Factions are the guilds, cults and noble houses of your world. Critsmith keeps track of how each one feels about the party, and lets that feeling change what things cost, and what happens when a quest goes wrong.
Two ways to make a faction
There are two ways to make one. Create with Wizard takes you through it a step at a time. Manual puts every field on one page.
Create with WizardAnswer one section at a time, with guidance on what each field needsManualWrite one from scratch: goals, home location, and reputation
The Factions page, with its two ways to make a faction
Basics
To use the wizard, start with Basics: a name, and the faction's goals, what they're working towards. Only the name is required.
1. Basics
2. Home & standing
3. DM-only notes
4. Review
Name
What shows in your Factions list. Keep it short enough to spot at a glance.
The Saltmarsh Guild
Goals
What this faction is working toward.
Control every cargo that
NextCancel
Basics: a name and the faction's goals
Press Next, and the step is saved. If you stop halfway, the faction waits on your list marked Unfinished.
Waiting on your Factions list
The Saltmarsh Guild
Control every cargo that comes up the river, and every price at market.
Unfinished
Delete
A faction you stopped halfway, waiting on your list
Home and standing
Home location is where the faction is based, and New location makes one without losing your place. Then set its reputation with the party. There are seven steps, from minus three, Hostile, through Neutral, up to plus three, Allied.
Home location+ New location
Where this faction is based, if anywhere.
Havenreach▾
Reputation with the party
How this faction currently regards the party.
+2 · Friendly▾
BackNext
Home and standing: where the faction is based and how it regards the party
DM-only notes
Then your DM-only notes: true motives, secret backers, plans the party hasn't uncovered yet. Players never see them.
DM-only notes (Players can't see this)
True motives, secret backers, plans not yet public.
The guildmaster buys smuggled goods from the Cinderfal
BackNextCancel
DM-only notes, which your players never see
Review
Review shows everything on one card. Press Finish, and you're back on your list, with the new faction marked New.
Review
Everything you set on the previous steps. Go back to change anything, or finish to save.
Name
The Saltmarsh Guild
Goals
Control every cargo that comes up the river, and every price at market.
Home location
Saltmarsh Docks
Reputation
+1 · Cordial
DM-only notes
The guildmaster buys smuggled goods from the Cinderfall Cult and sells them on as honest stock.
Review: the whole faction on one card
Your factions at a glance
Every row shows the faction's reputation, coloured from red for Hostile to green for Allied, so you can see at a glance who's on the party's side. Search by name, or filter by home location or reputation.
House Thornwick
Keep the mayor’s family in power for another generation.
Neutral
Delete
The Brackenford Ferrymen
Keep every river crossing theirs, and the tolls high.
Wary
Delete
The Cinderfall Cult
Wake what sleeps beneath the fen, whatever it costs Havenreach.
Hostile
Delete
The Saltmarsh Guild
Control every cargo that comes up the river, and every price at market.
New
Delete
The Silver Wardens
Keep the moor roads open and the old wards lit. They trust the party, but only as far as results allow.
Friendly
Delete
Your factions, each with its reputation
Press a faction once to read it in the quick reference panel, and press Edit to change it. When the party wins someone over, or makes an enemy, change the reputation in Home and standing.
The Silver Wardens
Reputation: +2 (Friendly) · Havenreach
Keep the moor roads open and the old wards lit. They trust the party, but only as far as results allow.
DM notes
Their captain suspects someone inside the Wardens is feeding the cult their patrol routes.
Edit
The quick reference panel for The Silver Wardens
Reputation sets prices
Give a shopkeeper NPC a faction, and each step of reputation moves that shop's prices by five per cent. If the shopkeeper's faction is Allied, everything costs fifteen per cent less. If it's Hostile, fifteen per cent more. This stacks with the shop's own price modifier, and any price you've set by hand stays exactly as it is.
The shopkeeper’s faction
Each step of reputation moves prices by 5%.
Allied15% less
Friendly10% less
Cordial5% less
NeutralFull price
Wary5% more
Unfriendly10% more
Hostile15% more
How each step of reputation moves a shop's prices
If you'd rather prices stayed put, turn off Prices follow faction reputation in your campaign settings.
Shops and money
Prices follow faction reputation
Each step of the party’s reputation with the shopkeeper’s faction moves prices by 5%. Your default: On.
Prices follow faction reputation, in your campaign settings
When a quest fails
A failed quest can cost the party, too. Open a plot thread and go to Linked entities. Press Add faction, choose one, and press Link. In its If fails box, enter how far its reputation should move if the quest fails. Here, minus two. Then press Save.
Linked factions (Optional)
Every faction with a stake in this thread, not just the single antagonist faction above. Each one shows its current disposition toward the party.
The Silver Wardens
FriendlyIf fails-2SaveRemove
Add faction
A linked faction that drops two steps if the quest fails
Nothing changes yet. When the quest fails, set the thread's status to Failed and press Next. Then open Edit all on one page, and open Linked factions. Fail consequences shows each faction's reputation now, and what it will become.
Fail consequences
Set on the linked factions above, not yet applied. Nothing changes until you press the button below.
The Silver WardensFriendly (2) → Neutral (0)
Apply fail consequences
Fail consequences, waiting for you to apply them
Nothing moves until you press Apply fail consequences, so a thread marked Failed by mistake costs nothing. Press it, and the Silver Wardens drop from Friendly to Neutral. Their shopkeepers' prices go back up to match.
The Gilded Anvil
Blacksmith · Havenreach · 250 gp on hand
Shopkeeper
Brannoc Hale · The Silver Wardens (Neutral)
Magic items
None: mundane goods only
Stock (4)
Longsword (Weapon)15 gp
Shield (Armour)10 gp
Chain mail (Armour)75 gp
Dagger (Weapon)2 gp
Edit
The Gilded Anvil, back to full price now the Silver Wardens are Neutral
Let your world remember what the party does, and let it show.