02-12-2020, 04:33 AM
(02-11-2020, 09:01 PM)Davin Wrote: Hmmm... I'm not sure how to explain my reticence. For one thing, I need plenty of (and varied) "bad guys" for everyone to be able to fight against. If they're all PC factions then I have no control over them at all and can't provide you general resistance. This might be fine for "builders" but not so much for players interested in combat.
In addition, if the "bad guys" are NPCs then I can control how tough your opponents are and how widespread they are and how often they appear. As PCs I lose all of that GM control as well. For one thing, there might only be a few such clans on the whole continent, and who would you fight against if they're nowhere near you?
As PC clans, the "bad guys" will be able to set up ambushes guaranteed to wipe out whoever they're gunning for, which wouldn't make that player very happy (especially if he'd been building up the clan for a long time). OTOH, if the "bad guys" were enough of a nuisance, "good" players (or even competing "bad" players) would band together with enough force to guarantee that they'll have a successful wipeout, making it no fun for THAT player.
I'll have to give my feelings more thought to see if I can explain more of them. But for now, think about Midgard game design from a D&D DM's campaign designer's point of view -- how much fun would anybody have if no "monsters" were NPCs and people were personally playing both sides of all encounters? Part of the fun is knowing there are given enemies out there that it's your job to kill and that don't have a personal investment to resent losing.
OK, I read what your trying to do here but the one side of this you're not considering is all the GMing time and work you will need to put into this. In reading all of the threads and comments, plus talking to others you're trying to cut back on the amount of GM time you will need to put into this. Making all the bad guys be NPCs means that you will need to put a lot of time into making bad guys for everyone to deal with. If you allow players to play Bad Guys as well, then your effort gets cut back.
I feel that you should allow players to play the Bad Guys too, especially those that want to play in the Evil factions as well too. The Cult as it has been defined or proposed makes for a great choice to play within the game. Basically a declared clan to everyone except another Cult clan would show up as an Independent clan on a scouting report. Then having them seem to fade into citizenship in a city if they are less in size of 20% of a cities population makes them totally hidden inside the city. Then have their Cult Shrine be a hidden one within the city as well, showing up only as a rumor is perfect. As to their ability to Ambush, this just means they get the first round of attack in combat with an excessive amount of damage, which would add to a morale boost for the attacking Cult clan and a negative minus for the attacked clan.
Those that want combat will get what they are paying for. All the "Evil" factions will be desirable to some players because that is what they want to play. You should allow players to play what they wish to pursue. Even if a faction is live, it doesn't mean you can't also have NPC clans in that same faction as well too. I think there will be room to have both NPCs and PC clans within any faction giving free rein to do anything as you desire.