RELEASE: Storyteller Templates

Over the past few months, I have been tasked by the Wizards to do most of the writing for two things: The Storyteller Handbook (which is still being reviewed by the Wizards) and the Storyteller Templates. This is the best name I could come up for them. But as you will see from MANY of them (Racing pops to mind) you do not need a Storyteller for everything on this list.

But Storytellers, whether they are running a TP or called in to judge something will rely on these templates EVERY TIME. We are attempting to take out subjectivity where possible while acknowledging it will still be necessary.

You will note the templates get more consistent and "better" as they go down. This was due to the constant feedback from Wizards and a better understanding of the systems of checks and difficulty.

This is NOT a finished list. I am sure I have not thought of every thing that will need a template and there will be things that don't need a template (but just a simple +check.) Don't worry if you don't see something on here. But if you do have an idea for another template for some action you KNOW we'll need, post about it!

Read and enjoy! I look forward to the comments.

The goals of ALL these templates should be to allow players to handle their actions on their own when possible. And provide a consistant experience whenever ANY Storyteller takes on one of the actions

Assassinations

Assassinations against NPCs and PCs are similar. Most people worth assassinating will have NPC guards. And it's not an assassination if you just run up and shoot them. That's an attack.

Assassinating a target has three phases:

Planning
Execution
Escape

Planning Phase

The planning phase is the RP. Hopefully the players involved will go to places, scout locations, and generally come up with how the execution will take place. Trapping them in a monorail car and blowing it up with a rocket? Good! Clever.

This is the stage that you will use to decide the difficulties for the execution and escape phases. The execution of the plan may be very easy (walk up and shoot him in the face!) but escape will often be very hard. Vice versa is often the case. A very difficult plan to execute will often be easier to escape from.

A Storyteller must decide the difficulty based on what they include in their planning. Did they scout the security? Did they mention how they plan on disabling security? If they DO NOT MENTION IT assume that they have no plan for it.

A roll should be made during the planning phase for how well they are doing planning and if they are discovered. A person who just sits at home and plans it out in theory will never be caught. But if they are making some scouting runs at targets, hacking into files, etc. These can be discovered and the proper authorities can be made aware.

Execution Phase

This is the event itself. It actually goes hand in hand with the Escape Phase. If the target is a PC, the ST should have a GMed scene set up for such a thing. We want RP to come out of this, and so it should be a scene that allows for the plan to be carried out as well as they rolled. Now, eliminating NPC security doesn't mean that you eliminate PC Security. If a Jedi Knight is standing next to the Admiral when the bomb goes off, it is entirely likely that the Knight will move to protected and maybe try to stop the attacker during the attack.

Rolls should be made to see how much evidence is left behind. Rogue video cameras capturing stills of the person. Prints left, ammo cartridges, etc. Evidence!

Escape Phase

This is to get away from the target and the security forces. Depending on the plan this may be easy or difficult. A GMed scene should be set up for the players on both sides. Clever challenges for both the security forces and the assassins are good.

Chases and Fleeing

Chases are definitely something that can be done WITHOUT a judge. As should fleeing from a scene.

Getaways are probably the BIGGEST problem we have on the MUSH. Since people love to "trap" and people hate to GET "trapped" so without a clear system, it really limits risk. So what we need is a real system of getting away or not.

Stipulation 1
Armies cannot capture a PC. A single PC is simply too clever and wily to get caught unless they WANT to be. This simply means: If you want to chase someone down? You need your PC to chase them. Or your PC and others.

Chasing and Getaways are two-sided. A person should always be posed chasing or trying to run. But OOC communication is also preferred. A series of checks are made, opposed against each other. The chaser(s) must accumulate 5 wins to "win" the chase. The runner must accumulate 5 wins to "win" the chase.

If the runner wins, they get away and cannot be caught.

If the chaser wins, they catch the runner and the runner is too tired to attempt to flee anymore (for some IC time... like HOURS not minutes.)

At the end of the chase, the winner has WON. Combat cannot be started between runner and chaser, nor can force powers be used. If the runner got away, it's clean. If the runner gets caught, the chaser can do anything except kill them outright. This includes cuffing them, knocking them out, demanding credits, stealing their weapon, etc. If the chaser wants to kill the runner outright, call a Storyteller. The runner will be given one last chance to escape to flee for their lives.

Complications

Security Checkpoints, Distractions, Multiple Runners or Chasers.

If the runner is trying to run THROUGH a security checkpoint, a blast door, or the like, it is MUCH more difficult for them to flee through. Difficulty for the runner is increased by one level. Difficulty for the chaser is the same.

Distractions can be many things. The runner may toss a pile of credits in the air, or push over a cart or the like. The distraction must make sense for the room and the time of day. Throwing 10 credits into the air isn't going to attract attention, no matter where you are. Likewise, throwing 10 in the air in a crowded area isn't that important. 1000, however, would get people interested. If a distraction is posed, the chaser must make a difficulty check one higher.

Multiple runners can choose to stick together. Or split up. If they split up, the chasers must pick which is their target. If they stick together, they are treated as ONE and should take-turns rolling their checks. Multiple Chasers who stick together on a single Runner increase their chances of catching the runner. As they all are trying to beat the one runner's rolls.

System example

Gulp wants to chase T. T wants to run away.

T does a: +check athletics=moderate
Gulp does a: +check athletics=moderate

Whoever is higher, wins. Pose appropriately.

Misc
It should be noted that we don't care the closeness from a result standpoint. If the runner wins 5-4, they escape just the same as if it was 5-0 or 5-1. If the chaser wins 5-4 it is the same as 5-0 or 5-2. The difference would be in the flavor of their poses. Obviously the POSES of a runner who went 5-0 means they left them in the dust, and the chaser who catches the runner 5-4 nabs them JUST before they get away. But they are just as caught.

Remember, the point of this is to supplement the RP. Not create a system that ties in to +escapes or +flee or the like. This leaves HOW you get away totally up to the RP. Want to use a +jump point? Do a chase/escape scene first. Why? It represents getting to clear space to activate your jetpack. Are you outdoors? Then perhaps a large air speeder was overhead for the chase scene and you had to dodge. Or maybe your jetpack was charging up and you had to run.

You see all the different type of RP that can come out of this simple command and simple system? No more "Oh, bye on my next turn!"

You still will have people dueling like mad and then be like "I'm going to run for it!" but now people can pursue and maybe catch them. They can then +escape rather than die outright. But that would also lead to capturing and the like. More RP for all!

Arrest, Prosecution & Imprisonment

This is often the most difficult type of RP or system. On DH1 it fails utterly because it's not FUN to prosecute people. Let alone throw them in a room that's a "Prison" and RP with them from time to time. So this will be a template that StoryTellers can use and pass on bits to the players so everyone understands what's expected and what will occur.

