Minions are not a roadblock there a speed bump.

there the small encounters you face between the Rival/Nemesis.

and they can be used when you want a more challenging Rival/Nemesis encounter without overpowering it with to many Rival/Nemesis.

I love them - but I don't tell anyone they're minions and I don't spend a lot of time creating mooks that the players are going to mow through when push comes to shove. Why, I've even given packs of minions Adversary 1 and watched the battle unfold spectacularly.

Minions, to me, are the extras and bit parts in a cinematic campaign, and therefore are essential to a realistic setup.

But I houseruled, that minion groups are Linked, making multiple hits from a group possible.

That houserule blew my mind dude! With linked E-11 fire!

I haven't DM'ed in a while but I like the mechanics behind minion groups. If they need to be tougher I can do one thing and now it's cumulative based on the number of mooks. I also like running multiple groups with multiple minions, so I each group can do something different and they won't all die in one spray of gunfire from one player's superweapon.

I do like GM Stark's suggestion for rank and file on some rivals. It can simulate the effect of Kallus, for example, blending in with his stormtrooper group (or for example someone like Finn within his stormtrooper unit). I'm brewing up a campaign now, I might be able to find a place to use this.

I love them - but I don't tell anyone they're minions and I don't spend a lot of time creating mooks that the players are going to mow through when push comes to shove. Why, I've even given packs of minions Adversary 1 and watched the battle unfold spectacularly.

Minions with talents can make for interesting fights, such as groups of minions armed with Inspiring Rhetoric or Scathing Tirade.

It depends on how you use them and what you're trying to accomplish as a GM.

I'm not interested in setting challenges for my players. I'm interested in creating entertainment. Their enjoyment of a campaign or even a session rests on my ability to orchestrate a variety of interesting elements. What happens during each beat is only relevant if the composition as a whole presents satisfying areas of changeover in the first place.

In other words, Minions aren't there to be particularly exciting or challenge worthy. They're there to enhance the beat with a Rival. Rivals are there to enhance a beat with a Nemesis.

So what does all of this mean?

Well, say you have a party of 4 who walk into a Cantina. Inside the Cantina, they get into a scuffle. This scuffle is with a bunch of Rivals and perhaps 1 Nemesis. Okay, you might say, "This is challenging." And perhaps it is. But lets say the Nemesis escapes, and the party chases him to his high rise. In the lobby, another fight ensues. More Rivals and Nemesis. Another respectable challenge. And then finally, at the top of the tower in the high rise, the Nemesis has nowhere to run. Another fight with Rivals and Nemeses.

On paper this sounds repetitive. In practice, this becomes tedious.

You need highs and lows. You have to include the lows so that the highs are higher in contrast. It's buildup to a climax. When all you do is climax... then the actual climax isn't as satisfying.

... Don't let that statement throw you off the actual topic

I love them - but I don't tell anyone they're minions and I don't spend a lot of time creating mooks that the players are going to mow through when push comes to shove. Why, I've even given packs of minions Adversary 1 and watched the battle unfold spectacularly.

Minions with talents can make for interesting fights, such as groups of minions armed with Inspiring Rhetoric or Scathing Tirade.

Star Wars: The Musical

It depends on how you use them and what you're trying to accomplish as a GM.

I'm not interested in setting challenges for my players. I'm interested in creating entertainment. Their enjoyment of a campaign or even a session rests on my ability to orchestrate a variety of interesting elements. What happens during each beat is only relevant if the composition as a whole presents satisfying areas of changeover in the first place.

In other words, Minions aren't there to be particularly exciting or challenge worthy. They're there to enhance the beat with a Rival. Rivals are there to enhance a beat with a Nemesis.

So what does all of this mean?

Well, say you have a party of 4 who walk into a Cantina. Inside the Cantina, they get into a scuffle. This scuffle is with a bunch of Rivals and perhaps 1 Nemesis. Okay, you might say, "This is challenging." And perhaps it is. But lets say the Nemesis escapes, and the party chases him to his high rise. In the lobby, another fight ensues. More Rivals and Nemesis. Another respectable challenge. And then finally, at the top of the tower in the high rise, the Nemesis has nowhere to run. Another fight with Rivals and Nemeses.

On paper this sounds repetitive. In practice, this becomes tedious.

You need highs and lows. You have to include the lows so that the highs are higher in contrast. It's buildup to a climax. When all you do is climax... then the actual climax isn't as satisfying.

