I am of the opinion that writing a few compelling organizations is one of the strongest ways to get players involved with a setting. Organizations give players something to connect to that is larger in scope than individuals, they help make a world feel unified, and they provide fertile soil in which plot hooks can grow. As a best-case scenario, you may get your characters (or perhaps even their players) to feel a fierce pride in the organizations they belong to, or a searing fear or hatred towards antagonistic groups.
Problem is, writing organizations seems to be a weakness of mine. So I'd like to work to improve it, and I thought I'd ask how you all approach this issue mentally.
I also find organizations/factions an important part of my settings as well. I usually start with a motive. Why does the faction exist? Did the person who started it (bringing in questions of history, which you can further tie into your setting) have a goal in mind?
More later...afk for a while.
There are some fundamental questions to ask regarding any organization, the first of which being its purpose and aims.
In addition, what is the general power structure? Is there a single charismatic leader who underlings flock to and take direct orders from (such as a cult), multiple cells spread out, where separation is kept by ensuring that no one member knows of more than one other cell (such as a terrorist organization, to prevent a single operative's capture from exposing the whole organization), or a more traditional hierarchy (be it military, religious, that of organized crime, etc.).
How "secret" is the organization? If it is well-known, are members of the organization themselves known, or simply its reputation? This depends largely on its purpose-- cults to revive a god of entropy are likely to face persecution, so secrecy of both its membership and its presence are one of its priorities. However, a secret society of nobles that engage regularly in typical aristocratic debauchery and chauvinism might be well-known, even if its members remain secretive. The more malicious or sensitive the mission, the better its leaders should hide its existence.
Next is how centric the organization is. Just how powerful is whoever is at the top of the food chain, assuming there is someone? Can one leader circumvent the commands of the entire organization, or is there a distribution of power at levels? Are all the members peers, or is there stratification?
Resources. Financial, magical, and political power, not to mention sheer manpower, are what define how an organization interacts with others. For organizations that rarely recruit, or have stringent requirements to join, this can be limiting; most organizations would probably want, in a fantastic feudal social structure, at least one noble, powerful adventure, or other wealthy person as a member of their ranks, or at least as a patron (unwitting or otherwise).
History: Is the organization at its peak, or is it in decline? Has it just been started, and if so, what resources does it have backing it? How long do/did its progenitors expect it to exist, and how active are its members? What precautions has it taken from being targeted by those of other mindsets?
Just what I've got for now.
If you're stronger at writing other setting details, rather than the organizations, specifically, one approach is to define the details of the context in which those organizations might arise, and then they would, at least in some ways, "fall into place."
It might be helpful to start with a conflict-- there would likely be organizations on both sides of the conflict, each one working towards its own goals. For example, if there is a king who is not universally loved, some may be seeking to keep him in power, others may be seeking to overthrow him.
From painting with broad strokes like this, I think it's then possible to look at each of the two sides with a bit more detail, and find some differences. You could think of it as subdividing the sides; going from their shared broad purpose and finding conflicts that would lurk under the surface of the main conflict, and add story depth. For example, perhaps within the "overthrow the king" faction, there is one organization that wishes to replace the king with his brother, another one that wants the duke of crapville to rise to the throne instead, and a third that wants to scrap the whole system and have a people's republic. Though the three of them have a unified purpose of "overthrow the king," and may thus work together, they might be at odds within that purpose-- two of them wouldn't mind killing the king's whole family, but the one that wants his brother on the throne would object.
Once you've established the conflict and the sub-conflict, the next question is, what is their relative power? Is anyone winning? To return to our previous example-- the king is still in power, so is it that the loyalists are the most powerful, or are they barely holding on by a thread? Have they managed to retain power by exploiting the differences in the factions against him, presenting a truly united front?
In short, I would look at the politics first, and then find organizations to fill the niches you have created. I hope that helps. :)
Politics is good but so is economy. Maybe a caravan trading company needs defense on a new shipment, so they call on the local fighters guild (bam, two ideas for factions). But, it turns out the attack is coming from the thieves guild! Woah! Now all three are interacting with each other. Now, you can detail why the thieves want the goods being shipped, why they chose that specific company etc. Sometimes you do not have to fully flesh out every detail, but rather provide only ideas behind a mask, which still gives life to the organization. Think of all the factions as organs, and your campaign the whole body. How do they work together? Where do their functions overlap, or create gaps that are filled by others?
I personally derive organizations from concepts introduced by published material. All those WotC supplements are filled with idea, and organizations are very easy to rework for a good setting idea.
