Better Factions & Organizations (Worldbuilding)
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- Creating interesting factions to bring your Tabletop RPG world to life!
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“Sir, theres been another murder”
“That damn Little Giggles Nursery School.”
I’d watch it.
a trick: watch series at KaldroStream. I've been using them for watching a lot of movies lately.
@Calvin Ruben definitely, been watching on Kaldrostream for since november myself :)
That reminds me of Tangled. It has a seedy tavern with tough crooks. It is named, get this, the Snuggly Duckling.
I have never played dnd before but I still watch all your videos
I have the starter set but I can't get people together to play :( but yeah! I still watch his vids for maps and world building! And also because they're awesome
1. Try to play it sometime, there should be plenty of online games to join.
2. Even then most of these videos still work for worldbuilding in general, maybe you should work on writing stuff
I have a discord group, and I'm always open to new players!
@@757theX yeah sure but discord doesn't work on my phone but I would still like the link and if I get it working in will join
@@SapphireColonThree where can I reach you? If you have an ig mine is Locus._sollus
Idea: A town whose "Thieves' Guild" runs all the banks openly. They haven't stolen in years. They developed into bankers and eventually became a legal organisation, but still kept the name Thieves Guild
They used to steal through burglary now they steal through interest.🤨Dunh Dunh Daahhhh!!!!!😂
This is just the central banking system lol
Thieves steal jewels, banks steal entire economies.
Theevsgild Bank
In my own PnP their is a Faction called the Rothschwerts they are a Family who controll the Banking Industry in Hamburg they may not be Powerful Fighters like the other four Factions but they have the Money to hire the best Mercenarys and equip them with thebest Gear .
I think, if your world has generic factions and organisations, that a good way to them give depth is to introduce competing internal factions
Usually they should treated as fixtures rather than organizations. From the outside each fire department, HoA, city council, fast food, etc is nearly interchangeable. Unless you want to have something major happen with it you can simply treat it as a mundane montage like going to the corner store for milk, or wasting time at the DMV.
From the inside however, there’s always unique features, politics, and relationships that could be turned into a great story, however the vast majority only cares about the most basic services.
With organizations and factions, if you want an organic-feeling world, a good idea is to think of them not as "the one faction of X", but rather of a TYPE of factions. Real life provides a clear blueprint here that's recognizable and fun to play with - think not of one Order of Good Paladins or League of Assassins, but smaller individual groupings that do similar things separately. Don't just make one "World Crime Syndicate" - think instead of the different national mafias such as the yakuza or the drug cartels, and look at how many individual groups there are, all by different names and often with distinct traits, but which are nevertheless readily recognizable as such. Same goes even for druid orders and the like - no reason for there being just one.
Absolutely agree
Good advice in my own PnP the City of Hamburg is run by a lose Aliance of Criminall Organisations called the Hand. For one you have the Vitalin Brüder who are a Syndicate of mostly Eeastern European People who run most of the Gun Running in the City they are lead by the Brothers Vlad and Igor and they they are curently at war with the Grüner Drache Triaden. The Grüner Drache is a Triad Made Up mostly of the Asian Minority in Hamburg they got rich and Powerful by selling narcotics and Prostitutes and are curently trying to get into the lucrative Banking business. The Rothschwerts are a Family of Bankers. They are the Most influential Faction but also one of the Most secretive.
Beautiful
I think Colleges were the biggest faction type missing. Colleges, Schools, Universities, Cabals, etc.
At least in medieval settings:
-Usually founded by a visionary noble or clergy.
-Medieval parchment is expensive. Expect lots of oral exams.
-Quite elitist.
Can also change based on if you want a medieval european, arabian, indian etc. look (these were the most notable medieval education regions).
You could be like Patrick rothfuss and just calling an university "University"
@@erikkr.r.m7380 I mean, medieval universities were generally called "university of...."
@@caiawlodarski5339 of course and they still are called that way but rothfuss didn't eaven bothered to name the place were the university is and that is just lame. You spect me to think that the town on wich it is its also called "university"? I think that is just lazy
Most medieval universities only taught priests.
