The Faction Game v8

The Faction Game v8

The Faction Game v8

Here’s the new mechanic for the Faction Game in v8. I’ve changed the cost of development and simplified hold to only two states (either strong or weak). I wanted to remove the ‘false choice’ feeling in this part of the game and make it more straightforward. There are plenty of interesting choices elsewhere in the game, so I wanted this part to boil down to “pay to increase Tier now, or not” more or less.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Y3ZE1Ar-fDUlp1VGxYZEo5R28/view?usp=sharing

34 thoughts on “The Faction Game v8”

  1. Simplifies things, certainly. The increased cost should certainly keep crews from advancing too quickly.

    Does Turf still work the same way (reducing the amount of ticks needed to advance)?

    [Edit: Sorry, I didn’t see the second page of the document, cancel the question.]

  2. Nice, much more streamlined!

    Question: “Also, when a faction goes to war, it temporarily loses 1 level of hold while the war persists, to represent the distraction of dealing with an enemy in open conflict.” If your hold is already weak do you temporarily lose a tier?

  3. It makes going after Turf more of a strategy to rise faster. You see right there on the sheet how much rep you need and how much you could offset that with Turf, so it stands out a little more to me.

    I really like the weak/strong simplification.

    Tier x 8 is pricey AF, but… yes. I think it seems okay. It’s another pressure point to make choices against.

    The increased Coin cost to raise Tier might also settle an issue I’ve had with how fast you can gain Rep once you DO rise in Tier and are going up against Tier III and IVs. Making it more costly will switch the onus from rep over to making that cash. On paper I think it’ll feel better? I’m gonna put this into practice immediately (okay, in 3 hours, but still).

  7. John Harper Any idea when the new version will hit Drivethrurpg? My group’s been on a hiatus through december and it’d be cool to hit them with the new version when we start again.

  9. Wow, I’m actually really happy with the switch to a binary W/S hold. Somehow with the three tiers, we never brought it much into play, but this is so much more evocative for me.

  10. Coooooool! The idea that when you advance, if you don’t time it properly, you can go from “Strong Hold, 12 Rep” to “Weak Hold, 0 Rep” seems like a harsh plummet which can waste a bunch of Rep, but I can see intention behind it, as in, “Don’t let your rep just build all the way up if you intend to develop quickly, dummy, you need to save while you’re weak hold and I gave you more time to do it.”

  11. Also Strong Hold is valuable, cause then you can fite peeps (go to war with other factions) without your friendos (cohorts) thinking “Hey lets ditch this joint” (dropping in Tier and suffering the consequences that comes with it)

  14. Nice changes! Much cleaner and simple.

    One question, however: The current (7.1) claim maps in the crew sheets only include (in the best case) 4 Turf claims, but the new rules establish a limit of 6. Are there changes also on the maps?

  15. John Harper Thanks! I only wondered because say you were tier 2 weak, if you go to war you drop to tier 1 weak. After the war I wasn’t sure if you’d raise back to tier 2 weak or go up to tier 1 strong

  20. “You’d go to Tier 1 strong.” Yeah, if that’s the rule then the text could be clearer.

    Otherwise, this ruleset looks very neat. I particularly like the x8 cost for raising tier, the reduced number of people for each tier, the explicit cap on turf and the higher amount of rep needed to advance. I also appreciate the pointer about how much shit a weak tier 0 crew is if they ever lose hold.

  21. John Harper When a Tier 0 Weak loses it’s hold but it’s base has the “Hidden” upgrade, what happens? Are they still discovered, or is a clock started or something?

  22. Antimatter , good question. If your lair is threatened then perhaps a clock of “Hunting for your lair” would be appropriate? Maybe a race clock to see if you move/secure it? The fiction and player wants will dictate this, obviously.

  23. So when you advance from Tier 3 to Tier 4, it’ll cost the crew… 32 coin?! Harsh! That’s all the coin a crew could hold as well as every possible coin in every PC’s non-stash coin, and some stashed coin for good measure! Tier 5 would require all that, a bag of chips, and a large drink!

    I’m adding this to my collection of evidence called “why the game ends at Tier 3.”

  25. I like the increased cost (8x new tier) because it makes Patron a MUCH more attractive pick, and Patron is a pretty interesting option, story-wise.

    It also occurs to me that “strong” is basically “+0.5 tier”

  31. John Harper So if you more than max out on rep in downtime and can’t afford to raise your tier can you spend the extra rep on downtime actions before the end of downtime, much like extra coin that won’t fit in the vault can be spent?

  34. Antimatter I suppose that if you make it to Tier V you’re playing a different game at that point. Maybe a hack where you play City Council members, setting factions of the city against each other?

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