Handling Factions in a Hexcrawl
(Note: All hex numbers in this post refer to my work-in-progress hexcrawl here)
I’ve been playtesting Revolver in a campaign that’s been going for a handful of sessions now. My players are becoming familiar with the region and the local power players. Soon, they’ll be learning more about the various plots and schemes going on in the area.
One of my goals with Revolver was to build a world that feels like it exists independently of the players. Things should happen in the world, whether the players are there or not. Ideally, this makes the world feel more real to the players, and it also makes player choice more meaningful. Choosing which dangerous, villainous plot to stop is a heavier decision if you know you might not get to stop both. If you manage to come up with a great plan and deal with both situations, you get to feel the benefits of your great plan, knowing that without your quick thinking, one of the plots might have succeeded.
Of course, it’s not reasonable to update every facet of the world each session. Instead, I devised a faction system that I used for the first time after my last session. Here’s my current system for writing factions and tracking what they’re up to.
Design Goals
The faction system should…
- Take no more than 15 minutes of upkeep per session.
- Contain and create information that matters to the players (we want actionable info, not just lore)
- Allow for player influence.
- Function without player influence.
Choosing Your Factions
I started with a list of important groups in the region. Importantly, factions here are groups of people who have both influence and (relatively) loyal members. My list of factions looked like this:
- The Reclaimers (Ratling exiles aiming to take back their homes)
- Laylah’s Demons (A Succubus and her subordinates who have taken control of a town)
- Ramiel’s Deputies (A group of officers enforcing the will of a local archangel)
- The Satchel Union (A group of monks that deliver the mail. The Mailmonks)
- The Black Rose Mercenaries (Cowboys and bounty hunters who will work for anyone if the pay is right)
The three in bold here all exercise at least partial control over an entire town and have plans that can majorly impact the region. They are my major factions. Tracking their activity over time will be a little more involved than the other 2, which are my minor factions. You could have more factions, but I think 3 major factions plus 2 or 3 minor factions is pretty good for a 6x6 hexcrawl.
Defining Faction Goals
Factions should be trying to do stuff. Otherwise, they aren’t much of an organization. For each faction, I establish a long-term goal and a number of short-term goals. The short-term goals are objectives that are of high priority for the faction and could be completed in the next 1-3 months. Long-term goals are larger projects that are either on an indeterminate time scale or will take more than a few months.
There’s one other type of goal I include sometimes: a triggered goal. A triggered goal is a goal that the faction can’t start until another goal is complete. It’s mostly there to remind myself that the faction should start on that goal immediately once the prerequisite is met.
Most, if not all, goals should be something the players can interact with and will notice if it’s completed. The goal isn’t just to create a living world, but to generate gameable ideas. Players wanting to help a goal along or stop a goal from being accomplished can make for whole sessions of play at the table.
Here are the goals for The Reclaimers in my campaign.
Long-term goal: Retake Silver Hills and return to their homes
Short-term goals:
- Cut off Silver Hills' finances by sabotaging their primary mine.
- Collect enough poison to coat their archers' arrows in it.
- Cut off food to Silver Hills by taking over the farm that supplies the town with food.
Triggered Goal: March on Silver Hills: Once 3 short-term goals are completed, or 6 are partially completed.
Defining Faction Leaders and Headquarters
A faction should have a leader, or multiple leaders if it makes sense, and a headquarters where the faction is primarily based. For my hexcrawl, the headquarters are all major settlements, so I just write the name of the town and the hex where that settlement is. Make a stat block and write a few bullet points on the leader for major factions; you don’t need to go into extreme detail. Make a Picrew or something if you’re feeling spicy.
Here’s the entry for the Reclaimers’ leader:
Onyx the Poxbringer
21 grit, 16 Brawn, 14 Agility, 14 Mind, 2 defense
Dragon Dance: Onyx can wield 2 handed weapons as though they are 1 handed
Kasumi-no-kamae: At the start of her turn, Onyx can choose to take a low stance, preparing to counter melee attacks. While in this stance, any attacks Onyx makes are impaired. If a creature attacks Onyx with a melee attack while she is in this stance, subtract 1 from the damage she takes (minimum 1). She can immediately make an attack against that enemy.
