I GM for my husband and am running a campaign where he's in the process of taking over the area his parents ruled when he was a child, which was then conquered. To this end, he has been gathering followers, several of which are occasional party members. There are a total of about... 12 or so, I think.
He and four party members went off to Ustalav on a quest, leaving his followers behind with some provisions and directions to gather resources/people/etc.
I'm not sure how to decide how well they've done, whether they've lost people, starved, etc :/
Consider downloading the Kingmaker players guide and either picking up a pdf of the first module or trying to find one used, there's a pretty decent kingdom abstraction system in that series.
In this case, I would go with whatever works best for the story. Do you want to reward him for how he's been doing so far? Give the followers some success to report. Want to kick off the next part of the campaign? Have some of them captured, in need of rescue. Want to throw him for a loophole? Have them come to him with stories of sabotage, possibly pointing to a traitor in their midst.
Figure out what kind of story you want to tell, then suit the result of the follower's actions to lead up to that story.
In this case, I would go with whatever works best for the story. Do you want to reward him for how he's been doing so far? Give the followers some success to report. Want to kick off the next part of the campaign? Have some of them captured, in need of rescue. Want to throw him for a loophole? Have them come to him with stories of sabotage, possibly pointing to a traitor in their midst.
Figure out what kind of story you want to tell, then suit the result of the follower's actions to lead up to that story.
They throw you for a loop in the main plotline and you need a minute to figure out where to go next? Have em play the npc's on a one off module or something representing what happens while they're gone.
So here's a gamey way to do it if you don't want to use the kingdom building rules:
List the people who were left behind and come up with specific responsibilities that were assigned to them. For example:
Overall command
Food
Money
Policing internal squabbles and crimes
Patrolling for external threats
Healthcare
Building
Trade
Training/Education
Freelance troubleshooter
For each of them, make a d20 roll and add a relevant stat or skill modifier. This tells us how well they (initially) did at their job. So if one person was in charge of food supplies and they messed up, everyone went hungry.
Also, for each of them randomly select one other character left behind and make a 'relationship check'. Roll a d20 and add the Charisma modifier of the target. This tells us how that person now feels about the target. A roll of less than 5 means a feud. A roll of 20+ means friendship and/or love.
After that, try to come up with a narrative explanation of everything the dice said happened. Did rats get into the granary, or were they robbed by bandits (because the law officer also made a bad roll)? Was it because the guy in charge was distracted because he fell in love? Is someone feuding with him because they blame him for the food shortage?
I like Matthew's solution but I'd also add modifiers on their rolls depending on the PCs. If they give good guidelines or provide the NPCs well, give them a bonus. If they just leave them behind on their own, give them no bonus or even some penalties. That will make the PCs be able to influence their fate.
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I agree with the two above me. I'm so helpful.
Maybe have one of them captured or killed by a major villain or at least his henchmen. Idk if there is such a villain already but maybe a good way to introduce one that seeks to end your husband's family line from a past grievance or something, maybe with his parents.
That idea aside, I like what Matthew Downie and Kileanna presented.