>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.
These are not followers, so, no, they can't be used to add AP IMO. I think that breaks the system. But following up on Jane's idea, an army is a
community of sorts (if you've been in the military, you know what I mean). Moreso in a Gloranthan environment than modern day, where armies are all the men from a village or something. The point is that, before a battle, theleader would appeal to the people for support in the upcoming battle. If he succeeds he gets the community support modifier. Then it's just a high powered rolling contest between the two leaders who use their pools for maneuvers and such.
I'm really looking forward to seeing this in action. Imagine a community only giving minor support vs. a smaller community with total support. If the numbers are at all substantial, the smaller community is going to kick ass (all else with the leaders being equal). This is so cool, because it means that committment is more important than numbers. Which is both realisitic and dramatic. Imagine the players trying to gauge the committment of both armies before the battle. Last ditch attempts to find ways of bumping up the community's level of committment when they find themselves against a huge trollkin army. I can't wait.
Mike
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