War on Planet Psychon

War on Planet Psychon
After working on my citadel tables the idea of what a war on Psychon might be like. Mostly as the background for adventures and for added scenery rather than to design a war mini game.  So many remnants of ancient war remain laying around and citadels and bunkers are in part made to withstand war so I though it needs addressing.

It is worth envisaging evil hordes with help from evil AI gods would be one source of conflict. Many expansive subworlds now are homes to legions of inhuman creatures, many serving deranged Death Machines or demons. Citadels may come to fight citadels and sometimes the oppressive regimes of a citadel might incite rebellion from time to time. A thriving citadel might have inter level battles or slave riots or zombie outbreaks. As crossing a hex border may be difficult without help from a god, subworld or inter levels battles might be easiest. There are floating landmasses like sky Islands, flying cities or even orbital or alien habitats possible too. I’ve been imagining more wars as my players over six months have come to get the basics of exploration on Psychon so I now need more arching plotlines that will work with regular players and drop in players.

I’ve also realized my beastman class (i guess beast folk is more pc) could describe other altered humans like tree men, ice men, magma men, devil men or many more. Which opens many possibilities for conflict. I guess original Flash Gordon serial and comics are to blame a bit here. Abhuman might be a better name.

d12 Hex War Enemy Table
1 Locals from hex have risen up to crush oppressive citadel masters who are hogging the good stuff
2 Horde manages to seasonally cross the border somehow to wreak havoc and loot
3 Flying citadel or island with raiders come to sack resources and slaves
4 Inter level block war with rebelling poor castes fighting elites for room and better conditions
5 Religious or magical or cult schism fighting to be the one true creed of a citadel
6 Subworld legions of hate serving diabolic war machines plotting destroy surface dwellers
7 Undead arising from zombie plague or necromancer or restless ancients arise to slay the living
8 Army of a distant citadel intent on seizing needed supplies or slaves or satelite states
9 Aliens invade, first espionage and infiltration then full blown invasion of the hex
10 Machine army of life hating AI has come to cleanse hex and liberate mechanoid kin
11 Beasts of the wilderness have suddenly evolved into army of human hating beastmen
12 Mutants have evolved and the new and old breeds must battle to survive

While a kingdom of medieval knights wont stand up to a tac-nuke launching Death drone for more than a second most armies have a goal and want to take something.

d12 Things to do in a war
There are many opportunities for players to interact with a war.
1 They could try to simply get through with either side killing or imprisoning them
2 They could act as peacemakers and try to resolve misunderstandings
3 They could profit by selling weapons or acting as mercenaries
4 They could loot a payroll, armoury or baggage train for personal gain
5 They could be heroes of one side performing strategic deeds
6 They could lead armies or make heroic tactical feats of battle defeat an army
7 They could seek a weapon or citadel defence system or other artefact
8 They could cross enemy lines or a trench filled wasteland as an obstacle
9 They could be spies or scouts seeking  weaknesses or reveal enemy plans
10 They could thwart enemy agents, infiltrators or saboteurs
11 They could assassinate or kidnap enemy leaders
12 They could aid civilians or refugees fleeing enemies or cut off from supplies

Troops
Mercenaries are a rough guide to what kind of freelance troops aroud. You could generate an army with them for an invading force. Local defenders could be chosen based on what local peiople and encounter tables for the hex. I will do some Psychonian heroes for hire later.