Tri-Wielded Katanas: 1d8 damage (roll once for each katana, take the best result)
Items: 2x Smoke bomb, grappling hook with rope, 2x Kunai knives, short bow
About Onyx:
- Onyx is the daughter of Pandora, who founded the Reclaimers after being exiled from Silver Hills.
- The Reclaimer Settlement has no formal government, but Onyx has a functional mandate from the people who live there.
- She doesn’t believe the ratlings brought any plague to Silver Hills but keeps the Poxbringer moniker as it intimidates humans.
- Ruthlessly protective of her people.
- Driven by the rage of watching friends die as the Reclaimers initially struggled to build a sustainable community.
Lieutenants
I also add a lieutenant or two for each faction. These are the leaders' most trusted agents, and if your leader dies early for whatever reason, a lieutenant can become the new leader of a faction. I don’t make stat blocks for these guys until I need one, and I keep their description brief.
Here are the entries for the Reclaimers’ Lieutenants:
- The Lady of Silence (Mochizuki Sasaki): An older Ratling woman who mentored Onyx after Pandora passed away. Sasaki is a master Ninja, expert in subterfuge, poison making, and information collection. She is pragmatic, often acting as the cool head in meetings with Clay and Onyx.
- The Man of Mayhem (Clay Jarret): Originally a bounty hunter, He made a failed attempt on Onyx’s life, leaving him with a nasty scar on his chest. Rather than kill him, Onyx offered him a job leading attacks on Silver Hills trade caravans. He is loyal and true to his word, but brutal and merciless.
- As a group, Clay, Mochizuki, and Onyx have been infamously labeled as the Terrible Triad by outsiders.
Tracking Faction Action
It would be quite a bit of work to track how a faction is progressing on its goals for each day of in-game time; plus, organizations tend to work a little slower than individuals. So I update a faction’s progress on their goals after each week of in-game time.
Importantly, my players are aware that faction goals advance every week. This is important because it makes the players think about when they can afford to take a week-long rest, or when they need to push themselves to stop a faction from accomplishing a goal. I’m a proponent of letting the players know how the gears turn behind the screen unless there’s a good reason not to.
To start with, I assign each goal a difficulty of easy, medium, or hard, and a timeline in weeks. For example, I gave the Reclaimer’s goal of “Cut off food to Silver Hills by taking over the farm that supplies the town with food” a difficulty of easy and a timeline of 4 weeks. This means that after 4 weeks of successful work on the goal, The Reclaimers will take over the farm.
Each faction can work on a number of goals per week equal to the number of leaders and lieutenants they have. At the end of each week, pick which goals are being worked on, roll a d6 for each of them, and compare the result to the difficulty table below. On a success, the faction can add a week of successful work to that goal. When the weeks of successful work equal the goal timeline, the goal is complete!
A roll of 6 adds 2 weeks of successful work, a roll of 1 removes a week of successful work (minimum 0).
| Difficulty | Success chance |
|---|---|
| Easy | 5 in 6 |
| Medium | 3 in 6 |
| Hard | 2 in 6 |
Player Interaction and Opposed Goals
Player Interaction
Some goals may get completed without the player's influence, but often, the players will try to hamper or aid in the completion of a goal. In these cases, you’ll have to use your discretion. If the players fend off a Reclaimers raid on the farm, that might just be a setback, removing a week of successful work from the goal. Building defenses on the farm, or hiring black rose mercenaries to guard the farm, might increase the difficulty or timeline of a goal, or render the goal incompletable.
The same goes for when players aid in the completion of a goal. If the players join the reclaimers and take over the farm, the goal is complete, regardless of how many weeks of work have been completed.
Factions struggling with a goal, or with more goals than they have the manpower to work on, may hire players to help them!
Opposed Goals
Sometimes, two factions could have the same goal or mutually exclusive goals. In this case, the faction that completes the goal first is successful, and the goal becomes uncompletable for the other faction. This could lead to the creation of a new goal! If two factions are after the same treasure, only one of them can get it, but the other faction could still attempt to steal it later as a new goal.
If two factions finish a goal at the same time, randomly select who finishes the goal first.