Arrest

Characters who are caught through RP's various means can be arrested and placed under the care of NPC guards. Chase scenes which end in the runner being captured or a character surrendering or being incapped during battle are all ways that they can be arrested.

Binders can be placed on the hands and wearing binders will limit what actions you can do. You can't, with binders on, climb very effectively. Even running and dodging are more difficult. Difficulty +checks should be adjusted properly.

Prosecution

This is often the slowest part and the most boring. But it must happen. Judges are not necessary for most crimes. Pickpocketing, minor theft, assault (brawling) illegal weapons. Those are all things which can be handled with a fine or service-debt. Since credits will not be as in circulation, service-debts are often the way of repaying crime fines.

For larger crimes such as murder, treason, etc. Those will be judged by Jedi Masters or Sith Lords. Obviously crimes are different in the Sith Empire vs the Jedi Fleet. But the prosecution is the same. The Jedi will always give the criminal a chance at redemption. Service debts and life debts are often levied on criminals. Even in the highest cases, they might be asked to partake in a great risk (such as spying on the Sith or stealing something important.) The sacrifice of their own well being or life for the good of the Galaxy is seen as redeeming. The Sith, on the other hand, are more likely to use coercion and fear of death to get a criminal to act as a double-agent or commit more atrocities (but ones THEY control, rather than random ones.)

Imprisonment

For some crimes, imprisonment will be the end of their character's path. Even being locked up for three months or a year will take them out of action and will be as if the character died. This should be a logical result of some crimes. However, this is also the most drastic and we do want to have options for characters to continue their story even if they are criminals.

So if a character has constantly spurned the chances at redemption (or chances at freedom the Sith give) then they MAY be imprisoned, frozen in carbonite or even executed outright. We will attempt to give their story a chance to move forward even if they commit crimes. But if they do not take advantage of that, there isn't much else to do but carry out the IC Consequences.

Escape

Escape is quite exciting and should take place within 1 week of being arrested. It should be similar to an infiltration or assassination in that it has three parts: Planning, Execution, Escape. It should be arranged to have PCs on both sides. But it should also be based on the crime. If the criminal stole an airspeeder? And his buddy is busting him out, it's perfectly alright to judge a scene vs NPCs. But if it is a political assassin, guard PCs should be involved.

The Storyteller's job will be to create the KEY scene to be RPed out. Based on their planning and the like, the escape scene might be during the court room sentencing or during prisoner transfer or in the prison itself or anywhere they can think of! Be creative! Also STs are encouraged to expand on player's planning. If they give a rather lame distraction plan, but they roll quite well, come up with something more clever! Such as during their attempt at their lame distraction, they short out the prison's power completely and the prisoner has to be moved! The players will appreciate you going above and beyond their literal words.

Ship Boarding and RP

This system will necessitate the change in grids for some ships. Large cap-ships should not be simply "decks" but have some flow. If a ship lacks flow, a Storyteller should be aware of the general layout of the ship and provide some guidance to the RP. (Even a one-room ship, like a shuttle, likely has a cockpit and a passenger section.)

It is too secure to simply sit on a ship and +lockdown all decks so as to prevent any assault on you save from space. Instead, for large ships, docking, boarding, and capture and RP can occur.

The point of the mission has to be decided. In general there will be the following mission types:

• Ship Takeover
  
• Ship Sabotage
  
• Prisoner Rescue
  

The Bridge

Arrival at the bridge necessitates either very good stealth or a very good combat. Battle can be taken against a ship's defenders, including automated systems. One battle usually is enough to make it from the entrance point to the bridge. If stealth is chosen, several encounters (anywhere from 2-5) would be needed to make it to the bridge.

Failures in stealth (or battle) can lead to a chase resolution. A successful escape for the PCs means they make it back to their ship or an escape pod or the like. They can also continue their infiltration. But at a higher difficulty.

Once on the bridge, taking control of the ship requires, often, computer checks. If you have the security codes, you may be set. But slicers will be needed to gain control of the systems. As this is happening, you will need to fend off the ship's defenders. Anywhere between 1 and 3 attacks could occur while you are taking control of the ships systems.

The Brig

Getting to the Brig is often easier than getting to the Bridge. However, the design of all prisons often make LEAVING more difficult than getting there. Arrival is done with stealth checks to determine how quickly the ship becomes aware of your goal.

Storytellers should keep track of whether the ship itself is aware the infiltrators are hostile or against them. Diplomatic disguises or other clever actions by the PCs to disguise their intentions can hold back a guard response. However, once the prisoner is busted out, they ARE aware. Make a response good, but reward good RP and good rolls with a lesser response than if they blast their way onto the ship and through the ship.

Busting a prisoner out usually is a matter of pressing a button. However, if the prisoner is well guarded, it might take a security check or a demolitions check to open the cell.

Escaping the ship after rescuing the prisoner requires battle checks. Stealth checks can be made, but if the prisoner fails the stealth checks, it's assume the entire team fails the checks.

System Rooms

If sabotage is the goal it is a mix between bridge-assault and brig-assault. Stealth can be very effective in getting to the systems, but guards are often posted at key locations and are very difficult to get around.

Guards are always IN system rooms. Unless a distraction has been created that would draw them away (such as an attack on the brig or the bridge) in which case the guards in the system room may be gone.

Once battle has been settled in the system rooms, sabotage can be done.

Tractor Beams - Tractor Beams can be disabled without any explosives or skills.

Weapon systems - The power to weapon systems can only be disabled with explosives. A slicer can temporarily disable them, however.

Communication systems - You can destroy com systems with explosives or a slicer can hack in, steal and disable the com systems.

Engines - Engines can only be disabled with explosives. There is a very good chance that improperly placed explosives in the engines will destroy a large part of the ship.

Core - The main core of the ship, and the ship itself, can be destroyed with explosives.

Shields - Shields can be taken down without explosives but needs a slicer. Shields are powered by the the core, however.

Destroying Weapons, Engines, or the Core can all lead to the ship blowing up with all hands on board.

All explosives will cause MASSIVE damage inside the ship. After an explosive is set, the party should flee. And rapidly. A timer and athletic checks (as well as battles) should be employed to make this difficult. It may be better to let the ship guards take some free shots at you and get hurt that way than get vented into space by your explosives.

Escape

Sometimes the infiltrators will want to leave the ship. Either they will have set explosives or will have failed in some mission or will have rescued a prisoner and want out.

Escape is often difficult on DH1, but we will make it easier. And harder!

Only the largest of all ships have tractorbeams to stop escaping ships, and those MUST be turned off before you can fly off the ship. Weapon systems, also, should be disabled or destroyed before you attempt to fly off the ship. Though those are less troublesome when you have a good pilot.

