Misunderstood Minions is a tabletop roleplaying game designed to get players participating quickly with minimum barrier to entry and maximum comedic chaos.
The art of the book is lovely to look at and there are smart layout decisions throughout, especially the Character Creation and Jobs portion, which provides a clean and simple full-page summary of each role.
In terms of rules, the game relies on simple D12 rolls, affected by skills, circumstances, and difficulty set by the “Sinister Storyteller.” There are a couple fun twists to character creation that really support the minion theme: Temperament and Fatal Flaws. Temperament lets you pick (or leave up to the dice) whether you actually support your boss wholeheartedly. Meanwhile the very fun Fatal Flaws table assigns your character a weakness that will ensure the party performs like the bumbling lackeys they’re supposed to be — and even rewards players for leaning into it.
Where I found this short game book to truly excel was in the four Quick Adventures. They provide just the right level of detail to help a Sinister Storyteller run a rollicking one-shot game, with tasks ranging from “reset the dungeon traps in between adventuring parties” to “ruin Prince Charming’s ball.”
Judith Harmon is an educator who notes that Misunderstood Minions was born out of the need for a simple system to get students into roleplaying games. This game certainly achieves that goal. Some of the constraints of designing for students also provide fun and creative outcomes for players of every level. For example, a number of the Quick Adventures suggest setting a real-world timer of an hour. That makes a lot of sense with a student group who may be playing during a class or other structured time period. But I can see how having a ticking timer would create a hilariously frenetic environment in any circumstance! I look forward to running this with groups of all ages.