Updated and Automated Faction Generator

It has types, traits, connections to other factions, and conflict.

Printable, editable Google doc.

Factions on Kowloon Planet

I made a faction generator for my sci-fantasy setting. I'm proud of it. It's neat.

It has types, traits, connections, and conflict. Part of it doubles as an NPC generator that creates appearance, personality, motivation.

You can make a copy and then edit the file if you like because it's a Google Doc.

Caveats

Two elements may make it less immediately useful for you:
1. Magic is essentially unknown, so there's only a 3% chance of any faction being innately magical (only one entry is about wizards, for example.)
2. Technology is sought out in much the same way magic is in a vanilla fantasy campaign.














If you're having trouble with Google Docs, click the images below to expand them.

Sci-Fantasy Extraterrestrial Race - Secret Santicorn for wr3cking8a11

The entire race was struck by poverty, once. For this reason, etiquette is often built around the idea of hiding whatever luxuries exist in one's life, even if most people share in those luxuries.

Race name

The aliens call themselves planet-ers, in their own language.
The word for "planet":
1d6

1. Scrin
2. Hird
3. Plett
4. Plor
5. Sand
6. Lith

The suffix for "er":
1d6

1. -nat
2. -ar
3. -ho
4. -che
5. -anan
6. -ip

Traditions

1d6

1. Blood alongside a door marks that a child has recently moved out of the house or died.
2. Reverence is shown to a guillotine symbol, but no actual guillotines seem to exist.
3. Wiping sweat from the brow is the standard ranged greeting (like waving.)
4. Emptying one's pockets in front of someone else is a (usually offensive) sexual gesture.
5. Inhaling a deceased loved one's ashes in full is considered proper. Inhaling incompletely or not at all is frowned upon. (Contributed by wr3cking8a11.)
6. There's an insanely popular canon of plays that were almost a hundred hours of performance time in total. People frequently communicate using only lines from these performances. (Contributed by Spwack.)

Norms

1d20

1. Children are raised by the parents until the parents have something better to do. Then the children are raised by whoever has been assigned to nursery work.
2. Maintaining or safekeeping ancient Tech is the most vital task one may aspire to.
3. You are expected to grow a bonsai tree trimmed in exactly the same ways as everyone else's. If the shape is improper or if the plant looks unhealthy, neighbors will involve local authorities.
4. When asked "How are you?" the polite response is "starving, but we'll be fine" or anything similar, regardless of the availability of food.
5. Wearing clothing with a noticeably different color than the clothing worn on the previous day is a show of luxury and therefore a rude act of hedonism. It brings attention to the fact that the wearer is not wearing the same clothing two days in a row. To avoid this appearance, one must slowly transition to other colors or never transition at all. It's perfectly acceptable to have hundreds of outfits so long as three different colors aren't seen in the same week.
6. Adults don't wear pants because kids wear them. Adults wear shorts, skirts, dresses, etc.
7. No one has pockets. Wearing backpacks is weak and suggests deviant sexuality in the stronger sex. Carrying things in a bag is the norm.
8. Speaking kindly of the dead makes elderly people very upset. They make religious signs in response and huff or sigh or swear.
9. Working on an even day of the week is taboo. "Working" refers to minor labors like lifting objects from the ground, not real work like cooking or farming.
10. The elderly act as if they are unwise in order to boost the confidence of the young.
11. A tip is expected for service before service is rendered. The tip amount seems to have no effect on the quality of the service.
12. Applause is rendered by way of a single clap in unison. Nearly everyone seems to know the right moment to clap, though a few claps lag behind in larger groups.
13. Guests are always offered a bath just after arrival. A "bath" is a wet towel and a bar of soap prepared for you in a private room.
14. Anything that might be personal, private, or valuable is handled by non-owners delicately with two hands and closely examined with false awe.
15. Different colors of flat objects (traditionally flowers or leaves but paper or cloth may be used) may be left at a person's place of residence (with a signature marking) or handed to them to communicate basic messages interpreted by context.
    Add blood to any of the following to make the communication very serious/demanding/threatening. (Roll once and read across or roll twice until all colors are assigned.)
    

    1 Apology	Yellow
    2 Request	White
    3 Gratitude	Blue
    4 Offer	Green
    5 Challenge	Red
    6 Invitation	Black

16. They treat all juices as delicacies and drink them socially. Juices are highly concentrated and sipped slowly over a one or two-hour conversation.
17. Drinking milk is as offensive as forgetting to cover yourself.
18. Used to offer virgins to the god of Cracks, Fissures, and Pits but now everyone regards this as barbaric and dumps undesired food in such places instead.
19. Unlucky number only referred to by euphemisms: roll 1d10.
20. Chewing food whilst in the streets is a symbol of prosperity and good health.

Beliefs

1d6

1. Those born in space have lesser intelligence and are likely to be physically weak.
2. Nut butters enhance the following, but only for this race
   
   1. thinking
   2. strength
   3. speed
   4. pheromones
   5. subtle urges sent by the dead and other spirits
   6. lie detection
3. When anyone burps or farts, it's polite to say "wash your hands" but the young say "curses off" to make the saying more relatable to the younger generation who don't believe in the old "Hygiene"superstitions.
4. [I need more. Please submit more ideas in the comments.]

