Extras
You have a small squad of “extras” to help you in your adventures.
This idea is a mini-six adaptation of the brilliant “extras as a character class” concept originally introduced by Joseph Manola in his blog.
A Gang is a special type of “perk” that any PC or NPC can buy at creation (for 4 points) or acquire later in their life by expending 12 CP.
Note that a party of PCs may never have more than one Gang at their service, but they can pool CPs to acquire one:
Example
Assume a party of 3 players, player one can pay 5 CP , player two can contribute 4 and the last player can chip in 3 points to acquire a Gang for the whole party).
A Gang is composed by 3D+1 members when created. The extra 1 member is considered the leader (see Named Character below). Note that this number is never really written down and is rerolled again every time the GM actually needs to use it in describing a scene... mechanical effects will always use the size in D6 instead of the actual number of members. See also “attrition” below.
Experience
a Gang can accumulate CP just like a Sidekick - never more than 3 for a session and anyway always at least 1 less than their leaders.
Gear
Gang members start as completely unequipped: they literally have only their clothes on. Weapons, armor and any kind of equipment must be bought. If your campaign is actually tracking specific prices (e.g. Leather armor costs 36 gold pieces) then the cost is 10 times to equip the whole gang with it (i.e. 360 g.p. To give all 2 armor points). If you adopt the abstract cost assume that each distinct piece of equipment cost $ for the whole gang (i.e. a Gang with Armor 2 and 1 sword each will need 2$ to be equipped).
Characteristics
At creation time two sets of values are defined:
Named Member:
10D in attributes, 3D in skills.
Rest of the gang: 9D in attributes, 2D in skills
The Named Member (typically called “Sarge” or “Chief”) is a properly defined NPC and the only character that can take independent action, interact with the PCs and perform individual actions. They can also acquire one single personal item apart from what the gang members have (e.g. extra personal weapon, a better vehicle, a magic item). He/she/it is also the only one that can suffer directly from damage or be targeted by a spell that can only be applied to a specific entity (see below about how cures work).
The Rest of the Gang fights and suffers damage as a single character. In each round it can only perform one attack (either unarmed or with a weapon that has been provided to all members). It resists damage with the characteristics assigned to the members, and applies armor only if equipped to the whole group.
Attrition/Damage:
- Stunned applies to all the Rest of the Gang members.
- Wounded applies to all the Rest of the Gang members.
- Severely Wounded becomes Wounded and is applied to all members.
- Incapacitated/Mortally wounded: reduce Gang Size by 1D (when all original 3D have been spent, the Gang ceases to exist … the single Named Member just becomes a normal NPC, unless they have succumbed already).
Cure effects:
Only one roll is needed to treat the Rest of the Gang members. Again, Named Member must be treated separately, if needed.
Reinforcements:
In case the Named Member is dead/lost a new Named Member can be “promoted” by expending 5CP. This will result in 1D to use to increase a characteristic or a skill (either one whole die or 3 pips, so you could give +1 to MIG and +2 to Sword skill, for example) to “distinguish” the new Named Member (you will also need a new name, of course). In case the size of the group was reduced due to Attrition you can recruit 1D members by paying 3CP. The GM has to decide if/when this is feasible, though (if you are in the middle of a desert, or deep down in a dungeon, this will probably have to wait until you get back home). Remember that the size of the Gang cannot be more than 3D+Named Member.
Movement and Actions:
Apart from the Named Member, the whole Gang is always treated as a single entity - if you use maps and miniatures assume the gang members are in some sort of “formation” covering 36 squared meters (when the size is 3D): a 6x6 meters square, or a line of 2 x 18 meters.
To recap:
Gang | |
Size | Square | Line
--------------------------------
3D | 6x6 m | 2 x 18 m
2D | 4x4 m | 2 x 12 m
1D | 2x2 m | 2 x 6 m
If you need to calculate distance (for ranged attacks etc.) always take the center of this imaginary “blob” as you target.
There is no need to be finicky about this: the standard Slumber spell, for example, has a 30 foot radius. If targeted at a 3D Gang it will affect all of it, roll resistance once for Named Member and another one for Rest of the Gang.
Other meaningful uses:
When they are not actively engaged in combat (e.g. unloading stuff from a boat, foraging, standing watches etc.) assume that the Gang can provide the same amount of work as 4 men for each 1D in size.
Example
A 3D size Gang can set up a perimeter with 12 sentinels for 4 hours or carry 12 shares of treasure a day while a 1D sized Gang can search 4 different rooms in 30 minutes (in the case of the sentinels or the search they will still roll only once to notice something or to find something, using the appropriate characteristic or skill).
Splitting the group
In special circumstances the GM can also allow the players to split the Gang, e.g. 1D of the gang will be left behind to set up camp while the PCs, the Named Member and the remaining 2D6 Gang will escort the party in exploring the ruins of the temple.
Appendix - Sample Gang
Fantasy Marines Squad
A group of soldiers attached to a ship to fight off pirates, monsters and also able to operate on land. (Their standard issue leather caps are marked with a dash of red paint)
Name: Dugan's Red Caps
Size: 3D Skills Equipment
MIG: 2D+2 Brawling 2D+2 Leather Armor (+2 AV)
AGI: 2D+1 Crossbow 2D+1 Cutlass (+2D+2 dam.)
WIT: 2D Dodge 2D+1 Knife (+1D dam.)
CHA: 2D Swimming 2D+2 Light Crossbow (3D+2 dam.)
Sword 2D+2
Dodge: 7 Block: 8 Parry: 8 Soak: 10
(Sword) (with armor)
Named Member
NCO commanding the squad (rank is approximately equivalent to Sergeant in modern terms). He prefers to use his trusty axe instead of the cutlass.
Name: Roderick "Red" Dugan, Men at Arm
Skills Equipment
MIG: 2D+2
AGI: 2D+1 Axe 2D+2 Leather Armor (+2 AV)
WIT: 2D+1 Brawling 2D+2 Axe (+3D dam.)
CHA: 2D+2 Command 3D Knife (+1D dam.)
Courage 3D Light Crossbow (3D+2 dam.)
Crossbow 2D+1
Dodge 2D+2
Swimming 2D+2
Dodge: 8 Block: 8 Parry: 8 Soak: 10
(Axe) (with armor)