reached their destination, a stupendously large chamber, with a ceiling over 30 feet high. The main feature of the area were row upon row of pillars of fire running from the floor to the ceiling. The birdman told them this was the place, and that his people were even now preparing themselves. He reminded them of their bargain, but it was pointed out that they had agreed to free him only when they had freed the VIPs the kenku were holding (a detail I didn't remember, I hope they weren't pulling a fast one).

Soon everyone could hear the sounds of wings flapping and a wall of screeching approaching rapidly, they had to get ready and decide; how would they fight this battle?

MASS BATTLE #1

(The method of applying AD&D rules to a mass battle is covered here.)

I showed them a copy of the Irish details so everyone could understand what they were working with; 200 swordsmen, 100 dismounted light horse lancers, and 100 longbowmen. Here was where the Irish were going to fight and die with the tactics the party chose.

The formation the party settled on 

The PCs also nominated which units they would fight with. Although I had my cheat sheet to refer to, I didn't want the players to be thinking in terms of squares and such, I wanted them to be using their minds so it would be a really vivid battle to remember.

As the screeching and wing beating reached a crescendo, the Irish began their battle hymn:

Armed for the battle

Kneel we before Thee,

Bless Thou our banners,

God of the brave

Ireland is living!

Shout we triumphant,

Ireland is waking!

Hands grasp the sword.

Who fights for Ireland

God guides his blows home,

Who dies for Ireland

God give him peace.

Knowing our cause just

March we victorious

Giving our heart’s blood

Ireland to free.

The spirit of freedom

Floats in the ether;

Souls of our heroes

March by our side,

Connor is our battle cry,

McGregor inspires us,

Those who for freedom fall

Never shall die.

Kenku are breaking

Shout we exultant

Kenku are beaten,

Ireland is free.

Charge for the old cause,

Down with the old foe,

Living or dying

Ireland to free.

A great cloud of the birdman creatures descended upon the front ranks, who had set their spears for just this tactic. One volley of longbow fire met the enemy before they reached the Irish lines, and between bow and spear many kenku sank to the ground to rise no more. Now the players added their attacks, and we found that the PCs' contribution, even at 1 to 20 scale, can be significant; another square of kenku was shattered. However, the ones that reached the Irish lines and survived their spears delivered terrible blows with beak and claw, destroying a square of spearmen and wounding Sever, who bravely joined surviving spearmen nearby. 

All that in one round of combat! 

The next round the bowmen no longer had a clear target, but enough of the front line had fallen to put them at risk; so Leopold charged into the breach, calling on swordsmen from the left flank to join him. The right flank joined the melee as well, resulting in several attacks with a flanking bonus. The birdmen rallied and seized the initiative; they fought with a frenzy, determined to give as good as the got, and another square of Irish spearmen were destroyed. Again Sever was in the destroyed square, and this time so was Leopold. I rounded the damage down from 5.5 to 5hp, at the time not thinking much of it but I think I heard later that Leopold only had 6 HP in total.

Now more birdmen fell to the blades of the Irish, and the heavier weapons of the PCs; another square was lost, and with it went their morale. Next round they turned and fled, but not 1 in 10 got away.

The Irish and the players let out a cheer, they had defeated their hated foe.

But their day was just getting started (you guessed it, more boxed text):

"The flame pillars around you pulse ever faster, and the entire cavern seems to shudder as though to give birth to some new horror. The entire ceiling gracefully moves up an away, letting you for the first time see the sky; and in it, dominating your view, is a vast silver city gradually gaining altitude."

It's huge, basically a flying Minas Mandalf

Nearby they could make out large groups of other creatures, not kenku, on the ground milling about, but their efforts to identify these were interrupted by a vision projected into their minds;  "King Vultan", a large barrel chested man with the wings of a hawk, wearing a golden helmet and sporting a long dark beard, and squatting on a silver perch in the midst of a sky palace they somehow understood to be the floating city above them.

