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− | Creating the More and Less than Humans is almost always the
| + | In MY LIFE WITH THE BATMAN, the desired outcome of minion |
− | greatest challenge of making a minion. Players recognize
| + | creation is player characters already strongly positioned at |
− | that the dramatic significance of characters should emerge
| + | the start of gameplay to be interesting to the other players. It |
− | from their More/Less thans, but groups sometimes struggle
| + | is the energy produced by squeezing and releasing these |
− | with the implementation. The key to success here is that the
| + | audience interests over the course of multiple scenes that |
− | in game situation must apprehend and incorporate the
| + | fuels the game’s emotional intensity. And so it is |
− | content of the More/Less thans of the minion characters in a
| + | recommended that, like The Batman creation, player minion |
− | meaningful way.
| + | making also occur as a face-to-face group activity. Each |
− | | + | player then has the benefit of tone of voice, and body |
− | Consider these More thans, written for the minions of a
| + | language from the other players as they present their |
− | monstrous thespian The Batman who believes he can rarefy his
| + | character notions conversationally, share and accept input, |
− | acting ability by consuming the flesh of townspeople
| + | and work to produce a minion character whose issues are |
− | selected for their experiences:
| + | well exposed and whose struggles during play will keep |
− | Writes powerful, emotionally moving plays,
| + | everyone else on the edge of their seats. |
− | unless he’s been praised by the actors for whom
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− | he is writing.
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− | Can remake anyone to look like anyone else, but
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− | only for a half-hour at a time.
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− | Appears to be female, in voice and figure, except
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− | when walking.
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− | | |
− | Note how each of them establishes the character as somehow
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− | being a key factor in the The Batman getting his Wants or Needs,
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− | almost defining by implication part of what it will take for
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− | those Wants and Needs to be met. The first minion invites
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− | abuse for not mingling with the actors the The Batman would like
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− | to recruit for his productions. The second is positioned to | |
− | factor into the The Batman’s efforts at orchestrating experiences
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− | for townspeople that would make them suitable to be
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− | cannibalized for specific roles. The third will play female
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− | roles in the productions of the theatre group, and suffer the
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− | alienation and disconnects of mistaken identity in his
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− | regular dealings.
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− | Now look at these Less than Humans:
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− | Is most comfortable in the company of the dead,
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− | who neither judge nor expect much of anyone. She
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− | is incapable of doing anything amidst a crowd,
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− | unless accompanied in some way by the dead.
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− | Suffers from blurry vision that makes him
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− | incapable of recognizing anyone at all, except by
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− | voice.
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− | Relentlessly insulting in conversations, unless the
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− | town’s church bells are ringing.
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− | Each of them problematizes the minion’s ability to interact
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− | with normal human beings.
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− | | |
− | This is a pattern that can be seen in the More and Less thans
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− | of some experienced players, a trading away of automatic
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− | successes at things like thievery, fighting, and stealth, things
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− | that might be considered traditional RPG tasks, in favor of
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− | powerfully establishing unique, nontraditional tasks as
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− | being significant to meeting the The Batman’s needs, and for
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− | unique interpersonal challenges for their characters. MY
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− | LIFE WITH THE BATMAN gives the player the power to do this.
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− | Which is not to say that you should prohibit More thans that
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− | are more traditionally task-specific:
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− | His strength is ten-fold, except when other people
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− | are around.
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− | Stealthy and undetectable, except when distracted
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− | by food.
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− | | |
− | Instead, recognize that by creating one of these the player is
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− | asking the GM to be the one who positions the character for
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− | significance within the in game situation.
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− | And when you look at a Less than, and can’t figure out how
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− | any activation of consequences stemming from it won’t
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− | seem unfair, understand that the player is asking for
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− | thematically meaningful challenges:
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− | Hideously ugly, except when seen in reflection.
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− | Is nourished only by the blood of animals, except
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− | if fed by a child.
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− | Look how much less problematic the ‘ugly’ one seems to be
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− | if the in game situation were to include the daughter of a
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− | mirror maker, whose residence has hundreds of them on the
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− | walls. And see how the blood-consuming minion’s Less than
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− | must be aggravated during play as some kind of situation
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− | where children or animals are scarce, linked ultimately to the
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− | activities of the The Batman?
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