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A couple of days ago I posted in the thread about JBE's Guide to the River Nations asking what the chances were for getting Intelligence Network rules, and since the answer I got was 'we'll see' I decided to try to come up with some rules on my own. Feedback requested!
Spy Network, foreign and domestic:
In order for a kingdom to even have a network at all, there MUST be a Spy Master in the kingdom's ranks. Should a network be established and then, for whatever reason, the Spymaster is removed, the kingdom loses all benefits of the network as it quickly falls apart without central leadership. All espionage actions take place during the Event Phase, regardless of whether or not an actual Event takes place.
Domestic Espionage (Informants):
A Spy Master can purchase an informant network within a hex the kingdom owns or a city at the cost of 1 Consumption per network per kingdom turn. Purchasing an informant network gets the Spy Master a number of informants equal to his/her Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) in that hex or city. This benefits any Leader that makes a Diplomacy check in that area to gather information at a bonus of +5 per informant.
The number of informant networks a kingdom can have is limited only by how much Consumption the kingdom can support.
Foreign Espionage:
Foreign Espionage is handled differently than Domestic, as it takes more resources and manpower to fund and organize. It also requires individuals that are much more highly trained.
The number of foreign networks a kingdom can have total is determined by the kingdom's size. A kingdom can only have one foreign network operate in a foreign country. Each network costs 2 Consumption points per kingdom turn.
Size (Max # of Hexes): # of Foreign Networks:
10------------------------------------------2
25------------------------------------------4
50------------------------------------------6
100-----------------------------------------8
200-----------------------------------------16
200+ ---------------------------------------24
There are a number of missions that foreign spy networks can perform. To perform these missions, the kingdom rolls a Stability check against its Control DC + any modifiers to the task they are trying to perform.
As these networks work together, with time and practice, their skill increases. With each successful mission, a network gets a +1 to the Stability Check on successive missions. For example, a network in an enemy nation with two successful missions under its belt gets a +2 to its next mission's Stability check.
Missions:
Gather Information On Enemy Cities:
A spy network can gather information about an enemy nation's cities, such as population numbers, what improvements a city has access to in surrounding hexes, what buildings the city has, who its leaders are, any plans the enemy nation may be forming against the home kingdom, etc.
Check - Stability vs. Control DC
On a success less than or equal to 5, the network is successful in getting the information to their home kingdom, depending on the enemy's location.
Enemy Kingdom borders Home Kingdom - 1 Kingdom Turn
Enemy Kingdom is moderately close to Home Kingdom - 1d4 Kingdom Turns
Enemy Kingdom is far away from Home Kingdom - 1d8 Kingdom Turns
On a success more than 5, the time it takes to get the information to the home kingdom is halved.
On a failure less than or equal to five, the network is unsuccessful in gathering information, but they are not caught.
On a failure of more than five, the network is caught.
Sabotage:
A spy network can attempt to sabotage any improvements or buildings in a city or surrounding hexes.
Check - Stability vs. Control DC + 1/2 of the BP cost of the building/improvement
On a success less than or equal to five, the network manages to damage the target. Although the damage is not enough to remove the bonus of the target to the enemy kingdom, they cause Unrest in the enemy kingdom to increase by 1.
On a success more than 5, the network manages to utterly destroy the target. In addition to increasing Unrest by 1, they remove any and all bonuses the target gave the enemy kingdom.
On a failure of less than or equal to 5, the network fails to damage the target.
On a failure of more than 5, the network is caught.
Gather Information on Enemy Armies:
A spy network can gather information on an enemy kingdom's armies- who their commanders are, their tactics and their plans.
Check - Stability vs. Control DC + 1/2 of the CR of the enemy army
On a success of less than or equal to five, the network manages to get basic information of the enemies' armies, granting the home kingdom a +1 to its Defense Value against that kingdom's armies, and a -1 penalty to the enemy army's Offense Modifier against the home kingdom. The time it takes for the network to get the information to the home kingdom is the same as gathering information on Enemy Cities.
