Overage squires

[jeffjerwin]

58 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Yeah, but I'm not so sure if that means they weren't present. There is a tendency in period writers to ignore common things and people that everyone would know about - especially when it comes to servants. I don't doubt that there are times when knights go off alone, but I suspect that often a squire is probably there but not mentioned. Take Kay for example. We can all recall one of his squires, but I don't believe we ever hear of any other of squires throughout the saga, though doubtless he would have had them. 

There's also the possibility they were killed or injured and left behind early into the journey. Being a squire of a knight errant that takes on robber knights, giants, etc., has got to be somewhat perilous.

[Hzark10]

We create a squire pool. Sometimes these are simply unnamed until they are needed, then they are named and assigned. Occasionally, a younger brother of a knight is put in there in lieu of a simple squire. Some like that as it gives a simple way forward if a knight's main character is incapacitated or killed. And if he is over 21, so what. 

I can see the case where the squires are not named in literature. Were they there? Depends on your viewpoint. Unless the story says he specifically left the squire behind, then who does the cooking, the sewing, the cleaning, taking care of the tack, and such? Some of this is not 'industry' but some if it is. And knights are not supposed to do 'industry'. Again, authors could just gloss over this leaving us guessing. It all depends on how real you want your story to be in real life applications.

IMHO.

BobS.

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, jeffjerwin said:

There's also the possibility they were killed or injured and left behind early into the journey. Being a squire of a knight errant that takes on robber knights, giants, etc., has got to be somewhat perilous.

Yup, especially for the squires of the more heroic knights. That also holds true to inexperienced knights adventuring with famous heroes. In my last campaign the group's Unit Leader in Battle managed to get on a hot streak when improving Sword and managed to get it up to 34. This allowed him to fight his way out of a lot of double teams and other bad situations, so he would often pick risky but questionable tactics and then wonder why all his NPC knights kept getting killed and captured. The other Oks were just good enough (and well armored enough) to surive the risky tactics, but for most knights the Unit Leader was like a meat grinder. I suspect following Lancelot around for a year as a squire would be similar. 

[Atgxtg]

25 minutes ago, Hzark10 said:

We create a squire pool. Sometimes these are simply unnamed until they are needed, then they are named and assigned. Occasionally, a younger brother of a knight is put in there in lieu of a simple squire. Some like that as it gives a simple way forward if a knight's main character is incapacitated or killed. And if he is over 21, so what. 

Makes sense to me. In our games we mostly track player squires. Most NP squires are just handled per the rules for such (per the latest edition/supplement at the time). Once in awhile (say one or two per generation), I'll introduce a NP squire who is significant in some way and he gets a little extra attention. This is ususally story driven. Either I have something in mind for him, or he's an interesting character idea that might prove useful later on, or both.