Factions and how to prevent abuse

[DreamWeaver]

If you set the Barbarians, Bandits, and Pirates up as the Boogiemen of the game and just make them nasty and hard hitting bad guys. If you also allow players later on to create other factions like the former Buccaneers (Merchants/Naval Mercs/Pirates).

[Davin]

Was there a THEN to go with that IF?

[DreamWeaver]

Sorry what I meant to say is use those three as NPC Bad guys in the game. Later on if players wish to start up some new factions that are similar or like them but different let them go through the process to set up a new faction.

I can see a group of players wanting to set up Naval Mercs and Naval Merchants to sail the seas. They would be enemies of the Barbarians and Pirates. Maybe they might have a alliance with the Getham as a kind of allie. They would be Naval based faction with some color;

SWASHBUCKLERS Skills could be:

CMD - Comand
NST - Naval Strategy
NTA - Naval Tactics
NAV - Navigation
SEA - Seamenship
MER - Merchant

They could be both the Naval Mercs and Naval Merchants and give players that desire naval Roleplay to do so.

[Davin]

Oh, I intend to use such NPCs in the game.  But I expect to define them as opposed to all player factions.  But what I need for balance is for all PC factions to have some sort of opposing PC factions (in addition to the NPCs fighting with everyone).  We need stressors between the players so there's something to work against and generate some sort of conflict at various levels.  If we have factions that are "friends with everyone" then there's no stressors to work against in the game system and players will prefer to play in factions without challenges.  Everyone needs challenges to contend with.

[DreamWeaver]

Add in Moorlock faiths like the Blood & Fire, or The Cult of the Dark One, or Heretics or others that would add other possibilities.

[Davin]

Sure, but do we have enough players to populate a full pantheon of faiths and specialties?

[Steve Kort]

Everyone has a main clan that pending its faction will eliminate the ability for that player to have cousin clans that are in the Main clans enemy faction list.  Further your first cousin clan would also eliminate additional factions, this would continue with each clan.  This way no player would have a clan in a faction that is an enemy of any other clan they run.

I like that idea, for starters.  Perhaps we can begin by saying that no clan can rise above rank 18 if they have any cousins in any enemy faction.  Also, cousins in different factions of any sort may only have one faction with clans above rank 15, thus becoming their primary faction.  It may also be necessary to limit multiple very-high-ranking clans in their primary faction, too, but let's think on that.

What do you think about that concept?

My thought is that you should not be allowed to play any any enemy factions as they would be opposing your other positions in the game.  If I were a big shot in the Imperial faction me having a Boda should not be possible or i could simply use my intel on what the Imp's are doing and run my Boda clan where no real activity was happening.  Even if you were trying to be fair about it would you really attack one of your clans against the other, especially knowing that one side definitely a major advantage.   By making those faction not allowed you remove any question of unfair advantages and people exploiting the system.

[Steve Kort]

Each faction must have at least one fixed enemy Big Box factions may have 2 or 3.

I agree.  And I don't want to include currently-NPC factions in our list of enemies/allies.  I'd like to see at least one playing "enemy" and one "ally" for each faction.  These do not have to be reciprocal either, and it would be nice if there were some inbuilt tensions there, such as being friends with someone who's also friends with someone you don't particularly like (or might even have on your "enemy" list).  I'd like to be able to draw an enemy/ally chart between all the factions and see lines to and from everywhere.

"Enemies" don't have to be all-out warfare on encounter (in all cases), but they should at least refuse to associate with one another under normal circumstances and have significant disagreements in their outlooks (which could lead to harassing, name-calling, fist fights, etc.) when in close personal proximity in cities.

"Allies" don't mean unconditional friends, but other factions with whom they tend to cooperate or work well with, in general.  You might like to give them better deals on trades/tasks, for instance, or engage in communal movement or activities.  Perhaps "preferred associate" would be more meaningful?

What could we do to update our designs along these lines?

First we would need a set group of factions that we are going to have in the game.  Before we try to create any sort of a tree of enemies and allies. 

I see the Ring and Gift as enemies of the Banner as they are religous zealots and even though they worship the same god They see them as a threat to their beliefs and way of life and would really just want to keep them far away.  They likely see each other as allies to protect themselves from the Banner.

[Davin]

In the extreme case, no player would be allowed to run more than one clan at all.  But that seems to be going a bit too far.  It's my assumption that a very-low-ranking clan isn't big/important enough to affect the game play significantly, even for opposing factions.  And I think that playing only in factions that are mutually accepting of one another limits the players choices an awful lot, especially if they're all going to end up with some inter-faction conflicts with someone.

So, if you were in one of 7 factions, each of which had 2 friends and 2 opponents and 2 neutrals, not all in neat pairs, how many clans do you think you could reasonably run in different factions without getting any two of them to be opposed in some fashion?

[Steve Kort]

Oh, I intend to use such NPCs in the game.  But I expect to define them as opposed to all player factions.  But what I need for balance is for all PC factions to have some sort of opposing PC factions (in addition to the NPCs fighting with everyone).  We need stressors between the players so there's something to work against and generate some sort of conflict at various levels.  If we have factions that are "friends with everyone" then there's no stressors to work against in the game system and players will prefer to play in factions without challenges.  Everyone needs challenges to contend with.

I see some NPC's as more of a threat to certain factions than others while most would not want bandits near there cities.  The Boda would careless about Bandits around Imperial Cities and the same the other way.   A Heretic clan would be a concern of religious factions while others would really not care.  These NPC clans could even have bounties placed on them by factions that greatly disliked them.   Like the Getham would have bounties on Bandits no matter where they were as it would affect there business.  Banner would likely reward people for removing a heretic clan no matter where it was located.