I see a common issue with folks who didn't grow up with pre-3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons giving it a go: a lack of bodies.
Your character has the ability to recruit Henchmen and bring on Hirelings for a reason. Use them! If your party is just your characters, you are doing it wrong. Tabletop RPGs are a wargame derivative, and wargames deal in warbands. Your man should be running with one or more Henchmen as soon as possible. Your party should be leading a band of hirelings as soon as you can afford them.
This is not unwieldy in old school gaming. The combat and manuever rules are as simple as they are for the execution of larger groups in an efficient manner. Morale rules exist to account for those groups as well as for hostile NPCs. Logistics rules are there for warbands. Your character can't be everywhere at once, but you can control your Henchmen and Hirelings on your character's behalf, which gets around the issue by design.
Yes, they are worth the cost in treasure and XP shares that they incur. Having more bodies, more actions, etc. are force multipliers that cannot be ignored especially if run competently. Learn to attract, retain, and cultivate NPC talent- especially in games where raising dead characters is difficult or impossible so Henchmen are a source of player continuity in a campaign.
And not allowing players to get Henchmen and Hirelings is a bitch move. Don't run your game like a bitch.
Dragonlance started the "no henchmen/hirelings" trend. WotC doubled down on it and made it the norm.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of many reasons why I love ACKS. It goes in the opposite direction - henchmen are a must!