Organizations (was: High level NPCs TANGENT

The Mad Afro <madafro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Yeah, I've been messing around with PrCs for the Cydreic Church for
some time now, but at the moment, I'm treating them all as clerics
that happen to have different roles and access to specialized domains.
Priests of the Flock (aka Shepherds), Inquisitors, Prelates, Knights
of the Cruciform Sword, Cloistered Brothers/Sisters, etc.

The Vested Layfolk would be the "church privateers," I suppose. Not
clerics, but ordinary joes that have been granted power to act on the
Church's behalf, as long as they at least make an effort to follow
doctrine.

I still have that {kjd-imc} I was going write about organizations. I
need to finish that someday.

Notes I generally keep about organizations:

.. name
.. goals
.. history
.. relationships with other organizations and entities
.. membership profile (general member descriptions)
.. game mechanical stuff
. 'prerequisites'[1]
. ranking and advancement information
. benefits at each rank
. base and prestige classes associated with the organization
. representative characters

The benefits are most often social (bonuses to Cha-based skills, say) or
opportunity benefits (you get a better price on certain goods); it's not
terribly difficult to get by without an organization, most times, but
it can be handy.

The representative characters generally include those who are likely to
come into play. I'll probably mention who the leader is, but I'm more
likely to expand on the agents of the organization (possible active
allies or opponents of the PCs), 'standard agents', and 'beginners'.

As an example, consider an order of paladins. I'd mention the great
hero who is their leader, and perhaps some of the things he's done or
noted for having ("bearer of Excalibur", sort of thing). I'm more
likely to expand on the knights who actually quest, that the PCs might
meet while adventuring. I'd also include 'standard members' (the
knights who serve but aren't yet grand heroes themselves) and members
from lower ranks (squires and the like). This gives me a range of
members to use in my game. At low levels PCs meet the squires, they
might later serve with the common knights, then ally with the leaders.
There are people at various points for them to interact with, but they
can hear about the more powerful ones early. It provides some narrative
continuity.

The great thing is that I don't actually have to design in detail the
higher-powered people until it becomes relevant. I've got some of the
medium-high types sketched out, I know who the powers are, but I don't
need to do the long mechanics until they're likely to come up in play.


Keith
--
Keith Davies "Trying to sway him from his current kook-
keith.davies@xxxxxxxxxxxx rant with facts is like trying to create
keith.davies@xxxxxxxxx a vacuum in a room by pushing the air
http://www.kjdavies.org/ out with your hands." -- Matt Frisch
.

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