Using Henchmen and Followers in a campaign

[Yora]

Henchmen and followers are concept that seems to be most common in various versions of Dungeons & Dragons and the many other games based on its rules (Star Wars Saga, Conan d20, d20 modern, and so on). It's rarely used in RPGs, even in games that have specific rules for it, but is quite common in fiction.

Henchman: A character with most of the abilities of a hero, who can provide direct assistance in battle or help out in other crucial ways, but lacks the ability to completely take over the role of one of the heroes.
Follower: A character who lacks any special abilities of a hero and is not capable of driving the story forward in a meaningful way. Their role is mostly to provide support in the background the heroes can't be bothered with and may be able to hold off faceless enemy minions as a group.

Depending on how many followers there are, most of them at least have a name and a trace of personalty. The hero they follow is assumed to know them personally, even if i never comes up explicitly. They are also loyal and don't just run away when things get too dangerous or someone makes a better offer. When a heroic commander or warlord gets deserted by his armies, the followers are the last people still with him.
Very often such characters are seen as the crews of ships. Like the crew of the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean, or the minor characters on the Normandy in Mass Effect. Conan also once shares command over a pirate ship in Queen of the Black Coast, and frequently is the leader of groups of raiders. And then there's of course Aragorn and his Dunedain or Robbin Hood and his Merry Men.

Henchmen are quite common as sidekicks for superheroes. Or they kind of take the role of the heros manager, who takes care of the base when the hero is doing adventuring. There's lots of them all over Star Wars. R2-D2 being the henchman to Luke, and though he does a great job in a fight, Chewbacca also is one for Han Solo. Most of his role is taking care of the ship and covering Hans back, but he doesn't really do anything that drives the plot forward. Lando and Jabba also have their assistants, and given the relatively big role, and occasionally important role he plays,even C-3PO could be counted as Leias henchman instead of one follower among many. Then of course Batman has his Alfred and Jack Sparrow got Mr. Gibbs, who takes most of the speaking parts of the crew, and again takes care of the ship when the heroes again. And Mass Effect has Joker, who is the pilot of the ship and probably has more than twice as many lines as the whole rest of the crew combined. But the only thing he ever does is flying the ship (which is a major part in the story at many points), and complaining about everything.

I think henchmen and followers could possibly be great addition to a campaign, without players ending up playing two characters. Does anyone have experience with them or ideas how to get them introduced and involved in a campaign?
They probably work best in campaigns where the PCs are not just dungeon crawling wandering adventurers. For henchmen and followers to have something to do, things need to happen in places where the PCs are not currently, too. And there need to be things to do, that are not fighting powerful creatures.

[Doug Lampert]

Henchmen and followers are concept that seems to be most common in various versions of Dungeons & Dragons and the many other games based on its rules (Star Wars Saga, Conan d20, d20 modern, and so on). It's rarely used in RPGs, even in games that have specific rules for it, but is quite common in fiction.

Games like Ars Magica and Pendragon that are expected to have multi-decade arcs have apprentices and squires who can easily become full characters.
Ars Magica also has both companions and grogs, where the grogs are explicitly followers (and for example get far less XP or training than the main characters).

I've never seen an Ars Magica game for example that DIDN'T use followers.

Important things IMAO about followers and henchmen.
1) The players run them, the GM has too much on his plate, this means it only works well if the PCs are able to roleplay their characters and don't treat the followers as expendable Polish Mine Detectors.
2) They need to be simple to run. In D&D fourth edition terms they should have nothing but at-will and recharge powers. The player's important tactical choices should be about what his character does, not what the henchmen do.
3) It helps to have a personality shorthand, 1-3 traits per character. D&D style alignment is one trait, a major motivation is a second, a quirk or oddity in behavior or outlook is a reasonable third trait.
4) There can't be many decisions in the system to make in advancement. Pendragon squires have something like 4 skills and just assign points. Ars Magica grogs get so few points that they'll go several adventures or years between advancing anything.

[TheCountAlucard]

The Storyteller system in general has rules for both sorts of things - Vampire (both Masquerade and Requiem) has things like Retainers and Herd as Backgrounds, for instance, and Exalted has Henchmen, Followers, Command, Abyssal Command, and Cult as Backgrounds, each of which provides a different kind of benefit.

Both, as you observed, are not heavy on the dungeoneering.

