Faction #16 The Cult of the Dark One

[DreamWeaver]

Let me hit you with this comparison with D&D...  If we have assorted pockets of evil/bad beasties in D&D that players need to contend with, they need to be able to wipe out (or otherwise dispose of) these little bands without dying out themselves, otherwise there wouldn't be any fun in playing for an adventure or two before dying.  Consequently, parties are traditionally more powerful (in one way or another) than the enemies they take on.  If a player decided to play a family of Bugbears (for instance), behaving as Bugbears behave, how long will it be before another party of adventurers comes along to (successfully) kill them and rid the area of their disruptions?

Likewise, let's say there's a group of Bandits (or similar) harassing trade near a city.  The city wants them gone and arranges for one or more clans (PC or NPC) to go get rid of them.  How long is that group going to last?  And if you're actually a player playing that group, how long will you live?  Isn't that going to be really anti-fun?

This I think sums it up …The Answer to Davin's question:

[FutureSojourner]

Well it would make a clear enemy of the OTGers, just like the B&F whom are also a "Evil" faction do also do it as well.  It is just a different point of view, honestly.

The "fun" in laying a Cult of the Dark One would be in devious manipulation.  Perhaps have all Dark One clans listed as "Independent," or as a Family/Imperial clan that secretely declares for the Dark One and holds dual affiliation.  Have all Dark One temples as underground dwellings not seen on a City Report.  There are things that you can do to make it fun... but it would require some creativity and should be reserved for experienced players.  I wouldn't let new players start out as Dark One -- make it an "unlock" or something similar.

[DreamWeaver]

Well it would make a clear enemy of the OTGers, just like the B&F whom are also a "Evil" faction do also do it as well.  It is just a different point of view, honestly.

The "fun" in playing a Cult of the Dark One would be in devious manipulation.  Perhaps have all Dark One clans listed as "Independent," or as a Family/Imperial clan that secretely declares for the Dark One and holds dual affiliation.  Have all Dark One temples as underground dwellings not seen on a City Report.  There are things that you can do to make it fun... but it would require some creativity and should be reserved for experienced players.  I wouldn't let new players start out as Dark One -- make it an "unlock" or something similar.

I like the idea of having them show up as a "Independent" clan, that would make them hard t find, almost like Bandits. I do think you will find that it could be any player that could play them, not just older players. It is just the creative players that should play them. Also the idea of the Cult temple/shrine is a great concept as being "Hidden" and extremely hard to find. Maybe it is considered to be a "secret' shrine and hidden well in the city. It fits with their style and theme.Maybe even make a note on the back of the CVR that: "There are rumors that there is a Hidden Cult Shrine within the city", and not list it on the front of the CVR at all.

[Dark Shadows]

Ok having them show up as "Independent" clans on scouting reports would I think work extremely effective, and this would counter one of Davin's fears that everyone would hunt them down.  so the benefits could be rewritten to be:

Benefits:
1)The Cult can Ambush other clans. This would make them Shadows in the Dark and extremely dangerous. Fear would make people do what is asked of them, or else be killed. Remember this faction is called: The Cult of the Dark One. This faction wouldn't be combat army types, but within a city, they would be feared to be in every shadow. 
2)They would appear as an Independent clan when encountered on a scouting report.
3) Within a city they could appear hidden, thus not being located or seen on a scouting report within a city, if the clan's size is less than 20% of what the city population actually is. Example 20,000 pop city, would mean if the Cult clan is less than 2,000 retainers they would remain hidden to anyone coming to the city and not know that they are even within the city.

I also feel that a Cult Shrine would be hidden within any city it is built within. I like the note on the back of the CVR, of "Rumor is said that there is a Hidden Cult Shrine within the city". This all words to add a sense of mystery and intrigue to the whole faction and character that fits with the faction.

[DreamWeaver]

Some pics...

The Dark One...



A Cult Clan Assassin...



A Cult clan Leader...



A Cult Secret Shrine, hidden...

[DreamWeaver]

I would make the Cult the Keepers of Hidden Knowledge and Secrets. They are part of the shadows and use the dark  to help control the people  with fear and unknown. They are watchers and use the darkness to control the world. It is said that they practice human sacrifice, but no one really knows for sure because they are the true keeps of secrets.

Their skills then might be:

PRE - Preach
REC - Recruitment
STW - Streetwise
TRK - Tracking
SPY-  Spying
ASN - Assassin
TOR - Torture

Benefits:

1)The Cult can Ambush other clans. This would make them Shadows in the Dark and
extremely dangerous. Fear would make people do what is asked of them, or else be
killed. Remember this faction is called: The Cult of the Dark One. This faction
wouldn't be combat army types, but within a city, they would be feared to be in
every shadow.

2)They would appear as an Independent clan when encountered on a scouting report.

3) Within a city they could appear hidden, thus not being located or seen on a scouting
report within a city, if the clan's size is less than 20% of what the city population
actually is. Example 20,000 pop city, would mean if the Cult clan is less than 2,000 retainers
they would remain hidden to anyone coming to the city and not know that they are even
within the city.

Note:
I also feel that a Cult Shrine would be hidden within any city it is built within. I like
the note on the back of the CVR, of "Rumor is said that there is a Hidden Cult Shrine
within the city". This all words to add a sense of mystery and intrigue to the whole
faction and character that fits with the faction.

[TheDarkSide]

Greetings my fellow gamers.

I see that the divine reverence of the Dark One has shined upon myself. After two days, he has seen to it that I can now post on this forum. For all you OTG believers, if you worshiped a real God it would not have taken so long to get fully confirmed for this forum like one of the true believers!

I would like to thank 'DreamWeaver' for putting forward my ideas on the Cult of the Dark One faction.

[Davin]

I believe the feeling is that it is just 'perspective'. The Cult would add a real fear aspect into the game as players would not know if they were being 'watched' or not.

Can that fear aspect not be provided by NPC Cult/B&F/etc clans running around providing the "good" players incentive to go after them?

[TheDarkSide]

Hmmm... I think more stress and fear could be done by active players as well. I mean as a GM you are not willing to go as far as us active players would try to take things, plus if something really horrible happens then you can blame it on those nasty Evil Cult players.

[Davin]

Maybe what you do Davin is let the player play a Beta-Test Cult declared clan and see what happens. Maybe you will see how the Boogie-Men can be played in the game to scare the pants off of others in the game. Fear does make for a rather good plot line at times. Give the player a chance to give it a try and see what developes. Maybe he might surprise you.

That's a possibility, but I still worry about him causing such a nuisance that he gets targeted and wiped out and can't have any fun that way.  (I don't worry about him becoming a target, just that he won't have any fun playing.)  The only situation that I can see evil clans maintaining an active presence in the game is if the faction is its own organized big-box empire with built-in perks like the ones we're discussing taking away from the Imperials because it is unbalancing.  Picture the Thulsa Doom Snake Cult from the old Conan movie, for example.

I'm expecting to have some of the evil (NPC) factions build themselves defensible temples and the like to give them a base from which to operate and a target for the players to deal with, but not that major and not game-unbalancing from the other players' perspectives.