Stars Without Number [i][color=grey](scale too large, but otherwise a good fit)[/color][/i]

Silent Legions [i][color=grey](apparently similar to SWN, though I couldn't find much about it)[/color][/i]

Birthright [i][color=grey](specific to feudalism)[/color][/i]

Burning Empires [i][color=grey](too complex and adversarial)[/color][/i]

Reign [i][color=grey](tied to game mechanics)[/color][/i]

Adventurer Conqueror King System [i][color=grey](specific to fantasy)[/color][/i]

[h1][b]E[/b]clipse [b]P[/b]hase [b]I[/b]nter-session [b]C[/b]onflict (EPIC) Faction System v1.0a (spoiler-free)[/h1] [h2]Contents:[/h2] [h3][u][color=white]0. BLA BLA BLA[/color][/u] [u][color=white]1. SUMMARY[/color][/u] 1.1 General Concept 1.2 System 1.3 Factions 1.4 Assets 1.5 Rounds and Turns 1.6 Actions [u][color=white]2. GLOSSARY[/color][/u] [u][color=white]3. FACTION PROPERTIES[/color][/u] 3.1 Attributes 3.2 Stats 3.3 Structure 3.4 Memes 3.5 Assets [u][color=white]4. ACTIONS AND ROUNDS[/color][/u] 4.1 Round Sequence 4.2 Tests 4.2.1 Roll Types 4.3 Actions 4.3.1 List of Faction Actions 4.3.2 List of Asset Actions 4.3.2.1 Standard Actions 4.3.2.2 Special Actions 4.3.2.3 Triggered Actions 4.3.3 Home Turf Advantage 4.3.4 Agent Status 4.3.5 Production of Assets 4.4 Attacks 4.5 Research [u][color=white]5. LIST OF ASSETS[/color][/u] 5.1 Facilities 5.2 Vehicles 5.3 Units 5.4 Agents [u][color=white]6. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER[/color][/u] 6.1 Optional Rules 6.2 GM Discretion 6.3 Some Examples 6.4 What's Missing?[/h3] --------------------------------------------- [h2][u]0. BLA BLA BLA[/u][/h2] While life has conspired to prevent me from joining an EP game, I do love to think about it. And ever since I played Ars Magica way back when, I've thought about factional game mechanics, so it was natural that I would eventually think about a faction system for EP. A quick search brings up previous efforts and inquiries:Many such efforts are inspired by faction systems in existing games [i][color=grey](all comments are as they compare to EP's needs, IMHO)[/color][/i]:I finally decided to just vomit forth my thoughts into a homebrew system, inspired largely by SWN (and EP of course). I changed my mind a few times while writing this all out, so there might be some errors and inconsistencies. This work is more of a carefully curated brainstorm than a well-structured system, but I think we can learn something from it. EPIC is based on EP 4th ed excluding spoilers/GM sections, so please keep this thread spoiler-free too.* I'm open to suggestions and critiques. If you like it, thanks! If you don't like it, tell me so! Even better, tell me so, and tell my why! Even bester, tell me so, tell me why, and tell me how to fix it! Enjoy. *I skimmed Firewall to tweak everyone's favourite faction, but still stayed out of spoiler territory. -------------------------------------------- Many thanks to... ...the creators of all the games I mention above, especially Ars Magica, Stars Without Number, and of course Eclipse Phase. ...Arenamontanus for those lovely porkchop plots of interplanetary travel times: [url] https://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/sets/72157624693618421/with/... ...and OneTrikPony for collecting all that orbital dynamics data in one post: [url] http://eclipsephase.com/comment/24994#comment-24994[/url]