Greyhawk Shieldlands

There are 6 available decks of NPC’s for recruitment by player characters: Village Henchmen, City Henchmen, Chaos City Henchmen, Specialist Hirelings, Mercenaries, and Chaos City Mercenaries.

1. Village Henchmen Deck: this deck is used when a player wants to recruit a temporary hireling or a permanent henchman to join his retinue, but finds himself in a rural area, outside one of the proper cities or towns found on the continental map. The NPC’s are mostly, but not entirely, first level Jacks, with one of their skills dedicated to something like “occupation: peasant.”
2. City Henchmen Deck: this deck is used when a player wants to recruit a temporary hireling or permanent henchman and is present in one of the towns or cities on the map. The preponderance of NPC’s are first level, but can be of any class. Most are humans, but some are not. Most are Lawful or Neutral, but a smaller number are Chaotic.
3. Chaos City Henchmen Deck: this deck is used when a player wants to recruit a temporary hireling or permanent henchman and is present in one of the towns or cities on the map that is located in an area that’s dodgy or outright given over to Chaos, e.g. The Great Kingdom, Horned Society, Iuz or the Bandit Kingdoms. The preponderance of NPC’s are first level, but can be of any class. Most are humans, but some are not. Most are Chaotic or Neutral, but a smaller number are Lawful.
4. Specialist Hireling Deck: this deck is used when a player wants to recruit a permanent hireling, usually non-adventuring skilled types for use at his base or stronghold. He must be present in one of the towns or cities on the map. The NPC’s are mostly Jacks of various levels and various skills, such as alchemists, healers, smiths, or scribes.
5. Mercenary Deck this deck is used when a player wants to recruit bands of soldiers and is present in one of the towns or cities on the map. The preponderance of the soldiers are Fighters, though some may be Jacks. The various bands are level 1 to 3, but some special Captains may be higher level. Most are humans, but some are not. Most are Lawful or Neutral, but a smaller number are Chaotic.
6. Chaos City Mercenary Deck: this deck is used when a player wants to recruit bands of soldiers and is present in one of the towns or cities on the map that is located in an area that’s dodgy or outright given over to Chaos, e.g. The Great Kingdom, Horned Society, Iuz or the Bandit Kingdoms. The preponderance of the soldiers are Fighters, though some may be Jacks. The various bands are level 1 to 3, but some special Captains may be higher level. Many are humans, but many could also be humanoids of various types. Most are Chaotic or Neutral, but a smaller number are Lawful.

1. TIME: a round of recruiting takes 1 week.
2. DECKS: if the recruiting is in a rural village or manor, you may only draw from the Village Henchman Deck. If in a city, you must chose whether you are recruiting from the Henchman, Specialist or Mercenary Decks (or Chaos equivalent of Hench or Mercs).
3. AD COST AND NUMBER OF CANDIDATES: For each 100gp spent, 1 die of cards is drawn from the appropriate deck, mercenaries using d4, henchmen or specialists d6. There is a maximum of 100gp spent in a village, and 100gp per 1000 inhabitants of a town or city spent per week, to a total maximum of 10 dice per week.
4. RECRUITING SKILL/TRAINING: For those with Recruiting, a week must still be spent, but the player, on a successful check, can search through the relevant deck and chose a particular card he wants. The character does not need to spend any AD COST money to do this.
5. THE OFFER: The prospective liege must offer the prospective vassal Livery and Maintenance and a treasure share to vassal henchmen, or Livery and Maintenance and Combat Pay and Dungeon Pay to mercenaries, and sometimes a signing bonus if they have first rate armor or a horse (as listed on their cards). Specialists need Livery and Maintenance but, except for healers, will not go on adventures (Healers have an adventure fee on their cards). The player can sweeten the deal by offering increments of 50gp in cash per person in special signing bonus money. The player must roll his CHA or less on 1d20, with a +1 to his CHA for each increment in extra cash offered. If he succeeds,1 month Livery and Maintenance and any bonus money must be handed over immediately (it will all disappear just as immediately to pay debts, retrieve pawned equipment, etc) and the new underlings join up.
6. MORALE/LOYALTY: at this point roll the Morale dice for the henchman, specialist or mercenary band. The dice for mercenaries are listed on their cards. Henchmen roll 3d6, Specialists roll 2d6. Add 1 if the liege and vassals are the same species. Add 1 if they are the same alignment. Subtract 2 if one is Lawful and the other is Chaotic. Subtract 4 if one is an elf, half-elf, dwarf or gnome and the other is a kobold, goblin, hobgoblin, orc, half-orc, hoborg, ogre or half-ogre. Subtract 3 if one is a catter and the other is a dogger or ratter. This number is used when a Morale check is made in combat, or if the player fails to pay money that’s due or leaves the vassals in the lurch.