In a dungeon, adventurers usually have
only two options when a battle is imminent:
they can fight or they can flee. If they take
the first option, the biggest, meanest fighters
step to the front, with a good magic-user
|or| two behind them, and everyone dukes it
out toe to toe. Victory goes to the strongest
or most powerful. If they take the second
option, everyone runs away as fast as they
can, along an escape route that is usually
narrowly defined, and victory (or survival,
in this case) goes to those with the swiftest
feet.

The battle tactics in a dungeon are pretty
straightforward. Often, the challenge in a
dungeon adventure lies not in how a battle
is conducted (or not conducted) as much as
in the characters? cleverness at figuring out
traps, trick rooms, and other mysteries of
the environment.

Out in the great outdoors, though, the
tactical possibilities change as dramatically
as the scenery. Danger can approach from
any direction, and visibility can be measured
in miles (in daylight) rather than
mere feet. Characters can run, or attack, in
any direction rather than just back and
forth along a narrow corridor. The ability to
move quickly becomes crucial, sometimes
even more important than the protection of
heavy armor.

Issues #87 and #88 of DRAGON® Magazine
carried an excellent two-part article by
Katharine Kerr about outdoor adventuring
in general. This article offers some hints on
how to plan for the battles that are sure to
take place during those adventures. A party
that refuses to use any tactical sense is going
to be easy prey for the adversaries set before
them by a careful and clever Dungeon
Master.

And it works the other way, too. A little
simple tactical planning by the DM can
easily multiply the effectiveness of any
group of NPCs. Many DMs, when confronted
with the task of providing opposition
for a powerful party of player
characters, will just throw more and bigger
monsters in the PCs? path: a hundred orcs
instead of twenty, or a demon instead of an
ogre. While this may challenge a party?s
raw power, it is a clumsy way to do so since
it is really just a repeat of earlier encounters,
only with a bigger budget.

Tactical planning can be simple. For
instance, rather than doubling the size of a
group of orcs from 25 to 50 and lining all of
them up in front of the party, have 15 of
those 25 engage the party from the front
and send the other 10 around to the rear.
The first time this happens, be ready for
screams of protest from the players when
orc arrows suddenly start plunking into the
backsides of their characters. If the party
wins this kind of battle, the characters will
have certainly earned their experience
points.

And of course, what works for NPCs
works equally well for player characters.
Tactical planning, and the successful execution
of those tactical plans, can work wonders
for a party?s effectiveness (and
ultimately its chances for survival) in a
combat situation. PCs who get
outflanked by the enemy will quickly learn
to turn the tables and come up with a few
tricks of their own. As move and countermove
develop between a PC party and its
adversaries, the adventure becomes more
fun and more challenging for all involved.
After their characters have been through a
few open-field skirmishes, players will realize
just how confining the stone walls of a
dungeon can be.
 
 

The subject of tactics has filled hundreds
of books throughout history. With an eye
toward simplicity and applicability to fantasy
gaming, the important principles can
be summed up in five concepts:

1) Mobility
-- the ability to move quickly;

2) FIREPOWER
-- the ability to attack from a distance;

3) Intelligence and communication --
knowing the enemy, and sharing information
with allies;

4) Terrain -- using the lay
of the land to best advantage; and

5) Organization and morale -- keeping it together,
both as a group and on an individual basis.

1) Mobility
 
 

Mobility: If you can get a flying steed, use it.

There are 2 goals related to the concept
of mobility: to give yourself as much freedom
of movement as possible, and to hinder
or stop the enemy's movement.

With freedom of movement, you can
react to any situation quickly. Mobile troops
can move in to attack whenever they wish,
rather than waiting for the enemy to take
the initiative. A fast-moving character or
group can circle around an enemy, disrupting
his plans and perhaps causing morale
problems for him. Fast troops can often
attack an enemy?s weak points and get away
before the opponents have a chance to
react. If two parties are racing for a single
objective, the faster one has an obvious
advantage. And while it may sound cowardly,
a mobile force can retreat more
quickly than a slow force. Sometimes there
is no reasonable choice other than to get out
of a battle as fast as possible.

