9.8 Faction Goals

Factions do not always simply fight each other. Often, they clash over a specific something. At any time during play, the GM can establish faction goals to represent those issues. These mostly mirror goals on the character level in the way they work.

For example, one faction might have taken control of a vital bridge. This breaks a valuable support route, leading to famine and suffering in the nearby city. The PCs, caring as they are, may have an interest in breaking the embargo, even if it has no effect on the faction level. In fact, since factions are simply an addition to the much more important character level, there should always be reasons on the character level for the PCs to care about what’s going on with the factions.

The GM establishes a “Break the Embargo [3]” goal and associates it with one or more pillars of the controlling faction. When the PC faction engages the other faction, they can now assign dice to the goal as if it was a pillar to be wounded. If the successes rolled from those dice overcome the difficulty level (in this case, if the players get 4 or more successes on this goal), they achieve the goal and break the embargo. Alternatively, they could defeat all of the pillars who hold the goal to achieve it.

All of the pillars who were associated with a goal get to counter when that goal is engaged. Sometimes that counter may achieve a goal for their side (e.g., catching the refugees that the PCs were trying to smuggle through) if they aim for it.

The GM should make sure to let achievements count and last. As a general rule, a faction cannot undo an achieved goal without achieving a new goal itself. So if the NPC faction wanted to reestablish the embargo, the GM would create an “Establish Embargo” goal associated with the PC faction pillars that broke the last one. If you violate this guideline, your players will be frustrated and stop believing that acting on the faction level actually matters, which is contrary to the spirit of fun.

Faction goals work best when they have a direct impact on characters in the story. Goals about conquering and holding uninhabited hills are pretty lame. But goals about smuggling refugees through a barricade, saving a city from a demonic siege, or freeing prisoners of war are much more interesting.

While pursuing faction goals, do not forget about the character level. If the city is under demonic siege, the PCs are going to be fighting demons in the streets, rescuing groups of citizens, and building up resistance groups, all while gaining engagement dice for victorious battles, goals and insurgency actions until they can strike on the faction level and fully break the siege.

Finally, goals can have faction-level consequences of any kind the GM deems possible (and fun). These are completely up to the GM and can include temporarily negating an enemy pillar’s boon or lowering their stats. Some of these will be character goals (like the PCs striking as an infiltration squad) while others will be faction goals.