Fantasy ala Bonaparte

[Michael Hopcroft]

In another thread I made this suggestion:

 

I've always theorized that the combination of Napoleonic tactics and social structures and fantasy tropes would be interesting. The Napoelonic Wars themselves would be a great inspiration for a shades-of-grey fantasy campaign' date=' one that pits an old, corrupt and callous social order against a revoltuionary, charismatic, innovative but ruthless leader in a duel to the death. Players would have a difficult time figuring out whose side they should be on.[/quote']

 

I'd like to do a little more explanation on how such a campaign would work, particularly in Fantasy HERO, and how it would be altered by such things as the presence of magic or a swords-and-sorcery type of technomagical paraidgm.

 

I'm also wondering what the most interesting type of character would be for that world's Napoleon equivalent. Would he be a soldier, or would a battle mage be more interesting? One thing he wouldn't be is mad, or classically evil. That would defeat the purpose of the campaign.

 

Napoleon and Hitler may have done many of the same things (conquer much of Eurpoe, overeach their grasp on the steppes of Russia), but as men they were about as different as you can get. Hitler was driven by unreasoning hate, while Napoelon was a supremely rational man who believed that he and only he could prevent France and later Europe from dying in chaos. Napoleon did not intially believe himself to be an invincible superman --and he always respected the power and capability of his enemies.

[tkdguy]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

If he isn't a magician, then he at least should has a close ally who is. He'd probably have been a soldier at one point.

 

If the gods take an active part in the campaign, he'd be wise to have the approval of at least one of the more powerful deities. Then that deity's church can officially sanction his conquests and he can gain several zealous (to the cause, at least) followers.

[Old Man]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

I'd go with having him be a magician--but one with very subtle powers of persuasion and/or mind control, all with IPE. Is he brainwashing people, or is he just really persuasive? Leave it equivocal through much of the campaign, until the PCs discover the smoking gun--the hidden pentagrams in the throne room, etc.

[Outsider]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

Fantasy world magicians might take the place of artillery on the battlefield, and Napoleon started his career as an artillery officer. So, he could be an artillery piece himself (a magician) or it could just mean that he understands the capabilities and employment of magicians on the battlefield, without actually being one.

 

I dont think any sort of mind control is necessary. Just a great deal of military competence. Soldiers like following a winning general.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

With a fantasy world, you could also work in angles with fantasy races. Perhaps all the nobles are Elven, who've been able to accumulate wealth and power due to their long lifespans, and are literally the Old Regime? The Revolution swept mere humans into power and led many elves to the chopping block. The Elven kings and aristocrats in other lands are obviously concerned about such a turn of events, and thus the wars begin. One of the human generals rises to prominence and becomes your "Napoleon".

 

Part of the reason this general/Emporer keeps pushing and exceeding his grasp is that he is acutely aware of his limited lifespan compared to the Elves - he wants to do as much as possible while he can. While the Elven "art of war" can involve long, drawn out seiges spanning several human generations, this human reintroduces rapid, decisive battles of mass and maneuver.

 

(Many human languages exist, but Elven is of course the language of diplomacy and learning.)

[UltraRob]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

With a fantasy world, you could also work in angles with fantasy races. Perhaps all the nobles are Elven, who've been able to accumulate wealth and power due to their long lifespans, and are literally the Old Regime? The Revolution swept mere humans into power and led many elves to the chopping block. The Elven kings and aristocrats in other lands are obviously concerned about such a turn of events, and thus the wars begin. One of the human generals rises to prominence and becomes your "Napoleon".

 

Part of the reason this general/Emporer keeps pushing and exceeding his grasp is that he is acutely aware of his limited lifespan compared to the Elves - he wants to do as much as possible while he can. While the Elven "art of war" can involve long, drawn out seiges spanning several human generations, this human reintroduces rapid, decisive battles of mass and maneuver.

 

(Many human languages exist, but Elven is of course the language of diplomacy and learning.)

 

As someone who has been giving thought to an Elven-ruled setting for some time, I have to say I am impressed with this campaign idea. I think the idea of rebel humans fighting against an Elven empire has a lot of story promise no matter how you slice it up. Who says Elves have to be benevolent in their age and wisdom? I like the idea of them being stagnant and corrupt even better!

 

Rob

[Curufea]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

Which is close to the Seelie and Unseelie courts. They Sidhe, Fae or Elves were not benevolent, or even likely to have motives remotely recognisable by a human. The differences between the two courts were just that the Seelie had a tendancy to be less malevolent towards humanity.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

I dont think any sort of mind control is necessary. Just a great deal of military competence. Soldiers like following a winning general.

And a winning general who undertsands what it takes to hold a fighting force together is frequently adored by his followers. Pre-Napoleonic military management was often done with no rgeard whatseoever for the welfare of the soliders. How good rations a regument got, for example, frequently depeended on how much its quartermester was paying for food and how much he was skimming into his own pocket. One of Kipling's poems colorfully describes duch a charatcer:

 

He's a bleedin' robber -- and he keeps canteen!

How did he get his buggy? Gawd, ya needn't ask --

He made forty gallons out of every cask!

 

Soldiers must be well supplied with food and other essentialt to be effective. Napolon understood this almost intituively with his famouns quote "An army marches on its stomach.".

 

It is ironic that supply is finally what did him in in the invasion of Russia -- la Grande Armee starved and froze to death during its long winter retreat and Napoleon only have about one fifteenth of the men he went in with by the time it was over.

[Old Man]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

Napoleon almost can't be blamed for that failure. Who would have expected Russia to be ruled by a paranoid lunatic who was willing to burn his country down in order to 'save' it?

[tkdguy]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

Read The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier written by Jakob Walter, who served on the Russian campaign. Here are a couple of passages that show how the suffering of the soldiers:

 

"Because I could not get even a piece of meat and my hunger became too violent, I took along the pot I carried, stationed myself beside a horse that was being shot, and caught up the blood from its breast. I set this blood on the fire, let it coagulate, and ate the lumps without salt."

 

Later on, upon meeting an old comrade:

 

"This aforesaid countryman, whom I had once liked so well, still had some rice from Moscow, though only a handful. Along with this, I had a little piece of meat which I cut off next to the ears of a dog's pelt with the whole head on it that lay not far from our fire. Just to give the water flavor and to warm out stomachs, we boiled the two together. Now, when it was only half cooked, we started eating; and, although the meat already stunk a good deal and there was no salt with it, we devoured everything with the best apetite, feeling ourselves lucky to have for once obtained something warm."

[Old Man]

Re: Fantasy ala Bonaparte

 

Napoleon once said that the most important quality of any soldier was a high tolerance for discomfort. Certainly he proved that in the Russian campaign; most armies would have mutinied under conditions such as those.