Multiple Campaign Factions - Proactivity, Please! How have you used NPC factions in your campaigns?

[S'mon]

Edit: Not really a 4e thread, I clicked the button too fast!

This came up as I was trying to give Vanir over on Critical Hits some useful advice on running a campaign:

It’s often a good idea to have active factions in a campaign whose plots proceed to a timetable. However I’d recommend against having
(a) only one villain faction – even Tolkien had Saruman as well as Sauron or
(b) only having villain factions be active – proactive Unaligned and Good/Friendly factions add a lot of depth and versimilitude to the setting. Try to avoid friendly NPC factions be ‘cardboard redshirts’ – let them win the occasional battle vs the villains offscreen, perhaps because of prior PC activity.

For a D&D type ruleset with rapid power increase and long term play, I find that having multiple factions in an ascending ladder of power works well. Eg villain factions in my Loudwater Forgotten Realms game range from the low-Heroic Southwood Goblins through the mostly Paragon-Tier Zhentarim to the mid-Epic Shadovar of Netheril and their enemy, Szass Tam of Thay. They all have their own plans. Good-guy factions have their own agendas too, and the PCs occasionally hear about events in eg Elturgard.
___________

I was wondering if other GMs have some accounts of successfully using multiple NPC factions, especially in a mid to long term 'open' (not linear storypath) campaign? I'm particularly interested in good use of friendly factions - I don't like the 'cardboard redshirt' feel you get when every ally is incompetent and helpless, but nor do I want the 'Elminster effect' where puny PCs run fetch quests for godlike GMPCs. I'm also interested in accounts of using unaligned or ambiguous factions to good effect -neutrals/third parties who are not passive, but have significant goals of their own, and might eg ally with either the PCs or their factions.

 

[D'karr]

I was wondering if other GMs have some accounts of successfully using multiple NPC factions, especially in a mid to long term 'open' (not linear storypath) campaign? I'm particularly interested in good use of friendly factions - I don't like the 'cardboard redshirt' feel you get when every ally is incompetent and helpless, but nor do I want the 'Elminster effect' where puny PCs run fetch quests for godlike GMPCs. I'm also interested in accounts of using unaligned or ambiguous factions to good effect -neutrals/third parties who are not passive, but have significant goals of their own, and might eg ally with either the PCs or their factions.

For my current campaign, I've adopted a similar structure to what Eberron did with their deities/churches. The church of Jaar the sun god is a "lawful" faction. Many members of the hierarchy are lawful good. However there is quite a large portion that is unaligned. I like the vibe it gives when the players interact with church officials and they can't tell if the church official is on the PC's side, or out to take care of #1. It reminds me of Cardinal Richelieu in the Three Musketeers. It also allows the church to operate as a bunch of somewhat related entities, not as a monolithic faction.

I've also done something similar with the Red Knives, a thieves' guild in one of the major cities.

It has introduced some interesting interplay as one of my players is a Paladin of Jaar, and another is a member of a rival thieves guild to the guild mentioned above.

 

[pemerton]

My two long-running Rolemaster campaigns were both very faction-heavy.

A Greyhawk campaign (which mixed in the Krynn-ish idea of moon-based Wizards of High Sorcery - a third small, black moon did Oerth no harm!) included (among others) the following groups:

* Cuthbert-worshippers;

* Iuz cultists;

* Scarlet brotherhood infiltrators trying to take over the Lordship of the Isles;

* Lordship of the Isles loyalists;

* Rel Astra loyalists;

* Great Kingdom Incabulos cultists trying to conquer Rel Astra, and then Almor;

* 3 factions within the Black-robed Wizards of High Sorcery.

The PC roster for the campaign changed a bit over time, but they were always against the Scarlet Brotherhood, and ended up joining with the Great Kingdom to conquer Rel Astra (the home city of two of them). One of the Rel Astran traitors was also a freed slave, and he took steps with the Wizards of High Sorcery to isolate the factions that support slavery (and also favoured Sueloise racial supremacy).

I can' really say there were many "good" factions (eg around 8th level the PCs got banished from Greyhawk by the Cuthbertians, so this notionally good faction was an enemy of the PCs). But the PCs allies were often competent - for instance, the Great Kingdom armies conquered Rel Astra, with a bit of help from an ancient wizard whom the PCs restored to life (Vecna, as I interpreted him in that particular campaign).

