Factions at War (Revised Edition)

Secret Societies Behind the Curtain of Reality

The World is Not as it Seems
There are Others Among Us
Who Work Their Magics
And Bend Their Will
To Make Reality as They Wish
These Strange Ones, These Gifted
Masters of Beyond the Shroud
Who Now Enter into War
For All That Exists

Factions is the first game line released by Other Court Games. Depicting reality-bending will workers and occultists, Factions is a game of conspiracies, struggle between secret societies, strangeness, and power. It takes place in an alternate slightly-future, where hidden forces manipulate civilization and fight for the spoils.

The Order

A megalithic secret society called the Order controls the US government and the major corporations, and rules the world through a neo-fascist, Orwellian, supernaturally-backed dictatorship.

The Alliance

Arranged against the Order is the Alliance, an armed, occultist resistance group which fights for liberty, chaos, and freedom.

The Free Societies

Stuck in the middle of the Order and the Alliance are the Free Societies, who try to get along the best they can. Pressure from both sides threatens to drag the Free Societies directly into the budding civil war in America.

The Independents

The Independents stay out of Sects such as those above, and try to make it on their own. Their interests or philosophies hover on the edge of what is acceptable to the norm.

The Outer Societies

On the fringes lie the Outer Societies, who come from foreign shores or alien philosophies. Some are marked as outcasts, where others are merely "immigrant" powers.

None of the Above

Lastly, some Gifted owe no allegiances, and work as go-betweens, free agents, and mercenaries in the panorama of plots, schemes, and dirty deals that keep the Factions world spinning.

Factions is a gritty and weird setting. It's two parts film noir and one part fire-bombing anarchist punk, with a dash of psychedelica fantasy thrown in for good measure. In this world, hidden groups of metaphysicicists pull the strings from the edge of the curtain. Can you withstand the full weight of the Truth of what lies beyond the puppet show?

Players take on the roles of the Gifted - people who have glimpsed past the veil of the mundane and witnessed the edge of the fantastic. They fight to survive in a tense and disturbing world, uncover secrets, learn arcane truths, and gather personal power. The road to god-hood disappears into the distance. Or perhaps they want to take sides in the looming civil war? Will they fight for the resistance, or join the forces of control?

Factions at War is the core book for the setting. It introduces the major conflicts of the world and gives a layman's explanation of an individual's place in it. The book features a detailed "build point" character creation system, unique, intuitive mechanics, a vast Special Abilities section for innate reality-bending powers, and a Ritual Magic system based on real world esoteric beliefs.