Hello again! Sorry if I seem to be a bother on here with the questions but I do appreciate the advice people are able to give on here so I would love to ask once again for some advice!
So what im curious about is that im setting up a campaign where there will be about 3 factions, a kingdom of humans, a kingdom of beasts, and northern vikings that recently sailed over to the continent and ready to pillage it and raid villages. What Im wondering is that how can I introduce these factions, but not have it so Im forcing them to be a part of just one of them, but maybe have a choice? Like, I don't want to outright say "hey there are 3 factions which one do you want" I want a sort of, natural progression in it. Like, where they are now is that they are in the humans territory, but I dont want that faction to be THE faction, I want to find a creative and natural way to offer up choice. and that is where im struggling, how can I offer a choice to my PC's, but make it a part of the story and not seem, unnatural.
To be honest, sometimes it's better to introduce these things to the players in a way that, out-of-game, might seem contrived, but allows them to make an informed choice. The campaign I'm running is heavily faction-based; after succeeding in a first, faction-neutral quest, the local bartender told them of two guilds (some witcher-esque monster hunters and a heroic adventurers' guild) that most all adventurers joined. On their way out of town, another NPC introduced a third faction, some Robin-Hood-like merry thieves. All the options were on the table right away, which might not make sense for a book, but in a game made it clear that this was a faction game and allowed the players to get into it right away without worrying about committing to a "wrong" choice. Sure, it's a little silly, but sometimes that's okay in order to get the plot moving. Of course, more complex plots work too.
Unless you have played with this group before and know they’ll definitely pick up on this free-form aspect, it might not occur to the players that you’re intentionally setting this up as a fun choice. I could see them feeling tricked and frustrated if they accept a job (in their mind whatever they choose to do will likely seem like you were pushing them towards that option whether you intend to do so or not) and then their new employers end up being evil or the people they have to kill end up being innocent/good. Maybe they will even assume that the plot you have in store for them assumes they will continue to do work for the humans, even though you’re actually leaving it open ended. I agree that, even if you don’t want to say “hey, pick one of three teams to play on” really emphasize that you intend for this world to be morally ambiguous and open ended, and that they’re allowed to do whatever in terms of their allegiance.
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Hello again! Sorry if I seem to be a bother on here with the questions but I do appreciate the advice people are able to give on here so I would love to ask once again for some advice!
So what im curious about is that im setting up a campaign where there will be about 3 factions, a kingdom of humans, a kingdom of beasts, and northern vikings that recently sailed over to the continent and ready to pillage it and raid villages. What Im wondering is that how can I introduce these factions, but not have it so Im forcing them to be a part of just one of them, but maybe have a choice? Like, I don't want to outright say "hey there are 3 factions which one do you want" I want a sort of, natural progression in it. Like, where they are now is that they are in the humans territory, but I dont want that faction to be THE faction, I want to find a creative and natural way to offer up choice. and that is where im struggling, how can I offer a choice to my PC's, but make it a part of the story and not seem, unnatural.
once again thank you for the help :3
Have missions from 1 faction lead them into a different factions territory but it turns out that other faction isn't as evil as told.
Humans : "go retrieve X from the beasts, dont worry about killing them they are proper meanies"
Turn up in beast land and they seem different but just as good/evil as humans and also have something the heroes could help with.
Then as they level up make it so the factions react to the different missions they do, eventually they will have to make a choice which to support.
All posts come with the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about.
To be honest, sometimes it's better to introduce these things to the players in a way that, out-of-game, might seem contrived, but allows them to make an informed choice. The campaign I'm running is heavily faction-based; after succeeding in a first, faction-neutral quest, the local bartender told them of two guilds (some witcher-esque monster hunters and a heroic adventurers' guild) that most all adventurers joined. On their way out of town, another NPC introduced a third faction, some Robin-Hood-like merry thieves. All the options were on the table right away, which might not make sense for a book, but in a game made it clear that this was a faction game and allowed the players to get into it right away without worrying about committing to a "wrong" choice. Sure, it's a little silly, but sometimes that's okay in order to get the plot moving. Of course, more complex plots work too.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Unless you have played with this group before and know they’ll definitely pick up on this free-form aspect, it might not occur to the players that you’re intentionally setting this up as a fun choice. I could see them feeling tricked and frustrated if they accept a job (in their mind whatever they choose to do will likely seem like you were pushing them towards that option whether you intend to do so or not) and then their new employers end up being evil or the people they have to kill end up being innocent/good. Maybe they will even assume that the plot you have in store for them assumes they will continue to do work for the humans, even though you’re actually leaving it open ended. I agree that, even if you don’t want to say “hey, pick one of three teams to play on” really emphasize that you intend for this world to be morally ambiguous and open ended, and that they’re allowed to do whatever in terms of their allegiance.