Advice on megadungeon factions?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I want to make a megadungeon I'm running feel more alive. I've already got several different groups active in the dungeon, with their own agendas. What advice do you have to help make them a dynamic part of the game?

 

[Deset Gled]

I want to make a megadungeon I'm running feel more alive. I've already got several different groups active in the dungeon, with their own agendas. What advice do you have to help make them a dynamic part of the game?

The most basic answer is probably conflicting fetch quests.

Faction A will give you a magic key that opens doors in Faction B territory if you steal the macguffin from Faction C. Faction C will give you a magic masamune weapon if you can give them information found deep in Faction B's lair, but Faction C will also kill you on sight if they find out you stole their macguffin. Faction B is evil and hostile until you prove you're an enemy of Faction D. Faction D worships the same god as the party cleric. Around and around, and the players can choose who they befriend and who they attempt to deceive.

 

[Meech17]

I think this would be a good time to implement clocks. The factions all have their own goals and agendas, now you need to determine whether they advance them or not. Maybe every day or something they have a chance at advancing their clocks. Let them all have a chance at the same time, but the odds can be different of course. More powerful or better organized factions, or factions with smaller goals might have better odds (4, 5, 6 on a D6) or perhaps factions dealing with internal strife and turmoil, or factions with loftier goals would have lower odds (5,6 or even just 6 on a D6).

Then I'd let the PCs influence these chances. Like if the PCs are actively assisting one faction they get advantage, or if the PCs are working against a faction they get dis-advantage.

You could even do fun things like if Faction A and B share a territory border, and A advances their clock, but B doesn't, A has a chance to expand their border.

There of course will always be exceptions (Like for example Faction A's goal is to obtain the holy relic in level 4 of the dungeon, and you've decided that filling their first clock will result in them placing a foothold in level 4, and the second clock is obtaining the relic. But then the PCs find and take the relic and just give it to Faction A.. There's obviously no need to roll to advance the clock.) but I think this helps it feel alive, mostly for the factions that may not be in the spot light. So if the group meets Faction C early on, but then spends a week in the dungeon before coming across them again, it would be neat to learn that Faction C maybe obtained a powerful weapon, or perhaps they were able to steal a large chunk of territory from a bordering faction so now they control a larger piece of the dungeon.

Honestly a big campaign set entirely in a mega dungeon controlled by rival factions sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[Reynard]

Make the relationships between the factions more complex. Maybe the duergar and mongrelmen are competing for territory, but they still trade resources with one another AND have to defend themselves against troglodyte raids. But the troglodyte shaman happens to carry the Amulta of Kh'aloo, which keeps the hungry dead from overwhelming the 3rd level, which is an important route between areas controlled by both. Stuff like that.

 

[Voadam]

When the PCs interact with Faction A, Faction A mentions Factions B & C in some fashion. This immediately makes the PCs aware there are multiple factions which allows them to be thinking of the Checkov's factions right from the beginning and how they want to handle multiple factions or questions they want to follow up on about the factions.