Faction Rules

One of my aims is making Skies of Mor-ladrom (SoM) seem more alive—so right now, I'm adding factions to my game. I wanted to include an element that will make it seem like things are going on in the world or region, even if the players are not interacting directly with them.

Faction Play

Faction rules are the fun type to make, since they're GM/Director-facing: basically, I get to be selfish and make rules that are fun for me!

I've decided factions will have turns and goals. They will take their turns whenever the players take a respite. I think this will work well because it slots in with the preexisting downtime rules nicely. During each respite/turn, the factions will roll to make progress toward their goals. I've been thinking through three main ways to handle this—below, I describe how I'm going to approach it in play.

The Faction Roll

Option 1: There is fixed progress, meaning each time there is a respite, the factions mark one tick on the progress bar. They may mark one more or less if the players did something in the world to affect them. Fixed progress would work best if you are playing an adventure and want predictable progress or a ticking clock to drive the players to act.

Option 2: Each faction rolls a power roll and gains progress based on the roll: 1 tick for 11 or lower, 2 ticks for 12-16, and 3 ticks for 17+. This allows more variability in the game, and has the benefit of getting to roll some dice. Given its less certain outcomes, it's probably better for a more open world than an adventure, but it could work if the variable progress rate wouldn't mess anything up.

Option 3: Factions make project rolls, just like players do during downtime, and need to reach the point total of the project goal to complete their objectives or enact their plans. You can read more about project rolls here. Briefly, it involves rolling 2d10 plus a characteristic and an applicable skill. Project rolls have the benefit of using existing rules and slotting in nicely. But it can also be very swingy—you could get 5 points or 15.

I have been going back and forth on which option I like the best, but I am going to start by building off of Option 2 and the power roll. Option 1 was never really in the running for me, mostly because I want to be able to roll dice! Option 3 is tempting as it uses existing rules and I will be using other elements from the downtime activities. But it's just too swingy for what I want. Option 2 is similar to how Blades in the Dark operates, and stealing things from that game is never a bad thing.

Here's how I'm going to make it work. During a faction turn, which happens with a respite after an adventure, every faction makes a power roll using their stats and any edges or banes they gained from interaction with the players or a faction event roll. They mark their progress on a progress bar. When a faction goal is complete, any effects are played out and they choose a new goal.

If players decide to take multiple respites in a row, then the factions can gain 1 tick toward their goal every third respite. Using this approach allows the Director to adjust the speed of faction progress in alignment with their campaign and story goals.

Faction Goals

Faction goals are what the factions want to achieve. A faction might have one major goal or a number of smaller steps to a larger aim. I would default to segmenting an overarching goal into smaller steps, so it's easier to say exactly what is happening in the narrative when an event occurs (or when the players get in the middle of it all and cause chaos).

I will have to mess with the numbers during play, but for now I'm envisioning the following approach to tracking progress toward a faction goal:

Small Goal: 5-part progress bar
Medium Goal: 10-part progress bar
Large Goal: 15-part progress bar

Faction Stats

Each faction has multiple stats that make up their stat block.

Type: This is what the faction is—merchants, nobles, pirates; a faction could be anything, really. The type acts much like a skill tag in narrative games and represents the skill for a faction. The type will give a +2 to faction rolls if their goal is something that faction would be well-suited to achieve.

Influence: This stat acts as a faction's characteristic and can range from 1-5. Influence is a measure of their power via money, politics, popularity, etc.

Impression: This stat acts similarly to renown, its counterpart in negotiations. If players have a renown equal to or higher then a faction's impression, then their reputation with the faction (I'll talk more about this in another post) can start higher or lower, depending on whether it's a good or bad impression.

Relationships: Each faction has a list of the other factions and their relationships with them. Much like Impression, the Relationships stat deals with players' reputation and how gaining or losing reputation with one faction effects their standing with another.

Faction Event Rolls

A faction event is something that happens in the background of the story between some of the factions. During each faction turn, there is a 50% chance of a faction event (roll 1d10; on a 6 or higher, there is an event). Faction events are on a 1d10 chart, much like the project event rolls.

If the players are really involved in the factions and causing enough shenanigans between them, you can forgo this roll.

Mechanically, the events are mostly edges and banes for certain faction rolls, but there could also be a prevention of faction rolls or even loss of progress to goals, depending on the event. Narratively, there are attacks, subterfuge, and politics shaking things up. I will share some examples of faction events in a future post.

That is the basic layout of my faction rules! In the next post, I'll talk about reputation and how players can earn and lose it with the factions. I plan to follow that post up with examples of specific factions and how players can gain reputation with them. That will be set in the town of Stormspire as I prepare for the players to visit it.