Dominion Designs: Organizations 1 - People Power
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While surveying the thoughts and words on our Dominion, I got myself caught up on the story crafting of our Mistress of Muse. Specifically interesting were her questions on how to form fictional societies without becoming Indiana Jones for the all the studying it would require, in between fighting Nazis, Indian cults or Ruskies of course.
Running with a very Sandbox style game, this is very important as it effectively puts toys into the box for play. Societies are organizations linked by shared authority and interrelated purpose - so we start with the building block. I’ll seek to answer her question using the D20 system. Not my favorite, but the most popular, so you old school dinosaurs should be grateful.
What separates a bunch of buds, a circle jerk or strangers in the same place from an organization is common cause. What the fuck is the purpose of this group? Types include: church - spreading the good word or at least professing a reason to pass the collection plate in exchange for divine insurance, or the illusion of it. The military: kill everything outside of the society that may threaten it; similar to policing but they only beat down threats within a society - in both variants killing/beating down can be replaced with conquering or collecting. Commercial: buying shit cheap and selling it for a profit in addition to maximizing and protecting monetary power, plus encouraging bailouts if worst comes worst. Family: protecting and passing on your shit to younger relatives that think you’re lame.
Qualifying adjectives can help define the style and flavor of the organization. Musical family would mean the Partridge Family, while criminal family can mean The Sopranos. These may not give specific mechanical bonuses but they can determine other aspects - like the type of singers or killers involved.
Next to purpose there is the question of who moves the group to accomplish their goals: known as Leadership. There is never one leader, especially if there’s one leader - ok, it’s possible but it is boring. A king must contend with his queen and his son to really rule, or some other higher up officials or nobility. Time to sketch out some important NPCs. Their class(es) should match the organization purpose, including social skills they’ll need, and their level should be one higher than the maximum level your player characters can attain in the campaign for the most powerful crews. The less powerful the group the lower the level of the leaders: a neighborhood gang of young thugs could have level 2 to 3 leaders; the crime lords of the Anazhantian Coast should be level 10 -11 paragons or higher.
Multiple subordinates should go under each leader, however they don’t need nearly as much detail as the leader. A name, alignment, class and level are the only necessities. Detail them further if a scene brings them in. Captain Piett needed a name and description only because Admiral Ozzel couldn’t cut it. He then became Admiral Piett, and served well … for a while. I’d advise subordinates be at least 2 to 3 levels below their superior. The smaller the level differences the higher the tension as promotion becomes inevitable and methods of elevation can be harsh.
Subordinates of the subordinates don’t matter much; no one gives a fuck about middle management. The next levels to give some detail are the lowest and next to lowest members since they are the day-to-day face of the organization. The level ones need detail in terms of the symbolizing that advertises the group and the skills needed to inact it’s goals: cops wear dark blue uniforms with rank badges; they’re trained with and carry guns, radios, batons; trained skills include Perception, Insight, and Intimidate - Diplomacy? no, that’s at the McCoy level; they have a -5 penalty to Will defense for doughnuts. Regardless of the level of superiors above them, most of the organization is going to fall into this class: Minion 1. One set of general stats fit all.
It’s a whole bunch of dudes giving orders down and accepting explanations and credit upward - big damn deal? Next time, we’ll develop the powers of an organization and mechanics for it’s members to negotiate and outsiders to join. Hint: membership may require a circle of peers with a cracker in the middle.
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