Rolls should be made to make it BACK to where the infiltrators ship is. Whether they burned a new airlock into the hull or landed in the main docking bay. One or two average rolls (you want them to take some fire and be in danger of failing, and indeed a bad set of rolls and some bad choices can lead to the entire party getting captured) should get them back to their ship. If they are in the docking bay, the bays are OPEN. If not? Then explosives or a slicer can open them.

Fun twists: The docking bay doors are CLOSING as they arrive. Rush them into their ship and have their pilot make a tougher check to get out. Failure means damage. REALLY BAD means they are trapped. See Explosives or slicing.

Sacrifice: If they are about to be captured or things are going VERY badly? A player can choose to stay behind and slow the pursuit up. Make a distraction, etc. CHARGE TOWARD THE BRIDGE GUNS BLAZING!

This will decrease their escape difficulty a lot. It's not an auto-success, but it should be pretty easy for them at that point.

If they do not have their own ship... ie: they are betraying their bosses or they stowed away or... whatever. They're on the ship without a ship of their own for escape. This means nothing! There are two ways out:

Steal a shuttle - A slicer is needed to hack the shuttle, and a pilot to get it out.
Escape pods - Definitely need to have disabled weapon systems and tractor beams before you use escape pods. But you can use the escape pods to get out.

That should cover most of the stuff on board.

For the defender of a ship? It's much the same way. Ask them where they want the default marines (if they have any) placed. If they are solo? Then arrange a scene in a specific location for defense. If the defender PC specifically states they are staying in the bridge? Good, set that up. The following defense positions offer unique advantages:

Bridge - Being on the bridge lets them monitor the attackers more. It also lets you wipe valuable data and double-encrypt systems.
Brig - You can easily double-lock the cells to slow them down. You can also take the prisoner out and hold him/her hostage.
System Rooms - You can engage them as they arrive and attempt to stop whatever sabotage they do.

Encounters where one wishes to flee are done with chase rules. The owner of the ship has the advantage in RUNNING (they gain no advantage to chasing) since they know the ship so well. Consider it a constant "distraction" to the chasers if the owner is fleeing from an encounter.

Speeder Racing

Speeder Racing is a mini-game done with +checks. It will often require Storyteller assistance for the END of the race to apply damage and other penalties. But the race itself can be done without Staff involvement.

Races consist of multiple rounds. Each round has two phases. The first phase is the "adjust" phase, where drivers will do things to make others have a more difficult time. They also can do things to make their own time easier. The second phase is the "drive" phase where all drivers make a check to see how well they drive.

Adjust Phase

Depending on the modification of your speeders you may have some actions you can perform during the adjust phase. All actions must accompany a difficulty roll.

• Speed Boost - Average Piloting Check - A speed boost will lower your difficulty by one.
  
• Slipstream - Difficult Piloting Check - On success: Pick one driver ahead of you. Your drive roll difficulty matches theirs. On Legendary Success, you get one easier than them.
  
• Engine Burnout - Very Difficult Piloting Check - On success, you lower your difficulty by two. On failure you raise difficulty by one for two rounds.
  
• Bump - Difficult Piloting Check - You target one driver and bump them, increasing their drive phase difficulty.
  
• Grind - Very Difficult Piloting Check - You target one driver and grind them into a wall, increasing their drive phase difficulty by two. Increases your drive difficulty by one on failure.
  
• Junk Toss - Difficult Thrown Check - You target one driver and hurl something at their speeder. Usually small enough to be sucked into an engine or vent. Increases target difficulty by one.
  
• Shoot - Very Difficult Gunnery Check - You shoot at the target increasing their difficulty by one. Must have open-cockpit and a blaster.
  
• Bomb The Field - Challenging Thrown Check - You throw a detonator of some kind (must have a detonator!) that increases everyone else's difficulty behind you by one.
  

Drive Phase

At the start of the race, all difficulties start at "Difficult"
Each round, you use your last "drive phase" difficulty. So if your first round (after adjustments) was "Average" round two starts at average (and may be adjusted up or down from there.)

The work of the Drive Phase will be determining what your difficulty check will be. The skill is _always_ piloting. And you can never be pushed past Insane on the difficulty scale. Nor can they ever go below "very easy"

Speed Difficulty: Every player before the race begins tells what the speed of their vehicle is. Find the average speed. If you are within 2KM above or below the average speed (a 4KM total) then you make no adjustment to your difficulty. If you are more than 2KM faster, you lower your difficulty by one. If you are more than 2KM slower, you raise difficulty by one. Players have the option of adjusting further if one vehicle is particularly faster or slower, but are not required to. A speed boost does NOT affect the average speed.

Adjust Phase Difficulty: If you were targeted by an action or took an action to benefit yourself, add the difficulty adjustment.

Keep track of how many times you were shot, or bombed or bumped or grinded. This can be damage on your vehicle.

You always move forward along the "track" of racing, however only rolls above 50 will advance you ahead of the other drivers. Whoever gets the highest roll is in the lead. The person with the second highest is in second, etc. The round is now complete. Go to the next round.


A Race
You can finish a race in as few or as many rounds as you wish. Five rounds is usually average, but three rounds for a short race or 12 or 20 rounds for grueling races is also allowed. It's recommended for the really long races that you contact a Storyteller to provide some NPC action as well as damage to your vehicles to make things further interesting.

UPDATE: If you are winning the race three rounds in a row, you automatically come in first place. This rewards players who are dramatically better than their opponents. It's a runaway win. Expect others to team up against you on the last lap!

Stowaway

Stowing away on board a ship is no easy matter. But it can be made easier based on the size of the ship, the type of crew working the ship and the type of folks in the docking area. Difficulty is wide-ranging and getting caught leads to complications ranging from being tossed out onto your rear to potentially death. Stowing away always lasts for one one-way trip. If you wish to keep stowing away you must make ANOTHER check, and each additional stop and leg of the trip you must make a check. However, after the initial check, you only need to make one at one less difficulty (If your initial check was 'Challenging' your future checks are at 'Very Difficult') unless it is specifically noted below. If you leave the ship between landing and the next leg, it counts as a first-time stowaway again.

Failing a stowaway check will alert the captain or crew of the vessel that you were attempting to stowaway on. Depending on how close you were to successfully stowing away, the consequences could be light or heavy.

Types of Ships

Fighters
It is not possible to stowaway inside a single-seat snubfighter without being detected. If the snubfighter has two seats, you may attempt to stowaway without being detected. However the check itself will be at the 'Impossible' difficulty setting. The skill to do this is stealth. If you succeed, you will not be discovered during a normal trip. However, if the snubfighter lands and the pilot leaves and returns, you must make another check, again at 'Impossible' to stay hidden.

