Characters
There are several types of characters in the game.
[Player Characters] - are characters that have been created by a player and is considered the main character that the person plays. They earn two shares of experience when that is awarded during adventures, and of course have full autonomy to act as the player sees fit.
[Henchmen] - are characters that are part of the supporting cast. They are run by the players to help the party achieve their goals. For the most part these characters were created by a Player to help fill a perceived gap in skills for the party or to expand the roleplaying possibilities of a character for the Player. Henchmen earn one share of experience when awarded. Henchmen are intended to be fully developed characters that expand on the Players experience.
[Followers] - are the people that are attracted to high level Player Characters. Like the thieves that want to follow a master thief, or the warriors who come to serve a newly proclaimed lord in search of fame and glory. There is a full set of rules on Agriculture & Holdings that details what it takes to attract these followers and what the make up of such a group is. Followers earn partial shares of experience when it is awarded, but they do not take any experience away from the Player Characters or Henchmen of the group.
[NPCs] - are the rest of the world's population. They are controlled by the DM and can be either friend or foe.
Multiple Characters
Over the course of a Players time in our game they will usually create several Player Characters through desire or events that happen to their character. This can sometimes lead to a 'stable' of characters that a Player has created and wants to play either as a Player Character or as a Henchmen. When Characters reach high level and have Followers that creates even more potential avenues for roleplay and interactions.
To have a baseline for the Players to follow we have established some guidelines.
1 - Only one Player Character (earning 2 shares of Experience) is allowed to a Player at one time. If they have two ore more characters they have created that could be considered a "Main" character the Player will choose which to play for an Adventure .
2 - If there are associated Henchmen or Followers for that Player Character only one of those characters should accompany the Player Character on an adventure to be played by that person.
3 - Occasionally a Follower will be included in an Adventure that is part of a particular Player Character retinue that is meant as an available character to play for a Player who may not have an appropriate character available.
4 - Experience is only earned by the characters that are active participants in the Adventure.
The intent of these guidelines is to create flexibility for Players to have well established characters who participate in Adventures occasionally as the Player feels is a better roleplaying experience. It it not meant for Players to create a new Player Character, Henchmen, etc. just to fit a perceived need for an adventure. For example it would be appropriate for a retired thief to take a leave of absence from running his guild to go out on an adventure with old friends. It would not be reasonable for a Player to create a new character that happens to fit the need for a thief in an upcoming adventure to use only the one time.
