Just ran the first session of my game today and ran into a little problem. How do you handle minions? Like, we just went with a “treat them like a group, take them out with one condition, but it takes time if they’re a lot of them.” There wasn’t rules in the GM reference for them.
Just ran the first session of my game today and ran into a little problem.
Just ran the first session of my game today and ran into a little problem.
There was some discussion on this before, just look back for the post. (I was the OP, so just look for topics started by me.)
Although, to save time, here’s Brendan’s take:
If the minions make sense as a genuinely dangerous group threat, then I would treat them as a single villain. Give them a couple of conditions, a drive, a few moves. For example, I could see a large force of Hydra goons having Insecure, Afraid, and Hopeless, a drive like “To stop the chaotic and disorderly heroes from ruining the world,” and moves like “Unleash a barrage of energy blasts” and “Reveal two more soldiers for every one that falls.”
It’s worth flagging that if you can’t come up with a drive for the group, then it probably makes sense not to treat them as a villain—that’s a sign that the minions aren’t complex or interesting enough characters to put in that category.
If you do this, though, you’re also saying that the group of Hydra goons is pretty dangerous! You can also just treat them as part of the fiction, letting PCs overcome them by Unleashing their Powers. If you do the latter, chances are you’re also implying they’re not actually a threat—so keep in mind that Directly Engage a Threat might not trigger against them, even when the PCs are wading in and smashing them up like crazy.