WAR in the City

Few events drive or change an urban campaign as thoroughly as war. Running wartime adventures in the city provides for all manner of new and interesting challenges.

Active Involvement

When most people think of war in D&D, they see active combat and sieges. This is the more overtly dramatic option, and it lends itself to all sorts of adventures.

Hold the Wall: Perhaps the most obvious adventure during city warfare is to hold the wall against siege. Invading armies might use hordes of foot soldiers, enormous engines of war, constructs such as siege golems (page 126), flying assailants, barrages of spells, or any combination thereof. The PCs must fi nd a means of countering all these methods with the aid of the city’s many defenders. Sure, a good solid wall likely holds against orcs on ladders, assuming a suffi cient number of defending soldiers, but how to prevent a dragon from fl ying overhead and strafi ng the lord’s keep? How does one prevent a team of sappers, led by a druid with move earth, from tunneling under the defenses? While a siege might seem to be nothing but straightforward combat, it involves tactics, strategy, and investigation as well, as players attempt to anticipate their attackers and fi nd means of heading them off.

Search and Rescue: Rather than defend the city, the PCs might simply try to locate a certain individual, object, or group, and smuggle them out before the invaders fi nd them. Perhaps the capital is only days from falling, and the group must spirit away the last true heir to the throne before she is killed by usurpers. The undead armies of the necromancer Balakur might be seeking the Pristine Goblet of Pelor, which they can use in a foul ritual to render themselves immune to positive energy, and the PCs have to ensure the goblet isn’t present when the city surrenders. Or their concerns might be more personal, as they strive to remove their families from harm’s way. A search-and-rescue story involves combat against the invaders, sneaking through the front lines, or perhaps even avoiding press gangs who are forcing anyone who can wield a sword to stand on the walls in a hopeless last-ditch defense.

Escape: Rather than spiriting someone or something else out from the invaders’ path, the PCs might simply wish to get themselves out of the city before the hammer falls. This involves the same sort of combination of stealth and combat as a search and rescue, but the PCs need not worry about escorting others.

Hiding and Resistance: Rather than fight on the wall, PCs who see the battle as going poorly might choose to go to ground. They hide out until they can drum up a resistance movement against the invaders, launching raids and waging an urban war. It’s possible to achieve a quick victory in this fashion, if the invaders are led by a particular vital commander (such as the aforementioned necromancer Balakur, without whom his armies are mostly mindless). In most instances, however, a resistance movement goes beyond a single adventure and might drive an entire campaign, involving a mix of direct combat, espionage, hiding, and infi ltration of enemy command structures.

Crowd Control and Shortages: In the event of war, supplies often run low even in the face of strict rationing. PCs might help maintain order, guard emergency supplies, or seek out some means to resupply the city. Alternatively, they might be forced to work against the efforts of their own government, even in the face of invasion, as the city’s rich residents hoard supplies and leave the poor to suffer and starve.

Indirect Involvement

Active participation is not the only way to involve a city in a war. A port serves as a staging point for thousands of soldiers going off to fi ght elsewhere. A trading city becomes a supply hub for the king’s forces. A military city, in which the war effort is analyzed and planned, becomes a target for spies and assassins.

Troop Movement and Supply: Thousands of soldiers moving through a city can disrupt the functioning of almost every district. Streets are cordoned off or become impassible. Shopkeepers cannot work, reach their shops, or obtain supplies, and their customers cannot get to them. While local criminal guilds likely lie low, petty crimes such as brawls and drunkenness increase. Military and local offi cials come into confl ict, and dock-owners fi nd their piers reserved for military use. The necessity of feeding and supplying troops—both currently and for their further travels—can cause shortages even in a city that is nowhere near the front lines. PCs might be directly involved in security or supply measures, or might simply be inconvenienced like the rest of the citizens.

Espionage: During wartime, city rulers often grow wary of spies in their midst, and likely with good reason. Adventurers might be hired to hunt down spies or to guard important fi gures. Alternatively, the PCs might be caught up in the government’s crackdown and be declared outlaws, or at least placed under heavy surveillance. This could be due to specifi c actions on their part, or simply because the city’s leaders do not trust adventurers who lack strong military allegiance.

Persecution: Individuals who belong to the culture or region with whom the city is at war face persecution and even violence. If, for instance, a human city is at war with a community of dwarves, all dwarves in that city—regardless of their nationality—could fi nd their shops vandalized or their homes burned, or might even be assaulted in the streets. PCs could fi nd themselves protecting these innocent victims against assailants and even mobs, all the while struggling to fi nd out if any of the “victims” really is an enemy spy.