So the season 2 finale of HBO Ars Magica involved a siege of the covenant by William Marshall the Younger, his vassals, and mercenaries. The PCs had about six months to prepare, hiring French mercenaries of their own, recruit allies among the Beastmasters of Connacht, learn rituals for the creation of nourishing food, and craft various lesser enchanted items for war, such as wands of Crest of the Earth’s Wave.
My intention originally had been to game it all out using Lords of Men, and I did plot it out that way, figuring out what the various events of the battle would be. For example, the PCs have a tower that stands apart from the castle, so Marshall took the tower out first, and that’s where the Flambeau made his stand.
But the real twist came from story, because ultimately a PC knight companion found himself in Marshall’s army. Marshall had promised rule over the covenant castle to whatever man did the most to take it (under Marshall’s feudal leadership, of course). So the PC resolved to be that man and the magi proceeded to throw the battle so the PC would win, thus forcing Marshall’s hand, giving the castle back to the magi, except now with the PC knight as the “front man” for the covenant.
So they left the French mercenaries where Marshall’s troops would storm the castle, made sure the castle’s loyal grogs were on the side where the PC Knight was scaling the walls, and the grogs—who all knew the knight on sight and generally liked and respected him—gave way before him. He reached the keep, the magi put up a flashy but futile defense (throwing Pilum of Fire when the knight wore fire-resistant armor, for example), and then surrendered. Meanwhile, other magi, the Beastmasters, and so on were ravaging Marshall’s artillery and archers.
At the end of the session, I went around the table and asked each player to name one character—NPC or one of their own PCs—who died in the battle. Each player described how the death occurred. One player chose his own companion, whose story had hit a good climax. One player chose my companion character, who had been teacher to all the magi when they were apprentices. One player chose his own magus’s love interest. Another player chose the longest-serving grog. Only one player really rejected the spirit of the exercise, picking the Beastmaster bad guy he really hated.
Then, I turned to the player whose magus is the covenant’s doctor, and asked that player which of the 7 characters that had been killed, she would choose to save. She picked the love interest. Everyone else really died.
There were very few die rolls. I used Lords to Men to get a sense of the way the battle would go, but when we finally got it, it was almost entirely handled in narrative. By choosing who died, the players felt like their choices had consequence. The doctor player felt like a doctor.
