Multiple Campaign Factions - Proactivity, Please! How have you used NPC factions in your campaigns?

[S'mon]

AComplicating matters is individual NPCs pursue goals apart from those of the order and their faction within the order. These pursuits occasionally run counter to those of the party. I also make use of Mythic: Game Master Emulator to help guide me in making decisions. This has the tendency to create situations were the PCs find unexpected support or unexpected opposition to their pursuits.

This sounds like what I was thinking about. I was wondering if people have experience of using non-designated-villain factions who take proactive action independent of the PCs, and how that interacted with the PCs/the campaign? Eg you might have something like A Game of Thrones with several factions vying for power, some obviously hostile to the PCs, some friendly, others neutral/ambiguous, but each taking action according to their own plans, potentially independent of what the PCs are doing.

 

[pemerton]

I was wondering if people have experience of using non-designated-villain factions who take proactive action independent of the PCs, and how that interacted with the PCs/the campaign?

I did a bit of this in the first of the RM campaigns I mentioned up thread - I had timelines, goals, personnel descriptions, etc.

I found for me it doesn't work that well - if there's a rival group, for instance, it's more exciting if they turn up just as the PCs do. Or, conversely, if I want the PCs to turn up and find that a rival group got there first I'm going to do that because it fits with the mood and pacing of the campaign at that point, not because my pre-written timeline tells me that's how things are.

But that's just one approach.

 

[Jacob Marley]

This sounds like what I was thinking about. I was wondering if people have experience of using non-designated-villain factions who take proactive action independent of the PCs, and how that interacted with the PCs/the campaign? Eg you might have something like A Game of Thrones with several factions vying for power, some obviously hostile to the PCs, some friendly, others neutral/ambiguous, but each taking action according to their own plans, potentially independent of what the PCs are doing.

Yeah, A Game of Thrones is definitely part of the Appendix N for my campaigns. I take a lot of inspiration from history itself as well, in particular, the Hundred Year's War and the War of the Roses, but I also look to modern day political, economic and international relations theory and practice as guidance for my games.

Without jumping too far into politics, I find the inner workings of the U.S. political system very influential. We have two political parties competing for power, each composed of various factions vying for influence; factions that will occasionally "cross the aisle" if they must. In addition, these factions are made up of individuals who all entered politics for various personal reasons. Observing how Washington works has been very influential on how I manage the competing factions within my Greyhawk campaign. I suppose the editors at The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Foreign Policy magazine didn't anticipate their newspapers being used as role-playing game references!

I generally keep organizations and individuals loosely defined until the point I need to specifically define their actions (i.e. interaction with the PCs*). For example, what I wrote above about the Knights of Holy Shielding is the extent of the notes that I had written at the start of the campaign. As play progressed, the factions became more defined through interaction with the PCs via consultation with the Fate Chart in Mythic: Game Master Emulator.

* This can be direct or indirect interaction. The PCs may deal directly with a particular NPC or hear about the situation through a bard in a taproom a dozen leagues away.

I did a bit of this in the first of the RM campaigns I mentioned up thread - I had timelines, goals, personnel descriptions, etc.

I found for me it doesn't work that well - if there's a rival group, for instance, it's more exciting if they turn up just as the PCs do. Or, conversely, if I want the PCs to turn up and find that a rival group got there first I'm going to do that because it fits with the mood and pacing of the campaign at that point, not because my pre-written timeline tells me that's how things are.

But that's just one approach.

I don't use a written timeline either, nor do I make the determination by DM fiat. Instead, I make use of series of random dice rolls to determine when and how the PCs discover events that are occurring in the "background." Specifically, the Event Focus Table from Mythic: Game Master Emulator.

 

[Evilhalfling]

hmm Proactive faction developments. THe list of Factions I posted was from the beginning of December. I started with a grid of 5 factions, each with 5 separate stages of plotting. The grid was abandoned, as my players occasionally complained about having to spend so much time reacting to the other factions, and to the constant shadow War intrigue between them.

The factions do rise and fall, sometimes based on PCs actions (they killed the leaders of the fell court, during an adventure.) The knights of the fallen stars were killed off by an odd coalition of monsters. The Orcs were attacked by the Dragonborn, but the PCs had to take over when the dragonborn army failed.

