D&D Ideas — Hordes and Hoards
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is hordes and hoards, which we discussed in our live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of hordes and hoards Friend in Need includes a hoard even the greediest adventurers may not dare to claim while Devil’s Hospitality puts a hoard of diabolical creatures between the party and eternal damnation in Out of the Box. These and 53 other dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your game continue flying off the shelves and out of the warehouse. We love seeing people showing off their copies and sharing awesome stories from their gaming tables so keep it up! Check it out and add Out of the Box to your collection of awesome RPG stuff here.
Nerdy News
Get in touch with the wild side for the week that was and discover the people, places and things touched by natural forces like planar goblins, wilderness challenges and more plus new live chats with creative folks and industry pros and our pulpy post apocalyptic Earth live gameplay round out this week’s Nerdy News. Check it out here.
Delving Dave’s Dungeon
The live chat on the Nerdarchy Live channel the newsletter is based on was a lot of fun. It was one of our more on topic chats. (We’ve been known to meander.) The concepts of hoards and hordes in Dungeons & Dragons goes way back to the beginning. Just think of the iconic Red Box set with the warrior, red dragon and the dragon’s hoard in the background.
The cool thing about hoards or hordes can be these awesome environmental effects and backdrops for encounters and adventures. A massive horde as an encounter not so much. It’ll either be the death of some characters or not challenging enough for the characters. We need to think about these things a bit differently.
Today I’ll look at a sample encounter of the former and perhaps I’ll address hoards some other time.
Hordes. The way I like to use these are as background or dungeon dressing to encounters. My approach is to figure what encounters during these large scale battles I want to highlight. I want the adventurers to be the heroes of the story.
Example: The characters are there when a giant breaches the wall with a horde of orcs at its heels. Allied soldiers are never going to be able to hold the line against the giant and the orcs. The adventurers must rush in and deal with the giant so it can’t break the defense line.
Let’s dissect it to make it a fun and effective encounter.
We’ve got a 30 foot wall where a 10 foot section has collapsed. Either side of the hole in the wall becomes difficult terrain a friend or foe could climb up onto gaining 5-10 feet of height. Let’s say it’s a 10 foot wide by 15 foot long section.
Our giant stands right in the center of the rubble. There is a 10 foot clear path. Once the giant steps all the way in past the rubble the orcs pour in from behind. If you want to add some difficulty to the encounter let some of the orcs slip through to hamper the party’s defense against the giant.
The fire giant plugs the hole in the wall. Once it moves beyond the wall it begins laying waste to the soldiers within. The soldiers stand ready to throw back the horde. They don’t stand a chance against the giant. Within two rounds the formation of the soldiers breaks. If the giant can be kept fighting within the hole the orcs won’t be able to pass. As a bonus action the giant allows 1-3 orcs to join the fray. The soldiers contain them if they try to flee into the city.
To make things more interesting you can do a 50/50 chance the adventurers or the enemy experience an extra difficulty during a round.
- Friendly Fire Volley of Arrows. Succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 22 (4d10) piercing damage.
- Trebuchet Stone. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, one target. Hit: 44 (8d10) bludgeoning damage.
- Ballista Bolt. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 120/480 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d10) piercing damage.
- Combat Medic. An ally runs up and restores 20 (4d8+2) to the most wounded allied creature.
You can check out the encounter on the D&D Beyond Encounter Builder here. (You need to be logged in to see the encounter.) And if you’re interested you can find a map for this encounter I built with DungeonFog that you can add to your own collection here.
The idea with this kind of encounter is the adventurers come in as troubleshooters. They handle the problem, in this case the giant and wall breach. Then in theory they move on to another problem. Fighting wave after wave of mooks isn’t very exciting in my opinion. Our group tends to take more of a cinematic approach than tactical one in our games.
From Ted’s Head
Is it possible for hordes to possess hoards? Could a horde hoard gourds? Okay, I apologize for being silly. Sometimes this is just the way the brain works. But as I dive into the topic I occasionally allow my brain to wander because as more often than not those crazy ideas spark some of the wonderful ideas I use in my games as well as in video topics.
Hordes are wonderful things for use in roleplaying games not so much as an adversary by themselves but as a catalyst for events to change within your world. We currently live in a world allowing us voice our opinion and with hard work an individual can make a difference. If we look at the numerous charities all started with a single individual’s idea and where they are now it can be inspiring. In the fantasy world however we do not have access to technology. The rulers might be a genetic line not elected by the populace. A horde can be an engine of change.
When we look at planning or playing a session the horde can be this engine. Perhaps you have a game where the players are thrust into a moral quandary. Unjust rulership hires the party to gather information about the incoming horde. When they investigate it is not blood thirsty gnolls set upon destruction because of their demonic blood but citizens who have gone out and gathered a force to bring down an unfit leader.
Perhaps you are not looking to create too much drama for the party. The horde can represent change in another matter as it is too big for the party to actually take on. Typically when I hear horde I am not thinking of a warband but rather numbers in the triple digits and the first number need not be a one. This engine is falling upon the area. It will be crushed and cleansed of the life once there. How do adventurers react to such overwhelming force? Is it possible to slow them down enough to allow more people to escape? What is it like for those who fled who could only keep what they could carry upon their backs? What is left of the area?
As a Dungeon Master sometimes being asked the right question is key to everything you need to create great material. Dave and I are very much mprov DMs while Doug tends to plan a bit more than us. But whether the players see it or not there certainly is a sparkle in my eye when a player asks me a question that gets the DM brain whirling with ideas. So my advice this week is just those questions above. You can use hordes in so many ways and with the questions there perhaps you have found some new ideas for games or encounters to run.
Friend in Need and Devil’s Hospitality are two of the 55 dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your 5E D&D game inside Out of the Box. [Art by Kim Van Deun]
From the Nerditor’s desk
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted thoroughly covered hordes in their live chat and newsletter editorials so you can count on good ol’ Nerditor Doug to lean into the other side of this week’s topic — hoards in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons.
Treasure hoards can be as useful or even moreso for a Dungeon Master as they are for the adventurers who discover and plunder them. Whenever I prepare material for an adventure and there’s any collection of treasure these hoards make tremendously valuable resources.
Including an item tied to a character’s personal story presents one possibility. Let’s say a character searches for information about what happened to their old unit from back when they were a soldier. Well into a campaign they come across a golden badge with the unit’s insignia along with other valuables in the hoard of a remorhaz lair. Did the officer fall in battle against the monstrosity? Or did they escape? Either way what brought them to this place to begin with?
On the flip side players can grow intensely curious about even the most mundane hoards and their contents. During the Bounty Hunter campaign inspired by The Mandalorian I ran one of the tools I used frequently was the Treasure Deck from Nord Games. These cards contain treasure hoards with random collections of items and loot, many with small details to make them standout. For example one of them includes “A matching battleaxe and warhammer, inscribed with the names ‘Harlu’ and ‘Jakril’.” Who are they? The players definitely wanted to know and all of a sudden they’re developing their own side quests.
In Down on the Farm, one of the Out of the Box encounters, a ledger hidden in an ettercap’s lair presents a similar complication. In fact you’ll find that pretty much every bit of adventure content we create at Nerdarchy includes this aspect. An unusual coin made of red steel, a locket with inscribed initials, a torn piece of parchment with cryptic writing on it — any and all of these things can draw players and characters into new mysteries and stories.
When it comes to hoards there’s plenty of treasure for DMs and players alike and that’s my protip for you. When you’re the DM put some thought into your hoards and if you’re a player try to imagine the treasures you discover as more than just gold pieces and adventuring gear. Whose was it before, and how did it get here?
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