Music – HP Lovecraft, The White Ship

Battle for the Keep on the Borderlands

Manning the Keep on the Borderlands are 244 combat-capable individuals.  Broken down, this force is comprised of 52 Heavy Infantry, 120 heavy infantry who are also equipped with bows & crossbows, 24 light infantry, 12 heavy cavalry, 18 medium cavalry, and 18 Auxilia/militia (individuals who are capable of combat & possess  equipment, though are not part of the fortress’s standard ‘fighting force’, including a low-level mage).  Among these 244, there are 8 commanders, 3 ranking clerics, and an elf, who, by virtue of their equipment, I’ve included in the total of Heavy Infantry.

An excursion to the Caves with 2/3s of this would be a fighting force of 162.

Let’s figure the makeup of this group:

All 30 cavalry

80 bowmen

5 commanders (1 captain, 3 Corporals, 1 Sergeant)

2 Clerics (The Curate & Priest)

28 Hvy Inf

18 Lt Inf

1 Elf

The total fighting force of the Caves of chaos consists of:

262 Evil Light Inf (59 kobolds + 1 chief, 34 orcs + 1 chief, 41 goblins, 29 hobgoblins, 13 bugbears, 20 gnolls, 16 zombies, 32 skeletons)

70 Evil Heavy Inf (1 orc chief, 1 goblin chief, 9 hobgoblins + 1 chief, 9 bugbears + 1 chief, 13 gnolls + 1 chief, 23 zombies, 9 evil priests, 1 minotaur, 1 ogre)

15 Evil Bowmen (various races)

There are 11 Entrances/Bolt-holes in the valley. Because of the number of entrances, it would be difficult to adequately cover any single hole or group of holes if a concentrated attack were made.  On the other hand, any group attacking from a hole that was being covered by archers would incur a good deal of injuries.

The “Keep” forces, though outnumbered in terms of both men and hit dice, have the massive advantage of firepower, with 80 bowmen to the cave’s 15.  Additionally, these bowmen aren’t light archers; they’re heavy infantry who happen to have bows & crossbows.  In the scenario I described, the Castellan stays back at the keep, but if he came along, he adds a major asset to the Keep’s force, in that, as a F6, he is stronger than either the Minotaur or Ogre.

There are a few strategies the Keep forces could employ.  They do not have the numbers to lay an effective siege; without their full number available to repel an all-out assault from a particular entrance, the Keep forces could quickly be routed.  Careful planning might allow for a few entrances to be temporarily blocked with fire or debris, but the number of entrances makes ‘smoking out’ the cave’s inhabitants untenable, at least for a force the size that the keep could field.

Rather than have teams cover each entrance, the Keep forces might setup a “zone defense” around the valley.

North: 30 bowmen, 4 lt. inf. 6 Hvy. Inf. 6 Med Cav, 6 Hvy Cav

West: 20 bowmen, 10 lt. inf., 4 Hvy Inf., 6 Med Cav

South: 30 bowmen, 4 lt. inf., 6 Hvy. Inf. 6 Med Cav, 6 Hvy Cav

Strike Team: 10 Hvy Inf (5 Acolytes, 5 Men at Arms), The Curate (C5), a Captain (F3), and Elf (E3).

The three “zone” forces would be covering the entrances on each side of the valley, with the Western force (which is covering the fewest entrances) able to move quickly to  respond to any sudden foray from the Caves.  The valley is too steep for cavalry to effectively charge anything coming out of the caves, but they would be able to speedily move to fill in a defensive gap should one arise, and pursue any eastward fleeing troops.

The strike team would act as the stick to poke the hornet’s nest. They would not go particularly deep into the cave, engaging only in probing attacks.  The strike team would shortly be followed by a group of 4 lt. and 4 hvy. infantry to the mouth of the cave.  Their purpose would be securing the strike team’s escape route, assisting with extraction and alerting the rest of the Keep’s forces to any sudden change in the tactical situation.  Unlike a heroic party, set on exploration, plunder, and systematic clearing of the cave, the strike team’s objective is to draw out the demi-humans into open combat.  The idea is that the cave’s inhabitants would not be able to effectively respond to a succession of short attacks without entering into a full, fortress-wide defensive stance, or bring a greater force to bear against the Curate’s shock troops, which would lead the counter attackers into an ambush.

