Henchmen & Hirelings

More than holding torches: the vital role of followers in survival, loyalty, and building a legacy.

It is necessary to clarify that venturing into a dungeon is much more than an extreme sport, it is a deadly endeavor. Beyond daring and gear, adventurers need a solid support crew: people to carry supplies, hold torches, and watch the rear. Anonymous helpers whose work ensures that the gold actually makes it out of the hole.

For coins and riches to be converted into XP, they must be brought back to civilization. In dungeons or the wilderness, the encumbrance rules of Old School games are a challenging reality for players. Warriors don’t have much mobility with a backpack stuffed with coins while holding a torch, and a wizard can’t gesticulate to cast spells. Faced with these hurdles, the party decides to hire the village youths: heavy lifters, mule handlers, torchbearers. A support crew that turns exploration into a far more viable undertaking.

The NPCs accompanying the party vary according to their role and payment model. These variations bring interesting dynamics to the game.

Hirelings are typically hired by the day. They do not gain XP and do not perform great deeds. The hired pikeman will stay in the second rank, while the scout looks for tracks. They are the first to run when things get ugly. They carry out mundane tasks, such as holding lanterns or torches, carrying equipment or treasure gold, and leading the mules.

Henchmen are adventurers, usually low-level, who are loyal to the player characters. They claim a share of the treasure, but earn half the XP. They have personality, names, and loyalty.

Charisma is often treated as secondary, or even tertiary, in terms of importance. In truth, a character’s Charisma determines how many people they can command and directly affects loyalty. If the adventuring party uses mercenaries as cannon fodder or living trap detectors, loyalty plunges. Morale checks will fail. Hirelings and mercenaries might abandon the party in the dark, run off with mules laden with treasure, or even side with dungeon monsters just to survive.

Henchmen can be viewed as a bench of substitutes. When Sir Paladin refuses to take part in robbing the temple, when the player pulls out the unhinged argument: “my character would never do that!”, hand them the hired thief’s character sheet.

And for a more inspiring conclusion, think of the squire who witnessed the death of his master knight, takes up his sword and oath, and carries on his legacy. The game stops being a stage for undefeated superheroes and becomes a setting about lineage and the company of adventurers.