 

[S'mon]

I did a bit of this in the first of the RM campaigns I mentioned up thread - I had timelines, goals, personnel descriptions, etc.

I found for me it doesn't work that well - if there's a rival group, for instance, it's more exciting if they turn up just as the PCs do. Or, conversely, if I want the PCs to turn up and find that a rival group got there first I'm going to do that because it fits with the mood and pacing of the campaign at that point, not because my pre-written timeline tells me that's how things are.

But that's just one approach.

Yeah, I don't use strict world-sim day by day pre-scripted timeline, that wouldn't work with Pemertonian Scene Framing. I'm looking more at factions' large scale strategic plans over a scale of months and years, for which I can draw material for scene-framing.

 

[Manbearcat]

You run FR, yes? I'm pretty well versed in the source material so if you give me (a) the factions/organizations you're thinking of running and (b) the timeline/gist of where your game is grounded, it would focus my thoughts and I could probably give you a decent go at how to actualize:

factions' large scale strategic plans over a scale of months and years, for which I can draw material for scene-framing.

 

[S'mon]

You run FR, yes? I'm pretty well versed in the source material so if you give me (a) the factions/organizations you're thinking of running and (b) the timeline/gist of where your game is grounded, it would focus my thoughts and I could probably give you a decent go at how to actualize:

My Loudwater campaign - http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/
Been running for two years, so quite a lot of stuff...

Currently active evil factions include the Darkhold Zhentarim (who are building a fort in the Southwood around an old Ammarindar Portal), the Serpent Realm of Najara (who had been seizing women for nefarious purposes), various Banite groups - the evil dwarf Mountain King Oro Loroth on the River Loagrann, the Banites under Kitana serving Queen Esmerelda of Llorkh, and remnants of the Hand of Naarash cult under Dajani the Tiefling on the Upper Delimbiyr. The Southwood goblins are a minor faction, not really a big threat unless you invade their fortress of Korzzbad. The Severed Eye Orcs are in Bleached Bones pass.
The Ashmadai cult in Waterdeep have been mentioned, and Netheril is waiting in the wings, having taken Spellgard, with Thay further afield. I have a 30-year sketch of how the Netheril/Thay conflict may play out and involve the PCs in the high Paragon through Epic tiers.

Good factions include Loudwater under Lady Moonfire, the Light of the Sun Amaunator paladins & clerics allied with Queen Valeris of Orlbar (who is Unaligned), the wood elves south of the Star Mounts (Graywood Elves), the Glintshield dwarves in Bleached Bones Pass, and further afield King Pyvim Kyatt, the new secular ruler of Elturgard, who has pledged to cleanse the Reaching Wood of gnolls after a raid on Scornubel killed hundreds, ousted the old High Observer, and brought him to power. Luruar is a long way off beyond the High Forest and currently not really active, but could become involved.

Unaligned but generally benevolent factions include Queen Valeris, an adventuress who drove the Banites from Orlbar, the Duchy of Daggerford under Duke Haskar Tyndal, Waterdeep, which is focused on rebuilding Neverwinter, and Baldur's Gate (inactive). Daggerford is mostly concerned with staying independent of Waterdeep and controlling trade up the Grayflow.

I'll be running P2 Demon Queen's Enclave about an Orcus exarch's undead incursion against a drow enclave Phaervorul (established by Erylyndn IMC) in the Underdark near the Endless Caverns. Probably run Against the Giants after that, with a three pronged Giant & Orc invasion of the Vale, then the Thay/Netheril conflict will escalate in the Epic Tier. PCs may ally with Netheril vs Szass Tam, or not. I'm thinking Szass Tam as an undead guy may ally with Orcus rather than Bane, which would make P2 useful foreshadowing; not sure about that though.

 

[Manbearcat]

@S'mon You seem to have some turnover from orthodox there that has emerged as your game has progressed. I was going to take a look at the potential for central Faerun power players to look to consolidate power and spread their influence/territory in anticipation of a confrontation with Netheril; a nod to the saber rattling and miscommunication that led to WWI. Elturgard, Evereska and Cormyr are prime candidates for this; central Faerun powers all within arms reach of Netheril. A powerful, good empire/kingdom with an imperialistic foreign policy ("for the greater good"), trying to pre-empt the Netherese takeover, could make for some very interesting interplay with the PCs (social scenes where the PCs are attending tribunals for field commanders unwilling to enact draconian measures, or scenes where the PCs are actually witnessing lashings or abuses by troops in the field with conquered commoners who will not pledge fealty to the cause, etc). Elturgard would have been a prime candidate for that but they appear to have moved off of their potential fascist bent in your game.

Any of the PCs in your game particularly at odds with one of the "good guys" from an ethos perspective?

 

[adembroski]

My current campaign makes extensive use of religious conflict. There are 4 major pantheons, two of which are each split into two major religions. Some of the gods in each pantheon cross over with one another, some are only acknowledged in a single pantheon.

The dominant pantheon is the Triumvirate... 3 good gods of equal power, one god of justice and mercy, one of war and honor, another of forgiveness and salvation. This has two churches (likely more, but the region the game takes place in is fairly small), one ancient and practiced by a simple people who've really only recently emerged from barbarism, the other new and sanctioned by the dominant national power of the world.

The smaller, simpler church, which incorporates much of its peoples traditions from their previous faith, is constantly having to defend itself from the larger, more powerful religion.

Then there's the old faith, which is dying as a whole because of the Triumvirate. It's primarily druidic, but split into two factions. Half very typical of what we expect from a fae religion; respect for nature, life, all that wonderful jazz... the other half is into human sacrifice, sees the gods as vengeful, etc..

The final 2 faiths are that of the "fae" races (those who come from an Otherword type alternate plane, "Tir N'an nOg" sort of thing), and that of the orcish races (very cruel gods). The fae religion is not really known by the triumvirate churches, but the Imperial church is actively seeking to convert the orcs.

So there's internal and external conflicts in all. To take that a step further...

The Imperial church has a sect called the Templars... these are warriors sponsored by priests to become Paladins. Mostly, nobility promise their lower-born sons to the church, often in exchange for absolution. The church takes them at a very young age and educates them in theology and combat, eventually ordaining them as Paladins of the Triumvirate. There are PrCs for higher ranking members but the Paladin is the basic class. The Templars tend to be very protective of the church, to the point of naivete. If a bishop does something corrupt, the Templar will generally assume there was some unknown good reason for it. The Templars are starting to get a bit wary of some of the things the church is doing, so there'll be some internal conflict there eventually.

The Bryddoni church (the more primitive Triumvirate church) is in conflict with the old druidic faith that its people held before. The frontier tribes still keep the old faith, and while the Bryddoni are tolerant of that, they still feel that the druidic faithful are "damned" so to speak, and thus try to save them.

I'm babbling now, anyways, yeah, my campaign is driven pretty strongly by these factions and factions within factions. It's been fun, especially since we have a Templar and a Druid in the group.

 

[S'mon]

Elturgard would have been a prime candidate for that but they appear to have moved off of their potential fascist bent in your game.
Any of the PCs in your game particularly at odds with one of the "good guys" from an ethos perspective?

Not really, no.

Elturgard - yes - I didn't like the cardboard fascist tone. After the gnoll raid on Scornubel and political scandal when the High Observer's many failings were revealed, he had to resign; the people demanded a secular ruler. The priests of Torm cast auguries and were surprised to discover that Torm supported this move.

One potential area of conflict is Darkhold, which currently acts as a sort of buffer state between Elturgard and Cormyr, with Evereska and Netheril to the north. Everyone hates them, but the fortress is a tough nut. With Cormyran expansion, Iriaebor is the last free city between Cormyr and Elturgard - see map here: http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/cormyr-map-including-darkhold.html
So I'm thinking that could be a little nexus for any WW1 type conflagration. I'm thinking the Darkhold Zhents are likely active in Iriaebor; if it goes to either Cormyr or Elturgard they are cut off from Westgate and the southern Dragonmere and surrounded by hostile powers.

Here's a map of the political divisions IMC: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qyaD8wjID...TesA/s1600/Faerun+North+Political+1480+DR.bmp