Last week we looked at the overall use of organisations and the role that they play in the Star Wars Galaxy. Every organisation, whether a mercenary group or a fully fledged government, has its own set of both strengths and weaknesses. To a game master, developing their own series of groups to pit against their player characters can seem like a huge undertaking. Like NPCs, a game master is better served with a small stat block to allow them to spend time progressing the story rather than having to concern themselves with generating even more NPCs. These rules aim to mirror that of the NPC stat block.
In these rules an organisation has six attributes – namely Hostility, Intelligence, Size, Notoriety, Influence and Resources. Each attribute ranges in value from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 6. Each attribute represents the overall abilities of the organisation to deal with situations it encounters, and how it responds to those who interact with its members.
HOSTILITY
The Hostility rating of the organisation determines how quickly the organisation and its members are to fight, or how aggressively they carry out their business. Table 1-2: Hostility Range lists an organisation’s Casualty Break Point. This is an indication of how many casualties an organisation will take in a given conflict before they disengage, and can best be described as its morale. The average members of the organisation may stand alongside each other in a fight, but if you murder, intimidate and otherwise demoralize enough of them, the group will flee, surrender or in extreme cases, change sides completely. As an example, a group of well-motivated, blood-thirsty pirates, experienced Rebel specforces or Imperial Army might take 40-50% casualties before fleeing the conflict (Hostility 4), while security guards and police might only take 25-30% casualties before withdrawing (Hostility 3). Casualties of this type include members who have been stunned into unconsciousness, reduced to 0 strain from a social battering in negotiations and those who have been successfully intimidated.
These percentages are only a guideline for the game master as not every group fights to the death, primarily due to its motivations. An example may be where a Rival level NPC with Leadership tries to convince the group’s members to continue the conflict or attempt to call in reinforcements in a timely manner. As would be expected, some organisations ignore this Casualty Break Point rule such as Stormtroopers or members of Compforce. Hostility can also be viewed as to what extent an organisation will go to in order to acquire its goals. Organisations with a Hostility rating of 3 or more may be actively predatory in that they will go out of their way to obtain what they want with some type of force; however those between rating 3 and 4 may use violence as a secondary option if they’ve not been able to resolve the issue with other resources at their disposal.
For example Black Sun might decide to leverage on their other attributes such as Notoriety and Size first to resolve a conflict by simple intimidation tactics. If that fails, they can resort to thuggery and actual violence to get the desired result. Conversely, a Gamorrean Mercenary group may be lacking in “street smarts” (Intelligence), completely disorganised and without allies to call upon. However there may be a lot more of them (Size) and they resolve problems with violence first time, every time. The question of morality however is something that it not covered under the organisation’s Hostility trait. This “flexibility” of violence will be mentioned mostly under the organisation’s description or left entirely to the game master’s discretion. The scores for Hostility range from 1 through 6, the description of which can be found on Table 2: Hostility Range.
| TABLE 1-2: HOSTILITY RANGE | ||
| Range | Description | Casualty Break Point |
| 1 | Peaceful | None |
| 2 | Semi-Peaceful | 10-15% |
| 3 | Thugs | 20-30% |
| 4 | Cut-throats | 40-60% |
| 5 | Murderers | 75-80% |
| 6 | Crazed Killers | 90-100% |
INTELLIGENCE
The Intelligence rating describes how quickly information can flow through the company, if the organisation is intelligence driven or if its members tend to be more reactive and gullible. The Intelligence rating is also a good indication of how quickly an organisation can react to a threat based on the information it can acquire from its scouts and spy networks, as well as an idea of the overall skill of the organisation. The Intelligence rating of an organisation is one of two attributes that determine the number of skills the organisation possesses, with the other being Size.
The scores for Intelligence range from 1 through 6, the description of which can be found on Table 3: Intelligence Range.
| TABLE 1-3: INTELLIGENCE RANGE | ||
| Range | Description | Coordination |
| 1 | Below Average | Scattered |
| 2 | Average | Disorganised |
| 3 | Above Average | Organised |
| 4 | Superior | Well-Organised |
| 5 | Extra-Ordinary | Focused |
| 6 | Genius | Single-Minded |
SIZE
The Size rating of the organisation is one of the most important, and a true indication of how wide-spread the organisation is. An organisation with a low Size rating will likely be a small group of individuals, whilst an organisation with a high Size score can be spread across the entire galaxy. The Size of the organisation is also an indication of what bonuses they provide to persons affiliated with them, or who are utilising their services in the organisations area of influence. Utilisation of such resources can be bought or bargained for, and game masters may consider such use a good opportunity to add to a character’s Obligation. The Size rating of the organisation is the second attribute which is used to determine how many skills an organisation has, the other being Intelligence. Size rating varies between 1 and 6 the description of which can be found on Table 4: Size Range.