Civilian Ships

Shuttles and Small Transports
Small Transports are defined as holding anywhere from 5-50 passengers. Sometimes more. These size craft tend to have a separate passenger space as well as a separate cockpit space. Though pilots will always pass through the passenger space to reach the cockpit. It is not possible to stowaway inside the cockpit. A successful stealth check at 'Challenging' must be made to stowaway on small transports. The cargo holds are often not atmospherically sealed and too small to fit in with full life support gear, so stowing away there is very difficult.

Medium Sized Transports
These are typical freighters the size of the Millenium Falcon give or take. They have Cockpits that can be reached without passing through crew quarters or passenger quarters. They also have sealed-cargo areas. Generally speaking these are some of the easier ships to stowaway on as they have many hiding places. Even so, you will need to make a stealth check at 'difficult' to successfully stowaway.

Large Sized Transports
These are the bulk freighters, Grakk Freighters and huge troop transports. Depending on the ship, these are usually harder to stowaway on than Medium Sized Transports, as they are little more than big metal boxes with engines strapped on. Making it difficult to find a good hiding spot that's safe and not visited frequently by the crew. You will need to make a 'very difficult' stealth check to successfully stowaway.

Huge Cruise Liners
Stowing away on these is easy. If you can get aboard. These are the huge passenger liners that are CIVILIAN. Do not mix these up with large military ships. They are different. You need to make an 'average' stealth check to stoaway on a cruise liner.

Military Ships

Military Ships are roughly the same as the Civilian-Level above. All difficulty is raised by one with the exception of Huge-Sized Ships. Rather than checking at average, you must make a "Very Difficult" check to stowaway aboard a huge-sized war ship.

Getting Close Enough

Most ships aren't going to let you just sneak aboard. And even the stealthiest of people have a hard time sneaking aboard. There are several options available to you to get close enough to gain entrance without raising suspicion.

Stealth Approaches

Military and High-Security Spaceports - You must make a successful stealth check at 'challenging' to sneak through the security without being noticed... immediately. It may eventually be found out.

Very Busy Or Large Spaceports - You must make a successful stealth check at 'difficult'

Busy or Medium Spaceports - You must make a successful stealth check at 'difficult'

Empty or Small Spaceports - You must make a successful stealth check at 'average'

Bluff Approaches

Military and High-Security Spaceports - You must make a successful influence or command check at 'challenging' to con your way through the security without being noticed... immediately. It may eventually be found out.

Very Busy Or Large Spaceports - You must make a successful influence or streetwise check at 'difficult'

Busy or Medium Spaceports - You must make a successful influence or streetwise check at 'difficult'

Empty or Small Spaceports - You must make a successful influence or streetwise check at 'average'

Other Approaches

You may have acquired or made forged papers, stolen codes, disguises or the like which will not require any sort of bluffing beyond grunting and nodding as they look over the documents. If this is the case, all difficulty to stowaway is reduced by one. This is because you are able to move about the ship more freely determining where is best to hide.

Getting Out
If you make a successful stowaway check (assuming your approach worked) you can leave whenever the ship lands. You may also initiate one of the ship-boarding actions.

Docking with Ships
It is very hard to actually sneak into one of the giant ships that's in a spaceport. Because giant ships don't land on the ground. You may sneak into one in spacedock. It is also possible to stowaway onto a smaller ship that docks with that larger ship. If you stowaway on a ship that is meant to be going to the larger ship, your stowaway on the larger ship is one difficulty easier. If you attempt to stay aboard after you came with a group who is leaving, difficulty is as normal

Elections and Political Campaigns

Politics is part of Star Wars. Not really in the OT, but in the Prequels and in the EU extensively. The goal of this is to make elections and campaigns fun for the people running and their supporters. Realism and predictability is important to a degree. When considering all difficulties, consider the backgrouns of the players, and no matter their chosen actions, consider their other actions if you are aware of them. What would the people think if JoeA's supporter holds a fancy fundraising dinner... right after having been in a bar brawl in the slums. Don't be too picky, but the obvious stuff you need to pick up on.

Campaign Length

The length a campaign runs is chosen by Storytellers to maximize the fun for those involved. The initial start will be 1 RL month. We may find that less time or more time is needed. That is fine. Each campaign must be broken into several segments. For a month period, use week-long segments. If you were to run it for 2 weeks, you should split it into four half-week segments. Having multiple segments, no matter the total length, will give you a dynamic campaign that gives people a chance to RP more and have fun.

Week Actions

During the week, players should be RPing about their campaigning. We will not be enforcing this, but will be encouraging this. OOC coordination will happen, but we anticipate at the VERY LEAST players will be meeting ICly to discuss their plans. The actions themselves need not be RPed, but they certainly CAN be and it's encouraged. But if a PC wants to host a fundraiser EVERY WEEK they don't have to actually host a big party as a scene EVERY week.

The actions are chosen with a special command, +election/res Title=Action. This is a map of the +request command for players, but it automatically assigns it to the election queue for easy handling. During the week, you will notate the request with the check command you will run. Once you have consensus, run the +check. Do not release the results of the +check! Simply note it in the queue and prepare the emit for it. Also note the result on the target's difficulty (if there is one) or points.

No PC may repeat the same action two weeks in a row.

Weekend Results

When you hit the weekend, you get the list of all characters running for office and you get the list of all difficulty affects from the Week Actions. The first weekend you must determine the base difficulty for the Runner. Read their background and their platform and reference the attitudes of the demographic that they are running for office in. People tend to believe good things about a person at first. You should not overly penalize a person for their past if it is not extremely well known. Mara Jade might have been the Emperor's Hand, but early on in her introduction, the vast majority of people do NOT know that. However, if a person successfully digs up dirt on a target, that initial attitude will change.

Initial Difficulty

A good rule of thumb is to start all characters at "difficult" and adjust up or down one difficulty level based on their platform, backgrounds, etc. Obviously very famous or infamous people may lose two or so. But remember that if a person is really despised ICly, they will have many PCs against them anyway, and you don't want to set their difficulty to INSANE to start with. Let the opponents have to work a little bit to push it that high. But, by all means, an infamous character might start at Challenging vs an average character at difficult. Remember that incumbents tend to have an easier time than newcomers. Even if they are not the best for the position.

Difficulty Adjusts

Not all week actions are equal. If two adjustments are the same type (dig up dirt, for example) they overlap. Take note of the success rolls. If two PCs get two slim successes, and their rolls were 53 and 56 respectively, don't adjust the target's difficulty by two. Force the players to have to have combined for, say, 150 points or even more. Since you can assume they probably found the same dirt, and to get deeper, they need to dig deeper. So 150 combined points (both of them rolling 75 or higher) would do it.

Don't be too generous with difficulty decreases, either. The same rule should apply as difficulty increases.

Use your judgement on attempts to 'game' if you think having 9 PCs all do the same action is a little silly (say, they all do something to try to lower their man's difficulty to something laughable) then change the bonus. Lower the difficulty by one each for the first two PCs and perhaps add a bonus 3 points for the other 7 PCs. Remember, the most a person can ever get is 100 per week. But you don't want PCs gaming the system to ensure LEGENDARY Successes every week.

Roll the Runner

Once all difficulty adjusts are settled, you need to +check influence=(difficulty level) for each character running for office. NOT his subordinates, NOT his friends. Just him or her. Take note of this number. This is their gain in support that week. Even on "failures" which are below 50% it is still a gain. Obviously a 20 point gain is not very good out of 100.

Add in Bonuses

Take the Runner's roll and add any bonuses his allies may have given him (or any bonuses resulted from botched attempts by his enemies) and make note of each runner's score. Add this number to the total score from last week and prepare to make the emits.

Emits

Once you have all the results tallied, it's time to write up what happened. You want the report to be written in dramatic fashion. Think about how the media in the real world reports on the elections in the US, the UK, Iran, Iraq, etc. They make them out to be the most amazing events ever. So go back to the notes that were written for each action taken during the week. Unless the result was something spectacular (Epic and Legendary Successes) you can get away with brief notes about what they did. If they were spectacular, write up a longer blurb with some kudos for that character. Then write how polling numbers are looking for the candidates.

Remember, the amount they gained lets you flavor these emits. If JoeB rolled a 16 and got bonuses of another 5 from his supporters, he's at 21. That's pretty poor and you can write how the campaign seems to have stalled and is floundering. EVEN if their total points is 280 vs everyone else's 190.

It is very important to remember to separate they total points against how they did that week! Write that the campaign seems to have stalled, but it may be simply because they are all celebrating from last week's great run!

The last week's emits, when results are revealed, should be as dramatic as possible. Don't mislead players beforehand. If a candidate is winning clearly (280 vs 190, for example) don't say that it's neck and neck. If, however, it's within 40 points, that can be "too close to call" and leaves room for lots of drama!

Results

Quantify the scores in some way. Multiply all scores by 1000 or 980 or something to get a total vote count "280,000 votes vs 190,000 votes!" or the like. No need to reveal WHAT you multipled it by. But they can at least see the percentages. And it brings to life what they actually did. Remember that various elections will have different results. Some may take the top three vote-getters, while others will be the top one.

Each week this difficulty carries over. So if the initial difficulty was "difficult" and was adjusted by actions to "challenging" the next week the base difficulty is "challenging." This forces campaigns to have to react to challenges.

Wrapping Up

Once done, take note of the final scores, also take note of the actions that were done during the campaign. If a person focused on the negativity and the like, you can adjust their reputation slightly for this. Do not adjust reputation TOO much for incumbants. Incumbants already get a bonus, you don't want to make it impossible to unseat a character.

Run the commands to adjust titles and control of the various government objects to the new winners. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. Players will often be eager to start their new life right away and if they don't have access to offices, comsystems, etc... it's a big let down. Take a nap after you have given the reward. Not before.

Action Lists

Actions have no cost associated with them. They have prerequisites. You may need to have accumulated 50 fear points to be able to do a specific action, but it will not COST you those 50 fear points. In fact, if all you do is conduct a campaign using fear actions, you will likely be MORE feared at the end of the campaign than you were at the beginning.

Fear Actions

As all actions, Fear Actions run the gamut of results from lowering your difficulty to adding bonus points or raising a target's difficulty. Fear actions are special in that they are often difficult to pull off perfectly but result in sometimes dramatic shifts.

Love Actions

Love Actions are the opposite of Fear Actions in that they are often easier to get results with, but often do not have as dramatic a result.

Action Examples

The following are examples of actions, their difficulties, and the results. As a Storyteller you want to encourage creativity in players. Find a comparative action from the examples to base your difficulty and results on. But take into account their choices. If they are a scary character, fundraisers in the traditional sense will be more difficult, and won't necessarily draw more money because of that difficulty. However if they are simply TRYING to lure the richest folks to their dinner, raise the difficulty and match that by raising the reward.

Assume that any action listed has easier and harder levels that intensify the result.

Also do not allow a person to simply ramp up the difficulty without also considering the amount of Love or Fear they have. Just because they ran run a Fundraiser doesn't mean they can run one for BIG rollers. A person with 5001 Love isn't able to pull in the huge numbers that could lower difficulty by two levels. Think more 7500+ Love for that.

ACTION	LOVE	FEAR	DIFFICULTY	RESULT
Fundraiser	5000	0	Challenging	Lowers Difficulty of Target By One Level
Barnstorming	1000	0	Very Difficult	Each Level of Success Adds 2 Points to Target's Rating (Max 10)
Door to Door	100	0	Difficult	If Successful, Add 3 Points to Target's Rating
Bribe Voters*	1000	0	Challenging	On Success, Add 10 Points to Target's Rating
Block Dirt	200	200	Varies	Match Difficulty to any attempts to dig dirt on candidate. Success is whoever has highest roll.
Support Speech	500	0	Very Difficult	On Success Lowers Difficulty of Target By One. On Failure, Lowers Points by 5.
Question Credibility	500	0	Very Difficult	Success Raises Difficulty of Target by One. Failure, Raise Points by 5
Erase Scandal	7500	0	Legendary	Success removes a scandal from a target. Lowering difficulty by 3 (only if affected by Scandal.)
Vandalize Campaign	0	1000	Challenging	Success increases target's difficulty by one.
Dig Dirt	0	500	Challenging	Success uncovers a scandal and decreases points by 20 of target.
Intimidate Voters	0	2500	Very Difficult	Success decreases Target's points by 5. Failure raises target's points by 5.
Intimidate Suporters	0	5000	Impossible	Success increases target's difficulty by two. Failure decreases target's difficulty by two.
Threaten Voters	0	1500	Challenging	Success decreases Target's Points by 15. Failure Increases Target's Points by 10.
Denounce Candidate	0	750	Challenging	Success decreases Target's Points by 5 and increases's target's difficulty by 1. Failure lowers target's difficulty by one.
Enlist "Volunteers"	0	2500	Challenging	Success lowers target's difficulty by two. Failure raises difficulty by two.
Create Scandal	0	8000	Legendary	Success places a Scandal on Target. Failure adds 5 points to target.

Action Restrictions

Many actions have an unwanted effect upon failure. Please note that these are guidelines. If it is clear that players are banking on "failure" to raise their candidate's standings, feel free to either disallow their participation in the election or create "twists" that are unexpected. You are NOT required to carry out these actions if it is clearly an attempt to game the system.

Scandals

Scandals are unique and can be created by players or MAY be discovered by digging dirt. A player looking to dig up dirt will find dirt. (Likes to eat too much red meat is dirt for some people.) But to discover an actual scandal is a Legendary Success and even then... consider WHAT the scandal is. Any roll less than 100 should not be considered for finding a Scandal.

