Would I be able to get someone who knows a little bit about DMing

>>14112128
Sure I'm on for another hour what are you looking for?

>>14112245
Want to discuss on steam?
Basically, my party will be awarded a keep as they're captains in the army, and I need ideas on improvements they can buy for the keep, as well as some general ideas.

>>14112268
No Steam account, just bored. DM for years. Brief describe keep as it is, single tower, round, square, location: opne ground, river, side of mountain?

>>14112281
Open ground, on a hill. Town adjacent which the party will receive taxes from to fund improvements. Square, did have battlement on each corner but has been in disrepair for a while.

>>14112286
Keep big enough for trebuchet (love that word) or ballista on top?. Boiling oil, boiling water, superheated sand always options for dumping over top. During war time many castles/keeps would build out wooden balconies that extended from the top. There would still be a wooden wall with arrow slits (similar to that of stone wall of tower) but this balcony would also have openings in the floor to pour stuff down, missile fire down on enemy by wall. This balcony has actual name which I forget.

Even in modern warfare defence always wants to break up open ground to direct advancing enemy into fire zones or places that they may get trapped or bogged down. Spiked palisades offer some cover to the enemy but break up ranks of troops which is serious for medieval troops that depended on maintaining formation for tactics and discipline. Palisades also prevent cavalry charges and hamper their movement. The occasional pit trap on approach will also slow them down and make the troops nervous.

>>14112316
Keep is definitely big enough for Ballistas on top, as well as the hot oil. The hot sand could be a cool spin on it. Didn't think of the palisades so that's a huge help. Cheers.
What could be some downsides to losing lots of men in an attack? Is there a morale system somewhere I could adopt for the townsfolk?

>>14112286
Use keep as starting pint to build wall around town or are townspeople expected to all come into keep for protection? Does keep have a water source / well? Is keep meant as barracks for troops that come out to fight in protection of the town and not as a defensive structure?

>>14112346
well in keep to provide water during sieges. Room for townspeople to hide in fort. Party can hire soldiers to protect the town, otherwise peasants double as militia.

>>14112330
http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_Battlesystem.pdf is an article that talks about gaming rules with large numbers which has a section on morale. There are also a number of homebrews for morale. Townsfolk with no fighting experience might break and run just at the sight of large numbers of adversaries or after just a few are killed. Experienced fighters can usually take a 20% casualty rate before they start getting nervous but they may cave sooner if they've recently experienced looses or something unexpected comes at them Alexander's army quitting after experience the thrill of elephants or Gondor soldiers in the face of giant trolls are 2 examples. Morale would also be influenced my alignment. Lawful would have higher likelihood of maintaining discipline than chaotic, LG in defence of others might take 80% before wavering.

>>14112387
Sweet, cheers.
Been real helpful.
We're a pretty new group so still struggling to implement homebrew stuff, but my group seems to really enjoy extra stuff so it's putting a strain on my creatives.

>>14112376
Peasant militias where traditionally canon fodder. There job was to overwhelm opposing knights with numbers or tire him out . Assuming you actually care about your peasants and want to minimize the dead among their number I would equip with crossbows and would use them defensively.

Is keep only stone structure or are their other stone buildings in town?

>>14112415
There will be a church, and a tavern, both made of stone. And crossbows for the peasants, got it. Would allowing the party to build a library to train wizards be a bad idea? Provide magical support in sieges such as deflect missile spells and evocation attacks?

>>14112431
So I would have keep, church, tavern as strong points, build some walls and palisades that at least interlock these building to create more of a defensive area and also to drive enemy into kill zones where actual soldiers used for movement and attack. If you're talking a campaign over years than fostering a wizard school would be good. Traditionally wizard training takes years so if you are looking for more immediate results might want to make a deal with higher level wizard trade his help in defence of town in exchange for you building library / school for him

>>14112447
Could have level of trustworthiness of wizard a hook. Could be like a Snipe who no one likes/trusts but actually helps or someone who takes the library you made and barricades himself in when his help is needed

>>14112128
Glad I could help a little as a gaming muse. Good luck

>>14112528
Cheers man. And the untrustworthy NPC is gonna be a spy because what else?