Fantasy Organizations - What rules to use?

[Napftor]

I may be biased (OK, I am) but the writeup of MEG's Guilds & Adventurers wasn't bad. You had the name, description, location info, special requirements (in terms of rules or just enlistment info), group symbol/identifier, and history. Simple, yet it covered everything.

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

I'll need to check out MEG's Guilds & Adventurers to see.
I did read through Guildcraft last night, and I agree, it is very well done. The only drawback I see in it right now is that the template seems to be set up to divide benefits by rankings within the guilds, which is the same drawback I saw with FFG's Path of... books.
I got S&S' Secrets & Societies during the recent Scarred Lands sale, so I'm gonna check that one now to see what options it gives.

Thanks to everyone for their comments thus far, they have been of great help.

 

[Silveras]

You may also want to look at the Cavalier's Handbook and the Noble's Handbook from Green Ronin. The Cavalier's Handbook uses a tweaked version of the system in the Noble's Handbook. The Noble's Handbook is a bit over-generous on the growth of the organizations, in my opinion, but the rest is pretty solid.

Alternatively, you could use A Magical Medieval Society's influence point allocation to represent the resources of an organization.

Neither is a fully fleshed-out system for generic organizations, but they are good models for one.

 

[GMSkarka]

So I figured I'd ask for your opinions on the matter. For a fantasy organization, which set of stats do you think works better, OGL Horror, FFG's Path of..., or perhaps even leaving them with no stats at all so the GM can do whatever he/she wishes to do?

The OGL Horror rules are solid, and very adaptable. In fact, I'm currently working on an adaptation of them that will allow them to represent entire fantasy kingdoms.

 

[Tonguez]

I have a homebrew system which now that I look is similar to the Horror system (which I've never seen before) basically stats (roll 3d6*) are

Authority Influence over others (internal governance and external relations)
Economics Sustainabe use of resources
Culture Belief and loyalty to the organisation and its structures
Education Capacity to acquire new skills
Response Effectiveness of communication systems and reaction to change
Might Enforcement of position in civil and military functions

Organisations get Skills and Feats a class (Type) and Level (Scope)

[B][U]The Fog Street Gang[/U][/B]	[B]Type[/B]: Rogue (Theives Guild)			
Authority	14 +2    Very good connections and influence		
Economics 17 +3  Excellent management of black market and other illicit activity	5
Culture	10 	Average loyalty amongst members
Learning	10	Average capacity to acquire new skills		
Might	12 +1	Good enforcement of its hold on its turf		
Response	12 +1	Good communications between cells and decisive leadership		

[B]Size[/B] 250 members [B]Organisation[/B] Hierarchy (see note)		
[B]Scope[/B] 3 (town sized area)			
[B]Nature[/B] Urban	[B]Leadership[/B] Fat Sally (Boss), her boys
[B]Assets[/B] Den (fortified Def +2), Protection Racket, Brothel, Black Market Fence
[B]Resources[/B] Urban (Ghetto), Urban (Merchants), Black Market
[B]Feats[/B]Friends in High Places, Black Market Contacts			
[B]Skills[/B]Gather Information, Profession (Fence), Diplomacy			

[B]Notes[/B]: ...

NB
- Type gives the City's class from Farming, Processing, Crafting, Professional, Merchant, Militant, Religious, Arcane, Rogue, Academic, Performing. This determines skill points and main class breakdown (ie a Religious Organisation is going to have Clerics, Paladins or Monks as its core classes)
- Scope = level from 1 - 10 and shows scope of operations sizd as 1thorp, 2hamlet/ward, 3village, 4town/burrough, 5city, 6Regional/Metropolis, 7National, 8Continent, 9Worldwide, 10Plane
- Resources are 'natural' resources that the organisation can harvest (from fish to trade routes) these are rated an a harvest DC calculated
-Assets are built/Developed propoerty or relationships which the Organisation owns (eg buildings, trade deals etc)

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Interesting. It is similar to the OGL Horror rules, but I like a few the mechanics you have there, like Scope and the way you set up the "ability scores."
Something to keep in mind.