Recapping and Completing Goals
Once you’ve rolled progress on goals for each faction, note down any goals that were completed. For each one, describe what effect this has on the world. In our example goal of the reclaimers attacking the farm that supplies Silver Hills, I would write something like:
“The Reclaimers claim the farm. Silver Hills is cut off from food. Unrest will begin in a week, and by the end of the month, 1d20% of people will leave in search of a better settlement”.
After noting any completed goals, decide if any new goals are appropriate. Ramiel’s deputies might try to take back the farm, and the Reclaimers might next try to gain control of the lake where Silver Hills fishermen work.
Lastly, for each faction, I write a short 1-2 sentence-per-goal blurb describing what they did this week, and where. This is mainly so I remember what happened in case the players investigate a faction's recent behavior, but it's also great fodder for rumor tables that feel a little more topical than a static list built at the beginning of the hexcrawl.
For the sake of a complete example, here are my current factions and my weekly goal update for them.
My Factions
Major Factions
The Reclaimers
After being exiled from Silver Hills for allegedly bringing a plague to the town, the Ratlings in the region formed their own settlement. Though many didn’t survive, they have learned to live off the land and become a stable force in the Silver Hills region, taking in anyone who is ousted from or rejects Silver Hills.
Long-term goal: Retake Silver Hills and return to their homes
Goals in progress:
- Cut off Silver Hills' finances by sabotaging their primary mine (Medium, 6/6 weeks)
- Collect enough poison to coat their archers' arrows in it (Medium 2/6 weeks)
- Cut off food to Silver Hills by taking over the farm that supplies the town with food (Easy 1/4 weeks)
Triggered goal: March on Silver Hills: 3 short-term goals are completed, or 6 are partially completed.
Leader
Onyx the Poxbringer (It's hard to find a picrew for Ratlings so here's Cluny from Redwall )
21 grit, 16 Brawn, 14 Agility, 14 Mind, 2 defense
Dragon Dance: Onyx can wield 2 handed weapons as though they are one-handed
Kasumi-no-kamae: At the start of her turn, Onyx can choose to take a low stance, preparing to counter melee attacks. While in this stance, any attacks Onyx makes are impaired. If a creature attacks Onyx with a melee attack while she is in this stance, subtract 1 from the damage she takes (minimum 1). She can immediately make an attack against that enemy.
Tri-Wielded Katanas: 1d10 damage (roll once for each katana, take the best result)
Items: 2x Smoke bombs, grappling hook with rope, 2x Kunai knives, short bow
About Onyx:
- Onyx is the daughter of Pandora, who founded the Reclaimers after being exiled from Silver Hills.
- The Reclaimer Settlement has no formal government, but Onyx has a functional mandate from the people who live there.
- She doesn’t believe the ratlings brought any plague to Silver Hills but keeps the Poxbringer name as it intimidates humans.
- Ruthlessly protective of her people.
- Driven by the rage of watching friends die as the Reclaimers initially struggled to build a sustainable community.
Headquarters: Reclaimer's Settlement (Hex 0605)
Lieutenants
- The Lady of Silence (Mochizuki Sasaki): An older Ratling woman who mentored Onyx after Pandora passed away. Sasaki is a master Ninja, expert in subterfuge, poisonmaking, and information collection. She is pragmatic, often acting as the cool head in meetings with Clay and Onyx.
- The Man of Mayhem (Clay Jarret): Originally a bounty hunter, He made a failed attempt on Onyx’s life, leaving him with a nasty scar on his chest. Rather than kill him, Onyx offered him a job leading attacks on Silver Hills trade caravans. He is loyal and true to his word, but brutal and merciless.
- As a group, Clay, Mochizuki, and Onyx have been infamously labeled as the Terrible Triad by outsiders.
Laylah’s Demons
After rising from the Hells for the first time, Laylah and her imps quickly overtook Mellow Grove, in part because she wanted a castle for herself. Since arriving, she has been converting townsfolk into cambions to prevent them from leaving town while using her imps to ensure no one gets in or out unnoticed. She worries angels may make their way down soon as the conflict between demons and angels slowly moves south.
She aims to perform a profane ritual to create a barrier against angels, but it requires the sacrifice of a dozen beautiful, pure lovers. To that end, she has banned sex in Mellow Grove and aims to pair off people in town she thinks would be good together, using charms if needed to kick-start their relationship.
