(Feng Shui) Giving Flavor to Mooks

[BlindSwordsman]

We all know that Feng Shui, because it imitates HK action movies, has at least one vital element: the mook. Whether shot, sliced, kung-fu'ed, or set on fire by an irate sorcerer, these faceless guys are generally the key to having a cool action scene, along with the henchman and the main boss.

However, recently, I've noticed a certain burn-out in my Feng Shui story ideas on that front: the Named Characters viliains are still somewhat original, but the mooks always have the same look/tactics. Now I know they're not supposed to be an essential part of the game, but I don't want boredom to set in on any front. So I want to create a list of my fav mook archetype, and maybe someone will come up with something I haven't used yet.

-The Triad: seen in every John Woo movie that involves gun, he's generally dressed in a cheap suit, and mostly wields a gun. Also used in Jackie Chan movies set in the present when he needs to kick someone's ass.

-The Worker: you know these guys, they're also featured in a lot of heroic bloodshed movies. They're dressed in white worker suits, in order to see the blood better, and are generally a bit less skilled than their triad counterparts.

-The Thug: the cheaper version of the triad. Wears normal street clothes or ragged clothing, can sport a gun or iron bar/meat cleaver...

-The Ninja: loved by Erik Lustbader wannabees everywhere, this character is generally very athletic in his attacks, uses ninjitsu(i.e smoke bombs/walking on water/caltrops...)
and wields, generally, a short sword. I use the Five Venoms version a lot:
colored ninjas dressed in funky costumes with very special powers.

-The Chinese Restaurant Worker: also a staple of Jackie Chan movies, this guy is usually wearing a waiter outfit/shirt and usually wields a large kitchen knife.

-The Gweilo: if there's a white mook, you can be sure he's dressed in absurdly colorful 1980's clothing.

-The Policeman/modern soldier: pretty much self-explanatory.

-The Ming official: the guys seen in Once Upon A Time In China and other funky movies set in ancient China. Have cool hats, black clothing, and wield spears, mostly.

-The evil cultist: generally is dressed in one tone, has no will of his own, uses a variety of funky weapons (trident, huge sword...)

-The hopping vampire: dressed like a Ming official. He just kinda hops around.

-The zombie: you're not a geek if you don't know this one.

That's about it. Any action movie staples I missed?

[Arbane the Terrible]

Jack-Booted Thugs: Dressed in a military uniform of varying snappiness, and has about the same marksmanship skills as an Imperial Stormtrooper. Comes in Banana Republic, Nazi, and Buro flavors.

Timelost: A gang of weirdoes dressed like Max Max characters, Usually found in the Netherworld, or in 2056 after a critical shift.

Bandits: 69 AD's resident Wandering Damage. Usually colorfully dressed, armed with bows, spears, or swords.

Acolytes: See Cultists, only with better kung-fu and shaved heads.

[samtheuberman]

A bit OT, but always remember the Action Movie Rule of Ninja for any mooks you use:
100 Ninjas= Crap. Not worth the uniforms on their backs. Favor the "Surround and charge one by one" technique.
10 Ninjas= Quite challenging indeed, might hold up group for ten minutes or so. One-on-one action, with swords generally.
1 Ninja= Most extreme encounter ever created. will kill less important characters, wound main characters, create devious traps, and generally PWN! at life.

[FatGuyWithMustache]

Watch The Warriors. Now spend five hours trying to find an excuse to shoehorn the Baseball Furies (think Kiss meets baseball players. Only their turf is Central Park. It's not supposed to make sense) into the narrative. I guess what I'm saying is that theme is important. Theme only barely needs to make sense. Theme + Action = Awesome. It's junkfood awesome, but as long as you mix it up with slightly more nutritious awesome later on it's all good.

Other suggestions:
Street Performers (any juncture) musicans, breakdancers, mimes, metal-painted robot mimes that only make whirring noises for modern age, in previous ages you could have stuff like snake charmers on loan from India, maybe some gypsies or mongols or other nomadic folk. The important part is they've been gathered together because law and order means that they'll be rousted from their pitches. Or possibly they're just all bastards. If you really want to have some fun, get the players on the bad side of a travelling circus. Hey, it worked for White Wolf. Alternately, if the players just had a knock-down drag out fight with a Named Opponent through a street market or a steel mill or a maternity ward or some place where valuable stuff gets wrecked you could have the employees out for blood which segues into...

Angry Mobs: Perhaps the transformed animal or supernatural creature PC's true nature is revealed. Perhaps you've been accused of disloyalty/muder/grand theft auto. They have pitchforks and frankenstein rakes. You have kung fu and guns.

Other Mafias (modern juncture): Cosa Nostra in cheap suits, Yakuza in cheaper suits with bad pompadors and punchperms, Russian mafia in tracksuits all trying to muscle in on the triads and guess who's stuck in the middle?