The first thing to look at when trying to
increase your mobility is your load of armor
and equipment. Plate armor provides excellent
protection, but it slows you down. In a
dungeon, protection is usually more important
than speed. But when you have to
charge a group of archers in open terrain,
your slower speed will let them get off a few
extra shots before you can engage them
with hand-held weapons. Lightly armored
troops with bows can lead heavier troops on
a merry chase -- shooting arrows until the
opponents get close, then using their superior
mobility to put more distance between
the forces while still staying within firing
range. (Read a history of the Crusades for
some real-life examples of this tactic.) Extra
sets of iron spikes, lanterns, torches, picks,
hammers, and so forth may be useful underground
but are rarely necessary in the
wilderness. Consider leaving some of those
heavy tools behind, or at least get a mule to
carry them for you.

Get everyone on horseback if at all possible.
(Dwarves and halflings may not like it,
but they can usually be persuaded to ride
horses or mules. One dwarf in my campaign
designed a goat-powered chariot so he
could keep up with the rest of the party.)
Even if characters don?t fight from horseback,
at least they?ll be able to quickly move
into position to attack. With the extra visibility
afforded them above ground, characters
often have a choice between going into
battle or avoiding it. Superior mobility
allows a party to catch an enemy group or
keep out of its clutches as necessary.

If you can get a flying steed, use it. An
airborne character can obviously cover a
long distance quickly and has a very wide
field of view. Airborne creatures can spot an
enemy from a long way off ? but, of
course, they can also be seen from an
equally long distance.

Once a battle begins, don't stop moving.
Attack from two or three directions at once.
This will force the enemy to divide his force
to offer resistance on all fronts. Always be
sure you can get out, though -- if you?re
too slow, he may be able to concentrate his
efforts on one part of your force before the
rest of your group can get there to lend a
hand. In military terms, this tactic is called
"defeat in detail": destroying the enemy
one small piece at a time. There?s no law
that says you have to attack an enemy?s
front line; by using a speed advantage, you
can go around the side and engage the
enemy at a weak spot in his force.

The ultimate in mobility in a fantasy
environment is teleportation -- the ability
to go from one place to another without
having to physically traverse the intervening
obstacles. This is not an ability to be employed
casually, because it's so valuable, but
if the fight looks like it's going to be close,
go ahead and use that teleport spell or magic
item to get behind the enemy in the
twinkling of an eye.

Attacking from more than one direction
with the intent of splitting the enemy?s
power has the effect of limiting his mobility;
he has to stay in one place or risk leaving
part of his force behind. Spells of darkness
or fog thrown over enemy troops will also
slow them down. A transmute rock to mud
spell or an entangle spell can stop a charge
in its tracks. Spells such as wall of stone,
wall or iron or the like will keep opponents
from going where you don?t want them to
go. The less freedom of movement the
enemy has, the less easily he will be able to
respond to your moves.

2. FIREPOWER

FIREPOWER: He could attack three times before coming to blows with an opponent.

in the context of this article, the term
"FIREPOWER" refers to any means of attack
with a reach |or| range longer than that of a
pike. A force that possesses firepower has
the ability to strike at the enemy from a
distance. Thrown weapons (spears, axes,
daggers, etc.) are the simplest and least
effective forms of firepower. Bows and
arrows are better because of the longer
range the bows provide. The most powerful
form of firepower is magic ? the longrange
and wide-area weapons such as fireball
and cloudkill. Many spells and magical
effects can be considered firepower because
they are able to affect the enemy from a
distance. Just because a spell doesn?t directly
cause damage doesn't mean that it
has no use in combat.

Since combatants in an aboveground
battle often first spot each other from a
considerable distance, the first few exchanges
of the conflict will be entirely dependent
upon mobility and firepower.
Don't give the enemy a free shot by denying
yourself missile weapons. Try to make
sure that everyone in the party has some
kind of ranged attack at his disposal. Sometimes
smaller groups of NPCs will not be
equipped in this way, but any large force
should have a few archers among its ranks.
In a player-character party, each fighter
should carry, and be proficient with, a bow
or a crossbow, or at least one throwing
weapon in addition to any hand-held weapons.
Thieves can use slings to fill the need
for a ranged weapon, and may also hurl
daggers or darts. Clerics have only a few
mediocre choices for a weapon they can
throw (but clerics in the D&D® game can <in A0, priests can USE slings>
use slings), and although they do have
spells, few of them are really useful in combat.
In most cases, a cleric?s spell-casting
ability is best saved for healing and curing
after combat. Magic-users can carry extra
daggers for throwing if it seems like a good
idea, but their firepower is obviously centered
in their spells. Except in an engagement
involving a relatively small number of
combatants, daggers (as well as many other
hand-held weapons that can be thrown)
don?t have the range or the damage potential
to make much of a difference in a battle.
One character I ran used four weapons: a
crossbow for long-range sniping, a spear
that he used when closing with an enemy,
an axe which could be thrown or swung as
needed, and a broadsword for the final
slugfest. Without stopping to reload, he
could attack three times before coming to
blows with an opponent.