If you're going to make competing factions a major part of your campaign, take a look at the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. The first half of that book is details and lore for the ten factions that impact and shape all life on Ravnica. You don't need to use the Ravnica setting. Just take the factions and swap out the names with the closest analog in your campaign. There's detailed rewards for renown with each faction, magic items tied to the goals and themes of each group, and a small monster manual full of faction agents and pet monsters.
Great idea!
That book is awesome. I have a copy. The description of conflict in the beggining of the video reminds me of Azorius and Dimir.
Last session I DMed, I nearly screwed myself over by having an NPC hint about factions in a new city the players were going into, when I hadn't planned anything concerning factions for that city. And so I had to improvise seven factions, their sigils, motivations, and the trails to get into two of them. So that was fun.
Ended out working out really well, though, because I've been DMing for long enough to be confident pulling stuff out of my butt.
This video is really, really well put together and pretty great in being straightforward with the information without coming across terribly. Fantastic video!
*Night's Watch:*
7:44 - Protect Westeros from the Night King.
7:51 - Lord Commander.
8:11 - Used to be the greatest warriors when The Wall was built, but now, thieves and criminals are sent there to pay for their crimes instead of paying with their lives, some choosing death instead of The Wall.
8:25 - They use black clothes and armor.
8:46 - Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.
9:05 - no, they are so isolated and, nowdays, treated as a punishment that they don't interfere in any means on Westeros or "south of The Wall".
9:38 - *They use black.*
10:04 - Westeros treats the main castle, Castle Black, as a punishment place rather than a glory place.
Ehh, there's no real evidence of the existence of a 'Night King', or that the Others even structure their society in the same feudalistic way as Westeroes does.
You might wanna double check the use of black in the world
Oh for a moment I thought you were going t talk about the real Night's Watch, the Amsterdam city guard's night shift.
@@gelatinouscube2342 I think he’s talking about the show
This just reminded me that one of my players is now at odds with a religious group, where they're both after the same reward for killing a boss. Now I'm going to have that group send out their own adventurers to try to kill the boss first, because they can't just attack my party member outright
Sounds fun! :)
Had a faction called the "Office of Supernatural Affairs" better known as the "Black Office". They worked alongside Imperial pioneers settling the frontier and specialized in killing monsters and other Night Haunts. I came up with the idea when I retired a DMPC named Sir Bruce of the Gold Delta, who went on to become the founder of the faction.
When you watch Wasd20 in the middle of the night trying to be silent so you don't wake the family and Nate be like: "Little Giggles Nursery school" and you start hysterically laughing... It was at this moment Jackson knew he f*ucked up
😂
Funding and capabilities are also very important for generating a faction when first considering it, as a well meaning but poorly equipped guard isn't going to have the same feel as a well equipped one. But they might stand to to toe if they have superior training and skill.
Relationships should also be expanded into 2 levels, there’s the internal sentiment, then there’s how that manifests. An animosity that’s restrained into passive aggressive grumblings is very different from an animosity that’s in all out conflict. Similarly a faction war could be based on true hatred, or simply professional obligation and mutual respect.
*Weavers Guild:* a few years back the Weavers guild in the town of Eshr was infiltrated by a lich who decided to take control of the guild and build it into an information gathering faction. They communicate with other branches of the weaver's guild by weaving coded messages into their cloths that are discernable by a read languages spell.
Underappreciated comment. This idea is awesome and has a lot of potential. What about a plot hook involving a Silk Road of some kind where the players have to escort a merchant from one end of the continent to the other on the Road, initially not knowing that some of the merchandise includes vital intel to the main political face of known civilization?
I like the idea of giving factions a special gimmick. Sure there is one thing they do, thieves guilds be thieving, but what is something special they occasionally do? One time I had a thieves guild go into a town, create a plague that is mostly harmless but starts mass fear by causing a few deaths from it. The town locks down, and they steal from it with near 0 witnesses as everyone is keeping to their homes. Hell, sometimes they start running the businesses for the absent shop owners to make money off the travelers.
In another faction, I had a mercenary group who held a monthly display fair, where they had jousting style competitions, where winners within those competitions were ranked higher within the guild, thus given better rates for the mercenary services. Also raised money for the guild itself.
Gimmicks can add life to a faction
I was Worldbuilding my own setting fantasy ambient at least 5 years and the factions/organizations makes me a great inspirations, sometimes I feel lost/boring or not so much inspirations for now but....
