What are some resources designing factions and their interactions
Had a cool idea for a mountain with hermits on it that get struck by lightning in order to cast it as a spell but I'm not sure how to build a setting around that idea.
Had a cool idea for a mountain with hermits on it that get struck by lightning in order to cast it as a spell but I'm not sure how to build a setting around that idea.
I think the main things to keep in mind is to remember that the factions' place in the world will always be defined by three things: their goals, their methods, and their history.
All this to say, when you start building the backstory of one group, their future goals, current methods, and past conflicts should make it pretty easy to see how their interactions can take shape. Just don't make anything too well aligned (or why are they even a separate faction) or too diametrically opposed (or it starts feeling contrived). History and relationships are messy, so your world's politics should be, too.
What makes these folk a faction is less about what powers they have and more about their active role in the world: what are they trying to accomplish and why?
It’s totally fine for these hermits to just be an interesting feature of that particular area— without any influence on the outside world— but, if you want to factionalize them, they need goals and motivations.
I like the concept. They sound like adherents to a god of lightning or storms. What might such a god ask of their followers?
I don’t have a direct resource but, Motive is important. Why would they do that? They’re hermits so I assume they don’t interact with each other much.
Maybe they’ve become drunk on power. They’re addicted to it. There’s something special about the mountain that allows them to do this and it attracts people that have some void to fill to it. Add in conflict. A nearby village has issues with them causing forest fires.
Worlds without numbers has a very expansive faction system, maybe that can help? It's free on dtrpg.
I like the simple faction system in Lavender Hack
Sandbox Generator has a good one as well