New Year's Resolution Mechanic : Smoking Kills (But Also Helps)

Disclaimer: this article is and will not suggesting and promoting readers to smokes in their real life. Also this article is not encourage people to start smoking, especially those who still under the age. This article is intended to be used for tabletop role playing games. Smoking is not cool. But yeah, it might help your depressed life a little bit. BUT STILL, SMOKING KILLS.

While reading, compilling, writing and making the last two I Read This in 2024, Prismatic Wasteland is no doubt catching my eyes on. We're talking about the New (Year's) Resolution Mechanic. The challenge was simple - create a new resolution mechanic in this month of January 2024. The complex one is, what kind of mechanism that I can bring to the table?

In my game, Employee, you will be playing as an employee (duh) who work their ass to get the job done or die trying thanks to office-related stress or maybe sinister entity that controlled the whole company. And when this stress level (in-game I named it (IN)Sanity points) is beyond player's threshold, their (IN)Sanity level will up and they might see something that they didn't see before - mentaly and supernatural-y.

Can this level be lowered down? The answer is No. But can it be reduced the impact to their points and levels? There's a possibility.

In every five in-game days, the Player will get Weekends, where their (IN)Sanity points will be reset to zero, but not their level. They can start a brand new week with fresh and a little bit sanity inside their head. But what if it their at their limit, that with just a little nudge and they will became level 5 (IN)Sanity person, but it's still in the middle of the week?

I got this idea while I was taking a smoking break at the office earlier today.

See, smoking is an activity that a lot of people do, while also a lot of people despise. Some use cigarette, some use cigar, some use the electronic ones, some rolled their own recipe. Despite how they smokes or what they smokes, I see several things that became an output of smoking:

1. Death. An obvious one. Maybe started with illness first;
2. Stress relieve. Even it's just a temporary nerf of the stress, sometimes it's helpful when the time was not right;
3. Ease up the convos. Some people do business while eat, some people deal at a meeting table, some taking a smoking break that might break the informality between them and the client and ease up the business process they trying to make.
4. A flawless ice-breaking method. New at work or just transfered to new division? Smoking might help to ice-break those thick wall of iceness from those ice-cold stare humans and find some warm and welcoming individuals at the new ice-ice-baby place.
5. Nicotine rush. Sometimes when I need inspiration or I need to clear the fog out of my head, I take a short smoke break, not even finished the whole cigarette; I just need the nicotine hit. It's like a little nudge to the brain to tell them to wake up.

(source)

So, what was the mechanism?

Proposing "Smoking Kills (But Also Helps)".

The concept is when the PC smokes a cigarette/cigar/e-cigs/pipe/handrolled/whatever, they might get a small temporary buff on one or several attributes such as sights, awareness, critical thinking, charisma (for talking and breaking the ice) or maybe shove away the sleepiness for a while. And if I try to apply it to Employee, PC could temporary decrease the amount of their (IN)Sanity points by taking a smoke*1 (releasing stress and followed by contemplating, for example).

But will it always grant them these glorious buff whenever they do one? No. Sometimes, when the time was not right, smoking won't give you a single thing except heat and illness. No inspiration, no convos, nothing - only tars gummed up on your lungs. That's why, when a Player want to use smoking as their buff system or ice-breaking, they should roll a d6 where the result of 4 and above are considered successful (buff granted and ice has been melted).

So, that means, the PC can be smoking all the time to get those sweat buff, right? Yes, but with consequences. In every cigarette PC take, there is a latent harm that is waiting. Like in real life, smoking in games also affecting your character health (poking at you, Kojima-san)*2. Health will decrease as long as the character using/equiping the smoking item, until it depleted the whole health bar.

For this mechanism, health detoriating system (H.D.S.)*3 will be decided by using a d10 as a percentage roll every time a character take a smoke and it will treated as accumulative. For example, PC A with 100 points health, take a two time of smoking with d10 7 & 3, means their health already detoriating at 10%, which makes the permanent PC health into 90 points. Is there any chance to recover their health? Sadly no. It was the consequences. It's the opportunity cost that must be paid.