My second long-running RM campaign was an Oriental Adventures game - most of the factions in that game revolved around cosmological and karmic forces. The PCs ended up allied primarily with outsiders: a banished god, a dead god and a dragon who was kept imprisoned in the court of her parents; and even their main earthly allies, the daimyo and clan of a PC samurai, were in a tenuous position, caught between the shogun's families and the very strong outsider families. But there was no general pattern of incompetence - the PCs enjoyed naval support from their daimyo at one point, and got magical support from the exiled god.

The players maintained a relationship map for that campaign, to keep track of who was who: the final version of it is attached:

 

[Manbearcat]

I'm particularly interested in good use of friendly factions

Well, I've never done anything on the scale of pemerton's effort in RM above. However, in the most recent 4e game I've been running there are multiple Ranger Lodges involved. Each of these work roughly like "factions". Mechanically, I had a series of minor quests tied to these lodges. Depending upon how the PCs engaged with these lodges, they may find themselves in the midst of one or more of these minor quests. The major quest was an effort to unite them toward a specific goal in a mass combat at the end of the tier of play.

For these minor quests, there would be minor, tiered rewards (3). I used the Alternate Reward rules and treated them like boons. The first and second tier would yield a group encounter power (any person in the group can use it but it can only be used once per encounter). Example below:

Bristlewood Trailwarden Level 16 Alternate Award
The Rangers of the ancient wood have instilled within you their centuries-old wisdom.
Property
The group is unaffected by difficult terrain while in the Bristlewood.
Power - Encounter (Immediate Reaction)
Trigger: An ally you can see fails a Nature or Perception check while in the Bristlewood.
Effect: That ally rerolls the check.

That is 45,000/3 against the PC's wealth by level expectation so effectively 15000 against each of the 3 PCs in my group.

For the final tier, the far northern lodge gifted them with a companion character; a swarm of trained sled huskies. These dogs were with them for a few levels and were enormously fun and helpful in the snowbound northern portion of the adventure. As a companion character, the swarm had a full suite of actions and advanced with the PCs. The swarm was a controller/leader (they had an aura that buffed the party while in the swarm or in adjacent squares) and they slide enemies and knocked them prone. It also had an encounter power that was helpful in snowy, exploration Skill Challenges.

Anyhow, that setup worked functionally with 4e's setup (it worked within the group power/encounter budget expectations) and provided a lot of fun for the group and a sense of relationship improvement with the various lodges.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Factions (in approximate order of territory size)
Kingsmen: a dragonborn king ‘rules’ the city. The second of his line, he controls 20% of the city directly. Owns farmland outside the city. His faction includes his chief Soothsayer, the gallant Captain Hideki, a treacherous scribe, as well as many dragonborn soldiers.
The Iron Circle: Mercenary company from the peaceable kingdom. They obliterated orc raiders, and have violently put down food riots. They also manage the kings land east of the city
The Nameless Sentinels: (You). With several hundred ex-slaves and other locals, this relatively peaceful neighborhood is run by “the Council” all the PCs and several NPCs
(tie) The Fey led by Dewshine and her fiancée General Noraver.
(tie)The Orcs: the northern tip of the city is ruled by an orc tribe. They have no power outside their area, but no other faction is strong enough to drive them out.
The Ratmen: controls much of the western sewers.
The Gangs: River Rats, Black Furies, Fire Knives,
- Roster street Thugees now incorporated into the Nameless’ territory
The Noble Houses: Each has a walled compound within the city. Allied to the Dragonking,
- Everheart: allied to the Nameless, soldiers train together
- Tarmlune: ocean traders, claim to the throne.
- Vellguard: very quiet house.
Illithids/Foulspawn: (Mind Flayers) powerful, other-worldy, mind controllers. They claim territory hundreds of feet below the city. Three live in a settlement below the castle of the Hand.
The Fell Court : (gone) except for Meluvana, a tiefling warlock.
Knights of the Fallen Stars: (gone)

 

[Rune]

I was wondering if other GMs have some accounts of successfully using multiple NPC factions, especially in a mid to long term 'open' (not linear storypath) campaign?

You mean, something like a "streamlined sandbox?"

I'm particularly interested in good use of friendly factions - I don't like the 'cardboard redshirt' feel you get when every ally is incompetent and helpless, but nor do I want the 'Elminster effect' where puny PCs run fetch quests for godlike GMPCs. I'm also interested in accounts of using unaligned or ambiguous factions to good effect -neutrals/third parties who are not passive, but have significant goals of their own, and might eg ally with either the PCs or their factions.

