An Interview with Peter of Factions

Jared: First off tell us a little about yourself, Peter?

Peter: I’m a game designer, entrepreneur, and professional marketer. I live in Houston, TX, with my lovely wife and dog. When I’m not working, playing, or game-designing, I’m likely dueling my wife (épée) or being manipulated by my dog (pitbull).

I love tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). I love the stories, the mechanics, and the people.

I’m a long-time hobbyist TTRPG designer, aspiring to publish my first game for a wider audience. I love the indie-TTRPG scene and firmly believe it gives us the best games out there. For me, it’s a way to create without limits. Seeing other people derive genuine enjoyment from the games I make gives me pure satisfaction.

J: When and how did you get started in tabletop games?

P: I’ve been playing tabletop games as long as I can remember, in some form or another. At first, the classic board games, then I discovered Warhammer and the wargaming world sometime in middle school. And finally, in high school, I played some D&D and was introduced to the magical world of roleplaying games.

My older brother definitely got me into the world of gaming and game design. He was my main playmate through each stage of progression towards TTRPGs; he is, and has always been, my co-developer.

We still play together weekly, testing our systems, and playing our favorites.

J: What made you want to make content specifically for tabletop games?

P: Designing and homebrewing was always a part of the process and the fun for me. Throughout, it’s been my main creative outlet in life.

In the last several years, it’s become clear to me that game development is my passion and I hope to someday make it a living. That’s when I got serious about properly finishing a game for a wider audience to enjoy.

J: Tell us about the beginning of Factions?

P: The idea to make a game where you play as a leader, rather than a hero, is one I’ve been considering for many years. I love 4X games that simulate this (Civ, Crusader Kings, etc.), but they distinctly lack the RPG magic of deep stories with deep characters.

The first iteration of Factions was more of a world-building game and the campaign fell apart before we finished. The next attempt was closer in concept, but over-engineered. However, it did introduce one mechanic that’s become key to the game: open-ended orders.

So I stripped away all the unnecessary rules and focused in on accentuating the fun part. The game became instantly more enjoyable, but it still took a few more years of testing with smaller, but crucial, tweaks to get the system crisp.

I also made the decision that Factions would be Play by Post (PbP). Prior, I had almost no experience with PbP games, and admittedly was even put-off by the idea. But it fit perfectly for Factions. Now, the game’s designed for PbP and is as much of a writing exercise as it is TTRPG. COVID struck around the same time, which made the decision even easier. I’ve since discovered a world of awesome PbP gems, designed deliberately for the medium, by amazing, creative people. It’s an awesome, yet underappreciated, way to play.

J: Where did the name Factions come from?

P: The system’s setting-agnostic, with a specific niche, so I felt “Factions” conveyed the concept well. Players not only create their player character, they also create their faction. 

And a faction can be anything from an ancient empire, to a charity organization, to a martian rapper’s fanclub. Whatever it is, you build it around the setting and the GM builds the setting around your factions.

J: What can people expect coming into the website/social medias etc?

P: The official Factions community is on Discord: https://discord.gg/VqC6534sBf. The rules are free and I intend to keep them free.

I’m currently running an ongoing, episodic, tutorial game on discord, “THE ENDLESS HIGHWAY” for anyone who wants to try it out.

We’re a small, welcoming community, with just a few GMs so far, but we’re always looking for more.

J: What do you see as the future of Factions? Goals?

P: The rules are more or less final, but I’m still frequently editing for clarity, and removing anything that isn’t strictly necessary. My intention is to provide a base system, which I expect individual GMs to modify (homebrew!) for their campaigns.

I’d love to see more GMs run their own campaigns. I love seeing what other people come up with and we’re still small enough that I can directly respond to GMs to help. I’m also hoping to glean what resources I can make to help GMs pick it up more easily.

I hope to share some campaign content, to show the game to more people, and would love to see content from other campaigns. The PbP format lends itself well to preserving the story in a written format.

J: What do you have coming up in projects? Links? Release dates etc?

P: We’re working on a Discord Bot for the game, to play it directly on Discord (though it can be played on about any platform).

We’re also working on an aesthetic design for the rules,with the next version hopefully ready by the end of June.

J: Anything else you would like to add?

P: Just that the TTRPG community is great! Thanks to everyone who’s shown love and support to this passion project and thanks to anyone willing to give it a shot.

If the idea of a political, play-by-post, tabletop roleplaying game interests you, please join the server and check out the system!