Hard Boiled: Hard Boiled Armies (4e)
If you're a fan of the fantasy novels of Glen Cook¸ J.R.R. Tolkien¸ and others-or maybe you just pine for the days of Birthright-you might just have an itch that needs scratching. It's the itch to take armies onto the field of battle¸ where swords by the hundreds clash and contend for victory.
There's just one problem. Right out of the box¸ Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition does a lot for combat on the personal scale¸ but when it comes to the broader field of battle-when things go macro-the tools to handle a clash of thousands just aren't there.
Or are they? In Hard Boiled Armies¸ you'll find an examination of how to take the existing tools in the game-with just a few additions and changes of perspective-to get right where you need to go for medium- and large-scale military conflicts. And by looking at these existing tools with new eyes¸ you'll be able to add large scale battles to your game in a way that feels both fresh and yet completely familiar.
Inside this 35-page full-color PDF¸ you'll find:
- A detailed examination of questions to ask & answer when taking things from a "character" to "military" scale of conflict.
- Details on how to build your own military forces using tools you already have at your disposal.
- A sample military tradition to use as a basis for player armies.
- Options for making the fighting feel gritty and threatening.
- Seven military force "feature powers"
- Six ways to integrate your game's player characters into battlefield action
- Three sample forces: The Doomkeepers¸ the Laughing Skull Brotherhood¸ and the Corpse-Child Army.
- Invasion! A fully-detailed military encounter¸ where the players take on the roles of city watch garrisons charged with defending their city against an invading force. Invasion! Includes five enemy armies for your players to repel¸ and a map of the city and its surroundings¸ broken into nine 8″x6″ printable map tiles.
- Counters and power cards for streamlining your Hard Boiled Armies experience.