Over the past 2 weeks (part 1, part 2), we have seen what an organisation does in the overall scope of the Star Wars Galaxy, and what types of statistics we can use to present our organisations in order to make things easier on the GM. In our final look at organisations, we will look at how to use the statistics you have created in your games, provide you with a few “in-game” examples, and finally, present you with two example organisations to plug straight into your campaign.
USING THE ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS
Using the attributes of an organisation is the same as an opposed check between a character and an NPC. When determining which attributes to use, the game master should consider the interaction that is occurring between the player characters and the members of the organisation. Game masters should be mindful of how, when, where, why, and with whom the interaction is occurring. In order to conduct a check, the game master chooses one of the Organisation’s attributes that suits the strength of the circumstances in the encounter or scene.
Examples include:
- Running into a group of street thugs from a local gang after crossing their turf (Hostility)
- Trading secrets with a spy network (Intelligence)
- Making business arrangements with a product manufacturer (Size)
- Negotiating with a crime syndicate (Notoriety)
- Dealing with a corporation whose CEO is married to the Sector Moff’s daughter (Influence)
- Bargaining with the Rebel Alliance to help supply a local cell (Resources)
The game master may then use an organisation’s skills to upgrade the difficulty of the check, or in some cases, may also add boost or setback dice based on abilities granted to the organisation.
HOW TO USE ORGANISATIONS
The following is an example of how a game master can use the information of an organisation to provide a quick resolution and potential cinematic moments during a game. For the purpose of this segment, we will be using the organisation known as Angry Jaaks Street Gang. The gang has the following statistics:
ANGRY JAAKS STREET GANG
Area of the Operation: Corellia
Base of Operation: 42nd Street downtown
Leader: Angry Jaak
Type: Gang
Motivation: Extortion
Skills: Brawl 1, Coercion 1
Description: Downtown Corellia is not the place for the faint of heart. Angry Jaak, a Rodian mercenary, leads a group of thugs down on one of the lower levels of Corellia’s Capital. The gang is made of up local thugs and brutes, and they’re very intimidating to local passers-by and shop owners. The organisation has several security force member on their payroll, and they rarely take no for an answer. Jaak is a cunning individual and expects results from his employees. Unfortunately Jaak is renowned for being greedy, and so his gang members are not as well paid as most.
DOWNTOWN DILEMMA
The players wander into a lower part of Corellia in an attempt to track down an arms dealer. Unfortunately this leads them into an area they probably should have avoided – the turf of Angry Jaak’s Street Gang (see example).
The heroes consist of Ledala, a human trader; Karahara, a Wookiee mercenary; Ka’Cel, a Twi’lek performer; and K-3PO, their protocol droid. The group are approached by several of the gang members, the gang members offer some “protection” while the characters make their way through the area, and the heroes consider their options.
Meanwhile, the gang members insinuate that if they don’t agree to the “protection,” some terrible harm may befall “the pretty Twi’lek dancer” in the group. The gang has been very intimidating towards the locals of late, and when the shop-keepers see the commotion outside with the “strangers,” they quickly close and lock their doors, peering at the events in the streets through closed shutters and blinds. There’s not many gang members, and it’s quite obvious that besides their brutish strength, they’re not exactly “the sharpest needle in the medpac.”
BACK OFF!
The players decide to intimidate the gang and unleash their somewhat annoyed Wookiee mercenary at them with Brawn 3 and Coercion 3 providing a dice pool of 
. This would then be opposed by the Gang’s Hostility 4 with the gang’s Brawl 1 as the game master determines that they’re ready for “business”. This provides a total difficulty of 
. The check results in a roll of 
. The gang has been successfully thwarted, but with some consequences for the player characters.
In this case the Wookiee has successfully made the gang back off for now (), though he takes 1 personal strain due to the pressure of dealing with the thugs (). However, later that evening whilst the heroes are dining with their contacts, the gang comes back and spray-paints all manner of vulgar graffiti over the player character’s ship ().
LET’S TALK!
Ledala, the human trader decides that talking to the gang might be a little more productive than going in guns blazing. She hopes to have obtained some knowledge of the gang during her adventures or background in order to assist her in helping the heroes get past the thugs, and thereby continue on to their main objective.
Ledala has Intellect 3, Cunning 3 and the skills of Deception 2 and Streetwise 2. Ledala’s player chooses the character’s Intellect and Streetwise for the check, providing her with a dice pool of 
. The game master uses the gang’s Notoriety 2 as the base of the check to see what the character knows provides a difficulty of . Had the organisation possessed skills in Deception or perhaps Stealth, upgrades to this difficulty would have occurred. This was not the case, and the final result provides 
. Success!
The GM determines that Ledala knows a little about the gang and where they operate (), and Ledala’s player provides her character with a 
on the next roll when she tries to convince the gang members present that they’ve already been paid for their protection (). The second check, which will be Ledala’s attempt to deceive the gang will provide a dice pool of , based on Ledala’s Cunning 3 and Deception 2. Ledala also adds from her knowledge of the gang. The dice pool difficulty is established to be , based on the gang’s Intelligence 1.