My last Vampire character borrowed a sociopath who broke legs for nasty people and fed him some vampire blood for a little extra loyalty. However, I kept him out of the dangerous world of vampire politics - he was there to watch me when I slept, take care of any problems that cropped up during the day, and only apply creative violence occasionally. On my sheet, that was represented as a dot of Retainers.

For Exalted, Henchmen represents skilled "heroic" mortals who, for some reason or another, do stuff for you; Followers represent a less-skilled, more numerous group of mortal "extras," under your character's sway; Command represents a more militaristic structure with mortal soldiers, fewer in number than Followers, but with enough skill and discipline to make up for it or more; Abyssal Command is Command but with ghosts; Cult is literally when mortals worship your character like a god.

Though a Solar who wants to play at the whole "leader of men" thing can get pretty damn scary.

[Thrudd]

Henchmen and followers are concept that seems to be most common in various versions of Dungeons & Dragons and the many other games based on its rules (Star Wars Saga, Conan d20, d20 modern, and so on). It's rarely used in RPGs, even in games that have specific rules for it, but is quite common in fiction.

Henchman: A character with most of the abilities of a hero, who can provide direct assistance in battle or help out in other crucial ways, but lacks the ability to completely take over the role of one of the heroes.
Follower: A character who lacks any special abilities of a hero and is not capable of driving the story forward in a meaningful way. Their role is mostly to provide support in the background the heroes can't be bothered with and may be able to hold off faceless enemy minions as a group.

Depending on how many followers there are, most of them at least have a name and a trace of personalty. The hero they follow is assumed to know them personally, even if i never comes up explicitly. They are also loyal and don't just run away when things get too dangerous or someone makes a better offer. When a heroic commander or warlord gets deserted by his armies, the followers are the last people still with him.
Very often such characters are seen as the crews of ships. Like the crew of the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean, or the minor characters on the Normandy in Mass Effect. Conan also once shares command over a pirate ship in Queen of the Black Coast, and frequently is the leader of groups of raiders. And then there's of course Aragorn and his Dunedain or Robbin Hood and his Merry Men.

Henchmen are quite common as sidekicks for superheroes. Or they kind of take the role of the heros manager, who takes care of the base when the hero is doing adventuring. There's lots of them all over Star Wars. R2-D2 being the henchman to Luke, and though he does a great job in a fight, Chewbacca also is one for Han Solo. Most of his role is taking care of the ship and covering Hans back, but he doesn't really do anything that drives the plot forward. Lando and Jabba also have their assistants, and given the relatively big role, and occasionally important role he plays,even C-3PO could be counted as Leias henchman instead of one follower among many. Then of course Batman has his Alfred and Jack Sparrow got Mr. Gibbs, who takes most of the speaking parts of the crew, and again takes care of the ship when the heroes again. And Mass Effect has Joker, who is the pilot of the ship and probably has more than twice as many lines as the whole rest of the crew combined. But the only thing he ever does is flying the ship (which is a major part in the story at many points), and complaining about everything.

I think henchmen and followers could possibly be great addition to a campaign, without players ending up playing two characters. Does anyone have experience with them or ideas how to get them introduced and involved in a campaign?
They probably work best in campaigns where the PCs are not just dungeon crawling wandering adventurers. For henchmen and followers to have something to do, things need to happen in places where the PCs are not currently, too. And there need to be things to do, that are not fighting powerful creatures.

1e AD&D, Henchmen can be recruited once characters gain some level of fame and success in their career (around 4th level). In any given city or town the population demographics will determine the number and type of henchmen that could potentially be found. The character expends an amount of money on advertising (spreading the word with bards, town cryers, rumors in taverns, having flyers drafted, etc), and wait some weeks for the potential recruits to appear. A henchman can also be found through NPC's encountered during an adventure, they can be offered a position just like a character found via advertising in town. A character of level close to that of the PC's will not agree to a henchman arrangement, though they may agree to travel with the party for a limited time and for a full share of treasure. The arrangement is as much a business agreement as it is one of loyalty and respect. They must be given a share of treasure and XP (half that of a PC). They are subject to morale rolls (which is part of the point of morale rules), so they might run away when things get really dangerous, the PC's charisma will affect this, as well as the maximum number of henchmen that will follow them.

The followers are for when the players have established their strongholds/towers/thieves guilds. They are the fighting force for clearing and protecting nearby territory, the majordomo, research assistants, etc. They don't go on adventures. They will never gain levels. They are paid for and replaced from the funds used to pay for and maintain the stronghold, and automatically attracted as part of the class's high level features when the stronghold is built. When a fighter and his followers are involved in a battle, they also are subject to morale rules.

