SatCoC player Bill
A defining characteristic of minions is that their nature is, on one hand, very much greater than that of normal men, and on the other, very much less. A minion’s unique manifestation of this dualism is described by two statements, a More than Human and a Less than Human, written by the player as part of character generation. The Less than Human should describe an excessive, crippling limitation, qualified by a very narrow ‘except’ or ‘unless’ condition. EX: Is mute, except when singing hymns. EX: Walks with an uncontrollable limp, moving slowly and awkwardly, except when swinging from the ropes and rafters of the belfry. EX: Will transform into a stone every evening, unless fed by a child that day. And to be clear, players should expect the negative effects of the Less than Human to be interpreted with some excessiveness during gameplay. Any notions about just how crippled a normal human might be by a given handicap should be abandoned in favor of far more surreal expectations. For example, a human with an open wound in his thigh should succeed in chasing down a spastically limping minion, and a mute minion should routinely find it almost impossible to communicate. When a Less than Human is relevant, the game’s conflict resolution system is not even consulted. The outcome is simply automatic failure, on a cinematic scale, described by the GM. That is, of course, for situations not within the scope of the second ‘except/unless’ half of the statement. Inside the scope of the except/unless, the minion should be understood to have a generous human level of ability A minion also gets one similarly-structured More than Human, which describes a powerful and surreal ability. It is automatically successful, and impressive, outside the scope of the except/unless condition. Within the scope of the except/unless, the minion is understood to have an ordinary human level of ability. EX. Powerfully truthful and persuasive, except between midnight and 2:00 a.m. EX. Can heal the sick with the power of his mind, except not animals.