In a party of PCs, it?s a good idea to
designate one or two characters as ?missilemen
? whose job in a fight is to stay out of
melee and pepper the enemy continually
with arrows or spells. This is the natural
military function of magic-users, and is also
a good way to make use of weak or heavily
wounded fighters. Missilemen can contribute
to the combat effort without directly
risking their lives by getting involved in a
melee. The extra hits they can score by
fighting from a distance will in most cases
more than make up for their absence from
the front lines.

The top-priority target for missilemen is
the enemy's missilemen, especially magicusers.
These are the only opponents who
can pose a real threat to the party?s missilemen,
and keeping them under fire will force
them to take cover before continuing the
fight. With the enemy archers and spellcasters
dead or hiding, your own missilemen
can fire at will. Second priority usually goes
to the enemy commanders. Since officers
usually direct a battle from a position behind
the front lines, firepower is often the
only way to injure them. Whatever target
your missilemen choose, have each of them
concentrate on a single target at one time;
because wounded opponents can still strike
back, it?s usually important to reduce the
enemy?s numbers in order to reduce his
ability to counterattack.

Firepower and superior mobility make a
powerful combination. Airborne archers
can sail over an enemy, picking out targets
behind rocks and trees that would otherwise
be unassailable. Firepower used wisely can
make up for limited mobility; the range of a
bow is several times greater than an enemy
?s movement rate, for all but the fastest
of creatures. A force with good firepower
can win a battle without crossing swords,
simply by staying away from face-to-face
contact with the enemy and shooting at
him.

3) Intelligence and communication

Communication: Spellcasters should not overlook the value of talking to the native wildlife.

The attribute of intelligence, in this context,
doesn't mean <The Wizard's> prime
requisite. Tactical intelligence involves
knowing who (or what) your opponent is,
what his abilities are, and what his plans
are. This is one factor that can sometimes
work in favor of NPCs, because the DM
knows the ability, location, and other important
information about each individual
on both sides. But if the DM is playing fair
and not giving ?his? NPCs the benefit of
knowledge that they would not logically
have, then there?s a lot that a group of PCs
can do to confuse the enemy while they
gather facts to find out what sort of opposition
they?re up against.

One obvious trick is to use invisibility
This enables you to scout enemy forces,
sneak around behind them, and attack with
surprise. The best kind of character for
confusing the enemy is an illusionist; deception
is his bread and butter. An illusionist
who can?t think of anything more creative
during a battle than conjuring up images of
monsters should be drummed out of his
adventuring party. An imaginative illusionist
has lots of possibilities at his disposal. He
can put up an illusionary pit between the
opposing front lines, which will serve to
discourage the enemy from charging into
battle or trying to outflank your forces. He
can throw up a veil of darkness or a fog
cloud to thwart enemy missilemen. He can
manufacture an illusionary wall to keep
opponents from getting any closer (at least
until someone runs into it and discovers it
wasn?t there to begin with). Illusions that
look like very powerful spells can scare off
enemies ? and the ?lookalike? spell
doesn?t even have to be an illusion; as
stated in its description, a fog cloud spell
has the appearance of a cloudkill and can
certainly be a deterrent even if it can?t
actually do any damage. No illusionist
should ever sit on his hands for lack of
things to do, as long as he has any spell
power left.

Airborne troops are obviously great for
intelligence work, because they can fly over
an enemy force and find out who?s where
and how many of them there are. Thieves,
with their ability to move about silently and
inconspicuously, can get close to enemy
lines (or even behind the lines) to gain
information that would be otherwise unobtainable.
And spellcasters should not overlook
the value of talking to the native
wildlife ? animal and vegetable ? by
using the various ?speak with? spells. It can
be dangerous to travel through an area
?controlled? by a druid, because the druid
can find out what?s happening by conversing
with the various flora and fauna.

Many forms of magic are useful for surveillance
and information-gathering. Familiars
can make good spies; spells such as
clairvoyance will come in very handy when
probing enemy forces; and the use of a
crystal ball makes intelligence efforts almost
too easy for words.