The game isn't about the henchmen and followers, it's about the PC's. The henchmen are secondary characters who could become a PC if a character dies, they should have some personality. Followers are mostly nameless staff and military personnel. Certainly they do have names, but there's not much point in detailing the name and personality of every man-at-arms in your army.

[Kid Jake]

Not an exact example, but my Mutants and Masterminds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?322592-quot-Let-s-get-this-straight-YOU-RE-the-sidekick!-quot-A-Mutants-amp-Masterminds-Camp-Journal) campaign pretty much revolves around gathering followers. The PCs have basically started building their world's version of the Justice League out of the dregs of society and stuffing them in a stolen warehouse outfitted with black market military tech to keep out the various supervillains and of course the US government.

The players are the established muscle of the team and don't need much in the way of combat support, but have latched onto their gathered lackeys for a variety of reasons regardless.

-Lucky Dan is a former drunk that is more or less flat out immune to harm, they liked his personality and didn't want anything bad to happen to him so they gave him a place to hole up while drinking; he ended up saving their lives during an ambush when his powers caused a pair of assassins to shoot themselves.

-Bradley, aka Duplex was the first supervillain they ever fought and has the ability to produce a ridiculous number of copies of himself, they thought that a life sentence in a windowless hole was a bit harsh for a teen's first offense and made a bargain for his freedom. He serves as their personal security force, janitorial staff and basic cannon fodder.

-The Prophet has became their primary quest giver now that they've pissed the rest of the world off at them, gifted with brief glimpses of the future; a knack for computers and an intense distrust of the government. He gives the party a little warning before major disasters and does the legwork that neither of them are qualified for or care to do.

-Richard is a high school student turned into a living Weapon of Mass Destruction by the same accident that gave the rest of the team their powers, the resident badass of the team has (estranged) kids around Richard's age and sees the boy as a potential substitute for the relationships he's already ruined. The calculating bastard of the team likes the idea of harnessing the kid's destructive power for his own ends.

-Sandy + her kids are mostly liabilities but after hiding the murder of her husband for the better part of a week the PCs feel like they owe her one.

-Dr Kavlight is their personal physician who they poached from the local hospital for an exorbitant fee. Considering the number of bullets he pulls out of them on a near daily basis, they literally owe him their lives.

-Depaliamo is a former crime lord and their first arch-nemesis. After destroying his organization, murdering his men and imprisoning him in solitary confinement on the bottom of the ocean for a month or two he's become their broken accountant and helps in amassing their new empire. He has to help them because without their intervention his former rival (and the PCs current BFF) would murder him for sport.

The PCs are pretty protective of their team and have straight made themselves into terrorists (they were already being accused, now it's official) and basically challenged the US military to 'come at me bro' just to keep one of their men safe. Considering how willing they've often shown themselves to abandon each other in times of crisis, it's pretty surprising.

I think the trick to getting PCs invested in followers as something more than cannon fodder or scape goats is to make them somewhat entertaining, situationally indispensable (so they don't have to constantly prove their worth and crowd the PCs, but are extra handy when they do step up.) and give the PCs a sense of ownership over them. When the players feel like they've worked for a follower they'll take it upon themselves to work him into the narrative.

[Yora]

1e AD&D, Henchmen can be recruited once characters gain some level of fame and success in their career (around 4th level). In any given city or town the population demographics will determine the number and type of henchmen that could potentially be found. The character expends an amount of money on advertising (spreading the word with bards, town cryers, rumors in taverns, having flyers drafted, etc), and wait some weeks for the potential recruits to appear.
I think that's a really lame way to do it. In a straight oldschool dungeon crawl, there probably isn't much alternative to that, but in a game with any degree of NPC interaction, I would let PCs only get henchmen they already know and who trust the character. It's no big deal if a player has a rough idea what could make a decent henchman for his character and the GM can then see that the party will encounter a few people of similar type in the future.

That followers don't go on adventures is another thing I would make depend entirely on the type of adventure. Going into the dragons lair would of course be suicidal. But taking a few followers along to take care of the horses, while the PCs go inside a dungeon, or even having a dozen or so guards to lead rescued prisoners to safety while the PCs are going after the slaver bosses also seems entirely appropriate.
It probably works best in AD&D though, where there's a greater expectation that the faceless masses of enemy minions remain 1 Hit Dice monsters with lousy armor and attacks. In a published pathfinder adventure this would be impossible.