The good point of Factions/organizations is many of them works many types of people and style, perhaps being beyond of the common people thinks about. Even many of them "work in secrets" but some of them are "transparent actions".
I always like to think about infighting or moral conflicts within a single faction - Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series does this really well.
What kind of subfactions or fringe groups are associated with your faction?
Perhaps a generally peaceful organisation has a more militant subgroup.
Or a portion of the factions members being opposed to the leadership.
Perhaps a religious faction has multiple different views on how to best worship their deity.
I don't play Tabletop RPG as much as I wish (and when I do I'm a bad DM and a bearly better player), but honestly as a simple wannabe writer, your videos really help with worlbuilding in all kind of ways.
So I just want to say thank you, and keep up the good work !
Oh, and I'm french, so be aware that your channel really spread away, so I guess that's really f***ing cool !
One obvious example of a faction is a noble house. In a Medevel setting there are different groups for different families. These families are rich and powerful. they compete with eachother for the throne. I am not shure if this coulnts as political faction. One of my favorite examples of factions is Game of Thrones, and it has noble houses.
Nice one!
My factions, faction good guy and faction bad guy, are not boring at all thank you very much!
Totally just bought the PDF you mentioned thru your affiliate link. I’ve been looking for a way to make my world feel more realistic. Great video, man! Thank you!
I made a goblinoid mafia in my campaign, it's based in a northeastern county of the human country and the mafia boss is the county lord, in order to join you either have to A) Be a Goblinoid or B) Live in the capital city of the county, they fight the other three fans of the city and once the boss became lord of the county they really turned into the county fyrd
Hey you, yes you scrolling through the comments! Have a nice day!!
thanks
I think the best organization or power base I came up with was the Goliath Empire (better name pending), which is basically the Goliath race re-imagined as a Roman Empire expy, at war with their orc neighbors (who are basically vikings, complete with long boats and raiding parties), and hellbent on the subjugation of all giant kin that aren't true giants, whom they revere as demigods. So they hate ogres and trolls but love hill giants and frost giants... fun.
I have one in my world that is called the Council. It consists of unregistered wizards and thieves which fight the dominant church. The name is a result of wizards and thieves not being able to settle on a name. The wizards wanted council of enlightenment, the thieves prefered shadow council... hence the boring name....
Historical and archaeological societies can also be very fun to play with. For example, one of the nations within my fantasy world has a very active and well-funded paleontological society and through them, I've really been able to build on the natural history of my world in a very immersive way.
Thank you! You’re recent mapmaking series has inspired me, and I am currently creating a fantasy world! Thanks again!
Thanks for all the for-thought into the world at Large. I'm still building my world as we campaign, and it good to look behond it's base structure, to really emerse yourself and players deeper into a ever growing world.
Excellent.
My world currently has only one faction with real development.
The militant guilds, a group of guilds which openly provide services, such as assassination and mercenary work, to the general populace as they slowly undermine the political power of the king.
tribals organizations could be interesting factions too, y used that in my pirates rol
Some tips for tribes:
-Sometime rely on unofficial ties to keep order (enough genetic diversisty to not be Alabama, but everyone is a friend/cousin/distant relative/SO/buddy of someone else)
-Borders are extremely loose/blurry, if any.
-Sometimes nomadic. In that case answer: Why do they move? How does this affect nearby civilization? Are they traders, raiders, mystics, or do they just mind their bussiness? Are they a warrior culture?
-Are they a simple chieftain or are their ranks more complex?
-Usually disliked by more 'civilised' nations.
I genuinely appreciate this video, I've been getting writer's block trying to flesh out some organizations, thank you!
I'm really into this town guard vs the thieves guild thing. My allies and enemies are clearly defined. How do these noble town guard,(a localized rag-tag defence force) hold their own against a whole guild? What kind of madman could organise thieves into a cooporative guild? How are they able to get away with the rampant theft of the good people of the town? Do they run protection rackets? Do the ordinary people not even believe they exist? Mystery AND conspiracy! Truly terryfing stuff.
All guards are bastards.
