Organizations

Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Force Unleashed Campaign Guide

See also: Rank and Privilege

Though The Rebel Alliance has not yet been formed, and resistance cells are scattered throughout the galaxy with no central leadership, heroes still have the option of joining up with other like-minded people in pursuit of a common goal. In fact, during The Dark Times banding together is often the only way to survive. Heroes are likely to want to join, or found, their own rebellious groups (Which might lay the groundwork for the Alliance to form). Alternatively, they might seek refuge on the fringes of society, building up their own smuggling empire or joining forces with the Black Sun crime syndicate. Regardless of the type of Organization they choose to join or found, this article should give both players and Gamemasters the information they need to integrate these Organizations into a campaign. 

In game terms, an Organization is a collection of criteria and benefits that measures a character's value to a particular Organization. Moreover, an Organization can provide numerous benefits to its members, benefits that increase in value and effect as a member ascends through the Organization's ranks. Each Organization has its own criteria for what makes a good member, and as such two heroes of the same level might have widely different ranks within the same Organization based on their deeds and abilities. Increasing one's rank in an Organization often requires a member to do extraordinary things, perhaps even things they wouldn't normally do, to prove their allegiance to the Organization or improve their stature. A character can be a member of only one Organization at any given time (They can have an Organization Score with only a single Organization); to gain another Organization Score, a character must abandon their current Organization and join a new one. Typically, a character cannot rejoin an Organization they have abandoned, though exceptions can be made under special circumstances.

Features of an Organization Edit

All Organizations have some common features that describe what the Organization is all about and what benefits it provides. The following features are common to all organization descriptions.

Type: This section describes the type or function of the Organization, along with a general description of what the Organization does and how it goes about its business. Examples include paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and law enforcement agencies.

Enemies and Allies: This part of an Organization entry details the known allies and enemies of the Organization. Organizations have the potential to make friends with powerful people, and at the same time they might offend or anger other people in different positions of influence. Some Organizations will make enemies and allies of other organizations, and these relationships are detailed in this section.

Scale: An Organization's scale determines its sphere of influence, where its members can be found, and where its resources can be accessed. An Organization's scale is not necessarily tied to its number of members. For example, a noble house from the Tapani Sector might have only a few hundred members, but its influence is felt across many planets, making it more expansive than a planetary militia that has tens of thousands of members.

Organization Score Criteria: Every member of an Organization has an Organization Score that describes how revered or reviled the character is within the ranks of the Organization. This section describes what it takes to join an Organization, and then what it takes to rise and fall through the Organization's ranks based on one's Organization Score. The basic criteria for joining the Organization must be observed by all members, although certain criteria for advancement and demotion might affect only certain members.

If a character's Organization Score drops to 0 or lower, that individual is removed from the organization and may not rejoin except under special circumstances.

Criteria Tables: Each Organization entry contains criteria tables, which enumerate the individual acts or attributes that provide bonuses and penalties to an individual's Organization Score.

Titles, Benefits, and Duties: Once a character has an Organization Score, he compares it to the information in this section to determine the good and bad aspects of membership. This section gives information on the benefits gained by heroes at certain Organization Scores, as well as the drawbacks and duties they face as well. For example, a hero might have access to resources he could not normally get elsewhere, while at the same time find himself forced to deal with Imperial bounty hunters.

Roleplaying Applications: Joining an organization is not something one does on a whim; it is a commitment that can shape the entire course of a character's life. This section describes the roleplaying applications of being in an Organization, such as how it might change a hero's attitude or how it might challenge him on a regular basis. If an organization calls for the destruction of a civilian power plant but the hero is a Jedi who has sworn to protect civilians from harm, what kind of conflict does that create in the character, and how might it be resolved? This sections seeks to raise, and answer, questions such as that.

Creating a New Organization Edit

Though this chapter presents several Organizations for heroes to join, players and Gamemasters might want to craft their own Organizations from the ground up to personalize their campaigns. If a player wants to found an Organization and become its leader, he or she can take the Natural Leader Feat. Other heroes, even members of their own adventuring party, can join his or her Organization, or join totally different Organizations if they so choose. Some players might simply want to be members of a new Organization (Or one not described below), in which case the Gamemaster should craft an Organization to suit the campaign.

When you, as the GM, begin creating an Organization from scratch, you need to have certain pieces of information on hand before you start dealing with game mechanics. The following questions should be answered when you are ready to begin the organization design process.

What Are the Organization Goals? Edit

The most important question you need to answer is what the organization sets out to do. Most Organizations are unified by their goals. Crime syndicates want to make money, governments want to keep order, law enforcement agencies want to bring people to justice, and Force Traditions want to expand their knowledge of The Force. Decide what your organization works toward achieving and what they want to accomplish so that you have a better idea of why the organization works together.