To conclude, this smoking mechanism might helps character to overcome short-paced encounter or minimizing risk in a very short tempo with simple and quick method to be pulled in the game, with a twist that every time they pull it off, their health detoriating bit by bit.

I Read This in 2024 - Week 2

 **A collections of information regarding TTRPG that I gather from several blogs. Initially take a shape of pen-and-paper which later digitalized as blogpost. All rights of each articles are belong to their respective writer.**

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> CAPSULE GAMES PART II : Meditations on Capsule Design / Rise Up Comus

• Continuing the essay, The Writer explains main principles for a capsule games and providing a concrete examples of games a for the reader to learn and experience more about the concept.
• The game (along what the concept they are great about) were:
• Lady Blackbird by John Harper (Defining Characters)
  
• Wolves Upon The Coast by Luke Gearing (Create Rules that are the Right Size)
• Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast by Possum Creek Games (Create Immersive Rules)
• Silent Titans by Patrick Stuart and Dirk Detweiler L. (Create Maps with No Blanks)
• The Dark Crystal Adventure Games by Janet Forbes and Jack Caesars (Create a Sense of Finality)

> Drinkin' The Game Away; or; The New Year's Resolution Mechanic Challenge / Archons March On

• The Writer propose a new mechanic where the players get a shot glass with several marks.
• Player could ask:
• How much the glass will filled up, but the drink was picked by the DM; OR
• What kind of drink they wants, but filled how much the DM wants.
• The mechanism of the dice and the drinks are a little bit confusing for me, but the last two sentences on the particular paragraph,"the amount..." is eye catching : "if you pass out, your character dies. If you puke, you have to clean it up."
• There is also a bonus mechanism provided by the Writer called "Overflow" where the player could take a 1/2 max result on your next roll instead of drinking.
• The thing is, I don't drink. So I don't understand about any of this mechanism but also on the other hand, I want to try it with another kind of drinks.

> CAPSULE GAMES - PART 2 : Player Characters / A Knight At The Opera

• The idea of capsule games are minimalist in preparation but full-fledged on the story. The Writer wants to dive into the design of Playable Character / PC and how to make them interesting and memorable without relying on complex rules or extensive backstory.
• The Writer suggests that:
1. using archetypes to quickly establish the PC's roles and personalities;
2. by using Traits to add uniqueness to the PC (appearance, personal goal, flaws, etc.);
3. using relationshop to create connection and conflicts between PC and NPCs (Allies, enemies, rivals, lovers, etc.);
4. utilizing random tables to generate or inflicting creativity and improvisation.

> Implied Magic, No Magic, Low Magic, Fake Magic / Monsters and Manuals

• The Writer exploring the usage of magic in several fiction novels and they able to seperate it into four different and distinguishable types:
• Implied Magic: the magic is present in the world, but it's subtle, mysterious and rarely seen, even the the characters didn't know how to handle them. It's a natural thing that came from the World itself;
• No Magic : no such things called magic or even it does exist, they are so rare or hidden somewhere in the world;
• Low Magic : the magic is exist but limited and dangerous - both from magical abilities and/or from an magical items. PCs will be asked to use them wisely;
• Fake Magic : the thing called "magic" was actually an advanced technology or alien intervention or psychological manipulations.

> Terrain, Terrain, Terrain / Seeds of Worlds

• Enjoyin and inspired by Baldur's Gate 3, The Writer had some ideas:
• Jump is a bonus action
• Shoving is also a bonus action, not an attack.
• Quoting from the Writer,"Verticality is more prevelent... and coupled with chasm (shove it and fall in and die)... makes it an interesting opportunity."
• Shoving people / enemies off heights will inflicts fall damage and also potentially slows them down from getting back to action / contact.
• Coverage will be provided by ledges and height differences. Also by utilizing terrains available, players could create a choke-points / ambush point by using spells and consumables.
• Writer also trying to implement or suggesting this method for 5e.