d50 Archaic Mercenaries
These are some sample troop types available for hire or could be used to create a quick army
1 Slinger troop of skirmishers, may use rocks or lead slugs or something stranger
2 Scout troops of light archers experienced at wilderness and food gathering
3 Scout riders with some kind of riding beast very manoeuvrable but avoid fights
4 Javelin troops who hurl great darts and can also act as skirmishers or scouts
5 Spearmen with shields and light armour, aggressive fighters
6 Phalanx of elite spearmen who are highly disciplined with spears,javelins and large shield walls
6 Pikemen with great phalanx and medium armour highly effective vs cavalry
7 Archers in light armour who fire in formation and darken sky with arrows
8 Bowmen elite with medium armour, two man siege artillery, shields and shortswords
9 Long bowyers with long range missiles able to direct fire great distances
10 Axemen with medium armour and throwing axes very fierce
11 Swordsmen with highly ornamental armour and great courage
12 Irregular horde with mostly improvised farm tools and long spears lacking discipline
13 Irregular force of savage berserkers lightly armoured but crazed in a fight
14 Crossbowmen with medium armour and able to perform well in melee if needed
15 Halberdier force in chain with crossbows, highly disciplined elite infantry
16 Disciplined elite infantry with many formations and a variety of specialized weapons
17 Light cavalry with lances, light armour and some kind of riding beast
18 Medea cavalry with heavier armour able to charge built up troop formations
19 Hobilars who move about battlefield on mounts but dismount for battle20 Mounted archers trained to fire while retreating, highly mobile and diciplined
20 Heavy cavalry in heaviest armour able to charge any troops or dismount
21 Light chariots with archers and javelins that skirmish and scout
22 Battle waggons designed for carrying heavy infantry to fight with support archers
23 Heavy chariots able to break formations of troops with lances and scythe wheels
24 Musket men with ranks of men trained to shoot in unison and use bayonets up close
25 Aquebuses with heavy guns that set up a position to fire on troops or locations
26 Black powder sappers with mines, demolition charges for sieges and more
27 Alchemist able to make explosives, incendiaries, smoke, medecine and other uses
28 Wizards out to prove superiority and seek to loot any books found, very dicaplined
29 Balistia crew with giant crossbows able to fire javelins with great range and force
30 Catapault can fire stones or diseased corpses or burning pitch into siege
31 Veteran templars, well armoured and fanatic holy warriors good at business and conquest
32 Immortal cavalry and lancers and archers in plate very diverse weapons and operational tactics
33 Flagellant monks with flails, sometimes diseased or real holy men, fanatic
34 Priests of good able healers and can drive off undead
35 Priests of evil commanding undead and fanatic cultists
36 Grenadiers with black powder hand  grenades, flintlock pistols, swords and breastplates on horse
37 Cannon crew with blackpowder cannon piece for siege or battlefield
38 Bombard crew for indirect fire mostly for sieges far from from harm
39 Janissary force with muskets, swords, polearms, eunuch fanatic disciplined troops
40 Landknights veteran troops with heaviest armour, guns, halberds, greatswords, grenades, horses
41 Druids with possibly berserker guards, animals or woodland magic monsters
42 Monks highly disciplined fanatics very flexible and mobile
43 Rogue gang able scouts, infiltrators, spies, assassins, for commando raids and climbing walls
44 Spies infiltrate enemy and gather information on targets or camps
45 Assasins able to infiltrate and kill enemy elites to sew chaos and damage enemy morale
46 Bards useful spies, entertainers, morale support, battle signalers, scouts and many uses
47 Paladins holy warriors who will only fight for a true cause but are fanatic and magical
48 Elephant with armour and archers in fortified howdah on back
49 Sorcerors who cast spectacular spells but are cowardly, indolent drug addicts who spread vice
50 Sabotuers infiltrate and damage food, weapons, defences, poison water and other dirty tricks

d50 Modern and high tech troops
51 Riflemen corp with bolt action guns with bayonets and possibly grenades
52 Artillery crew with mobile piece able to use variety of shells, weak if infantry get close
53 Machine gunners able to set up a defensive position to mow down incoming troops
54 Mortar crew able to fire grenaides indirecly from great range
55 Mechanized infantry with vehichle and more automatic weapons
56 Trench fighters are veteran soldiers skilled in melee and many with automatic guns with gasmasks
57 Commando squad skilled at intruding beyond enemy lines by stealth and demolitions
58 Snipers with long range rifles able to pin down troops from great range
59 Gas warfare unit with poison gas and poison ammo for accompanying men
60 Germ warfare unit uses biological agents via artillery or saboteur agents, very fanatic and hated
61 Incendiary unit with low tech one shot fire launchers and or industrial era pressure pack and
62Airship crew able to be observer, high altitude bomber or for raiding
63 Rocketry unit us heavy rocket weapons
64 Demolition crew use charges or dynamite or high tech precision blasts
66 Heavy weapon squad with mortar crew, machine gun teams and rocket crew
67 Tank crew with weaponized armoured vehichle
68 Antitank crew with specialized anti armour weapons, best they can get
69 Balloon crew observation and can cross lines for espionage 
70 Biplane crew with flimsy pioneering planes with heavy weapons like machine guns or rockets
71 Monoplane crew with specialized fighters and bombers able in siege or ground support
72 Jet crew with deadly screaming high speed attack craft
73 Starship troopers equip with advanced armour and heave weapons can fight in space
74 Orbital drop marine fall from space and crash into battlefield in one ton fighting suits
75 Ancient heavy weapons squad with high energy weapons and drone missiles
76 Ancient star law rangers excellent scout infiltrators and marksmen, moralistic
77 Ancient science team able to apply resources and science to various effects or weird weapons
78 Cyborg infantry with various degrees of modification and advanced weapons
79 Security drones able to incapacitate and capture but unable to kill or deliberately harm
80 Robot infantry drones disciplined mechanised foot soldiers with high tech fire arms
81 Robot scout drone corp with mix of drones and defense guns able to fuel with biological waste
82 Robot heavy weapons team with light artilery and advanced heavy weapons
83 Warborg one of most deadly ancient fighting machines with a human brain inside
84 Android Infantry elite and eficient some will not serve humans preferring to kill them
85 Clone troopers cheap and expendable infantry men with basic kit affordable
86 Scout mech light spindly walkers with heavy weapons and light artilery
87 Combat mech frontline assault tech for seige, anti vehicle and infantry
88 Artillery mech long range with heavy artillery and missiles or rocket packs
89 Land leviathan huge vehicle with sub vehicles artillery and mobile command centre
88 GEV Scout cars high speed hovercraft able to fly in short bursts at low altidude
89 Grav Tanks high speed with advanced weapons
90 War satellite orbital able to drop a space rock, missile or laser when in position
91 Bunker troops decended from ancients with mix of available weapons, cunning and diciplined
93 Laser riflemen high tech infantry men with very long range and anti armour attacks
94 Drone stealth fighter-bombers
95 Assassin drones able to sneak into enemy camps and kill leaders
96 Mine layer drone able to lay explosive drones across battlefield and build more
97 Molemachine able to burrow into citadels or bases or far off lands with commando team
98 Teleporter Marines jump from orbital well armed and can move instantly in battlefield
99 Amphibious warfare commandos experts at diving and sabotage in any waterways or even drains
100 Propaganda corp able to spread morale and dicapline to own troops and ruin enemies