If the cave assumes a defensive stance, it will focus on dealing with the Curate’s troops.  After meeting resistance, the Curate withdraws and attacks another entrance.  The inhabitants may think they are under attack from a larger force, allowing the Keep to lay a more effective siege.  Or, if they understand that there is only one group of troops they are preparing against cave-wide, the continual shifting of resources will hamper the Cave’s ability to mount a defense against the Keep’s full force.  As needed, fresh troops can be supplied to the strike team from the Zones, which will serve to create an illusion to the group’s “invincibility”, necessitating larger concentrations of demi-human forces within the caves.  I figure with the whole caves mobilized, non-combatants in danger from intruders, eventually something has to give.

This could be a long process; the strike team probably won’t be working 8-12 hour days, but rather 3-4, returning to a “zone” for rest and resupply before diving into another cave.  Additionally, this team’s secondary role would be setting fire to foliage near the cave entrances, particularly H, A, G and E.

In a pitched battle, with both sides out on the open field, the fight would be fairly evenly matched.  The main reason for this, of course, is the superiority of ranged weapons, giving the Keep’s forces maybe 2-3 rounds of missile combat prior to the start of melee.  It would be easier to judge if I’d also taken into account the total Hit Dice for each side.  Still, I have to give the edge to the Cave’s forces.  Sure, they have a lot of 1/2 HD Kobolds, but they’ve got a lot of 2-4 HD monsters, too.  If the Cave’s forces make their morale checks after suffering about 80 or so HD of losses to arrow fire, things could get a bit dicey.  Though they’re well equipped, just about all of the Keep’s troops are F1.

This “open battle” scenario also assumes that the Caves have left behind only non-combatants.  If, like the Keep’s forces, they only fielded 2/3s of their force (just over 200 troops), the Caves would still significantly outnumber the keep’s troops.  How well the Keeps archers performed would make or break the outcome for either side.

Of course, neither side in the Borderlands has an incentive to face the other on an open field.    This does not mean, however, that the situation is the strategic stalemate that it at first appears to be.  Unlike any attempts to strike against the Caves, an attack against the keep would be doomed to failure.  The forces of Chaos are the real underdogs here.  Again, the preponderance of archers and presence of both ballistae and mini-catapults makes an attack on the Keep untenable.  Unless an outside force of large numbers nowhere found within the module appears out of the east, the Keep on the Borderlands is here to stay, and it is the Caves whose days are numbered.  That’s not to argue that the Caves’ presence does not make the borderlands unsafe for those travelling east outside the Keep, merely that its threat is overstated.  The Caves pose no real threat to the Keep or any lands to the west of the keep.

This makes the Keep a key strategic importance, however.  The Keep somehow falling to the forces of Chaos would be a far more significant shift in strategic balance than the cleansing of the Caves.  The Caves, if anything, are a civilian target, more a town than a fortress.  Its presence does not exert the same influence as the Keep.  Were there instead a small castle inhabited by these demihumans, there would be a bit more parity in the region.  PCs can easily invade the caves, though demi-humans cannot realistically access the Keep.

Keep on the Borderlands makes an interesting scenario for an “Evil” campaign.  Instead of playing humans tasked with removing the nuisance of a small underground demi-human town, Borderlands offers the opportunity to play demihumans who are facing an existential threat from the presence of the Keep and its Adventurers who would set out to hunt them for sport.

2nd Ed is back!

For what it’s worth…

I actually got started playing with 2e, though the group I first played with used a hodgepodge of 1e and 2e (I think they’re pretty compatible, but not being particularly familiar with 1e, I don’t really know) with some Arcanum thrown in.

