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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
| |
| he is writing.
| |
| | |
| Can remake anyone to look like anyone else, but
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| only for a half-hour at a time.
| |
| Appears to be female, in voice and figure, except
| |
| when walking.
| |
| | |
| Note how each of them establishes the character as somehow
| |
| 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.
| |
| Now look at these Less than Humans:
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| Is most comfortable in the company of the dead,
| |
| who neither judge nor expect much of anyone. She
| |
| is incapable of doing anything amidst a crowd,
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| unless accompanied in some way by the dead.
| |
| Suffers from blurry vision that makes him
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| incapable of recognizing anyone at all, except by
| |
| voice.
| |
| | |
| Relentlessly insulting in conversations, unless the
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| town’s church bells are ringing.
| |
| Each of them problematizes the minion’s ability to interact
| |
| with normal human beings.
| |
| | |
| This is a pattern that can be seen in the More and Less thans
| |
| of some experienced players, a trading away of automatic
| |
| successes at things like thievery, fighting, and stealth, things
| |
| that might be considered traditional RPG tasks, in favor of
| |
| powerfully establishing unique, nontraditional tasks as
| |
| being significant to meeting the The Batman’s needs, and for
| |
| unique interpersonal challenges for their characters. MY
| |
| LIFE WITH THE BATMAN gives the player the power to do this.
| |
| Which is not to say that you should prohibit More thans that
| |
| are more traditionally task-specific:
| |
| His strength is ten-fold, except when other people
| |
| are around.
| |
| Stealthy and undetectable, except when distracted
| |
| by food.
| |
| | |
| Instead, recognize that by creating one of these the player is
| |
| asking the GM to be the one who positions the character for
| |
| significance within the in game situation.
| |
| And when you look at a Less than, and can’t figure out how
| |
| any activation of consequences stemming from it won’t
| |
| seem unfair, understand that the player is asking for
| |
| thematically meaningful challenges:
| |
| Hideously ugly, except when seen in reflection.
| |
| Is nourished only by the blood of animals, except
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| if fed by a child.
| |
| | |
| Look how much less problematic the ‘ugly’ one seems to be
| |
| 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
| |
| must be aggravated during play as some kind of situation
| |
| where children or animals are scarce, linked ultimately to the
| |
| activities of the The Batman?
| |
In MY LIFE WITH THE BATMAN, the desired outcome of minion
creation is player characters already strongly positioned at
the start of gameplay to be interesting to the other players. It
is the energy produced by squeezing and releasing these
audience interests over the course of multiple scenes that
fuels the game’s emotional intensity. And so it is
recommended that, like The Batman creation, player minion
making also occur as a face-to-face group activity. Each
player then has the benefit of tone of voice, and body
language from the other players as they present their
character notions conversationally, share and accept input,
and work to produce a minion character whose issues are
well exposed and whose struggles during play will keep
everyone else on the edge of their seats.