He had with him everyone that the party knew had gone missing previously: including two women from Grindlewald they had thought stolen by Lord Inferno, and the missing Irish leader Connor McGregor; also some people they didn't know were missing: including Ron Ragnar and two Orcs. The latter four had been placed on strange metal discs floating in the centre of the sky city.

I put on my best Brian Blessed impersonation and subjected the players to a villain monologue, in short:

• He congratulated his brave hawk men on their sacrifice (and something about them being reborn)
• Back on the ground, besides the Irish, there were Ron Ragnar's dwarves and two separate bands of Orcs. To get their hostages back each army simply had to beat the other three.
• It was time for the hunter to become the hunted!

There was a lot of angst at the thought that in order to rescue Connor McGregor the party would have to take on their friends the dwarves, but soon they had to worry about the Orcs headed their way, hundreds of them. The Irish formed up again, lances were redistributed among the surviving swordsmen and other tactics were being considered.

MASS BATTLE #2

The Orcs formed up just out of longbow range and started working themselves up into a frenzy, the players took the opportunity to size up their numbers and weapons, they could see polearms, short bows and light cross bows; and to come up with a plan. They decided to use a similar box formation again, with lances at the front, bows in the middle, and swordsmen at the back, but this time they broke off a contingent of swordsmen with an idea to circle the enemy and go after the huge orcish banner planted proudly in the rear rank.

It felt like this moment.

The Orcs now moved forward in a controlled advance that brought their missile units into long range, while still being as far away from the Irish longbowmen as possible. They fired their mix of bows and crossbows into the spearmen, but the Irish shields held and no damage was taken.

In contrast to the orcs, the return fire from the longbow men hit home and removed a square of crossbows. The next round I think initiative was tied, but the main thing happening was over 200 orcs charging at the front lines. The Irish longbowmen got them with indirect fire (which in hindsight I should have applied a penalty to) and the discord dice bot smiled upon them; as 80 out of 100 arrows hit their targets. The orcs' missiles smacked into the Irish spearmen with much greater effect this time, and then the orcs second rank played their trick move; halting and throwing javelins at their enemy. However, the manoeuvre was not an easy one, starting at 150 yards they could only close to 60 yards in one round; meaning their javelins were thrown at maximum range. Even so, they did add to the running total of damage and a square of Irish collapsed as the Orcish charge reached their enemy.

Here a big error on my part cost the orcs dearly, I had decided that their polearms were 8' long Bardiches, but the Irish had 10' spears; so the Irish attacks went first! (I really should have given the orcs pikes or extra long spears). By the end of the round the entire front rank of 120 Orcs was down. Both sides closed in the next round and the indirect fire from each did more damage. The second rank of orcs, with its banner flying and giving their attacks a +1 bonus, removed several squares of Irish, but fortunately only those without PCs in them.

Lead by Sever and Shaemus, the flanking swordsman unit swept around to the right and closed on the depleted unit protecting the left flank of the main orc body, but then the longbowmen wiped out the remainder of the orc unit, allowing the swordsmen to fall upon the rear of the orc main line. The PCs made a run at the orc leader, who did not see this coming, and Sever smote him with his two handed sword; causing the orc to drop the banner. Even with this the orcs' morale held for another round; but when their leader was felled by another PC (not sure who) the remainder cracked and fled for their lives. They did not make it far.

The Irish let out another victory cheer and reformed, facing the approaching Dwarf unit (who had just defeated an orc army of their own) wearily. Neither side wanted to start anything, but both wanted their leaders back. Now their vision of the Sky City showed Connor McGregor challenging King Vultan to let him personally duel Ron Ragnar; which the King was minded to refuse, until a courtier pointed out that such a challenge was in accordance with the law. The huge human faced off against the stocky dwarf, and maybe I should have played through a few rounds of hand to hand combat, with PCs rolling for each fighter; but, time was up for King Vultan. Unknown to him, by launching his Sky City he had exhausted the magic fire source, in a manner similar to that depicted in the stone carvings. From that moment his doom, in the shape of Lord Inferno, was sealed. 

"Tell that fellow we don't need his impression of a legendary dragon right now, I'm having too much fun!"

