*** JUNK MAIL ***Re: [Rq-rules] Valley of Deatrh

[stephenmcg at blueyonder.co.uk]

Sounds like a good story.

My question would be, what would you do if there was a battle between your
century and another army?

Would you do all of the rolling for the background characters?

Personally I would be inclined to make the outcomes of battles of large
numbers of men dependent upon the actions of the main characters.  Thus
good battle rolls by the centurion and optio mean that their men would be
prevailing, countering the enemy and inflicting casualties.

That puts the spotlight and focus on the main PCs.  Always a good thing.

In this particular circumstance I would not feel obliged to follow the
letter of the rules either.  For the narrative of the story I might have
the century ambushed by the ghost army - it would be up to you whether you
provided any clues as to their real nature or whether it appeared up front
to be a normal military skirmish.

The difference would be that the enemies keep coming - killing them does
not seem to make any difference and the men of the century are falling
left right and centre.  The physical battle would however only be a
representation of the spiritual conflict and at some point the century
will be defeated and possessed by the ghost army.

The PCs might become aware of the ghostly nature of their opponents and
find themselves the only un-possessed people left - at which point the
ghost general would speak to them and try to convince them to lead the
possessed to avenge them.

It means that the PCs are not necessarily possessed themselves but that
they may see no other option than to lead their century to do the ghosts
bidding just to get their men back...


Stephen