Followers (was Re: Where's the traffic?)

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 07:40:24 -0000

• In HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com, "Roderick and Ellen Robertson" <rjremr_at_s...> wrote:
  >
  > > My question is about followers vs narrator characters in combat.
  I
  > > recently had a situation where my players Heroes were leading a
  group of
  > > narrator characters in combat (see "Seven Samurai"). Should
  Heroes be
  > > allowed to employ these types of narrator character alongside
  whom they
  > > are fighting in the same way they could actual retainers and
  sidekicks?
  > > I mean as a source of augments or APs?
  

> So if you have a Lunar officer with various leadership abilities
and 50 rank
> & file in his unit, he doesn't get all 50 as "followers". But if he
has
> "Follower: Bodyguard" then he gets to use the Bodyguard's "follower
> abilities".

I seem to remember the way we've done this sort of thing in the past is to base the contest on the hero's leadership abiltiies, not his (her, in this case) combat ones. So being able to "use" all these random strangers is precisely what's being tested. How the abilities and numbers of the friendly cannon fodder were compared with those of the enemy cannon fodder I'm not sure: I assume they were relevant in some way.