Thank you Dire Den for this video - it has been helpful looking at your 'How to Prep a D&D Campaign' playlist as I prepare my very modified take on the Descent into Avernus module. Here are some quickhand notes for those revisiting your video: 1:56 Spider Fang Goblins. Use enemy tiers (3 enemies for each) to inform the composition of factions. Grunts form the bulk of their numbers, brutes can dish out and take more damage, elites have specialised roles (such as skirmisher, assassin or controller) and leaders are self-explanatory. Use them when creating encounters for your players to experience, which in turn affects session and campaign prep. 5:51 Fey Faction. Use Leaders to inform the politics within a faction, and what they are all about. Suggest at secrets through the use of enemies in encounters and emphasizing them to some extent - be it descriptions or evocative names. 8:05 Ogre Faction. Feel free to tweak statblocks to fit your narrative better or for any gaps in creature types. This can be by simple reflavouring or by applying 'templates' to existing statblocks that hit a similar role to what you need. 10:25 Dragon Society. Example of the steps above taken further, including a subfaction twist. 13:36 Possible sources for maps and other resources for the factions developed in this video.
It does! It's a great game system... as a whole. I need to do a video on that one. I forget about it because it doesn't really fit in the OSR, and it's not spawn of 5e or Pathfinder. I think it gets lost in the mix.
The grid for Grunts, Brutes, Elites, and Leaders was awesome. Once you lined up all the roles things seemed to look way less intimidating. Now making factions seems as easy as picking a cool theme then filling in the blanks. The added drama of the green dragon seemed like a really neat and organic feature as well. I really do enjoy how simple and focused your content is. You do a great job showing how one step in the process informs another as we get closer to having a larger picture.
Thanks for that specific feedback! That's exciting what I try to do. Give actionable advice as building blocks to a larger process. I'm really glad it comes across that way
I'm really enjoying your content. I was at work when this came out and shutdown early to go watch this in my car! I've been having fun coming up with my own desert ruins campaign using this method. Building the factions out feels like going shopping for new toys lol.
@@direden I'm still fleshing it out but here's what I got so far (I'm using OSE but taking some things from 5e): 1. 2 places - Small town around an oasis, plundering the ruins is the main reason people go there. Vast ruined city nearby provides a surplus of dungeons. 2. 4 factions - The Cursed (Leader is a Lamia), The Undead (Leader is an undead Hierophant, a divine lich), Dragon Cult (Leader is a Blue Dragon), and the Raiders Guild (secretly led by a greedy Rak'shasa who has an enslaved efreeti). I'm gonna give these better names eventually. 3. 6 eccentric NPCs - The Twin Oracles (sphinxes), the doomsayer, still working on the rest... 4. Working on magical oddities. 5. 10 conflicts. Only have the two main mutual conflicts so far: The lamia and her cursed subjects are warring against the undead. The lamia is the cursed daughter of the last emperor. The hierophant wants to kill the lamia to lift the curse on the undead (which includes her father). The blue dragon seeks the riches of the ruins as do the raiders. The raiders have stolen treasure from the dragon hoard. The dragon cult controls the nearby oasis town due to the dragon's "protection" an exacts a high tithe out of any excursions. The Cursed (led by the Lamia) Leaders: Disenchanter, Doppleganger, Elementalist Elites: Leucrocotta, Scorpionoid, Harpies Brutes: Jackalweres, Giant Scorpions, Elementals Grunts: Jackals, Thralls (humanoids and animals, Deathdogs The Undead (led by the Divine Lich) - Leaders: Mummy, Wraith, Undead Priest (level 5 cleric) - Elites: Flying Statues (gargoyles), Necrophidius, Ghosts - Brutes: Animated Status (Caryatid Column), Giant Rattler, Aspect of Sobek (minotaur) - Grunts: Skeletons, Animated swords/rugs, Insect swarms Still working on the other two factions.
These videos about NPCs and factions have helped me a ton with getting ready to run a sandbox again as the last time I attempted to run one it fell flat and was a struggle on my end. Something that I’ve done on my own is include some minor factions that on their own aren’t “big bad guys” because for one reason or another are being hindered or suppressed by one of the four major factions. I’m hoping that if and when my players deal with one of the major factions one of the minor factions will be able to grow and gain power if left unchecked which will make it seem like their actions have consequences and the world is alive and responds to their actions. Survivors from the fall of the major faction could even flee to another minor faction to give them the boost they need to become a threat to the other major factions.
