New Uses for Administration

[Pursuivant]

While I presume that the various Social Engineering supplements cover uses of Administration skill in more depth, here are my house rules which might cover aspects of the skill which those books do not.

It's always been my impression that Administration is an "unloved" skill, taken at minimal levels as a "color" or "background" skill. Certainly, the write-up in the Basic Set treats it that way.

In reality, "Amateurs think in terms of tactics, professionals think in terms of logistics."

Dealing With Bureaucracy: A successful Administration roll gives you a reaction bonus equal to ¼ your margin of skill (minimum 1), when dealing with bureaucrats on a professional basis or gives you an idea of the best approach to dealing with a bureaucrat or a bureaucracy.

Delegating Authority: For routine tasks in a large and stable bureaucracy, Administration can substitute for Finance, Leadership, Market Analysis, Merchant, Politics, Propaganda or Strategy, as long as the organization itself has people who have the relevant skills at a level equal or better than your level of Administration skill.

Identifying Areas of Responsibility: A successful roll also lets you recall which part of a familiar bureaucracy has control over which functions within the organization, or allows you to identify or predict administrative departments within an unfamiliar organization.

Managing Large Projects: A successful Administration roll gives you an idea of the amount of labor and resources required to achieve a particular goal, as well as the general type of workers and resources needed to bring a particular project to completion.

For many projects, however, your effective Administration skill cannot exceed your ability with the skill needed to actually plan the project. For example, if you a charged with getting a dam built, your Administration skill cannot exceed your Engineering (Civil) skill, or if you are charged with organizing an advertising campaign, your Administration skill is limited by your Propaganda skill.

The exception is that if you have people in the organization who have the required technical skills, a successful Administration skill roll allows you to delegate authority to them, and supervise their work. In such cases, your Administration skill roll cannot exceed your delegate’s skill, though.

Furthermore, the GM should roll in secret against your delegate’s technical skill. If they fail their roll, he can apply a penalty to double their margin of failure to your Administration skill roll. If your subordinate’s work is bad, your plan is likely to fail, too!

A failed Administration roll when supervising a large project causes problems for the people carrying out the work or causes delays in completing the project. The worse the failure, the worse the problems. For example, if you fail your roll when supervising the construction of a dam, construction might be delayed because you failed to follow the proper regulations, because you obtained insufficient funding to complete the project on time, or because you hired an insufficient number of workers.

A successful Administration roll identifies and possibly removes potential problems which stand in the way of completing the project. At the GM’s option, success might give a small bonus to other skill required to complete the project. For example, if you’re building a dam, success might allow you to identify lands which will be inundated by the dam in the early planning stages, allowing you plenty of time to deal with the political and social problems which will inevitably arise.

Modifiers: -1 or more if you are dealing with an unfamiliar bureaucracy; -1 or more if you are attempting to manage an unfamiliar project; -1 or more if you are dealing with an organization which basically hostile or suspicious (either towards you in particular, or to the world in general), +1 or more if you are dealing with an organization which is basically helpful and trusting, or which has a vested interest in giving you what you want.

At the GM’s option, successful use of Law, Politics, Savoir-Faire or any other appropriate skill might give you a bonus to Administration skill. Typically such bonuses will be no more than one quarter to one half your margin of success with the “helping” skill roll, however.

[Pursuivant]

Administration Techniques

Bribery
Average
Defaults: Administration-3, Fast-Talk-3, Law Enforcement-3, Merchant-3, Politics-3, Streetwise-3, Savior-Faire-3. Other defaults are possible. Cannot exceed default skill +4.


This is the technique of persuading people to act in your favor by giving them illicit payments.

A successful Bribery roll allows you to determine if a person’s loyalty can be bought, and gives you an idea of as to what type and value of bribe is appropriate to a particular situation.

Your technique also allows you to propose giving your subject a bribe without offending or alarming your subject. Success means you are able to propose a bribe in a socially acceptable fashion. At this point, you can attempt to use any appropriate Influence skill (typically Diplomacy or Merchant), but with a bonus to your margin of success with your Bribery technique.

Failure means that your Bribery attempt is rebuffed, or your bribe is insufficient. If you change your approach, the GM might allow you to try again, although you have a cumulative penalty equal to your margin of failure with previous Bribery attempts when making additional attempts to bribe the same person.

