Guild Rulership
A roll on Table 12 determines the nature of rulership of the guild. The DM wishing to select, rather than roll, this rulership might want to look through the following section to look at the effects of rulership on the guild before making his choice.
Table 12: GUILD RULERSHIP
d20 |
|
Roll |
Guild Leadership |
1-13 |
Guildmaster |
14 |
Complex/Mix |
15 |
Democracy |
16-19 |
Council (d3+2 members) |
20* |
Reroll on Table 13 |
*Natural 20 (regardless of modifiers) only.
Modifiers to die roll:
Social alignment is lawful: -1
Social alignment is chaotic: +2
UNUSUAL GUILD RULERSHIP
d20 |
|
RollGuild |
Leadership |
1-2 |
Leaderless |
3-8 |
Complex/mix |
9-10 |
Special Guildmaster (dragon,etc.) |
11-12 |
Special Council (concealed Drow, etc.) |
13-20 |
Reroll on Table 12, ignoring any roll of 20 |
At this stage, the DM can also determine the rulership style of the ruler(s). Table 14 can be used for all cases in which the guild has a guildmaster, and also for council leadership. It is not suitable for democratic guilds, where there is no real rulership as such. On Table 14, three d20 rolls are needed.
Strong-Weak |
Cruel-Just |
Despotic-Populist |
d20 Roll |
Rulership |
d20 Roll |
Rulership |
d20 Roll |
Rulership |
1-5 |
Strong |
1-4 |
Cruel |
1-4 |
Despotic |
6-12 |
Fairly Strong |
5-11 |
Fairly Cruel |
5-10 |
Fairly Despotic |
13-17 |
Fairly Weak |
12-16 |
Fairly Just |
11-16 |
Fairly Populist |
18-20 |
Weak |
17-20 |
Just |
17-20 |
Populist |
Modifiers to die roll |
Modifiers to die roll |
Modifiers to die roll |
1 if social alignment lawful |
-1 if social alignment lawful |
+1 if social alignment |
lawful |
||
+2 if social alignment chaotic |
+1 if social alignment chaotic -2 if social alignment
evil+1 if social alignment good |
-1 if wealth level poor or fair +2 if social alignment good |
-1 if social alignment evil |
-1 if rulership style weak |
-1 if rulership style strong |
-4 (-2) if rulership style |
||
cruel (fairly cruel) |
The final step is to determine guild organization, and this is done with a single d20 roll on Table 15. Some of the results from this table may need particularly careful thought, because some odd-looking results can emerge. The DM can crop out such oddities if he wishes.
d20 |
|
Roll |
Guild Organization |
1-6 |
Centralist |
7-12 |
Cohesive |
13 |
Complex/Mix |
14-17 |
Fractionated |
18-19 |
Oppositional |
20 |
Anarchic |
Modifiers to dice roll:
-2 if social alignment lawful
+1 if social alignment chaotic
+2 (+1) if Guild rulership is weak
(fairly weak)
-1 if Guild rulership is strong
+2 if Guild is Leaderless
A major shake-up of what the DM has rolled may be indicated if a dice roll indicating Oppositional or Anarchic guild organization is rolled on this table. Oppositional means there are competing, small guilds (and Fractionated means there are sub-guilds within the guild); Anarchic, that there is no real guild at all. The worked example later shows that the combination of such results that at first seem at-odds (e.g., guild rulership by a single guildmaster) is actually workable, although the overall picture which emerges may be a strange one!
Some results may need re-rolling, however. The one notable case is the Oppositional structure if the absolute number of thieves in town is small. You can't really have a plausible collection of competing guilds with only six thieves in town, for example (but maybe two very small gangs could exist, after all . . .)
The final step is to determine how many of the thieves in the town or city are actually members of the guild.