How you are perceived by normal citizens is important because your actions effect (both positively and negatively) your reputation with the organizations to which they may belong. While cultivating a positive reputation with a group can grant you many rewards, a negative reputation can bring you into conflict and give them incentive to hinder your efforts.
Earning Reputation
There are several ways to earn a positive or negative reputation with a group (though your game master may have additional ideas):
- monetary donations (to the group; to the group's enemies)
- stealing (from the group's enemies; from the group's members)
- defacing (the group's enemies; the group or its members)
- increasing membership
- artifact acquisition
- quest satisfaction
The more you give monetarily and the more impressive the favor you earn from the group, the faster your reputation will rise.
Spending Reputation
For each point of reputation the party earns with a group, the members of that group will be happy to assist the adventurers. Obviously if the adventurers are embarking on a mission specifically on the group's behalf, the group will be extra helpful. However, the party can even call upon members of a group that they have reputation with even on quests that mean nothing to the group. There are several ways to spend reputation (though your game master may have additional ideas):
- being provided with the name of a contact in a foreign town
- being provided with supplies or tools
- being provided with weapons
- being provided with maps, secret entrances, or other relevant knowledge of an area
- being provided with secret lore kept in the group's archives
- being provided with divine blessings
- being provided with political influence
- being provided with side quests
- being provided with previously unknown merchants
- being provided with a small fighting force or army
Managing Reputation
Ideally, the game master should keep track of the reputation for his or her players. When players maintain their own reputation, they become acutely aware of exactly how much money to donate and how much a "favor" from the group "costs" and it becomes less realistic and more like standing at an ATM machine. I find that reputation assists the narration more when it isn't treated like a currency.
The game master usually can maintain a single sheet of paper with a reputation meter for the group that shrinks and grows as adventurers conduct themselves on various missions, make donations, etc. Keeping track of both how much was earned AND how much was spent allows for situations where a previously helpful group may become more "well, what have you done for us lately?".
Game masters, for their own purposes, may also want to maintain a more extensive list of events that affected the group so the NPCs from that group can reference them during conversation.
Town Reputation
As part of the town actions mechanic, players who construct buildings or otherwise improve the town will gain reputation within their town. This has the opportunity to open up new quests, town actions, and provide other rewards like "keys to the city".
Because the town actions mechanic is an essential part of every game of Entwined, "Town" or "Homestead" should always be one of the entries on the reputation sheet the game master is maintaining.
Religious Reputation
The cults that worship the various gods and goddesses will each have an interest in your comings and goings, the adventures on which you embark in the name of their deity, and any benevolent ways in which you help their house of worship (construction wise, for instance).
In addition to the perks you can get from NPCs in the cult itself, religious reputation can be used to ask the gods for some divine intervention. These favors can be used in religious quests, combat, and blessings (like empowering standard items with magic).
Organizational Reputation
I'm going to use the word "guild" here very loosely to describe any organization that is neither religious nor a civic organization in the adventurers' home town. Any profession, hobby, or social merit may have a guild attached to it that, assuming they've heard of you or of your accolades, may offer you the same sorts of material and social benefits that you would expect from other sources.
In addition to the perks you can get from NPCs in the guild itself, you may also be eligible for a rank or title (see the "Exemplar Title" system for more details) from the group that denotes your higher-than-normal status.
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