Long-term goal: Keep angels out of Laylah’s castle
Goals in progress:
- Blow up the grand railway to prevent travel (Medium, 4/6 weeks)
- Build up town defenses by making more cambions (Easy 0/4 weeks)
- Create or find 6 relationships of beautiful people in pure love (Hard 0/6 weeks)
Triggered Goal: Sacrifice pure lovers to create a profane barrier around Laylah’s castle.
Leader
Laylah, Sorceress Succubus
17 Grit, 10 Brawn, 14 Agility, 16 Mind
Demonic Charm: Mortals become infatuated with Laylah at a single glance. Characters taking any action that would harm Laylah must make a mind check, or they can’t bring themselves to go through with it.
Loyal Minions: If Laylah would die, she can survive by devouring the soul of a nearby minion. The minion is immediately dragged to hell, and Laylah restores 1d6 Grit.
Fire blast: 1d8 damage to a nearby target, can be used on objects to set them on fire.
Claws: 1d4 damage
About Laylah:
- A powerful succubus who loves living a life of luxury and power. Obsessed with beauty and love.
- Seems cordial and sweet if she needs something from you or thinks you are beautiful.
- Uninterested in the war with the angels, so long as it doesn’t wind up at her doorstep.
- Loves pairing off citizens of Mellow Hills as if they are dolls for her to play with and would do so even if she didn’t need lovers for her ritual.
Headquarters: Mellow Grove Castle (Hex 0301)
Lieutenants
- Yorabaa: A lesser demon in the service of Laylah. He is a warrior who longs to fight in the war between angels and demons and sees no value in the beauty or love of lesser beings. He is much weaker than Laylah, but hopes to backstab her, given the opportunity.
Ramiel’s Deputies
Since he’s gone north to fight in the war against demons, Archangel Ramiel has left his deputies in charge of the region. The deputies are overwhelmed and at odds with Silver Hills’ mayor, as he doesn’t like that they are only accountable to an angel that isn’t even around.
They are aware of the Reclaimers and want to ensure they don’t get powerful enough to attack Silver Hills. Losing Silver Hills would be a major embarrassment for Ramiel and leave the angels without access to the town’s silver mine.
Long-term goal: Stop the Reclaimers from gaining power
Goals in progress:
- Identify the Terrible Triad (Medium | 0/4 weeks)
- Secure trade routes into Silver Hills (Medium | 0/6 weeks)
- Recruit more deputies (Easy | 0/4 weeks)
- Make the mayor look bad (Easy | 2/6 weeks)
Leader:
Marsha Burns
13 grit, 13 Brawn, 12 Agility, 13 Mind, 3 defense
Shield bash: 1d4 damage, target must make a brawn save or be knocked prone
Blessed Longsword: 1d8 damage, shines in the darkness
Items: 2 potions of healing (1d6), 1 fire bomb, a pair of manacles, heavy armor
About Marsha
- Defacto leader of the local deputies, an older woman with Betty White vibes.
- Friendly face, but cold and calculating, a real ends-justify-the-means type.
- Conniving, but she makes others do her dirty work as she gets older.
- Feels the deputies ought to control Silver Hills, and the mayor should pass control of the militia to her.
Headquarters: Silver Hills
Lieutenants
- Barnabas Gibbles: The muscle of the regional deputies. Barny is a big, bulky man who wears a patch over his left eye. He feels above local law and guards, will directly disobey them, and abuse his authority to get what he wants (free drinks and labor, mostly).
- Mosely Barnes: A young apprentice who idolizes the angels. He follows Marsha’s orders unwaveringly and hopes for Ramiel to deputize him someday.
Minor Factions
The Satchel Union
This region's chapter of the Satchel Union, a monastic order dedicated to delivering mail securely and privately. Delivery monks are raised from a young age and not taught to read, so they can’t steal information from the letters they deliver. Many parents who cannot take care of a child leave them with the monks, where they will be well-fed and trained.
Long-term goal: Secure Safe routes between Silver Hills, Mellow Grove, and the Reclaimers settlement for mail delivery.