Thanks! I'm glad it's helpful. You're exactly right about minor factions. In fact, that's one of the reasons I call it the Get Even Campaign Prep Process. It's not just because the steps go 2-4-6-8-10. It's also because the main factions react to the players' actions... and because minor factions will rise to fill voids left by major factions. This creates a sense of verisimilitude as the world around the players recreates a homeostasis. "Meet the new boss... worse than the old boss." Historically, that was a major problem... just take the French Revolution as one example.
Factions have been a bain for me to keep realistic. Thank you for this. I for one am looking forward to watching this a few times to get the most out of it.
Glad It's helpful for you! I worked hard to keep the video short... but cram in as much useful info as I could. It was hard not to make this 2 hours long.
This was a really good video! You're truly a hidden gem of a channel! I'm planning to have the player characters who falls for darkness during my current campaign to be the antagonists in the next campaign. Luckily they're all connected to some plane and have a strong theme going on at level 20. So I'll be having lots of fun figuring out their underlings and hierarchy! I might not reveal the fact that it's their previous characters at the very start, but once it's revealed I'll definitely let them have input with ideas and how their character would treat certain things!
This helped me SO MUCH. I plotted out my factions (ended up with 6 including the PC faction and a minor smuggler one) and all the interactions between them, and it was a massive aid to clarifying motivations. Cheers!
Pure gold. This is so darn helpful!! Thank you for your work on this. Now...let's see if I finish making my own 4 factions or just steal these awesome ones!! 😂
The grid is absolutely great! I do think you should have talked more about your selections and about your terminology more though, specifically the different classes and how they varied beyond raw power levels. Of course ultimately that doesn't matter because it is just a generic layout and those things are going to change dependant on the game - which also probably deserved mentioning even though it is probably obvious to the people watching (firstly because some people take tutorial very literally and don't deviate without being told and, secondly because some people will always try to correct you by pointing out omissions as though they are inherently errors) - but they are still worth elaborating on for the purpose of clarity in the example, even if only to afterwards specify that the exact nature is nebulous. I'm setting up for a DnD campaign and the factions I'll be needing to stat out vary from a thieves guild, through a secret society of wizards, and on to a full on monstrous humanoid military all of whom are going to have an impact on the heroes. Some factions need more slots, some factions have higher 'power'/'CR' discrepancies per rank, some have slot filled by diplomats and spies rather than combatants etc. It codifies factions so well for the DM, by laying out their assets and hierarchy in this way at the outset you already know when the player fights a goblin band to leave evidence of 'nightmare riding cavalry' or letters referring to 'punishment legions'. Which then gives players more insight into the faction, and gets them on edge thinking about what they may have to deal with if they don't play intelligently. And as a specific thank you, filling a grid out in my head whilst watching the video was just what I needed to bind together three previously unconnected 'quests' I had planned and was struggling to tie into a faction.
Almost exactly my thoughts i have struggled to express in my comment. I would very much like video about different uses and approaches to this table, how to scale it, how to use it in less battle-heavy and more social oriented factions. Also, what npc types don't need to be alined with specific faction.. : 🤔
I thought the title on the thumbnial ("Fractions") might be intentional. But the misspelling in the title ("Factioins") has to be an error. Hate to pick nits, but once seen can't un-see... edit: finished the video, was interesting. Worth fixing the titles, glad you caught it asap.
Great video! I really appreciate how simply you break down the ideas and then display them with real examples. I love the faction member grid. I know this is a bit of a variable question, but do you have a rule thumb for how much of a power gap you have between the tiers of faction members?
Thanks! The CR gap between tiers is largely informed by the Monster Manual. For example... Goblinoids scale from CR 1/4 goblins to CR 1 Bugbears to CR 3 Hobgoblin Captains to CR 4 Bugbear Chief to CR 6 Hobgoblin Warlord. This is a good pattern to follow if you expect you campaign to go upto 5th to 8th level. Otherwise, you can start at your boss. Say you want a Lich or Ancient Dragon... and expect the campaign to go that high... Then you're starting around CR 22 and working your way down. Another helpful approach... build a couple of factions that works for levels 1-4 (CR 1/4 to CR 6) and a couple of factions that work for levels 6-10 (up to CR 14ish) If the campaign goes further you can introduce a plot twist with a faction that goes higher.
