Re: Temporarily Joining a Hero Band

From: Tim Ellis <tim_at_...>
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:10:14 -0000

I think it will very much depend on the nature of the Heroband and of the Guardian Entity. Some may be fairly relaxed and of a transient nature anyway, others will expect that once you are in you are in for good...

Take that old RPG staple of the Caravan guard, joining a Merchant on a trip between two (or more) markets, earning your keep by protecting his wares from bandits en-route. It would seem reasonable to me that there may be some sort of Caravan Hero Band , whose guardian entity will help in this function, so guards might be expected to join for the length of their employment, but would not expect to remain members when they part company once they reach their destination.

Now whether you charge a Heropoint for joining is another question - one point of view would be that this is just a temporary connection for a single adventure, so no HP is required unless you wish to maintain a permenant relationship. On the other hand, you might feel that in order to benefit from the Guardian's abilities you should pay the HP, allowing players to choose how they want to manage their resources. (Heropoints are a meta-game concept, so it is not necessarily that the Characters get to choose whether to join or not).

On the other hand, I don't think you could apply to join the Household of Death as a temporary member... Nor are their many ex-members of the Black Fang Brotherhood (which would probably be a Heroband under HQ rules) or Krasht gangs...

Another consideration for characters of somewhat looser morals is whether there might be a downside of joining a heroband and getting kbnown by it's guardian if you might subsequently find yourself opposing it later (this might be caravan guards turning bandit, for instance, or deserters from the Lunar army, defectors from the Sartarite rebels, or infiltrators from either side...) - you could track this with a free "Former member of ---- Heroband", which might give a bonus or penalty when dealing with them again.

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