I'm running the storming of Bayeux tonight. The last session ended with them fighting on the walls. It's the character's second big battle and first siege of a city. I want to impress on them the chaos, horrors and opportunities presented by the sacking of a city. They've done a lot of good work recently and deserve some of the spoils of war, but I'd like to give them a taste of the nasty side of war as well. Here are a few ideas.

1. The first street is mostly residences and a few businesses. Do you loot them? Yes - 1D6 Libra

2. You come to a square with a church at one end. Some mercenaries are dragging off some nuns who took shelter there. Do you loot the church (Tick Worldly, 1D6 Libra;) or protect the nuns (Tick Pious and Merciful).

3. You reach the castle and discover some men at arms trying to get away with some of the treasury. Do you help them in return for a share (Tick Selfish, +2D6 Libra), or do you arrest them and hand it over to Sir Maddoc (Tick Just, Loyalty (Lord) and Honest, get a 2L reward).

Any other ideas? Probably a bit generous though. Maybe half the reward level?

Some nasty ideas:
4) A knight is stripped of armour and whipped through the streets. Do you help (check Cruel), offer to protect him for a ransom (Selfish) or protect him from his assailants (Merciful)
5) Knights are raping some commoner girls. Do you protect the girls or not.
6) A merchant family is whipped and flogged by some mercenaries. Do you help the family (Merciful and maybe some favors from the merchant) or loot their home (1d6 Librum)

Coming up on the Bayeaux soon. I think I used something like this when I was preparing for the conquest of Rouen by Sir Kay in our older campaign, but I can't seem to find my notes.

Has anybody made a list like some of the suggestions from simonh and Cornelius, or have you played through Bayeux and have some ideas and tales to tell?

Some nasty ideas:
4) A knight is stripped of armour and whipped through the streets. Do you help (check Cruel), offer to protect him for a ransom (Selfish) or protect him from his assailants (Merciful)
5) Knights are raping some commoner girls. Do you protect the girls or not.
6) A merchant family is whipped and flogged by some mercenaries. Do you help the family (Merciful and maybe some favors from the merchant) or loot their home (1d6 Librum)


This smells like a the beginning of a "battle-horror" table.

I made up an 'expansion' of the Looting of Bayeux when we played through this event, and I figured I might just as well post it here, too, in case some people find it interesting.

Looting of Bayeux

1. Phase: The Kerns and some of the footsoldiers land, secure the fishing village.

2. Phase: The rest of the army lands. This takes for a week or so.
- PKs are amongst the first and are sent on a patrol.
- Do they Loot (Selfish, Arbitrary) or Patrol (Energetic)?

Looting table
1d6 Result
1 Slim pickings; the lords have fled and the peasants have hidden their valuables. Do you torture the peasants (Cruel)? If so, gain 3d20 denarii / knight.
2 Poor pickings; 3d20 denarii / knight, or double that if torture (Cruel) is applied.
3-4 Mediocre looting: 1d6*60d / knight.
5 Good looting: A lord fled in a hurry, leaving valuables behind! 1d6*£0.5 / knight. (This is mainly livestock and furniture, but represents the value when turned to cash.)
6 Excellent looting opportunity: A lord is still in his manor, packing up to leave! The downside, he will fort up in his hall. He will leave behind good looting in exchange for the safe passage of his family and heirlooms & horses. Otherwise, the PKs will have to fight him (Sword 1d6+13, 5d6, armor 10+6), his squire (Sword-8, 4d6, armor 4+6, defending the staircase) and his soldiers (4 spearmen (Spear-12, Fransisca-12, 4d6, armor 4+6), 2 archers (Bow-14, 3d6, armor 4)).

Whether they are patrolling or not, roll 1d6:
1d6 Patrol result
1-2 A horseman races away to take a warning. Roll opposed horsemanship vs. 15. The best success catches the guy, fight against a Frank horseman (Sword-14, armor 4+6). Make a note if he was caught or not.
3-4 A small patrol (see previous for the lord and his soldiers, except that the knight is a household knight riding a courser and ransom is £12, and the soldiers are mounted on rouncies) are caught in the open.
5 An Ambush! Roll Awareness at -10 to spot. Otherwise, the PKs ride into an ambush with twice the number of a small patrol.
6 Large enemy force is moving to attack the landing. The Prince must be notified at once!

If the PKs were Looting, then they automatically FAIL in preventing the enemy scouting their forces. If the result was 5, some of the foraging party gets ambushed, and the PKs are questioned as to their 'patrolling'. Lying to one's liegelord is bad, and if they confess, they lose 1 in Honor & Loyalty, and their loot is confiscated. Lying requires contesting their Deceitful with their Loyalty or Honor, whichever is higher, and then the Earl rolls his Suspicious of 8, but there is an additional +10 to that if the PKs are laden with loot (basically anything Good or above). If they get caught on lying, this will mean they will get disbarred from knighthood. -10 Honor, exiled. Enjoy. If the result was 6, the raid does significant damage to the landing, and the Prince is LIVID. Heads will roll. Confession nets -3 Honor and Loyalty, and lying to the Prince is grounds for a beheading.

3. Phase: The army moves to Bayeux, starts to construct siege engines and besieging the place. This takes two weeks.
- PKs are sent out to forage:
-- 1) Peasants claim they have no food: Trusting/Suspicious whether they wish to believe.
-- 2) Food is hidden. Merciful/Cruel whether they allow torture to find out where the food is.

4. Phase: Storm the gates!
1) Ride closer. Each gets fired upon by an Archer (Bow-14, 3d6). If a horse gets hit, roll Horsemanship or get thrown (stay in saddle roll), 1d6 from the fall, delayed in any case.
2) Push in. Each PK is facing 2 spearmen, one after the other (Spear-12, 4d6, Armor 6+6).
3) Once the spearmen fall, the PK manage to push in and claim the gates. This is worth additional 20 Glory per PK who did this.

5. Phase: Loot the city!
1) What do the characters wish to do? Loot, try to protect the innocent / the Church / the rich merchants? Do they stay together or try to spread out to maximise the protection / looting?
(I had an event there where the PKs had a chance to see one of their rivals fight against large odds to protect some innocent girls from lustful mercenaries. The PKs decided to intervene. Then I rolled from the 1-6 options that simonh & Cornelius came up with, and they ended up at the town hall that was being looted knights and mercenaries! I asked for Orate and Battle rolls for them to restore order and prevent the town treasury from being looted. They then sat on the pile until Prince Madog came around, and he was quite happy to see the treasure being guarded. I think I gave out £1d6 general loot share (for taking the gates) + £1d6 as a reward.)

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing!


T.