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GM Tools · 03

Faction moves

What each power does when the party looks away.

Tap the plate to zoom. From the Mar de Oro GM Tools Booklet.

What it is

Every active faction, Albion intelligence, the Shadowed Tide, the Justicariat, a Heller merchant house, a Source-touched congregation , has its own aim. Between sessions, review what each can credibly do with its available assets and current position. A move is a concrete action, not a mood; neither a move nor a clock segment is required simply because a session ended.

Faction moves are what stops the campaign from freezing when the party rests. They also stop the Game Master from having to invent reactions on the spot: resolve pending actions against established events and player responses, then show what actually changed.

A move can be countered by the party later, revealed slowly through clues, or land in full at the top of the next session. What matters is that something changed while nobody was watching.

When to use it

  • At session end, review each active faction’s goals, assets, and credible next action, including those the party ignored.
  • When time passes, resolve off-screen actions and events it makes possible; apply clock changes only when established triggers occur.
  • When a faction's clock ticks past its threshold, its next move escalates.
  • When the party publicly humiliates or aids a faction, the move responds directly.

Worked example

After Session 4 · Three factions, three moves
Albion (S.O.S.)
Plants a listener in the party's usual harbour master, future bribes are logged.
Shadowed Tide
Sends a courier to the party's fence with a "gift", a debt-token the fence cannot refuse without insult.
Justicariat, Valdegracia
Requisitions the plantation's refinery logs. Next session, a Justicar knows more about the party than the party expects.

Pairs with

Clocks
Faction moves are the visible face of an advancing clock.
Clue webs
Reveal a faction move through three independent evidence routes.
Session Prep Builder
Log each faction's next move and carry it into the next session.
Previous · Tool 02
Session objectives
Next · Tool 04
Clue webs
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For the Game Master's eyes

Tales of Mar de Oro · Game Master's Guide · Johnny Crown · 7202 Post Sundering

Restricted · For the Game Master

Mar de Oro GM Tools

This is the Game Master tool area for Tales of Mar de Oro: session preparation aids, pacing and consequence helpers, clocks, and reference generators you can use at the table. The tools themselves are system-neutral utilities, and they sit alongside campaign material written for the person behind the screen.

Campaign spoiler warning: the material past this point includes faction secrets, hidden truths, and the sequence of events behind the campaign. Reading it as a player will hollow out surprises the setting depends on.

Spoiler-free GM resources you can open without entering: Mar de Oro GM Tables and new Game Master onboarding.

Return to player material

7202 Post Sundering · Johnny Crown