Do You Use Hirelings?

[Alethan]

In the FtF games I played all through high school (80's) and college (90's), none of the groups I played with ever used hirelings. Ever. We didn't even use laborers or linkboys. It was us, and maybe a few pack animals if we knew we weren't going to be in a dungeon, and that was it.

More recently (as in, the last three years), in some of the PbP games I've played in (and lurked on), I see that there is a whole other train of thought on the subject - put warm bodies in front of you to increase your chances of survival. On one campaign I read, but do not participate in, they take it to an extreme, where the six or seven live players will have a total of 18 people in the party because of how many hirelings they have. And they are always fighting men, never just laborers. I don't think the GM plays up enough on the utter mayhem and chaos that would ensue if a group of 18 people actually tried to accomplish anything in a dungeon environment. You definitely wouldn't be sneaking up on anything! And if I were the GM, you can bet you'd have ambushes waiting for in several places, once the dungeon inhabitants spread the word than a platoon of fodder was coming through.

Over the years, I've evolved a bit and I now tend to take one or two non-combatant hirelings along for holding torches or watching pack animals. I usually gear them up to be able to defend themselves if necessary, but I never expect them to fight for me. I'm very much opposed to my character having others fight for him.

As I've become exposed to more people who believe in having several fighting men hirelings, I've wondered what caused the big rift in playing styles. It seems like people either use hirelings in a minimal capacity or they always have to have a few, if not more, fighting men hirelings in their party to help mitigate damage to the main players.

One theory I have is that people who grew up playing without hirelings most often played lots of published modules. "This adventure is for 4-6 players at level 3-5" means just that. You should be able to run four 5th level characters through the module and have a reasonable chance of survival. The people who believe in using a lot of hirelings, on the other hand, played in a lot of sandbox campaigns, where you didn't really know what you were going to be up against. And the GM didn't know who was going to play it when they made the module, so... maybe that group of four 5th level characters might not have such an easy time of it. As a result, they learned to bring lots of warm bodies along with them to keep the main character casualties low.

Anyway, my question for you is: Do you use hirelings? If so, in what capacity? And why?

[corum]

*snip*

[Argennian]

In the past, we've never really used hirelings, especially as red shirts. Most times whenever present, they were site/scenario-specific to that adventure or part of the campaign, i.e. sailors/crew of a ship, guards/merchants of the caravan, specific leaders/merchants of a village/city, an npc that the DM wanted to have in the party so as to have a "voice" in the game, etc. In most scenarios, we had to protect/keep them alive at all costs or that particular adventure, mission or apect of the campaign was a (potential) FUBAR. But not always...

We mostly all ended up with henchmen eventually, especially at mid-higher levels. I never found players to be reckless in gameplay with their henchmen though. Most times I've found the opposite to be true. Once players have established henchmen, they're usually very fond of and attached to them, having invested much coin/training/magical items/etc in them to ensure they not only remain loyal but will be survivable in a tough situation.

As far as my use of them as a DM, in many instances I do like to at least offer hirelings up as a possibility for the party, unless they're deadset against it. As a DM, I like having an npc in the group or party so that I can answer questions IC and have a potential voice or even vote for when the party's unsure of their next step/direction.


As far as there being a difference between FtF and PbP or PbE(Play by Email) games, there could be something to be said for that, not just in the way the game is approached but mayhap stylistically as well? Perhaps hirelings/"red shirts" are more prevalent in one than the other, but that being said, almost every fellow player in the PbPs I've been in were very protective of their hirelings and loath to put them in any real danger on a regular basis.

[corum]

*snip*

[Alethan]

... but many players are not as mature and will just treat hirelings as cannon fodder. Push em out in front to take the hits/weaken the monsters and then the "hero" steps in to finish em off

I don't think that is a fair assessment. Off the top of my head, I can name five or six people I know who use the tactic of having hirelings take the front ranks as they go into a melee and I would not call any one of them "immature".

It is simply a different playing style than the one I am used to.

[corum]

*snip*

[Alethan]

... but many players are not as mature and will just treat hirelings as cannon fodder. Push em out in front to take the hits/weaken the monsters and then the "hero" steps in to finish em off

I don't think that is a fair assessment. Off the top of my head, I can name five or six people I know who use the tactic of having hirelings take the front ranks as they go into a melee and I would not call any one of them "immature".

It is simply a different playing style than the one I am used to.

er, I dont think I was calling them immature Alethan, simply that that style of play was less-mature than treating hirelings nicely. (you cant quote "" something I didnt say)

My apologies for the misquote.

I would not call any of them "not as mature".

[dmw71]

In the FtF games I played all through high school (80's) and college (90's), none of the groups I played with ever used hirelings. Ever. We didn't even use laborers or linkboys. It was us, and maybe a few pack animals if we knew we weren't going to be in a dungeon, and that was it.

More recently (as in, the last three years), in some of the PbP games I've played in (and lurked on), I see that there is a whole other train of thought on the subject - put warm bodies in front of you to increase your chances of survival.

My previous experiences mirror yours exactly. Aside from an occasional pack animal, our adventuring parties were limited to player characters.

I'm actually surprised we didn't consider hirelings given that my playing group (at least for the most part) consisted of three total players. Instead of hirelings, our solution was for the two players to each run two characters, and it was not uncommon for the DM to run an actual player character as well.

Fast forward to the current and I, too, have noticed an increase in the use of hirelings (granted, any use is an increase). The first play-by-post game I joined a few months ago had my character introduced to an existing adventuring group and they relied heavily on hireling halfling archers. There has been very little progress in that game but I don't get the impression these hirelings are abused, but they are most certainly heavily involved in combat situations from the historical posts I was able to read through.

That being said, having been exposed to concept of using hirelings, I think the idea of hiring laborers is actually quite interesting. However, the idea of hiring 'fighting men' to stand in front and absorb all the initial blows doesn't sit will with me at all. I'd be okay with a capable NPC performing normal duties (including combat), but an NPC, under DM control, feels different to me than hired sacrificial lambs.

Definitely an interesting subject.


- Dave