I would really like more indepth explanation on how that faction grid works. I mean, everything you say while filling blanks makes sense when you say it, like "this guys definitely need a hiller amongst theyt liders", but i missed the part where you came to that conclusion. Like, idk, mb this table laks another row with roles or checkboxes "tank, hiller, dps, sad-story-bro" or smth. I hope i make sense
3:19 Yeah, uhhh... You never specified what an Elite Role is and what it does, I can get the general vibe from context clues but it would help to have a full Encounter Building video that clarifies what these things are and how to use them
Technically, yes. But are they really that different? We didn't care... we played AD&D for 15+ years... we used adventurers from BECMI, AD&D, and 2nd edition. They are pretty interchangeable.
This a great video, but you are going to have a hard time getting flow to this video. Try tagging factions, DND, D&D, dungeons and dragons, campaign, RPG, etc. I was trying to find this video again and woooo buddy....
In general your videos are great stuff and awesome tips and guides, but now and then you deviate to much from guiding to showing results, and suddenly what i see on the screen is just some magic in a middle of a scientific educational show. In the sense that "any technology can be seen as magic without understanding of it's principles" Mostly it solved by reviewing a few more times, but this time I really feel a bit left behind with how easy you make it seem filling those tables
Thank you Dire Den for this video - it has been helpful looking at your 'How to Prep a D&D Campaign' playlist as I prepare my very modified take on the Descent into Avernus module.
Here are some quickhand notes for those revisiting your video:
1:56 Spider Fang Goblins. Use enemy tiers (3 enemies for each) to inform the composition of factions. Grunts form the bulk of their numbers, brutes can dish out and take more damage, elites have specialised roles (such as skirmisher, assassin or controller) and leaders are self-explanatory. Use them when creating encounters for your players to experience, which in turn affects session and campaign prep.
5:51 Fey Faction. Use Leaders to inform the politics within a faction, and what they are all about. Suggest at secrets through the use of enemies in encounters and emphasizing them to some extent - be it descriptions or evocative names.
8:05 Ogre Faction. Feel free to tweak statblocks to fit your narrative better or for any gaps in creature types. This can be by simple reflavouring or by applying 'templates' to existing statblocks that hit a similar role to what you need.
10:25 Dragon Society. Example of the steps above taken further, including a subfaction twist.
13:36 Possible sources for maps and other resources for the factions developed in this video.
Great summary! Thanks
I pinned this post... for all to see
Worlds Without Numbers has a great faction system that just dovetails with what you're describing.
It does!
It's a great game system... as a whole.
I need to do a video on that one.
I forget about it because it doesn't really fit in the OSR, and it's not spawn of 5e or Pathfinder. I think it gets lost in the mix.
The grid for Grunts, Brutes, Elites, and Leaders was awesome. Once you lined up all the roles things seemed to look way less intimidating. Now making factions seems as easy as picking a cool theme then filling in the blanks. The added drama of the green dragon seemed like a really neat and organic feature as well.
I really do enjoy how simple and focused your content is. You do a great job showing how one step in the process informs another as we get closer to having a larger picture.
Thanks for that specific feedback!
That's exciting what I try to do. Give actionable advice as building blocks to a larger process. I'm really glad it comes across that way
Yeah, the grid really helps put perspective on the faction, in my opinion.
I intended to post essentially what this comment already did.
I keep coming back to this video! This series has been a big help putting together my campaign setting
I'm glad to hear it!
That was my hope when I created it.
I’m going to come back to this video time and time again for my faction intrigue.
I like how you systematized this.
Thanks!
I'm really enjoying your content. I was at work when this came out and shutdown early to go watch this in my car!
I've been having fun coming up with my own desert ruins campaign using this method. Building the factions out feels like going shopping for new toys lol.
That's fantastic feedback! Thanks.
Now I'm curious about your desert setting.
@@direden I would be more than happy to share and get your thoughts on it! Do you mind a text wall on here?
That's fine
@@direden I'm still fleshing it out but here's what I got so far (I'm using OSE but taking some things from 5e):
1. 2 places - Small town around an oasis, plundering the ruins is the main reason people go there. Vast ruined city nearby provides a surplus of dungeons.
2. 4 factions - The Cursed (Leader is a Lamia), The Undead (Leader is an undead Hierophant, a divine lich), Dragon Cult (Leader is a Blue Dragon), and the Raiders Guild (secretly led by a greedy Rak'shasa who has an enslaved efreeti). I'm gonna give these better names eventually.
3. 6 eccentric NPCs - The Twin Oracles (sphinxes), the doomsayer, still working on the rest...