Skin colors

1d6

1. pale gray
2. light gray
3. medium gray
4. dark gray
5. black
6. no light is reflected at all

The young have a blueish tint. Those in puberty often have blue spots. The elderly often have raised blue spots, like moles.

Mirror race

There are creatures living beneath the settlements.
They're referred to only with phrases like "our miserable cousins."
A watch is kept near the local passage to the underground, built by this race, long ago. The underground is a ruined city, never really used by the mirror race. They respected their deviant, nearly-mindless brethren enough to build a place for them, but public sentiment favors their destruction now, if a way is found.

• They cannot survive in sunlight.

• They act stupidly, but always in tandem, for they share what appears to be a simple hive mind. This means they will attempt to surround and flank but won't use complicated tactics.
• Number appearing: d20. Unless they are all killed by the end of round x (roll 1d4), d20+3 more will appear from the d10x40 that are nearby.
• AC [12]
• Move 12
• HD 0 (1 HP)
• Morale 12
• Attack: Claws or bite 1d6. (I'm assuming that all attacks do 1d6 damage as in OD&D.)

Under-settlement

• Only two people can fit in a 10x10' space.
• Only one boilermail* can fit in a 10x10' space.
• Every passage is very narrow but connected to many other passages like a maze with few dead ends.
• If you use a published dungeon, each square is now 5' per square except when only one square wide (those are still 10'.)

Encounter table for expeditions underground:

1d6

1. One of them has d6+1hp.
2. One of them has 3HP.
3. One of them does d6+1 damage.
4. One them does 3 damage instead of d6 damage.
5. Half of them are behind you and half are in front.
6. One of them makes a stealth attack against whoever is in back at the start of the encounter.

Boilermail

http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2012/11/hms-appolyon-sample-boiler-and-plate.html
http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2012/11/hms-apollyon-plague-senechal-more.html
http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2016/08/hms-appolyon-players-guide-part-1.html

Death and Injury

Before you read the table, you need to understand Flesh, Grit, and how damage effects them. If you're already familiar with the concept, feel free to skip ahead to Death and Injury.

Notes:

• I first learned about the concept of Flesh and Grit from Logan Knight, though my version isn't 100% the same.
• If you're not into my system, here's my favorite system other than my own.
• The goal of this system is to be specific, deadly  and minimal while still giving players meaningful decisions to make, generating tension, and encouraging narrative variety for the referee. 

------

Damage

Every Damage roll removes Grit from the victim in an amount equal to the result of the roll. When there is no Grit, remaining damage is applied to Flesh instead.

Grit

• Grit is derived from HD. It's basically the same thing as HP, just renamed.
• Grit is an abstract measure of a PC's well-being and fitness for combat. Losing Grit represents bruises, scratches, dented armor, torn clothing, aching muscles, depleted breath and so on.
• Sneak attacks ignore Grit and apply damage directly to Flesh.

Flesh

• Flesh loss represents broken bones, torn and punctured flesh, blood loss, et cetera.
• You have 1 HD of flesh. You never gain more.
• When a character loses any amount of Flesh, use the Death and Injury system below.
• Rest heals 1 Flesh per week.

------

Death and Injury

If any Attribute drops to 0, the character is dead.

Flesh Loss

When your character loses any Flesh, make a Saving Throw. Success indicates Injury. Failure indicates death. Additionally, if the Save is succeeded by a margin of only 1 or 2 points, gain a Scar in the affected area (see below.)

When Gaining an Injury, roll 1D6 for anatomy and 1D6 for severity, below. Your character will also lose consciousness.

Injured characters may be revived after combat with 0 Grit. Any further damage to an Injured character results in immediate death.

Injuries may be treated in a settlement.

Injury Table

D6	Anatomy	D6	Severity
1	Head	1	3D6 days to recover
2	?	2	3D6 days to recover
3	Arm	3	3D6 weeks to recover
4	Leg	4	Permanent injury (partially disable anatomy or reduce related Attribute by 1D6+1)
5	Hand	5	Severe bleeding
6	Foot	6	Permanent horrible injury (maimed, severe bleeding)

A maimed body part is no longer functional. It might be removed or crippled.

Severe Bleeding

Severe bleeding causes -1 CON per Turn until the bleeding is stopped. (This Con may be healed at the usual rate for damaged Attributes.) Also roll 1D4 each round that the bleeding continues: on a 4, you die. At the moment battle ends, anyone may attempt to stop the bleeding. If they fail to do so, you die.

Anyone may Check INT, once per round, to attempt to reduce the bleeding (so you will only have to roll 1D4 once per turn) and then anyone may Check INT to attempt to stop the bleeding.

Scars

When you gain a Scar, gain 2 max Grit, and roll 1D6.

• 1: Just a dent.
• 2-4: Quite a mark.
• 5-6: Disfigured.

Your scar can be used to impress or intimidate. If it's more than a dent it can be used to disgust and will also modify some reaction rolls (sometimes negatively, sometimes positively) if it's visible.