The kenku king mistook the approaching giant winged red monster as one of his own kenku in disguise. The party saw all of this happening, but then their mental connection was abruptly terminated in dragon fire. The very city appeared to shake under the wrath of the dragon, who finally reappeared draped in the magical flame, and disappeared as fast as he had arrived; while the city, bereft of its power source, sank down and crashed into the inner wall of the volcano.

The Irish and the Dwarfs were astonished, and they came together to discuss what just happened. Both sides were happy they did not have to fight the other, they started swapping stories about how they had come to this weird volcano. Then something new approached that grabbed their attention.

It was Connor McGregor on a hawk man "rocket cycle"!

Somehow the Irish leader had escaped the destruction of the Sky City, and with him were Ron Ragnar and all the hostages. The Dwarf kissed the ground.

"That damn bird got all me belongings, mental! That Sky City place gives me the willies, I'll never go there again; you are welcome to the stuff, if you can find it." And a new adventure hook was born.

They gathered up all the loot lying about, and it was time to head back to Schloss Ragnar. Sever spent time on the way talking up the contributions of Leopold and Sheamus to the Irish and Dwarf soldiers, is he thinking about recruiting them?

Last word

This already feels like a very long write up, but I can't finish without saying it really was pretty easy to run two such big battles in an AD&D session using AD&D rules. I highly recommend it, and can't wait to do it again!

Treasure and XP

9500 ep, 1000 gp, 400 pp, Gems (7): 10 gp Banded Agate, 10 gp Moss Agate, 100 gp Eye Agate, 1000 gp Emerald, 35 gp Moss Agate, 50 gp Rhodochrosite, 65 gp Rhodochrosite. 

Total Value: 9020gp

1 Cap (as Hat of Disguise but with 12 to 14 charges 500xp)

1 Spell Scroll (Cleric: Speak With Dead, Heal, Heroes' Feast, Hold Person, Aerial Servant) 2300xp (to a cleric)

5 Javelins (unknown)

1 Potion of Undead Control (Wight 700xp) 

3 Jars of Unguent (Keoghtom's Ointment 500xp)

"Drew's Muscleblade" Longsword +1 

Intelligence 12 (semi empathy)

Lawful Neutral

This magical blade can, once per day, and when lifted with the proper form, cast Strength (upon the wielder only) as though by a 16th level magic user.

In the final washup:

Leopold  913  XP

Sheamus  1191 XP

Sever    1717 XP

Giuseppe 1717 XP

Godleve  2945 XP

Today's location was brought to you by H. Rider Haggard, H.P. Lovecraft, Flash Gordon, and Lethal Weapon

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 11 (Machodor#3); TWO MASS BATTLES! (RULES)

Rule Summary

The goal here was to run these battles as close to AD&D rules as possible. I chose scaling of 1 to 20 since this gave me a manageable front line of 6 "squares" maximum for the units being fielded. I took the weapon percentages from the Orc Monster Manual entry to work out how many units with which weapons were available for them. The Irish armour and weapons were already specified. For the Kenku, although they carry staves and "samurai" swords, I saw they could get double damage with their 'body weapons' on a dive/charge (according to DMG p50) so I figured they would go with that.

I did this in pencil at first until I was happy with the format

Above is a cheat sheet with a section showing each group's chances to hit each other group, with weapon type vs AC applied. The Brovenloft Irish have an ability I call "Luck of the Irish" which allows them to cast the Chant spell by singing a battle hymn. I pre-applied the effect of this on their AC that so it wouldn't be forgotten and left a reminder to apply -1 to damage dice rolls.

Combat rounds run normally: sides declare actions, roll for initiative, and move, then attack if in range. For missile weapons I allowed "pass through" fire, which lets them shoot once at units moving through their field of fire, but before those units have engaged. This seems necessary in a mass battle since once melee units engage missile fire doesn't get much of a look in.