[Thrudd]

I think that's a really lame way to do it. In a straight oldschool dungeon crawl, there probably isn't much alternative to that, but in a game with any degree of NPC interaction, I would let PCs only get henchmen they already know and who trust the character. It's no big deal if a player has a rough idea what could make a decent henchman for his character and the GM can then see that the party will encounter a few people of similar type in the future.

That followers don't go on adventures is another thing I would make depend entirely on the type of adventure. Going into the dragons lair would of course be suicidal. But taking a few followers along to take care of the horses, while the PCs go inside a dungeon, or even having a dozen or so guards to lead rescued prisoners to safety while the PCs are going after the slaver bosses also seems entirely appropriate.
It probably works best in AD&D though, where there's a greater expectation that the faceless masses of enemy minions remain 1 Hit Dice monsters with lousy armor and attacks. In a published pathfinder adventure this would be impossible.

The amount of NPC interaction is irrelevant to the manner in which party members are recruited. You can role play the entire process, give a personality to each respondent to the advertisement, and play out their interview and negotiation with the PC's if you want to. Asking an NPC that they have a pre-existing relationship with (presumably through meeting during an adventure) to become a henchmen is always one option, but there needs to be a way for players to actively look for them as well, in order to take advantage of their characters' abilities (charisma). Most parties aren't going to want the maximum number of henchmen possible, since it will mean smaller shares of treasure and XP for everyone, but the option should be open.

If there is a time/relationship requirement prior to becoming a henchmen, the manner in which these NPC's are generated and appear must be discussed. Is the DM hand selecting every single NPC that has meaningful interaction with the party, and therefore every potential henchmen? How many NPC's can be already known and trusted before they join the adventuring party? Will the players have the opportunity to ever lead the maximum number of henchmen their abilities allow, if they so choose? It feels very contrived for the party to always "just happen" to meet the type of character one of the players would like as a henchmen. There at least needs to be random generation of NPCs and ample opportunity to meet them.

It must be asked, what is the purpose of henchmen and followers in your (any) specific game? In AD&D, they are a game feature of mid and higher level play, henchmen allow parties to survive more difficult encounters (through force of numbers), and followers are part of the shift from dungeon crawling to larger scale battles and domain management.

[Yora]

I think the greatest benefit of henchmen and followers is the ability for players to be in more than one place at once. Unless it's absolutely necessary, you don't want to split the party for anything other than scouting one or two corners ahead, as the GM can only run one scene at a time. But sometimes you want to send a messenger, place sentries, or post guards to keep an eye on something.
Henchmen and followers are perfect for that, if the task is not particularly challenging and enemy opposition predictably weak.

In D&D 3rd edition, a consort is essentially a second PC who starts at a lower level, but will quickly catch up if he fights alongside the party, until he reaches and stays at one level below the primary character. Except for a very few, followers are almost all 1st level. (General consensus seems to be that they can have PC classes in 3.5e, but it was explicitly limited to NPC classes in 3.0.)
In AD&D, henchmen start only at 1st level and gain less than 50% XP, which makes the level gap to the PCs remain the same at most, but probably even increase over time. Followers and hirelings are always 0 level characters.

An important difference between the systems is the assumption that encounters in 3rd edition are mostly against 1 to 6 enemies and that all party members are well protected against damage. Which is applied in almost all published material. It makes starting level enemies irrelevant after a few levels and requires that consorts are very close behind the PCs in strength, or they have barely a chance to survive and make a difference. And followers have no combat use at all.
However, AD&D works more under the assumption that only a smaller number of special enemies are really significantly powerful. The regular population of humanoids and other critters remains the same, the party is just able to deal with significantly greater numbers of them before being overwhelmed. And the combat system is basic enough to not make it become too much of a chore, which is different from 3rd edition, where large numbers of enemies get exhausting regardless of their level. This leads to more scenarios in which the PCs can take care of the enemy bosses and their powerful guardian monsters, while the main enemy forces are still as weak as ever. In such cases 0 level characters can still make a difference.When a dragon or death knight arrives on the scene, all they can do is run and stay in cover as the PCs take care of things. But a group of archers or a small phalanx can have good chances to hold a gate or passage against orcs or goblins, while the PCs are occupied with something else. And it's more likely that the horses might be attacked by wolves, rather than a wyvern or owlbear, even when they are 10th level.

[TheCountAlucard]

In D&D 3rd edition, a consort is essentially a second...You mean "cohort," right? :smallconfused: