Surrender

Good commanders know when it’s time to cut their losses and surrender a bad situation. Even if the commander doesn’t accept the necessity of surrender, the troops will often take the initiative.

If (in AD&D game terms) the commander of a besieged fortification is a Player Character, the decision of whether or not to officially surrender is up to him or her. There is no rule to force a player to capitulate against his or her will. An NPC commander, however, will officially surrender at the first opportunity whenever the average morale (including modifiers) of all surviving garrison troops drops to 4, or is 10 or more points less than the average morale of all attacking units.

The above rule refers to official surrender, where the commander capitulates in the name of all troops under his or her command. Sometimes the decision is taken out of the hands of the commander, of course. If the condition arises where all defending units are shaken, the troops will look for the first available chance to offer surrender. Any friendly unit that is within 1” of an enemy unit but is not engaged in melee combat must make a special Morale Check. If the unit fails, it immediately offers surrender to any enemy unit within 1”. To qualify, enemy units must be on the same level (a unit atop a wall isn’t going to offer surrender to a unit 40’ below on the ground).

The enemy unit now has a choice: accept surrender and take the friendly unit prisoner, or refuse the offer and attack the surrendering unit.