Factions as a Consequence
Just a brief thought.
It occurred to me recently that I've probably been looking at factions through the wrong end of the microscope.
I find the concept of factions to be an especially useful framework when running TTRPGs. They provide a structure upon which I can develop NPCs, mostly, which is the part of TTRPG development I struggle with most. They can also be used to abstract the wider happenings in the game world. Elmcat has devised a deeply appealing system for handling factions which does mostly everything I'd want a faction system to handle.
The issue with factions is not really an issue with factions at all, but rather an issue with my application of factions. I've been thinking of factions as entities. I've been thinking of them as things in and of themselves, almost as though they would still exist in absence of their members.
But of course a faction cannot exist without members. In fact, a faction isn't a discrete thing at all. It's more like a... circumstance. It's a the shape where the Venn diagram overlaps. It's just a bunch of people agreeing that they'd all like the same thing, so they ought to work together instead of working separately in parallel. I'm realizing that factions are very useful, but they're only half the story. The other half is made of the stories of the constituent members. And that's really what players connect to emotionally.
I'm not advocating for abandoning the structure of a faction. They are a useful fiction and I benefit from them too much to give them up. But I am now noticing that inventing a faction is only the first part of the work. The second part is to flesh out some of the constituents. Who is this mook? Which of their goals align with those of the faction, and why? Build them up and away from the faction, making sure they can stand on their own without the faction to prop them up, and then slot them back in. Do they still fit in well, or is there tension? Perhaps this new NPC has mixed feelings, and could be persuaded to jump ship and join another faction.
A tool I find especially useful for this is an article called How the āMagic: The Gatheringā Color Wheel Explains Humanity by Duncan A Sabien. It is a great framework for categorizing values and proposing tensions between characters or factions.
A few more good links for designing NPCs:
Two Kinds of NPC: Agroikoi and Bomolochoi by Christian Hendriks
Two Questions for Character Creation by Christian Hendriks (this one is intended for PC creation but I think the exercise is very helpful for creating a compelling NPC as well).