Contacts & Factions
Contacts and factions make the world answer back. They provide information, shelter, pressure, favors, services, rumors, complications, and reasons for the party's choices to matter later.
- Name what the contact can provide: information, access, protection, trade, magic, labor, documents, or introductions.
- Decide what they want in return: coin, secrecy, loyalty, proof, revenge, status, safety, or future favors.
- Give them a limit so they cannot solve every problem for the party.
- Track trust, debt, suspicion, and public association.
- Let repeated interaction change the relationship.
Contacts are personal. They remember tone, favors, failed promises, and whether the party makes their life easier or worse.
Factions are institutional. They have goals, resources, rivals, internal politics, and a public face.
A favor owed is a future scene. Record who owes what, who knows about it, and when repayment becomes urgent.
Friendly contacts help because they like, respect, or owe the party, but they still have limits and personal risk.
Transactional contacts help when paid, protected, persuaded, or given something they value.
Compromised contacts may be watched, blackmailed, frightened, greedy, or working for more than one side.
Contacts are strongest when they help the party enter adventures, not bypass them entirely.