> D6x6 Thriving Thanoi / Archons March On

• Thanoi is a barbarian race of walrus-folk.
• This is my Thanoi:
• This Thanoi pierce thick rings through their noses and their fattier parts of their flesh;
• This Thanoi dwell in tubes of stitched seal-skins inflated into long houses by channeled wind;
• This Thanoi traverse the waves from below, alongside tamed whales they can hitched themselves to when they tire of swimming;
• This Thanoi's kagog (Spiritual Leader) has prophesied a coming ice age, and has gathered an army under their banner in preparation;
• This Thanoi wield enchanted club made from the baculums of their heroic ancestors;
• This Thanoi are serving as hired muscle for a lich who wants to hide their phylactery in the remotest corner of the world.

> Resolutions in the Flame Imperishable / Rise Up Comus

• The titular system was an answer for tht Writer to Prismatic Wasteland and also Writer's next capsule game system.
• The concept : if the Player had Time, Gear and Skills, they can overcome almost any obstacle. On the contrary, if even one aspect they lack off, they must test their fate with the rolls.
• Quoting the Writer,"When you test fate, roll a pool of six-sided dice. This pool starts at 0, and you add 1 to the pool for each one of the following you have.."
• Fellowship : add a dice if someone helps you with the task;
• Lore : add a dice if you have a lore that is relevant to the task;
• Attribute : add a dice if one of your attributes would be helpful;
• Magic : add a dice if you use one of your magical abilities to accomplish the task;
• Equipment : add a dice if you have the right tool for the task.
• After rolling the dice, the results are categorized into three types:
• (1) or (2) : Miss
• (3) or (4) : Near Miss
• (5) or (6) : Hit
• if the Player get at least 1 hit from all dice they had to roll, they will be considered succeed the task.
• For every additional hit, add one detail to Player's accomplishment.
• There are possibilities of turning the Near Miss into a Hit by stressing one of the assets rolled. Stress rolls will be refreshed during downtime.

> 1949 River City Crime Table / Elfmaid & Octopi

• I took the liberty to roll and imagine what kind of River City I will visited by the Writer's d100 tables.
• (88) Rival gangs selling bad drugs and killing each others;
• (63) Bomber has been blowing up witness and jurors to influence court cases;
• (38) Gang of Snooty-masked, suit-wearing art thieves, claim to be saving art from Philistines;
• (21) Gang running criminal lottery racket with kids for runner;
• (86) Desperate war vets living on streets, being recruited into gangs but have to commit a violent robbery and murder to get in;
• (62) Journalist have gone into hiding from a gang of killers they seek to expose;
• (77) Plan to steal a famous collection of artefacts passing through the city by rail;
• (83) Two gangs feuding are sold military weapons including BAR adn Tommy Guns and granades. Violance will promptly explode;
• (48) Troubled young addict goes on stabbing spree in the streets and wants police to shoot them for insane;
• (93) Prison governor is working with gang leaders inside to take over gangs outside.

> New Year's Resolution Mechanic : Taking Your Time / A Knight at the Opera

• Following up Prismatic Wasteland's challenge, the Writer came up with a system that involving realistic usage of time and the of players doing the action in the available time slots.
• When a Player trying to attempts an action that have 1) non-trivial chance of success; 2) non-trivial chance of failure; 3) meaningful consequences, they will be asked to roll a dice. This are the foundation of a lot of RPG, and sometimes the main interesting thing to be anticipated was the meaningful consequences that many players want to create as interesting as possible - "dramatic, fun, non-boring" consequences.
• There is a term called "Taking 20" that I believe tickled the Writer to create a better mechanism regarding this matter.
• The Writer also reminds us about the "Base Time Unit" (which until now, I haven't found the unversal or general rules about this base time unit), and using it as the foundation, the Writer proposing a mechanism that rather than Declare and Roll for how long will the player will doing something, the player roll n dice for n turns instead. n is for number of turn / roll they want to do.
• They put two different scenario regarding this system:
1. When a player (let's say) declaring they want to create a potion that need 3 turns to be completed, and on the third turn, there is a commotion happens outside that breaking their potion making action. They will only get 2 turn instead of 3 (thanks to the commotion), which means the action won't be as effective as players wanted. Interuptions inflicts a penalty.
2. When a player want their action is giving out the outcome they want to be, and there's no consequences on re-attempting the action, they will keep re-rolling the dice until they get the outcome they preferable / desire to be happen. Hence, why the Writer makes re-attempts are at a penalty. Means on every re-attempts, the player will receive disadvantage, and it might stacks / multiplying everytime they re-attempts. A single dice rolls representing PCs best effort at doing something.
• The Writer also proposing another alternate mechanism called "Shifting Time Scales". In example, the player want to brew potion that usually takes 1 turn to do. They can take a single turn to make the potion OR add another turn (2 turns) to make a little bit potential potions that maybe giving them some oomph. Or in other examples, when trying to lock picking that usually takes 5 turns to successfully pry it, the player was faced with the situation that in the next 10 turn, the Guard will come up from the corner. Will the Player do 5-5 turns while hopping the lock opened in their first try? or commiting full 10 turns to opening the door just right before the Guard sees them?
• Quoting the Writer,"Compromise; player chooses if they'd rather make a risky attempt to succeed quickly with plenty of time left over, or they take time to get an advantage but they spend the whole turn on it. Why not just keep making (several) quick attempts in a row? Because each one (will) increase the re-attemps penalty."

