HEEEEELP...
Where can an aspiring DM find rules about conducting a large scale "Return of The King " type battle for the AD&D game system...Without miniatures?
Heroes of battle.
Is this a fight where you want the PCs to have an impact on it, or are you just needing a random result? In the case of the latter, I would just jot down a series of modifiers for either side and roll a die. In the case of the former, can you tell us more what you want to do?
My group was quite pleased with Cry Havoc from Malhavoc Press. Plenty of options for running small to large scale battles, and it integrates the player character's into the process well.
Varianor This would be a fight where the PCs would be involved with a 100+ mercenaries, men-at-arms etc. in pitch battle against against another force of 100+ creatures. Can you suggest anything for a scenario like this?
Is this a fight where you want the PCs to have an impact on it, or are you just needing a random result? In the case of the latter, I would just jot down a series of modifiers for either side and roll a die. In the case of the former, can you tell us more what you want to do?
Thanks Eric Garvue. I'm checking that out now...
My group was quite pleased with Cry Havoc from Malhavoc Press. Plenty of options for running small to large scale battles, and it integrates the player character's into the process well.
Heros of Battle really helped me run a battle where my group joined forces with a bunch of knights to take back a keep that had been lost by the knights. The system of generalising the majority of the combat outside of what the PC's did really sped things up. Then, when the PC's start winning, the whole tide of the battle turns in their favor.
For AD&D?
Try here:
http://forums.rpghost.com/showthread.php?t=51730
The D&D Companion Rules box set had the mass combat rules I used until D&D3 came along. They are reprinted in the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. I havn't done 100+ combat yet.
War by AEG has mass combat rules, too. Available from this website here:
http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/a/alderac/featuredBrands/d20System/v5748bt py73su
My group was quite pleased with Cry Havoc from Malhavoc Press. Plenty of options for running small to large scale battles, and it integrates the player character's into the process well.
I also bought Cry Havoc and love it. I have run many war scenes over the years and used everything from home brew rules to old 2nd edition mass combat. Cry Havoc has a good feel to it.
My suggestion would also be Cry Havoc. I playtested the system and I've used it. There are a couple quirks, but it integrates right into standard D&D. The only thing that I think I would do differently with it is to use a scale of 4x instead of 10x. Right now, it multiplies everything up to ten times normal D&D scale. So a single 5' square is a 50' square.
Where it's good for your purposes is that it has rules to allow heroes (i.e. PCs) to shine. You temporarily stop the battle and go into normal rules for a Hero Challenge.
What you can do to mitigate the time it will take to handle all the enemy die rolls is to preroll a massive amount of them ahead of time.