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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 8312908" data-attributes="member: 3586">One of the reasons D&D moved away from henchmen is that individual player characters became a lot more complicated.The design moved more towards a player controlling one character that had a lot of options. Which also takes more time to resolve at the table (choosing actions, resolving those actions). When you add in a NPC that player controls, it is "too much" headspace to control both, and it also significantly slows play (and takes time away from other players).If I'm running OD&D, then many rounds are simple melee attacks - everyone rolls simultaneously (one d20, one d6) and I go around the table finding out how they went. In games like 3E and 4E, the individual round is a lot more involved and slower.The trouble with saying followers were a major thing about old editions is that we don't really have the evidence of much such play. The adventures, even the higher-level ones, focus on solo adventuring with a few notable exceptions. The original D&D players of Arneson's group quickly discovered that playing in the dungeons was more fun - and they had enough players that henchmen were a bit unnecessary.And while AD&D says "you gain followers", there's not a lot of things for them to do in the rules!But I may be going too far with my dismissal of AD&D's use of followers - I just don't know how much they affected the campaigns of that time!</blockquote>