What type of new factions?

[The Dutch Ghost]

Hello all,

I am curious to find out what kind of new factions the people here would like to see in the new Wasteland game.
There would probably be the standard bandit, trader, organized crime, and local militias around but I am more curious about the more 'colorful' factions people would like to see in Wasteland.

For example we know that the Guardians will return, I myself would like the Tronodiles of the 'New Men' to return in some role even if they are just background enemies, and I think we can also safely assume that the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud will make an appearance.

These factions are often inspired by various backgrounds such as location, ideology, mythology and so on and I would what the diversities in Arizona, Nevada, and California would lead too.

I myself am thinking of a sort of cargo cult that has taken over Vandenberg AFB and the spaceport, taking inspirations from the old space program before the War and dressing up in make shift space suits (yes I was inspired by six string samurai), holding almost religious reverence to important figures of the space program and trying to build their own rocket (though of course they don't really understand that much of technology)

[DrunkVision]

1.Ctulhu cult would be nice to have in old lighthouse (mad with etra new techologies in the past) area where a group of people having a lot om Lavcraf's books migrated.
2. Assasins guild
3. Thief guild
4. Red and Blue negroes bands
5. Followers of kawai
6. Nerds of Apocalypse
7. Mad Max's fans
8. Vault -1 believers
9. Pizza Hut
10. Shalom bithces
11. Cornholios
12. Church of saint Satan
13. Booze undercover club
14. Uncle Usama bombers
15. Macho dominar
16. Royal family of Canada club
17. Alaska bears
18. Personas con permiso de trabajo provisional
19. Preso morte
20. Friench fries la revolution!
.. etc.

[Gillsing]

I certainly hope that there will be cyborgs in the sequel. They always seemed like the next big threat, and I used to suspect that the mission that Charmaine said she'd have for the rangers in a couple of months would be to investigate where the Newmen come from. Because men and machines don't just merge all on their own. There would have to be some kind of facility for that somewhere. Or possibly some kind of 'doctor' cyborg who can function like an ambulant Auto-Doc. Though I guess it could be something in between: A temporary facility that can be set up and taken down on the fly, where cyborgs carry all the needed materials and equipment. Whatever it is, it would sure be interesting to investigate, because those cyborgs were hostile, dangerous and numerous. I wonder how they recruit their people? Volunteers? Abducted 'regular folks'? Mortally wounded combatants, left for dead by their enemies? Yup. It would be very interesting to get to investigate them. I guess that we already know where those robotnappers get their machine parts.

Another thing that would be interesting would be a faction of mutants that aren't just hostile monsters. That doesn't mean that they'd have to be particularly friendly though, only that they could be reasoned with. Wouldn't want a rerun of Vault City and Gecko, because that has already been done. Maybe the mutants could be the ones in charge of a high tech settlement, worried that regular humans would want to rob them of their birthright? And therefore they're properly paranoid? That would be new, because in all of Wasteland 1, it seemed as if mutants were only skulking around at the edges of society. (Except for the three-legged hooker and the Mutie Cuties, I suppose. Apparently some mutants are quite popular!)

[Drool]

I used to suspect that the mission that Charmaine said she'd have for the rangers in a couple of months would be to investigate where the Newmen come from.

Could be. I always just assumed they were Base Cochise's vanguard. The Scorpitron was a field commander, and the rest of the bots and 'borgs were the advance army. After all, once Vegas was pacified, the rest of the Wasteland would probably fall pretty easily.


As for California factions... I dunno. There could be some kind of cyborgy group. I'm thinking there will probably be plenty of raider-types like Ugly and plenty of weird cultists. I'd just like them to be evocative. The Children of the Mushroom Cloud and the Temple of Blood were both really well done. I especially liked that the... er... Bloodites had already had a schism: on the one side you had the Priest and his freaks in the Temple, and on the other you had the Bishop in his more sedate building.

[Gillsing]

The bishop was a Servant of the Mushroom Cloud, so that wasn't a schism within the Temple of Blood. Or did you mean a schism between the two cults? That seems to be a given.

"Outlaws, Blood Cultists, Killer Robots, Bomb Worshippers, and now Cyborg Robotnappers! What next?"

To me this line indicates that the cyborgs are their own, separate faction from the killer robots. Plus the fact that they're never seen together: The cyborgs are mostly hiding in the sewers, with only a few scouts in the streets. And nothing in Base Cochise indicates that there were ever any cyborgs made there, since that should have included medical facilities. But there is VAX, created for "human-cyborg relations".

[Lucius]

How about a cult that shuns everything technology, seeing how technology nearly destroyed the world. Then you have these death machines come and try to wipe out the human race and it's just icing on the cake for them. I definitely could see a group where they live like in the dark ages and make due without electricity, vehicles, modern weapons, etc. They could be called Amish.

[Drool]

Ever marching technology vs. Luddites is a time-tested dichotomy.

[Leif]

I was thinking about the California People's Front versus the Popular Front of California or some similarly ridiculous abstraction of typical Trotskyite/New Left bickering.

