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Minions in BRP


jagerfury

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I do not know if this document is available for download here on the forum, but I most liked the comparison with Savage World combat mechanics. I believe this little PDF convinced me to take a pass on Savage Worlds and stick with BRP when I was researching different game systems in 2012 after many years of not gaming.  

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The Vanishing Tower RPG Blog Read about my attempts at FTF RPG in the wilderness!
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Charles Green has published material similar, first in Gods of Law and then expanded upon in Dragon Lines.  I've been running games like this since Gods of Law and love it.  My NPCs fall into three categories: Minion/Mooks like in this article, Regular NPCs and Important NPCs.

Regular NPCs is just a step up from a minion.  The only things I write down is Dex, Hit Points, armor and damage, 1-3 skills that are most important to the NPC, Magic Points and Spells if necessary.  Saves me a ton of time that I can better spent elsewhere.

If the NPC becomes really important, he or she then gets a full write up.

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90% of all adversaries have no stats when I write. There's no point, you can wing all of it. As long as you are consistent with your guesstimate of their abilities, you're fine.

I only spend time writing the ones I know matter, and even then I only write out things I know will be used.

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I like to track in such a way to make bookkeeping simple and combat flow quick. If I don't have some sort of metric though, I feel that I run the risk of making a whole scene become arbitrary. I feel this takes away from the successes of the players. I run a very fine line between prep and improv and will often be quizzed afterwards about whether certain section of the adventure was preplanned or winged. I try not to pull back the veil too much but I like to let players occasionally know that they had a great idea and we went with it.  I also like to let them know when they accomplished something on their own terms.  Sometimes this centers around combat. If I'm going to write a figure down, then I'm going to stick with it and see how the story plays out.

That being said, one benefit with minion rules is that players notice when I'm asking them whether they hit versus how much damage they did.  As soon as I ask for damage dice they know that they are in a potentially dangerous fight.

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Yeah, I don't wing everything, just concrete statistics for stuff that doesn't matter. I'd rather spend my time thinking about how different concepts or themes are related to one another and leave myself some wiggle room to let the players dictate the story. Figuring out how well Some Young Guy can pilot a boat, sing or use a bullwhip down to the discrete value just seems like awful masochism.

Billy Badass is going to have his bullwhip skill itemized, and if we're near the water maybe his boating skill, and if we're going to have an Epic poetry slam maybe his singing skill, but usually I will only stat something if I think it will come up. Most other stuff I just think something general like, "Billy Badass is pretty smart, anything using his mind is like a 60, he's clumsy as hell, anything using his manual dexterity is going to be like a 25. He's good with the bullwhip, 65." Although, not sure how much sense BB makes if you think about him being clumsy but a gangster with a bullwhip...

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I usually just let Mooks make a Dodge or Parry Roll, and if they fail then instead of the PC rolling damage, I just rule that the Mook now must make ALL actions at a higher skill difficulty.

( I have adopted the Skill Difficulty Levels from CoC 7E, which is the same as standard BRP except it adds an additional level, Hard, which is equal to Half %)

Each subsequent failed Dodge or Parry progresses this skill difficulty until they are unable to act, representing Incapacitation.

Depending on the damage dice of the PC, more than one Skill Level can be progressed in a single attack. For weapon damage dice 1D4 or less it works as above, except the effect lasts one round. For weapon damage dice 1D6 and above this the effect lasts the entire scene and beyond, with damage dice 1D8 accruing two skill levell difficulties, dice 1D10 accruing three skill levels and so forth. 

So being hurt from a fist strike places a Mook at at Half % for all skills for their next action, whereas being hurt by a Baton or Shortsword places then at Half % for all skills for the remainder of the scene. A strike from a broadsword would mean all their skills now need to be made at Special Success %. Because the skill difficulty level accrues with each subsequent hit, it becomes easier to take them down with each hit.

If the PC rolls better than a standard Success with their attack roll, then the skill difficulty accrued by the NPC is progressed a level further. 

Sometimes if I want to hand wave things and make a scene go even quicker I just rule automatic Incapacitation if the Dodge or Parry rolls are failed by Mooks.

It has been the best system I have come across as it gets rid of damage rolls and marking off Hit Points. It is pretty quick, and that's pretty much what you want to achieve with Mook rules.

Plus it reduces my book keeping down to something like: Enraged Cultist (Dodge 20%, Sword A/P: 40% D:1D6+1)

It is actually a variation of the Mooks rules from Atomic Adventures, it worked really well for me so I tend to use it in any setting that requires Mook rules.

I also use it for any NPC that as a GM I don't want to fully stat up or use full combat scene rules. I just add one or two Personality Traits, and 1D4 prominent non-combat skills (typically at 1D6 x10%, although occasionally I may grant one non-combat skill at 1D8 x10%). For all other actions outside of this I just give the NPC a default 20% chance (no need to record it).

Sometimes I prepare my NPCs in such a manner, but more often then not I just stat them on-the-fly using this template, it takes no time or effort.

It turns the above Mooks rules into a reasonable NPC rules to play with. The key is keeping the mechanics quick and simple, allowing the game to be very narrative focused. That way it works much like Chaot said, the drama really kicks in when you have opponents using the full combat system.

That's pretty much how I roll with most of my games these days.

 

Edited by Mankcam

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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This is similar to my approach. With a few variables...

Mooks can wear armor, but anything that gets through the armor takes them out. They can also dodge or parry. I don't worry about stats, though I do give them a d8 damage (seems to be the average in RQIII anyway).

Sergeants may have stats, but often just more/higher skills. It takes a Major Wound or the incapacitation of a Location to take them out. 

And then NPCs of varying types. 

And anyway, I just can't use the term Minion anymore. I always visualize these guys...

minions_2020-800x600.jpg

SDLeary

Edited by SDLeary
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