Mass Battle Rules

[PencilBoy99]

Are there official or unofficial rules for incorporating companions into a mass battle? I'm almost sure one of the pre-written adventures had something like this.

[Falenthal]

You can find an ad hoc kind of rules in the adventure Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit, in the Tales from Wilderland supplement. It's more for skirmishes, I'd say, where the PCs are still the central part of the combat.

For bigger battles, I'd link you to my own house-rules:

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=3519&hilit=mass+battles

or JamesRBrown's ones:
http://advancementpoints.blogspot.com.e ... -ring.html

[jamesrbrown]

[SPOILER ALERT!] The closest official glimpse of a mass battle would be found in The Darkening of Mirkwood on pages 118-121 describing Year 2976 when the Houses of the Woodmen march on Dol Guldur. A Fighting Strength is established for the army, beginning at 7 and modified by the number of allies joined and whether the Woodmen have the Lamp of Balthi, and whether or not they are ambushed. From there, Fighting Strength is depleted by specified results in two major battles. In the first battle, it depletes according to the number of days involved in a castle siege, or (if they choose to skip the siege) by the roll of a Success die for going around the castle through swamps. Then, before the final battle of Dol Guldur, they must make a Fear test and Fighting Strength is reduced for each failure. During the Battle of Dol Guldur, a roll of the Feat die must be made on a Foes table to determine what type of enemies the companions face. Some of the results automatically deplete Fighting Strength. If they survive, additional rolls are made and enemies fought until the army's Fighting Strength is reduced to zero or the companions are killed in battle. The total number of Feat die rolls made during the final battle determines the future of the Woodmen settlements leading up to The War of the Ring. So, the longer the heroes can survive, the greater the chance of breaking Dol Guldur.

This mass battle describes no way for victory. The companions know they will perish before marching to war. However, survival and victory conditions could easily be created while still incorporating the Fighting Strength mechanic.

To avoid playing out battles in full, once the players know which type of foes they face that 'round,' they could simply make one roll of Battle, the TN being modified by the enemy type based on its Attribute level (Good TN 16, Superior TN 18, Outstanding TN 20, Prodigious TN 22). Failure would indicate Endurance loss and maybe even a special result on an Eye, such as a Piercing blow or the triggering of a Special ability. Damage and Injury ratings should be provided in the table with the enemy type. If the heroes survive the round, it is assumed they killed their enemies. If they passed their Battle test, they went unscathed that round.

A Special ability activation would require a hero to deal with an additional attack or condition that affects him for the following round. For example, an Eye might trigger the fiery breath of a dragon requiring a Protection test, or it could trigger a certain amount of additional damage from a creature with Horrible Strength, or perhaps it triggers poison from a band of Goblin archers, meaning that the TN of all the companion's rolls is increased by +6 for the rest of the war.

If desired, a Fighting Strength for the adversary forces could be established too, starting at 7 and being modified by types and sizes of forces (to be determined by the Loremaster). Adversary Fighting Strength is depleted each battle round according to the results of battles (the exact amount found on the Foes table). Additionally, the Loremaster may allow the heroes to make a Weapon skill roll each round, along with their Battle roll (using the same TN). For each success, reduce the Fighting Strength of the adversary forces by 1.

For example, the heroes face Mountain-Trolls this round, which automatically reduce their Fighting Strength by 2. If they survive the round after making a Battle roll, they see the Fighting Strength of the adversary forces reduced by 2 also. In addition, each companion can make a Weapons skill roll to reduce it further. When the adversary Fighting Strength reaches zero, they are defeated.