> d100 Tavern Tables in Shadelport / Elfmaid & Octopi

• What is Shadelport? It's a setting that created by the Writer.
• Let's see what kind of experience that these taverns in Shadelport provide me with:
• (59) Clerks from shipping companies meeting for a meal;
• (43) Weapons makers discussing the prospects of war and work;
• (78) Drunken student out to party and dance and get loaded and vomit everywhere;
• (60) Street vendors having break from wheeling and dealing with pushcarts;
• (71) Drunken students, some getting drunk for first time ever.

> Young and Unafraid : Wizard & Witches / Traverse Fantasy

• My Wizard and Witch tower had 3 stories...with the other floor might be a (4) recreational room;
• Something's always happening inside the tent (6) washing cat in a couldron;
• The ingredient might look like (5) magic mushroom (that might grow in a forest or cave;
• Current Wizard experiement (8) Paleolithic Park, with 11 person who lived on the property.

> Weird Crimes for Heroes 1949 / Elfmaid & Octopi

• One day while strolling down the lovely street of River City, you see:
• (76) newspaper chief shot after declaring mystery man and vigilantes should work for the goverment or go to prison life. Crowds believe the editor's wild claims;
• (69) foreign spy found murdered in hotel room;
• (77) newspaper magnate was found strangled in the car while the driver went to fetch a newspaper. Supporters claim he was silenced for speaking the truth;
• (22) cult-like family head is furious at members for leaving and marrying outsiders, now tje family want to kill them and cover up their weird ways;
• (74) during an angry mob riot, a politician was shot and injured;
• (18) millionaire offers a reward for finding their sweetheart who disappeared while travelling.

I Read This in 2024 - Week 1

**A collections of information regarding TTRPG that I gather from several blogs. Initially take a shape of pen-and-paper which later digitalized as blogpost. All rights of each articles are belong to their respective writer.**

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> Attack of the Living Dungeon / Elfmaid & Octopi

• Paraphrasing from The Writer, "... kind of a random dungeon... (that) can (be) populate if from standard dungeon tables... Resting (might) open you to the risk... (and the) maps made no sense and getting out was difficult. Might be good for a solo."
• Let's make a 10-room dungeon:
• Entrance : (5) Decor
• Dungeon:
• (40) Illusion Conceals Guardpost
• (56) Empty but Hidden Treasure
• (19) Section of Passage 30ft long where walls close in if entered; 1-in-4 with popout spikes. Must flee through or brace
• (17) Fragile section of passage 250ft passage will collapse if anyone noisy or causes damage, possibly some sagging beams or hasty repairs collapses and is blocked.
• (67) pile of bones and an ogre
• (74) room has old furnishing and a spirit that knows where a treasure is hidden wants love and assumes human form
• (61) pet monster room with piles of straw and bones
• (50) animated furniture
• (18) passage decorated with 20ft with mural of ancient myth
• (8) iron gate, rusted
• I believe I can make a short adventure with this dungeon. While surprisingly the last room was an iron gate, means that there's a possibility to escape.

