Worldbuilding - The Factions

Please note: this is a blog version of the special 'Behind the DM's Screen' episode of the podcast. If you would prefer to listen to the audio, you can find it at: firstwatchstories.podbean.com/e/stories-from-the-first-watch-behind-the-dms-screen-part-1/

I want to take a brief step back from the events of the main story, and cast a lens over the wider goings on in this area of the Provinces and the Great Wilderness. Previously, I have been advancing the overarching storylines more-or-less as I see fit, using creative writing to develop what each faction may or may not be up to. The rising tensions between the dwarves of Shazinbund and the men of Forlond follows this pattern, as does the development of the uneasy alliance between the Cohort of Paha and the goblins. However, I’m now getting to the point where the number of factions is getting unwieldy, and their motivations are not always obvious to me.

Therefore, I am going to try something new - a ‘background’ game that will run behind the main party campaign. I made a list of all the factions that have appeared so far, and, for each of them, I rolled on the ‘event meaning’ table from the 1st edition of Tanya Pigeon’s seminal ‘Mythic GM Emulator’. This would give me a two-word prompt, to inspire me into writing up that faction’s latest movements. I now have a big list of potential story threads to explore, giving me the opportunity to develop the world of Stories From The First Warch, and, most importantly, allowing the party’s story to become part of a wider thread, making them feel like part of a living, breathing, constantly changing world.

Let’s go behind the DM screen and get into this in more detail. I’ll list each faction, the roll I made for them, and how I interpreted the roll.

Firstly, the most notable of the party’s adversaries - Luken and the Cohort of Paha. Their event meaning roll gave me ‘truce and military’. This reminded me that prior to almost being wiped out by the party in the Halls of Kharamund, the Cohort had fallen out with their uneasy allies in the goblin band, leading to a bloody underground skirmish. This prompt suggests to me that the two factions have once again come to an agreement, and have rejoined forces to lick their wounds and rebuild their strength.

Next, I rolled for the villagers of Hollow Hill. The last we had heard of them, they were under investigation by the Godsmen, who had imprisoned the Reeve under suspicion of helping the party, who had been designated as outlaws and heretics. The roll I got was ‘ praise allies’ - this immediately reminded me that Perdo had been sent to join the party as a spy by the Reeve, to keep an eye on them and report any signs of heresy or treachery. Perdo has been with the party for sometime, and has seen firsthand their loyalty and companionship, so I’m interpreting this roll as him sending a message back to the Reeve, stating his conviction that the party are loyal to the realm. Whether the Reeve receives this message is another matter.

Next, we have the godsmen. I have actually already used the plotline I gleaned from this roll, which was ‘starting vehicle’. This stumped me initially. Then I thought about the godsmen thread which had been unresolved since their encounter with the party -half of their number dead, and the rest, apart from Alvira, charmed unconscious. I thought of ‘vehicle’ in the sense of a body being possessed by some evil spirit, and realised this could work with the Luken thread - he could use the defeated godsmen as the starting point to rebuild his might. This led to the events at the beginning of episode 28. This also tied in very nicely with the roll  I did for the goblin band - for them, I rolled ‘messages’ and ‘death’ - which strongly suggested to me that a goblin scout had passed on a message to the death cultists about Alvira’s whereabouts. 

Now, what about Lord Merrick and the powers that be in Forlond? All we have really heard from them is their escaltiating feud with the dwarves, and Merrick’s anger at how his nephew Cristan has been treated by Narvi and Mara. What has he been up to in the meantime? We know that the dwarf Lord’s tariffs have crippled the Forlond economy (by the way, I wrote that some months ago, so any resemblance to real-life events is strictly coincidental…). Rolling on the GME, I got ‘travel’ and ‘peace’. This seems fairly self-explantory to me. Merrick, unnerved by the protests that have erupted in the city against his rule, has decided to send an envoy to the dwarves in order to negotiate a deal. How will Lord Bargrim and the Sahzinvar react to this? For them, I rolled ‘malice’ and ‘dominate’ - strongly suggesting that the dwarf lord will take advantage of this show of peace to strengthen his own objectives. This could come to haunt both the party and the wider realm.

What of the Grey Fellows, Forlond’s thieves guild? For them, I rolled ‘trust' and ‘business’. I have interpreted this as the thieves taking advantage of the situation to conduct their shady business, robbing from the richer denizens of the city in order to help out the poor, gaining trust in their methods in the process.

Likewise, the College of Magik has not really appeared for a while - how have they reacted to Mara’s long absence? I really didn’t have much idea of how this would play out, so this GME roll would be very useful. I rolled “Guide” and “the spiritual”. Now this gives me the idea that Mara’s mentor, Gammer Verlainer, would reappear to her. More of that in a future episode.

Going back to the first few episodes of the podcast, the gnomes of Wahlea were last seen lamenting the destruction of the borders of their forest by the humans of Hollow Hill. Rolling ‘usurp’ and ‘energy’ suggests to me a potential future conflict between the two factions, but this is to be explored further down the line.

And finally, the Border patrol. We have already seen they have arrived in Forlond, looking for Elmander. But what else are they doing there? I rolled ‘celebrate’ and ‘dispute’. I am ruling that this means Lord Merrick has requested their help in quelling the rising unrest within the city, and is preparing to bring in martial law.

So, I now have a good stash of plot points to come back to, and to develop further if I wish. It will help me throw new challenges in the path of the party, and open up further sections of the game world. If you’d like to see further behind the scenes information, you can read my blog at firstwatchstories.blogspot.com. You can also toss me a silver piece or two, should you so wish, at ko-fi.com/storiesfromthefirstwatch .