Vornheiming Middenheim Part VI: Cults and Intrigue

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Today we get to the stuff I'm most excited about: the Chaos Cult and Intrigue generators! These are the parts that are most original and least a reworking of other people's stuff.  Obviously I think the reworking has value too, or I wouldn't be doing it, but coming up with these got me fired up in a way working on district write-ups or adapting the Powers that Be did not.  

So, a few words on each of the generators.  First of all, I can't help the feeling that they're overly simplistic, but I think in practice the complexity will come from interactions.  That being said, even more so than the other things, these are a draft, and I'd appreciate any suggestions for changes or additions.

The intrigue generator essentially works as a mad libs.  If you don't already have a person or group in mind, you can randomly generate the players involved, or you can just roll the other columns and plug in the groups you want to find a relationship for.  The wants and beliefs are left fairly vague so they can fit a variety of different people and situations.  If an intrigue seems weak, either a) pick one you like better, b) roll again until something gets your motor going, or c) layer on other sources of complexity like generating specific NPCs, tying in the Powers that Be, pulling in a Chaos cult, or what have you.

The Chaos cult generator's format is inspired by Logan Knight's excellent NPC Birthing Sacs.  I've added the feature that you can roll 1d4 and get a "standard" cult by reading straight across, and each cult is assumed to have an enmity/rivalry with the next one down.  Which Chaos God is generated does a lot of the heavy lifting for the flavor of the cult, as the rest of the columns were made to generically fit any one of the Chaos gods.  I figure I'll never be as evocative as the Realms of Chaos books, so I won't try.  I feel like the "quirks" could be more interesting, but it was hard to come up with ideas that worked equally well for followers of every ruinous power.  After the break is the actual rules.

Intrigue Generator

Procedure

• To find relationship between two people or groups, simply roll on column 2
• To create a new basic intrigue, roll on columns 1, 2, and 3
• To create an intermediate intrigue, add column 4
• To create a complex intrigue, add column 5
• For maximum complexity, add column 6
• Repeat the process with already established groups or people in one or more columns in order to create a web of conflicting and interconnecting plots
• If the same group or person comes up in multiple columns, attempt to interpret it in a way that makes sense, such as a smaller factions within a larger group, or complex internal psychology of an individual, but if it flat out does not work, re-roll
• If using column 6, try to interpret the other columns in light of the district rumor to create a coherent whole
• Finally, the headings can be used as an ad lib to be filled in any way you like: "(Person/Group) wants (a thing) from (Person/Group) because of a lack of (a thing) that they blame on (Person/Group) because they are secretly behind (a random rumor) in (a random district)."

	Basic			Intermediate	Complex	Extra Complex
Roll	(Person/Group)	Wants (thing)	From (Person/Group)	Because of a lack of (thing)	That they blame on (person/group)	Because they are secretly behind (a random rumor) in (random district)
1	A random Power	Sex	A random NPC	Safety	A random Chaos Cult	Roll district, roll rumor
2	A random NPC	Money	A random Power	Marriage	The Graf	Roll district, roll rumor
3	A random Chaos Cult	Connections	The Law Lords	Protection	The Merchant Guild	Roll district, roll rumor
4	The Graf	Power	The Midden Marshalls	Intimidation	The Law Lords	Roll district, roll rumor
5	The Merchant Guild	Marriage	The Law Lords	Submission	The Midden Marshalls	Roll district, roll rumor
6	The Law Lords	Safety	The Merchant Guild	Sex	The Cult of Ulrich	Roll district, roll rumor
7	The Midden Marshalls	Intimidation	The Cult of Ulrich	Connections	The Cult of Sigmar	Roll district, roll rumor
8	The Cult of Ulrich	Submission	The Cult of Sigmar	Power	Komission for Commerce, Trade, and Taxation	Roll district, roll rumor
9	The Cult of Sigmar	Protection	Komission for Commerce, Trade, and Taxation	Money	The Worshipful Guild of Legalists	Roll district, roll rumor
10	Komission for Commerce, Trade, and Taxation	Violence	The Worshipful Guild of Legalists	Cooperation	The Komission for Elven, Dwarven, and Halfling Interests	Roll district, roll rumor
11	The Worshipful Guild of Legalists	Cooperation	The Komission for Elven, Dwarven, and Halfling Interests	Violence	The Komission for Health, Education, and Welfare	Roll district, roll rumor
12	The Komission for Elven, Dwarven, and Halfling Interests	An object	The Komission for Health, Education, and Welfare	Political Support	The Komission for Public Works	Roll district, roll rumor
13	The Komission for Health, Education, and Welfare	Political Support	The Komission for Public Works	Discretion	A random Labor Guild	Roll district, roll rumor
14	The Komission for Public Works	Discretion	A random Labor Guild	Publicity	A random Craft Guild	Roll district, roll rumor
15	A random Labor Guild	Publicity	A random Craft Guild	Indulgence	The Wizard and Alchemists Guild	Roll district, roll rumor
16	A random Craft Guild	Indulgence	The Wizard and Alchemists Guild	Favors	The Physicians Guild	Roll district, roll rumor
17	The Wizard and Alchemists Guild	Favors	The Physicians Guild	Participation	A random district Burgerlich Komission	Roll district, roll rumor
18	The Physicians Guild	Participation	A random district Burgerlich Komission	Influence	A random company	Roll district, roll rumor
19	A random district Burgerlich Komission	Influence	A random company	Approval	A random Power	Roll district, roll rumor
20	A random company	Approval	A random Chaos Cult	An object	A random NPC	Roll district, roll rumor