[TΛPETRVE]

I was thinking about the California People's Front versus the Popular Front of California...

Yeah, the People's Front of California... and Brian (Fargo) is one of them !

[Gilgameš]

I think today's games are too faction-centric. Most rpg's just have a couple of factions and some neutral villager either helped or exploited by the factions, and you choose a faction depending on your characters morale. Gets dull fast.

Cults, gangs and villager communities should not be defined by "membership cards" (perhaps with the exception of some gangs), there should not be the mandatory faction joining quests or the like. A character should never be defined by the faction he represents, the faction he is a part of should represent a part of that character's personality. All "generic evil military" members should not be arrogant bigots, even though some of them may be. Some might be idealists dreaming of new government order for the wasteland. Villagers in an agricultural settlement should not be the generic weak farmers in need of saving from raiders, they should be persons. The leader of the settlement is not a fighter, but the guy who raises the cattle is. This causes a conflict within the community, and then the rangers come in. They might encourage the village leader to bolster the defenses of the village in co-operation with the cattleraiser, or form a hit-squad with the aforementioned to trap the raiders next time. The raiders themselves may actually be the members of the "generic evil military", who have been trying to negotiate for food with the villagers, but have little to pay with, and must resort to extreme measures. Their leader is an idiot, but his lieutenant always misses when ordered to fire at the villagers.

And these were very extreme (and arguably quite general for themselves) examples.

All in all, the "factions" should be interesting as themselves, with their history and present, but they should not equalize all their followers into a generic, dull NPC-paste, which is overused like ketchup in most today's rpg's.

EDIT: The original Brotherhood of Steel is an excellent example of a good npc-faction, even though most of them wear similar power-armor.

[Infinitron]

Agree with Gilgames, I hate how "factions" have become a marketing buzzword.

[Leif]

That's a really good way of speaking about the weak ways to implement groups and you and a player's relation to them. To me factions represent an organized ethos that a player can contribute to or fight against. By no means should this be the be-all-end-all of plot progression in the story but from the opening cutsscene to the final credits I should be able to alter the geopolitical structure of wherever I play.

I really hope there is a point in the story where you can decide to 'go rogue' and start your own faction.

[Oktobermensch]

I wonder if ypou could meet a communist/socialist faction. You know, a bunch of people who thought that capitalism of the old world is responsible for current state of things and decided to live in a commune.
just throwing ideas around, and these guys would be part of the 80s' feel of the world.

[GodComplex]

I would enjoy seeing a Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) or similar medieval re-enactment group. Who wouldn't enjoy the inclusion of a shotgun phalanx?

[sparkee666]

I think there shlould be a Reganauts or Regaknights faction

and something about Regans "Starwars" program, the Iron curtain, or, the Berlin Wall can be a mission that will involve the faction.

[GodComplex]

Like Reagan's Raiders?

[suz]

I could do with less factions tbh.

Not every bandit needs to be in the most popular bandit faction. Not every law man needs to be in the latest power block. Most events in wasteland should go unnoticed anyway, there's no journalists and no cameras on every corner.

And universe-wide reputation updates for every NPC via some psychic/magical channel are getting old...

[Mandemon]

That one has been discussed already.

Faction + Town reputations should be used instead of worldwide scale.

So if Faction X likes you, but you fucked up in town Y, then Town Y will hate you despite being member of Faction X

[suz]

I'm talking about the fact if you meet a patrol of 5 from faction X and kill all 5 - there shouldn't be some psychic spy over your shoulder to report your deeds to faction X and magically lower your rep.

It doesn't matter if it's local or global, the fact that rep changed when there's no one to know what you've done blows.

No witnesses should equal to no rep change.

[capt JD]

A community that lives in a theme park

a community that lives in a film studio. Perhaps still making new episodes of shows popular in 1998, like x Files or Friends.

The descendents of a crew from a Mars mission that return 18 months after the war, landed their spacecraft in the desert and used it to build a hightech society.

I think a cult that worships a superhero, like a parody of Batman or Superman as their interpretation of Jesus.

Descendents of the criminals thrown out into desert from the Prison who have been plotting revenge.

A russian UAV which deliberately crashed after gaining sapience and quickly realising war was immoral. A small community formed around it and it supplies energy and guides them.

A large town that was formed by truckers with a truckstop as it core. When the bombs a few truckers holed up there and sent out on the radio to all those still on the road to come there. meaning it was extremely well supplied and had a head start on rebuilding.

A farming community which blames technology for the war and rejects it.

Two factions of LAPD officers descendents. One runs a brutal feudal society. The other fights aganist them and runs a sanctuary

Sky forest people, a peaceful group who live in the skyscrapers that have been overgrown by vegetation caring for and growing the forests.

Mexican immigrants living in the most properous farming and manufacturing community in the wasteland.

An Airborne town lifted by gas bags where traders and pirates in airships dock.

An Isolated University campus who's students survived the war and feminism developed into an amazon style warrior culture where women are dominate and men are slaves.