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dulux-oz
October 2nd, 2014, 09:18
Hi Guys,

I'm about to start work on my new Organisations Extension and I thought I'd ask the community what they'd like to see incorporated into it. The idea is that it'll hang off the NPCs Window in the same way that Encounters now does, and will incorporate information about, well, organisations.

I want to keep it at generic as possible (so as to have it usable by as many as possible) so it will be CoreRPG based, but if you'd like to see anything in particular then please post to this thread.

At the moment it'll have:

Organisation's Name
Size (could be as a number or as a "Size Category")
Alignment (always risky, but we can hide this if the campaign isn't using Alignments)
HQ
Location (possibly tying back into my Locations Database Extension)
Resources (again, may as a number, maybe as a Category)
GM Notes
Member NPCs Page
Sub-Organisations Page
Notes Page


So, if you'd like to contribute, let me know

Cheers

OneSidedDie
October 2nd, 2014, 13:30
Instead of alignment you could call it purpose or goals if you want to keep it generic. ("World domination", etc.)

I would use something like this frequently. I run a few sandbox style games and each has a dozen or more groups that I normally keep in several pages of notes. I think this would help keep it together nicely. If you are going to integrate it into the locations module make it work in the other direction too. If I open a location it would be nice to see a short list of each organizations members at that location.

What about belonging to multiple groups? Citizen of city, solder of the city guard, part time enforcer for thieves guild.

dulux-oz
October 2nd, 2014, 14:48
Instead of alignment you could call it purpose or goals if you want to keep it generic. ("World domination", etc.)

Nice Idea - I'll use that one :)


I would use something like this frequently. I run a few sandbox style games and each has a dozen or more groups that I normally keep in several pages of notes. I think this would help keep it together nicely. If you are going to integrate it into the locations module make it work in the other direction too. If I open a location it would be nice to see a short list of each organizations members at that location.

Already available (in Locations v3) - when you load up both Extensions the NPCs Page of a Location will have a list of Organisations for that Location.


What about belonging to multiple groups? Citizen of city, solder of the city guard, part time enforcer for thieves guild.

Again, already taken care of - the Organisation's NPC Page will simply be a copies list, similar to the Location's NPC Page now (in fact, I'll probably use the same code :p )

Cheers

sukEEt
October 3rd, 2014, 17:02
i would love to give some type of clever input, but it seems, that you guys have it all taken care of ... great ideas everyone.

Bidmaron
October 5th, 2014, 04:57
I don't like losing the Alignment. Purpose/Goals should definitely be there, but we still need alignment (it is possible for a LG organization to have a goal to take over the world, after all). If you must make it generic, call it ethics/morals.

Governance would be another field (e.g. hierarchical, cells, etc).

Blacky
October 5th, 2014, 16:29
I think one of the most useful tool, but probably also the hardest to do, would be a chart.

As a GM, if you handle several organizations and need quick and formated access to them, having a window with your NPCs (like portrait&name, being a link to said NPC sheet) and visuals links (like arrows) between them. That way you immediately know who's who, who has what relation (usually of obedience but could be anything) with who, and so on.

shemantis
October 26th, 2014, 19:25
I would like it if it had a "ranks" section. Maybe the lowest rank for one organization is "initiate," whereas the another organization has the lowest rank called "newbie." or what-have-you. My PCs join factions (D&D 5e), and I'd like to keep track of what rank each PC is in, and what that rank is called. Even if it was just a text list, that'd make me happy. =o )

brochr
November 8th, 2014, 10:11
hi Matt

Excited to see you are looking at it :^) So there is public feedback, here was my thinking as noted a while ago...

All the best

Toph

_________________________________________

My basic structure was that organizations have a many to many relationship (ick). An organization can have many members (affiliates) and a member can be affiliated with many organizations.

As I see it, the attributes of the organization are:

- Type [varies by game system]
- Scale [overall size of membership]
- Reach [geographic presence]
- Governance [method of organization]
- Alignment [notably a D&D concept]
- Benefits [promised benefits available]
- Costs [expected costs available]
- Treasury [mostly a D&D thing]

The nature of affiliation is:

- Relationship type [member, enemy]
- Influence level of affiliate [how much sway they have]
- Influence on affiliate [how much it influences their action]
- Benefits available [specific benefit]
- Costs incurred [specific cost]

Organizations also have a relationship with locations:

- Presence type [owner, visitor etc]
- Local scale [how big]
- Local treasury [how much it influences their action]
- Local benefits available [specific benefit]
- Local costs incurred [specific cost]

In my 2.8 version did this my having a Organizations sheet with tabs for general info, locations (droplinked), stories (droplinked) and NPCs (droplinked, with field for relationship type)

On the Locations sheet I added an "Organizations" tab a droplink for the specific org plus a field for the relationship type. I think I also had one for items, but not linking them to the orgn in any way.

shemantis
November 8th, 2014, 15:57
Is the 2.8 version available for download anywhere? This extension would be *so* useful to my current campaign.

dulux-oz
November 9th, 2014, 02:55
Is the 2.8 version available for download anywhere? This extension would be *so* useful to my current campaign.

I don't know - I certainly didn't write one (in fact, I'm still writing this one for 3.x). Brochr may still have his, but if my memory serves me correctly from his and my discussions it wasn't made available to the general public but was used solely by him - and anyway, I doubt a v2.8 Extension would work with the v3.x Ruleset as things changed quite a bit when FG went to v3 - but I could be wrong, because some v2.x stuff works OK with v3.x.

