You know what's less great? Having to come up with factions. At least for me. So I wrote some tables to help with that because apparently I have the kind of brain that finds it easier to create a complicated process for describing a thing instead of just... describing the thing.
So for as far as these rules are concerned, a faction is a group of people with a common goal to alter the realm/world/reality to their liking.
If a table has two sets of numbers, one is flat probability, the other is weighted based on my idea of what the weights should be.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE
Seriously, who makes up this faction, and what are they generally all about? Roll once on each table to generate a answer. This table was inspired by a tweet I saw many moons ago but have completely lost the link to. So if you recognize the idea and know where it came from lmk so I can attribute.
| Emotion | Activity |
| 1 - Angry 2 - Loving 3 - Envious 4 - Jealous 5 - Calm 6 - Happy 7 - Determined 8 - Disgusted 9 - Indifferent 10 - Fearful 11 - Curious 12 - Cautious 13 - Possessed 14 - Vengeful 15 - Ambitious 16 - Greedy 17 - Haunted 18 - Heretic 19 - Insurgent 20 - Nihilist | 1 - Farmers 2 - Artists 3 - Astronomers 4 - Cultists 5 - Warriors 6 - Seafarers 7 - Builders 8 - Storytellers 9 - Healers 10 - Midwives 11 - Philosophers 12 - Mages 13 - Oracles 14 - Bankers 15 - Artisans 16 - Miners 17 - Revolutionaries 18 - Hunters 19 - Tanners 20 - Nobles |
WHAT DO THEY WANT
Uh, yeah, what's their end goal? What did they form this faction to achieve?
1 - Supremacy
2 - Money
3 - Political Power
4 - Regime Change
5 - Law Change
6 - Destruction of Enemies
7 - Social Change
8 - Chaos
9 - Tyranny
10 - Autonomy
11 - A Summoning
12 - Magical Power
13 - An Artefact
14 - Revanchism
15 - War
16 - Assassination
17 - Religious Change
18 - Resurrection
19 - Roll twice. First is their public goal, second is their actual goal.
20 - Roll twice & combine
HOW DO THEY GET WHAT THEY WANT
These charts are about what they focus on when pursuing their goals, and how they go about getting them.
Ends vs Means (d2):
1 - Ends. is the prioritization of goals over methods. This kind of organization will compromise their ethics and morality to accomplish their ends and afterwards justify it at will.
2 - Means. The inverse - a preference to adhere to ethics and morality even when it compromises the achievement of goals.
Alignment (d3):
1 - Benevolent. This organization is concerned with ensuring the maximum number of people benefit from its goals, even those outside the organization’s specific beneficiary. Note that what the faction considers a "benefit" may not be considered so by those outside the faction.
2 - Malevolent. The organization is interested only in the benefit of a select group, even (or especially) if it means others outside that group are harmed. If desired, roll a die. On low, the group is simply uncaring if others are harmed. If high, then the harm is part of the their goal.
3 - Passive. The organization will try to limit the harm it does to others when possible, but won’t make great efforts to ensure others benefit.
The Law (d4):
1 - Legalist. This organization will make great efforts to always follow the letter of the law (though not always the spirit) and work within the system.
2 - Law-Abiding. This organization will obey the law as much as possible, but will bend or covertly break the law if it must.
3 - Law-Breaking. This organization operates outside the law as a matter of course, but will make a show of following and use the law when convenient.
4 - Anarchist.This organization is fundamentally opposed to the law and acts against it and to break it.
HOW ESTABLISHED ARE THEY
A faction might be a small cabal of idealists, or a public institution with a widespread power base.
Decide if they are a public or secret faction. If you can't decide, there's a 4-in-6 chance they're secret.
Public factions roll a d6 on this, secret factions roll a d3.
1 - Obscure. Few have heard of this group or their goals. This may be because they are little more than a few like-minded people meeting for drinks, or because they make great efforts to keep themselves secret.
2 - Fringe. The common citizen may have heard of this group, but they are regarded by most as little more than an oddity or fringe group with limited goals or distasteful methods.
3 - Minor. This group is known by most, but draws its support from only a limited percentage of the population, possibly concentrated in a specific cultural, class, or professional stratum.
4 - Notable. This faction has significant public support and likely plays a role in realm-wide events. They may draw their support from almost the entirety of a single group, or from a broad but thin base of disparate supporters.
5 - Significant. This faction has supporters across the entire realm in almost all quarters of society, approaching the level of support for the realm’s government.
6 - Overwhelming. This group is more popular than the government and enjoys near-universal support.Now decide if they're a Legal faction, an Informal faction, or an Illegal faction.
1-2 - Legal. This faction is a public institution or organization, such as a church, trade union, political party, etc. Regardless of their goals or methods, they are regarded as a legitimate part of society.
3-4 - Informal. This organization has no official structure and is not recognized as an organization. Secret society, student collective, social club, alliance of nobles, a group of shadowy figures in wing-backed chairs.
5-6 - Illegal. This faction is outlawed and forbidden by law. This may or may not have any actual impact on their operations, but they are not regarded as a legitimate part of society. Revolutionary committee, proscripted religion, anarchist commune, criminal syndicate.
