Designing a War (for historical background in a campaign) Copyright (c) 1996 by John D. Eikenberry (603) 881-0166, DTN: 381-0166 26-Feb-1996 1741 To add some historical information on a previous war for the characters, you should first decide what actually happened. From there, you can alter it (to reflect the telling of stories). After any reasonable length of time, the memories will be focused down to set of "named" battles - the larger engagements between the two forces. Most of the small skirmishes & raids that would have occured are usually forgotten. For me, I took several copies of the maps of the continent showing the state of the world at the time of the war. From the grouping and politics of the people around, I determined how many sides there were, and used different color pens/pencils to represent each side. Then I drew on the maps the larger troops movements. For my war, there were three distinct phases. When side A had the advantage (and was winning all of over the place), then a time when side A & B were even (no one had an advantage), and then the time where side B & C worked together to beat A back to where they came from. Next, I looked over the maps and wherever two lines get very close together at about the "same" time, I considered putting a battle marker there. Using these maps, it was straight-forward to create a brief overview of the battle. A general rule of thumb is 4-7 "named" battles per year of the War. Realize that different sides can and will have different names for the same battles. For example, the Union usually named battles after some land mark, as in the case of Bull Run Creek -- "The First Battle of Bull Run." The Confederates named the same battle "The Battle of Manasses Junction", after the town closest to it. Others may have more unfair names "The Victory of Splurg" vs. "The Slaughter at Splurg." Considered which name would be remembered by whom. Then, you can have you players trying to unravel the mystery when they get some names from one side and other names from the other side. Names for the "named" Battles ----------------------------- Battle of Fall of Defense of Slaughter*1 's Last Stand*2 The Massacre The Rout of March The March of/on The Charge of *3 The Rape of *4 The Sack of The Seige of 's Stand 's Defeat*5 Defeat of Victory at 's Victory 's Lucky Break Sacking of *6 The Campaign The Crusade Relief of *7 Death Ride of 's Offensive The Offensive Retreat from Landing Massacre at/of *8 's Raid Raid on/of Storming of *9 Each of the can be replaced by a person, place, or thing; just make the changes that sound good to you. For example you could "The Raid on the Ford", "The Raid for Weapons", "The Raid of Lord Restar." You get the idea. To add more variety, all of these names could be modified by adding adjectives - Glorious, Horrible, Surprising, Bloody, etc. Copyright 1996 John D. Eikenberry _______________________________ 1 Jonas B. Nielsen, jonasbn@diku.dk, GURPsnet, 21 Feb. 1996 2 ?, dylan@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us, GURPsnet, 14 Feb. 1996 3 Archangel, phraktal@coonx.vironix.co.za, GMAST, 16 Feb. 1996 4 ?, wombat@pop.sirius.com, GURPSnet, 14 Feb. 1996 5 Thomas O Magann, jr., tomjr@sfo.com, GMAST, 14 Feb. 1996 6 Wayne Barber, barber@maine.maine.edu, direct e-mail, 14 Feb. 1996 7 Gareth Owen, glowen1@gwent.nhs.gov.uk, direct e-mail, 15 Feb 1996 8 David A Terhune, dterhune@sprint.uccs.edu, GURPSnet, 15 Feb. 1996 9 John Wood, john@elvw.demon.co.uk, GURPSnet, 19 Feb. 1996