A series of good espionage stories can be interconnected by use of a massive enemy organization. This is not to say all stories have to center around this organization. In fact, it may be the case that the operatives face off against several different master villains who all work for the same organization, and the operatives never know until later when they uncover how all these past plots were connected.
To create an enemy organization, use the following system.
1. ORGANIZATION SIZE
Roll on (or choose a result from) the organization size table, below. An organization might have a centralized leadership in some specific location, or might have its leadership more decentralized and spread all over the globe. This will determine the number of leaders (master villains, each created using the tables starting on page 73) as well as the number of locations these leaders control.
2. ORGANIZATION LOCATIONS
Now that you know how many master villains comprise the leadership of your organization, it’s time to see where they are based. For each location, roll on the following tables (once each for purpose, location, and descriptor):
ROLL ORGANIZATION LEADERSHIP #MASTER VILLAINS #LOCATIONS
00-12 Unary, Centralized 1 1
13-24 Small, Centralized 2 1
25-37 Medium, Centralized 3 1
38-49 Large, Centralized 6 2
50-62 Small, Decentralized 3 3
63-74 Medium, Decentralized 5 5
75-87 Large, Decentralized 8 8
88-99 Huge, Decentralized 12+ 12+
ROLL ORGANIZATION PURPOSE
00-07 Scientific or Technological Research 08-16 Propaganda or Public Representation 17-24 Outfitting or Warehousing
25-32 Prison, Torture, or Death camp 33-41 Training Center
42-49 Financial Center 50-57 Manufacturing Facility
58-66 Digital Nerve Center (computers, servers, data, high tech, etc.) 67-74 Central Planning/Administrative
75-82 Weapon of Mass Destruction Site 83-91 Military Center
92-99 Roll Twice
You can use this table to determine where each of the enemy organization’s headquarters is located. Then head over to the handy internet and do some small amount of research on the country rolled. What do the people there look like, and what language do they speak? How do people live there, and what political forces are at work? Find a way to fit the enemy organization into the locale.
Note that the above table is an alphabetized list of the 100 most populated countries. However, the organization’s headquarters need not be in the center of these population areas; consider the less developed and more exotic locations in each country you roll, possibly unreachable except by securable routes, or perhaps hidden behind the façade of a business front.
ROLL ORGANIZATION LOCATION
00 Afghanistan 33 France 66 Philippines
01 Algeria 34 Germany 67 Poland
02 Angola 35 Ghana 68 Portugal
03 Argentina 36 Greece 69 Romania
04 Australia 37 Guatemala 70 Russia
05 Austria 38 Guinea 71 Rwanda
06 Azerbaijan 39 Haiti 72 Saudi Arabia
07 Bangladesh 40 Honduras 73 Senegal
08 Belarus 41 Hong Kong S.A.R. 74 Serbia
09 Belgium 42 Hungary 75 Somalia
10 Benin 43 India 76 South Africa
11 Bolivia 44 Indonesia 77 South Korea
12 Brazil 45 Iran 78 Spain
13 Bulgaria 46 Iraq 79 Sri Lanka
14 Burkina Faso 47 Israel 80 Sudan
15 Burma 48 Italy 81 Sweden
16 Burundi 49 Japan 82 Switzerland
17 Cambodia 50 Kazakhstan 83 Syria
18 Cameroon 51 Kenya 84 Taiwan
19 Canada 52 Madagascar 85 Tajikistan
20 Chad 53 Malawi 86 Tanzania
21 Chile 54 Malaysia 87 Thailand
22 China 55 Mali 88 Tunisia
23 Colombia 56 Mexico 89 Turkey
24 Congo (Dem. Rep. of) 57 Morocco 90 Uganda 25 Cote d'Ivoire 58 Mozambique 91 Ukraine
26 Cuba 59 Nepal 92 United Kingdom
27 Czech Republic 60 Netherlands 93 United States 28 Dominican Republic 61 Niger 94 Uzbekistan
29 Ecuador 62 Nigeria 95 Venezuela
30 Egypt 63 North Korea 96 Vietnam
31 El Salvador 64 Pakistan 97 Yemen
32 Ethiopia 65 Peru 98 Zambia
99 Zimbabwe
ROLL ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTOR 00-01 Associated with terrorist groups 02-03 Controls a huge crime syndicate 04-05 Controls a huge smuggling ring 06-07 Controls a rogue military group
08-09 Deep financial reserves, money is no object 10-11 Employs freelance mercenaries or operatives 12-13 Experiments on people
14-15 Generates its own power from a nearby underground river 16-17 Has a large pile of looted Nazi gold
18-19 Has a local counter-intelligence agency unknowingly under its control 20-21 Has a location which is disguised as a hospital, museum, etc.
