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Old 09-28-2017, 04:04 PM   #1
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default What details for organizations *must* you have?

So I'm getting ready to do some writing on my campaign's various groups. I'm going to be using Matt's amazing GURPS Boardrooms and Curia to get a good chunk of the nitty gritty details - but what I want to know is as a player, GM, or just reader of a book what sort of details do you like to know?

Thanks for anyone that chimes in.
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Old 09-28-2017, 04:18 PM   #2
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

Boardroom and Curia does a good job of listing out the info and giving ideas.
Some things I care about....
  • Culture
  • Unique and significant flavor details
  • Key NPCs such as relavant Department Heads and some useful NPCs
  • Overall Size and comparision to similar organizations
  • A key competitor
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Old 09-28-2017, 08:59 PM   #3
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

Speaking as a GM:

Name
Directive/Motive/Goal/Relevance*
Means
Size/Capacity

These are things I have to know. The rest tend to come out in play, though sometimes I will have a notion of Culture, Hierarchy, Allies, and Enemies... but just as often not.



* Often this is pretty much all one thing, but some times not. Sometimes their Directive (public facing Goals), Goals (true goals), Motives (why they are together/why they are on their path), and Relevance (why they matter to the Players or Plot) clash.
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Old 09-28-2017, 09:03 PM   #4
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post
So I'm getting ready to do some writing on my campaign's various groups. I'm going to be using Matt's amazing GURPS Boardrooms and Curia to get a good chunk of the nitty gritty details - but what I want to know is as a player, GM, or just reader of a book what sort of details do you like to know?

Thanks for anyone that chimes in.
A good general text description. Stat blocks are fine for conveying numbers when I need those but needing to reverse engineer a stat block into a section of text myself is not welcome.
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Old 09-28-2017, 09:21 PM   #5
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

I find that Boardroom & Curia gives a number of useful ideas. Mostly, I've found the Mission Statement portion and Notable Resources details highly relevant, as those give ideas on what the organization is for and capable of. You don't need to give hard and fast numbers for membership in an org unless it's very small; most orgs have room for the PCs to interact with only a handful of NPCs. You don't need to stat out the upper echelons of the org if the PCs are only going to be dealing with a businessman front; think of how the Shadows in Babylon 5 operated through a handful of human and Centauri agents.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
A good general text description. Stat blocks are fine for conveying numbers when I need those but needing to reverse engineer a stat block into a section of text myself is not welcome.
I second this idea. B&C gives at least a page of fluff text alongside the stat block in their example organizations, much the same way City Stats does. Personally, I'd work from the fluff text and build the stat block from that rather than the other way around.
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Old 09-28-2017, 10:11 PM   #6
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

I only really care about what it can DO. The Pulling Ranks sample assistance, the information in Back to School about what universities provide, the similar stuff in DF Guilds. All that is the most important player-facing information. A budget and facilities (ahem,...Lairs), cities and locations, etc. is next.
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Old 09-29-2017, 03:40 AM   #7
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

I like to note as much as possible about the commonalities that the members have. e.g. "All members are recruited from physics courses in university" or "While not necessarily from old money, the members are from aristocratic backgrounds and generally inherit their positions"
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Old 09-29-2017, 10:52 AM   #8
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Default Re: What details for organizations *must* you have?

No company is a monolith. I love to see the main conflicts between the different key NPC or "departments"
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