d100 Nonhuman mercenaries
1 Apemen cavalry riding horses with muskets or rifles, irregular and a bit cowardly
2 Apemen infantry able troops with clubs and guns, able at controling prisoners and slaves
3 Apemen science unit a bit misguided but able to develop and use occasional ancient tech surprise
4 Goatmen beserkers horrible chaos horde with flails, maces and axes
5 Goatmen magicians sworn to chaos with elite heave armoured bodyguards squad
6 Ratmen plague warriors with diseased weapons often low morale
7 Ratmen plague priests who spread plague with siege weapons and pollute enemy supplies
8 Lizardman savages are irregular
9 Lizardmen warriors are superior armed and armoured  heavy infantry
10 Serpantman magician evil, trecherous and always have own agenda but might need gold
11 Badgermen warriors dank underground troops able to burrow and dig trenches
12 Lionmen warriors fierce catmen who fight in disciplined manner but are a bit dim
13 Tigermen warriors use bows and swords and make excellent scouts, irregular but loyal
14 Panthermen assassins kill silently and are able warriors on the battlefield
15 Frogmen savages are a hopping hoard of croaking cowardly bullies
16 Frogmen marshwardens are elite frogmen often well armed
17 Frogmen amphibian team experts at aquatic combat hold waterways, infiltrate well systems
18 Wolfmen beserkers ferocious killers hungry for blood
19 Bearmen beserkers glory in feats of strength and brutality
20 Dogmen warriors disciplined fighters with sword and shield
21 Dogmen infantry with guns and melee weapons, very flexible and obedient
22 Seal men Commandos amphibious warfare expert sealmen comandoes
23 Moleman assassins can burrow into enemy camps or under a battlefield, siege experts
24 Treemen forest wardens excellent forest troops but dislike deserts and fire
25 Tako marines are cunning magic octopus fairies
26 Weaselmen comandoes sneaky masters of trench warfare and tunnelfighting
27 Eldren army disciplined masters of spell, sword and bow
28 Eldren scouts are dangerous in forest areas and highly mobile
28 Eldren star troopers teleport from orbitals in power armour with advanced weapons
29 Halfmen horde a gibbering swarm of greedy filthy little folk irregular and expendible
30 Halfmen scouts able sneaks, sabotuers and missile troops
31 Giants fierce and terrifying giant humanoid soldiers great for siege
32 Centaurs irregular cavalry very fierce but prone to indiscriminate looting
33 Griffon riders in armour able to tear ground dwellers apart
34 Alien infantry squad with basic suits and lasers pretty overconfident
35 Alien science squad able to employ weird science weapons and solutions if supplied well
36 Alien saucer a small scout saucer able to terrorise with low fly overs and laser
37 Alien mecha is an alien walker (tripods common) used to gather prisoners and with a heat ray
38 Alien magicians often with psionic magic
39 Zombies with evil priest controlling the horde
40 Wight terror squad led by evil undead knight
41 Skeletal cavalry led by undead knights
42 Flying Horses with elvish riders deadly scouts
43 Flying magicials on brooms or carpets using spells to devastates ground troops and morale
44 Devil army of lesser devils with magical resistances and power
45 Army of phantom warriors from the past
46 Illusionary army directed by illusionist master
47 Elemental army with commanding wizard and other planar critters of the elements
48 Beast army of intelligent animals some with magic
49 Giant spiders able to cover area in web traps and scale walls
50 Satyr raiders fierce, fast and prone to indiscriminate raping and looting
51 Kobold archers are mobile disciplined but also able hunters and scouts
52 Kobbold sappers are expert miners and trap laying experts
53 Kobold javelin troops act as missile troops, skirmishers and reluctant infantry
54 Kobold suicide bombers with explosives charge enemy troop formations or walls with bombs
54 Goblin archers disciplined precise and good scouts and skirmishers
54 Goblin horde mindless gibbering horde of irregular chaoitic maniacs
55 Goblin wolf riders fast and deadly skirmish archers and scouts