| TABLE 1-4: SIZE RANGE | ||
| Range | Description | Bonus |
| 1 | Local/City |  |
| 2 | Planet Wide | |
| 3 | Sector Wide | |
| 4 | Multi Sector | Upgrade 1 |
| 5 | Region Wide | Upgrade 1 + |
| 6 | Galaxy Wide | Upgrade 2 |
NOTORIETY
An organisation can certainly benefit from being well-known in the galaxy. BlasTech or SoroSuub would not be the corporations they are without being the household name they are today, much in the same way that the mere mention of Black Sun caused any would-be criminal to quiver in their boots. An organisation’s Notoriety rating is a good representation of this, and plays an important role in an organisation’s ability to remain “under cover.” Organisations that have a low Notoriety are not known amongst the populace or are secretive to the point that they aim to achieve that level of mystery and subtlety. Those with higher ratings may be well-known for their focus on willful destruction and intimidation of targets, or for the products or services they provide.The scores for Notoriety range from 1 through 6, the description of which can be found on Table 5: Notoriety Range.
| TABLE 1-5: NOTORIETY RANGE | |
| Range | Description |
| 1 | Not well known |
| 2 | Known to a few |
| 3 | Known to many |
| 4 | Known to most |
| 5 | Known to all in a sector |
| 6 | Known to all in the galaxy |
INFLUENCE
An organisation’s Influence rating describes how well ingrained the organisation is in society and gives an indication of its connections with those in power. The higher the connection or rating, the more likelihood that the organisation can quickly call in favours, or have decisions made to benefit their own agendas. Organisations with a low Influence rating tend to be independent and can be difficult for some authorities to control. This is primarily because of the organisation’s code of behaviour (or lack thereof), and the fact that the organisation most likely cares little for authority or with those with whom they disagree.The scores for Influence range from 1 through 6, the description of which can be found on Table 6: Influence Range.
| TABLE 1-6: INFLUENCE RANGE | |
| Range | Description |
| 1 | No influence: No allies; Organisation is independent. |
| 2 | Some influence: Minor allies, beat cops, low ranking officials, etc. |
| 3 | Connected: Major allies, entire departments on a planetary scale, etc. |
| 4 | Influential: Highly important allies, Sector Moffs, Generals, Admirals, planetary administrators, etc. |
| 5 | Highly Influential: Major individuals of importance such as Grand Moffs, Grand Admirals, Leaders of Crime Syndicates, Rebel Alliance Leaders |
| 6 | Most Influential: The Emperor, Darth Vader, Mon Mothma, etc. |
RESOURCES
The Resources rating or an organisation describes how well equipped an organisation’s employees are, or the organisation’s ability to call upon specific resources at a moment’s notice. A low resourced organisation may be a street level gang, while a well-resourced organisation may be capable of maintaining or calling upon capital ships as required. The higher the Resources rating, the more likely an organisation is able to draw on large amounts of personnel with broad skill-sets such as lawyers or specialists such as well-known bounty hunters, merchants, spies or technicians. The scores for the organisation’s Resources rating range from 1 through 6, the description of which can be found on Table 7: Resource Range. Note that this chart provides game masters with the type of manpower that an organisation has access to quickly, along with the type of equipment that an organisation may be able to summon for their employees. This is modified by the Rarity Modifier for the world which the organisation is based.
| TABLE 1-7: RESOURCE RANGE | |||
| Range | Description | Encounters | Equipment Rarity |
| 1 | Ill-equipped | Minion Group | 1-2 or less |
| 2 | Equipped | Multiple Minion Groups | 2-4 or less |
| 3 | Well-Equipped | Multiple Minion Groups and one Rival | 4-5 or less |
| 4 | Wealthy | Multiple Minion Groups, Multiple Rivals and/or a single Nemesis | 5-7 or less |
| 5 | Rich | Multiple Minion Groups, Multiple Rivals and a single Nemesis | Rarity 7-8 or less |
| 6 | Unlimited | Multiple Minion Groups, Multiple Rivals and more than one Nemesis | 8-10 or less |
ORGANISATION SKILLS
Organisations operate in the same way individuals do, just on a greater scale. Each has its own unique specialties and its members usually take advantage of these from time to time, if they do not possess those skills themselves. Organisations in Edge of the Empire are given a set of skills to help the game master identify the types of individuals the organisation possesses as well as its skill focus. These skills usually link into the organisation’s motivations. An organisation has a number of ranks to spend on any skill. The number of ranks available is equal to its Size plus its Intelligence. It should be noted that this has no impact on the skills of individuals within an organisation, and is merely an arbitrary amount to give an indication to the game master the general knowledge base of an organisation as a whole. Next week we will look at how a game master can use the organisation’s attributes and skills and apply them to several encounters.
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