InDungeons & Dragons, it’s pretty clear that organisations are the oil that keeps your campaign running. Whether it’s a town, an academy or a guild, there’s always some sort of faction that will be involved in your campaign. They can be quest-givers, allies, or even enemies.
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Perhaps you’re looking for something a bit more classical, like The Emerald Enclave to add to your campaign, or you want to come up with something a little more unique like space-faring explorers. Either way, we have you covered with ideas for factions to include.
10The Thieves' Guild Can Sneak Into Your Game
What good is a classic campaignwithout a thieves' guild? It may sound boring but trust us, a thieves' guild is always a very helpful way to kickstart some plots in your game. They could be a small network of thieves that are in a city or have their hands in the pockets of people throughout an empire.
Either way, the only challenging part is noting down how your guild operates and its morals. Are they willing to steal from just about anyone? Do they give back to the poor?How would their thieving ways make them cross over with your players?
9Seek Aid From The Emerald Enclave
The Emerald Enclave is an organisation that is usually reserved for games that are set in the classic world of the Forgotten Realms. The group is an order of druids and nature worshippers who try their best to protect swaths of natural land from danger.
You may be thinking that you could come up with your own basic group of druids. But The Emerald Enclave comes handy with its own hierarchy and goals that can easily translate into most standard campaigns. So if you’re playing in a homebrew game, you’re able to still take some inspiration and conjure your own version of these green-thumbed peacekeepers.
8An Assassin’s Guild Can Be A Hit
Yes, yes, it may sound very basic to even have an assassin’s guild, but for those that desire something a little darker than what thievery can offer, then a faction of hitmen can help out. You can think of your basic assassin’s guild as being something akin to, say,The Dark Brotherhoodfrom Skyrim.
They’re merely a group of people who can be hired to assassinate a target. Whether you want to give them more depth than that is up to you. But a good way to rope a deadly guild like this is perhaps someone has hired such services to attack your player’s party.
7Make Some Magic With The Order Of Arcana
Now we get into the fun stuff, which is custom-made factions solely for your games. The first is The Order of Arcana, a group of arcane wielders such as wizards and sorcerers who seek to better understand the arcane arts. However, this group goes far beyond just wanting to understand magic, they also control it.
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Yes, this group currently is headed by a council of staunch abjurers who believe that magic must be something to be controlled and limited lest it does irreparable harm. But such a strict view of magic may cause the faction to splinter soon and have some pushed to experimental magic that may cause the worst fears the order is trying to prevent.
6Dig Deep With The Sleuths
For a smaller faction that is perhaps limited to a city, there are The Sleuths. They are a group dedicated to being spies and uncovering important information that can be sold to the highest bidder.
This is the type of organisation you’d want in a capital city, able to get information about or for the party and perhaps have information that could prompt a quest or adventure for them.
5Get Godly With Beacons Of Divinity
Beacons of Divinity is an organisation dedicated to only a select number of gods from a pantheon. You would have to choose what these deities are, but it is reasonable to think they would only mainly be comprised of the worshippers of three to five of these gods.
This is a religious organisation of paladins and clerics of temples that support one another, host holy festivals of their gods and use their tithes to further fund the construction of more churches and the spread of their religion.
4Toss A Coin To The Blood Hunters
Fans of Matt Mercer’shomebrew class The Blood Hunterwill love this faction. The Blood Hunters are basically The Witchers of your world, a sect of adventurers who take a step further to monstrosities by turning their bodies into weapons to hunt them down.
You can use the homebrew class of Blood Hunter if you wish or perhaps use official classes, especially Rangers, Fighters, and Paladins. If there’s ever a group that could use a hand from some adventurers from time to time, then it’s this one.
3Agents Of The Astros Will Leave Your Players Star Struck
You have the Agents of The Astros for something a little more unique. It never makes sense how there can be an entire plane like The Astral Sea that is more or less just space but does not have its fair share of magical explorers.
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Whether your game is Spelljammer based or not, this group loves to study aberrations, practice the art of Deep Speech and chart the stars with magical ships. Perhaps your party can help them track down lost explorers or go on a voyage with them for some adventure.
2Don’t Mess With The Union Of Realms
In a high-level campaign, leaders of nations, from kings to councils, could ask adventurers for private meetings and hire them to deal with epic problems. That’s where the Union of Reams comes in, an allied union of different nations or kingdoms that facilitate trade and diplomacy between these cultures.
This is also a convenient place for players to get invited to and meet certain people who have a lot of power and perhaps need a lot of help regarding world-ending threats and sinister villains.
1Keep Secrets With The Keepers Of The Crown
If you have a kingdom, then that kingdom needs some guards, and these are the Keepers of the Crown. Keepers are an elite and secretive organisation equivalent to some sort of Secret Service but for a monarch.
They are a small number of specially trained guards that work to protect the monarchy and may meet the party in the shadows if they desperately need some help from anything that could threaten the throne.