But this is the main reason I'm doing this Extension now - plus to ensure it works with my Locations and Weather Extensions :)

Cheers

brochr
November 9th, 2014, 06:35
Dulux is exactly right - the 2.8 version was just something I used myself and did not work with the 3.0 changes. With the great work he did on the Locations extension I felt it was redundant and put it aside. If you are running 2.8 I can PM a version to try (I think it works?), but I can't test it myself as I have moved to 3.x

dr_venture
November 9th, 2014, 19:29
Dunno if I'm too late to the conversation here, but based on what would be useful in my early Greyhawk campaign (meaning, game content described in the source materials that could be organized with this extension), I'd toss in another vote for:

* Ranks, with a title and description, perhaps a link to a simple record with a formatted text field, if possible.

* Separate "Alignment" and "Purpose/Goals" fields.

* An elaboration of the previously mentioned field, I'd love a tab called something like "Core Beliefs" or something that just has a formatted text field for detailing out the reason the group exists. It would be the main

* "Locations" field that leverages your buttocks-kicking Locations extension.

* Can it bake a good pepperoni pizza, please?

All FWIW, of course... I'm grateful for your efforts!

dulux-oz
November 10th, 2014, 03:43
Dunno if I'm too late to the conversation here

No, I'm still gathering info while I work at this (& other things) - all ideas will be evaluated (remember that this will be CoreRPG, ie generic, so some of the things like "Alignment" may have to be thought about very seriously).

Pizza baking: only if your pizza oven has an IP Address and an API that is "known" (ie not proprietary - damn "unique" drivers)

Keep 'em coming

Cheers

shemantis
November 19th, 2014, 03:49
I just want to say that I am super-excited about this, and hope it is still on its way in some form, at some time.

dulux-oz
November 19th, 2014, 05:07
I just want to say that I am super-excited about this, and hope it is still on its way in some form, at some time.

Yeap, its coming - I've just got a lot on at the moment, so you'll have to be patient :)

Cheers

GuardianLurker
May 20th, 2015, 05:20
Other features :

*being able link PCs into an organization (you've mentioned NPCs, but PCs are handled differently, aren't they?)
*faction/organization summary page (RoT has to have its faction tracker, but the one in the book's pretty basic and info poor)

dulux-oz
May 20th, 2015, 06:28
Other features :

*being able link PCs into an organization (you've mentioned NPCs, but PCs are handled differently, aren't they?)
*faction/organization summary page (RoT has to have its faction tracker, but the one in the book's pretty basic and info poor)

Thankyou for these suggestion - I hadn't considered PCs, and now I will :)

Sorry, you lost me with the 2nd suggestion: RoT=???, and what do you mean/expect when you say a "summary page"?

Cheers

GuardianLurker
May 20th, 2015, 15:45
RoT = Rise of Tiamat.

As for the summary page, think along the lines of that adventure's faction table (https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/RiseTiamat_CouncilScorecard.pdf). (Though that really isn't a summary, now that I think about it. But it's what I was thinking of.)

Also useful would be organization-level relationships: who openly (or secretly) controls or influences whom, which organizations oppose each other, etc.

Larac
May 25th, 2015, 03:22
Something that let me keep track of how they feel about the party, or single Char.

Like a faction number perhaps, or a straight Beloved, Respected, Liked, Neutral, Dislike, Despise, Kill on Sight type of thing.

I like the faction points, as I use them now, but something to track the relationships.

ATM I have Faction increase slowly as Quests and Respect is shown, from 1d6 for a minor quest, up to 5d6 for a major one.
Building good working relationships with leaders gives 1d4 to 4d4 and so on.

So being able to track that in FG would be cool.

bnickelsen
July 17th, 2015, 13:30
Something that let me keep track of how they feel about the party, or single Char.

Like a faction number perhaps, or a straight Beloved, Respected, Liked, Neutral, Dislike, Despise, Kill on Sight type of thing.

I like the faction points, as I use them now, but something to track the relationships.

ATM I have Faction increase slowly as Quests and Respect is shown, from 1d6 for a minor quest, up to 5d6 for a major one.
Building good working relationships with leaders gives 1d4 to 4d4 and so on.

So being able to track that in FG would be cool.


I would like to see something like this two! Most of the suggestions here are very valid. But I would add that Alignment for an organization is far less important then the alignment of its members for me. And I think if you did in fact add Factions I would be more inclined to make use of that for alignment making the four points each a separate faction. Just a step further having a tab for each player that shows their own faction standing would be nice.

Mirloc
July 27th, 2015, 00:14
This would be an ideal extension actually. I'd like to see some way for the center to be the focal point of whatever the GM has targeted, though I am not sure how or even if this could be made to work.

Honken
July 27th, 2015, 11:56
I am sorry I am late to the discussion, but i just want to point you to the Stars without number (https://https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition) way of handling organizations between sessions in a sandbox game. I like the idea of it. Never liked levels though.

As for alignment and all that. How about having a Label system which can include type of organisation (government, corporation, religion) and alignment...

/H

dulux-oz
November 2nd, 2015, 07:22
Hi Everyone,

I thought I'd post this image of the (Draft) Main page of the proposed Organizations Extension for people to have a look at /comment on

11591

Enjoy

damned
November 2nd, 2015, 09:58
bloody awesome!

jreddin1
November 3rd, 2015, 00:55
Hey Oz!

I couldn't figure out how to send you the image in a private message, so I'm putting it on here.

11611

I guess FG doesn't let you send images in private messages. I'll send you a PM, too

dulux-oz
November 3rd, 2015, 04:44
Thanks JR - yes, with a "z" is OK (stupid non-Aussie way of spelling things :p )

Nickademus
November 3rd, 2015, 19:53
We can't all be perfect.

dulux-oz
December 8th, 2015, 00:59
Hi Everyone,

With the release of the DOE Organisations Extension found here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27169-DOE-Organisations-Extension) I'm closing of this thread.

Thanks to everyone who provide input, and I hope you all like the new DOE Organisations Extension

Cheers