Campaigns… Dungeon Delving III
To finish up our articles about running Dungeon Delving Campaigns with the Fantasy Cards, this time we will go into a little more detail about the Endurance Campaign.
The Endurance Campaign is designed to test the staying power of one force (the Heroes) against the staying power of another, almost unlimited, group (the heroes’ Antogonists). The campaign is set up in much the same way as the standard campaign outlined in the Fantasy Cards’ rules, but with a couple of minor changes.
First, the manner in which the Heroes’ Eliminated units are handled is different. In the standard campaign all Eliminated units are returned to a force after the battle (because of repairs, medical aid, replacements, etc.), and each side then starts the next battle at full strength. Campaign Points that have been earned up to that point are used only to change out units in a force to achieve a more desirable mix of units.
In the Endurance Campaign, the Heroes do not automatically return their Eliminated units to their force after a battle. Instead, they must sacrifice available Campaign Points to bring back these units. This represents the use of valuable resources (such as time, money and magic) to get the units back in action. Further, the Heroes may not use any of their Campaign Points to ‘swap’ units in their force. They may only use the points to bring back the same units that were lost.
Given this, it is quite possible (and even likely) the total starting unit points of the Heroes’ force may diminish with each battle, as losses exceed Campaign Points earned. This is the ‘endurance’ portion of the campaign, and is what makes it interesting and challenging. Note though, that the Heroes’ force can never grow larger that its original size; unused Campaign Points are simply held in reserve for when they are next needed.
Another difference between the Endurance Campaign and the standard campaign is how the opposing force to the Heroes, the Antagonists, are handled. The Antagonists never have to ‘bring back’ any eliminated units, nor do they have to spend any Campaign Points to change out units in their force. They simply get to select a new force from scratch for every battle, as there is always a limitless supply of antagonists to go after the heroes of a story.
A further difference between the two campaign types is that the Antagonists don’t accrue Campaign Points for each battle; they have no need for them. Their goal is to simply whittle the Heroes down in battle after battle. In the end, they will be evaluated based on how effectively they have done this.
For each of the battles in an Endurance Campaign, either the Standard Game format or customized scenarios can be used. The unit point totals for each force at the start of a battle is equal to whatever starting point total the Heroes have left available to them – e.g. if the Heroes have 50 points left, than the Antagonists get to select a new 50 point force for the battle; if it there is only 30 points in the Heroes’ force, then the Antagonists only get 30 points, and so on. If the Heroes accrue enough Campaign Points to get back to their original starting force size, then the Antagonists will get to select a new force of the original size for the next battle as well.
Now to accommodate smaller or large campaigns, the amount of Campaign Points awarded for each battle needs to be converted from the fixed amounts in the standard campaign (i.e. 9, 6 and 3 points) to a ratio/percentage, of the original sized forces being used in the actual campaign. This assures that the rebuilding of a large force is possible in bigger campaigns, and prevents smaller forces from never being depleted in smaller campaigns. Using the same relative Campaign Point award ratios as the standard campaign, the ratios (percentages) should be:
WIN: Awards Campaign Points equal to 1/4 (25%) of the total starting units points for the side
LOSS: Awards Campaign Points equal to 1/6 (16.7%) of the total starting units points for the side
DRAW: Awards Campaign Points equal to 1/12 (8.3%) of the total starting units points for the side
So, for example, if the starting Heroes’ force was 60 points, every win in the campaign would net the Heroes 15 Campaign Points, every loss 10 Campaign Points and every Draw would net them 5 Campaign Points – regardless of what the Heroes actual starting point total was for any specific battle.
At the end of the Endurance Campaign you determine the winner by simply comparing what the current total of the Heroes’ force is after the last battle, and any last remaining Campaign Points are spent, to what it was at the start of the campaign. If the Heroes’ remaining force is greater than 50% of their starting force size, then they ‘beat’ the dungeon and cement their reputations with tales of heroism! If their remaining total is 50% or less of their original total, then the dungeon got the better of the Heroes and earns the dreaded reputation of Heroes’ Bane.
You could also set up a graduated scale for measuring the Heroes’ success or failure. Something like 90% or higher would be Ultra Successful, 80% or higher would be Extremely Successful, 70% or higher would be Highly Successful, 60% or higher Very Successful and 50% or higher would be just plain Successful. Below 50% would then be in the dungeon’s favor (e.g. less than 50% is a Tough dungeon, less than 40% would be a Very Tough dungeon, and so on). Whichever method you choose to decide the Endurance Campaign will work, it is simply a matter of preference.
On a final note, it is also possible to design a campaign that is both a Storyline and Endurance campaign. The Heroes would follow the general rules of the Endurance Campaign, but could use the bonus Campaign Point awards of the Storyline Campaign to bring back lost units during the campaign rather than just being awarded the points at the end of the campaign.
Well, hopefully these articles have shown some of the possibilities for using the Fantasy Cards for dungeon delving campaigns. And even with all that was discussed, there are still an almost limitless number of other ways to run a dungeon delve campaign with them. Really, the only thing left to do now is break out the old adventuring helm and have a go of it…
