Minor progress today: Blog alterations & charismatic player characters in the game

Today I only did minor work on 'The Fantasy Game' (it's once more Gaia Gamma time ;-) ). First of all I adjusted the blog design a little bit: The blog description at the top is gone and has been moved into a text box to the right (in order to allow for a more compelling status update structure on Facebook).

Secondly and more importantly I have done some minor work on 'The Fantasy Game', too, despite this being a Gaia Gamma day.
Specifically I have toyed with the Charisma adjustments for hirelings. The original rules are pretty tough in this (and IMHO neither make much sense nor are much fun - a good reason to alter them and provide a sidebar comment explaining the change).

So what's the problem (in my humble opinion). The original rules limit the number of hirelings (exceptional and unusual followers like leveled characters or monsters) to 4 (for a charisma score of 10-12), 5 (for a score of 13-15), 6 (for a score of 16-17) and 12 (!) for a score of 18.

I find this disturbing in two ways:

1. First of all it's very hard to get an 18 in charisma, so providing a big bonus for that rare score IMHO does not make too much sense. It's like providing some kind of super power to characters who get an 18 in all scores - almost useless and a waste of space.
2. Secondly I do not see any reason why a character with a charisma score of 17 should be limited to half the number of hirelings compared to someone with a charisma score of 18. No other ability in the original rules makes just a leap in effects from 17 to 18.

Thus 'The Fantasy Game' will use slightly modified numbers:

• A score of 10-12 yields a maximum number of 4 followers.
• A score of 13-15 yields a maximum number of 6 followers.
• A score of 16-17 yields a maximum number of 9 followers.
• A score of 18 yields a maximum number of 12 followers.

The progression is much nicer and coupled with the much better loyality bonusses of higher charisma scores, the 18 score still is very powerful, but no longer so one-sided.

Interestingly this blog post now is much longer than what I actually wrote for 'The Fantasy Game' today - so it's obviously time to get back to either 'The Fantasy Game' as a ruleset or Gaia Gamma ;-)

Read ya!