Short-term goals:
- Find delivery monks that have gone missing in Mellow Grove (Hard | 0/6 weeks)
- Secure food for an influx of children left at the monastery (Medium | 1/4 weeks)
Leader: Abbot Min Yang
The Black Rose Mercenaries
A crew of mercenary cowboys. The best fighters you can hire on short notice, known for being extremely honorable of their contracts, but have no loyalty to any particular contractor.
Long-term goals: Make money, expand the influence of the organization
Short-term goals:
- Clear out most of the undead in the region (Hard | 1/4 weeks)
- Find the person who’s been using their name to scam potential contractors (Hard 0/2 weeks)
Leader: Domino Bell
Faction Update Example
Date (in-game): 9/1-9/7
The Reclaimers
Cut off Silver Hills' finances by sabotaging their primary mine (Medium | 6/6 weeks)
- This goal was completed this week; the party was present when the mine blew up but failed to prevent it.
- Next week, unrest will begin in Silver Hills as miners struggle to find new employment, faith in the deputies and mayor will be shaken. After 2 weeks 1d10% of the citizens will leave to seek employment elsewhere.
Collect enough poison to coat their archers' arrows in it (Medium | 2/6 weeks)
- Successful week of work (2/6 -> 3/6)
- Poison mushrooms were successfully harvested from a cave in hex 0404. The Lady of Silence is preparing a sustainable mushroom farm there.
Cut off food to Silver Hills by taking over the farm that supplies the town with food (Easy 1/4 weeks)
- Terrible week for this goal (1/4 weeks -> 0/4 weeks)
- The reclaimer forces were pushed out of the watchtower on hex 0604 by the Silver Hills militia. They’ll need to take it back or go around.
New Goal: Set up blockades on trade routes to Silver Hills (Hard | 0/4 weeks)
- The Reclaimers plan to set up armed blockades in hex 0403 to prevent trade or aid from reaching Silver Hills.
Laylah’s Demons
Blow up the grand railway to prevent travel (Medium | 4/6 weeks)
- No progress was made on this goal this week.
- Yorabaa has sent some of his minions to search for an explosive's expert in Silver Hills, because there isn’t one in Mellow Grove.
Create or find 6 relationships of beautiful people in pure love (Hard | 0/6 weeks)
- No progress was made on this goal this week.
- Laylah matched two people together and thought their love was true at first, but when she realized they were faking it to please her, she killed them. Townsfolk worry anytime she steps into town.
Ramiel’s Deputies
Secure trade routes into Silver Hills (Medium | 0/6 weeks)
- Successful week of work (0/6 -> 1/6)
- Barnabas has gathered a group of pitchfork-wielding citizens to lead out on the east road where bandits have been attacking caravans.
Recruit more deputies (Easy | 0/4 weeks)
- No progress was made on this goal this week.
- Moseley attempted to convince people to become apprentices, but with the mine blowing up this week, people are lacking faith in the deputies.
Make the mayor look bad (Easy | 2/6 weeks)
- No progress was made on this goal this week.
- Marsha is trying to pin the explosion of the mine on the mayor, but the citizens of Silver Hills hold the deputies equally responsible for not preventing the Reclaimers from blowing it up.
The Satchel Union
Secure food for an influx of children left at the monastery (Easy | 1/4 weeks)
- Hugely successful week of work (0/4 -> 2/4)
- A Satchel monk found a huge field of edible mushrooms in hex 0501. The monks are preparing a party to go harvest enough mushrooms for the season.
The Black Rose Mercenaries
Clear out most of the undead in the region (Hard | 1/6 weeks)
- No progress was made on this goal this week.
- Black Rose Cowboys cleared out a group of skeletons in hex 0502, but haven’t figured out the source, so another group has risen to take their place.
Conclusion
I’m pretty happy with the output here. Tracking the goals took less than 10 minutes, lets me know what each faction is up to, what they accomplish, where they accomplished it, and what they might need the players’ help with.
This will help me make the world feel a little more alive. Citizens will react to how factions progress on their goals, and I’ll know when a faction has gained a new tool to use (when the Reclaimers finish collecting poison, NPCs associated with the faction will start coating their weapons in it).
It also helps me keep my rumor tables fresh, whatever rumors I gave out last session exit, and new rumors based on faction activities enter!