Death and Debilitation

If a player's character is dead or temporarily debilitated, the player should create a new character or take control of a Henchman, Hired Hand, or neutral character.

Consulting a Book

The following is almost entirely stolen from James Young. I added the bit about INT MODs and slightly simplified the result table.

Highlights

• Player characters start hauling a library around in a cart.
• You know what to do when players want to do research.
• You know what to do when players try to read a book and you have to make something up.
• Intelligence is now a more interesting Attribute.

---

How many books do you have and how long will you spend researching your question?

Time spent	Dice rolled on table below
1 hour	1d6
3 hours	1d6+1
6 hours	1d6+2
9 hours	1d6+3
2 days	1d6+4
4 days	1d6+5
1 week	1d6+6
2 weeks	1d8+6
3 weeks	1d10+6
4 weeks	1d12+6

Roll on the following table before asking a question you believe might be answerable by the book(s) you're consulting.

You may add 1 to the roll if you pass an INT test.

You may add 1 to the roll for each additional relevant book consulted.

Penalties might be imposed if the reader is of very low Intelligence or doesn't have sufficient background to easily understand the book.

1dx	Answer
1	Yes/No
2	One word
3	One word and roll again
4	Three words
5	Three words and roll again
6	Full sentence
7	Full sentence and roll again
8	Detailed explanation
9+	Detailed explanation and roll again

Note: the Referee will say "your question isn't relevant to the text of this book" if you've simply wasted your time.

Treasure of a Dungeon Gourmand-Chef

Roll once per column. Describe valuable items properly. A 5 gp pot is inlaid with gold. A 50 gp pot is nearly indestructible and/or inlaid with gems and gold. A 100gp item also has a magical effect.

D6	Item	Value	Adjective
1	[Adjective Interesting Treasure] (see below)	5GP	Slimy
2	[Adjective] pot or pan	10GP	Crusty
3	Sharp, rusty, [adjective] chopping knife	20GP	Blackened
4	3 [adjective] vials of olive oil	30GP	Moldy
5	Sausage in [adjective] wax paper	50GP	Muddy
6	[Adjective] Bag containing a spice (d6: brown, red, yellow, orange, black, white)	100GP	Pastel blue

Interesting Treasure

1. Aquarium of live, very rare, ultra delicious shellfish.
   
2. The sharpest paring knife ever used in a kitchen.
   
3. Special salt that almost instantly dessicates anything down into jerky.
   
4. Auto-spicing spoon that spices a dish to perfection.
   
5. Localized gravity cutting board, ensuring no slippage.
   
6. Condenser that makes one gallon of broth into a marble.
   
7. A bracelet with cooking utensils for charms that grow to full size when detached.
   
8. Extractor fan that sucks up cooking smells into a bottle.
   
   

Table for the Return of a Missing Hot Springs Island Player

Inspired by this.
Some results might only be reasonably used once. Cross them off as they're used. Alter results to fit context if necessary.

1d10	Exit	Entry	Effect
1	Sleepwalk away. Sleep the entire time.	Party member dreams movements guiding back the sleepwalker. Return with a disgusting, bubbly rash covered in the stench of high-proof alcohol.	Gain a rumor of elven ruins from dreams.
2	(Secretly?) agreed to dumb solo quest with an NPC.	Wanders back to party camp, exhausted.	Gain information about an NPC. Flip a coin to either gain some minor loot or have failed the quest and upset the NPC.
3	Kidnapped by neutral faction member during sleep.	Returns near the party.	PC gains knowledge and apology/promise to repay debt from the NPC.
4	Fear of the other players led to a lot of time alone in the wilderness.	Return from the wilderness, maybe a little paranoid, but with newfound confidence. Tracked players to their current location.	Improved bushcraft. (Wilderness survival stuff.) However, infected with a disease. http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-glog-diseases.html
5	Overcome by illness and hallucination.	Better now. Don't worry. Totally fine. See, I found you on my own. Ha. Haha. It's okay.	Random mutation. See The Metamorphica or https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2018/01/osr-1d500-biological-mutations.html
6	Tried to explore a dungeon alone. Spent the whole time exploring the entrance area.	Returns to party camp.	Gain knowledge about location of and entrance to a dungeon location.
7	Wandered into an unexplored hex and hid from something scary there.	Returns, frazzled and injured, to party camp.	Learned basic details about the hex and some information about a creature or other hazard. 1/4th HP is lost.
8	Captured by Martel Company mercs.	Martel Company mercs return to party explaining that they mistook PC for a bounty target. (If there is a bounty, roll again.)	Temporary bonus to interactions with Martel Company, including trading with Jeremy Rand.
9	Led away by faction member who gave drugs, invoked visions, or some such.	Stumbles out of the wilderness making wacky gestures or saying strange things.	A little crazy or a little visionary. Choose the first fitting effect on this list. https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2018/04/osr-1d500-supernatural-mutations.html
10	Kidnapped by opposing faction member.	Returns to the party.	Faction gains knowledge from the NPC in exchange for safe release.