Communication is rarely a problem for
player characters under normal circumstances,
since the players running those
characters can simply discuss their plans
and exchange information across the table.
The DM may put some limits on what the
PCs can talk-about ? if two characters are
located 100 yards apart on the field of battle,
their players shouldn?t be able to conduct
a normal conversation. Conversely, the
DM has to be careful not to take advantage
of information he overhears but which the
enemy would have no way of knowing.

For NPCs, communication consists
mainly of a commander shouting orders at
his troops.  A <priest> with a silence 15' radius
spell can shut him up from as far as 120
yards away.  Or, a clever illusionist might
imitate the enemy commander's appearance
and voice to trick the enemy troops into
following false orders.

History is replete with instances where
battles were won or lost not only because of
what took place on the field of combat, but
because of what happened -- or didn?t
happen -- before the battle was joined. If
you know what you?re up against, you?re
less likely to get a nasty surprise once the
fighting starts. Use the time before a battle
to your advantage by assessing the enemy's
capabilities, sorting out his strengths and
weaknesses. You may not learn enough to
turn a probable defeat into a likely victory
-- but you never know until you try.

4) Terrain

Terrain: Thick forests are prime locations for an ambush.

Always look for ways to use terrain to
your advantage. This tactic can be as simple
as hiding behind a tree, |or| as complex
and devious as positioning your forces so
that the enemy has to travel over a patch of
quicksand to get to you. Thick forests,
jungles, && areas of tall grassland are
prime locations for an ambush. By moving
carefully through areas that provide good
cover and concealment, you can become
effectively invisible to an enemy force positioned
just a short distance away. If a battle
is unavoidable and you?re on the defense,
try to locate your forces where the opponent
has to attack across open terrain to get at
you; without the benefit of cover, he?ll have
to expose his forces to your firepower before
he gets close enough to start a melee.

Rough or uneven terrain can reduce your
mobility; don?t pick a fight on rocky ground
or in hilly territory unless you?re convinced
that the terrain will be more of a disadvantage
for the enemy than for yourself. If
you?re traveling cross country, consider
going around a mountain instead of climbing
it. You may have to travel a longer
distance in doing so, but because you can
travel more rapidly on the roundabout
route, it may actually save time ? and you
won?t risk being attacked on the mountainside,
when you might have your hands full
(so to speak) just staying on your feet.
Don?t get caught with your back to a river
or a cliff; when you?re pinned down like
this, your freedom of movement is severely
curtailed even if your forces are faster than
the enemy?s.

A prepared battlefield, where one side is
holding and defending a particular piece of
land, can be very hard on an attacker. The
defender may have constructed pits,
tripwires, walls, and fences to blunt an
assault. The ultimate prepared battlefield is
the castle, against which a direct attack is
often fruitless and only a siege would serve
to wear down the defenses.

When you?re on the attack, use natural
cover as much as possible. Choose an approach
route that will give you maximum
protection from the defender?s firepower. In
a forest or other type of terrain that affords
a high degree of concealment, it?s usually a
good idea to try a flanking maneuver, sending
a small force around the side of the
enemy?s force to get at him from behind.

One of the best tactical tricks is possible
only in a fantasy environment: If you don?t
like the terrain, change it! Spells such as
wall of stone and transmute rock to mud are
useful for this purpose, as discussed earlier.
A neat trick, if you can pull it off, is to
conjure up an illusion of a boulder or a
grove of trees in the middle of a battlefield
before the enemy arrives. Then, when his
troops move forward to take advantage of
the cover, dispel the illusion and let your
missilemen fire away.

5) Organization and morale

One of a PC?s biggest advantages over an
NPC is that the player character can act as
an independent unit. Anyone who?s roleplaying
an individual character should be
expected to take some initiative in deciding
what that PC will do, and in carrying out
that decision. But unless there?s a certain
amount of organization and mutual trust
among a group of player characters, battles
will be little more than a collection of isolated
brawls ? and even a band of orcs
should fight with more tactical sense than
that.

In any group of players, one person?s
character should be designated or elected as
the battle leader ? preferably a character
belonging to a player who has some tactical
skill (wargamers and members of the military
are usually good in this capacity). This
player (and character) is responsible for
planning and handing down directions to
the others. An organization should be established
and implemented long before a battle
begins. Discussing tactics at length in the
middle of a battle slows down the game and
leads to confusion -- and there simply may
not be time to argue about who?s going to
do what when a band of goblins is breathing
down your necks.

