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Old 12-13-2016, 01:18 PM   #5
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Mooks and Extras in Combats and Other Challenges

As you say, it depends on the campaign. You won't get a feel that the PCs are underdogs if they're casually walking over competition. But, you also don't get the feel that PCs are heroic or exalted if the enemies all rubber-band to their level of competence, and everything's a challenge. Mooks are useful for demonstrating that the average Joe, or even the average opponent, isn't a one-on-one match for the PC. This isn't just ego-stroking (though that's a component to consider as well), but it's necessary narratively to establish that the characters really are influential or powerful, and can easily solve mundane problems even if there are some non-mundane ones they'll be called upon to deal with. If the only conflicts they ever encounter are titantic struggles, then they might as well be level 1 characters killing rats outside of town.

You get a similar dynamic between the PCs, as well as between the PCs and everyone else. If the party has a combat monster and a social monster, then you need some social situations where the combat monster fails but the face glides through, just as you need those fights where the combat monster gets to rampage while the face man feels terrified and barely survives. If you can't show the difference between the PCs in the course of the game, then there effectively is no difference between them.

Similarly, you need to be able to show the difference -- if any -- between the PCs and NPCs, in particular the vast average multitude as well as the special named NPCs. That's where the mooks come in, in those settings where the PCs do have an advantage. In other settings, like horror or some post-apoc, the PCs are supposed to be not exceptional, and you need to show that as well, making mooks a terrible idea in those games.
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