> Capsule Games - Part 1: Introduction / A Knight at the Opera

• The Writer try to explain what is a "Cappy" or Capsule Game is. There are several points that can be fundamental:
  
• By having or including rule set;
• including an adventure or scenario to play;
• providing pre-made characters;
• pick-up and play style, no long preparation;
• embrace finitude or limitation;
• knowing that you already have the complete experience, no need to buy more miniatures or supplements or printing necessary additional sheets.
• Check out Silent Titans as The Writer nominates it as PROPER CAPSULE DESIGN.
• The Writer also suggest that we can learn a thing or two by this capsule games:
• It's all about the mechanism - the rules and the procedure. Just like Devil May Cry franchise - push the button to slay monsters, hcck it until final boss;
• Players will be receiving a package full of complete game - we're talking about the rules, the maps, the minis, the dice, the complete lore, even small details like properties (spell templates for example);
• Pre-made Characters were available - all stats, skills tree, equipment and even appearance were already prepared for the player. The only things that Players need to decide is name or even personality;
• Finitude creates familiarity - players will slowly remember the stats of the enemies, all spells ranges and or even the function of all available items. This won't be happening in a short playable time - repetitive gameplay create this and it will take a quite long time if you play it right.

> Obituary : Brian Ansell - Former Owner and Managing Director of Games Workshop, Age 68, December 30th 2023

> Capsule Games : Part 1 - What Are Capsule Games / Rise Up Comus

• The Writer elaborate more differences between Capsule Games (or Cappy) with other games such as Traditional RPG, Boardgames and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.
• Cappy vs Trad
• Cappy could be treated as an Intro to RPG.
• Cappy is not universal (Like GURPS)
• Cappy is providing pre-made characters
• Cappy provides adventures
• Cappy vs Board Games
• Both provides map along with pre-define monsters
• also both (could) provide pre-made characters
• Cappy vs CYOA
• Both having defined play area and sense of finality
• Cappy is not a solo games like CYOA

> The Giant - A Monstrous OSR Class / Rise Up Comus

• Giants are made by eating other giants, not born as a giant.
• As a giants, your enemy were men who wants to eat you and other giants who wants to get bigger and meaner.
• There is a trait called Cancerous for the Giants where tumors begin to grow on their body. Everytime the Giant roll a 1, they will cough up blood. The Writer also add the player with this trait should roll a d100 - if they roll under their max HP, the cancer was already spreaded inside the Giant's body and they will die at the end of the season.
• As the giant grow, they will gain move, height, health, strength, damage per attack and the ability to utilize improvised weapons (such as tree trunks or boulders). Also as their hands getting bigger, the Giant could single-handedly a two-hands weapons and use/grab two items in one hands.
• The downsides were armor and clothing will be need to be a special made and cost more.

> Two Species, Two Systems / From The Sorcerer's Skull

• The Writer comparing how two different games with different systems explain and describes a creature and it's traits.
• By using Black Star and Star Scoundrels terms, The Writer describing two creatures for examples.
• In summary, Black Star's term are more straight forward, and providing need-to-know informations regarding the creature; while Star Scoundrels' giving more words to explain the traits of the creature - giving them more vivid characteristic and additional informations that might usefull both for the GM or the Player.

> How Do You Solve a Problem Like The Difficulty in Visualising Combat in a High Level D&D Campaign? / Monsters and Manuals

• High level campaign frequently (in Writer's perspective) killing the vivid imagination of battle due to the unproportional size of the enemy to the Playable Character (PC).
• I'm quoting The Writer,"(The more level you gains) things just get harder to imagine, and become less immediate and immersive as a consequence."
• In my point of view, this can be solved with:
• Reducing the frequency of the "Big Boss Energy" monsters encounter with the PC;
• Make it as a multi-phase encounter. For example in first encounter, the PC was over powered, they will retreat and heard a rumour regarding a MacGuffin that can slain the monster. The second encounter will be when the PC had the MacGuffin and try to slain the monster.
• OR
• The Battle itself was the part of the Story. PC actions can be treated as a quick time event (QTE) where they need to roll dice in certain or above number in order to successfully do it.
• The downside is the GM need to create an elaborate script and scenarios of What-Ifs when the PC was failed the QTE.

