Factions play a vital role in my D&D game, and as DMs, it’s essential to create ones that are memorable and engaging for players. To achieve this, I’ve started taking inspiration from the RPG Stars Without Number. In that game, when creating locations, you roll twice on a large D100 table of “tags” to generate a base description. With two rolls on a D100 table, you can create up to 10,000 unique combinations, ensuring every location feels distinct and intriguing. This was also inspired by “Advanced Random Encounter Tricks” by Sly Flourish in which he advises to roll twice on the table to create interesting combinations.
The table below is the same idea but for factions in our fantasy roleplaying games. Whenever you have a new faction needed for your game all you need to do is roll on the table twice and the two tags will describe your faction. Reroll duplicates of course!
Faction Tag Table
| d100 | Tag | d100 | Tag | d100 | Tag | d100 | Tag |
| 1 | Abolethic Sovereignty | 26 | Eldritch | 51 | Intelligent Animals | 76 | Pain Worship |
| 2 | Adventurers Guild | 27 | Elemental Magic | 52 | Item Worship | 77 | Pirates |
| 3 | Alchemists | 28 | Eugenics | 53 | Kobolds | 78 | Plant Masters |
| 4 | Ancient Order | 29 | Explosive | 54 | Kraken Worship | 79 | Portal Openers |
| 5 | Antimagic | 30 | Fey | 55 | Labor Union | 80 | Psionics |
| 6 | Arcane Seekers | 31 | Fight Club | 56 | Lich Leader | 81 | Raiders |
| 7 | Archivists | 32 | Fleshshapers | 57 | Lizardfolk | 82 | Rebels |
| 8 | Artificers | 33 | Forbidden Magic | 58 | Local Power | 83 | Robin Hood |
| 9 | Beastmasters | 34 | Forgotten God | 59 | Lycanthropy | 84 | Royalty |
| 10 | Beholder Leader | 35 | From Another Plane | 60 | Magic Tattoos | 85 | Ruin Explorers |
| 11 | Bounty Hunters | 36 | Gambling | 61 | Masked Leader | 86 | Runesmiths |
| 12 | Bug Connection | 37 | Gem Obsessed | 62 | Merchant Guild | 87 | Sacrifice members |
| 13 | Celestials | 38 | Githyanki | 63 | Militaristic | 88 | Sahuagin |
| 14 | Civil War | 39 | Goblins | 64 | Mimic Pets | 89 | Sewer Dwellers |
| 15 | Clockworks | 40 | Guards/Police | 65 | Mindflayers | 90 | Shadow Cabal |
| 16 | College/School | 41 | Gunslingers | 66 | Monster Breeder | 91 | Slavers |
| 17 | Common Folk | 42 | Hags | 67 | Monster Hunters | 92 | Spider Worshippers |
| 18 | Criminal | 43 | Harbingers of Doom | 68 | Mummy Lord | 93 | Storm Callers |
| 19 | Cult | 44 | Hate the Gods | 69 | Music Maestros | 94 | Swarmkeepers |
| 20 | Demonic | 45 | Hivemind | 70 | Myconoids | 95 | Tarrasque Summon |
| 21 | Diseased | 46 | Hobgoblins | 71 | Nature Wardens | 96 | Undead |
| 22 | Dragon Leader | 47 | Holy Warriors | 72 | Necromancers | 97 | Underdark Dwellers |
| 23 | Dragon Worship | 48 | Immortal | 73 | Obsessed with Blood | 98 | Underdark Raiders |
| 24 | Dream Weavers | 49 | Infernal Contracts | 74 | Oozemancers | 99 | Vampires |
| 25 | Drug addicts | 50 | Inner Turmoil | 75 | Orcs | 100 | Wild Magic |
https://perchance.org/faction-generator-benholder
So above I have a perchance generator that does the same thing that rolling on the table does. This is intended to give you ideas to base on. I will roll a couple of times to give an idea of how it is supposed to be used.
So my first roll got “Forgotten God, Underdark Dwellers.” So when first looking at this combo I am thinking that this is a group of Drow or Deep Gnomes that found a God buried underground that lost their power due to lack of worshippers. Maybe the group became worshippers and came to the surface to recruit more and grow this Gods power.
My next roll got “Githyanki, Swarmkeepers.” Maybe this could lean into the psionics of the Githyanki. This faction of them use their psionics to carry around swarms of inanimate objects to keep themselves protected. Or maybe they have a psionic connection with a swarm of bugs, and the queen of this hive or nest is heavily guarded.
Just based on two tags we can really cool ideas for factions in our world. In the near future I plan to give a series of blogs that delve into the different tags and some ideas for enemies, friends, and plot hooks that could be connected to each. So yeah, play around with it and let me know what you think!
