The Inverse Law of Ninja
Wow, it’s been a busy week, hasn’t it? So much new stuff posted, I can hardly believe it! Well, it’s time to get back to Halo!
On today’s docket, we’re talking about mooks, minions, and red shirts. I really have no idea how it’s done in other FATE games, but I do know how I’m going to do it!
I’m sure that most of you are familiar with the Inverse Law of Ninja. For those of you who aren’t, it simple means the more of something there is, the less you need to worry about them.
If you think about it, most stories that have one lone ninja (marine, alien, pirate, etc.) you have to worry about that one dude. If there’s a whole host of them, they’re there just to get the tar beat out of them. So how do we model this in FATE?
Easy, if you ask me! Give it (I’m referring to a clan of ninja, a squad of marines, a gaggle of school girls, etc. as “it.” Sue me :p) a stress track of 3 or 5, and a skill level to match. For everything that group should be able to do well, it rolls at its skill level. If it’s rolling for something it’s not too good at (a ninja clan shooting a sniper rifle) the roll defaults to 0.
Normally, a character will give in before they take any consequences. Groups, however, don’t operate under the same rules. Each consequence they take removes some of the members of the squad, as follows:
- A minor consequence means about 20% casualties
- A moderate consequence is roughly 30% casualties
- A severe consequence shows 50% casualties
Note that the above adds up to 100%. That means that until they take a consequence, no members drop. This is shown in literature and movies where the protagonists are beating them up, but not dropping ‘em. Once an attack of sufficient strength hits, and they take a consequence, that’s when members start to drop.
For example, a group of 10 grunts would have a skill level of 3, with 3 stress boxes. A minor consequence would take out 2 grunts, a moderate would take out 3, and a severe consequence would wipe out 5 of the little buggers. All 10 mooks, and it only takes one stat block to represent them! Now that’s easy GMing!