Who is Member of the Organization? Edit

When you determine what kinds of people are members of an Organization, you help define what a player character is expected to be like as well if he joins that Organization. If an Organization is made up only of Force-sensitive Kel Dor, a Rodian Scoundrel might not fit in as well as that character's player would like. Along the same lines, an Organization whose members are made up of hundreds of Species from around the galaxy would not be likely to accept a member from the Humanocentric Empire who is unwilling to abandon their anti-alien bias. Deciding what kinds of characters fit in well with an organization also dictates what kinds of characters are engaged with it.

Who Runs the Organization? Edit

Ask yourself who is in charge of the Organization in question. Is your Force Tradition ruled by a council of elders who hand down assignments from their chambers? Is your noble house led by a charismatic Senator or an unscrupulous bureaucrat? Does your business fall under the control of a single, powerful decision-maker, or does he or she in turn answer to a shadowy council of investors? An Organization's leaders are the ones who are likely to dole out assignments or award special recognition to a character, and as such it is important to have an idea of who these people might be.

Where Does the Organization Operate? Edit

Defining an Organization's general area of operation is essential to determining its scale. Moreover, an organization might function only in a certain region of the galaxy, making it difficult for heroes adventuring in other systems and sectors to get in contact with the agents of that organization. Additionally, many of the resources an Organization provides can be obtained only within that Organization's domain, and as such it should be clearly defined what that domain actually encompasses before the creation of the Organization is finished.

What Does the Organization Do on a Regular Basis? Edit

Figure out what kinds of routine tasks the Organization undertakes. Do agents of your noble house travel to the government center every day to participate in politics? Does your paramilitary organization stage raids on Imperial outposts once a week? Does your pirate gang prey on passing ships every few hours? Regular and routine activities help define the Organization as a whole and give the GM a better idea of what to expect that a heroic member of the Organization will need to undertake as a part of membership.

Who Supports the Organization and Who Works Against it? Edit

Aside from its members and leaders, an Organization usually has third-party supporters. Nobles who support the cause clandestinely funnel credits into the organization's account, and law enforcement agencies look the other way when a group's actions are for the good of the people, if not necessarily within the letter of the law. By the same token, every Organization has its enemies, and they usually work to stymie the group's progress at every turn. Determining who works for and against an Organization will help flesh out enemies and allies during the creation process.

After you've answered these questions, you can go back and fill in the Organization's history, notable members, specific history, and so forth.

Designing a New Organization Edit

When creating a new Organization, you must determine all of the following traits.

Type Edit

An Organization's type determines its function, methods, and the scope of its power and influence. An Organization's type also determines what kind of Knowledge check is used to find out more information about that Organization. If you are not sure what type to choose for your Organization, take a look at other Organizations similar to yours and see what type they use.

Any Organization should be classified as one of the types given in the following table. Information about an Organization can be discovered or determined by a character who makes a successful Knowledge check using the skill given in the second column.

Enemies and Allies Edit

Determining whom your Organization gets along with and whom it comes into conflict with is usually easy. If your Organization fights against The Galactic Empire, chances are the Empire is your enemy. If your Organization seeks to end the scourge of crime in its sector, crime syndicates are probably your enemy. By the same token, if you have goals and methods similar to those of another Organization, it is likely to be your ally. For example, if your Organization is a paramilitary group that helps stop interstellar smuggling, law enforcement agencies might be your allies.

Scale Edit

Determining an Organization's scale is one of the most important parts of creating a new Organization. An Organization's scale determines how powerful and influential it is and what resources are available to its members. For Organizations founded by players, the Organization's scale is a function of their level and Charisma modifier (See Natural Leader Feat). For other Organizations, ones that are more established and that have a longer history, the Gamemaster should determine each Organization's scale based on its history and sphere of influence. The Organization should have a scale comparable to that of other Organizations of its type; for example, a pirate gang that preys upon ships throughout the Elrood Sector is probably found throughout the sector but likely doesn't have the resources to be everywhere in the sector at once. As such, the gang is probably considered influential in multiple systems simultaneously, but borders on being sectorwide. The Gamemaster would then choose a scale of 12 (Multiple Systems) for the Organization, since it definitely covers multiple systems throughout the sector but is not quite as large as, say, the sector government.

The table below gives scale numbers, as well as the general sphere of influence and examples of Organizations at each scale. Note that an Organization might be present at a certain scale but have little influence; for example, The Bothan SpyNet is present throughout the galaxy, but has real influence in only a few regions. Additionally, an Organization's scale is not directly related to the number of members within the Organization; clearly, any single branch of The Corporate Sector Authority (Scale 13) has far more members than The Jedi Order (Scale 17), yet The Jedi Order has influence throughout a much larger portion of the galaxy.

Organization Scale vs Power Edit

An Organization's scale is a measure of its power and influence, and is a symbolic number that represents a number of factors. When two Organizations come into conflict, the Gamemaster can use the Organization's scale to resolve the outcome of that clash if it doesn't require an in-game roleplaying solution. For example, if the heroes' Organization decides to raid an enemy storehouse, and this raid is not a part of an adventure, the Gamemaster can use Organization scale to determine the success of failure of the raid.

