By Chris Acuff

In part 1 of this series I mentioned how enemies retreating could be used within the framework of a larger organization to create an objective to a fight rather than just kill all the bad guys. There’s a lot more here than just that idea, so we’re going to focus in on it. 

I, like the original creators of TTRPGs, play war games, games trying to simulate larger scale battles based around formations or squads rather than individuals, and those all have a mechanic that is missing in all the TTRPGs I have played: Morale.

Call of Cthulhu’s insanity sort of plays into this, but I find the main way it gets players to get-up-and-go is just because they cannot actually take the shoggoth in a fight. 

Morale as a stat is a tricky one. DND, and other games, have a kind of invisible morale with the frightened/fear mechanic, but it is an on/off status effect, not a spectrum of morale or numerical value. But, if morale is instituted as a stat, that’s one more mechanic that operates as mental / mechanic load, and, if the player doesn’t feel the same weight of the threat as the mechanic is trying to impose on the character then it can feel limiting on a personal level for the player. Players, after all, have a habit of wanting their character to do a brave last stand rather than worry about that pesky survival instinct. This is part of the “tone” set by the rules of the game as well, if it is understood that someone can get beat to within an inch of their life but be fine after 1 night’s rest, or that death itself if reversible by only a diamond and a mere 3rd level spell slot, the risks of violence are quite low. 

That being said, I think the potential for a morale mechanic is rad as hell and could lead to great storytelling moments- especially among intelligent enemies. 

The monsters don’t live in that same world as the characters. It is rare for an enemy to have any kind of healing mechanics in DND, and they don’t travel around with friendly clerics ready to cast revivify. If the rules don’t make it make sense for characters to ever run, they certainly do for their enemies. 

Besides injecting a feeling of grit and realism to the game, having enemies operate with morale can create objectives in a fight. 

Many fights in DND are set up on the premise of “kill everyone on the other side before they get you,” with no other context to the deadly struggle. This is fine, I will be the first to say there is nothing wrong with a simple deathmatch, but, it is simple. 

Objectives in battles give you way more story opportunities- stop the bad guys from completing that ritual, if it takes longer than 3 rounds new enemies show up. Chase that one guy who stole that THING before he gets away. Keep the captain of the ship safe so the ship isn’t sent into the jagged rocks as merfolk board. Just like these examples, morale in enemies gives you new options in combat. 

Say your players are the vanguard for a force of the king’s army, but the road to Red Dragon Incorporated’s mountain is blocked, held by a force of kobolds hidden behind a bulwark that would stop the knights. There’s a lot of kobolds. A comically large number of them defending the pass. More than the party could realistically take. But, they don’t have to kill them all, they just have to break their morale. They have to cause as much damage and fear in as little time as possible to make the rest of the kobolds think that they can’t hold. All of a sudden, an impossible situation under normal rules becomes a chance for the players to devise the most devious and damaging ambush they can think of. You the DM set a threshold of damage dealt before the Kobolds decide self preservation is their best option and run, and then roll the dice. 

In the same way, as the players and knights set up camp the night after fighting through the kobold lines, the dragon pays them a visit. Fire and smoke reign from above. Horses and men screaming. Chaos. In the end, the knights give up, they turn around and head home. Not the characters though, they are brave, they will see it through, they will assault prime mountain to slay the dragon. 

In the last post on this topic I used the example of stopping a running away officer before they are able to tell their organization as another way to use this method. Important people within an organization should be trying to save their skins, like the knights, they have a lot to live for afterall, a purpose, and can make great recurring villains. I find few things in DND are better than a recurring villain. 

One day, someone will figure out how to make a game system with morale that works with players. I have seen some examples that use “fatigue” as a stat that I think are interesting, or a morale stat will be renamed to something like “resolve” that is referenced for a corruption mechanic or rolled against to activate some kind of fear mechanic. And, that may just be the best way to do it with players. But, as GM you run the rest of the world, and by god, if you want the NPC’s to actually have some self preservation, then feel free. It’ll make for a great story.