22-23 Has an artificially intelligent computerized operating system 24-25 Has an extensive pool of vehicles
26-27 Has constructed a dam and ransoms water to the local population 28-29 Has enslaved the local population
30-31 Has genetically engineered super soldiers
32-33 Has genetically or cybernetically manipulated guard animals 34-35 Has infiltrated public media
36-37 Has local government in its pocket 38-39 Has many custom military and spy vehicles
40-41 Has many trained and dangerous guard animals (dogs, etc.) 42-43 Has very high tech surveillance and security
44-45 Henchmen use an experimental drug that boosts their physical abilities 46-47 Is actually a mobile base, located out at sea on a re-purposed carrier 48-49 Is excavating and expanding deep underground
50-51 Is heavily militarized (soldiers and turrets in plain view) 52-53 Is in a difficult to reach location
54-55 Is located in a far removed locale (distant canyons, arctic north, etc.) 56-57 Is located in a volcano, deep jungle, or other hazardous place 58-59 Is located undersea or underground
60-61 Is riddled with expensive art from all over the world 62-63 Is surprisingly easy to get into and out of
64-65 Is wired with a self-destruct system 66-67 Its bases are elusive, keep moving around
68-69 Located beneath a public building or national monument 70-71 Located on an island
72-73 Location can lock down – totally trapping all within
74-75 Location is a castle, with medieval themed henchmen and master villains 76-77 Location is obvious headquarters, broadly displaying its name
78-79 Manages a global black market
80-81 Members have cyanide capsules implanted in teeth 82-83 Owns most businesses within 100 miles
84-85 Sells arms to any warlord who can afford it
86-87 Site has a business front, such as a casino or resort or hotel 88-89 The approach to the base is riddled with booby traps 90-91 The guards/minions here all have uniforms or markings 92-93 There are many levels of ancient ruins beneath the site
94-95 Uses artificial animatronic birds or rodents as surveillance and/or defense 96-97 Uses super-science weapons or defenses
98-99 Roll Twice
3. ORGANIZATION AGENDA
All enemy organizations have an agenda. This is their goal, what they are trying to accomplish. This is similar to a master villain’s motivation. All leaders of this organization will share this agenda, though they all may have individual motivations as well. Roll on the agenda table to determine the primary goal of this organization.
ROLL ORGANIZATION
AGENDA COMMENTS
00-07 Ascension The organization seeks an ascension or elevation of mind and spirit of humanity. It seeks a new level of enlightenment unattainable by the current limits of authority.
08-16 Destruction of Wealth
The organization believes that wealth is the center of all power and evil and opposes its existence. It strives to eliminate it, devalue it, or distribute it. It believes that through removal of wealth power centers grows a new world order.
17-24 Domination This organization is so deluded that it believes it can conquer all other organizations and governments. It might accomplish this through infiltration, direct conflict, assassination, or through some technological means.
25-32 End of Technology
The organization seeks to bring an end to technological advancement. It opposes all scientific development.
33-41 Entertainment The organization doesn’t have a specific agenda other than its own amusement. Perhaps its leaders are wealthy and bored, or suffering from some kind of shared insanity.
42-49 Leveling the Playing Field
The organization seeks to bring down those of power and authority to equal that of the common man. It is not anarchy it seeks, but a shared system of power and wealth.
50-57 Opposition The organization opposes the existence of a specific other organization or government. It acts against it, trying to limit or control it. It will act militarily, financially, and through secret operations.
58-66 Recognition The organization wants to be recognized as its own nation or governing body, independent of all others.
67-74 Revealing the Truth
This organization is the caretaker of a great secret which other organizations refuse to allow it to share. It seeks to spread this information and reveal its secret to the world. The secret may not be truth – it may be a great propagandized lie, and the organization’s leaders might not even believe it themselves.
75-82 Revolution The organization wants to overturn a government and install one of its choosing.
83-91 Terror The organization seeks to rule out of fear. Simple and absolute, might makes right. This might result in revolution, anarchy, or war… but these are only side effects of the terror this group wishes to spread.
92-99 Universal Revolution
The organization wants no government anywhere. They’re all corrupt and need overturned, to be replaced by… something else.
4. WRAPPING THINGS UP
After you’ve taken the three steps of generating an enemy organization, you’ll have to give it a name. Be creative and come up with some kind of acronym. All the best villainous organizations have acronym names! Then take a trip to the internet to read up on the locations, their counter-intelligence agencies, primary imports and exports, and build a grand picture of your enemy bases. Wrapping up the organization is your job – no table can do it for you.