Re: PBeM Help - From Paper/Pencil/Dice to Wargames

From: miteke@my-deja.com

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 00:00:00 +0000

In article <i8ltescphpskm8h0pumvqlbbv5mkln6ctl@4ax.com>,
  burwood@primenet.com wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Forgive me if I post off topic or do something wrong.  I'm a newbie to
> this particular newsgroup.  I am not a newbie to PBeM though and have
> both participated and run them over the last five years.  I have run
> into one minor problem though and have come to this fine and wonderful
> group for assistance.
>
I hope you keep saying this after being exposed to one of our infamous
flame wars.

> One player of mine has amassed a significant sized army (10,000 est.)
> and is marching it northward in a nation controlled by a much larger
> army (250,000 est. total).  Of course the opposing army is spread out
> into many smaller groups that will stand against the much smaller
> rebellion army.  If the rebellion army can drive through the
> resistance though and make it to a northern area that is some six
> weeks march to the north, under constant harassment, they will be able
> to gain the backing of a much larger army.  Not having been a big
> wargammer (participating in tabletop usually only at CONs), not having
> any good rulebooks handy (other than D&D Battlesystem - ugh!), and
> doing it via email has kinda got me stumped.  I don't really want to
> just say, 'your army is defeated, you are captured, tried for treason,
> and hung and quartered' or 'you make it to the north gaining their
> backing and defeat the evil army'.  I'd like to actually give the
> player a chance to battle the odds and to play this out with
> mechanics, tactics, and luck.  I've downloaded the rules for Atlantis
> 4.0 (haven't snagged the binaries yet), but it looks like a bit of
> overkill for what I'm looking for.  I've already made the character
> start tracking and organizing supplies, the encampments, and marching
> results.
>
Your best bet is just to abstract the whole thing. Just like in a
smaller scale situation, you figure out the possible choices the players
can make (as best you can) and determine the results ahead of time.
Allow a few combats to occur in more detail for color. But basically you
have to determine 'what would this character need to do in order to
suceed?' Perhaps throw some NPCs in the path that could aid or abet the
player depending on how well he role-plays and woos the NPC and base
certain successes and failures off of the results. Set up some traps and
see if he has the smarts to come up with a novel or creative way of
dealing with the challenge. You know, the usual thing.

> Anyone have any comments or suggestions on how I could resolve this
> and still play it out with some sort of mechanics and strategy backing
> it?

There are miniature rules specifically designed for these kinds of
combat, if you want to go into the kind of detail that goes into a
decent party combat. The original D&D grew out of one of these (or vice
versa, I just remember there being a miniatures rules set that went with
D&D). But I don't remember the name. PBeM is not the best place to look
for a way to run a battle between 2 AD&D armies. I'd look for a group on
fantasy RPG or fantasy miniatures and ask there. I know you'll get a
better answer.

>
> Trevor Wood
> burwood@primenet.com
>
>

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References

PBeM Help - From Paper/Pencil/Dice to Wargames
Trevor Wood <burwood@primenet.com>
Sat, 08 Apr 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

PBeM Help - From Paper/Pencil/Dice to Wargames
Trevor Wood <burwood@primenet.com>
Sat, 08 Apr 2000 00:00:00 +0000