On Oct 28, 2004, at 11:30 AM, Jari Mäkelä wrote:
> I have been reading the Organizations for Fate and there is no problem
> with them but for some reason I cannot grasp the concept of using the
> rules for cities and contries.
>
> Would anyone have some examples of those for sharing?
>

Cities and Countries can be harder to work into many games than simple
organizations. A secret band of assassins can appear in almost any
game I can think of, but the City State Of Mekham is only important in
certain types of games. That said, let's consider the following:

The City State of Mekham
Mekham is located at the fork of two major rivers and benefits greatly
from the trade that comes from both. While it was once part of the
Protectorate, since the sundering it has maintained its independence
through a combination of geography (The broad swamplands that surround
it make an overland invasion difficult) and coin spent on mercenaries.
While Mekham is technically ruled by a Warlord, his position is
maintained and tightly controlled by an informal council of the city's
richest merchants.

Now, if Mekham were the central location to my game, I'd be more
inclined to stat up the various organizations that make up the city
(The merchants, the Warlord, the Mercenaries and anyhting else that
seems apt). Because mekham is the context of my game, I wouldn't stat
it up at all.

However, let's say I'm playing a game of international intrigue where
Mekham is just one player on the board. Since the context is larger, I
could get some use out of statting it up. Let's say that the main
areas of influence are the Riverlands (Where Mekham is located), The
Coastal Theocracy to the south, The Highlands, to The North, The Spice
islands south and out to see and the Wastes, the exppanse of desert to
the west.

Mekham would have some control over the River countries (representing
it's own position there) but no control anywhere else, since it has no
real holdings anywhere. it is, however, the largest city in the
Riverlands, so it has substantial sway in that region. It also has
close trade ties to the Thoecracy and the highlands, so it will have
some Sway there.

Influence is more secret, and as such there is no obvious option for
it. That said, the inobvious is the way to go. Mekham has been sending
secret envoys to the spice islands to attempt to get a foothold in a
market that they have little control over. No real success yet, but
enough to represent minimal influence.

Naturally, Mekham has spies throughout the neighboring nations, plus
the Spice islands, so they have at least moderate information from all
of those locations.

Mekham's only source of Arms is in the form of the Golden Banner, and
extensive and well trained Mercenary force that makes up in training
and equipment any lack they may have in numbers.

Resources will be high. Mekham is rich, possibly the richest city in
the game, so this is a signature skill fro it.

Unity is fairly good in the city, but not great. The flow of wealth
means plenty of work, but the separation between rich and poor is
growing more drastic each day.

Administration, on the other hand, suffers from rampant corruption.
COmmunication is excellent, however, as it's an important part of
keeping prices where they should be.

For aspects, I want the Ccuncil of Merchants, Corrupt, Rich, Isolated
and Cosmopolitan, just because those are the things that stick in my
mind. In the end, I get something that looks like this (Important
note: I'm *NOT* using the pyramid - If I were doing a competitive game,
where players each had a city and I wanted soem balance, I 'd use it,
but to be purely descriptive, I use th elazier approach of "Whatever
feels right")

City-State of Mekham
Rich [][][]
Corrupt [][]
Cosmopolitan [][]
Council of Merchants []
Isolated []

Control (Riverlands): Good
Sway (Riverlands): Great
Sway (Spice Islands): Mediocre
Influence (Riverlands): Great
Influence (Highlands): Fair
Influence (Theocracy of the Coast): Average
Influence (Spice islands): Mediocre
Information (Riverlands): Good
Information (Highlands): Fair
Information (Theocracy of the Coast): Average
Information (Spice islands): Mediocre
Arms (Golden banner): Fair
Unity: Good
Administration: Mediocre
Communication: Good

---------------------------------
Putting it to Use
---------------------------------

Ok, first and foremost, the simple act of analyzing the various
components of the City to draw up the sheet in the first place has
suggested a lot about the nature of the city and its role in the
setting. Even if you never use the stats, the simple exercise of
thinking them through can bear fruit. That said, once you have the
stats, there are more than a few ways to use them.

* Who knew that Painting you stole belonged to the Warlord? As they
flee the city through the countryside, what's the base difficulty for
avoiding pursuit and arrest? (Good, Mwekham's control of the region)

* The players have successfully fled Mekham and are hiding out in the
Highlands. What are the odds of them being spotted? Make any checks
against a difficulty of Fair (Mekham's Information score for the
Highlands).

* The theocrat has fallen ill and a grand Convention has been called to
select his successor, sweeping Player's up into the storm of politics
that surround it. The Ambassador from Mekham is one of th eplayers on
the board. How much influence does he really have on the proceedings?
(Answer: An Average amount, which means not a lot, but he definately
has a stake).

* The players are in the employ of the Warlord, and through diligent
service, they have greatly strengthened his position in the city. The
GM reflects this by adding "Warlord []" to the City's description.

* The Player's attempts at diplomacy fail, and the Great Horde comes
out of the desert to sweep across the Riverlands. How badly is Mekham
mauled? Well, it's a great Horde, and Mekham only has Fair Arms, so
Mekham's in trouble. However, Mekham can use it's "Isolated" Aspect to
bump the roll, so it may get away with only being scratched or clipped.

For the most part, the stats exist to provide 2 things. A basis for
comparison with other organizations, and the baseline difficulty for
many rolls related to the city. They can be used for direct City v.
City conflict, but frankly, that would require a more sophisticated set
of rules than has currently been set down, though it would not be hard
to extrapolate, and something like that is currently on my general "to
do" list.

Hope that helps.

-Rob D.