Aloha! ❀
Quite often campaigns end up with struggles for power between factions and have the player characters stumble right into the middle of it. Of course, it’s then nice to have these various actors written down! This is a small format to have a formalized approach to something like this – but keep in mind that unless your campaign is heavily centered around these kind of rivalries and involvements it’s probably a bit too detailed – but then: your game, your rules!
Example: The Blue Caravan League
Leader: Chairman Elric Batran
Important Members: Kelron Vash (head of trade police), Savra Tarsh (top broker)
Typical Member: greedy merchant trained in ink magic
Archetype: shady trading league using magically trapped contracts
Type: mercantile
Structure: corporation
Motto: “Those who sign deserve the consequences”
GOALS
- Infiltrate the city council
- Kidnap the president, frame the Opal Guardians
- Push for more controlling laws
- Spread anti-government sentiments & escalate
- Stage an rebellion to take over the city
ENEMIES
- The Three-Folded Rebellion
- Opal Guardian
- Order of the Silk Strings
ALLIES
- The Ashen Cult
- Council of the Everyman
- Garnet Emporium
FAVORS
bending the law, pragmatism, profiteering, cat & mouse games, stability
DISLIKES
weakness, naivety, humanitarianism, weak laws
DETAILS
- merchant organization founded by a criminal gang boss to move under the law
- at one point approached by a mysterious sage who taught them ink magic
- keeping this a secret, they sneaked enchantments into their contracts
- used this sparingly to take over smaller guilds and become influential
Explanation of Entries
Leader: current head of a given faction
Important Members: key NPCs the players might get to know
Typical Member: the go to member encountered normally
Archetype: short summary of the entire faction
Type: tone of the faction, approach to problems (militaristic, academic, political, religious, …)
Structure: command structure of the faction (tribe, family, guild, democratic, anarchic, …)
Motto: main belief or mantra the faction can be summarized with
GOALS
steps 1 to 5, with 5 being the final and possibly campaign ending goal (as a ticking clock)
ENEMIES/ALLIES
rivaling/friend factions
FAVORS/DISFAVORS
behaviors and values the faction likes/dislikes
DETAILS
short backstory or explanation of the faction