When an organization takes action against another organization, you can roll a power check to determine which side comes out ahead. To make a power check, roll 1d20 and add the Organization's scale, comparing it to a similar check for the opposing Organization. If circumstances are favorable for one Organization, grant that Organization a +2 bonus on its power check; likewise, if circumstances are unfavorable, impose a -2 penalty on that Organization's power check. If the winner of the opposed check exceeds the opponent's result by 15 or more, the losing Organization suffers a devastating defeat, and in some circumstances its scale might be reduced by 1 (As determined by the Gamemaster).

For example, The Lok Revenants (Scale 12) decide to attack a convoy belonging to The Hutt Kajidics (Scale 15). Since this conflict is tangential to the plot and has little to do with the adventure at hand, the Gamemaster decides to resolve it "Offscreen" to save time and move the story along. The Revenants stage their attack in a nebula that the Revenants often use and know very well, granting them a +2 bonus on their check for favorable circumstances. The Gamemaster rolls a 14 for The Lok Revenants (Giving that group a power check result of 28), and a 9 for The Hutt Kajidics (Giving it a result of 24). In this case, The Lok Revenants stage a successful raid, capturing Starships and valuable cargo. Of course, the Hutts might not look upon the pirates favorably after that, and could stage a mercenary raid of their own...

Organization Score Criteria Edit

Once you have determined the Organization's scale, you can determine which criteria are used to increase a character's standing. The tables below provide some of the most common Organization Score criteria, which can be adapted to fit a new Organization. Though the values below are recommended for each criteria (Positive and negative), the Gamemaster can modify the bonuses to Organization Scores if a particular criteria has a larger impact on the Organization than would normally be assumed. For example, a Force Tradition might normally award a bonus to a character's Organization Score for defeating a member who has fallen to The Dark Side at + 1/4 CL. However, if it is exceedingly rare that this happens- say, only once or twice in the last 1,000 years- the Gamemaster can bump this up to a bonus of +1/2 CL if it is appropriate to the campaign.

When you create a new Organization (Or when a heroic character founds a new Organization), select criteria from the tables below to modify members' Organization Scores. Every Organization can have up to ten positive criteria for "Free;" for each positive criterion beyond the tenth, you must also select a negative criterion that can reduce a member's Organization Score. Thus, an Organization that has twelve positive criteria will also have two negative criteria.

Modifiers for Larger Scales Edit

The modifiers on the tables below apply to Organizations with a scale of 1 through 7. For Organizations with a scale of 8 through 14, divide the Organization Score modifier by 2. For Organizations with a scale of 15 through 20, divide the Organization Score modifier by 4. The minimum adjustment a character can receive is 1 point.

Titles, Benefits, and Duties Edit

Some Organizations have titles that correspond to ascension through the Organization's ranks; for example, a military organization has ranks such as lieutenant, captain, and general, while other organizations might have their own rank structure. Typically, a new rank is achieved for every 6 to 10 points gained in an Organization Score, though some Organizations might have larger or smaller gaps in their rank system. Additionally, some organizations have smaller gaps between ranks at lower ranks than at higher ranks, making it easier to obtain new titles at the lower levels of the Organization than at higher levels. Not every rank brings with it new mechanical benefits, and many titles are merely honorifics.

Moreover, being a high-ranking member of an Organization usually carries with it both responsibilities and benefits. When you create an Organization, choose three benefits (One from each tier) to grant members of the organization who achieve a certain organization score. You can select additional benefits, but for each additional benefit you select, you should also choose a duty that affects that character. A higher-ranking member of an Organization gains all the benefits of lower ranks, as well as the benefits of their current rank. Although being a high-ranking member of an Organization certainly has its advantages, that status also makes that character a target and can drain away time and resources that they need to spend in attempting to fulfill their responsibilities.

Roleplaying Applications Edit

Each Organization's description should include some roleplaying notes that tell players how being a member of that Organization will affect their characters.

Organisations for The Dark Times Edit

The following sample Organizations are suitable for use in a Dark Times Campaign, and are intended for players who want to join an Organization that will allow them to oppose, or at least operate outside The Galactic Empire. The Gamemaster should note that the Organizations presented here do not strictly follow the rules given above for organization creation; similarly, the GM should feel free to bend some of the rules of his originally created organizations in order to better fit the concept. These Organizations can be used straight from the book, or can serve as an inspiration for the new Organizations in a campaign.

The Antarian Rangers Edit

Affiliation Page: The Antarian Rangers

Black Sun Edit

Affiliation Page: Black Sun

The Bothan SpyNet Edit

Affiliation Page: The Bothan SpyNet

The Bounty Hunters' Guild Edit

Affiliation Page: The Bounty Hunters' Guild

The Car'das Smugglers Edit

Affiliation Page: The Car'das Smugglers

House Organa Edit

Affiliation Page: House Organa

Kota's Militia Edit

Affiliation Page: Kota's Militia

The Lok Revenants Edit

Affiliation Page: The Lok Revenants