Chaos Cult Generator

Procedure

• Step 1: Roll on the table
• Step 2: Adapt the name as necessary (such as by adding "The Brotherhood of" or "The ____ Order" or the like) 
• Step 3: Determine size of the cult by rolling 2d6, with 6's "exploding" (roll again and add on any 6's) to find the number of members
• Step 4: Find at least one Chaos Cult to be an enemy or rival
• For a quick cult, roll 1d4 and read straight across for step 1, and for step 4, use the next cult down in the table (wrapping around for Nurgle)
• For a more involved cult, roll 1 each of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and a d20
• Optional: For more involved goals, roll twice each for short and long term goals and use the first roll to determine the verb from and the other roll for the object
• Optional: Plug the newly created cult into columns 1, 3, or 5 of the intrigue generator and create one or more plots for the cult to be involved in that may or may not relate to their short and long term goals
• Optional: Use the NPC generator to create any members of the cult as they are needed

d4	Chaos God	d6	Adjective	d8	Noun	d10	Short Term Goal	d12	Long Term Goal	d20	Quirk
1	Tzeentch	1	Purple	1	Hand	1	Kidnap and sell into slavery new arrivals to the city	1	Gain control of the local government	1	Have a successful legitimate business as a front
2	Khorne	2	Crimson	2	Blade	2	Assassinate government leader	2	Foment civil war	2	Unsubtle, methods of secrecy poorly followed
3	Slaneesh	3	Jade	3	Sceptre	3	Lure and sacrifice through trickery children	3	Summon a demonic horde	3	Members more concerned with depraved rituals than actual power
4	Nurgle	4	Fecund	4	Belly	4	Graverobbing the rich	4	Shut off the city from the rest of the empire	4	Members come from an unexpected social class or professional background
		5	Weeping	5	Sore	5	Cause the demonic possession of a military leader	5	Gain control of a powerful guild	5	Are actually worshipping a minor demon in service of the god they believe they are worshipping
		6	Golden	6	Eye	6	Pass contentious laws to drive out demi-humans	6	Destroy all other chaos cults	6	Most of the members are severely mutated
				7	Mask	7	Steal an important or valuable item	7	Increase the number of mutants in society	7	The leader is a powerful magic user
				8	Crown	8	Recruit someone important	8	Build an Empire-wide network of cults	8	Taking orders from a mysterious patron deep in the undercity
						9	Sabotage the city's defenses	9	Destroy the city	9	All members have prominent but easily concealed tattoo
						10	Take control of another cult	10	Discredit the church of Sigmar	10	Leader has a different long-term goal than the cult as a whole
								11	Open a portal to the realm of chaos	11	Posseses a powerful magical item
								12	Gather massive amounts of wealth	12	Operates within an otherwise innocuous secret society
										13	One of their members is an actual prophet
										14	Somehow subverts the expectations for followers of their god
										15	Actually more effective at organized crime than their religious goals
										16	Recruits members by addicting them to certain drugs
										17	Leader is a convert from another chaos cult
										18	Members believe themselves to be worshipping some benevolent, non-Chaos god
										19	Cult is made up entirely of one ethnic/cultural/geographic group
										20	Has a dangerous beast as a pet/guard