Acquisitions Incorporated

WHO'S WATCHING?
An easy way to focus on complications and rivals in a
campaign is to think about who might be paying atten-
tion to a franchise·s activities. For example, a successful
philanthropic enterprise (one of the new activities in this
section) could draw the attention of a noble who begins
to question the reputation and honesty of the characters
running the franchise. Or the party might launch a mar-
keteering campaign (another new activity), only to dis-
cover that their branding has an accidental resemblance
to the logo of an assassins' guild. Complications are an
excellent way to develop rich interactions between the
se11ing and the characters. In an Acquisitions Incorpo-
rated campaign, even the smallest actions can have un-
expected (and, ideally. hilarious) consequences.
Rivals represent any of the factions and organizations
that can come into play during an Acquisitions Incor-

porated campaign. Rivals don't have to be villains or

mortal enemies of the characters, though. Other Acq

Inc franchises all compete with the characters' fran-

chise, seeking to expand their own reach and impress

Head Office. Governments. merchants. guilds, religious

institutions, and noble families can all take notice as a

franchise grows in power. And outside the characters'

immediate sphere of influence. factions such as Oran

Enterprises and the Six work dark plots that might

make the characters targets for assimilation or destruc-

tion. (The plots of the Six and the operations of Dran

Enterprises both play a part in the adventure "The Or-

rery of the Wanderer:· chapter 4 of this book.)

When a complication occurs during a downtime or

franchise activity, the OM determines whether and how

that complication connects to a rival. Certain complica-

tions might be caused by rivals. as when the ore army

camping in the characters' territory is revealed to have

been invited there by a competing franchise. Other com-

plications might draw a rival in, as when a greedy noble

decides they want a piece of the franchise's action.

Rival NPCs can be worked up using the rules in chap-

ter 4, "Creating Nonplayer Characters," of the Dungeon

Master's Guide, incorporating schemes, methods, and

weaknesses. If you use Xanathar's Guide to Everything

in your game, t hat book provides example rivals and

talks about establishing a rival's goals, assets, and

plans. See also the "Factions and Rivals'" section in

chapter 3 of this book for an introduction to some of the

rival organizations that might appear in an Acquisitions

Incorporated campaign.

COMPLICATIONS AS STORY

Complications and rivals make excellent adventure

seeds. Whenever a complication or rival draws the in-

terest of the players. the OM can make a note of that for

future development. As the campaign progresses, the

agendas of rivals change over time, just as the charac-

ters' goals and agendas change as a result of their fran-

chise's success (or their efforts to stave off failure).

The OM can decide how to invoke complications as

the campaign story unfolds. Perhaps the characters

were forced to slay an evil guard in a raid gone bad.

Later, their majordomo engages in a little gambling as

part of a franchise task ... and finds the suspicious hus-

band of the guard at their gaming table! Likewise. if a

franchise has recently tangled with Oran Enterprises or

opposed another Acq Inc franchise. the chance of a com-

plication with either group likely goes up.

DOWNTIME AND FRANCHISE

ACTI VITI E S

In addition to the downtime activities found in other

books, characters and their franchise staff can under-

take the new activities presented in this section, either

as regular downtime activities or as franchise tasks that

can be undertaken at any time. These activities reflect

the central role of the franchise in an Acquisitions Incor-

porated campaign.

The length of time required for these new downtime

or franchise activities varies, from a number of days to

one workweek (5 days) or more. All the normal rules

for downtime must be followed by the character or NPC

undertaking the downtime or franchise activity, includ·

ing spending 8 hours each day engaged in that activity

for the day co count toward the activity's completion.

The one exception to this rule is that any costs for a

franchise activity are paid for by the characters, even if

franchise staff are executing the task.

Some downtime and franchise activities alter a

franchise's monthly costs. See the .. Franchise Ad-

vancement"· section earlier in this chapter for how to

determine a franchise's base monthly costs, and see the

"Running a Franchise" section below for more informa-

tion on how that activity modifies the base cost.

EXPLORE TERRITORY

o matter how densely populated or remote and wild

the territory in which a franchise is licensed to operate.

that territory has secrets. Characters and franchise staff

can explore their licensed territory in search of useful

features. hidden lairs. resources. and creatures that can

be engaged in beneficial service. (Or, you know. sold for

parts. If you're okay with that). Exploration can be done

any number of times in a franchise's territory, represent-

ing new ar eas being explored, new discoveries, or ele-

ments that have changed since the last exploration.

Resources. Exploring a portion of a licensed territory

requires at least one workweek of effort and incurs 200

gp per franchise rank in expenses. Spending more time

and money increases the chance that the expedition

finds something of use to the franchise.

Resolution. A character or staff member directing

the expedition makes a Wisdom (Survival) check to

determine the outcome. This check gains a +2 bonus if

a character with the cartographer or occultant position

is part of the expedition. a +I bonus for each workweek

beyond the first that is spent exploring, and a +1 bonus

for every additional 200 gp spent over the baseline ex-

penses. A maximum bonus of +10 can be applied to this

check. The total of the cheek determines the outcome.

as shown on the Exploration Discoveries table.

C HAPT ER '2 I GROWING YOUR FRANCHISE

17