Scandals can also be imposed by general IC action. If, during the course of the campaign, the candidate is seen planting a bomb in a school. That would qualify as a scandal.

The effect of a Scandal on the Campaign is dramatic, it will push the target of the Scandal's difficulty up three levels. It will AUTOMATICALLY set it to Challenging if the three bonus does not put it above Challenging. Nothing the campaign does can ever lower the difficulty below challenging EXCEPT the erase scandal.

Most campaigns will NOT have a scandal. Even with the Fear-Based "Create Scandal" needs more than a 51 to successfully create a scandal. A solid success or higher is needed.

Note: it is important to include some IC reason for the scandal. Work with the target's background to create something. Even if it is false, the Scandal SEEMS real to the people.

Bombings

Creating bombs and executing bombing attempts on targets is radically different in DH2 than in DH1. You cannot buy ready-made bombs from any NPC. They must come from PCs only. There is no limit to the type of bomb you can create though listed here are some examples.

Creating the Bomb

The first stage of any bombing campaign is to create a bomb. There are many types of bombs and, as concepts, bomb makers can attempt to make them. If you have plans for a bomb, it can be made easier to make, and as your skill increases, you will succeed more often.

The first part of making a bomb is to decide on what type. Then to gather any necessary supplies to make the bomb. Some are much easier to gather than others. Unless otherwise noted, the gathering of parts skill is done using the Streetwise skill.

Time to Create Bombs vary based on the complexity of the bomb. It is possible to juryrig a bomb out of scraps in your room or inventory and turn it into an explosive device. However most bombs take anywhere from a couple days to a couple of months to create.

A final note on the types of bombs: This is a guide. If the players want to get creative, let them. Just refer to this guide to get a sense of what to set the difficulty at. But do not force players to develop a bomb only if it is on this list.

Blast Sizes

The size of the blast depends on the skill and components gathered.

To make a small blast that would kill a couple people and wound dozens in a crowded cafe, you must make a Streetwise Check of difficult. You must make two explosives checks at very difficult. Time to make: 3 days.

A medium sized blast that would kill dozens of people and destroy small shops you must make two Streetwise Checks at difficult and you must make three explosives checks at challenging. Time to make: 1 week.

A large sized blast that would kill hundreds, wound thousands, and destroy medium to large commercial buildings you must make five streetwise checks at very difficult and three explosives checks at challenging. Time to make: 2 weeks.

A huge sized blast that can kill thousands, destroy armored building takes eight streetwise checks at very difficult and five explosives checks at challenging.

Types of Bombs

Speeder Bombs

Bombs specifically designed to be placed inside a speeder. They vary in size and lethality. Larger speeders can contain larger bombs. The bomb can be set to have timer or remote detonation. The size of the blast is dictated by the size of the vehicle. To improve the stealth of the bomb in the vehicle, a repair check must be made at challenging. This check can be made by anyone, not just the bomb creator.

Special Requirements: A vehicle must be provided and kept during the entire process of making the bomb.

Ship Bombs

These bombs are placed in a ship-faring vessel. They often make use of the ship's power core as well and can do massive damage to spaceports, during crash-landings, or when docked in hangars. In addition to the bomb creation, during installation of the bomb, a successful modify check must be made at challenging difficulty. This check can be made by anyone, not just the bomb creator.

Special Requirements: A ship must be provided and kept on-site during the enture process of creating the bomb.

Door Crackers

These bombs are unique in size and used for blowing open doors. Blast Doors take three charges. These bombs take one streetwise check at very difficult and two explosives checks at very difficult. It takes two days to make these.

Jury-Rigged Bombs

Creating a jury-rig bomb is fun and exciting for the whole family! You need to make no streetwise skill check, but must have the items you wish to put together. The blast will not be larger than small, and maybe not even that. A jury-rigged bomb needs two things: an explosive or highly flammable item of some sort, and a detonator. Fuel cells, a bunch of thermal detonators, a proton torpedo, are all examples of explosive items. A detonator can be a blaster pack, a lighter, a lightsaber... things like that. Things in the environment can also be used if the player is creative. Don't help the player, but reward creativity!

Anti-Personnel Bombs

Modifying a blast makes this damage people doubly and half damage to vehicles and buildings. Explosives check the same, raise difficulty of streetwise by one.

Anti-Ship/Vehicle Bombs

Modifying a blast makes this damage ships, vehicles and buildings double and half damage to people. Explosives check the same, raise difficulty of streetwise by one.

Terror Bombs

Any bomb that makes use of special abilities... like bio, chemical, or any sort of dark matter or force-based that will cause strange or unusual actions should, by all means, be encouraged. But the adventure to create one will be much more complex than just some rolls.

Smoke/Distraction Bombs

Replacing a blast with smoke or just a loud noisemaker is quite easy. Limit size to medium, and takes a single streetwise check and explosives check is reduced in difficulty by one.

Remote Detonation

To set up remote detonation, the bomb maker must make an ADDITIONAL explosives check (on top of the bomb itself) at challenging. Failure has no consequence save the bomb has no detonator yet. And completion is delayed a day. This type of detonator decreases the difficulty in setting the bomb by one.

Trip/Laser Detonation

To set up a tripwire or laser detonation unit, the bomb maker must make an additional explosives check at very difficult. This type of detonator increases the difficulty in setting the bomb by one.

Timer Detonation

To set up a fixed-timer detonation, the bomb maker must make an additional explosives check at difficult.

Setting the Bomb

Setting the bomb is not that hard.

Infiltration

Depending on where you plan on planting the bomb, infiltration can be easy or hard. If it's a public area, it could be as simple as just leaving your bag behind, or parking your landspeeder. If it's inside a specific place that has security, you will need to make stealth or influence checks to sneak or bluff your way in, or have arranged a way to get the bomb into place through some other method.

Placing

Actually placing and arming the bomb to go off is a simple explosives check at average base difficulty. Difficulty can raise or lower based on watchful security or extra setup (such as a tripwire) and other factors.

Escape

Leaving the scene before the bomb goes off can be simple or easy. Often stealth, streetwise, and influence checks are made to see how well you make off without being noticed. Or, at least, being noticed for reasons OTHER than running away from the bomb site.

Detonating the Bomb

The bomb detonates with Storyteller help. A remote detonation is player-chosen. Timers are timers, and trip/laser is determined when a particular line is triggered or crossed.

Often times, remote and trip/laser detonation is used for assassination or dramatic effect. The bomb goes off and the player can feel free to pose such, but the Storyteller has to make sure the consequences which happen are proper. Damage to vehicles and buildings and people. Deaths and news reports, etc.

Failed Checks

Failed Streetwise checks can cause complications ranging from leaving evidence behind that can be traced, alerting the authorities that bomb components are being sought or delaying the creation of the bomb.

