Faction Rules - What do we like?

[Fenris-77]

Thread #2 in my ongoing urban play series.

Lots of games have factions and the rules used to represent them are all over the map. It might be the most diverse item in RPG design, or one of them at any rate. The range of ho mechanical vs descriptive vs detailed is really quite breathtaking.

So a few examples that I like that influence my own writing and design:

REIGN - probably the best mechanical take on factions for RPG play ever written (it's pretty much the whole point of the game) - very crunchy
Blades in the Dark - maybe the best pick up and play faction system in any RPG
Spire - a game the runs on its factions - super evocative and very well focused on the overall power structures and even better integrated into the overall system design than Blades (in some ways)

There are lots more, but this isn't supposed to be a Fenris-77 bibliography.

So, for your games, in any genre, what are you looking for in faction write ups, mechanics, and other related whatsits?

 

[VHawkwinter]

Hmm.

Ideally I want a writeup of the factions' goals & resources; and a writeup of the sorts of benefits they give their members with different levels of seniority. If the faction membership comes with a duty or membership dues, I want the details of that spelled out as well.

 

[Fenris-77]

Hmm.

Ideally I want a writeup of the factions' goals & resources; and a writeup of the sorts of benefits they give their members with different levels of seniority. If the faction membership comes with a duty or membership dues, I want the details of that spelled out as well.

So factions as joinable? I get that. Some factions you can't join though. Take, as a random example, the noble families of city X. A faction? Yes indeed. One you can join? Not so much. Not all factions map to the thieves' guild model.

 

[dbm]

Take, as a random example, the noble families of city X. A faction? Yes indeed. One you can join? Not so much.

As to what I personally want from faction rules? I guess that depends on how they relate to the game; are the PCs going to run the factions, be in the factions, or stand outside (oppose?) the factions? I’d want different kinds of representation for them in each case. Ultimately it’s about tracking what the factions want, what they can do, and how they relate to each other. The PCs will stir the pot in one way or another.

 

[zarionofarabel]

I don't know if I want "faction rules" per se as I don't want my TTRPG experience to become boardgame or wargame like. I prefer to handle that kind of stuff with "fluff" rather than "crunch" I guess. Then again I haven't had much experience with gamified factions in a TTRPG specifically so there may be rules out there that I would like.

 

[aco175]

I saw a D&D video on factions. The author was saying that about anything is a faction from the kingdom-wide groups of soldiers or government workers to the village wives book club that meets on Sunday afternoon. Factions can have only a couple members and come and go at will. I guess an adventuring party could be a faction since they have membership and goals.

Typically I want rules to reflect how they interact with the PCs. What is the structure and layers and where the PCs will encounter them. What are the goals and how they go about achieving this. Some secrets that can be used in adventures. A couple NPCs of varied levels to use with the PCs.

 

[VHawkwinter]

So factions as joinable? I get that. Some factions you can't join though. Take, as a random example, the noble families of city X. A faction? Yes indeed. One you can join? Not so much. Not all factions map to the thieves' guild model.

Oh. Sure. They're not all joinable. In which case you can either leave that section out, OR include it and perform in mind for the sorts of perks and access NPCs have. IMO that's still useful short-form GM prep. Don't need as much detail if it's NPC only, but it's still helpful to know what the lead of a minor offshoot house of the noble family can access vs the heir vs the siblings of the heir vs the cousins of the heir. You know?

But fundamentally the "rules" I want on factions are a statblock to make them easy for the GM to run them and their members at the table first, player benefits and drawbacks of membership if applicable.

 

[Fenris-77]

I don't know if I want "faction rules" per se as I don't want my TTRPG experience to become boardgame or wargame like. I prefer to handle that kind of stuff with "fluff" rather than "crunch" I guess. Then again I haven't had much experience with gamified factions in a TTRPG specifically so there may be rules out there that I would like.

I was also including how factions are presented in a given sysdem, what information is included etc. So not just mechanical stuff.

 

[VHawkwinter]

I was also including how factions are presented in a given system

Make it like a sectioned Pathfinder 1e statblock with headers, or a sort of "character sheet".

what information is included etc. So not just mechanical stuff.

Covered the what portion in my earlier post

Also, activity logs should be encouraged. I would do them per faction in many cases rather than per NPC.
The Alexandrian: Activity Logs
The GM shouldn't be digging through chronological session logs when trying to remember what happened when prepping, and should be able to get a refresher of party interactions with a faction by skimming a short point form (perhaps ingame timestamped) document.

 

[Fenris-77]

From a design standpoint my personal interest is on the player side. I agree about tracking though, 100%.

The difficulty with factions is often that it really hard for the players to get a solid grip on. Here I'm talking about games with multiple factions. Complex webs of relationships are tough to portray at the table. The character would have an intuitive understanding of who likes who, who hates who, how they're likely to react if X and so forth. To provide an approximation of that same knowledge for the players requires some tools.

There's a reason it's so much easier to run a city when the PC are outsiders - you don't have to worry about local knowledge. A lot of games where the players are supposed to be locals devolve into frustrating mother may I sessions.