The burden of leadership

Followers can be useful, but they should also be sources of stress and conflict.

For starters, followers get scared. They might freeze up when surprised, or flee from a terrifying foe, or panic in the face of supernatural horror. Tell the player when this happens, and ask what they do. If the PC gives them an order, the player can spend 1 Loyalty to have the follower overcome their fear and do as they're told. Otherwise, ask yourself: would the follower do this willingly if they weren't scared?

If they would, then the PC is having them Defy Danger (the danger being that they freeze up, panic, or screw up).

If they wouldn't, then the follower needs to be convinced, via Persuade or some other move.

Even when they aren't scared, followers won't always do as they're told. They might resist orders if...

• … they're angry, miserable, shocked, or otherwise overwhelmed;
• … the order is unreasonable, foolish, degrading, distasteful, etc.; and/or
• … the order goes against the follower's instinct, tags, cost, or other traits.

For example, a warrior follower will usually be willing to go into battle, but if the odds are overwhelming, or they haven't eaten for a couple days and they're wet and cold and have had enough of this crap, well, they're probably going to need some convincing!

When you decide that a follower doesn't want to do as they're told, then reveal that to the player! "He looks at you with tired eyes and doesn't even get up, what do you do?" Or, "You want me to what? That's… no, no way." Or, "You can tell he doesn't want to, you're going to have to convince him—what do you do?"

The player can then choose to spend the follower's Loyalty (if they hold any) to have them "do something they don't want to do." Or the PC can Persuade the follower, or use a different move to convince them. Or they could let it drop and do something else. Whatever they do, follow the rules and the dice and portray the follower with integrity, and play to find out what happens.

Play up a follower's instinct, tags, and traits as a source of trouble for the PCs.

Does the Ranger's wolf have an instinct of "to fill its belly?" Then have it chomp on the obvious bait, or refuse to leave a carcass uneaten. Is one of the Marshal's crew a gambler? Have her leave her post to join a game of dice, or have a creditor from Gordin's Delve show up to collect. The player can spend 1 Loyalty to have their follower "resist acting on their instinct/ tags/traits," but if they don't, they need to convince them to stop or else deal with the consequences.

Emphasizing a follower's fear, foibles, and troublesome behaviors makes their Loyalty valuable! If a follower always just does what the PC says and never gets scared or acts up, then their player will see no reason to pay the follower's cost and Strengthen Their Bond.

Vahid walks down the road from the logging camp and plays a spritely tune, calling up the andalau that's tied to his flute. Wind gusts and swirls, and when Vahid stops playing I stage whisper, "More! More more more!"

Vahid wants the spirit to find those ruins that Iwan visited, and lead him to them. Given the andalau's instinct ("to play and frolic") and mischievous tag, I don't think it wants to. I sigh and whisper, "Boooorrrrring."

The Dancing Wind Spirit arcanum says that the andalau holds 1 Loyalty when it manifests; Vahid could just spend that. But the flute will break if the spirit has no Loyalty when dismissed. Vahid Persuades it instead. "Boring? Why, it'll be a fine game of hide and seek!" He rolls an 8.

"It's not convinced," I say, "but if you turn it into a game when it leads you to the ruins, it'd think that was fun. That'd even pay its cost." Vahid offers that and the spirit agrees. The next morning, the spirit returns. "Found it, found it, come, come, follow! Play!"

Vahid tells Rhianna that he can lead them to the ruins, and she has everyone get ready to go. But when her superstitious crew realizes that they're following a fickle spirit on a game of "hot and cold," they dig their heels in. Now Rhianna has to convince them to go along with this plan. If she had let the crew celebrate last night, it would have paid their cost and she could just spend their Loyalty. But she didn't, and they hold no Loyalty, so now she's going to need to Persuade them.