Friday Encounter: The Magnificent Party

If I had a nickel for every time I blogged
about a guy named Akira who inspired me,
I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but...

If you've been on this blog long enough, you'll know how much I love feudal drama and how underutilized I feel it is when it comes to creating conflicts in medieval fantasy. If you're looking for examples of how feudalism can create meaningful and interesting situations for adventure stories, I don't feel there's any better source to turn to than the works of Akira Kurosawa. His movies usually take place in feudal Japan, on the fringes of society, in a world of isolated villages, roaming bandits, and nobility that is often corrupt, distant, or both, and they show how feudal societies can make for memorable scenarios to explore that facilitate such worlds while also allowing broader, more sweeping political tensions to take place in ways that they couldn't in more decentralized "points of light" style settings.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Kurosawa's work - and Seven Samurai in particular - has been adapted into so many different genres. The basic framework can just as equally be applied to a Western like The Magnificent Seven, a space opera like Battle Beyond the Stars, and whatever A Bug's Life is. I think they can easily apply to medieval fantasy too, and that's what this encounter looks to investigate. Not only would it be a fun scenario for a tabletop session, it also flips the script to allow the PCs to be defending an adventure site rather than invading it, keeping things fresh!

The Magnificent Party

The easiest way to run this encounter is to have the PCs stumble upon a beleaguered village while on a road, but it could just as easily see the townspeople go to find the PCs elsewhere while seeking aid. While you could drop it into an existing campaign, it might also work as a one-shot scenario, in which case the party could be brought together from a number of different backgrounds, all recruited for a common goal. Alternatively, one could use it as the first session of a campaign to serve as the origin story for the party (it worked for the TV series), though it might be a bit deadly at lower levels.

Background

For a long time now, the village of Tracenka has been under the grasp of a maraudng band of orcs, who demand tribute from the townspeople in the form of crops and other goods. The village is far from the authority of its feudal lord, and the townspeople are growing tired when help has not arrived. Recently, the village elder has received intelligence that the orcs are planning on attacking the village at nightfall - but this time, he intends things will be different. This time, he hopes to recruit the PCs to defend the town against the orcs. But the orcs will surely not surrender without a fight...

The Encounter

This encounter is essentially split into two parts. When the PCs arrive in Tracenka, they will have twelve hours before the orcs attack. This will give them time to prepare for the battle.

Use the map below to plan the encounter and to run the battle. It is helpful to provide it to the players to aid in their planning efforts as well.

Click to enlarge

I recommend using this encounter with my terrain rules for a more interesting experience. I marked a few areas on the map with terrain tags that would apply:

A. Well (Climbable, Concealing, Three-Quarters Cover, High Ground, Pit)

B. Barrels and crates (Concealing, Three-Quarters Cover)

C. Fences (Climbable, Concealing, Three-Quarters Cover, High Ground, Impassible, Ledge) 

D. Balconies (High Ground) 

E. Sheep flocks (Wildlife)

Here are some options for preparatory work the PCs may do before the attack:

• Fortifications:
• A high barricade spanning ten feet can be constructed in two man-hours (ie. a single PC can construct the barricade in two hours, or two PCs can construct it in one). The barricade provides full cover and is impassible. A creature can destroy the barricade in two rounds using their action to attack it, or two creatures can destroy it in one round. A large creature can destroy the barricade in one round.
• A low barricade spanning ten feet can be constructed in one man-hour. The barricade provides three-quarters cover and has the Climbable, High Ground, and Ledge terrain tags.
• A trench spanning ten feet in length and five feet deep can be dug in two man-hours. The trench provides three-quarters cover to creatures inside of it and serves as difficult terrain for creatures passing it. It also has the Climbable, High Ground, and Ledge tags.
• A pile of trash serves as difficult terrain for creatures passing it. It can be constructed in one man-hour.
• Traps:
• Caltrops can be made out of nails and cover a 5-foot square area. It takes thirty minutes to lay 5 square feet of caltrops.
• Grease can be laid over a 5-foot square area and behaves as the spell. It takes thirty minutes to lay 5 square feet of grease.
• Tar can be laid over a 5-foot square area. Creatures passing through tar, or starting their turn in it, must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be grappled until their next turn. It takes thirty minutes to lay 5 square feet of tar.
• The village has access to three hunting traps which may be placed anywhere on the map. For the purposes of balance, it takes thirty minutes to lay a hunting trap, including any owned by the PCs.
• Training:
• There are twelve able-bodied men who might be able to be trained into a reasonable fighting force to defend the town. They can be armed and given rudimentary combat training at a rate of one man-hour per villager. For each villager trained in this way, add an NPC scout to the party during the combat.

Once the twelve hours are up, the orcs will begin to attack in waves. Reinforcements will arrive at a rate of one wave per round for 10 rounds. For each wave, roll 1d8: on a 1-2, they arrive from the north path; on a 3-5, from the west path; on a 6-7, from the south path; on an 8, they make a surprise entrance from the east. The waves are as follows:

Round 1: 2d6 goblins

Round 2: 2d6 goblins

Round 3: 2d4 hobgoblins

Round 4: 1d6 orcs

Round 5: 1 ogre

Round 6: 2d6 orcs

Round 7: 1d4 bugbears

Round 8: 1d4 orcs and 1 orc Eye of Gruumsh

Round 9: 2d6 goblins and 1d4-1 (minimum 1) orogs

Round 10: See below

At Round 10, the leader of the band - an orc war chief named Orgha Broken-Tusk - decides that any fighters who can hold out this long against his army must be worthy challengers and descends to the village with his retinue of bugbear bodyguards, equal in number to the number of PCs minus one. He demands the fighting pause so that he and his retinue may engage the party man-to-orc in single combat. If Orgha is killed, however, the battle will immediately resume with the rest of the orcs joining in.

At five rounds after Orgha is killed, or 20 rounds after the start of combat (whichever comes first), the orcs realize the fighting is futile and retreat. The battle has been won!

Further Developments

If the orcs are successfully driven off, the village elder will thank the PCs and agree to provide them with 30 GP and five rations for each party member, plus a single ring of evasion. He admits that it isn't much and apologizes that he didn't have more to give. Still, the party will be hailed as heroes whenever they return to town, and any villager will gladly provide them a free bed and meals. You may want to mark the location of the village on a hex or point map, if using one, to keep note of it in case the PCs revisit it.

The orcs will not attack Tracenka again, having been shown how fierce its defenders are. However, they will not forget how formidable of foes the party was. It is possible they will send another champion to challenge them at some point - or perhaps Orgha himself, if he survived the battle, may become a recurring adversary, seeking a rematch.