Bust Out the Map: Minion Factory

I originally didn't like the idea of minions in D&D. I thought for sure that they would just bulk up the amount of actions I as a DM had to take every round, and that book-keeping would be a nightmare.

Well, I have warmed up to minions, and use them quite frequently. Almost every combat as a matter of fact, because I think they are a great strategic advantage for the monsters, and they let the players feel nice and effective when they clear 3-4 of them in one attack.

When my newest group of players got together the DM at the time ran a very interesting combat that I really enjoyed that sort of focused on minions. In this combat, there was a sort of Shamen type character that stood on a ledge something like 25 squares away and played his drums. Then on a large open space on the battle grid he spawned 4 zombie minions each round at a set initiative, that would then attack. These minions would then hold us down while nearby Artillery pounded us with ranged attacks. Our goal in this combat was not to sit and kill minions, it was to take out the Shamen and Artillery and stop the minions from spawning.

We did this sort of "Minion Factory" style combats a few times more in his game and each time they seemed very appropriate. So when it was my turn to start running the game, I gave it a try. I dont remember my first Minion Factory combat that I ran, but I have done many of them since, and my players seem to still enjoy them. Here are some basic guidelines for a Minion Factory style combat:

1. Minions in this combat are spawned from something else - perhaps a trap or another monster. Therefore, it is not appropriate to give experience for each minion killed.
2. Spawn a number of minions each round on a set initiative, this need not be the same initiative as the minions are moving on. Also, set a cap as to how many minions you are allowed at one time and stop spawning them after that. I usually make it a fairly large number, like 20. This way it wont get too out of hand, but will still feel like an unlimited supply when the players are killing 2-3 each round.
3. Have a stop point in mind. This could be killing a certain monster, shutting down a trap or just surviving a certain number of rounds.
4. Describe the minions, and their deaths. Minion Factory combats should feel more cinematic than usual due to the large number of enemies the PC's are mowing through.
5. Don't overuse the Minion factory or it gets boring. And each time you do use it make it wildly different from the last time.