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| Creating the More and Less than Humans is almost always the
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| greatest challenge of making a minion. Players recognize
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| that the dramatic significance of characters should emerge
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| from their More/Less thans, but groups sometimes struggle
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| with the implementation. The key to success here is that the
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| in game situation must apprehend and incorporate the
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| content of the More/Less thans of the minion characters in a
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| meaningful way.
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|
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| Consider these More thans, written for the minions of a
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| monstrous thespian The Batman who believes he can rarefy his
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| acting ability by consuming the flesh of townspeople
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| selected for their experiences:
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| Writes powerful, emotionally moving plays,
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| unless he’s been praised by the actors for whom
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| he is writing.
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|
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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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|
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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
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| 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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|
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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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|
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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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|
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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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|
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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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