Failure by 4 or more means that your Bribery attempt was rebuffed outright and your subject must make a new Reaction Roll towards you at -2 to the die roll. Critical failure means that your subject reacts to you at -4, and either rejects your bribe in no uncertain terms, or pretends to play along with the intent of bilking you or setting you up to be arrested.

Note that what constitutes a bribe depends on your subject and the situation, and need not be a simple offer of cash. In particular, direct bribery attempts are likely to fail if your target is wealthy or makes a pretense of being honest or ethical. For example, a nosy reporter might be offended if you offered him cash, but he might react favorably if you offered to take him to lunch at an expensive restaurant or set him up with a lead on a hot story.

Modifiers: Penalties for cultural unfamiliarity. -2 if you are dealing with an unfamiliar organization or type of person. -1 or more if your subject’s background or situation discourages him from accepting bribes. -1 or more if your bribery attempt is likely to be discovered and it is likely to cost your subject his job, or otherwise cause him problems if found out.

+1 or more if it is socially acceptable for your subject to accept bribes. +1 or more if taking a bribe is unlikely to cause problems for the subject. -1 or more if you are asking the subject to overlook a serious offense on your part. +1 if you offer a bribe equal to 10% or more of your subject’s monthly income, +2 if you if you offer a bribe equal to 50% or more of your subject’s monthly income, +3 if you offer 100% of your subject’s monthly income, +4 for 50% of your subject’s yearly income, or +5 if you offer the equivalent of a year’s income.

-1 if your subject has a quirk which interferes with his ability to take a bribe (e.g., Honesty at quirk level) or -5 if he has disadvantages which prevent him from taking an outright or obvious bribe.

Event Planning/TL
Average
Defaults: Administration. Cannot exceed Administration+4.

Event planning covers the techniques involved in planning any activity which will attract large crowds of people to a particular location, such as a political rally, convention or entertainment spectacle.

A successful Event Planning roll allows you to anticipate the size of crowd your event will draw and plan accordingly. It also lets you know what facilities and services will be required, and in what quantity, in order to make the gathering a success.

Failure means that something goes awry – the worse the failure, the worse the problems. Critical failure means that someone gets hurt, the event fails due to some organizational problem, you encounter legal problems, or all three.

Modifiers: -2 for each order of magnitude beyond 100 people (i.e., -2 for 1,000, -4 for 10,000, -6 for 100,000), -1 for each day the event will last beyond the first, -1 or more if the infrastructure surrounding the event venue is inadequate for the anticipated crowds (e.g., holding a massive concert in a rural area with few roads and facilities to handle visitors), -1 or more for an outdoor event, -1 or more if the crowd is likely to be hostile or otherwise highly emotional.

Logistics/TL
Average
Defaults: Administration. Cannot exceed Administration+4.

Logistics covers the techniques of moving people and supplies from place to place, designing shipping networks, and managing fleets of vehicles to best advantage. It also covers "supply chain management," knowing how many goods of a particular type are likely to be needed for a given purpose. At the GM’s option, you might need to specialize by the type of vehicle used to ship your cargo (e.g., Ships, Railroads, Trucks, Airplanes, FTL Spaceships). A skill such as Freight Handling or Hazardous Materials might be needed to properly store such goods, or to plan required storage areas.

A successful Logistics roll gives you an idea of the number and type of supplies a given group of people might require over a given period of time or while performing a particular activity. Alternately, it can be used to estimate of the vehicles required to move a particular volume of cargo (or number of people) to a particular location and gives you an idea of how long the transport operation it is likely to take given the volume to be transported and the likely state of the transport network between the starting point and the destination.

A successful roll also allows you to position your transport fleet to best handle the cargo it carries, or to reposition your fleet to avoid delays due to increased cargo volume, bad weather or other problems.

Failure means that you make a mistake in estimating the amount of transport required, the time required to ship the cargo, or both. This in turn causes problems for the people who operate your transport network, and those who rely on it.

In a military context, it means that the forces you supply face shortages of vital equipment and supplies, giving a penalty to the overall commander’s Strategy skill rolls, and possibly to his subordinate commander’s Operations or Tactics rolls. The worse your margin of failure, the worse the problems.

