Table 1-13: Conversion

Table 1-13: Conversion (d100)

For use with Table 1-11: Master Table of Villainous Plans

Conversion-type plans are designed to win over the hearts, minds, and possibly souls of the villain’s targets. There is another similar table later on called “Subversion,” and the distinction is that a conversion plot is designed to change the moral alignment of the target, whereas a subversion plot can succeed perfectly well if the target never changes at all – as long as the target keeps unknowingly working on the villain’s behalf.

Citation

Tome of Adventure Design, p. 29 (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/97423/Tome-of-Adventure-Design?affiliate_id=678287)

d100	Conversion Method
1-5	Addiction. The villain uses peoples’ addictions to get them to take evil actions
6-10	Bad Advice. The villain advises people to engage in evil actions, working from some position of authority he has already obtained (e.g., a good priest, a military leader, a city alderman, a prosecutor, etc). The villain might be giving insidious advice to the population at large (by preaching war, for example), or he might be in the position of an adviser to a noble, a guildmaster, or some other powerful person. The “evil vizier” of Arabian folklore is a prime example of this sort of villain.
11-15	Blackmail. The villain is blackmailing people into committing evil actions. These actions might or might not actually change their alignments, depending in how you use alignment in your game.
16-20	Debts. The villain is a moneylender or has control of money (a local exchequer or military quartermaster, perhaps) and is using peoples’ debts to force them into undertaking evil actions.
21-25	Demonic Gifts. The villain gives “gifts” of a demon’s assistance. Eventually, the victim becomes reliant or even addicted to such help, and falls into the villain’s (or the demon’s) clutches as a helpless pawn.
26-30	Enchantment. The villain is magically charming people, then persuading or ordering them to commit evil actions.
31-35	Hostages. The villain takes hostages, compelling their kin or the hostages themselves to perform evil actions in exchange for freedom or good treatment.
36-40	Magic. The villain uses magical means (using an item, probably) to change the alignment of his victims. The effect might only work from long-term exposure to the item, or it might be instantaneous.
41-45	Persuasion. The silver-tongued devil is able to convert people to his cause by words alone. This might be through religious conversions, or by persuading people to take specifically evil actions. This is the “tempter” type of villain common in European morality tales (eve and the serpent, Marlowe and Goethe’s versions of the Doctor Faustus story, etc.)
46-50	Money. The villain simply pays people to take evil actions.
51-55	Obligations of Honor. The villain is using peoples’ open-ended promises and oaths as a means of getting evil actions done. The fictionalized mafia of the Godfather movies is an excellent example: by doing a favor in exchange for another, unspecified, favor in the future, the villain can force people to undertake tasks they wouldn’t have agreed to ahead of time if they had known what would be required of them.
56-60	Minions Give Bad Advice. The villain’s minions advise evil actions from positions of authority. The plan is basically the same as “Bad Advice” above, but performed by the villain’s minions instead of by the villain himself. The villain remains one step removed from the dirty work, possibly more anonymous than someone in a position to be giving advice.
61-65	Minions Take Hostages. The villain’s minions hold hostages to compel evil actions from the hostage’s friends or kin. This is like the “Hostages” entry above, but the minions are the ones on the front line. As always, the weakness in the plan is that if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself.
66-70	Minions Use Addictions. The villain’s minions use peoples’ addictions to get them to take evil actions. The minions might be supplying people with addictive substances, might be taking over the operations of existing suppliers by force or guile, or might be blackmailing people (assuming the drugs are illegal).
71-75	Minions Use Blackmail. Similar to the “Blackmail” plot, but the villain’s minions are blackmailing people into performing evil actions rather than the villain himself.
76-80	Minions Use Enchantment. The villain’s minions are charming people to get them to perform evil actions. This might be the same as “Enchantment” above, but it might be that the villain himself doesn’t have the magical capability to enchant people. If the villain’s minion is able to use such magic, and the villain isn’t, keep in mind that the minion might have his own secret agenda.
81-85	Minions Use Magic. The villain’s minions are directly changing peoples’ moral alignment with the use of magic – whether this is an inherent capability or by the use of a powerful magic item (or even an artifact). As with all minion-type plans, the minions might be slightly incompetent, or might be intelligent enough to have their own agenda.
86-90	Minions Use Money. The villain’s minions pay people to undertake evil actions. This is only different from “subversion” in that the actions are presumably heinous enough to cause a possible change in alignment.
91-94	Minions Use Obligations of Honor. The villain has a minion who is a feudal lord, a crime boss, or who holds some other station in which people make open-ended promises to him. At the villain’s request or command, the minion is able to take advantage of these openended promises to extort actions people would never directly have agreed to.
95-100	Minions Use Persuasion. The villain’s minions persuade people into a religious or moral conversion to evil (or Chaos, depending upon the campaign). Most likely, the villain has the minion doing the job because the villain lacks the charisma (or the human appearance) to pull it off.