@@LRVChupathingy ok rogue main
@@LRVChupathingy *applause*
RUclips sends me a magic items video when I need ideas for magic items. Now RUclips sends me a factions video when I need ideas for factions. Is Google reading my campaign notes?
Probably; it wouldn't surprise me.
I tend to think of factions as groups within groups. Like the different factions within political parties etc.
*ring ring* Hi! This is Bob from Little Giggles! We have your kid safe and happy with us! You can come and pick him up any time you like! Just bring the usual "fee", and what you owe us from last time! You know, it's always a shame when the kiddos go wandering around in that part of town in the middle of the night when you expect them to be in bed! Aren't you glad you have us to look after them for you!
You've just given me inspiration; thenks
@@saltations_ Super welcome!
Thanks! Excellent stuff as always. Another potential overlooked faction type is: sports team! I seem to recall that the medieval Byzantine Empire (or at least the capital) was often split along factional lines into those who supported the Blues team at the chariot races, and those who supported the Greens. And there's the whole idea of people backing different "stables" of gladiators for arena games too. We all know how passionate people can get about their local derby! 😀
For the details of the factions, what rules do they go by, is there some sort of class system, what so they wear? Think about how the faction was formed, I find these to be necessities in factions of other media -Guy on the internet who has never written a faction
Good idea. Thanx much. 🙂 The list of types of factions was specifically helpful.
I did this so terribly in the first session of my campaign. I tried to introduce the players to 6 factions and their leaders in a 10 minute conversation.
Ah, the Exposition Dump Trap. My suggestion for avoiding this is, write up a background briefing of what is public knowledge and hand out copies before hand, if the players don't read it that's their problem. Detailed information to be dribbled out when players' characters actually dig for information.
Larry Davison.
I gave the PCS a bit of a pre game briefing but not too much as I didn’t want to overwhelm them.
I was pretty disappointed in myself for doing it in the first place, because I know exposition dumps are bad. I guess i did it because it made sense in game. The Pcs just started a new job a massive city and their handler had give them the lowdown on their employers.
But I definitely learned from it.
Do this, plan how you will provide your info, now hold your breath while you imagine giving the speech at normal peace, if you ran out of breath before providing lore, you might want to work that, don't expect your players to keep interest longer that you can hold your breath.
This won't work if your ability to hold your breath is bellow/above average.
I recommend watching a video by Savage Books: “Why We Love Death Note’s Info Dumping”. The premise is that audiences may actually enjoy info dumping, but only if something first happens in the story to pique their curiosity. I just watched it and I’m itching to use this technique in my own D&D games.
@@jimbrody4945 I literally just watched the video yesterday lol
2:40 SYNDICATES COOPERATIVES, FAMILY MONOPOLIES
I purchased a copy of "Be A Better Faction Master" great buy I love DM resource books like this!
This looks good.. fictional political conflict here we come!
p.s. I am having trouble with naming countries and dividing them realistically, could you help? ;) I'm working on a world with a friend.
morganjack18 I find that naming places based on the language spoken in that local area of your world can work very well for names based on meaning. These meanings can be based on famous historical figures or events of that area, as well as describing the history, people or features of that area. You could create languages for this if you want (I think there’s a website that auto-generates them), or using words from real-world languages (you can find these easily on things like google translate) can really work. You’ve got a word from a real-world language that seems too obviously from that language, or you just don’t like it, modifying it so that it rolls of the tongue more is a common thing to do. As for country borders, traditionally pre-modern borders (if you’re going for that era) were rather blurred, and people groups commonly used rivers, mountains, deserts and other types of rough terrain to cross were used as borders. Hope this helps.
For dividing, usually bodies of water or rivers are dividing lines (for example, the Rio Grande and the Great Lakes, which separate the US from Mexico and parts of Canada. For more civilized countries, sometimes straight lines parallel to specific longitudes can be used to show where a compromise was made.
as manga creeper said bodies of water and land can be the dividing lines.
but what i want to add, if u have a region u want to have conflict, consider making the only river in the area, part of what both neighboring sides consider theirs and fight for it. more peaceful (or no crap given) divisions happen from mountains.
i would say (about the straight lines) that they seem more realistic when they split a desert in two parts unless your world is very advanced in perception of the wrold and tech too (maybe like a trek society), but since most of our stories are in some past setup land that u cant grow anything on it can be the splitting factor (neither of the two sides really care for it) so both of them have fr sure their side up to the bad land, and the bad land noone really cares about. u can have the mountain/hills or a river.
if nothing of the above exists but u want/need a divide in the area then maybe an altitude difference? low ground is one side and high ground the other.
u can also have them sit on the two sides of a forest
but remember, water is precious so if u need conflict over something it is one of the most basic things.
