5 Point Star Faction System

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 Just haven't the focus to post that much, but I got like 3 posts in draft and had some of a afternoon to full one out.

So I've been playing a bit of Magic: The Gathering , mainly Area, to try and learn it well enough to explore its Cube Format , a format that addresses a lot of what deters me about Magic.

Won't be getting into that today, instead talking about using one particular element from Magic in D&D.

(And not the card art , though that is a deep and heady well )

The Colour Pie . That's the 5 dots thing, or more specifically the assignation of traits ,elements, abilities , themes, mechanics , and psychologies, to the 5 colours of magic.

 Actually it's even more specific , its the "allies" and "enemies" concept that came along with it.

This that the two colours directly opposite a colour on the star are its enemies , and the colours clockwise and counterclockwise to it are its allies.

So Red magic has Green and Black magic as allies, and White and Blue magic as enemies.

 

A Diagram

While White has Red and Black as enemies and Green and Blue as enemies. Hopefully you get the picture. If you don't, there's a considerable amount written elsewhere about it.

Anyway I don't really care about these specific groupings of stuff and how they framed towards each other as I do this particular framework as a default model for putting together factions in D&D.

I think it's fucking neat in that regard because it makes everyone just one degree of separation from their enemies which is the type of "extreme volatile yet currently stable" setup that makes for good d&d potential in your world building.

 You wouldn't have to slavishly apply it , but its a nice default to work towards.

 Think of a faction, think of two enemies for that faction then think of two allies . Then pick an enemy and an ally to also be allied. The remaining ally and enemy will then be grouped up by default.

Patron of The Nezumi by Kev Walker

Here's a example of this be used to array the following fellows:

Picture a swamp , dense with bald cypress, festooned with spanish moss, with a wide slow river winding through it. Somewhere in the green is a haunted stone city, its only remnants the upper stories , the bulk of it swallowed by the mire.

In this swamp is a Dragon , Talking Eels, Frog People , Ruin Shadows and the River Nomads.

The Swamp Dragon is more sly than he is greedy but more lazy than he is sly. If Crocodiles exalted anything other than hungry and sloth, they would exalt this dragon as their rightful king.

The Ruin Shadows are ghosts of little power but reasonable number. The were the most useful servants in life but weren't prized enough to be included into the afterlives of their rulers unlike the musicians and concubines.

The Frog People have migrated from many other swamps. They lost their swamps to the expansions of civilizations and the depredations of monsters. The are an inharmonious blend of a dozen or so different tribes but all agree on that there is no-where else left to go. They have been here long enough for the River Nomads to respect their laws and the Eels to resent their appetites.

The Eels or "The Talking Eels" are Eels that can talk. The Ruin Shadows believe they are descended from the peasants of their city , cursed for their disloyalty. The Eels however consider the sinking of the city a gift from their Eel gods.

The River Nomads could be said to be less "Nomadic" and more that they have a river for a home. Some constantly move up and down the river in small trade, others stay put ,  and hunt or fish. They all bound by a custom to make no home but a home on water.

As to their relations:

 The Swamp Dragon is allied with the Eels. They give him information and gossip while waiting for tasty giblets of meat to fall from his maw as he devours a cow or four.

The dragon was believed to be an agent of their gods and the still make ritual offerings to him so he will keep intruders and looters from their necropolis.

The Frog People are an enemy of the Swamp Dragon, he eats their youngest , oldest and bravest alike.

The River Nomads also plot against the Swamp Dragon, as the toll he demands for passing through the flooded forest is steep.

The Eels trade with the River Nomads too, but have long grievances against the Ruin Shadows and Frog People who both eat them (or have eaten them)

The River Nomads are nomads only because in times passed the ancestors of the Ruin Shadows destroyed their lands and drove them to be ever moving on the rivers and seas of the world.

This shaping event makes ever cautious about the creation of new enemies , and their way of life forces them to treat lightly on the many lands they pass through, so their relationships with the Frog tribes and Eels is careful and considered.

NPC faction interactions

Print PDF rorschachhamster
 
Has requested a quick and easy npc faction interaction matrix.

Here it is
roll 2d6

(1) Abandonment, rout
2 Evasive
3 consolidating
4-5 fortifying
 6-8 information warfare
9 probing
10 skirmishing
11 raiding
12 seizing
(13) Purging

After each roll mark each factions action with a counter on the above table. If a faction is successful with 2 aggressive actions ( 10 +) in a row add +1 to their next rolls until they receive a significant setback of some sort.
If a faction has been the subject of  significant losses -1 to subsequent rolls.

Explanation of the results:
Abandonment , rout: Faction is making no attempt to salvage or co-ordinate fleeing actions, severe demoralisation, members seeking to save their own skins above all.

Evasive: faction avoids engaging with aggressors or committing itself in anyway. Will still hold on to important resourses but contested or non-essential ones will not be fought for


Consolidating : the faction is reviewing its forces, bringing up old alliances and assessing where best to uses its strength

Fortifying: the faction is strengthen its defences and/or forming new alliances

Information Warfare: This is everything from espionage, to scouting, propaganda campaigns, misinformation, feints, bluffs, attempts to woo neutral party's+slander other factions

Probing: Subtle attacks to test another factions strengths.  Maybe disguised or through a 3rd party.

Skirmishing: Encroaching on another factions territory until it engages their forces there. No attempts to seize assets, merely to harass and draw up factions forces. Numerous attacks , retreating from strength but exploiting weakness.

Raiding: forces are send out with a specific goal in mind and will risk severe losses to achieve it. Goals include
1. looting/obtaining portable resources
2.destruction of resources providing assets
3. Terrorism, destruction of emotionally significant assets, ie civilians
4. Symbolic, such as the capture of ritual objects, or destruction of historic object
5. Tactical: a keep or watchtower or specific force
6. Assassination /kidnapping

Seizing: As raiding but a faction attempts to take and hold onto another territory or asset

Purging: The faction is systematically and thoroughly attempting to destroying every aspect of another in all out war


OPTIONAL COMPLICATION:
Give every faction a number of counters. Take away counters for attrition and losses. (say 1 for a successful attack , 3 for losing) . When a faction has  half as much as the strongest faction, -1 to rolls on this table . When a faction has half as much or less than every other faction, start rolling twice and taking the worst.

You might want to have X amount of counters come in each turn , and have this reduced or increased via the control of assets and alliances.
The consolidation action should give some counters, the fortify action reduces the loss from a conflict, etc.

I am being vague here because this starts getting into too much specifics to keep being broadly applicable, but hopefully it is obvious how to make a little sub-system for yourself