Also, my personal favorite starting place, religion. People need a means t access their faith, someone to tell them what to believe in. Whether the prophets, clerices, or what-have-you are benevolent, malevolent, or inscrutable is up to you.
[ooc]Well LC, this thread is turning into a veritable goldmine, good topic idea.[/ooc]
Good points... aren't religion and economics just shades of politics anyway? ;)
(or maybe I'm just a cynic!)
I agree that organizations are very good ways to get characters involved. One thing that I am currently doing in my F2F game is having the PC's build the organization. Currently they are in the money gathering stage. (I won't even go into how they are doing that.) They have already set some long term goals for the group. They need to look at short goals too, but that hasn't really occurred to them except for needing money. Next will probably be recruitment and the decision on how 'secret' they need to remain. It is interesting to see how they are building an city spanning (for now) organization.
I agree with all of the above.
My game has no classes. Just guilds, or as Tybalt calls them, factions. Churches, trading guilds, knighthoods, Bardic/skald guilds, artisan guilds, social guilds, the merc guilds, the Collegium Arcana, etc.
this from a recent post
[blockquote=Celtricia thread]Having mundane guilds, like Hemp & Greenlaw ropemakers, or the winfire traders, or the Teque Guild of travelers (Inn management and wagonmastery), also adds to the reality of the setting dramatically. Guildschool is predicated on involving chatracters in the tangled web of politics within these organizations. The Chruch of Chaos (jubilex) just decided secretly with some allies (the Church of the Straight Way (Belial), and the Church of the Whole (Kiminus))to ask the assistance of the Bone Knights (the Knights of Orcus the Guide) from Recum. They are staying at the Church of Chaos, and so all the members of that very Popular church are meeting them.[/blockquote]
Nothing, and I mean nothing, involves the PC's like a realized and intricate social/cultural system.
Now, in D20 or any system, the first thing to do is to look at the very micro system. Take a town. Say with 500 inhabitants. How many full scale churches is this going to support? 250 people in town, 250 in the outskirts, so maybe 2 full churches and a couple small shrines. Define those first. What shade of the religion? What nuance? what kind of person worships there and why?
(The Church of the Autumn Harvest (Amrist) and the Church of the Green Mother (Vernidale) are popular farming town churches in my area)
Next, look at what exports and business' the town has. Why is the town there? There will be some mercantile/trading organizations, sometimes based on this. Tese people will have money and will be either involved in the government or they will be the government. Someone already mentioned that these are all just shades of politcs. In my Miston gaming group, there is Hemp& Greenlaw Ropers Guild, there is the huge Turniper farming commune (where the famous hero, Drono Biddlebee started from), Harald's Bowyery, Tall Woodsmen (who are mainly Klaxik (dwarves)), etc.
Next, look at every other class you want to have available. Miston has the Silvered Note Skalds, an outpost of the multinational Collegium Arcana, Vicol the Artificer (who actually opened the local collegium Arcana, then left...bad blood, good conflict :D as someone else mentioned), and the Order of Stenron has a fledgling outpost, as well.
That's a good way to start building (and this is just a start) every town social setting.
I hope that was some help, and not just blather :blah:
Quote from: Luminous CrayonI am of the opinion that writing a few compelling organizations is one of the strongest ways to get players involved with a setting. Organizations give players something to connect to that is larger in scope than individuals, they help make a world feel unified, and they provide fertile soil in which plot hooks can grow. As a best-case scenario, you may get your characters (or perhaps even their players) to feel a fierce pride in the organizations they belong to, or a searing fear or hatred towards antagonistic groups.
Problem is, writing organizations seems to be a weakness of mine. So I'd like to work to improve it, and I thought I'd ask how you all approach this issue mentally.
This an exapmle of a murdered thread. It had such promise, and then snuffed out. Thread killer, yes I am.
There are a number of ways to approach factions, guilds, gangs, cliques, cabals, fraternities, etc. in a game world.
1) Let the real world inspire you: In my world of Tera, the Emperor of the Teran Empire has twice been overthrown by someone who established a new dynasty. In the real world, when one royal family displaces another, there is usually a loyalist faction, like the Jacobites of the British Isles who are loyal to the Stuart dynasty rather than the current royal family. That's where my Axes of Flint/ Knives of Iron came from.
I'm starting to develop some sort of organization roughly analogous to the Skull & Bones of the real world because it strikes me as an interesting sort of thing.
2) Consider magic in a fantasy setting or ultra-tech in an SF world: In a D&D world, magic ought to be rather more available than it seems to be in the real world. This ought to have an impact on the world. That's where the Persephone Cabal comes from.
