Civilians or "stupid followers" dR

Civilians or "stupid followers" dR
Just few words to explain one use of the dR I had few weeks ago.

I ran a Robusta Robots session (it's a Macchiato Monsters retro SF version) and I decided that the characters would be followed by a journalist and her cameraman.
I treated them not like followers but like civilians who needed to be protected and who could make stupid things.
I gave them a dR (d8).

Each time, the characters were in a situation where something could happen (dangerous situation, diplomacy, exploration...), I rolled the dice for the journalist and her cameraman.
If the characters prevented them from danger or stupidity I rolled with an advantage, when they do nothing and the situation was particulary "sensitive" I ran with disadvantage.
If the dR stepped down, something happenned to the civilian team (wounds, lost of material... ) and it could create something in the story. For exemple, one time they had a photography session on a beach (I ran a 2 on the dR) so the cameran was bitten by a dangerous Flying Pirana (wound) and it attired a swarm of Flying Pirana so they had to run and take care to not loose something...
Of course, if at the end of the scenario, the dR was 0 the civilians are dead !
In our game, the journalists survived !