On a success of more than five, not only is the time it takes to get the information back to the home kingdom halved, the network has managed to gather critical information on the enemy armies, granting the home kingdom a +2 to its Defense Value against the enemy kingdom's armies, and a -2 penalty to the enemy army's Offense Modifier against the home kingdom.
On a failure of less or equal to than five, the network fails to get any information on the enemy kingdom's armies.
On a failure of more than five, the network is caught.
Cause Unrest:
A network can cause Unrest in an enemy kingdom by spreading damaging information (true or false) about the kingdom's leaders, contributing to the possibility of a revolt or loss of control for an enemy kingdom.
Check - Stability vs. Control DC
On a success of less than or equal to five, the network convinces the general populace to speak out against its leaders, increasing Unrest in the enemy kingdom by 2.
On a success of more than five, the network convinces the general populace to all but revolt, increasing Unrest by 4.
On a failure of less than or equal to five, the network does not sway the general populace.
On a failure of more than five, the network slips up and exposes themselves as spies.
Poison Water/Food Supply:
This is one of the most dangerous missions a spy network can undertake, with a huge risk against a huge benefit against an enemy kingdom. This mission can only affect one city per mission.
Check - Stability Vs. Control DC + 1 per completed blocks in the city.
On a success of less than or equal to five, the network has successfully poisoned the water/food supply of the city, lowering the stability, loyalty and economy of the kingdom by 2. Unrest is also increased by 2.
On a success of more than five, the network strikes at the heart of the city's water/food supply, lowering the stability, loyalty and economy of the enemy kingdom by 4. Unrest also increases by 4.
On a failure less than or equal to five, the network fails in its mission but does not get caught.
On a failure of more than five, the network is caught red-handed.
Counter-Intelligence:
A Spy Master can setup a network of counter-intelligence agents in his/her kingdom to attempt to locate spies from other kingdoms. In order to run such an operation, there must be at least one Counter-Intelligence Building in the kingdom. The first such building must be built in the capital. A city cannot have more than one Counter-Intelligence Building.
Counter-Intelligence Building: 16 BP, Stability +2, Loyalty -1, Unrest +1. This building houses the headquarters of the city's counter-intelligence operations. It must be connected to the Office of the City Guard.
For every counter-intelligence building in the kingdom after the first one in the capital, the kingdom gets a +1 bonus to its counter-intelligence checks.
To make a counter-intelligence check, the Spy Master rolls a Loyalty check vs. the kingdom's Control DC.
A success less than or equal to five results in the agency locating a number of spies equal to the Spy Master's Charisma modifier. (minimum of 1)
A success more than five results in the agency locating a number of spies equal to double the Spy Master's Charisma modifier.
A failure of less than or equal to five results in the network failing to locate any agents.
A failure of more than five results in the network accusing innocent people of being foreign agents, resulting in Unrest increasing by 2.
Feedback, as requested:
Domestic Spying
To be clear, we're talking about bonuses Gather Information checks in the +15 to +25 range. Hrm. It has a cost. Tough to judge.
The way you choose where the network exists is strange though. There is the same cost to spy on the entire capital city, as there is one semi-inhabited forest. I would do the cost either per-district (in the case of cities), or allow entire geographical region (in the case of rural).
Foreign Networks
Again, you have everything costing the same. It should be a lot easier to spy on small countries than large ones. It should possibly also be easier to spy on a democracy than on a dictatorship. And since the default assumption is Kingmaker, you might as well explicitly address the question of Brevoy. Is it 1, 2, or 6 countries? I could see an arguement for each.
Missions, general
For all of these, why are you checking against your OWN Control DC? This makes sense for domestic spying, but I don't see how having more outlying farms makes it tougher for the informant in Daggermark to do his thing. Shouldn't this be compared against the foriegn country's Control DC?
What are the ramifications of "catching a network"?
