Running D&D Factions, Explained

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Have you ever struggled to imagine how the various factions of your D&D game world would interact in a realistic way? With this system, you'll be able to manage as many as a dozen factions, quickly and painlessly!

[Nevified]

I really appreciated how you used specific examples. Far too many D&D creators stick to a 'big picture' view when describing this stuff and I've found it very helpful when you get into the weeds.

[Merlinstergandaldore]

Factions can definitely add a lot of spice to a game, as well as give it direction if the players are less than proactive. Even players who don't join factions can make enemies simply by associating with a faction on even a superficial level... definitely something worth developing!

[JulianShanahanMusic]

The Worlds Without Number (fantasy) and Stars Without Number (sci-fi) games by Kevin Crawford include a great system for GMs to manage running factions between sessions that is definitely worth checking out and aligns well with the ideas in this video.

[thenecessaryevil]

I often use a calendar as to track when events are supposed to happen so events the players don't get involved in still occur and have game world effects. And i follow the changes what they do makes. A small crossroad town they helped early in the campaign has over a few years because they convinced a migrating Hobgoblin tribe to work for the town as mercenaries and settle a nearby abandoned castle. Become a major trade hub and safe zone on a long trade route. The party came back to find its grown from maybe 2000 villagers and 800 hobgoblins into 25000 mixed races.

[armandoarcadia]

Honestly this the best channel for DM advice bar none. These are real and actual steps to setup factions. I am always taking notes during these videos. The information is too valuable!

[MaskedMothIX]

i love when he uses old timey art. gives it a real feel of authenticity

[magosdominusplutos]

Kevin Crawford has a very good Faction Creation System in his books.

[DerErdbeerkiller]

Just for my own - and anyone else who finds it useful - quick reference, cause i keep coming back to this video:
0:32 Strategic Imperatives
2:45 Assets
4:02 Grand Strategy
5:27 Putting it all together (e.g. mechanics)

[CBFresh]

Really liked this one man, it provides a great way to organize prep that can be used across a variety of games and situations. I think we've seen pillars of it here and there, but I would be interested in seeing your full prep process. Maybe one about how you personally go about pitching a campaign and then one about how you turn that into your session to session prep. Cheers.

[Stuugie.]

Your videos have been pretty much exactly what I've been wanting for my own worldbuilding, this was very interesting and I'll try to build my factions with these ideas in mind.

Thanks

[josephkrausz]

Mausritter has a simple faction system that uses faction tools and goals, plus randomization, to advance the factions' power dynamics.

[allthatisj]

I've downloaded your worksheet, and already I've come up with some great quest ideas. And all I've done is simply list the factions strategic imperatives. I have a feeling I'll be using this for a long time to come!

[Girthquake]

Stars Without Numbers/Worlds Without Numbers has some incredible stuff for creating Factions and a system for advancing their plans that I swear by.

[nicklikethesoup]

You can break down building a good faction into a series of videos and use them to explore how to develop quests, how to develop allies, how to change a region over time based on the factions actions while your players are off spelunking. This is one of those things that I think 5e modules tend to neglect extensively (except maybe WD:DH).

[geoffdewitt]

Another fun idea is what happens when factions have mutual ideological foes. For example, both the Assassin's Guild and the Trade Confederation hate the Brotherhood of Trotsky, a fraternal group of socialist necromancers seeking to redefine labor in a magical world. Do they team up? Does the Guild try to manipulate the Confederation into dealing with Brotherhood?

[tc]

I'm applying Baron's factions worksheet to key NPCs in a new sandbox I'm running. Stuff for early quest hooks, like a local botanist, resident wizards and a shady tavern owner in the home base.

It's working really well and I'm just so pleased I came across his videos last year.

My factions will have their worksheets also, but these approaches just really help create such a full, breathing world and his faction worksheets can really help with key NPCs as well.

This is all such great stuff. I love the Baron's work.

[kevindaniel]

That's fantastic, thank you. I'll be implementing this in my world immediately. I already have several factions in mind, by detailing their strategic imperatives, and assets, will go a long way to keeping them interesting and creating a living breathing world.

[AuthoritativeNewsNetwork]

Character backgrounds are also a great source for Factions, creating interesting scenarios where possible Patrons come into conflict or where characters loyalties are tested.

[andrewduitsman]

A great point about how complex things seems just because you know a faction was working on something sense last the PC interacted. Also, everyone love a faction to have a resource that is a little atypical. "Don't worry I know a guy, " and instead of a small town constable or local magistrate, you get a mob fixer.

[Killerwale-hkwy]

My favourite faction is the Mok-Mok trade federation. It can trace it's roots back to ancient times, when a group of heroes maddened them while a goblin clan called the Mok-Mok was slapping paddles on the water to attempt to create a tsunami. The heroes, who were my at the time party, were chased down by them literally anywhere. They fought themselves through everything the players didn't kill themselves, sometimes hired assassins and made high contacts wherever they left. Most arcs wound end by the Mok-Mok entering a city just as the players are already fleeing the town guard or the crumbling of the dungeon or something like that. Now, in my current campaign, all the contacts that they made really became useful, and after a long written down arc of self exploration, the clan stopped the chase (as the players saved them from the end boss) and they returned, discovering how powerful and influencial they got. My current campaign, set 800 years later, still has the Mok-Mok trade federation. (MMTT). They are a massive enterprise full of lawyer hobgoblins, bugbear thugs, multiple races of mercenaries and even vaults protected by dragons, ropers et cet... . They fit quite well in the darker themed 2nd campaign. They are lobbying, tricking, blackmailing and sueing everyone all the time. But it's the background that makes it so much fun for the players. Their leaders and council look a lot like they used to when they were chasing down the players, just different names. I have about 35 non-nation factions in my world. 14 of which whose leaders are in the circle, which is like the adventurer's guild/illuminati. The Mok-Mok aren't part of the circle, but still by far the funniest faction.