HOW POWERFUL ARE THEY
This measures their available resources and their ability to materially advance their goals.
d6 / d4
1 / 1 - Flaccid. This faction is more talk than action, and is lacking the will or the resources to pursue their stated goals. Or both. This faction has 1 Strength and 3 Weaknesses
2-3 / 2 - Recovering. This faction has recently suffered a loss or other setback that has hampered their capabilities. They are 1 - resolute, 2 - embittered, 3 - vengeful, 4 - turning on each other. This faction has 1 Strength and 2 Weaknesses
4-5 / 3 - Growing. This faction is on the rise, gaining recruits, influence, and power. This faction has 2 Strengths and 2 Weaknesses
6 / 4 - Empowered. This faction is well-supplied and well-funded, with the personnel and material they need to actively pursue their goals. This faction has 3 Strengths and 1 Weakness.
Roll for the number of Strengths and Weaknesses based on the result on the table above. You can reroll duplicates, or find a justification for why something is both a strength and a weakness.
1 - Wealth
2 - Numbers
3 - Popular Support
4 - Secure Locations
5 - Allies
6 - True Believers
7 - Organization
8 - Security
9 - Military Strength
10 - Magical Strength
11 - Religious Support
12 - Broad support base
13 - Magical artefact(s)
14 - Divine or Supernatural Patron
15 - Influential Supporters
16 - Foreign Aid
17 - Recruiting
18 - Feared
19 - Loved
20 - Prophecy
HOW ARE THEY ORGANIZED
First, how is the faction organized?
d10 / d6
1-2 / 1 - Cells. This faction operates out of independent cells, each with its own leadership and agenda, with minimal contact between each other and the central leadership.
3-4 / 2 - Hierarchical. This faction has a well-defined and largely rigid rank structure from top to bottom.
5-6 / 3 - Collective. This faction operates on consensus and communal decision-making, possibly using some form of committee or quorum.
7 / 4 - Cult. Members are judged based on how devoted their are to the cause and core beliefs, and will rise or fall in influence accordingly.
8 / 5 - Gang. Power and leadership is derived from violence and personal power. Murder and betrayal are common ways of rising in the organization.
9-10 / 6 - Acolytes. There is a single, supreme leader in the faction (who may or may not be otherworldly) who gives all orders and direction.
HOW DO THEY SEE THEMSELVES
How do they mythologize themselves? This probably impacts how they justify to themselves why they do what they do.
1 - Holy warriors.
2 - Necessary monsters
3 - Heirs to power
4 - Wronged, seeking justice
5 - Disenfranchised or oppressed, seeking equality.
6 - Restorers of the old order.
7 - Saviours.
8 - Business leaders.
9 - Smarter than everyone else.
10 - Revolutionaries.
There's no requirement that this is accurate, in fact it probably isn't. You can figure that out by comparing their alignment to their self-image. Malevolent doesn't exactly jive with "saviours". If you're unsure or want a prompt, roll on this.
1 - A lie, totally believed.
2 - A lie, used as a cover.
3 - Dubiously true, but firmly believed
4 - An earnest aspiration
HOW UNITED ARE THEY
Now how well are they organized? Are they factious and argumentative, or do they act in lockstep?
d12 / d6
1 / 1 - Chaos. There is little to no internal cohesion, and conflicts over resources, leadership, and direction are common. Branches of the faction may work in isolation or even at cross purposes.
2 / 2 - Schism. They have divided into two or more factions competing for control. The conflict might be ideological, political, or full civil-war. The sub-factions may regard themselves as entirely independent organizations.
3-5 / 3 - Loose. This faction is united more by ideals than structure. Ranks are not strictly enforced, different groups within the faction may not always work together smoothly, there may be internal disagreement over goals and philosophy, but they are still a single organization with a common goal.
6-8 / 4 - Cohesive. The factions organization is not rigidly structured, but all the members have a clear vision of their goals and aims.
9-11 / 5 - Ordered. This faction is tightly bound together. Members are obedient to the leadership, the goals and aims are widely understood.
12 / 6 - Tyranny. The faction's leadership is not questioned, and individual members work without autonomy or complete information. Obedience is complete, but members have little autonomy.
HOW DO THEY IDENTIFY EACH OTHER
Members of a faction need a way to identify each other. The larger the organization, the greater the need for this is. If the faction is a secret one, you can reroll inappropriate results or modify them to suit.
1 - Uniform
2 - Badge
3 - Accessory
4 - Tattoo
5 - Hand sign
6 - Call and response
7 - Graffiti
8 - Declaration
HOW DO THEY REGARD ADVENTURERS
To a faction with a political goal, adventurers, being armed and outside normal society, could be a serious threat. Or allies. Or useful tools. Roll on this chart to find out, if the faction's other details don't suggest an answer.
d8 / d6
1 / 1 - A Threat. Adventurers are regarded as a serious threat to the faction's goals and will be observed at all times, hampered when possible, and eliminated as soon as needed.
2-3 / 2 - A Petty Annoyance. Adventurers are largely disregarded as little more than a nuisance - to be ignored, unless they prove annoying enough to squash.
4-5 / 3 - Useful Tools. Adventurers are not to be trusted, or thought well of, or regarded as a beneficiary of the faction's goals. But they can be an effective, and thoroughly expendable, tool.
6 / 4 - Allies. Although not regarded as deserving of membership, the faction sees adventurers as allies who might be sympathetic to the cause.
7 / 5 - Fellow Travellers. This faction regards adventurers as being innately part of the same cause, perhaps affected by the same injustices, or opposing the same enemy. The faction will often treat adventurers as though they were already members - at least as long as they prove trustworthy.
8 / 6 - Prey. This faction regards adventurers as meat, as sacrifices, as unwilling converts, or just easily manipulated patsies.
Okay, I think that's enough for this post. Next one will be some tables 'n stuff for generating faction members and how they interact with each other & (more importantly) the players.
This is just enough meat without going overboard. Excellent tool!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :D
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