Organizations (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

These rules cover businesses, guilds, ninja clans, and other organizations a player in Action might want to lead or be a part of. It is quite abstract but gives a framework to role-play around. Players should feel free to ignore these rules and just play happy-go-lucky adventurers, using the contacts gained from skills to define their role in the world instead of the more formal rules here.

Organization Setup

An organization has three traits, Power, Skill, and Attribute. Power is the might of the organization if led by the player, or the characters clout in a larger organization. Skill and attribute is what traits the character uses to advance in the organization and is taken from the normal range of character skills and attributes.

Power generally starts at a value equal to the character's score in the attribute of the organization if the character is young and unestablished, at a rating equal to hist skill rating of established in the field, and at a value equal to skill + attribute if the character is at the apex of his career.

Description

The organization also needs a goal and purpose and should have a description, describing what it does, how it does it, and why. It should also be noted if this is an organization headed by the player or if the player is just managing a division of a larger organization. Additionally, an organization that is not led by a player needs a Final Power; the power rating of the organization as a whole, the level at which the player can try and assume control of the organization.

Organization Examples

Here is a table with typical organizations based on different combinations of skill and attribute. Naturally, this will vary with the genre; a spy ring is not the same in high fantasy as it is in cyberpunk. The descriptions are only suggestions and pointers, you can go outside the examples. Nor need an organization be only one thing; it is possible for two characters to be a member of the same large organization and use different skills because they are in different careers within that organization.

Skill	Body	Mind	Reflexes
Charm	Retail	Personal Services	Spy ring
Create	Manufacturing Repair Shop	Design Invention	Mechanics Locksmithing
Impress	Foreman Strongman	Management Vocalist	Public Relations Instrumentalist
Know	Exploration	Scholarship	Medicine
Maneuver	Athletic Sports	Dance	Acrobatic Sports
Melee	Thuggery	Fencing School	Ninja Clan
Ride	Hauler	Logistics	Racing
Shoot	Military	Shooting Academy	Assassin Ring
Spot	Security	Detective	Private Eye

Advancement Checks

You can make an advancement check once per adventure, about every three or so play sessions, when there is a suitable spot of downtime. And advancement check is a skill roll using the skill noted for the organization, the difficulty is the Power rating. If this skill check succeeds, Power increases by one point plus an additional point for every ten points of Outcome. If the skill check fails but negative Outcome is less than the attribute of the organization, work proceeds as normal. If the roll fails and the negative Outcome is equal or greater than the attribute, there is a Setback and Power is reduced by three. This can often serve as an adventure hook.

The advancement check is modified depending on the situation at hand. These modifiers are typical, and the GM can easily invent more of his own, possibly to foreshadow future events. Use only the first applicable modification on the table, ignoring any below. If the modifier is a penalty, you must attempt an advancement check. Fortune spent on advancement rolls come from normal play sessions.

Situation	Modifier
Organization suffered a setback in the adventure	-5
Organization gained a boon in the adventure	+5
The adventure was a failure	-2
Organization was involved in the adventure	+2

Multiple Characters and Organizations

Several characters can be in the same organization, each using different skills and attributes as long as they make sense for their role and for the organization as a whole.

• Several characters can be competing members of the same large organization. They essentially work independently, each advancing separately in their own branch or department. Each rolls separately for advancement and have their own Power rating.
• Several characters can be in the same organization, with one of them the group leader (either the leader of a smaller organization or the liaison with the rest of a large one) the others playing subordinates. Each subordinate can make a skill roll against the Power of the leader. If the roll succeeds, the Outcome is added as a bonus to the leader's roll. If the roll fails, there is no effect. The leaders uses any bonus gained from subordinates and makes his own advancement roll. Subordinates are at whatever rank the leader assigns them, up to one category below the leader.
• Several characters can be equal partners in an organization, sharing the power value. Each makes advancement rolls normally, affecting the power value they have in common. This will make for a very shaky, changeable organization.
• One character can be a member of several organizations. You can only attempt to advance in one organization with each advancement roll, unless penalties force you to roll for several.

The Meaning of Power

The impact of an organization, or the characters rank in an organization, depends on the power rating.

Power	Clout	Social Class
1-3	None	Starving
4-6	None	Destitute
7-9	5	Poor
10-12	25	Middle class
13-15	125	Well off
16-18	1,000	Affluent
19-21	5,000	Rich
22-24	25,000	Wealthy
25-27	125,000	Magnate
28-30	1,000,000	Mogul

Clout is a measure of how many people are involved with you and affected by you in your profession. They need not be subordinates; depending on what you do they can be fans, peons, subordinates, clients, regular customers, or otherwise people you interact with regularly trough your organization.

Social Class gives an indication of the relative wealth and prestige you gain from the organization; what this actually means depends on the setting. Being a Mogul in a glamor spy game and a gritty game of rebelling peasants is not the same thing and has very different perks, but both place you at the top.

Using Organizations

The power rating of an organization works much like a skill, mainly for the contacts and knowledge elements. Working through a chain of command you have more authority over your contacts than usual, bust frivolously spending organization resources will penalize future advancement rolls.

An organization has a focus that tells you what it can do; police can investigate, harass, and lend equipment, a retail chain can provide gear and money, a research lab can provide very specialized equipment and knowledge.

Assuming Control

When a character's Power in an organization matches the Final Power of the organization as a whole, he can assume command of it. This takes a successful Advancement Check, that does not increase your actual Power. The character cannot advance in Power until this is achieved. Once in control, the Final Power of the organization becomes equal to the character's personal Power score, linking the fate of the organization to its new leader.

Changing Organizations

A player-created organization has the agenda and goals set by the player when it is first created, but either the organization or player can change over time so that they are no longer in harmony. A GM-created organization always has its own agenda. A player can try to change the nature of the organization, making it more to his liking. This requires a successful advancement roll, and the difficulty is the Final Power of the organization. A change effected in this way is small and gradual; it can take many successful nudges to dramatically change the way an organization operates.

There is another way to dramatically change an organization, and that is by causing a rift within it. The character gives up a number of points of power equal to the number of "nudges" it would take to change the organization and creates a splinter group, effectively creating a new, smaller organization. The parent organization suffers a penalty on its next advancement roll equal to the Power of the splinter group.

Organizations in Conflict

A character can use his Power in an organization to reduce someone else's power in the same or a different organization. This takes a Power roll against the Power of the target, and takes the place of a normal advancement check. The roll is heavily modified depending on what you are trying to do and what possibilities your organizations have to affect one another.

On a success, the target's Power is reduced by 1. With an Outcome equal to the target's Attribute, the target loses 3 points of power and you gain a point of power. With a negative Outcome greater than your own organizational attribute, you lose one point of Power and there is no other effect.

If such an attack was directed at the leader of an organization, that organization's Final Power is affected; otherwise the target organization as a whole was not affected, only individuals within it.