Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8259278" data-attributes="member: 6696971">This is going to depend VERY much on the game being played. In some games, there is either no actual mechanical heft to NPC allies/party members, no discernible mechanical heft to NPC allies/party members, opaque/inconsistent mechanical heft to NPC allies/party members (because its all GM-facing). They may just be "party members" in name only, when in reality, they're the means by the GM to "cue/flag the plot" to the players via exposition/info dump or nudge.  Or they're the GM's way of secretly deploying Force to balance combat encounters in a system with wildly swingy results.In those games...my guess is that if players actually feel one way or another about those NPCs, its likely that they don't feel great about them!Then there are games where Cohorts/Hirelings/Companions have significant mechanical and thematic heft...and this is overt/table-facing.In those games (Dungeon World for instance)...I'm certain players feel very pleased with the system and fiction interaction with those NPCs.  For instance, I'm certain that [USER=1282]@darkbard[/USER] and his wife are happy with their enormous stable of NPC companions in their DW game:Bjornson the Frost Giant (RIP)Frida the Earth ElementalDirk the debaucherous (but ever stalwart!) GuideMemna's Thorn (Rose the Paladin Prodigy)Marwat and Baati (Sherpas, Porters, and Donkey)All of these characters have life, dramatic needs, compulsions, complications, and mechanical heft.</blockquote>

Verification