Don't overthink it. Humans have literally called their deserts "desert desert" twice.
choose some real languages, search some basic words (names of colors, "mountain", "hill", "Bridge", "wood", "forest", things like that) and mix these words, you can change some parts of it if you want it to sound different
but if there is a word you invented on your head that sounds cool, you can use it too, you can make a meaning to it yourself or say it's so old no one remembers what it means
and what do you mean by dividing it? administrative divisions? if you want to divide it into provinces, remember that some of the largest provinces, states, etc are the less populated, the most urban states are generally well drawn, based on historical divisions, rivers, mountain ranges, but when you go to places like Siberia, or the Brazilian Amazon States it's basically just vast big blobs of poorly drawn lines, you don't have a reason to draw beatiful borders, there is no sufficient population density even if the have such large territories
think where people would want to live and where they wouldn't, places where the government would have reasons to administrate it properly (mines, high population density, resources, factories) and places where they would have just nominal control and some occasional patrol
sorry if it's not well-written, english is not my first language, but i tried my best, hope you uderstand it
Thanks Nate! Great as always 😁 Can't wait for your walkthrough of governments. Pathfinder GameMastery Guide has a great section on that as a reference!
Nice! So you have the new Game Mastery guide yet? 2nd edition?
@@WASD20 not yet. I will definitely be getting it as soon as I can get to a store. The Barnes and Noble I generally go to just closed down and the game store has been closed due to Covid.
Yeah, I hope to get it soon too.
This was quite helpful, I'm in the middle of planning my world right now and this video helped around a lot. Cheers.
Ah, yes, the infamous Assassin Organization, "The Mary Poppins Nanny Association"
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you!!
I find using rival gangs as a form of immersive conflicts to be an awesome idea
Great video, I use as template for my faction the 3.X Forgotten Realms faction. Name, Sigil, Leadership, Population, History, Goals, Recuitment, Relationship and so on. Pretty much the same as you recomend
Cool. Recruitment is a great one to add!
Thank you so much!
I feel like the webnovel "Lord of the Mysteries" had some really good factions. My particular favorite is the Rose School of thought, and how there were two different versions of that faction, one side advocating temperance and the other advocated for acting out their desires
I think comming up factions is pretty difficult. I only have two: One reilgions group and one who works towards better law inforcement.
idk if anyone else mentioned this but another type could be a family. like a large family that runs the town or city. it could be through lawful or illegal dealings and influence (or maybe both)
I would love a video on the creatures in Ezora, also Theros has just come out just in case you didn't know.
Quick question: what if my players are picking fights/ killing everything and the game is being more sandbox(chaotic games session)?
Are you okay with them doing that? If yes, fine.
If not, make them suffer for it, involve some law-enforcement that puts them in jail, with the feasible risk of losing their lives. Make them meet foes that are undefeatable to put dents into their ego, to rethink their ways, etc.
Factions can be a very telling thing because of how difficult they are for some people to make or portray. I find the Forgotten Realms factions to be a funny and telling set of examples in particular - people tend to praise them as an epitome of great factions, but if you so much as slow down to think about it, there's just a "nebulous league of villainy and selfishness for its own sake", "heroic league of good for good's sake", generic druid order, generic paladin order(s), generic assassin order, generic thieves' guild that isn't part of the nebulous league of evil... None of them feel like organic factions of the world, they just feel like top-down impositions made by the setting author.
dont forget aboriginals united in fighting colonisers, who otherwise would be at odds with each other, or other such similar settings. having those kinds of inner conflicts within a large faction is a good way to add depth
I think the key point here is to create a faction the same way you should create an NPC: give them a name, goals, resources, and relationships.
I needed this, I'm about to start a campaign based around political intrigue. There's this steampunk/gothic horror RPG called Blades in the Dark where the PCs are a crime syndicate, and the metagame is all about the city's politics. It's a great point of reference for how to run a political game.