56 Goblin bat riders fast and deadly skirmish archers and scouts
57 Hobgoblin infantry are disciplined medium troops
58 Hobgoblin halberdiers are fanatic heavy elite infantry
59 Orc Archers well drilled also able scouts
60 Orc Horde of irregular savage orc beserkers hard to discipline
61 Orc hopolites disciplined chanting fanatic troops, drilled in shield formations
62 Orc riflemen with whatever muskets or rifles they can get, irregular but also fair scouts
63 Orc sappers experts with explosives, siege weapons, cannons, tunneling and trenches
64 Bugbear scouts sneaky deadly assassins, saboteurs and able to cross any terrain
65 Bugbear infantry stealthy heavy infantry very dicaplined
66 Wyver rider is a draconic sub breed with poison tail ridden by orc
67 Worm a limbless wingless draconic sub breed some intelligent and magicians, others tamed
68 Drake rider with fire or frost drake, a lesser draconic sub breed
69 Hyena men horde fierce irregular warriors like flails, maces, spears, swords and axes
70 Hyena gunnery squad wear uniforms and prefer sub machine guns and pistols in close assault
71 Triceratops riders with great beasts great for siege or anti vehicle action
72 Troll horde of mindless gibbering hungry chaos trolls
73 Ogre horde or brutal savage humanoid thugs, bloated and greedy and drunk
74 Chaos horde of untrustworthy semi mutated demon cultists following a cult leader
75 Chaos magicians on some weird vehichle or mount, prone to cackling and betrayal
76 T-rex rider and support slaves with a lizard man tenders and possibly a serpent man wizard
77 Orcs and porks - orc cavalry riding giant boars, many female, undisciplined looters
78 Werewolf beserker horde all apear human but monster out in battle, fearless undicaplined
79 Morlock savages wild cannibalistic maniacs cannot be trusted
80 Morlock engineers able miners, with demolition charges, trap and seige experts
81 Morlock infantry disciplined armoured axeman
82 Gnome force able with missiles or melee with officers with giant pet animals
83 Land trolls less insane and unkillable than chaos trolls but sneaky tough and live off the land
84 Skeletons and necromancer commanding the dead horde
85 Mummy with mixed undead horde
86 Vampire with fanatic horde of human followers
87 Ghoul lord with irregular cowardly horde
88 Carrion crawlers directed by kobolds
89 Gargoyles able sentries and defenders of ruins and citadels and caves
90 Shoggoth with cultist herders prone to going beserk if handlers killed
91 Fishmen marines unwilling to fight far from water
92 Undead jackal men with greater mummy leader
93 Golem tenders with wizard or priest handlers and techs, stone, clay, iron, amber and bronze
94 Golem juggernauts massive automated siege machines some carry troops
95 Clockwork soldiers with exitic magical engineer, ofter servants of cosmic law
96 Poor golems made from straw, wood, pumpkins, furniture, old bones tended by magician
97 Outer planar hero - with diabolic, devilish or elemental powers and cultists
98 Dragon of varied type possibly with rider (more common with dumb dragons)
99 Undead colossus built from hundreds of bodies thar towers over most buildings with necromancers
100 Gargantuan kaiju, awesome but finding something they want and food tricky

d12 Troop Variantsone in ten groups should have something extra weird

1 Uses higher tech or lower tech than normal type
2 Cyborg with random mixtures of tech
3 Mutant troops with nes abilities, strange appearance and more horrible
4 Chaos tainted inbread with demons, fanatic sadistic cultists
5 Sold souls to devils now exibit diabolic abilities and leaders
6 Necroviral taint, undead or turn undead if killed or additional powers if already undead
7 Psionic abilities common among troops and leaders
8 Shapeshifters possibly lycanthropes or disguised or led by doppelgangers
9 Alien servants with advanced tech, psionics or directed by replicants or hybrids
10 Holy champions monitored by a god who often aids them, priest and holy champion heroes
11 Unusual hero possibly an ancient or magician or monster
12 Magicians with widespread magical powers or spell casters