If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Factions are groups of people who share a similar goal and have collective power to shape the world around them. The community collectively considers them essential for making a world feel responsive and independent of the characters, but second edition has almost nothing to say about them.

I was hoping to run factions just like I ran NPCs, but it feels weak. Here’s what a A-DNA, A-VOW looks like for a faction:

The Garrulous Guild of Thieves have the map to the Jewel of Ichor, a jester’s hat tattoo, want access to the Vault of St Lemay, and want the ascension of St Lemay’s undead soul to godhood.

They pretend to be a thieves guild, but at high levels are a cult, and their leaders seek divine relics obsessively, but cannot allow the body of St Lemay to be disturbed before the ascension.

But if I instead base factions on apocalypse world fronts:

Factions are groups of people who share a similar goal and have collective power to shape the world around them. They might be a council, coalition, cabal, cartel, conspiracy or more. Give them one or more of:

A goal that will impact the PCs

An insignificant sign that they are impacting the world

A significant warning that they are close to achieving their goal

An action they can take to derail the PC’s plans

An action they can take to spur the PC’s to action

So, let’s try again:

The Garrulous Guild of Thieves

They access to the Vault of St Lemay so that St Lenays undead soul may ascend to godhood.

Thieves throughout the city bear their mark; a jesters hat.

When the Vault is claimed, the undead rise every night in the city in small but significant numbers, causing fear and unrest in the population.

They can send their thieves to set traps and thwart their gains.

They can frame the PCs for crimes they did not commit.

Which one is better? I honestly am not sure?

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on factions! What’s better? Is on on the right track?

Idle Cartulary

3rd June 2022