Failed explosive checks can be very complicated. Depending on how far along the bomb is and how badly the failure is, the bomb can be delayed, ruined entirely, or detonate. Even a horrible botch will not always blow up. Bombs are not put together in ways that can often blow up on the maker. Though some bombs that are extremely dangerous and high-risk can partially detonate or release dangerous components. Jury-rigged bombs often will detonate with bad failure attempts.

Failing a place-check has no effect on the bombing itself. It simply makes the bomb easier to spot. Though the bomb may be discovered sooner rather than later

Great Success

The successes of making the bomb AND placing the bomb determine how well the bomb destroys the evidence of the maker. Modern techniques can pull a lot of information from bomb parts. From fingerprints, labels and even samples of material that can be sourced to the planet constructed on (or where the bomb was taken through.) High successes reduce the amount of information that can be found.

Riots

Riots are a threat and a tool for people to use for various purposes. Riots can be of several types of people, and sometimes even several types in the same riot. Riots can turn particularly powerful and out of control from any side very easily. It is possible that riots will start on their own. It is also possible to incite riots. Riots can be contained, controlled, and put down through a variety of methods.

Starting a Riot for Storytellers

When deciding whether or not a Riot will start, you must fulfill several criteria. The first is the attitude of the people. Content people will rarely riot. Even if something bad happened. The second is the sparking event. Simply being miserable is not enough to go out and riot. There needs to be a spark to ignite the grumblers to action. The third is leader popularity. Even if people are disgruntled, if a leader is particularly popular or feared, a riot is unlikely to take place.

Segment Attitude
Take a look at the Attitude of the Population that you think is going to riot. If they are Content or higher, simply lower their attitude by one level and emit such grumblings. If they are below Content, you must make a check to see whether the action will lead to a riot. At (Content - 1), the difficulty is challenging for the population to start rioting. Each time the attitude is lowered, the difficulty is lowered by one.

Sparking Event
The event itself could be a brutal action or a persuasive speech that highlights a major grievance. Pointing out the obvious is not enough. A speech must trigger in the populous a whiplash reaction that will lead to a riot. The death of an innocent, whether a child, a shopkeeper, a bus driver, etc., is a good event. Also the death of a popular figure with the populous can lead to a martyr system. Storytellers can adjust difficulty as necessary. The sparking event will only make the riot MORE likely. There are no "sparking events" that make a riot less likely to occur. They are not sparking events if that is their result.

Leader Popularity
Often it is not just popularity of the leader, but the amount of fear he has over the population. Compare the fear the leader has over the population with the courage the population has and determine the riot difficulty adjustment that is necessary.

Starting a Riot for Players

Players may want to start a riot for various reasons. The only thing that their characters can affect is the sparking event. A PC that is trying to have a sparking event certainly will. Killing or committing a random crime or murder will not often cause a riot unless you consistently keep a crime wave on and make the local law enforcement look TERRIBLE. This type of action is very hard. Instead, you can attempt to frame the government that is in poor standing by stealing a guard uniform and weapons and killing an innocent or a popular figure.

But for most players, starting a riot will be to infiltrate an area that is ready to rebel, and make impassioned pleas to rise up. Depending on who you are attempting to cause a riot, you will use a different skill. If you are among the thugs and lowlifes... you will use your Streetwise. If you are among the intelligentsia you will use Influence. There may be secondary trials for your character even with success. Or there may be pre-trials before they will listen to you. After all, some outsider coming in and trying to spark a riot sounds like trouble!

Storytellers will often require some amount of "proving" yourself to the locals. Whether it be winning a fist fight. Showing off your blaster skills. Donating to the university, sharing blueprints on advanced technology or something else more creative.

To successfully commit a Sparking Event your character will need to make a check at challenging. This is the base difficulty and can be easier or harder depending on the current IC situation as well as your character's own reputation and standing.

Stopping a Riot

There are a few ways to stop a riot. Let it play itself out. Make speeches. Make changes. Crush them.

Playing Out

A riot starts at three momentum levels. A riot is often not going to slow down on its own accord. If there is no interference, a riot will make a check at challenging to slow down. Each time it slows down, it reduces its momentum level by one. Each time it fails, it gains momentum. If a riot is above five momentum, all checks related to stopping the riot are +1 difficulty (including directing the riot to specific targets.) If the riot reaches above 8, it is automatically a LEGENDARY task to stop the riot. If the riot reaches above 10, it is unstoppable and the location of the riot turns into a warzone.

Make Speeches

Characters with incredibly skilled oration can slow riots down. Using the same rules as in "Playing Out" a character can attempt to calm the riot. They make a challenging check to slow the riot down. Botches will increase the riot's momentum. Very strong successes will often stop a riot outright... they may also increase the population's attitude toward a character (or a government.)

Make Changes

These are checked by Storytellers to have an effect on the riot. If they are specific changes to what the riot wanted changing, the riot will slow down. But if they are lip-service or minor changes, nothing may happen. Making changes can not only stop a riot, but also improve the attitude of the rioting population. This is especially true if government changes occur that include the rioting population somehow.

Crush Them

Fighting back against a riot is a tried and true method, and even the good guys will arm their cops with riot-gear and send them to stop the riot. Using force will, at best, keep the attitudes the same. At worst, it can lower the attitude of the population toward the government AND lower other population segment's attitude.

Crushing them involves using troops in combat. The amount of troops and weapons that are used against the rioters affects things. A defensive positioning of guards to keep a riot from spreading while using the Make Speech or Playing Out method can be effective. But unexpected clashes can occur.

Controlling a Riot

It is possible, through overt and covert manipulation to direct a riot to specific areas or to increase momentum.

Directing a Riot Overtly

Standing and making a speech as to where the real troublemakers are is an easy way to direct a riot. It takes a good streetwise or influence check at difficult while being liked by the riot population. If you aren't liked (but not disliked enough to be lynched) the difficulty is "very difficult." The skill to use is based on the type of rioters (blue or white collar.) This is a very public action and the local government and later investigators are sure to find out about your actions.

Directing a Riot Covertly

Much like the overt method, this uses streetwise or influence and is much more subtle. It involves speaking loudly to those around you and having it spread rapidly. This is much less likely to leave evidence that will lead back to you (since it's practically like the telephone game.) But the difficulty is challenging.

White and Blue Collar Riots

The differences between White and Blue Collar Riots is often the demands. Some places it will be impossible to get both to riot, as they just don't care about the same things or actively hate each other. But some places will find that both the low and high classes despise the same thing and can be incited to the same goal. It takes separate checks to raise them both. But with two classes rioting, the momentum builds twice as fast and can much more quickly turn into a warzone.

