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Faction Archetypes

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What Factions are Social encounters, players-driven change and diversity in setting all stem from factions. However, the term “faction” is very broad in adventure design. It certainly describes an established group of individuals, but the size of that group varies tremendously. Even individuals could function as a faction. So, what designates one? Goals : What does a faction want, and why? Without a goal they’re passive and uninteresting. With one, factions gain direction and a position towards the players. Obstacles : Why hasn’t their goal been reached yet? A faction continuously attempts to overcome these obstacles (one by one). Stopping or helping a faction is the main gameplay loop they provide. Assets : What resources do they have? This describes the faction’s current position. It also determines the reward players get when helping, or the obstacles they face when stopping them. Think locations, treasures, or number of followers. It’s hard to create a variety of engaging factions ...
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Real Time as a Resource

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Sessions have time limits. I play D&D with colleagues at our office, which closes at 21:30. After pizza and some chit-chat we start around 18:15. That’s 3 hours of play for a group of chaos monkeys… It’s clutch every time. We play a westmarches-style campaign where they tackle a one-page dungeon each session. Narratively, that’s a day’s work. So what if I use the knowledge that the players play out ~24 hours of game time in ~3 hours of real time? Sectioning the Day Just setting a 180 minute timer is no fun. Multiple timed intervals can help evolve the scenario over time.  The most important change during the day is sunset. Light dies, monsters emerge, tensions rise. The other important milestone is the end of a session (or day); important enough to deserve some kind of set warning. The following procedure is the result: (optional) Everybody describes their downtime activities since last time. Set a timer for 90 minutes. Dawn breaks. The party explores the dungeon’s surrounding...
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Escalating Encounter Rolls

Encounter tables create dynamic environments, deepen world building and punish time-wasting in many a dungeon. They often require a specific procedure: whenever sufficient time passes or the party behaves recklessly, do an encounter check. Roll a six-sided die; if a 1 is rolled, a random encounter triggers. A second roll determines which table entry is encountered. The third determines the encounter’s reaction (friendly to hostile). These three separate rolls are unlikely to result in a dangerous outcome: 1/36 chance, or lower with forgiving encounter tables. I mostly run one-page dungeons nowadays, where these chances are just too slim. The tension needs to rise. Fast. Tension Pools A tension pool, as introduced by the Angry GM , is designed to rise the stakes. In short: The pool starts with a single six-sided die. Whenever sufficient time passes, add a die to the pool. Whenever the party behaves recklessly, roll all dice in the pool. Whenever a 1 is rolled, a complication happens....
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