Gather Info on Cities
I dislike this ability because it creates a ton of work for the GM all at once. Before, I didn't know how many stables were in Varnhold. Now I have to come up with everything. I would limit what this is capable of. The fact that you merely said "etc" is a warning sign. This doesn't create a good contract between players and GM. Come up with an explicit list, kindof like how Knowledge checks against monsters work. Or maybe allow the PCs to ask 2 or 3 targeted questions, and the GM only has to answer those.
You have some fuzzy distances in there. What does "moderately close" mean? Since the default assumption is Kingmaker, tell us in terms of the various River Kingdoms to use as a reference point.
Sabotage
Generally a solid, if powerful ability. Since it's so powerful, I would have harsher penalties for failure. Maybe they get caught more easily?
Gather Info on Armies
Interesting that this ability is worded as such that it doesn't actually tell the players (OOG) stats on the army. And unlike cities, I'm fine with devulging that info: because armies are simplier, and if I've put an army in my campaign world, I've likely statted it out.
You realize that since the offensive and defensive results are subtracted from each other, than you've giving a net modifier of +2 on a success and +4 on a crit, right? Personally, I would just increase the PCs' DV.
What about using this ability to predict army movements? ie what direct their marching orders are? I would consider this a key component of army spying.
Unrest
Very powerful. The fact that I can ping an adjacent country every month, which is generally faster than they can heal the damage, is perhaps too strong. The penalties for failure should be greater here than for simple spying.
Poisoning
I don't like it conceptually: this is a quest for PCs to go on, not something for NPCs to do in the background.
Also, it is exceptionally powerful. The most potent item in the arsenal. I don't see why I would waste time with things like destroying buildings or causing unrest if I have THIS ability in my pocket.
(The increase to DC is meaningless: by the time the PCs are big enough to want to do this, they'll have bonuses far far higher than their Control DCs to care about this.)
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Overal, I enjoy the effort. It's far easier to nitpick than to build. (so I hope you don't take my criticism as too harsh!) I'm excited to see what you come up with for the subsequent iteration.
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Here is my feedback on this:
Domestic Espionage
Perhaps you could adjust the cost this way:
In sparsely populated hexes with no cities, towns or villages costs 1 Consumption per every two hexes per kingdom turn.
Networks in hexes with villages and towns cost 1 Consumption per network per kingdom turn.
Lastly, Networks in hexes with Cities cost 1 Consumption per city district per Network per kingdom turn.
Foreign Networks
I agree with Eric, the cost to conduct operations in foreign countries should change depending on that target nation's size, security, and overall paranoia.
I have this possible solution:
Size of Target Country (Max # of Hexes): Consumption cost:
10------------------------------------------2
25------------------------------------------4
50------------------------------------------6
100-----------------------------------------8
200-----------------------------------------12
200+ ---------------------------------------20
Modifiers to Consumption Cost (a few examples)
Target nation has no or disorganized gov (ex: anarchy): -1
Target nation has military or highly organized gov (ex: dictatorship): +1
Target country's populace is highly paranoid, extremely nationalistic, racially intolerant: +1
Missions
I also agree with Eric that the check made for Domestic Missions should be your own kingdom's Control DC, but it should be the Target Nation's Control DC for Foreign Missions.
Failure of the check by more than 5 should result in the network getting caught means your spies are either executed for espionage, tortured for information, and/or ransomed back to the home kingdom for resources, money, exchange of prisoners, etc. This creates 1d4 Unrest as word of the failure reaches home.
On a Natural 1, the spies are turned against the home kingdom as double agents.
Spying on Enemy Cities
For getting info on enemy cities, much like Knowledge and Monster Lore you should let them ask 1 question for every 5 the roll beats the DC and get back to them the next day or week with the answers.
Distance wise, bordering kingdoms should include Varnhold, Brevoy, Mivon and any country that may exist on the Hooktongue Slough. Moderately close should include Iobaria, Pitax & Glenebon Uplands and any River Kingdom east of and including Gralton. Far away is everything else, with extra time added on per every 100 miles or so of distance between the two countries.