So, with 2e coming back into print, the debate resumes on the merits and flaws in 2e.

THACO:

People who prefer addition to subtraction don’t like THACO.  Still, it’s easy to convert descending to ascending AC and just note your Attack value based on 20 – your THACO. (Oh, crap, that involves subtraction!)  I’ve heard that there are people who dislike THACO for other reasons.  I don’t know what those reasons are.  THACO was simply introduced to eliminate the need for an entire combat chart when really you could extrapolate all the information you actually needed from a single column.

Rules Bloat?

I don’t remember if 2e got rid of 18/xx or not.  If it did, go it!  I don’t remember seeing anything in 2e’s core that was particularly annoying that wasn’t already in 1e.  Proficiencies were basically the same as feats, and I guess if you really hated them, you didn’t have to use them.  Proficiencies never came up in the games I played.  3e had all of its skills and skill points, but  that always felt to me like taking all of those % tables, giving them a bit of flexibility and going around and making them mandatory (fun fact: they’re not!). Then, there are splatbooks.  If you can’t concoct your own specialty class on your own spare time and get your DM to sign off on it, you don’t need to be playing it.

I think a big issue people have with 2e is cosmetic.  The books are ugly and the art is bland.  The books have the binding, paper, and overall feel of Houghton-Mifflin textbooks.  Most of the art felt cold and scientific; a fighter and his gear laid out much like a diagram of a dissected frog.  If the rules for 2e had ever been repackaged in a more visually appealing format, I don’t think that it would suffer the disdain that has become so attached to it.

2e has a sterile feel to it, which in part was a reaction to the satanic panic and the overall image problem that D&D was gaining due to journalistic malpractice, but in many ways, it was still the same game mechanically.  1e was Snakes & Ladders.  2e was Chutes & Ladders. 3e was Mousetrap.

In the meantime, I think this is a good time to point out that WotC has still avoided publishing BECMI or the Rules Cyclopedia.  I’m not saying this is a bad thing.  So much of the edition warring and debate focuses on 3e vs older e, or anything vs 2e, oft forgotten is the old Basic Edition.  The beauty of Basic was that the entire game was self-contained in a single (or two, with B/X) booklet, without the need for multiple core books.  However the eventual release of the long promised Companion (which didn’t cover what Expert said it would cover), Master (oh, god, who would enjoy playing at this level?), and Immortals (has anyone actually successfully played the Polymath ascension path to its conclusion?  If so, I think I’d like to punch them) took what was a pretty well balanced, functional system and threw sense out the window with its massive scaling problems and absurd cosmology.  I mean, if you’re going to have to come up with a new table of demi-human related attack classes based on tiered XP, just take the damn level caps off.

Art – Ophelia

Gaciall of Many Things, White Lady of Polaris

Gaciall, sometimes referred to as “the White Lady of Polaris”, is the “queen” of the far northern city-state, though she is never called such.  It is unknown who or what she is to the people of Polaris, but as far as the Cirsovan empire is concerned, she is looked to as the ruler and head-of-state for all matters between the empire and the Polarans.

For all of the nearly 200 years that the Empire has been in contact with the city of Polaris, Gaciall of Many Things, or a woman bearing the name and title, has held court in Polaris.  All accounts describe her as a young woman, dressed all in white, though all who have met her claim to have forgotten most details beyond that shortly after leaving her presence.

It is customary that any personage of importance who have made the journey to Polaris (whether travelling with supplies and traders or not) are granted audience with Gaciall.  Oftentimes, these audiences are simple formalities, during which dancers are brought in, food and drink are offered to the visitors, and a songstress will sing a lay of the ancient Norther Peoples.  Sometimes, however, after the lays are sung, and the dancers sent away, Shuul will be brought forth, small azure vials resting upon ornamental red pillows with gold trim, and offered to the visitors.  Gaciall will bid them drink, for she will show them amazing visions of things both wonderful and terrible as they lie in the throws of the drug.