> Celestial Cisterns of Forgotten Evil / Elfmaids & Octopi

• The cistern could be treated as a huge, dark, labyrinth filled with knee-high only-Gods-know liquid substance (or simpy water) along with random creatures roaming.
• I took 5 attempts to find out what kind of cistern that I might get:
• Current use: (9) Carved text in stone here are fragments of a rare spell and wizards come in secret
• Water quality: (2) reliable quality water from spring, plenty all year round
• Building above cistern: (1) ruined church or monastery, damaged roof, filled with trash where bandits and monsters sometimes camp. Cistern entry may be covered in trash
• Common Encounter: (11) blind cave troll washed down here as a severed hand and is scrawny with hunger
• Rare Encounter: (2) swarm of stirge live here breeding
• Quick type of Finds: (1) transport
• Interesting Finds (5):
• (30) Great stone monolith once part of a druid stone circle with spiral patterns carved in the surface
• (9) a flooded staircase goes into a deeper older complex
• (1) sunken small boats around former warf
• (55) pools of slime where oozes and puddings and jelly creatures thrive on strange growth
• (37) carved block inset in wall of a former cult altar that has still seen some use

> d100 River City 1949 Encounters / Elfmaids & Octopi

• One day, an unknown superhero taking a trip to River City, where:
• Quick Types: (2) petty crime
• Encounter (take 5):
• (83) a contact is curous and sneaks on a truck driven by gangsters
• (41) a lone weirdo with knife robbing old people
• (21) a gang of children chased by armed gangster
• (32) a worker falls from new building scaffolding
• (59) gangster attack a rival criminal enterprise like a nightclub or secret casino

> Two Species, Two Systems; OR: Race-as-System / Archons March On

• Responding to From the Sorcerer's Skull's "Two Species, Two Systems", The Writer proposing each race's stats are using and referring to each different systems.
• For example for basic humans were using OD&D or OSE; for Elves using Fate or 5e; for Dwarves using Mekton Zeta.
• The downside was to find the midpoint between all systems that can be applied across the system. Or to re-generalize things that cherry-picked from many systems. The Writers wrote "Like if one character's a vampire using World of Darkness, maybe each lethal wound translates to 3 points of damage? And rolling three successes is the same as a roll of 15?"

> D.I.O. Ultimate Steppes Campaign / Seeds of Worlds

• The Writer is planning for a running a traveling caravan, community-based game which based on the nomadic tribes do.
• The Writer choose steppes as location due to sizing and plausibilty of utilzing mounts (horses and carriages).
• This campaign will be running or based on 5e and/or BX Compatible, 50/50 respectively.
• Reading this article reminds me with:
• Fallout New Vegas' Crimson Caravan
• A particular story from Lucky Luke which I forgot the title
• The Oregon Trail (1985)

> The Other OSR : Demon Dog / Reviews from R'lyeh

• The Writer reviewing Demon Dog - an RPG made by Nightfall Games that compatible with Morkborg.
• The concept was when a character dies with a sin, they will be resurrected by Demon Baron with a price they will be his Demon Dog and do whatever Baron tell them to.
• If implemented in Morkborg, a dying PC could be revived as a Demon Dog, giving them a second change but with a price.

> Garden of Terror / Tenfootpole

• Looking at the review, this adventure is somehow similar with what I made for EMPLOYEE. Gonna look up how it is and learn what SHOULDN'T I make.

Office Politics in EMPLOYEE

In real life, office politics are inevitable. It will always present in every shape and size of a company. From only one small group that could steer the whole company due to their vocal and massive influencing power, to a multi power-sided group that could steer the whole company into one humongous stew pot of ideology, visions and each different mission. From the clicks of janitors to the board of commissioners - everyone had their own vision they dream about and missions they want to achieve.

Searching on office politics on the internet, the main ideas are always referred to 1. To improve someone or some group status and 2. To pursue a personal or group agenda with or without a chance of sacrificing others. Power is the most frequent thing that drives and feeds office politics. Some use communications, networks and information. It can be positive office politics (that are usually being pulled off in order to increase employee performances for example) or negative ones (gatekeeping significant information for themselves or blackmailing a particular employee they want to control). Office politics is inevitable. It is always present, can’t be absent.

