Mr. Mask
2013-06-07, 12:29 PM
While watching a stretchy pirate beat up dozens of other pirates and sailors, a thought occurred to me. It's neat having a setting where heroes can beat up loads of mooks... but often I feel these weaker characters are underdeveloped.
Generally, they exist only as a buffer to boss fights, for heroes to slaughter to give contrast to the strength of main villains. Wouldn't it be interesting though, to think of a system where there is codependency, between champions and rank-and-file soldiers? Not a setting where the players take up one corner of a battlefield while the mooks are being necessary elsewhere, a world where heroes will fail without support, and common soldiers will fail without their heroes.
Anyone tried something like this, or know a system which can accomplish this? I'd consider running a 4E game where a small number of players lead a large number of minions into battle--against similarly-levelled villain characters who have their own minions.
The main concern I see, is complexity and time-consumption. You need all the minions to be easy enough to command, so tracking initiative and the like would be a ridiculously complicated effort.
What are your thoughts on this concept? Surely it isn't a new one, but the closest I can think of right now is old DnD where it was so hard you needed NPC hirelings.
Generally, they exist only as a buffer to boss fights, for heroes to slaughter to give contrast to the strength of main villains. Wouldn't it be interesting though, to think of a system where there is codependency, between champions and rank-and-file soldiers? Not a setting where the players take up one corner of a battlefield while the mooks are being necessary elsewhere, a world where heroes will fail without support, and common soldiers will fail without their heroes.
Anyone tried something like this, or know a system which can accomplish this? I'd consider running a 4E game where a small number of players lead a large number of minions into battle--against similarly-levelled villain characters who have their own minions.
The main concern I see, is complexity and time-consumption. You need all the minions to be easy enough to command, so tracking initiative and the like would be a ridiculously complicated effort.
What are your thoughts on this concept? Surely it isn't a new one, but the closest I can think of right now is old DnD where it was so hard you needed NPC hirelings.