Athel Loren Campaign

Hmm. I know I wanted to keep the number of warbands down for athel loren, but I think I can make an amendment: *clears throat*

>>I will limit the number of warbands *I* do for Athel Loren.

With that in mind, do we want to have a separate person spearhead each warband? If that were the case, that person is the be-all-end-all of the warband, and they take the responsibility of compiling it, when they think it's finished. Sounds fair?

If we are staking claims, I'd love to spearhead the Bretonnians.

That leaves the elves (which is pretty mutual, but if one person wants to take over, is cool too) the dryads (master, that's all yours if you want it), the dark dryads, hollow elves (you, ethol), and the savage orcs.

((I didn't add the slayer cult, as they are pretty much done and tested.))

Too more things: The name of the corrupted forest was the 'Rotwood'. (to toot my own horn, I think it sounds menacing.)

Also, Athel Loren campaign, as we mentioned MONTHS ago, is a great place to showcase the ol' Beastmen Hired Swords. To add a nature-loving element for the Mercs and humans, why not make a Jade College and Amber College Wizard hired swords? Neither would seem out of place within the green, if you ask me.

I don't think there should be more than 6 warbands for Athel Loren either.

But we'll end up around 6 warbands anyway. Nevertheless if we end up with more, we can cut some out, and save them for another setting.

Well, but I like the idea that each of us spearhead a warband, however, I still think that everyone should come with any input they have on each and every warband.

I like the idea of an amber mage hired sword, so I'll open a thread for hired swords.

OOo! Just had a game night tonight, and they bounced back a few interesting ideas:

THREE 'HOME' LOCALES rather than 5/6.
>Bretonnian Town - Brets, Averlanders, Slayers
>Woodland Camp - Wood Elves, Dryads, Bowmen
>Black Forest - Greenskins, Beastmen, Undead

There is also a Fourth locale, that is the Battleground. This is how it works: All warbands fight in the Battleground, roll for exploration, then return back to their locale in the post battle. (Allowing them to buy henchmen, equipment, hired swords, etc.)

However, if a warband wants to dare, it can, instead of retreating back to IT'S locale, may attempt to raid another person's locale. If they do, they could use the 'Emcampment' rules, and get a chance to steal their opponent's stash (as well as some extra stash items), but at the challenge of fighting extra guards and/or possibly two warbands at once. Likewise, two warbands could decide to Raid the same locale in the same post-game, resulting in a two-on one battle (and maybe a Siege scenario too.)

There's also the possibility of sneaking into another locale (to be honest, this idea just hit me while typing). If you go undetected, you can buy certain items (ex. drugs & poisons in the Black Forest), or certain Hired Swords (Bretonnians hiring Amber Mages in the Woodland Camp). Of course, if you sneak in, there's a chance of being discovered, resulting in scenarios like 'breakthrough'. Whether you sneak in or raid, you obviously can't buy any henchmen or items in the post (so, good luck finding good stuff!)

To me, this is easier than the 'map-based' campaigns, as there is no constant bonus of territories (which can make the gap between strong and weak wider), and is slightly simpler than the Relics campaign. Also, the vast majority of the fights themselves would be in the Wood-based battleground anyone, definitely aiding in the Athel Loren feel.

I really like it, but I still think there should be a table for what turns up at your camp, so you can always just hire D3 henchmen maximum. Or the d66 worth of gold.

But I like the idea of the three locales. This way, each group would have a place to feel safe, but also an option to attack the others.

Perhaps instead it should be bretonnian country side? Or Manor? Just so you aren't restricted from hiring things in a town, that would be kindda odd.

I like manor. 'Outpost' is another option, making it on the borders of the Bretonnian kingdom.\

Oh, I just thought of the easiest solution to the Recruitment problem: Make them have rarity rolls, just like items! So a hero may search for Henchmen or Heroes with the simplest formula: Rarity = 1/5gc of cost. So, a 15gc wardog is rare 3, a 25 henchmen is rare 5, a 35 Swordsmen or Champion is Rare 7, rare 10 for a Dire Wolf, and so forth. A roll of 12 or higher allows for A) One unit of any price to be found, OR B) 1D3 units worth 50 or less each. If the unit is necessary for the warband to stay alive (i.e. rehiring a Vampire/Necromancer in a Leaderless Undead warband; Dropping below 3 warriors) then one is found automatically.

StyrofoamKing wrote:

Oh, I just thought of the easiest solution to the Recruitment problem: Make them have rarity rolls, just like items! So a hero may search for Henchmen or Heroes with the simplest formula: Rarity = 1/5gc of cost. So, a 15gc wardog is rare 3, a 25 henchmen is rare 5, a 35 Swordsmen or Champion is Rare 7, rare 10 for a Dire Wolf, and so forth. A roll of 12 or higher allows for A) One unit of any price to be found, OR B) 1D3 units worth 50 or less each. If the unit is necessary for the warband to stay alive (i.e. rehiring a Vampire/Necromancer in a Leaderless Undead warband; Dropping below 3 warriors) then one is found automatically.

Nice idea, but you can only find a minotaur 1 time in every 36 searches? They're already not that great unless you start with one in your initial warband. Also dire wolves are in the same boat. They're already a bit expensive for what you get. I'm afraid giving them such a rarity would simply make it so no one ever bothers to search for them.

Perhaps you could have a table such as:

Hench Cost	0-15	16-25	26-45	46-99	100+
Hench Rarity	4	5	6	7	8

Identity wrote:

StyrofoamKing wrote:

Oh, I just thought of the easiest solution to the Recruitment problem: Make them have rarity rolls, just like items! So a hero may search for Henchmen or Heroes with the simplest formula: Rarity = 1/5gc of cost. So, a 15gc wardog is rare 3, a 25 henchmen is rare 5, a 35 Swordsmen or Champion is Rare 7, rare 10 for a Dire Wolf, and so forth. A roll of 12 or higher allows for A) One unit of any price to be found, OR B) 1D3 units worth 50 or less each. If the unit is necessary for the warband to stay alive (i.e. rehiring a Vampire/Necromancer in a Leaderless Undead warband; Dropping below 3 warriors) then one is found automatically.

Nice idea, but you can only find a minotaur 1 time in every 36 searches? They're already not that great unless you start with one in your initial warband. Also dire wolves are in the same boat. They're already a bit expensive for what you get. I'm afraid giving them such a rarity would simply make it so no one ever bothers to search for them.

Perhaps you could have a table such as:

Hench Cost	0-15	16-25	26-45	46-99	100+
Hench Rarity	4	5	6	7	8

I had the exact same problem the first time I though of this, although Identity proposes a nice fix to it.

If we could just add +1 to all those rarity rolls that would make it a little better though. Or +2 and each rare roll got +1 in your home locale.

This, however would encourage players to start with a lot of heroes even more, and weaken the warbands that only have 4 heroes considerably, as they cannot increase their warband size as fast as the other warbands. However, the 4 hero bands are elite bands, and should probably not be as limited by this rule as the 6 hero warband.

I like this idea, and would like to include it, although I'd like to keep the rule that a rare roll of 12 makes you able to hire D3 of what you where searching for. (not more than warband maximum of course, so no d3 rat ogres.)

Agreed. Looks great, Identitiy.