Mass Battles
Mass battles should frame heroic missions inside a larger conflict. The party rarely needs to roll for every soldier; they need scenes where their actions can change morale, position, leadership, supplies, or the battle's objective.
- Define the battle objective: hold, break through, rescue, assassinate, evacuate, delay, capture, or survive.
- Define what the armies are doing in the background and how the party can affect that outcome.
- Choose three PC-scale missions that matter: scout, sabotage, duel, defend, inspire, recover, protect, or strike command.
- Use campaign clocks for morale, breach, reinforcements, supply collapse, civilian panic, or enemy ritual progress.
- End with territorial, political, and personal consequences, not only casualties.
Run the moments where characters can act directly: breach defense, command tent infiltration, monster assault, banner rescue, or bridge control.
Summarize troop movement, losses, morale, weather, and logistics between PC scenes to maintain the scale.
If the party saves the gate, the healers may be exposed. If they chase the enemy commander, the evacuation may suffer.
Morale. Tracks whether allied forces hold, panic, rally, or break under pressure.
Position. Tracks whether the battlefield opens, closes, shifts, or exposes a new objective.
Supply. Tracks ammunition, healing, food, siege equipment, mounts, messages, and safe routes.
Avoid turning war into a separate game unless the table wants that. Use the battle as a pressure frame for meaningful character-scale encounters.