Oddly enough, there was a Family Guy episode wherein a criminal drug gang were all disguised as a day care center. They were all little people dressed in children's clothes. So yeah, that happened.
Personally I dislike making "good factions" and "bad factions". It's people who make factions, it's cool to show conflicts between members and not just say that "this faction is bad"
Thanks for this, Nate! Now i only need a tutorial for WorldAnvil.
In my case, is always very organic. Sometimes I just want to emulate an organization from X story I like.
For example I created mercenary groups inspired by Mass Effect 2.
I just create characters , all of them got a nationality or an origin. Different countries use differet names so you can guess the origin by knowing the lastname or the ethnicity most of the times.
So to me, is just a matter of interconnect characters with plot, concepts and the world around them.
One example is Light Infinitum, various groups located in a nation called Lucia, againts the leader of the nation, a politician and ex-soldier who wants to own all the power in Lucia, so he wants to make the capital its own nation, Luzielle.
While Light Infinitum wants to keep the nation together, and some want to unite all the nations around (the so called nations of the White Nivea), and get rid off the dependence of Animus (a form of energy) , but to do so they need to become bigger and stronger to fight against Hildemburg (largest nation in the continent).
Light Infinitum was created slowly peacing with time, It borned couse I needed a plot in Lucia, a conflict and it had to be linked to the world.
A fun twist would be if the two worst organizations in the town are the order of the allmighty father and the townguard. It would be nice covers for what they are realy up to.
Good vid. I need to get myself motivated to world build/campaign build
in my campaingsi will also add story of organization and reason of it being made ( who made it and who rule it) and if player characters are know in place where this organization exists opinion on them
Yeah but no one names the town guard. The only named town guard I can think of in history is the night's watch, who were a city guard in Amsterdam, potrayed in Rembrandt's famous paining, The Night's Watch.
If someone here needs to see how a city with huge influence of factions is like, Planescape's Sigil is to your service. The ultimate crossroads, you won't be treated much more than a passer-on until you join one of the fifteen Factions whose existence is permitted by the Lady of Pain. Their origins, goals, and ideals are all different: from ancient fraternity dedicated to discovering the ultimate Order, to an adventuring party turned crusade turned planetary goverment with embassies in heavens themselves, to a collection of people who really want you to know that they are in the know without being part of any (other) faction. Each faction controls, in large or small part, different industries and offices of the city, sometimes not so obviously tied to their goals: the Great Foundry clogging Sigil's skies with smoke does not seem a right fit for reincarnation and perfection-seeking Believers in the Source, but once you learn that they are not all hippie artsy types, but also dedicated blue collar workers, it falls in place. And, of course, all factions have friends and enemies but they all have to act in their shared well-being under threat of greater danger - in Sigil's case, Lady of Pain's ultimate power over everyone's lives in her city.
Now I'm picturing a crime guild with a daycare as a front... Hmmmm....
Would sure be a hell of a way to launder money, with an excuse to collect protection money from every family on their side of town in neat, above board monthly payments...
I've got one idea. Cults. Thanks to the cult of the Dragon video by Forgotten Realms History. It is confirmed cults count as factions.
And for my idea for a Cult is the Hsu Sao (Yes the name is somewhat based on the most HATED character of Mortal Kombat)
An Infamous Demon-Cult on my Homebrew world Taxavear.
Origin/History: Let me just keep it simple. Let's say that Taxavear had some ancient tomes and temples before the divine reset, and someone a thousand years later accidently found the tomb that belong to a demon lord.
Leadership: Technically the leader is the current Hsu Sao but, the REAL leader of this cult is the Demon Lord they're trying summon. (Maalhonnas, Demon lord of blades and tactics.)
Organization/Structure: They are somewhat organized, but only in secret where they plot and scheme.
Sigil/Symbol: Their symbol is a little obvious as the symbol is a on almost every right shoulder pad. (The symbol being a kunai upward diagonally piercing through the moon)
Motto/Slogan: *Translated from Abyssal* "In the darkness we ready our blades. We wait as the fools meander in the open. In a blink of an eye we strike. Leaving nothing but blood and corpses." *this is a work in progress*
Faction Favors: I'm not sure if I want this cult to give favors. It just seems wrong to me.