4. Working on magical oddities.
5. 10 conflicts. Only have the two main mutual conflicts so far: The lamia and her cursed subjects are warring against the undead. The lamia is the cursed daughter of the last emperor. The hierophant wants to kill the lamia to lift the curse on the undead (which includes her father). The blue dragon seeks the riches of the ruins as do the raiders. The raiders have stolen treasure from the dragon hoard. The dragon cult controls the nearby oasis town due to the dragon's "protection" an exacts a high tithe out of any excursions.
The Cursed (led by the Lamia)
Leaders: Disenchanter, Doppleganger, Elementalist
Elites: Leucrocotta, Scorpionoid, Harpies
Brutes: Jackalweres, Giant Scorpions, Elementals
Grunts: Jackals, Thralls (humanoids and animals, Deathdogs
The Undead (led by the Divine Lich)
- Leaders: Mummy, Wraith, Undead Priest (level 5 cleric)
- Elites: Flying Statues (gargoyles), Necrophidius, Ghosts
- Brutes: Animated Status (Caryatid Column), Giant Rattler, Aspect of Sobek (minotaur)
- Grunts: Skeletons, Animated swords/rugs, Insect swarms
Still working on the other two factions.
@loadedstapler1459
Sounds Awesome so far!
I like the Egyptian-esque setting. Different from the typical medieval European setting.
These videos about NPCs and factions have helped me a ton with getting ready to run a sandbox again as the last time I attempted to run one it fell flat and was a struggle on my end. Something that I’ve done on my own is include some minor factions that on their own aren’t “big bad guys” because for one reason or another are being hindered or suppressed by one of the four major factions. I’m hoping that if and when my players deal with one of the major factions one of the minor factions will be able to grow and gain power if left unchecked which will make it seem like their actions have consequences and the world is alive and responds to their actions. Survivors from the fall of the major faction could even flee to another minor faction to give them the boost they need to become a threat to the other major factions.
Thanks! I'm glad it's helpful. You're exactly right about minor factions. In fact, that's one of the reasons I call it the Get Even Campaign Prep Process. It's not just because the steps go 2-4-6-8-10. It's also because the main factions react to the players' actions... and because minor factions will rise to fill voids left by major factions. This creates a sense of verisimilitude as the world around the players recreates a homeostasis. "Meet the new boss... worse than the old boss." Historically, that was a major problem... just take the French Revolution as one example.
I would love to see a video on your thoughts and/or process of creating a pantheon of gods for a campaign if you don’t use a already established one.
That is on the to-do list, my friend
Factions have been a bain for me to keep realistic. Thank you for this. I for one am looking forward to watching this a few times to get the most out of it.
Glad It's helpful for you!
I worked hard to keep the video short... but cram in as much useful info as I could.
It was hard not to make this 2 hours long.
Amazing video! Great content
I just came across your content and am finding your approach/methods very useful. Great stuff and presented well.
Thanks! Welcome to the Den
This was a really good video! You're truly a hidden gem of a channel!
I'm planning to have the player characters who falls for darkness during my current campaign to be the antagonists in the next campaign. Luckily they're all connected to some plane and have a strong theme going on at level 20. So I'll be having lots of fun figuring out their underlings and hierarchy!
I might not reveal the fact that it's their previous characters at the very start, but once it's revealed I'll definitely let them have input with ideas and how their character would treat certain things!
Hopefully not hidden for long.
That sounds like a great campaign and awesome setup for the next.
Proud to be your 340th like!! Love your channel.
Thanks!
Thank you sooooo much for this one !
These are amazing dude, thank you.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching
This helped me SO MUCH. I plotted out my factions (ended up with 6 including the PC faction and a minor smuggler one) and all the interactions between them, and it was a massive aid to clarifying motivations. Cheers!
Fantastic! I'm glad to hear how effectively you made it work for you and your game.
Pure gold. This is so darn helpful!! Thank you for your work on this. Now...let's see if I finish making my own 4 factions or just steal these awesome ones!! 😂
Please steal them! Just let me know how it goes
Such a great video (and series as a whole) Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
The grid is absolutely great!
I do think you should have talked more about your selections and about your terminology more though, specifically the different classes and how they varied beyond raw power levels.
Of course ultimately that doesn't matter because it is just a generic layout and those things are going to change dependant on the game - which also probably deserved mentioning even though it is probably obvious to the people watching (firstly because some people take tutorial very literally and don't deviate without being told and, secondly because some people will always try to correct you by pointing out omissions as though they are inherently errors) - but they are still worth elaborating on for the purpose of clarity in the example, even if only to afterwards specify that the exact nature is nebulous.