In my longish (8ish year?) campaign, pretty much every NPC the PCs have met (or haven't) is their own faction! Quite a few of them have been friendly to the PCs at one time or another, but always with their own motivations.

Examples:

• The White Waker (an undead BBEG), whom the party has never really met (or have they?). Whatever's wrong in the world, they're pretty sure this entity is behind it.
• The Darkguard (a religious order split from the City of Skirmish's military, though still claiming to fall within the state religion of the Church of Rotdoc). These guys have always been bad news for the party.
• Matt (a scout for the darkguard's non-religious military arm--his buddy, Locke, got killed). Matt fought the party, but lived to tell about it--although he lost his leg in the process. When the cleric got that leg restored, he became an occasional ally.
• Cedric (a fighter with a code of honor). Early in the campaign, Cedric was under the mistaken impression that the party was guilty of destroying a town and sought to hunt them down. The paladin won him over with diplomatic reasoning and he became a staunch ally to their long-term goals. Later, they (that is, the second generation party) cut his head off at his own request, but that's another story, entirely...
• Celest (the fallen paladin). She gave her holy rapier to the paladin. Also, the party burned her town of exiles down. And overran it with spiders. But then they found a new home for the townsfolk, so everything was all right.
• The Elven Army. That home for the exiles? Adjunct to the paladin's home-town of Dewhollow. In the xenophobic, isolationalist elven lands. Fortunately, the party was able to avoid bloodshed when the army came to run them out by challenging the (elderly) elven captain to an honorable duel. Which, of course, he lost.
• Claire (the devout Cleric of Rotdoc). Petulant, irrational, dogmatic and downright frustrating, she's been the party's bane from the very early days of the campaign. And yet, although she is sometimes more charge than ally, she is steadfastly loyal, even after being excommunicated (and, ultimately, executed) by her Church because of the PCs. And, now, they're trying set her up to become Pope (yes, that means she's alive again), now that the Dopplegangers are being rooted out.
• Dopplegangers in the Church of Rotdoc. Who to trust? How high up does the infiltration go, anyway?
• The White Champion ("Paladin" of legend). A smite-happy champion of the Church of Rotdoc who does not seem to follow any other code, nor even Church direction. The PCs have always viewed him as a useful--but potentially dangerous--tool.
• The Spider God. One of the PCs (the most villainous one) made a very distasteful deal with this collective entity. Bad news all around.
• The Collector (a barbed devil), a collector of creatures. Getting through his lair required some difficult decisions to be made. Because, really, corruption is a devil's game, isn't it? The PCs ended up handing him off to the cleric's god, so they don't really know what happened to him after that.
• Crone (is it woman or a man?). Assumed to be an ancient elf (that, is, until s/he died and turned into the Cronetree) and generally a dispenser of information (in a frustrating, rhyming, riddling, way). The players have known her for almost the entire campaign, and haven't even begun to fathom the depths of her agenda.
• Beatrice (the half-orc Waterheart monk). The yin part of the half-orc monk's training. Peace-loving and wise. Also raised the half-orc children rescued from the Undead Eater in the Cyst at the Temple of the Burning Fist (one of whom is now a PC).
• Khan (the half-orc ex-Burning Fist/drunken master monk). The yang part of the half-orc monk's training. Temperamental and rash. Last seen as a spirit in the Well of Souls.

I could go on and on. There oh so many. I think the reason I have so many different factions, as it were, is because I never throw NPCs away when their immediate use to the plot is over. They just keep coming back!

 

[Jacob Marley]

Amongst the forces of weal during the Great Northern Crusade and the War of Reclamation were the loyalists of Katarina of Walworth; namely, the Knights of Holy Shielding. The knights, however, were not one unified faction. Instead, they were divided along religious and political lines.

The knights (~800 in total) divided themselves among three religious factions: Heironeous (~650), Pholtus (~50), and St. Cuthbert (~100). Pholtus and St. Cuthbert have long had an antagonistic relationship and this rivalry played out in debates (if not outright fisticuffs) between those who followed Pholtus and those who followed St. Cuthbert. Followers of Heironeous were often called upon to mediate disputes between these two religious factions. These debates tended to pull the order toward a Lawful Neutral alignment, much to the chagrin of the Heironeans who tended to favor Good over Law.