[spoiler=My Organizations]Power Groups
Political Groups
Ruber Sinistra
The Emperor of the Human Empire's Red Left Hand. Government assassins and thugs. This is one possible "guild" for 1st-edition-type assassins. I would consider allowing Lawful Neutral assassins as well as the standard Evil assassins in this guild.
The existence of this group has long been denied oficially by the Emperor, but almost all have had a use for it at one time or another. They are treated by the common folk almost as boogey-men: "Watch out or the Ruber Sinistra will find you."
Axes of Flint/ Knives of Iron
Most subjects of the Human Empire treat a changeover in dynasty as just one of those things. Most Imperial usrupations are quiet and less bloody than one would expect; usually, the would-be Emperor just kills the current Emperor and then takes The Artifacts of Rulership, leaving the Imperial family almost entirely unharmed. This means there are legitimate Flint and Iron claimants to the throne still extent.
Organizations have arisen around these heirs roughly anologous to the Jacobite movement of Great Britain or the alleged Priori de Sion of France. Mostly they just amount to so much conspiratorial muttering and allegorical leaflets, nothing much of importance. One time, though, they succeeded beyond all their wildest hopes and killed a Steel Emperor (Cestus). Unfortunatley for them, they didn't get his son (Gladius II), who was much more dangerous to them than Cestus ever had been.
Criminal Organizations
The Yakuza
A traveller from a different world upon hearing of the Yakuza said: "What's a halfling gangster going to do to me? Kick me in the shins?"
His body was found in his room at the inn the next day, stabbed 1,000 times. His room was locked from the inside at the time and no one ever saw the halfling who must have heard his disparaging remark.
The Yakuza are real. The Yakuza's reach stretches everywhere. Fear them.
The Yakuza are a "guild" for halfling thieves and assassins.
The Coin Street Irregulars
On the Street of Coins in Tera Prima is a tavern named The King of Coins. It's a normal-looking tavern in between Trader Robard's Discount Emporium and The Wily Alchemist Shoppe. In the back room, Four-Fingers Lucky Lefty Smashfist, an aged half-ogre former kneebreaker, holds court.
Smashfist is uncommonly agile-minded for his race; many suspect a God Pool figures in his history somewhere. Every young thug, thief, knife-for-hire, and dealer in goods-of-questionable-origin of the neighborhood pays him tribute in cash or pays the much harsher price in blood later.
Smashfist and his "organization" is somewhere between tolerated and beloved by the locals. Most figure if it wasn't him it would be someone worse. His "protection" services do actually provide a measure of protection greater than the watch can. His quick, easy, and accessible loans, although often leading to trouble, almost as often prevent worse trouble.
Another thieve's/assassin's guild.
Sword Street Boys
Some young punks think Smashfist is too greedy and controlling. They have set up a rival organization based out of an abandoned warehouse on The Street of Swords.
Yet another thieve's/ assassin's guild, but this is the last one, really.
Religious Organizations
Children of the Star of the Morning
It befits, Lucifer, God of Freedom and Rebellion to not have an actual organized church. It's also fitting for those that do feel some affection for the Morning Star to ocasionally band together to cause bigger trouble.
This group has no hierarchy and no in charge because such rigidity would be anathema to the Star of the Morning. The Children have no membership roster and no initiation rite. You are a Child of the Morning's Star when you cause the powers that be some kind of trouble.
The group includes terrorists, bandits, pamphleteers, rabble-rousers, and anyone else who gives "the man" some headache.
The Persephone Cabal
Although a barbarian by birth, Gladius was a major supporter of the Temple of Hades. Some within the upper echelons of the Temple of Hades want him back. Resurrection magic is not unknown, but Gladius presents a special case because his remains have never been found and his actual name and birthplace is unknown. This make resurrection a bit trickier.
The Persephone Cabal is the group of priests trying to find a way to bring Gladius back. They named themselves after the wife of Hades, which they see as a metaphor for the Emperor's proper role.[/spoiler]
I'm going to reinforce what the others have said and say that for me, looking at the existing setting is always the first step. Say I've alluded to a large amount of trade going between two port towns, food going one way, and weapons coming back.
Right there I've got the beginnings of at least four organizations. The guys who grow the food, the guys who ship the merchandise, the guys who make the weapons, and the guy who mines the ore for the guys who make the weapons. Give each of them a rival, and you've got eight.
I've got the problem of my organizations blossoming out of control, rather than not being able to think up enough.
The best way to define an organization is to model them around three focused ideas:
faith
politics
economics
As an exercise, try drumming up three specific organizations that each focus on one of those ideas. Define how they're interconnected, whether they have affiliation with one another and enimity with the others. From there, devise suborganizations (perhaps rivaling factions within the original organization).