Set up ?fire teams,? groups of two or
three PCs who complement each other,
combat-wise, and who can support one
another by fighting side by side or back to
back. If the PCs stick to this kind of organization,
no individual is likely to get isolated
during an ambush. This tactic will also
forestall arguments about who goes where
with whom, since the whole idea of a fire
team is for the members to stick together
during a battle. Partnerships will build,
encouraging role-playing and deeper characterization,
and the members of each fire
team will work out special tricks and tactics
of their own to use in combat.

Non-player characters have less individual
initiative than player characters; that?s
why they?re NPCs. But they, too, can benefit
from careful organization. A large force
can be divided into missile squads, heavy
troops (those with chainmail or heavier
armor), and light troops (with leather or less
protection). Each unit can then concentrate
on what it does best: missile squads provide
firepower, light troops can move quickly to
intercept or encircle the enemy, and heavy
troops provide the ?punch? for the main
attack. The basic formation of this force,
then, would be heavy troops in the center of
the line, light troops on either side, and
missile squads behind the front lines to
support both types of other troops.

Complex |or| subtle variations on this basic
formation may be employed, depending on
how smart and skilled the NPCs are; in
general, for instance, a force composed of
(or at least commanded by) human NPCs
would be more creative and more flexible in
its attitude toward organization than a force
of humanoids. Orcs will generally only use
the simplest of tactics, while the Imperial
Guard may employ several different formations,
feints, false retreats, and other tricks
of the trade that any student of military
history would be familiar with.

If the organization of an NPC group is
centered around a single leader, then silencing
or disposing of this leader should reduce
the troops? ability to act with initiative, and
may cause a morale check that will send
them running. Lieutenants will lessen this
vulnerability; even if the commander is
taken out of the picture, they can continue
to lead their own sub-groups, and one of
them may even step in to take command of
the entire force. Lawful groups are generally
less vulnerable to collapse from losing
their leader than chaotic groups are, since
they are more likely to have an organized
chain of command and plan of succession.
Chaotic groups, especially evil ones, will be
less likely to cooperate without the presence
of a strong leader. Often, the capture of an
NPC leader is more morale-shaking than
the killing of one; a dead leader sometimes
inspires berserk vengeance, but troops may
act with more uncertainty and hesitation if.
their leader is captured, because an all-out
assault might cause the death of the leader
that they would hope to rescue.

Player characters don?t need to check
morale. This alone makes them more effective
than NPCs, since aside from fear spells
and similar powers, nothing can prevent a
PC from standing up against overwhelming
odds if he so chooses. Player characters
should take every opportunity to try to
shake the enemy?s morale. The use of illusions,
spectacular or unexpected attacks,
capturing enemy commanders, and other
such moves can all induce opposing troops
to decide to quit the field. Use every chance
you have to display your superiority,
whether actual or illusionary. If the enemy
becomes convinced that you?re more powerful
than he is, he won?t want to continue
fighting in a losing cause.

Fairness and trust
As in any situation that might occur in a
role-playing adventure, the DM must be
fair when moderating a battle between two
groups of adversaries. If a certain monster
or NPC has a reputation for intelligence or
tactical brilliance, then the DM should play
it that way. On the other hand, stupid monsters
should act stupidly ? but within reason.
An ogre may not know any other tactic
than a screaming charge, but no ogre is
going to run headlong into an open pit or
charge a dozen men in full armor. NPCs
should base their actions on what they
would realistically know and assume. Any
special knowledge that the DM happens to
have should not affect the course of events
unless an NPC is possessed of extraordinary
intelligence or wisdom, or has clairvoyance
or some similar ability. But, for the sake of
The Game, the DM should be careful even
when doing this ? the idea is to challenge
players, not frustrate them ? and one of
the most frustrating things in the world is to
come up with an original, well-thought-out
plan, only to have the opponent devise a
perfect counter-plan before the fight even
starts.

Players and their characters have to trust
each other, too. If even one character
refuses to cooperate with a battle plan, this
resistance can doom the plan to failure. A
group of characters who all act in their own
interest is guaranteed to be confused, disorganized,
and much less effective than a
party of characters who are organized and
acting with a common goal in mind.

The basic principles described here are
only a beginning; each of them can be
refined and expanded upon, and the application
of all the principles will certainly be
different in every group of PCs. Take a
good look at the abilities of each character
in the PC group; tailor the responsibilities
of each one so as to take full advantage of
the character?s strong points and minimize
the disadvantage of his weaknesses. Developing
creative, custom-designed tactics will
make the party more powerful when they
must do battle as a group, and the result
will be a more challenging and more satisfying
experience for players and DM alike.

MARCH 1985