Theme Ingredient: What does the named character have that makes him or her special. Now make it about half as cool, mass-produce it and distribute it to his mooks. Cool-ass glowing sword? Less-cool kind of shiny swords for the mooks or just swords of any type. Can she kick your head off? Then her men can kick high even if it's just for show. Are the twins secretly transformed egrets? Then their mooks have weird bird-looking helmets which provide delicious foreshadowing.

Pirates: Especially in the 1850 and 79 AD junctures. China has a history of pirates as wild and wooly as anything Howard Pyle ever chronicled. Hell, it makes Howard look like Gomer.

Also robots. Robots aren't as cool as regular mooks because they don't bleed. They may, at your discretion, explode. This will almost make up for it.

[rbingham2000]

Also robots. Robots aren't as cool as regular mooks because they don't bleed. They may, at your discretion, explode. This will almost make up for it.
I respectfully disagree. Robots can also have arms ripped off and used as weapons, legs sliced off from under them, heads blown off with a shotgun blast, bodies chopped up by autofire -- and they still KEEP ON COMING, still doing their level best to kill your ass. Kinda like a high-tech zombie flick, only these guys aren't interested in eating your brains.

And the best part about robots? You can fuck them up as badly as you want, but still keep it PG-13.

[rbingham2000]

And let's not forget the mooks employed by the evil corporation, which has become the big villain of 90s/2000s action flicks and games -- bad guys in nicely-tailored corporate suits with Uzis in their hands.

And evil corporations are definitely rich enough to hire mercenaries, who come all decked out in paramilitary garb and use assault rifles and submachine guns to do the corp's dirty work.

[Pan Man]

-The zombie: you're not a geek if you don't know this one.






Hmmmm...My understanding of Mooks is that they ALL go down with ONE hit.


Boom...One pissant 9mm shot or punch or stab and they're dead/unconscious.


But if you shoot zombies in the torso, they generally don't go down for the count, unless you shoot em' in the head...


Can Zombies be considered Mooks?

[David J Prokopetz]

And let's not forget the mooks employed by the evil corporation, which has become the big villain of 90s/2000s action flicks and games -- bad guys in nicely-tailored corporate suits with Uzis in their hands.Just remember: when it comes to Corporate Ninjas, the price tag on the suit is a direct reflection of their ability to kick your ass. If he's dressed in Moore's, you can knock guys like him down like bowling pins; if he's dressed in Armani, he's effectively a Named Character - even if his "name" is only "The Ultra-Badass Thug In Black Armani Silk". :D

[Teflon Billy]

We always refer to Mooks as being interchangably from the following list...

Mook with Ponytail
Mook with eyepatch
Bald Mook
Mook with Goatee
Mook with long moustache
Mook with scar across cheek
Fat Mook
Skinny Mook
Mook with Afro
etc..


As in ...

GM: "Ok there are a group of mooks gathered around your Car as you approach it"

PLAYER: "Which mooks are they?"

GM: "Bald, Eyepatch, Goatee, Fat and Ponytail"

Player: "OH, good...baldMook is there...I thought of some good "Bald Digs" since last game..."

[Torash]

Well, there's Bikers - dressed in leather and outrageous hairdos and wielding chains, brass knuckles, molotov cocktails, and their motorcycles.

In the evil boss' drug dens you might also find desperately loyal Drug Addicts - sweaty guys with dilated pupils and terrible aim. Alternatively, they could be juiced on PCP or fictional drugs that actually increase their fighting ability.

[Seroster]

Can Zombies be considered Mooks?

My understanding is that zombies don't ALWAYS require a headshot to take out... course I'm not that familiar with movie zombies.

But even if you want to use that type of zombie, you could "simulate" them in Feng Shui as mooks, with perhaps a higher-than-normal AV or perhaps a higher-than normal defensive AV. If someone doesn't roll high enough to take them out, then they didn't get hit in the head, but somewhere else. This is really just the same as regular mooks, who if you don't roll high enough, are either missed entirely or take meaningless "flesh wounds".

[ColourlessGreenGoblin]

Mooks don't have to go down in one hit, they just have to go down eventually without any real threat to non-mooks. Zombies therefore may or may not be mooks depending upon what the hero's fighting ability is - zombies are not mooks for starting AD&D characters, they are mooks if you've got a wizard casting Fireballs.

[BlindSwordsman]

Besides it's much cooler if mooks go down with one shot, but the main character caps them 15 times in slow-mo because he is that cool.

[Kiero]

And the best part about robots? You can fuck them up as badly as you want, but still keep it PG-13.

Which is probably why they're used as the combat antagonists in the Star Wars prequels.