Gaciall is a seeress and a sorceress of unknown power.  She is quick-witted and highly intelligent, both qualities are essential in an experienced Shuul user.  It is not know whether the magic she wields in the Kingdom of Shuul can manifest itself in the physical realm (as was the case with the unnamed dreamer in the Legend of Jorgora), though it is possible that she may know how and simply chooses not to use her power in such a reckless way.

Those wishing to see the true power Shuul and be instructed in its safe use for purposes of scrying are advised to only do so by seeking out the tutelage of Gaciall.  Gaciall, however, does not grant this privilege except to a very select few who strike her fancy as those worthy of her knowledge and power.  Shuul is not a drug to be taken lightly, as its use may incapacitate an individual from anywhere from several hours to a number of days.

Music – Dispatched, Ghastly Gates

Art – Snowy Walkenreid Ruins

Davou, Covered in Snow

Emperor Orrin Tormant’s father, the Emperor Evane Tormant II, once commissioned a painting of Davou by famed Ortian realist painter, Horas Yunara. Near the painting’s completion, Horas decried his work and destroyed it before beginning anew, creating a massive canvas depicting Davou in ruins, half buried in snow. Upon hearing this, Emperor Evane thought of how he might punish the artist with imprisonment or even death.

However, when he saw the painting, the Emperor felt a strange enchantment within the pigments which depicted the demise of his northern stronghold. He ordered the new painting to be locked away in the vaults of the palace in Gatia, only to be placed on display once the events and destruction depicted had come to pass. Horas Yunara and his family were banished from the province of Cirsova until the day his painting hung in the courts of Gatia, upon which the Emperor would abdicate and hand his crown to Yunara or any surviving heir of his line. His grandchildren are rumored to live in Ortia, where, to this day, they guardedly pray for snow.

Alignment in MYFAROG

Though I’m sure most of you folks out there have yet to glimpse into the dark depth that is MYFAROG, discussions on the virtues of Alignment and Alignment systems are ongoing and ubiquitous throughout the gaming community. Some time ago, when I was posting my first reactions to MYFAROG, I’d mentioned briefly how alignment worked, but did not go into any details other than that it is determined by a combination of factors rather than plotted on a grid or spectrum. Well, turns out I’m a little wrong; it can be plotted on a grid, as is illustrated in this post. If anything, alignment in MYFAROG is similar to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator archetyping.

With any game system that implements an alignment system, one needs to decide if alignment is what guides and motivates the character or if alignment is the manifestation of a character’s actions. Alignment as a constraint is very unpopular in some circles, with many players simply choosing to ignore it altogether, treating it as an optional rule. But in a game like MYFAROG that focuses on social interaction, diplomacy and both the mechanical and cultural aspects of religious practice, the alignment, in some ways, IS the game.

I’ve said before that MYFAROG is an incredible world bogged down by some cumbersome stat-based rules. If I had to recommend a way to play a rules-lite “introduction” to MYFAROG, instead of discarding the non-mechanical optional rules, create characters using ONLY the the rules regarding Culture, World-view, and Alignment. Play around in the world of Thule a bit, exploring the motives and means of its inhabitants. Use some simple proxy system for combat until you decide that you want to get into the system’s crunchier aspects.

Mr. Pants

I recently fell into a fey mood and felt the desperate need to:

Play Oblivion

a.As a Khajit

i. Named Mr. Pants
ii. Dressed in the finest imperial fashions

b.Who is a lordly swashbuckler

i. using ONLY a Cutlass
ii. wearing NO Armor (see also dressed in the finest imperial fashion)

c.Leveling up only when necessary

i. Stupid Anvil Mage’s guild quest
ii. Stupid Dark Brotherhood
iii. Stupid Dark Brotherhood
iv. Stupid whatever is going to make me level up next

I wish there were an “unarmored” skill like in Morrowind. Eventually I’ll probably enchant my fancy clothes for some shield bonus. Meantime, I’m trying to stay ‘under-leveled’ to where I can handle just about anything with only my blade to defend me.