Roleplayer #23, May 1991
Seven Heroes
Practical Hints for the "Seven" Scenario
by Robert Collins
Next to the venerable "dungeon crawl," no scenario idea is
commoner than the one where a few brave warriors are asked to defend a village
from bandits. It's dramatic, full of danger, and rife with character interaction.
And it can be used in almost any game background. Most versions of this
scenario are inspired by the western The Magnificent Seven. Yet
it was only a remake of The Seven Samurai, one of Japanese director
Akiro Kurosawa's epic masterpieces. There was even a science-fiction version
of the story called Battle Beyond the Stars.
I like the story so much that I'm tempted to include it in any campaign
I run. But I didn't want it to be a simple adventure. I want to capture
the spirit of the films, the drama, the power. But how to do it? Here are
some ideas to bring drama to this scenario.
Building the Background
The setting is very important. For the adventure to work, the area must
have no powerful authority, no law enforcement. Otherwise, why hire warriors
to do the job? Just call the cops. The authority can be distant, indifferent,
or too busy. With the authorities unable to come in, the PCs will have no
one to call for backup. They are on their own.
And the town should be poor. The PCs should know in advance that they will
get no pay, nothing save meals and shelter. This means that the PCs must
either be broke, or so wealthy they can afford to work for free. The former
is much better; it lends the proper element of desperation. And if they're
broke they won't have lots of weaponry and equipment.
An adventure like this one doesn't belong in the middle of a continuing
campaign, unless the group is really down on their luck. Part of the drama
of the story is the way these different individuals manage to combine into
a unit. Thus, it's far better to use this adventure to start the campaign.
Personalities
The peasants (or townspeople) live in constant fear of almost everything.
To them, anyone with weapons is a potential foe. Many of them will worry
that if the "hired guns" fail, the bandits will become still more
merciless.
The GM must make use of this. It will make the PCs' job of training the
villagers for the upcoming fight harder. It will keep the PCs from asking
more of the villagers. The PCs may also find themselves the object of arguments
and fistfights.
The warriors, or the villagers, may decide that a separate "warrior
class" is necessary. It sets the PCs apart from the villagers. Anything
they do that would annoy them, no matter how slight, could be blown out
of proportion. This will tempt the PCs with the special pride that comes
with being part of an elite.
The Bandits
And then there's the matter of the bandits themselves. While The Magnificent
Seven portrayed them as "real folks," Samurai
made them almost an impersonal force of nature, like rain or drought.
The GM should decide which approach he'll take. That will
set the tone of the adventure, and the options open to the players.
If the bandits are simply other NPCs like the villagers, the adventure will
take on a "test of wills" atmosphere. PCs can try to play on the
abilities and fears of their enemy. Infiltration and stealth will become
important. Discovering the motives of the attackers might lead to a non-violent
resolution.
It will be vital for the GM to keep very detailed records, as each bandit
will be different, and what one does will affect the others.
On the other hand, if the bandits are like a natural force, their character
sheets will vary little. The bandits will react in set ways. They will attack
in groups, and the scenario will start to resemble a war. The PCs should
feel as though they're fighting a flood, instead of human foes. (And they'll
probably have as little human feeling for their enemies -- which will give
the GM a chance to shake them up by having an occasional individual bandit
show a human side, probably as he dies.)
The first option could include moments of comedy or romance, while the other
will be a grim and desperate struggle against the inevitable. In the former,
if "Hoss" is leading four other bandits, and "Hoss"
gets snuffed, the other four might panic and retreat. In the latter, snuffing
"Hoss" won't matter; all five have to die (can you say "count
the corpses?").
Numbers and Technology
In any scenario, the bad guys should have a distinct advantage over the
defenders. In low-tech backgrounds, this will simply be a matter of numbers.
Forty horsemen with swords will be more than a match for seven, even if
those seven have ranged weapons.
At medium tech levels, the advantage starts to drift towards the defense.
Mounted men with guns won't have the accuracy of emplaced shooters, unless
the mounted men have automatic weapons and/or vehicles.
That's compounded in the Autoduel
universe, where even low-income duellists will have significant
firepower. Of course, broke duellists may not be able to afford repairs
or reloads. But that will turn the cars into pillboxes. The only way to
avoid this is for the town to have more vulnerable spots than there are
cars to plug the holes. And the GM should impose draconian limits on vehicular
ammunition.
At the highest tech levels, the battle may involve tanks or GEVs, mecha
or starships. The defenders will have to have much more skill, or much better
equipment, to avoid being swamped.
Strategy
A wise GM will not have the bandits attack in full until the very end. The
first fight, in fact, might involve only as many bandits as defenders, if
they don't know the village is being defended. Then, as the war wears on,
more will be committed to each attack. Finally, the bandit leader should
throw everything he's got into one last assault.
The PCs might want to carry the battle to the bandit lair. There are only
two times when the GM should allow this: in the beginning, to force a lethargic
foe into fighting, and to bring the numbers down (Samurai); or
towards the end, which should lead to failure and possibly the town's capture
(Magnificent).
Death and Romance
When a half-dozen warriors (the PCs) take on a force five to six times greater
than them, there will be casualties, and not just among the NPCs. As has
been said before, GMs need to take care when PCs near death. In this case,
die rolls shouldn't be adjusted too much, unless the bandits threaten to
win right away. Any PC who dies will fall in battle, which is obviously
heroic. It might be a good idea to let one or two PCs be brash, bravado
types who'll be bearable for one play session . . . then let their brashness
kill them.
Other PCs might fall in love. This is a nice romantic angle, but it will
cause problems. Example: a samurai falls for a pretty peasant girl, but
with classes strictly separate, marriage would be unlikely, even disadvantageous.
It might be different, in a more "upwardly mobile" society, but
how could a poor PC support a dependent? Of course, this won't be a problem
for a hero who fails to survive the last battle!
With just a bit of preparation, a careful GM should be able to turn this
classic, but somewhat tired, situation into a dramatic adventure. It will
challenge the players and their characters. It might even encourage some
careful thought about the universe these warriors inhabit. Give it a try
(watch those movies first), and you'll have some real roleplaying adventure.
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#23 Table of Contents)