I'm setting up for a DnD campaign and the factions I'll be needing to stat out vary from a thieves guild, through a secret society of wizards, and on to a full on monstrous humanoid military all of whom are going to have an impact on the heroes. Some factions need more slots, some factions have higher 'power'/'CR' discrepancies per rank, some have slot filled by diplomats and spies rather than combatants etc.
It codifies factions so well for the DM, by laying out their assets and hierarchy in this way at the outset you already know when the player fights a goblin band to leave evidence of 'nightmare riding cavalry' or letters referring to 'punishment legions'. Which then gives players more insight into the faction, and gets them on edge thinking about what they may have to deal with if they don't play intelligently.
And as a specific thank you, filling a grid out in my head whilst watching the video was just what I needed to bind together three previously unconnected 'quests' I had planned and was struggling to tie into a faction.
Almost exactly my thoughts i have struggled to express in my comment. I would very much like video about different uses and approaches to this table, how to scale it, how to use it in less battle-heavy and more social oriented factions.
Also, what npc types don't need to be alined with specific faction.. : 🤔
🔥
I thought the title on the thumbnial ("Fractions") might be intentional. But the misspelling in the title ("Factioins") has to be an error. Hate to pick nits, but once seen can't un-see...
edit: finished the video, was interesting. Worth fixing the titles, glad you caught it asap.
Fixed It, Thanks!
Great video! I really appreciate how simply you break down the ideas and then display them with real examples.
I love the faction member grid. I know this is a bit of a variable question, but do you have a rule thumb for how much of a power gap you have between the tiers of faction members?
Thanks!
The CR gap between tiers is largely informed by the Monster Manual. For example... Goblinoids scale from CR 1/4 goblins to CR 1 Bugbears to CR 3 Hobgoblin Captains to CR 4 Bugbear Chief to CR 6 Hobgoblin Warlord. This is a good pattern to follow if you expect you campaign to go upto 5th to 8th level.
Otherwise, you can start at your boss. Say you want a Lich or Ancient Dragon... and expect the campaign to go that high...
Then you're starting around CR 22 and working your way down.
Another helpful approach... build a couple of factions that works for levels 1-4 (CR 1/4 to CR 6)
and a couple of factions that work for levels 6-10 (up to CR 14ish)
If the campaign goes further you can introduce a plot twist with a faction that goes higher.
@direden Thank you for your reply. That makes sense. I'll definitely keep what you said in mind going forward.
I would really like more indepth explanation on how that faction grid works.
I mean, everything you say while filling blanks makes sense when you say it, like "this guys definitely need a hiller amongst theyt liders", but i missed the part where you came to that conclusion. Like, idk, mb this table laks another row with roles or checkboxes "tank, hiller, dps, sad-story-bro" or smth.
I hope i make sense
I'm make a video on this.
3:19
Yeah, uhhh... You never specified what an Elite Role is and what it does, I can get the general vibe from context clues but it would help to have a full Encounter Building video that clarifies what these things are and how to use them
I agree
Keep on the Borderlands is for Basic, not 1e.
Technically, yes.
But are they really that different? We didn't care... we played AD&D for 15+ years... we used adventurers from BECMI, AD&D, and 2nd edition. They are pretty interchangeable.
@@direden yeah, and we blended many systems together, especially since 1e DMG had most of the rules and came out a while after the PHB.
This a great video, but you are going to have a hard time getting flow to this video. Try tagging factions, DND, D&D, dungeons and dragons, campaign, RPG, etc. I was trying to find this video again and woooo buddy....
Thanks for the feedback. I already had most of those tagged... UA-cam is a fickle mistress
@@direden that makes it even harder. What a pain in the butt.
rename - wrong spelling there? =)
Hahaha!
Fixed It, Thanks!
In general your videos are great stuff and awesome tips and guides, but now and then you deviate to much from guiding to showing results, and suddenly what i see on the screen is just some magic in a middle of a scientific educational show. In the sense that "any technology can be seen as magic without understanding of it's principles"
Mostly it solved by reviewing a few more times, but this time I really feel a bit left behind with how easy you make it seem filling those tables
What was the point of creating factions? To take over a small Borderland town? You just put them in a bunch of modules and called it a campaign.
This video is part of a larger series. You can find the other videos in the Campaign Prep Playlist.