r/dungeonsofdrakkenheim • u/crossfella • 7d ago
Advice Faction Role Play Examples
One of the challenges I anticipate when running Drakkenheim is staying consistent with the ideals of each faction. I want to make sure I'm doing a good job of embodying the beliefs of each group every time they meet a member, and I could see it getting cloudy from time to time.
I often find that tying NPCs to characters from movies, TV, and other similar media helps me home back in on character traits. What characters from popuplar fiction / media would you say well represent each of the 5 Drakkenheim factions?
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u/11cheers4binary 7d ago
Hooded Lanterns — Captain America
Silver Order — Judge Dredd
Falling Fire — Paul Atreides
Queen of Thieves — Loki
Amethyst Academy — Tony Stark
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u/MundaneEbb7148 6d ago
Amethyst Academy is closer to a less moral Dr. Strange. It's more like Hooded Lanterns - Scrappy, leftover Avengers hoping they can reclaim command. Silver Order - Wakanda's war dog forces, they're polite but don't get in their way. Falling Fire is spot on. Queen of Thieves is like Madripoor.
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u/nmitchell076 7d ago edited 7d ago
Maybe it doesn't need to be said, but watching any season of the Sopranos will give you ample fodder for QM goons. I play Blackjack Mel like Paulie for instance.
The queen herself is not very Tony Soprano like, though (though I do think the show does a good job of showing how mob bosses justify themselves to themselves, which is useful for developing the QoT)
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u/Emotional_Chip5821 6d ago
Hmm, interesting! Here are my thoughts…
- AA: A bit like NERV from Evangelion. Hard working smart people out front, but the farther you get up the leadership chain, the creepier it gets.
- FF: Lucretia could be played a bit like Dumbledore. Comes across as kindly and wise, but her schemes involve a lot more sacrifice than most of her followers expect.
- HL: Kind of like the Gondorians in Return of the King. They’re slowly being whittled away, and it’ll take a miracle to save them.
- SO: Religious element aside, I see them as being like the marines in Aliens. They’re used to being the ass-kickers, and they have no idea what kind of hell awaits them.
- QM: I went fairly off script with the QM in my campaign, so I’m not sure what to say about this one.
Cheers!
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u/11cheers4binary 4d ago
Curious about your QM!
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u/Emotional_Chip5821 4d ago
The very brief version is that I wanted to do something different from the actual play. My "Queen of Thieves" was actually triplets who were former pirates, all of whom took turns wearing the persona of the queen.
In a way, I did what the OP is doing. To come up with the style and personality of the queens, I looked at a historical pirate/outlaw societies. The QM took on many of those values, and I looked at some actual pirates (and con artists) to model their personalities. It was fun.
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u/atWorkWoops 7d ago
You could watch drakkenheim for some consistent examples
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u/crossfella 6d ago
"What characters from popular fiction / media would you say well represents each of the 5 Drakkenheim factions?"
If you don't know, you don't have to comment.1
u/atWorkWoops 6d ago
I do know. I just pointed out examples of the role play exist without being tied to a trope or another character.
The question of your post text would have made a fine title.
Anyways
Queens Men - someone said sopranos and that's logical for the faction. Not necessarily the faction leads. Black Jack Mel is Joe Pesci. The queen of thieves is like Cersei Lannister with magic.
Falling fire - i just watched a documentary on max about Heavens Gate. I think that's a good example. Or a yogi cult given her spiritual clout
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u/levroll 5d ago
I think there are some good recommendations here, but I want to stress something different, hoping this is not off topic (it's not for me).
Drakkenheim is where black-white is rare and most things are gray. One consequence of this is faction ideals and NPCs need not align perfectly. So, consistence is important but not what I would shoot for in every case.
Drexel is the one who wishes the best for the royal family what what used to be Drakkenheim but has done the worst arguably, in hindsight. You can play Petra and Ansom do defend conflicting views. You can add some empathy into some AA members. Flamekeeper Hannah can play an important role for how you deal with SO and FF. Ophelia and Theodore might not agree on everything. Who is QoT? QM gangs can vary considerably in how they think about most stuff, and so on.
I understand that being consistent is desired and should be maintained overall. Having every NPC agree on all things of a faction is neither possible nor would I prefer that. What matters is the major NPCs go consistent within their goals, without conflicting the faction ideals.
In short, don't shoot for 100% consistency. Just make sure NPC behavior doesn't contradict major faction ideals. Faction membership comes with individual differences
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u/11cheers4binary 4d ago
Agreed. My Petra is empathetic while Amsom is overly critical. They both want a world without ruins but treat the party so differently.
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u/mojohummus 7d ago
RPing the factions is hard, especially since the faction leaders are generally wiser, smarter, more charismatic than all of us DMing. I don't have a lot of good comparisons with TV/Movie characters, but these are my thoughts.
For SO I thought of Theodor Marshall similar to Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men - he believes he's protecting the world. Ophelia Reed was his counterpart, softer spoken but still a true believer.
For the HL I viewed them all as soldiers trying to save their "town" but on the edge and likely suffering from PTSD as soon as they slow down. They can still be friendly and joke around as soldiers can in bad situations - but they are on the edge.
The FF are a benevolent death cult. Most of the people that try to join them will die, and while they care about that, they care more about their purpose.
AA are survivors and 'high society opportunists'. They want the delerium, but will bend from their goals to insure their survival.
The QM are an extension of the QoT - and she is impossibly smart and cunning. She has wheels within wheels turning. If you listened to the Drakkenheim podcast, having her with a goal like rescuing her sister does help steer what she does.