Assets: Weapons like swords or katanas are their main assets as well as samurai-like armor.
Relationships: Bad, just...Bad. THIS IS A DEMON CULT! barely anyone would want to team up with such lunatics, and let's be honest with ourselves even the Devil/Demon Cults hate each-other. Although I plan on giving this group sub-factions.
Extra notes: Sometimes this faction can manage to recruit onis as they believe that onis are their lords angels. (And also because their "deity" resembles an oni but with 6 arms that each wield various blades)
As you can tell this faction is VERY Japanese influenced.
i love the d and d vids
I recognize one of those icons from Fall From Heaven 2
Thanks for the ideas
One thing from my experience: ask yourself WHY. Why is a faction like that? And why is that the reason they are like it? And why is that reason driving? Why did that driving force happen? Just keep following that chain of why down the rabbit hole until you exhaust it - you may not use a quarter of it, but it can help you flesh out the setting and the mindsets of it.
For example - why is this faction so traditional? You could go the lazy rout of just saying 'they just like it that way' or go malicious 'obviously it's some cabal of [insert group here] keeping the world held back'... or you can give them a cultural reason. Perhaps they are trying to preserve something after a traumatic event - which then asks what that traumatic event is. When I really learned it, this was for something larger scale, but it's also just as useful for the smaller scale - why is this particular subfaction of the larger one like that?
Nice Video!
Tribes and clans appear in my game
World building is fucking hard. It took me five hours just to make nations, races, skins and hairs, how magic work,
That time I got [Redacted] with [Redacted] and long story short every member of an in game faction has name and backstory
Really cool tips thanks. :)
Here’s 1: gods
World Anvil....and I had been looking for something like that, but only came up with Story Planner 2 on my phone. Crap
Great video
There are also political factions, but they are not a guild nor faction per se, but a group of allied nobles for the same objectives, or just a political party, rarely they make up an organization like the Zhentarim, that's something they would do only if there is a big conspiracy going on.
So, remember that the political factions of a nation also influence the game and helps to enhance the immersion, even in a centralized government the authorities will form parties and engage in rivalry.
I re-uploaded this comment since the old one had many typos.
I cannot find that Faction PDF on Absolute Tabletop. It looks awesome, but not on the website?
Yeah, I am finding the same. Very strange.
It is, however, on DrivethruRPG.
www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/162581
@@WASD20 Thanks :)
Anyone else think of "Hung Up" by Madonna whenever they hear that outro?
This video= A long World Anvil add.
World anvil is a great, amazing, robust platform for worldbuilding...if you can afford it. If you can't then you can only upload like 2 maps.
I am worldbuilding a novel series so do I need to have all of theses.
Really it depends on the world. But in most cases, yes.
There is an actual cleric in my rpg group.
Missing households and knightly (belted) families.
Notification Squad!
keep it up
hi wasd20
I think the problem with "factions" is that you don't know what your players want.
It is far more important to find the motivation of your player group and then build a situation that comes in conflict with that goal. The reason I say this is because the players may run into other situations, but if they dont care it's the same as them not meeting them at all.
For sure. Another reason I think starting by building factions that tie in with character backgrounds is important. But yeah, I also like your idea of fleshing out factions that you expect will conflict with the goals of player characters.
So say we have a local criminal organization. We'll call them the Doormen-one of their rackets is providing security, and they'll stand a member by the door of a business that's protected. They show the business isn't to be touched, and the owner shows he can afford them. Good for everyone. The Doormen also run a few other rackets-smuggling and gambling mostly. A lot of criminal pursuits are off limits to their members-pickpocketing, burglary, banditry. The Doormen's activities are illegal, but they bribe the right people and largely go unbothered by the city watch.
Are you looking for someone? Need to buy something a little shady, or hard to find? Need to get something into or out of the city without anybody seeing? Go see the Doormen.
Thank you from Russia!!!
I was waiting for the new video
idea Pirates
Sad be a better faction master is only pdf :(
Personally I like to twist my "guilds" (groups) something like.. in the Discworld. I'm so bored by generic fantasy I'm a Discworld diehard fan so.. win win.
Bandits