[AusJeb]

I like throwing a Mook Sergeant for each group of 5 or so Mooks. The Sergeants usually have slightly better AVs and equipment, just enough to give them a vague chance of hitting the PCs.

Also, have you checked out the Mooks described in the various faction books and supplements? Those Mooks usually have several distinguishing factors.

Jeb

[Orsino]

Player: "OH, good...baldMook is there...I thought of some good "Bald Digs" since last game..."

Ah, and you touch wisdom. This is, imho, the main reason for distinguishing mooks at all (other than boredom prevention): to provide snappy patter for the heroes.
Like Joe Hallenbeck says, you can't just hit a guy anymore, you gotta say something witty first. I agree with Teflon Billy's list, and will try to get my players to add to it asap. Furthermore, I believe it is useful in combination with the other lists posted above, so you can have Fat and Bald Ming Officials, Biker with eyepatch, Gweilo w/ Ponytail or even Ponytail Nazi (though I can already see my players taking such a hate to that guy I'd have to give him a Name).

[David J Prokopetz]

or even Ponytail Nazi (though I can already see my players taking such a hate to that guy I'd have to give him a Name).Well, of course - stylish Nazis exist to torment the good guys. ;)

[samtheuberman]

Well, of course - stylish Nazis exist to torment the good guys. ;)

Heyyyyyy......take it a step further. Picture this.

The NEW standard of Reality Television
4 Facist agressors.
4 gay Nazis.
4 stylish militant Germans take on the forces arrayed against them.

The forces of disorder.
The forces of chaos.
The forces of generic action heroes.

Fascist Eye for the Action Hero Guy
Coming to a cable channel near you!

[Sensei]

For you guys out there like me whose games are not set in the eastern hemisphere, don't forget to occasionally flavor your mookage with the "Oriental Mook"...

In every group of otherwise useless mook rabble, there should be one Asian dude who's actually got some skill. (Crank up his AVs by a point or two.) Of course, he says nothing, just glowers inscrutibly, and before he engages your heroes in combat he has to make some flashy show of his skill, such as whirling a pair of nunchuks, or performing a short but blindingly fast kata, or smashing a board over his head, or bending an iron pipe in his bare hands, or biting a cue ball in half.

Because as we all know, every Asian knows kung fu! :p

[BlackSheep]

For mechanical flavour, here's a repost of some mook shticks created by Alias which I translated into English.



Maximum recommendation is three levels of mook shticks.

Unkillable: Mooks return to life three sequences after they were killed. One level gives one return, two gives two, three gives three. Mooks have a weak point (-2 penalty to hit) which takes them down for good.

Untouchable: Defence value is one point higher per level, over attack value.

Aggressive: Attack value is one point higher per level, over defence value.

Quick: Initiative score is increased by one per level.

Powerful: Damage is increased by one per level.

Ninja surprise attack: If a mook successfully makes an active dodge (disappearing in a cloud of smoke or similar) s/he may make a counter attack at the attacker at +1 provided his/her AV is higher than the attacker's perception. Non-levelled.

Discipline: A group of N mooks may make a single attack at +N. Non-levelled.

Kamikaze: When taken out, mooks may make one last attack at +1 per level.

Hulk effect: When hit but not taken out, the mook gains +1 AV. Maximum bonus is 2+level. If a mook reaches +5, they become a named character

[Dr.Bubonicus]

Mooks don't have to go down in one hit, they just have to go down eventually without any real threat to non-mooks. Zombies therefore may or may not be mooks depending upon what the hero's fighting ability is - zombies are not mooks for starting AD&D characters, they are mooks if you've got a wizard casting Fireballs.

I'd probably just make zombies drop whenever they are successfully hit, getting up to shamble some more unless they are decapitated on a 5 or 6. Obviously, gun schticks could increase the chances of "shoot 'em in the head!".

If this seems too easy, just make it so you need a 6 to keep them down.

[Max]

For you guys out there like me whose games are not set in the eastern hemisphere, don't forget to occasionally flavor your mookage with the "Oriental Mook"...

In every group of otherwise useless mook rabble, there should be one Asian dude who's actually got some skill. (Crank up his AVs by a point or two.) Of course, he says nothing, just glowers inscrutibly, and before he engages your heroes in combat he has to make some flashy show of his skill, such as whirling a pair of nunchuks, or performing a short but blindingly fast kata, or smashing a board over his head, or bending an iron pipe in his bare hands, or biting a cue ball in half.

Because as we all know, every Asian knows kung fu! :p
This reminds of that scene in Wild Wild West...

"I learned that from a Chinaman!" :D

[The Unconquered Shawn]

Try salt, or paprika.

Maybe garlic, but make sure to sautee it first, but not too long... don't want to burn it.