I think it would be pretty easy to have their group patron replace the townmaster as the quest giver. Just have there be an agent of the patron, or the patron themself, be in Phandalin giving out the quests and rewards. Seems like it wouldn't break anything. DoIP is pretty straightforward go to this place, do the thing, come back. So a patron sending them instead of the townmaster seems like it would work pretty well. It might even be better, since it would give the party a reason for going out there besides the gold reward.
Factions and group patrons can be the same thing, but don't have to be. The party could all belong to one faction, and that faction acts as a patron, easy-peasy. But a patron could just as easily be almost anyone or anything. It could be a single individual (probably a rich one, since they're handing out goodies) or a group of people that's not necessarily a "faction" like a noble family, or a museum or a school. If you really want to set them up for something, have them not meet the actual patron and only work through a messenger. Then if you decide later you want the patron to have been evil all along, you can do that, and see how the party reacts. Or maybe the messenger was actually the patron, in disguise (like the original Magnum PI). Basically the longer you can hold out on the reveal, the more options you give yourself. Though that's getting into homebrew territory.
As for a list of factions, the list in the FR is practically endless. I'd suggest looking through the forgotten realms wiki, Forgotten Realms Wiki | Fandom, but if you don't know what you're looking for, it might be information overload and therefore not be much help. You could skim over Lost Mines of Phandelver. There are NPC quest givers in there who may recruit the PCs to certain factions. That could give you an idea of some of the larger ones in the region, with a handy one-sentence description of what they're about. Then refer to the wiki for more depth.
Hey all… I’ll be DMing for the first time fairly soon & I’d like to be as prepared as possible
I really like the idea of Group Patrons but I’ll be running Dragons of Icespire Peak as I currently have 0 confidence in my home brewing skills
How could I weave Group Patrons into that campaign? Would I step outside of the storyline?
Also, which WoTC source book has a list of the Factions?
(Assuming Factions & Group Patrons are the same thing, correct?)
I think it would be pretty easy to have their group patron replace the townmaster as the quest giver. Just have there be an agent of the patron, or the patron themself, be in Phandalin giving out the quests and rewards. Seems like it wouldn't break anything. DoIP is pretty straightforward go to this place, do the thing, come back. So a patron sending them instead of the townmaster seems like it would work pretty well. It might even be better, since it would give the party a reason for going out there besides the gold reward.
Factions and group patrons can be the same thing, but don't have to be. The party could all belong to one faction, and that faction acts as a patron, easy-peasy. But a patron could just as easily be almost anyone or anything. It could be a single individual (probably a rich one, since they're handing out goodies) or a group of people that's not necessarily a "faction" like a noble family, or a museum or a school. If you really want to set them up for something, have them not meet the actual patron and only work through a messenger. Then if you decide later you want the patron to have been evil all along, you can do that, and see how the party reacts. Or maybe the messenger was actually the patron, in disguise (like the original Magnum PI). Basically the longer you can hold out on the reveal, the more options you give yourself. Though that's getting into homebrew territory.
As for a list of factions, the list in the FR is practically endless. I'd suggest looking through the forgotten realms wiki, Forgotten Realms Wiki | Fandom, but if you don't know what you're looking for, it might be information overload and therefore not be much help. You could skim over Lost Mines of Phandelver. There are NPC quest givers in there who may recruit the PCs to certain factions. That could give you an idea of some of the larger ones in the region, with a handy one-sentence description of what they're about. Then refer to the wiki for more depth.
The Zhentarim and the Harpers are two factions already mentioned in Phandalin. You could use one of those as they would fit seamlessly into the story.