[Power 19] Minions

[EdEdEd]

[Vulpinoid]

That sounds like a fun beer-n-pretzels game

V

[Willow]

Two questions-

Have you read My Life With Master?  It's all about playing a minion, albiet a named, unique minion.  (One step up perhaps- the henchmen).  It may have some useful things to think about as you work on your game.

Have you thought about emergent protagonism- that is, that while these characters start out pretty much all the same, maybe they develop personalities and their own stories through play?

[Greg 1]

This is a very interesting and original idea.

Minions is a game where players don't play individuals, but represent members of a vast team of identical soldiers. The archetypal example would be the dozens of minor lackeys that James Bond dispatches on his way into the evil geniuses lab/island/moon base, but there are plenty of other examples and I'm trying to keep it fairly universal.

Is it vital that they be identical, as opposed to just low-level?  It might make for some variety in minion plans if not all minion parties are the same.

Anyway, the central idea is that you aren't meant to play an individual, but a part of a unit, and the characters die and get replaced fairly constantly.

Is there a reason to avoid death?  If not, is there a danger that the game will lack tension?

Right now, it's still in the early stages, and a bunch of stuff is likely to change, but I'd really like to get some feedback on the feasibility of the idea. More to the point, would you be willing to play a character with very little personal identity, one who you knew for a fact was going to die pretty quickly in the gaming?

Maybe.  The premise is fascinatingly different, but I'm not quite clear on what the players do.  If there is little personal identity, then there may not be much opportunity for roleplaying.  If there isn't much difference in skill, then they may not be much opportunity for tactical thinking.  I'm a little scared that it might devolve into throwing wave after wave of disposable faceless mooks at the NPCs until they eventually get worn down.

[EdEdEd]

Oh, awesome, I'm glad this is being well-received.

Is it vital that they be identical, as opposed to just low-level?  It might make for some variety in minion plans if not all minion parties are the same.

That's why I let player advancement happen ridiculously fast; everyone starts on an even keel, but you can turn yourself into a specialist right away buy buying relevant equipment... although it makes you weaker, your future incarnations can get the same equipment at a discount. Hmm... perhaps if I let players buy something at the very beginning at a significant discount. Let them self-specialize right away, with a fairly slight cost, so they aren't that much at a disadvantage to an average mook. Provides more immediate variety, without losing the identical aesthetic.

Is there a reason to avoid death?  If not, is there a danger that the game will lack tension?

Well, in addition to losing any equipment you've acquired, you lose your seniority. All the players are in order of seniority from the beginning (determined randomly, or however they all prefer). When you die, your new guy ends up with the least seniority... whomever is in the lead has more narrative power, and a few other things are determined in order of seniority, which makes it bad for the individual, but not so much for the team.

I do have another idea, admittedly inspired by playing Roanoke this weekend: letting the GM keep a death toll, and having the ending of the mission (how much the minions are rewarded, et cetera) determined in part by how low they keep that death toll (like Roanoke's Doom Points). It's an inkling of an idea right now, though... any suggestions on that end are welcome.

Maybe.  The premise is fascinatingly different, but I'm not quite clear on what the players do.  If there is little personal identity, then there may not be much opportunity for roleplaying.  If there isn't much difference in skill, then they may not be much opportunity for tactical thinking.  I'm a little scared that it might devolve into throwing wave after wave of disposable faceless mooks at the NPCs until they eventually get worn down.

Precisely my worry. Wave after wave of men may do for rampaging killbots and similar problems, but I doubt it would make for the best game night. I have thought about encouraging role playing through voluntary 'minion archetypes' (the guy with two weeks to retirement, the guy who believes in his cause to a creepy extent, the guy who is genre savvy, and what have you), but that's another recent and fairly undefined idea in the back of my head right now.

Have you read My Life With Master?  It's all about playing a minion, albiet a named, unique minion.  (One step up perhaps- the henchmen).  It may have some useful things to think about as you work on your game.

Have you thought about emergent protagonism- that is, that while these characters start out pretty much all the same, maybe they develop personalities and their own stories through play?

Ah, My Life With Master, I have not yet read it, but I've heard of it, and am probably going to pick up a PDF once my job starts paying me. I'll claim it's for research purposes, but it looks pretty fascinating in it's own right too.

As for emergent protaganism (which makes me think immediately of henchmen 21 and 24 from The Venture Brothers, mooks who eventually got whole sub-plots and B-stories of their own), unfortunately the system as I have it now makes it really hard to let a minion survive long enough to become a major player in his own right. I'd have to throw in a whole new mechanic... "Oh, rolled a six, instant failure... unless you can come up with a relevant life experience that would give your character the insight to get out of this situation!"

... which isn't that bad for something off the top of my head, although I do want to avoid getting what is a beer-n-pretzels sort of game too complicated. Man, now I got stuff to think about! Which, I suppose, is what you people are all hear for. Thanks, everyone!