Population Demographics

Each planet in the Star Wars Galaxy has several groups that live on it. Each group generally has more or less power in ruling, whether through absolute control or voting numbers or influence. This is represented simply as "power." Groups also have a population number that represents, out of 100, the percentage of people on the planet that fit into that group.

Sample Planet Sections

This section serves as a set of examples of what sort of population groups there will be. It is not, by any means, a finished list and is to serve as examples only that can be expanded upon for various planets.

High Class/White Collar
These are the intelligensia and professors and high-class politicians of the world. They tend to look down on others as not equal to them, but also can be self-sacrificing for those of "lower" station. They tend to be, even when benevolent, disliked by lower-classes, or have-nots.

Low Class/Blue Collar
Factory Workers, Farmers, and people of manual labor. They tend to be conservative and distrusting of outsiders, at least unless the outsider is buying drinks or providing entertainment. These types very rarely leave their planets, and tend to dislike those who live at higher stations. Some strive to be better, but many are content with their status as cog in the wheel of their planet.

Underclass
Untouachables, beggers, the homeless. These are the types that are reliant on state benefits to survive. They tend to be disliked by many and either dislike others or have no feelings.

Service Class
Those with some education and jobs ranging from taxi drivers, tax agents, etc. Tend to fall between the High and Low Classes.

Levels of Feeling

The attitude of a population group toward something has to be defined and understood. The ratings themselves should be numbered, so as to be more nuanced than the generic word levels. Changes can be dramatic or slow. As there are three numbers for each, it is easy to describe the feelings using the modifier "barely" and "very" for the lower and higher numbers. For example, If the feeling is "8" it would be "Barely Enthusiastic" while if the feeling was "1" it would be "Very Content" while if it was -3 it would be "Pessimistic."

Passionate (11 to 13)
The highest and happiest rating. A population that is passionate about another group or a PC or a government is totally unlikely to rebel or riot. They tend to be "true believers."

Enthusiastic (8 to 10)
Rating pretty high on the positive side is an Enthusiastic rating. While not quite totally devoted to the idea, group or PC, the group gets behind it and gives it enthusiastic support.

Dedicated (5 to 7)
The people are behind this, and will give the benefit of the doubt to the group or PC, even when negative news comes out. But they're not going to ignore it!

Supportive (2 to 4)
The people like this... but they're not stupid. If it turns out negative things come to light, they're likely going to change their mind and their feelings fairly easily!

Content (1 to -1)
They're okay with this. It doesn't really affect them or they don't really care, so they're feeling good.

Pessimistic (-2 to -4)
They don't like this group or PC and know that only bad things will come from it. Good things can be accepted... reluctantly. But bad things come much easier with this attitude.

Unenthusiastic (-5 to -7)
Don't get them started about the negatives of this group. They dislike it and aren't afraid to talk about it and spread their dislike.

Despising (-8 to -10)
They have absolutely no love for this group or PC and want to see it fail or be ruined. Such ruin or failure would bring great joy to them!

Hating (-11 to -13)
There is no worse way for this group to feel about the target. They often will attack or arrange for an attack on the target if they can!

Attitude Targets

Here are some examples of what the attitudes are targeted at. This is, like the Sample Planet Sections, just examples of what targets there are. The targets can be more specific or more generic as needed.

Government
Almost every group has a feeling about their government. Unless there is no government. This is often tied into what they get from the government.

Social Class
It's often easy to have a group have a feeling about another social class on the same planet, or even other planets that they interact with. Though this works in generalities. They won't often hate the low-class of PlanetX and love the high-class of PlanetX. It will simply be "people of planetX" since large groups, by and large, tend to stereotype and generalize.

PCs
Single characters can get famous enough to be liked or disliked. Often random planets will not care too much about a PC early on, though "hometown heroes (and villains)" tend to have attitudes earlier at home than offworlders. Most factions have attitudes toward the PCs in their group. The Republic, for example, will probably be supportive of a new recruit, and will likely become dedicated and enthusiastic quickly. Unless he turns incompetent and is rude and unruly, then they might become pessimistic or worse!

Others
Ideas, idealogies, other factions, specific speeches! All those can have attitudes. Some will be more permanent (support or hate of the Jedi Code amongst people of the galaxy) or more temporary (the reaction of Corellia's rich and poor to a PC's promises of economic revival.) But there is no reason to not track such feelings and plenty of reason TO. If Corellia has a desire for a return to old glory and the speech promises to deliver that, they will be enthusiastic about it. This matters because when some PCs get together in a bar on Corellia and start talking loudly about what a horrible idea it is and how they hope nothing in the speech comes to pass, the locals can get rowdy!

Group Desires

This is the tricky part of defining a group. Since a group isn't any good without having desires. But desires are very vaporous things. Consult amongst the entire staff to determine both the desires as well as any affects PC actions have in regards to a desire. Some examples:

• Freedom
  
• Return to Glory
  
• Support
  
• Safety
  
• Military Superiority
  
• Intelligence
  
• Scientific Superiority
  
• Heroic Sacrifice
  
• Economic Superiority
  
• Badassery
  

This list is FAR from complete. But they serve as an example of desires. They also can be difficult to interpret which is why it is necessary to discuss with the full Storyteller Staff on matters. A PC who manages to secure a major trade lane is going to become better liked by those with a desire for Economic Superiority. Criminals who pull off awesome heists or pirating are going to be liked by those who like Badassery.

On the other hand, if you HARM a target's Economic Superiority chances (such as getting the exclusive contract instead of them) they may dislike you a bit more. Of course, fame has part to do with this.

Each population group will not just have desires, but the desires will be listed in a priority! With some being much more important to the group than others!

Adjusting

The fun part. Adjusting attitude can be easy or it can be hard. No single Storyteller can make a decision. It MUST be discussed and all storytellers who make the decision must put their name on it. Dissenting opinions, also, must be noted. Not a large report, simply "ST1 ST2 and ST3 voted to make it a positive adjustment, ST4 didn't think any adjustment was needed."

Here is how the lead Storyteller (ie: the one taking charge of the adjustment) will handle an adjustment:

1. Note the event that has occured.
   
2. Determine who enacted the event. These can be PCs or Factions or both! These are likely your targets of adjustment.
   
3. Determine what groups will be adjusting their attitudes toward the targets. Note that sometimes PCs that were unknown will become known and get an attitude.
   
4. Determine what desire(s) of the groups is affected by the event.
   
5. Write up your reasoning for the adjustment of the target by the group based on the desires.
   
6. Present the write up to the other Storytellers.
   
7. Receive three votes in your favor or three votes for an alternative.
   
8. In the event of a 2-2 vote, the "winning" adjustment must receive 5 votes total. 3-1 and 3-0 are acceptable to process without reaching 5 votes in favor.
   
9. Make the adjustments and make any public emits for the results of the action.
   

.