As I said earlier in my Random Clergy Generator post, I’ve been kicking around a campaign that involves a monastery (or perhaps more appropriately church). Around this time I read an old blog post at Deeper in the Game regarding 3 tiered Conflict Webs.
This go me thinking that I wanted to have the monastery filled with internal conflict at both a petty level as well as the leadership level. I also wanted the monastery to be in the maelstrom of the external world.
This may also be just in time for the rerelease of the Birthright Campaign Setting Portable Document Format (PDF)>.
Relationships Defined
Within a living and breathing campaign world, consider three categories of relationships:
- External leadership
- Internal leadership
- Petty affairs
External Leadership
The inter-relationship between organizations and/or figures of authority that are in regular contact.
Thieves Guild, Bishop, Vizier, King, Earl, Duke
Internal Leadership
The characters of an organizational structure that are part of the leadership.
What are their motivations and relationship with other internal leaders.
Abbot, Prior, Subprior, Cellarer, and Sacrist
Petty Affairs
The characters of an organization that are part of the day to day function.
Butler, Footman, Scullery Maid, Driver, Stableman
Begin OPEN GAME CONTENT
Establish the Entity’s Attributes
Each entity has three attributes:
- Influence - how the entity is perceived/interacts beyond their domain.
- Sovereignty - the entity’s control over their subjects and domain.
- Means - resources that can be leveraged to action; wealth, military might, spy network, etc.
| Rank | Influence | Sovereignty | Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| -4 | Pariah, Outcast | Fall is eminent | Impoverished, insolvent, mutinous |
| -3 | Shunned | Leads in name only | Deeply indebted, demoralized |
| -2 | Ridiculed | Strongly opposed | Shaken, heavily taxed, indebted |
| -1 | Distrustedm | Disrespected | Meager, Over committed |
| 0 | Heard | Obeyed | Bases are covered but nothing more |
| 1 | Trusted | Respected | Some excess capacity |
| 2 | Persuasive | Revered | Excess capacity and capabilities for securing more |
| 3 | Finger in every pot | Infallible | Owed numerous favors, abundant capabilities |
| 4 | "Puppetmaster" | "God" | Incomprehensible |
Establish the Entity’s Relations
For any of the above organizational relationship categories, write each of the named entities in a line. It is the author’s recommendation that you put “obviously related” entities immediately adjacent (i.e. King and Royal Vizier).
For each named entity, roll 4dF and lookup the result:
- Negative - connect the entity to the next entity in the line
- Zero - connect the entity to the next entity in the line (as above) but also if an entity further down the list has no connections, connect to that entity.
- Positive - do all that you would for a zero result and if another entity further down the list has no connections, also connect to that entity.
Each connection represents an established relationship between the two entities.
Optional Relationship: Draw a connection from the last entity on the list and the first entity.
Define the Relationship (Optional)
| d8 | Vice | Virtue |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lust | Chastity |
| 2 | Gluttony | Temperance |
| 3 | Greed | Charity |
| 4 | Sloth | Diligence |
| 5 | Wrath | Patience |
| 6 | Envy | Kindness |
| 7 | Pride | Humility |
| 8 | Roll 2 times | Roll 2 times |
Each established relationship between a character/organization is defined by one or more vices or virtues. Roll 1d8 and lookup the corresponding Vice/Virtue.
For each line roll 4dF and lookup the result:
- Negative - the relationship is based on the indicated vice.
- Zero - the relationship is defined by both the vice and virtue.
- Positive - the relationship is based on the virtue.
It is up to the Gamemaster to interpret the resulting relationship.