{"id":1656,"date":"2013-05-20T14:12:13","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T21:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2013-05-20T14:12:13","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T21:12:13","slug":"better-angels-guards-goons-and-gawkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/2013\/05\/better-angels-guards-goons-and-gawkers\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Better Angels’: Guards, Goons and Gawkers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px\"<\/a>Written by Greg Stolze, \u00a9 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

In Better Angels<\/i>, you can stat up major opponents just like player characters and track their sliding Tactics and Strategies until they flee or succumb. That\u2019s how the NPCs featured in the rulebook work. And you can deal with most ordinary people using the rules for mobs in Chapter Five of the rulebook.<\/p>\n

But what about less important individuals who still might do some serious damage\u2014especially likely if a Screwtape\u2019s being sulky, or the dice are cold, or if it\u2019ll be hilarious\u2014and who are more resilent than the hoi polloi?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an easy variant to handle a character who’s somewhere between “anonymous member of a mob” and “supervillain.”<\/p>\n

Give the character one overall dice pool that covers all his or her actions. Roll that overall dice pool for everything the NPC tries to do.<\/p>\n

If an action is a little outside the character\u2019s overall field of expertise, give it a \u20131d penalty. If it\u2019s definitely outside the character\u2019s purview, make it a \u20132d penalty or just don\u2019t let the character roll for it at all. For this kind of character you don\u2019t need to get very detailed.<\/p>\n

The more competent the NPC is, the more dice he or she has and the more punishment he or she can withstand.<\/p>\n