Guards! Guards! starting volunteer's effects

Question

The board game Guards! Guards! has a system of recruiting volunteers which have various effects on the players who recruit them. These effects range from permanent bonuses to stats (e.g. +1 charm to help recruit volunteers, or +1 magic) to bonus dollars, or immunity from the pox, or a number of others.

at the beginning of the game, each player starts with 3 volunteers.

Do your starting volunteers give you the bonuses printed on the card?

The rules do not seem to clarify anything about this, so I was wondering if anyone here had a convention or house rule, or if a clarification had been released.

Answer 1

From the rules posted on the Z-Man Games website (Page 3):

Each player begins the games with the following items: ...
• 5 - Ankh-Morpork Dollars
• 1 - Lords & Ladies Volunteer Card
• 1- Man & Beast Volunteer Card
Players should collect any items/scrolls or attribute bonuses marked on the above cards.

This is a slightly older version of the rules released with the original version of the game. In the 2012 revision, it does not explicitly state that you get the attributes. Looking at the rulebook differences, my guess is the publisher wanted to optimize space in the 2012 rulebook and they figured people would just assume they gain the attribute increases.

Based on the original version of the rules, you do get the attribute bonuses for any volunteers you start the game with.