How to stop a faction dying with its leader.

[Egon the Monkey]

Something I thought to bring up considering Thane Durgrim got killed without the Golden Alliance knowing its next steps. EfU is a tough gameworld where lots of players promote conflict. This means that either your leader PC is going die at the helm of his faction, he'll pass control to a new guy then retire, or the faction itself will break with your PC still alive. Two of those require a successor if the faction is to survive. If nobody knows what's going on, that means your PC=the faction and their death will break all the cool plots, alliances and enemies you've built up. Sadly on EfU. this happens all too much from what I've seen.

When I played Utucha in the Laddermen, Antalinov's 'disappearance' by the Conclave messed things about hugely because the senior PC, Querain, was absent, and by the time he'd got back, I'd been effectively running things for a couple of weeks. Querain then took over with a massively different set of goals to what I'd got people working on, and the faction fell apart in the confusion. Neither of us were working from the same set of ideas of what to do if Antalinov wasn't in charge. In the other hand the Red Wizard faction kept going with Thyzykeelix taking over from its leader for a while, as AKMatt managed to pull off a changeover really well.

Making a faction proof against losing your PC is something that requires a bit of IC and OOC planning, or failing that, luck, but can make a faction survive the death of a leader. Find out who in the faction has the time to play a leader, and a PC capable of doing so. Let the rest of your faction know there's sealed orders to be opened only in case of your PC's death, naming them the next leader (as in, when your PC dies, you PM then to your second).  If you've already got a right-hand man, that's the PC to put in the driving seat. Make sure the upcoming char knows this in advance (unless you're running an Evil faction where your subordinates might assassinate you). If they know they're picking up the reins of your faction, they'll be ready to move plots along.  Update that PC on your plan IC, and arrange for them to get copies of relevant PMs if your PC dies. Clearly they'd read through your correspondence.

If you create an institution that continues to grow after your character leaves the game from either death or retirement, you can really consider your PC a great leader. Kharst Delzoun, Aubrey Craddock, Breadon Ironmantle. Factions they created are all in some way still going today.

[Talir]

Taking over the reins after the leader dies is not easy (I should know, looking at you RwG!). I'd hazard a guess and say that 80% of player factions are effectively dead after the leader has perished/loses interest. There are several reasons behind things going that way, faction ideals and player interest not the least of them, but there's a few things you can do to prevent it.

A faction is established by a group sharing an unique set of goals or ideals. Mainly there is this agenda behind it that the faction works towards or wants to see done, or even just a general state it wants to promote. This can be "Create a Clan of Dwarves and unite the stout folk", "Unite all with good intentions together to combat evil", "We want to purchase a ship and sail off", "There's too much opposition for necromancers, let us create a secret cabal and promote the dark arts", "We want to stop and destroy the Nightrisers", "Our mercantile organisation will become the greatest in the Dominion", "Let's rob everyone of their gold and create a den of thieves!", "We don't care about anything political, we just want to write stuff down."

Note: Some factions are created solely to combat or deal with a running threat. It's not often you see it, but an example could be an organisation gathered to deal with the Red Eleint threat, a secret order against Ixpadia's forces during the Ixpadia war. These factions have one purpose and once it's completed, they'll be dismantled. Mentioning this due to the next paragraphs.

The agenda is what you can draw goals and pursuits from all the time, with you as a leader's unique twist or perception of it. The agenda is also something that in most cases remain persistant. Your agenda of destroying undead is the same even if your pursuit move from attacking nightrisers to attacking animated corpses made by PCs. It's the core of the faction and your ideals, they should be set in stone. Having such an agenda in place will make it easier for the next leader to carry on the faction's purpose.

Goals can be heavily influenced by the leader. They should be made in the interests of the faction you have running and in the benefit of your PC's agenda. You should set both long-running and more short-term goals, ideally never reaching a spot where you look around and go "Okay, we've achieved everything we wanted.... what now?". If the faction was meant to last only for the duration of a threat or state, great. You achieved what you set out to do and the faction is done. But most player factions are made to last so keeping this distant goal you're continuously working towards will help maintain interest and activity. Everyone knows what the faction does, what the faction wants to see done. It'll also help a possible second leader take up the reins afterwards. Use the forum to keep people updated about progress and try let everyone in on the work.

The number one reason why leadership in player factions falter or why people loath to take over: lack of activity. Running a player faction is a time-consuming and hard business. This intensifies when it feels like you are the only one running the show, the only one making plans or try to make progress for the faction. Nothing is more treasured than a good lieutenant or several contributive members, no matter how little they actually accomplish as long as the attempt is made. So another way to ensure the faction thrives and stays strong is helping the leader at the time, contributing, be proactive in doing work and pushing the faction forward. This will also bring you in touch with the faction's agenda, goals and current situation - making you an eligible leader should the situation require it. It'll also make it easier for someone to take over the reins when he knows he will get support for the work.

Faction structure is another way to ensure any transition in leadership works smoothly. If you have a set hierarchy and ensure it's made up of people that can fulfil the set roles, the one directly below will simply fill the available spot and the hierarchy be bumped upwards. I've never tried it myself but you could have a faction ruled by a selected few members (peerage of the Dominion) or even have it go in rounds between faction members based on popular support (ala the Council in Sanctuary). The death of a leader should not be an epitaph but a new change to a faction as another leader fills the shoes of the former. This in itself could also lead to more intra-faction intrigue and conflict if a few is fighting over the position. The worst you can do is nothing for that will ensure the death of the faction. So don't be afraid of stepping up and if you have other proactive members, you'll not be afraid to do it.

To summarize my advice: have a set ideal, have long-term goals as well as short-term, get people involved in the faction and contribute yourself to make the faction successful, have some form of faction structure so people know what to expect and - more important than anything - have fun while playing in the faction. This'll both help make the faction successful under the first rule and pave the way for a take-over once the time comes. From there, it's up to the players left behind.

Making a faction channel on IRC is also another nice way to get in touch with your faction members OOCly. Use it to organize expeditions ahead of time and the OOC stuff that's fine to keep out of the game. Discuss, tease, joke and get to know the people whose characters yours work alongside.

[AfroMullet]

you just gotta feel. there aint no instructions, there aint no gudelines. just do what your soul tells you to do and all is going to eb aight.