Building Bhakashal – High Level Faction Play

Image by Don Maitz.

One of the advantages of Bhakashal is extensive play testing. For the last 5 years multiple play groups have been testing out the system, players have shaped the direction of their campaigns, and I have adjusted based on experience. Few systems have had this much playtesting.

My after-school groups are continuing this year, two of my groups have been adventuring in Bhakashal for 4+ years, so they have hit what used to be known as “name level”, when you hit that point, you can become part of Bhakashal nobility.

This play shift to “domain play” is a split from regular faction based play, instead of reacting to the various in-game factions, PCs become influential enough to shape factional goals, they direct their faction rather than being directed.

Each of the groups had to complete a significant task for their faction in order to join its nobility. My Saturday group (Patron: Quin Faal the Iolite, House Quannar) chose to try and unify the two branches (City and Raosk) of the Bhakashal Thieves Guild (the Brass Blade Spider’s Guild).

My Friday group (Patron: Kamerli the Ivory, House Jin) spent the last gaming year finding a book with instructions to create magical circles and slaying 4 mind flayers in order to inscribe one of those magic circles, one that can teleport things from the Bhakashal underworld to the city.

Uniting the guilds concentrates power in House Quannar (one of the Noble Houses of Bhakashal) as they previously only controlled the city branch, adding the Raosk branch makes House Quannar very influential.

Creating the teleport circle brings great power to House Jin, as they will have an exclusive conduit to bring back new monsters and treasure, flora and fauna to their House directly, gaining them resources no other House has.

Since both groups completed their tasks (taking a gaming year each) they have fulfilled the two requirements to transition to Bhakashal nobility, they have hit the minimum level (7^th or above) and they have completed an important task for their House.

When they return to the gaming table things will look very different, now THEY have a role in directing what their Noble House does, and they inherit all of the alliances and enmities of their House. Rival Houses will decide to take action to neutralize or take advantage of the new state of affairs.

Adding to the delicious confusion, the patron of my Saturday group, Quin Faal the Iolite, has been captured and imprisoned on a faraway island in a magical maze, thanks to the PCs in my Thursday group, so just when House Quannar has united the guilds, the Bhakashal noble responsible is gone. How will this reflect on the party, just after they complete this important task for the House and become nobility, their patron disappears! Rivals within the faction may accuse them of betrayal. Houses that benefited from the previous arrangement might seek them out too.

Suddenly the players have split focus, they have to think about rival factions and rivalries within their own faction, and they have to think about how they want to grow their power within the faction. And their actions have changed the game world directly. In this way regular campaign play in Bhakashal changes the game world as you play. Bhakashal provides the referee with suggestions on “big tasks” that can influence the setting. My Saturday group capitalized on one of the rumors from the Bhakashal rumor table (related to the thieves’ guild). My Friday group came up with their task on their own, but even that was an extension of what they had seen in the game, Houses were always competing for resources, particularly parts of magical creatures to be used in making spells and magic items.

That drive, taken from the Bhakashal class role tables, was expanded by the idea of connecting the overworld to the underworld. The setting provides the inspiration, the players direct the actions, and the game world is permanently transformed.

Importantly, these tasks were not planned from the beginning, there were no, “BBEGs” or pre-planned, “campaign arcs” that unified what happened at the table, Bhakashal works more organically, tasks are based on need (factional needs) generated by tables. 

Over time, choosing and pursuing those tasks produces consequences that drive play, and suggest larger schemes and connections. None of it was preplanned or designed by me or the players. Everything emerged from play and setting conceits.

True sandbox play works, and this year will produce completely new experiences as my players explore what it means to operate as Bhakashal nobility, fleshing out domain level play in an engaging way, something that early D&D editions did not explore successfully, given that many campaigns didn't last that long.