So I'm thinking for the next phase of our EP game, I'm going to change things up a bit and try to put the players in the driver's seat. Taking liberally from RPPR's Know Evil campaign (only steal from the best, I always say), the basic setup is this: "We've received advanced word from a sentinel on board the scum swarm The Stars Our Destination. The swarm has located and identified a long-sought, near-legendary ghost ship that disappeared during The Fall. Initial inspections seem to indicate the ship is almost entirely intact, and the swarm is making one last shore visit to acquire some extra salvage help before setting out for one of the biggest salvage hauls ever. "Firewall is concerned about whatever may or may not still be inside that ship--during the fall, something took it down without vaporizing it, and whatever that it may be lying dormant. A TITAN, an exsurgent-infected crew member or system, or any number of other things that could awaken and infect the swarm would be very, very dangerous. "Your mission is simple: You will join the swarm and spend the next several weeks building your rep and connections to the various people and factions on board. You'll work to guarantee yourselves front-line and/or planning roles on the salvage team, with the hope of identifying, containing, or destroying whatever it was inside that destroyed the ship in the first place." So we'll have some time where the players drive the action around the swarm, doing favors and jobs for different people and factions, trying to curry favor in preparation of the eventual salvage operation, which will then be a big set piece (which I will, of course, shamelessly steal from RPPR). I do have some questions and was hoping people here had some thoughts: - The major theme I'm trying to run through all of this is how the promise of such a massive find will start to create friction and division within the swarm. Old wounds are starting to reopen, and certain people (both large and small) are looking for opportunities during the upcoming salvage to take something for themselves, rather than sharing with the swarm. - Looking through The Stars Our Destination sourcebook, I like a lot of what I see about the history and specifics of the swarm, but for the most part, I'm having difficulty trying to draw faultlines and contrasts between the different groups. I'm definitely going to be adding my own groups and ships to the list, but I was wondering if people had any experience in creating and balancing this sort of faction-based play? I don't want to just clump the groups into 1, 2 or 3 different groups that the PCs have to choose from, but I'm also worried about creating something that's overly-elaborate and complicated. - It seems like most of the population of TSOD is on three ships--anyone have an idea how to run this? It seems unlikely that one ship would be mostly one "faction" or ideology, save for Bahala Na (the largest criminal group). I'm thinking of having simplified travel rules between the ships, but in general I'm wondering if people had any advice on balancing the different population centers and how it could impact play. - Any thoughts on side quests that scum swarm folk might need done from an outsider?