Organization Rules!
King Arthur. Joan of Arc. Tokugawa Ieyasu. These are the kind of people that Exalted is meant to emulate. Kings and Queens and leaders who achieved great things and went down in history. But the rules for running a large group in exalted are not very good. So I've decided to make my own. Hopefully, these rules should allow your group to simulate the running of an Empire, or any organization, without things getting too complicated.
Overview
How are we defining an Organization? What groups are these rules meant to emulate? For the purpose of these rules, an Organization is any group of people united in a common cause. That cause could be "Serve the Scarlet Empress" or it could be "Reform the Immaculate Faith" or it could be "Give every child a toy", but they must have some cause which unites them and changes them from a series of individuals into an Organization.
Each Organization is treated as its own character, with its own character sheet. This character sheet should contain its attributes and abilities, important characters within the organization as well as who leads it (usually a player).
A Character may never be the leader of an Organization whose magnitude is greater than twice her (Intelligence + Bureaucracy). While she may be in a position which gives her
de jure control of a larger group, she simply lacks the ability and apparatus of state to control anything larger.
If a character does end up in a situation where she is the leader of a group larger than she can control, have the player pick out a group or series of groups within the larger organization which she can control and have this marked down as the
actual Organization she controls, regardless of whatever title she may have. Example subgroups could be a political party in a larger nation, a religious movement inside a larger religious group, or the police of a city. Should she wish to command members of the Organization which she does not control, then she will have to convince them just as she would if she was not their leader, though her title may well give her an intimacy to work off of.
In cases where a character is initially not skilled enough to control the entire group, then she only pays XP for the group she actually controls. By the same token however, she may not gain control of the larger group simply by raising her stats. She must pay XP or go on a quest for control as norma;l.
SIDEBAR: Example of Play
Invincible Sword Princess (ISP) just became Queen of a small Island. But her (Intelligence + Bureaucracy) pool is 4, and so she can only control 5000 people. This is less than the total population of her Kingdom. She chooses to make her Organization her Captial city and pays XP accordingly even as she assumes the title of Queen. If she wants any of her Nobles to obey her, she will simply have to use her persuasive powers and larger military to keep them in line!
Attributes
An organization has 6 attributes which it uses for rolls, instead of the usual 9. These are:
Diplomacy:
This is a measure of the Organization's ability to convince other Organizations and perform mass social attacks. It is used for diplomacy, propaganda political reforms. If the organization is trying to convince someone, use this ability. It is associated with Performance.
Might:
This is a measure of an Organization's military might. It represents its ability to raise armies, fight wars and raid enemies. If the Organization is trying to do physical harm to another person or place, use this. It is associated with War.
Learning:
This represents the Organization's knowledge and research ability. It is used to develop spells, redirect dragonlines and educate its populace. If you are trying to do something which requires knowledge to achieve, use this. This stat also includes engineering and other public works, such as the creation of new fertile land or the building of a monument. It is associated with Occult and Lore.
Intrigue:
This represents the Organization's ability to gather information and perform sabotage. Spies, assassins and saboteurs fall under its purview. If you are trying to do something clandestine, use this. It is associated with Larceny and Investigation.
Resources:
This represents how rich an Organization is. All Organizations are assumed to be self-sufficient, and so this does not take into account the normal day to day upkeep of the Organization. This instead represents wealth the Organization has over and above what it needs to run.
This stat may be used to increase the rating of any other Attribute at a ratio of 2 Resources for 1 of any other attribute. This bypasses the need to spend XP, but not the training time required to raise that stat. It doesn't matter whether you are hiring mercenaries, buying books or bribing spies, raising an attribute takes time.
Reverting these attributes takes half again as much time as it took to raise them.
Each attribute is rated 1 through 6 as follows
* The Organization can Operate on the level of a small town or equivalent
** The Organization can operate on the level of a large City.
*** The Organization can Operate on the level of a City-State
**** The Organization can Operate on the level of a Small Nation
***** The Organization can Operate on the International Stage. It is a large and powerful nation. When it speaks, others listen.
****** The Organization rivals the Realm in Power and Prestige.
Abilities
When rolling a Project, the player must choose a person to lead it. The roll uses that person's relevant abilities for the (Attribute + Ability) score.
Getting things done
An Organization accomplishes a task in three stages.
- The player decides what Project they want to accomplish. This could be raising an army, assaulting a city or opening new trade routes.
- The player decides who will lead this project. This Character, referred to as the Project Leader, provides the ability rating for the task.
- The Organization rolls the relevant (Attribute + Ability) against a difficulty decided by the ST, with more successes. The ST should tell the player how long the project will take, as well as it's difficulty. A Project should never be shorter than a week in length.
Project Leaders
There are no limits as to who can be chosen as Project Leader, assuming the Player can get them to agree to perform that task. The Player's Character
is a valid Project leader, if they can devote the time to such a large scale endeavor.
Once someone has begun work on a project, they are indisposed, and may not be used for other tasks without ending the Project as a failure. These characters may still be around and can be interacted with, but they do not have the time to perform any additional work without ruining the project.
Multiple Projects
An Organization
may engage in multiple projects at once. Each project needs it's own Project leader however, and these suffer multiple action penalties as normal.
Example Projects
Sidebar:
Note that several of these Projects involve raising an Organization's attributes, or otherwise improving it. Such improvements do not require XP to purchase but, like any background earned in play, the Player should spend XP on them if they want to prevent them from being taken away.
For ease of use, such an XP cost has been listed.
Raising Attributes:
Time: (Desired Attribute Rating *4) Years
XP: (Desired Attribute Rating *10)
This can be anything from purchasing better equipment for your army to hiring teachers revise your educational curriculum.
Note: An attribute can only be raised one dot at a time. You cannot jump straight from Might 1 to Might 5.
Conquest:
Time: Varies
XP: Equal to the cost of buying the conquered Organization as a background
Difficulty: Varies
Roll: Might + War
The time this takes will vary by the size of the area being conquered. Generally, every city will take at least a month to conquer, before factoring in travel time, and well-defended cities will take even longer.
Phenomenal success may reduce the time this takes, representing a daring stratagem which bypasses the cities defences.
Areas larger than a city should be handled using multiple rolls.
Building a Grand Library:
Time: Varies
XP: Varies
Difficulty: 3
Roll: Learning + Lore
Building a New City:
Time: Varies
XP: Varies
Difficulty: 7
Roll: Learning + Lore
Getting an Organization
Most Organizations will be acquired in play. However, Organizations can be bought as backgrounds, and Players may wish to do so in order to start play already running an Organization. Players may also purchase Organizations with XP in order to make them permanent parts of their character sheet. While purchased Organizations may still be lost to the vagaries of fate (or the ST's machinations) such things should be rare and handled with Player consent, and all lost XP should be refunded.
The XP cost of an Organization is equal the cost of all it's Attributes combined.
The Importance of Information and Travel Time
The world of Exalted is a large one, and it deliberately avoids travel shorteners such as teleportation. Travel is important in exalted, and these rules aim to honour that. When performing a Project, make sure to also account for the travel time such an endeavour would require. When ordering a general in a far off city to go to war, remember that he has to recieve the order first, and add that to the time it takes for him to complete his task.
Similarly, the player should not be aware of everything that happens to her organization as it happens, barring charm use. She should be receiving reports and information days or even weeks after it has occurred.