Each "square" of 20 engaged attackers rolls a d20, tallies the number of hits, rolls that many damage dice according to the weapon type of the attacking unit, then sums those rolls to get a total of damage to apply to the defending unit. Each side has an average hit point number for individuals, divide the total damage inflicted by the unit's average hit point number to find the number of "squares" killed, then assign any left over damage to "wounds".

Squares can be engaged with an overlap of 1, i.e. if a line of 4 squares is engaged with 3 squares of enemy, all 4 can roll. However if the unit had 5 or 6 squares in a line vs 3 squares in the opposing unit, these others would not be able to engage immediately. In a subsequent turn they could move to flank the 3 square unit and get a bonus of +1 to hit when they did so.

Normally, a unit can only move and engage in melee on the same round if they are charging. However, a square that is not engaged because of unit overlap can move to engage a square in the overlapped unit, but in this case cannot charge when doing so.

At the end of each round check Morale as per normal rules based on the loss of squares.

This leaves PCs and what they can do:

• I allow the party to order the units around, choose their formation and tactics etc, with the assumption that the orders will be carried out if possible.
• PCs embedded in a unit make attacks as usual, their combined damage for the round is divided by 20, and the result added to the running total of "wounds" to the opposing unit. If this is enough to increase the wound total to the unit's average hit points, then remove a square from it.
• Cleric healing can be applied to individuals as normal, but it can also be applied to the group. Tally the total number of hit points healed and divide by 20, subtract this from friendly unit "wounds". This might be enough to save a friendly unit for one more round.
• Damage spells would have worked the same as other damage, with the inches of area of effect counting for one "square" of a unit (since that is the scale). This didn't come up in practice during the session.
• When a square is removed from a unit, roll to see which square it is and check if that square contains any PCs. If PCs have not nominated which square to fight in then determine this randomly. If a PC is in a square that is killed, he automatically takes damage equivalent to the unit HP (rounded down) and can then move to join the next square if he is still alive.

Spell Casting in Melee

Introduction

When I returned to playing AD&D, my memory of how spell casting worked in melee went something like this; if you won initiative your side's spell(s) go first, if you lost the other side's spell(s) go first, and of course, on tied initiative they happen simultaneously. But, what do the rules actually say? Quite a bit more than that. It starts out in the DMG on page 63, looking much like I remembered, but the succeeding pages detail exceptions. There are two discrete sections covering the topic: one, covered under "SPELL CASTING DURING MELEE" on page 65, is concerned with attacks at range, and the other on page 66 covers melee weapons with a speed factor "with respect to opponents who are engaged in activity other than striking blows". In this post I will concentrate on the former only, since it is complicated enough all by itself.

"SPELL CASTING DURING MELEE (DMG p65)

These functions are fully detailed in PLAYERS HANDBOOK. Their commencement is dictated by initiative determination as with other attack forms, but their culmination is subject to the stated casting time. Both commencement and/or completion can occur simultaneously with missile discharge, magical device attacks, and/or turning undead. Being struck by something during casting will spoil the spell."

Paragraph 1

This paragraph (P1) is crucial for understanding the rules that follow it on p.65 and later. Note, given that all spells have a casting time, and missile weapons do not have weapon speeds; the question arises of how can it be possible that they occur simultaneously? This question is addressed obliquely below:

"Attacks directed at spell casters will come on that segment of the round shown on the opponent’s or on their own side’s initiative die, whichever is applicable. (If the spell caster’s side won the initiative with a roll of 5, the attack must come then, not on the opponent’s losing roll of 4 or less.) Thus, all such attacks will occur on the 1st-6th segments of the round." (ibid)

                                                               Paragraph 2

Paragraph 2 (P2) obviously has a critical bearing on who goes first, but it is cryptic. How do we determine which is the applicable initiative die? Why will all attacks occur only in the first 6 segments of the round, when we know many spells have a casting time greater than 6? To help here, since spells are described as another “attack form” in P1, we can see that P2 must be read in light of P1. So, for the purposes of this discussion, an "attack" can be either: a spell, a missile weapon, a magical device, or turning undead.