... Don't let that statement throw you off the actual topic

This makes sense. I need to learn to dial back the amount of minions I throw at my beginners.

I love them - but I don't tell anyone they're minions and I don't spend a lot of time creating mooks that the players are going to mow through when push comes to shove. Why, I've even given packs of minions Adversary 1 and watched the battle unfold spectacularly.

Minions with talents can make for interesting fights, such as groups of minions armed with Inspiring Rhetoric or Scathing Tirade.

In my book giving minions talents (apart from species-related ones) runs against the basic concept of minionship. I know, there are a few, but very few... and far between. Just saying.

But I houseruled, that minion groups are Linked, making multiple hits from a group possible.

This is genius. I am totally using this.

Given that FFG Star Wars is a narrative system and not simulationist, I love minions. They provide a credible threat in combat encounters but they're also easy to defeat.

If your players are the Big **** Heroes, they need to be able to knock down a bunch of no names. That's action genre 101.

I love them - but I don't tell anyone they're minions and I don't spend a lot of time creating mooks that the players are going to mow through when push comes to shove. Why, I've even given packs of minions Adversary 1 and watched the battle unfold spectacularly.

Minions with talents can make for interesting fights, such as groups of minions armed with Inspiring Rhetoric or Scathing Tirade.

In my book giving minions talents (apart from species-related ones) runs against the basic concept of minionship. I know, there are a few, but very few... and far between. Just saying.

It was an experiment in giving 400+ XP characters a challenge. I fiddled with Minion group sizes in one encounter and fiddled with Adversary in another. Going forward I will likely do the former as it's less bookkeeping.

Minions, to me, are the extras and bit parts in a cinematic campaign, and therefore are essential to a realistic setup.

But I houseruled, that minion groups are Linked, making multiple hits from a group possible.

Not that I need to mention this, but hell yeah. I'm so stealing this (mostly from the pirate. Arrr)

Minions, to me, are the extras and bit parts in a cinematic campaign, and therefore are essential to a realistic setup.

But I houseruled, that minion groups are Linked, making multiple hits from a group possible.

Not that I need to mention this, but hell yeah. I'm so stealing this (mostly from the pirate. Arrr)

I'm watching you bird...........

Minions are just fun for me. Nothing like having storm troopers pile in from all sides. One really fun encounter to play was my Diplomat (Agitator) working a group of a thousand disgruntled citizens into a city wide mob to cover the party's escape. Tons of running battles but not a headache to run because sure there were a dozen or so combatants in every encounter plus the PCs but with minions it never slowed down into making rolls for each and every combatant. So for me minions allow me to tell stories with large combat groups without having it be the only thing I can do for a four hour session.

Also I will be stealing the Linked minions that is going to surprise my knight level group in the best way possible.

Minions, to me, are the extras and bit parts in a cinematic campaign, and therefore are essential to a realistic setup.

But I houseruled, that minion groups are Linked, making multiple hits from a group possible.

Not that I need to mention this, but hell yeah. I'm so stealing this (mostly from the pirate. Arrr)

I'm watching you bird...........

Arrr! Prepare for BATTLE!

(subtitle, a group of angry penguin pirates, proving that you can find ANYTHING on the internet!)

I really like the minions rule.

I am not using minions because they add an heroic feeling to my games which I don't like (although it is perfect for SW I guess), but in any case I have to agree yours is one of the best house rule I have seen in these boards.

I use minions, but I freely break groups apart and put them back together even in single encounters. I treat Minions like the cannon fodder they are supposed to be and the group rule more as a combined fire rule. When using minis and it isn't an over-large encounter, I actually have a mini for each minion, not just each minion group.

So my 8 Stormtroopers may enter as one large group. But, when two PCs try to come down the hallway they split into two 4-man groups and fire once at each of them. If I've got minis showing the positions of the minions that open fire on a certain PC, it's also more realistic to choose which ones actually can engage the PC. As in 3 of the Stormtroopers are around the corner from a PC, so I roll an attack only with the 5 Stormtroopers that can actually see the PC.

I've toyed with making a Rival leader with a group of minions have to take a Maneuver when splitting them apart or putting them back together in various sizes to engage a PC.

Last weekend, I had a perfect use of minions protecting my Evil Mastermind as he threw them under the bus to save his tuchas per the squad rules. Mind you, the minions were considerably more effective that Evil Mastermind in bringing down the group's tank, but they did their job as ablative, it worked in a story sense, and performed exactly as they should.

So yeah, love them minions!