Had the initial check resulted in a failure to gain any knowledge about the gang, the game master may represent this by using the gang’s Hostility 4 and Brawl 1 skill as the difficulty base for the second check instead. In this example however, Ledala’s second check results in 
which is another success. The game master and players interpret this result as Ledala gaining the trust of the gang (), gaining free protection through the area for the next 2 days () and that one of the gang members will kindly let the heroes know, via comlink, if anyone starts looking for them ().
AND…FIGHT!
The heroes are at the end of their tether, and have instead decided to rid downtown of this gang once and for all. While the gang will mostly be minions, the organisation has Resources 2 which should see them being able to lay their hands on at least a couple of groups of minions armed with more than their fists. Unfortunately, a Resources 2 would also mean that Rival and Nemesis level support would not be available.
The game master knows though that with Hostility 4, the gang will fight very hard and with very little provocation. With Influence 2, the gang is not likely to call the authorities on the characters, instead relying on their brute force to beat their new found enemies into submission.
YOU REBEL SCUM!
The local COMPNOR officer would like to buy into the gang’s resources in order to keep a lookout for a crew of mercenaries who have been plaguing the city for weeks. The agent believes, and rightly so, that the heroes have been smuggling spice offworld. The agent uses the gang mostly through an “arrangement” whereby some of the gang’s imprisoned members are released as a result of assisting the Empire with the COMPNOR Officer’s “inquiries.”
The organisation has a Size 1, and as a result, when the local Compforce begin combing the streets looking for the characters, the COMPNOR Officer can add to his efforts in searching for the heroes, as dirty street toughs keep their eyes open for suspected rebels. This might be opposed by the heroes’ highest Streetwise, Underworld or Stealth skills (with some modifiers if they’re disguised), whilst they lay low.
MAJOR ORGANISATIONS
So we have seen what a small street level organisation might look like, and hopefully you will have a good grasp on the way these rules can be applied to enhance the narrative, and make for an even more interesting story for your campaign. It would be remiss of me to not add some further organisations into the mix, in particular larger organisations that can be used in your campaigns. Enjoy!
BLACK SUN
Area of the Operation: Galaxy
Base of Operation: Coruscant
Leader: Xizor
Type: Criminal syndicate
Motivation: Control the galaxy from the shadows
Skills: Coercion 3, Negotiation 1, Streetwise 3, Underworld 3
Description: Black Sun was formed at the end of the Great Galactic War over 3500 years ago. Since Black Sun was formed, the organisation held an unprecedented amount of reach and influence, extending its tendrils of corruption deep into the various galactic governments it has existed side by side with. This is a tactic that the organisation has continued to utilise to survive. The majority of its infamy comes from its involvement in piracy and smuggling, but smuggling is just the tip of the iceberg of this galaxy-wide organization.
Black Sun is involved in every known type of illegal activity; its information networks surpass even the accuracy and scope of Imperial Intelligence. The resources available to Black Sun rival those belonging to a large planetary army. The organisation is led by a single individual called the Underlord. Below this rank, the organisation consists of nine Vigos, each of which rules over his or her own territory and sector. These positions change frequently as with any criminal organisation, as individuals of lower rank vie for power. Since the Supreme Chancellor declared himself the Emperor, Black Sun has been led by the human Dal Perhi. Perhi’s mantle was later usurped by a Falleen Black Sun captain named Xizor who would later lead Black Sun to unparalleled prestige and was considered by some to be surpassed in power only by Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader.
SIENAR FLEET SYSTEMS
Area of the Operation: Core Worlds
Base of Operation: Lianna (HQ)
Leader: Raith Sienar and Valles Santhe
Type: Industrial Starship Manufacturer
Motivation: Profit
Skills: Mechanics 2, Negotiation 1, Warfare 2
Description: Originally Republic Sienar Systems, Sienar Fleet Systems (SFS), along with Kuat Drive Yards (KDY) and the Corellian Engineering Corporation, is one of the major suppliers of military vessels for the Galactic Empire: whereas KDY was famous for designing the massive Star Destroyers, SFS was best-known as the supplier of the small, yet deadly TIE fighters. SFS also was responsible for the creation of the massive I-a2b solar ionization reactor that powered the Imperial-class Star Destroyer and dictated the size and design of its mile-long hull: in effect, KDY built the Imperial-class around a huge Sienar drive system.
A century before the Battle of Yavin, the Sienars united with the Santhe family of Lianna, who owned Santhe Security, due to an arranged marriage. Although this gave the Santhe family something of the status of a ruling dynasty within the merged Santhe/Sienar, scions of the Sienar lineage retained operational control of the ship-design section of the conglomerate: father and son Narro Sienar and Raith Sienar served as successive CEOs for many years in the last decades of the Old Republic and under the Galactic Empire.
Santhe/Sienar Fleet Systems is currently suffering from an inner turmoil, in particular between the controlling Santhe and Sienar Families. Rumours persist that Emperor Palpatine himself is secretly supporting the Sienar Family in return for favours.
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Great set of articles. Going have to place these in my GM Holocron