Who plays the henchmen?

JeremyR · December 04, 2014, 01:14:56 AM

Modules that have a large number of lesser opponents are henchmen and hireling friendly.

Barrowmaze (already mentioned) is a good example, because the place has lots of encounters with several low level creatures - skeletons, zombies, giant rats, beetles, and tomb robbers. 4-5 characters would just get swamped

Stonehell Dungeon is another. Maybe the first half of Dwimmermount.

But really, even once your main characters get to high levels, henchmen don't lag behind too much, even with 1/2 the xp.

Like if your PC has 100,000 xp, and your henchman only 50,000, that's basically just 7th level vs 6th level.

Hirelings get kind of useless though, since they stay 1st/0th level

Omega · December 04, 2014, 03:14:05 AM

2nd Ed AD&D seems the cut off point for some reason. I cant think of a single module from that era that had any mention of henchmen.

But to be fair. It is very possible that module designers simply assumed that this was stuff outside the module that the DM would handle and so no need to mention it.

MonsterSlayer · December 04, 2014, 10:10:56 PM

Quote from: Omega;801990AC01: The Shady Dragon Inn. An NPC accessory with an inn floorplans added. Anyone calling it a splatbook deserves to be punched. Just dont tell anyone I said that when you punch them ok?

Had stats on a couple of the D&D figure characters actually including Elkhorn the Dwarf, Ringlerun the Wizard, Strongheard the Paladin and his former adventuring buddy Warduke.

That is the one! Thank you.

I had totally forgotten about the map of the inn.

If ever I have the money to rebuild some of my old collection I would actually like to find this one again.

Majus · December 05, 2014, 06:01:05 AM

Quote from: Bren;801855One option is try it out as a temporary change to see if it works with your group. Explicitly tell the players that is what you are doing and tell them what sort of behavior you are looking for e.g. the NPCs are to be run with an appropriate degree of self interest and self preservation, that you as the GM may call for a morale check for certain actions, etc.

It's very early days in my game, so there aren't really henchmen per se, but I still think I may delegate the tasks of the folks being dragged along by the party. Your advice is very good and I'll bear it in mind, cheers.

Bren · December 05, 2014, 11:10:35 AM

Quote from: Majus;802360It's very early days in my game, so there aren't really henchmen per se, but I still think I may delegate the tasks of the folks being dragged along by the party. Your advice is very good and I'll bear it in mind, cheers.

Cool happy to be of help.

I've found that most players like running NPCs as long as it doesn't overly distract from game time and energy spent running their PC. Some players really love running NPCs as it gives them more scope for variations in characters. Sometimes players will the NPC to become a PC.

However, I've had a couple of players who really prefer not to run any character except their PC. They would much rather stay in their PC's head and focus on that point of view all the time. In 40 years of gaming I haven't found many players like that, but be aware that they do exist. I'd wait and see if anyone voices a complaint rather than worrying about it ahead of time though.

Will · December 05, 2014, 11:15:38 AM

I was in a SciFi campaign where the GM had each of us make two characters -- a military character, and a scientist character.

That way, when events were more violent, we'd use our first batch of characters, and when matters dwelled more on research and archaeology, we'd use our scientists.

It was a lifepath, Traveller-inspired game, which was a lot of fun -- I got cute about it and made my characters identical twins. One brother took a military path, the other a scholastic one, and it was interesting starting from roughly similar basic stuff and evolving in different directions.

Bren · December 05, 2014, 11:35:40 AM

Quote from: Will;802400I was in a SciFi campaign where the GM had each of us make two characters -- a military character, and a scientist character.

That way, when events were more violent, we'd use our first batch of characters, and when matters dwelled more on research and archaeology, we'd use our scientists.

We did something like than in our Star Trek campaign. The players each had a bridge officer, a security officer, and a medical or science officer. Since the game was like the TV shows there was usually an activity off ship needing a Landing Party/Away Team and an activity on the ship usually requiring the bridge crew and/or engineering or sick bay.

Eventually we each ended up with more characters as we added back ups for key positions and otherwise fleshed out the crew. Adding characters was a way of adding new skills sets since we didn't track or use experience. Characters didn't really improve their skills unless they took time off to go back to the Academy for specialist training, OCS, or Advanced courses.

Omega · December 05, 2014, 01:17:05 PM

Yeah, thats another thing that seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Players playing more than one character at once.

And aside from Dark Sun and Albedo (P) I cant think of any RPGs that have you make a back-up character right out the gate due to lethality.

Weru · December 06, 2014, 05:11:35 AM

I like the way Savage Worlds handles this with 'extras'. The Referee roleplays them out of combat, but the players control them in combat.

Kiero · December 06, 2014, 07:04:49 AM

Quote from: Weru;802666I like the way Savage Worlds handles this with 'extras'. The Referee roleplays them out of combat, but the players control them in combat.

Same way I handle henchmen.

Mr. Kent · December 06, 2014, 11:55:40 AM

That's pretty much how I'd handle henchmen, if I ever got the chance to d it again. I love creating henchmen, and offering several to the players to see which ones they click with.

Will · December 06, 2014, 12:05:10 PM

When I was toying with turning M&M into a fantasy game, one idea I had for henchmen (and mounts) was essentially treating them as powers with the chrome of 'you have a guy who does that.'

So, limited superspeed 'while on horse' or whatnot.

RPGPundit · December 09, 2014, 07:23:56 PM

In my games I always, always play the henchmen (as GM). I don't want them to just be a mechanical extension of the PCs; particularly in a fantasy game where a lot of the time (in the wilderness, in the dungeon, etc.) they are the NPCs the group spends by far the most time around. I want them each to have their qualities and quirks, and while I generally make them loyal (inasmuch as their morale and personality permits) I don't want them necessarily just doing everything the players want them to do in exactly the way the players want it.

Some of the most memorable NPCs of my fantasy campaigns have been (or have started out as) henchmen.

Saplatt · December 10, 2014, 03:12:37 PM

Quote from: Weru;802666I like the way Savage Worlds handles this with 'extras'. The Referee roleplays them out of combat, but the players control them in combat.

For the most part, this is what I've always done, with the exception of situations where the party is getting clobbered in combat or facing overwhelming odds, or where other members of the party run away. In those cases, I use discretionary morale checks, modified by how well the henchman has been treated (and sometimes the CHA bonus of the PC). In the case of failures, the henchmen usually retreat (if possible) or surrender and beg for mercy (if retreat isn't an option), or fight in the most self-defensive manner available if neither retreat or surrender is an option.

Given the personalities at the table, 9 times out of 10, at least one of the PCs will break off and run away well before I call for a henchman morale check.