Translating it into a game feature, office politics may be translated and treated just like clans and factions in larger table top RPG settings. In EMPLOYEE, the “world” that players explore is the office itself - Nüearth Re. GM/Referee/Dungeon Master could expand the size of the building as far and big as they want - will it be a 10-floor buildings or pentagon-sized width buildings, will it have a basements or even become an office complex with several smaller building scattered on its ground for each divisions existed. Will it be a simple mundane office building or not, office politics will always be there.

For creating some office feud and heating up some political movement and “relationship” between the factions, first you need to create a faction or clan or in EMPLOYEE we call it "Fouroom". You need decide which things that they want to get grasp on their hand as their main mission or we can say what is the main driver they existed:

1.     Sole Owner of Power and Authority (Power)
2.     Center of Knowledge (Information)
3.     The Hive of Connections (Network)
4.     Anything except those three above - it can be about wealth, status, public perception, public affirmation, or recognition from other employees.

After deciding on what their main mission is, you can flip a coin to determine if they are against the current "Management"or supporting them. For example, a fouroom of network is against the management. They will significantly bad-mouthing the current management to the fellow clients and stakeholders. Or another example is a fouroom of information that helps the current management. They will do a market surveillance, human resources monitoring program and any other actions that might supports the current management to survive.

Like many other clans and factions, Fouroom also had their mutual alignment. This alignment is attached to the fouroom itself, not to the members - their alignment is expected and can be perceived as the same as the fouroom they belong to. But some employees can exist inside two or more different and opposite fouroom. The alignment of an employee is not always mirroring the alignment of the fouroom they joined or involved. GM/Referee/Dungeon Master could refer to basic 9 moral alignments to be implied on the fourooms.

After deciding the foundation of a fouroom, GM/Referee/Dungeon Master could decide on what approaching method this fouroom will be used in order to achieve their target. Will it be a silent / guerilla operation that is kept in secret; optimizing and piggybacking the current flow of corporate actions; or executing plans and pulling strings under the shadows. It might take time to achieve the main goal, but it is steady and subtle. Or will it be a full frontal operation that can be witnessed and might involve the employees like strikes; or confronting the opposition’s or the current management’s action plans with their own actions. Bold indeed, but might lose some employee’s interest or sympathy if the operations are too risky and could severely hurt the company. Covert operation and diplomatic operation could also be options to consider. Covert operation is literally a spying action involving kidnapping, blackmailing, hacking, sabotaging oppositions or current management. This also involves information leaks that might hurt and damage the opposition's status and existence. Diplomatic operations on the other hand involve a peaceful approach to the opposition. Communication (and ass-licking) is the main skills needed to engaging a professional, well-mannered negotiations to oppositions - they can asked them politely to step up the way with some incentives as a reward; negotiating with one of significant member of opposition to join their fouroom; or maybe seeking for help to the opposition for some unsolved problems they currently had. Diplomatic operations is one of several slow-paced but high success rating operations because it might involving the highest rank member of the fouroom to negotiate - we’re talking about a conversation between head honchos.

In EMPLOYEE, there’s no exact numbers on how many fourooms could exist. The more fouroom you have in your game, the more complex the relationships will be. It is impossible for a company to only have one fouroom, but also a chaos if there are 20 fourooms inside a 200-employee company (for example). If you thought “man, I don’t have time to set up a lore to build for a single fouroom..”. Fear not fellow adventurers, I prepared a simple table generator below if you just want to roll-and-create a fouroom. It WILL be random, and I believe some aspects might cancel or contradict each other. But hey, at least they are quick and easy.

dn	Target / Mission	Sentiment	Alignment	Approaching Method
1	Power	Againts	Awful Good	Silent / Guerilla
2	Information	Supports	Neutral Good	Full Frontal
3	Network		Chaotic Good	Covert
4	Other		Lawful Neutral	Diplomatic
5			Neutral	Other
6			Chaotic Neutral
7			Lawful Evil
8			Neutral Evil
9			Chaotic Evil