The knights were further divided along political lines between Nationalists (~300) and the Alliance (~500). The Nationalists were those knights who opposed assistance from Furyondy during the invasion. They were staunch believers of the right of the Shield Lands to determine its own destiny, and feared assistance from Furyondy would lead to annexation by Furyondy. Religiously, the Nationalists were composed of: 225 followers of Heironeous, 50 followers of Pholtus, and 25 followers of St. Cuthbert.

The Alliance, which was composed of 425 followers of Heironeous and 75 followers of St. Cuthbert, favored a strong alliance with Furyondy as the best way to reclaim their homeland. (Note: nearly all members of the Alliance once favored the Nationalist position but, in light of their great losses at the hands of the Horned Society and Iuz, have since come to view Furyondy's offer positively.)

Navigating this web is a bit tricky for the PCs. They befriended members of both the Nationalist and Alliance factions, as well as high-ranking Heironeans and Cuthbertines. (They pretty much antagonized the Pholtans from the start, despite one member of the party being a Pholtan!) Complicating matters is individual NPCs pursue goals apart from those of the order and their faction within the order. These pursuits occasionally run counter to those of the party. I also make use of Mythic: Game Master Emulator to help guide me in making decisions. This has the tendency to create situations were the PCs find unexpected support or unexpected opposition to their pursuits.

 

[Ferghis]

The players maintained a relationship map for that campaign, to keep track of who was who: the final version of it is attached:

That's awesome. Do I note two water giants with very similar names? Almost identical names...

 

[pemerton]

That's awesome.

Thanks.

One of my players is the local HP printing technical customer service chief. So he gets a lot of software for testing its printing functionality. At a certain point he decided that scrawled notes on the back of character sheets weren't enough, so he consolidated everyone's notes, started investigating some of the drawing software he'd been sent, and turned the notes into a chart. Black squares = dead (generally killed by the PCs).

The label "So Called Heavenly Realm" captures the mood of the campaign fairly well: the PCs were outsiders to heaven (some samurai, a Buddhist warrior monk, an esoteric Buddhist monk, a tree spirit and a banished fox spirit) who were trying to save humanity, and the dead god, from the fates that "heaven" and the Lords of Karma would otherwise dish up to them.

Do I note two water giants with very similar names? Almost identical names...

You've read it closely then!

I'm not surprised some redundancies are in there - like I said, it was compiled from notes, which themsevels don't always have consistent or reliable spelling (especially when I'm reading out Japanese or Chinese names, and speak neither language). The "Giants of the Inner Elements" didn't play much of a role, but the Storm Lords and Sea Lords did. Ching Lung, the daughter of the Storm Lord and Sea Lord parents, started out in disguise as a human (like all good dragons do!) and was courted from 6th level or so until 26th level or so by one of the samurai. It was difficult, because her parents didn't approve of her liaison with a mortal. When the campaign finished, with a climactic victory by the PCs, we narrated their later lives rather than play on - and in a moment of sentimentality I decided that Tao Hiroshi, having shown his mettle by saving the world from an awful karmic fate, was permitted to marry Ching Lung. (There was another marriage in the end-narration too: another of the samura, Tao Mori, married the sorcereress whom they'd saved from Gerrzog and General Unitoro, and their descendants became the key to holding the karmic forces at bay, as long as their morality and integrity endured.)

 

[S'mon]

For these minor quests, there would be minor, tiered rewards (3). I used the Alternate Reward rules and treated them like boons. The first and second tier would yield a group encounter power (any person in the group can use it but it can only be used once per encounter). Example below:

Bristlewood Trailwarden Level 16 Alternate Award
The Rangers of the ancient wood have instilled within you their centuries-old wisdom.
Property
The group is unaffected by difficult terrain while in the Bristlewood.
Power - Encounter (Immediate Reaction)
Trigger: An ally you can see fails a Nature or Perception check while in the Bristlewood.
Effect: That ally rerolls the check.

That is 45,000/3 against the PC's wealth by level expectation so effectively 15000 against each of the 3 PCs in my group.

For the final tier, the far northern lodge gifted them with a companion character; a swarm of trained sled huskies. These dogs were with them for a few levels and were enormously fun and helpful in the snowbound northern portion of the adventure.

Faction based rewards are a great idea, thanks!