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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Battlecry! / Genres of War

War on the Horizon

Source Battlecry! pg. 197
Things are a little different when the war has not yet begun. War, in this case, acts as a more realistic version of the apocalyptic disaster that often faces heroes who fail to stop the villains—the world might not end, but a great many will die all the same. To simplify a library’s worth of political theory, this kind of campaign can deal with two sorts of wars, the accidental and the intentional.

Accidental: No war is strictly accidental, but the war the protagonists are facing in this kind of story isn’t anyone’s actual goal. Rather, it’s the result of dozens of interlocking rivalries, alliances, petty hatreds, past decisions, and geopolitical realities. The people involved might be doomed patriots doing their best, or they might be short-sighted blunderers unable to grasp the consequences of their actions, depending on how idealistic one is feeling, and rarely is one side any nobler than any other.

Typically, the protagonists in this kind of story stumble across some kind of conspiracy or scheme that, if successful, would trigger the war. In some cases, the villains might intend to bring about a cataclysmic war, but just as plausible is that the antagonists are too stubborn to see the consequences of their own actions. Thus, it’s up to the heroes to unravel the plot, with a climax in which they hurry to avert the attack or incident that will be everyone’s doom.

Intentional: When an intentional war is on the horizon, this usually means that one nation is gearing up for a big war, whether anyone likes it or not. Usually, the warmongers are a deeply unsympathetic, odious crew, with a whiff of fascism or imperialism about them. The other countries might be benevolent little kingdoms or might have their own issues, but they usually are at least a few shades of gray lighter than the villains.

Typically, this kind of war can’t be entirely averted, but the heroes are nevertheless in a position to change the calculus. Perhaps they need to secure some secret weapon, steal it from a wizard’s lab, or recover it from an ancient ruin all while fighting with agents of the hostile power. Alternatively, they need to travel to a distant land and brave a decadent court to secure a vital treaty while the enemy’s ambassador schemes and plots. Perhaps it’s just time to gear up and kill a tyrant.