Ideas for war in a non-magic campaign (5e).
I am new here so I apologize in advance if this isn't the proper place to inquire about this.
Some backstory: So I have been running a non-magic 5e campaign with my SO for a few months now and to be honest everything is going well so far. There are only three races (human, tabaxi and dragons) which have been edited and do not possess any magical capabilities as well as the classes have been altered so magic has been removed and other abilities take their place for balance. There are 3 kingdoms in this world and the human kingdom (they are the largest by far) has declared war on the dragon kingdom (who is very small). Dragons are still very powerful yet they are not that common and live mostly in their secluded area.
My only issue is that, at some point, my SO's main character will be heading into the war zone and I am horribly lost for ideas on how to either run a war or have other adventures which do not have their character directly involved.
I am very aware that 5e is heavily based on magic since I am also a player as well, which makes running a non-magic campaign ever more difficult.
Any ideas/existing content would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Re: Ideas for war in a non-magic campaign (5e).
What is the PC actually doing in the war zone? Why are they going there? If they don't have any particular reason to actually go to a battlefield, then the extent of their interaction with the war zone might be that villages are often sacked and abandoned, banditry is more common as unmoored survivors of these village raids turn to violence to feed themselves since their farms were pillaged, and food is much harder to come by as foraging armies suck up everything nearby. If all they're doing is incidentally passing through a location at war, though, there's no reason to actually walk into an ongoing battle.
Re: Ideas for war in a non-magic campaign (5e).
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChamHasNoRoom
What is the PC actually doing in the war zone? Why are they going there? If they don't have any particular reason to actually go to a battlefield, then the extent of their interaction with the war zone might be that villages are often sacked and abandoned, banditry is more common as unmoored survivors of these village raids turn to violence to feed themselves since their farms were pillaged, and food is much harder to come by as foraging armies suck up everything nearby. If all they're doing is incidentally passing through a location at war, though, there's no reason to actually walk into an ongoing battle.
The PC is actually the one that had a hand in starting the war (befriending an informant with information about the human kingdom's evil king (BBEG) which broke the peace treaty and started a war). They are currently in the human kingdom following a side quest to find their family who have been missing and are currently in the "war zone" area.
There is no particular reason for them to be directly in the battlefield although, they are highly motivated (due to other reasons) to go after the BBEG and kill him which may or may not,depending on which avenue they wish to proceed in, put them into the heart of battle. I do like the idea of ransacked villages and potential violent survivors, I might implement that.
Thank you ChamHasNoRoom! I really appreciate the feed back! :smallsmile:
Re: Ideas for war in a non-magic campaign (5e).
Some ideas for an adventuring party that is in a warzone without actually being combatants.
- Scouting. One side pays the party to scout an area.
- Sabotage/Assassination - One side pays the party to take out a key element on the other side.
NB these two can also be played as double agents if the players want to be duplicitous.
- Avoiding being pressganged. One side wants to conscript the party into their army.
- Rescuing non-combatants in the warzone (what you are doing now).
- Kelly’s Heroes/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - There is a stash of treasure in the warzone that an enterprising group of individuals could acquire while the main forces are looking elsewhere.
- A lurking evil. An underground cave system that gets opened up as a result of the war has an ancient evil in it ready to wreak havoc on the world again.
- Third party intelligence/International Observer - The Tabaxi want to know wants going on between the Dragons and the Humans, as well as updates on any new war technology/tactics.
Re: Ideas for war in a non-magic campaign (5e).
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pauly
Some ideas for an adventuring party that is in a warzone without actually being combatants.
- Scouting. One side pays the party to scout an area.
- Sabotage/Assassination - One side pays the party to take out a key element on the other side.
NB these two can also be played as double agents if the players want to be duplicitous.
- Avoiding being pressganged. One side wants to conscript the party into their army.
- Rescuing non-combatants in the warzone (what you are doing now).
- Kelly’s Heroes/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - There is a stash of treasure in the warzone that an enterprising group of individuals could acquire while the main forces are looking elsewhere.
- A lurking evil. An underground cave system that gets opened up as a result of the war has an ancient evil in it ready to wreak havoc on the world again.
- Third party intelligence/International Observer - The Tabaxi want to know wants going on between the Dragons and the Humans, as well as updates on any new war technology/tactics.
These are wonderful ideas, thank you so much!
I am definitely going to be using some of these in the near future.
The lurking evil actually would fit nicely, and the sabotage/assassination is already giving me some great ideas.
Thank you so much for this once again!
Everyone is so kind and honestly a campaign saver! :smallbiggrin:
