Running Factions and Faction Turns

Factions that pursue their own agendas regardless of the PCs are a great tool to bring your RPG setting to life, and can help the world feel dynamic, both reactive to the PCs and also making sure your setting continually evolves and changes as time passes. Earthmote on YouTube has put out a number of great videos about using factions to drive the narrative in your game - here's one I recommend.

I've been running factions for a while, and one thing I have struggled with is how to decide what goals a faction accomplishes over time and how it accomplishes those goals. Mausritter has a dead simple system for managing factions that many GMs swear by. However, I wanted to try something slight different using influence as a way to track faction growth. The other oft-cited reference for faction turns comes from Worlds Without Number, an excellent toolkit for sandbox GMs. But it's faction processes are so detailed and extensive, they essentially become a mini-game that you as the GM can play to run your factions.

So here is a procedure for defining and managing factions through a simple procedure that produces interesting, surprising results that will evolve your setting without requiring hours of work.

Faction Profile

Faction profile elements are used principally for running the faction in game

• Faction Name: What is the name of the faction?
• Overview/purpose: Provide a brief 1-2 sentence description of the faction and their purpose
• Rivals: List any key rival factions
• Keywords: Provide a list of 3-5 keywords or phrases that can be used to describe faction assets, locations, resources, and NPCs
• Key NPCs: List any major NPCs the PCs are likely to interact with, such as a faction leader or a contact. Name, description, and trait are probably sufficient, since their goals are likely to be the same as the faction goals.
• Key locations: List any key locations in the region that are associated with the faction like a faction headquarters or outpost.
• Influence Rating (step die, starts at d2): Reflecting the ability of a faction to grow its resources or develop new resources
• Resources (rating - step die, starts at d2): The tools the faction has at hand to accomplish its goals
• Goals: The faction's regional goals, each with a difficulty rating and a number of progress steps

Influence Rating 

The die of a faction's influence rating give some indication of the approximate power of the faction. A faction's resources will always be rated less than or equal to their influence.

d2: Group of bandits, tribe of goblins, a very small criminal gang, a notable person from outside the region - factions at this scale are generally too small to be properly organized and consist of very few members.

d4: A trade guild in a town, a notable adventuring company, a warband of orcs or ogres, a minor cult

d6: A thieves guild, a prominent cult/religion, a local merchant's guild, town government, a mercenary company

d8: A powerful cult or wizard in the region, a local lord, a dragon, an army, or other significant power in the region

d10: A group with influence that extends across multiple regions, such as a king, a powerful religion, or other major inter-regional powers

d12: The most powerful factions who can shape events across kingdoms - empires, wizard cabals, demigods, etc.

Establishing Goals

Goals should be actionable and concrete in terms of the impact they have on the game world. (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound). Goals should be rated based on difficulty and complexity.

Complexity is the number of steps required to achieve the goal. This should typically be one to three steps. If more than three steps, it's probably sequential goals (where the later goals are more difficult). Alternatively, complexity can also be an indicator of how long it will take to achieve the goal. (Building a keep is good example of a goal that takes time to achieve.)

Difficulty is how hard it is to accomplish each step of the goal. If the goal is associated with another faction, the difficulty should be equal to the average roll of that faction's relevant resource die (rounded up). Otherwise, use the following scale:

2 - a simple goal that could be accomplished by a few motivated individuals

4 - a challenging goal that requires some planning, resources, and talented individuals

6 - an extremely difficult goal for most organizations to achieve

8 - a goal typically only achievable by the most powerful of organizations

Some goals can be jobs appropriate for the PCs.

Faction Turn Procedure

The faction turn can happen once per week or once per month, depending on the scope and scale of the sandbox and the frequency of play. 

On the faction turn, roll a d6 for each faction

1: Develop a new resource

2: Improve an existing resource

3-4: Attempt to progress goal

5: Setback 

6: No activity

Develop a new resource: Roll the Influence die. On a 4 or higher, gain a new Resource at a d2 rating

Improve an existing resource: Choose a resource to increase. Roll the influence die. If the rating is equal to or greater than the max value of the resource, increase the resource by one die step (d2 > d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12)

Progress Goal: Follow these steps: 

1. Choose a goal and an associate resource the faction will use to attempt to progress or achieve the goal. 

• The resource should be appropriate to the task at hand.If there is little to no chance to progress the goal due to the resource being insufficiently developed, the faction may instead attempt to improve the resource following the above process for improving an existing resource. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.

2. Roll the resource die. If the result equals or exceeds the difficulty of the goal, progress the goal one step.

3. If the goal is achieved and the Influence die is less than or equal to the Resource die, increase the influence die by one step.

Setback: Clear one progress step on the goal track. If there are no progress steps to clear, the faction has suffered a loss. Choose a resource and roll the resource die. On a 1 or 2, reduce the resource die by one step. Alternately, a narrative setback may occur, such as the faction leader being supplanted.

No activity: Due to internal politics or other difficulties, the faction was unable to make progress on any of its goals during this period.

Faction Turn Resolution

The GM completes the above procedure once for each active faction in the sandbox. 

All faction turns are considered to proceed concurrently. If two competing factions both achieve goals, the GM will have to determine the impact. If a goal no longer makes sense due to changes in the sandbox, the GM should establish a new goal for the faction.

For each faction that completed a goal, give that faction 1 or 2 new goals.

Create a rumor indicating what happened with each faction and add these to the rumor table.

Keep a brief log of what happened on each faction turn for future reference.

Example

Faction Name: Cult of Shun

- Overview/purpose: Religion dedicated to the resurrection of their goddess, the sorcerer-queen Shun. 

- Rivals: Church of the Promised Sun 

- Keywords: bare-chested, muscular, health-obsessed, pseudoscience, secretive

- Key NPCs: Hierophant Jhull - self-important, built like a truck, human male, Hieromonk Lilit - human female, devout, lithe and muscular

- Key locations: Temple of Shun in Sarx

- Influence Rating: d6

- Resources: Temple monks (d4), Secretive physical techniques for healing and combat (d4), Powerful friends in local government (d2)

- Goals: Recover an artifact stolen by rival Church of the Promised Sun (difficulty 3 -this is based on the average rating of the rival faction's resource, church priests) one step), drive the Church of the Promised Sun out of Sarx (difficulty 4 - this is based on overcoming two combined resources, the priests and their friends in the thieves guild, 3 steps)

Faction Name: Church of the Promised Sun

- Overview/purpose: Religion that believes in the rebirth of the dying sun

- Rivals: Cult of Shun

- Keywords: golden, sun-symbols, dawn rituals,

- Key NPCs: Solarite Athoba - female elf, contemplative, schemer

- Key locations: Church of the Promised Sun in Sarx

- Influence Rating: d4

- Resources: Priests (d4), Stolen magical artifact (d2), Loose alliance with thieves guild (d2)

- Goals: Determine what other secrets the Cult of Shun is hiding (difficulty 3, 2 steps), Safely dispose of the stolen artifact (which is dangerous) (difficulty 4, 3 steps)

Example Faction Turn

- Shun - roll 2, improve resource

- Attempt to improve friends in local government

- Roll influence (d6) > 5, which is greater than max current resource rating of 2

- Resource: friends in local government increased from d2 > d4

- Promised Sun - roll 5, setback

- Choose a goal: safely dispose of the stolen artifact. No progress has been made, so choose a resource: Priests. Rolled a 3, no effect.  (On a roll of a 1 or 2, the Priests resource would have decreased from a d4 to a d2. We might have assumed that some priests abandoned the faith due to the leader's obsession with this strange artifact, or perhaps they were corrupted by it.)

Rumors:

- Hierophant Jhull is courting the local magistrate, hoping to have the local government put pressure on their rivals, the Church of the Promised Sun

- Some priests of the Church of the Promised Sun have expressed dismay over a new relic Solarite Athoba has obtained; as of yet, nothing has changed within the faction

That's the core of it! You can expand by adding more mechanics and procedures, but this process is nice and simple but has enough mechanical meat to create some surprising developments during your session prep and campaign planning.

Do you have a different way of managing factions? Let me know in the comments.

If you want some more great advice on running factions, be sure to check out this post from Elmcat!