Additionally, I'll use "casting time" to refer broadly to the number, in segments, required to complete an "attack" as defined above. Spell casting usually takes between 1-9 segments, missile fire requires 0 segments, magical device attacks usually require 2 segments, and turn undead requires 0 segments. Again, the possible interruption of spell casting by melee weapons is covered by different rules on the next page of the DMG and is beyond the scope of this discussion.

"Thus, all such attacks will occur on the 1st-6th segments of the round"

I think the final sentence of P2 above should be read as: "all such attacks will commence on the 1st-6th segment", and, since we know from P1 that spell "culmination is subject to the stated casting time" culmination requires that the casting time also has elapsed. So, a Fireball spell (casting time 3 segments), though it may commence in segment 4 based on the initiative die, would culminate in segment 7.

The question now becomes: which is applicable, "the opponent’s or (...) their own side’s initiative die?"

In my view the answer follows from the fact that a caster begins casting a spell as "dictated by initiative determination" (P1). This means that once initiative has been determined the winner is deemed to have started casting; his spell then culminates in accordance with its casting time without further reference to either initiative die.

For the initiative winner's spell attack to have a possibility of being interrupted, attacks that could do so must not simply "commence" but "culminate" first. The initiative loser's attacks culminate based on the their opponent's initiative die roll added to their "casting time";  and are evaluated in order from lowest to highest. It will be seen that sometimes the totals may be equal to the winner's casting time, in which case the attacks happen simultaneously; and this is how arrows in flight can be consumed by fireballs.

Given the above, the applicable die therefore is the winner's die; in the case of ties this number is used by both sides to determine when their attacks culminate. Again, the attacks of all the characters in both parties culminate and are resolved in the order of these totals and any casters who are damaged before their turn in the sequence have their spells ruined.

In light of the above, returning to P2, one way of rewriting the specific example there into a general rule would be:

#1 If a spell attacker won initiative, then any opponent's attacks on him will commence on the segment corresponding to his initiative die roll. The winner's attack will culminate on the segment corresponding to its casting time alone.

Note: if the winner's casting time is less than his initiative die roll, his spell will always go first; if equal it will go simultaneously with 0 casting time attacks; if greater then his spell attack may still culminate before an enemy caster, depending on the enemy's casting time.

It would follow that:

#2 If a spell attacker lost initiative, then his attack will commence on the segment corresponding to his opponent's initiative die roll, and will culminate on the segment corresponding to the die roll plus his casting time. His opponent's attack will culminate on the segment corresponding to its casting time alone.

Note: the initiative loser may still be faster than an enemy caster but enemy attacks with a casting time of 0 will go before the the initiative loser no matter his spell casting time. If there is no enemy attack with a casting time greater than 0, then the calculation of which segment the initiative loser's attack commences on is no longer relevant.

#3 If a spell attacker tied initiative, then both his and his opponent's attacks will commence on the segment corresponding to the number rolled on the dice. Each attack will then culminate on the segment corresponding to its casting time plus the number rolled.

Note: since spell casting takes minimum of 1 segment, for a spell caster this has the same effect as a losing result against enemy attacks with a casting time of 0.

More than 10 Segments?

It will be seen that the totals of initiative die roll and spell casting time may easily be greater than the 10 segments that are supposed to comprise a combat round. However, since the 1 minute combat round is an abstraction, for the purposes of attack order determination I believe any talk of things happening “on a segment” is meant only loosely and can be jettisoned completely in favour of just comparing the relevant totals.

Why is it so?

The casting of spells in melee is described as a tricky proposition and very much discouraged, and the rules reflect this. The mind boggling rules boil down to a relatively good chance of successfully casting a spell if you win initiative, yet they still give the loser a chance if they have chosen a fast spell.  The main benefit of the complicated resolution is to give casters a more nuanced choice at the beginning of the round when they must declare their spells; do they choose spells that are fast enough to go first on a winning but low initiative roll, or go for broke on a longer casting but more powerful spell. Like many AD&D rules, you might go many sessions with them being needed; but, for example, a caster duel with this rule in play makes for some very interesting choices.