Note that Logistics just covers the details of getting people and goods from point A to point B safely and quickly, while making sure that the vehicles which carry them are available in sufficient quantities and in proper running condition. It doesn’t cover maintenance or operation of the vehicles involved, the storage nor handling of supplies. Nor does it cover making a profit on the goods your vehicles transport.

Organizational Structure †
Average
Defaults: Administration. Cannot exceed Administration+4.

Organizational structure represents familiarity with the details of a single large organization. In some ways it overlaps the Area Knowledge and Savoir-Faire skills.

A successful Organizational Structure roll lets you recall which department is in charge of a particular organizational function, and the exact protocols needed to deal with them on a professional basis. A successful roll also allows you to identify the people who work in a particular department, and perhaps recall their personalities, interests and habits. Finally, you can use your technique to identify the “quirks” and “personality” of each administrative unit within the organization, possibly giving you a bonus to Politics or Savoir Faire skill when dealing with various factions within the organization.

[Refplace]

Dealing With Bureaucracy:

I would stick with the +1 or +2 on a critical success given in Social Engineering.

Delegating Authority: Should be based on Rank, not Admin skill.
I would just use Pulling Rank here.

Identifying Areas of Responsibility: Sounds good to me.

Managing Large Projects: Sounds good to, the appropriate skill should also be complimentary.

As for the skill cap that also works for me, at least on large projects. Seen enough incompetent admins get in the way of things on projects or even teams.


[QUOTE=Pursuivant;2180965]Administration Techniques


Event Planning/TL
Average
Defaults: Administration. Cannot exceed Administration+4.

Hmm determining crowd size seems more like another skill, though helping the event go smoothly is perfect.



Organizational Structure †
Average
Defaults: Administration. Cannot exceed Administration+4.


I'm fine with this one too.
A lot of this is addressed in Social Engineering, though a supplement to it could benefit from some of your ideas in these two threads.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Delegating Authority: Should be based on Rank, not Admin skill.
I would just use Pulling Rank here.

On the contrary, I feel like knowing how to effectively use underlings is a skill, and, in GURPS, Administration is the most relevant one. The trope of a boss without the ability to properly direct and utilize his employee's skills is common in fiction and all too common in reality, and, if the boss doesn't have that ability, promoting him to a higher rank won't make him any better at it. I would use Rank as the basis for determining how high the available underling skill-levels are.

[TGLS]

Here's a compromise (Underlined my changes)

Delegating Authority: For routine tasks in a large and stable organization, Administration can substitute for any skill, as long as you have subordinates who have the relevant skill(s). Use the lower of your Administration and the average subordinate's skill.

[ericthered]

Administration currently sees a lot of love in my campaign, as its about city management. Thoughts on the suggestions:


Dealing With Bureaucracy:
Administration contains within it Savior-Faire (Bureaucratic). Use it as an influence skill, no additional rules required.


Delegating Authority:
I agree with almost all of this. I wouldn't allow leadership to be substituted. The play between administration and leadership is not really separable, and it makes for a good character building dilemma, because talents with both leadership and administration tend to be 10 points a level or more, so you generally pick one. Leadership requires that you appear in control, while administration requires that you actually be in control. Also, if its just one person making that roll, don't bother with administration. That's his roll.

[Not]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Administration currently sees a lot of love in my campaign, as its about city management. Thoughts on the suggestions:


Dealing With Bureaucracy:
Administration contains within it Savior-Faire (Bureaucratic). Use it as an influence skill, no additional rules required.


Delegating Authority:
I agree with almost all of this. I wouldn't allow leadership to be substituted. The play between administration and leadership is not really separable, and it makes for a good character building dilemma, because talents with both leadership and administration tend to be 10 points a level or more, so you generally pick one. Leadership requires that you appear in control, while administration requires that you actually be in control. Also, if its just one person making that roll, don't bother with administration. That's his roll.

The Organization Man could be a Talent.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Here's a compromise (Underlined my changes)

Delegating Authority: For routine tasks in a large and stable organization, Administration can substitute for any skill, as long as you have subordinates who have the relevant skill(s). Use the lower of your Administration and the average subordinate's skill.

This is a nice change. Thanks!