Sabotage
Failure should indeed have bigger fallout. A normal failure means the network is unable to conduct Sabotage again for the next 1d4 kingdom turns, as they taxed themselves avoiding capture, laying low and resupply.
Failure by more than 5 means that the network was caught, executed, tortured, etc. This creates 1d6 Unrest in the home Kingdom as word of this fiasco gets out. Attempts to inflict harm results in a harsher penalty than merely spying on a city.
Failure on a Nat 1 means that the home kingdom suffers some kind of retaliation by the target kingdom, such as Sabotage, Diplomatic incident or even war.
Spying on Armies
I'd include troop movements with this, that's one of the main reasons for spying on an army. Just like Knowledge checks for Monsters, I'd let them ask 1 question for every 5 they beat the DC.
Eric's right about the Offense/Defense Modifiers, just give them a DV increase.
On a Failure by more than 5, the network is caught and tortured for information on the home kingdom's armies. The enemy kingdom gets a +1 to their Offensive Modifier vs. the home kingdom's armies.
On a Natural 1, information about the home kingdom's city defense has been revealed, giving a -2 DV to all home kingdom villages, towns and Cities per city district.
Unrest
I'd say this ability can only be used again 1d4 kingdom turns after it's been performed, to represent the network restocking it's resources, manpower and avoiding heat and capture.
Failure by more than 5 means the exposure creates public outcry against the home kingdom. Any trade agreements between the two nations halts immediately, and war breaks out between nations.
On a Natural 1, the Target Nation launches a surprise attack against the home kingdom during the Next Event Phase, causing war to break out. During this surprise attack, the target Army/City takes a -5 penalty to it's Defense. The resulting panic by the people causes 2d4 Unrest.
Poisoning Water/Food Supply
Lest we forget that doing this KILLS people? This not only should have Alignment ramifications, but it should actually kill hundreds if not thousands of the target nation's citizens on a success.
A success by 5 or less should wipe out one-quarter of a city district's population. A Success by more than 5 should wipe out 1/2 the city district's population and create the ongoing Event of Famine or Plague or something akin to that. Medieval biological warfare is absolutely devastating and is so widespread that magic wouldn't be able to cure it all with one wave of a wand.
Failing this by 5 or more should create 10 Unrest, as the people of the home kingdom are appalled by such a dastardly act by their government (or that they got caught, if the country is evil). This would also incite all-out war between the countries and a long-lasting enmity between them.
On a Natural 1, the Target Nation gathers a coalition of Allied nations to punish the home kingdom, whether by imposing penalties to their Kingdom Stats in the form of trade embargoes, or by allying to wage war against the home kingdom. The resulting fallout calls for the home kingdom's Ruler and/or Spy Master to step down, be turned over for punishment by the targeted kingdom, or exiled from their home kingdom as punishment. Failure to do so means retaliation by the Alliance of nations.
Just some rough ideas off the top of my head, take em or leave em, your choice!!
Thanks for the replies, guys. I'll rework your suggestions and see what I come up with!
Truth be told, a lot of this I took directly from Civ IV Beyond the Sword.
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Wow. Very cool. I also noticed the issue of everything costing the same regardless of the size of the kingdom you're spying on. Same thing with no differences in DC. I've been fiddling with a Treaty system - I have some players who are real into diplomacy. The basic formula I'm using is:
Diplomacy DC = half the target nation’s Command DC + the attitude modifier of the target nation [basically Diplomacy modifiers on a nation-wide scale] + its Prestige score [a custom score I use, the country's cool factor]
I haven't tried it yet, still in the development stage, but I'm trying to model a larger country being harder to negotiate with. The Diplomat gets to add some stuff to his role as well - a big team assist, his country's prestige, etc.
Anyway, my point is you could try basing your costs and DCs off the other country's Command DC in some way. It scales nicely with counties' size and complexity.
Just a thought.