Factions, game aid

This is a translation of a post originally published in 2013. More posts in English here.

I've been readin Stars Without Number (really evocative title) lately and I have arrived at the factioin rules.

It seems really weird to me, because they make a very complex subsystem, maybe even more than the basic game system, where you have to manage the different factions over the game board that represents the space sector, taking into account each faction stats, their resources in detail, their "class" which gives them special rules, etc. And all of this is supposed to be done by the DM once before every session (or each game month), to determine where each faction is situated. Seriously, this is sa board game, and it would be nice if the players could play it, but that would give out a lot of information about the resources available to all relevant groups of the sector and what their plans are at any moment. I'm not against a bit of meta-game, but this seems like too much to me, especially because I like that things that happen far away to only reach the player in the shape of dubious news or vague rumors.

That's why, thinking about how to make things in a different way, I ended up making my own system to manage factions. My goals were to not make it very complex nor concrete, which would allow me to a) start with factions only sketched out and flesh them as it was required, b) decide the movements of the different factions quickly and easily, but at the same time, in a way that would impact meaninfully the PCs and c) reduce the number of options and variables as to make it easy to randomize the behavior of the different factions in case I don't care about what some of them do or not.

Fuente

So, let's go to the interesting part. Step by step.

1. Make a list of factions.
Taking into account the following:

• A faction is whatever you want it to be. It can be a whole kingdom or a dude with a lot of influence and his lackeys or a mysterious cult or a club for biorrobotics enthusiasts.
• Right now you don't need to flesh them out a lot. Unless the players are likely to encounter them on the first session and it requires extra work, just think about a concept for each one and/or an evocative name and you can just wing it.
• The list doesn't have to be exhaustive, add just the factions you think can be relevant for the PC's adventures or those that you think are cool and want them to appear sooner or later in the campaign or anyone that comes to you at the moment really.
• Settle on a manageable number, for you and the players. More than ten could be too much.

2. Make a map of the scope where your faction can take places, divide it in areas and deploy your factions on it
The map can be as small and abstract as you want. You can use a map of the Middle Earth where Mordor is an area and Lorien is another one. Or you can have one of the Shire where each village is an area. In the same way it needs not to correspond with a geographical extension, it can be the map of a parliament of a court in a game about political intrigue.

Choose and area for each faction for it to be their headquarters. After that, they can have bases in other areas. The more powerful a faction, the more areas it will have bases on. I can't tell you how many areas this is exactly, as it depends on how many areas your map has. Remember that many factions can have a base on the same area.

Tablero del juego Condottiere.

3. Determine the stats of the factions in each of their bases

• The stats are: Cohesion (how united is the faction, their loyalty to their leader, etc.), Strength (its capacity to employ violence), Wealth (its resources) and Influence (its capacity to act on those that are not part of the faction, especially if they are powerful).
• They range from 1 to 10. What the numbers mean depends on what factions are there: in a protohistorical game, having bronze weapons would be Strength 10; but in a sci-fi game, it would be Strength 1 or 2. If you'd rather use the same resolution system as the game you are playing because of symmetry, distribute the points accordingly.
• Each base of each faction can have different attributes, but usually the headquarters will be the one with the highest ones. If that's not the case, think of a reason why.
• If you don't want to overcomplicate it, make it so the whole faction has the same stats in all its bases.

4. Between sessiones make a factions turn to determine how they act.

5. Decide what action each faction takes.

• There are six actions: 1) Attack another faction, 2) Develop, 3) Re-structure, 4) Have losses, 5) Move a base, 6) Stablish a new base. They will be explained in a moment.
• You can choose them themselves or rolling 1d6 per faction.
• Decide the order in which the factions act. Alphabetical order is as good as any other.

a. Attack

• When a faction attacks another one it does it from one of their bases to another one that is in the same area or an adjacent one.
• The objective is to reduce one of the stats of that other base using one of the stats of the attacking faction. Again, you can choose the stats you like or do it randomly.
• Let's say that a faction, the gang Makos of Frimalta, tries to reduce the Influence of the neighboring gang (the Rabid Dogs) using their Strength. Let's say that in game they try to kill a cop that the Dogs have on the pay-roll.
• Each faction would roll 1d10 + the appropriate stat. The gang that obtains the highest result wins. If the Makos win, the cop will probably have died—if the Dogs win, it's possible that the cop is tough as nails and has been able to get rid of some of the gunmen, reducing the offensive power of the gang.
• If a faction loses all its Cohesion in an area, it loses that base.

b. Develop

• The faction tries to raise one stat of one of their bases by using a different one (or the same). For example, if an italian prince hires a condottiere, he would use his Wealth to raise his Strength.
• The mechanic is the same as Attacking—1d10 + stat that's used against 1d10 + stat that is to be raised. If the roll fails, the stat that was used is reduced by teh difference. But if the roll is successful, the other stat will raise by the difference.

c. Havae losses

• The faction loses 1d6 points of a stat in one of its bases and can't act that turn to concentrate their efforts in avoiding more losses.
• This result would usually be chosen at random, but if you think that it is adequate, you can pick it.

d. Re-structure

• Real simple: you take points from a stat to add them to another one. It doesn't involve growth, just maneouver, that's why it is safer that trying to Develop. It can mean, for example, spending a lot of money in feasts and celebrations to get the support of the pepole, thus moving two points from Wealth to Influence.

e. Move bases

• The faction packs and moves a base (or more) to an adjacent area. The base will be the same, just in a different place.
• In this case it is also possible to close bases without moving them, in which case their stats will go to a base of an adjacent area.

f. Stablish new bases

• The faction creates a new area in an area adjacent to another were they already had an area (as they can't have two in the same area).
• If each base has different stats, the old base will have to give a fraction of its stats to the new one. Parts of the stats of many adjacent bases can be combined to create a new one.

If the players take part directly in any of these actions, resolve it as an adventure and not a simple roll.

6. Once all of this has been solved, make a list of the most important events and let the players know through news and rumors.

And that's all. To me it seems easy to use and abstract enough to be adapted to anything. It's true that the actions can be a little complex, but it is something that you will only use once per session and that you can ignore if necessary.

Thanks for reading. Valmar Cerenor!