Howdy outlaws,

Happy August! I apologize for making a monthly update so deep into the month. The truth is that there's not many interesting things to say about the state of the game right now—I'm still writing final text and producing the book, which involves a lot of long, boring tasks, and since I wear the only hat for basically everything that goes into this game, it takes longer and is more boring! I recently reformatted the factions chapter, which truly ate up a lot of time—idk how entertaining updates like, "Just spent an hour looking for a suitable piece of art for a factions section header and still didn't find it" would be to anyone. (I did eventually find it.)

However, as part of that effort, I've also revised a few factions and added in a few more to further flesh out the world of Copperhead County, particularly the non-criminal world (although few elements of Copperhead County are entirely free of corrupt or criminal influence). Faction design is an important element in any Forged in the Dark game and IMO probably the most fun part of worldbuilding. Each faction basically exists as its own little world which needs to intersect with other factions and provide game-ready hooks for players and GMs.  

I'm going to spotlight two new factions today: the law firm Bagwell & Bagwell and the MLM scam company LegaLife.

Bagwell & Bagwell is inspired by a certain type of law firm common to colorful television commercials: self-righteous injury attorneys, particularly ones founded by old men who are now attempting to introduce their large adult sons to their audience.  Think Nashville, Tennessee's Bart and Blair Durham, or the Texas Hammer Jim Adler and his son Bill, or Morgan & Morgan "for the people." Bagwell & Bagwell start the Copperhead County campaign involved in a fruitful situation with OGRE and the Local 77. If your crew is on the side of the underdog, they might help B&B's case against OGRE; or if they're just in it for the money, OGRE would pay them handsomely for crushing the plaintiffs. (Shame on your crew, though.)

LegaLife is inspired by a grab-bag of multi-level marketing and scam companies, including some I've known in real life. MLMs are very American scams which deserve more scrutiny in our current scam-filled era. Even though they're baldly deceptive and immoral, LegaLife is categorized as a Commercial faction, rather than a Criminal faction, because they have a thin veneer of legitimacy and are more involved with the legitimate world of Copperhead County than the drug-and-vice underworld. As a tier 1 Glass Joe, they make a good target for crews who want to get involved in low-level white-collar crime, perhaps by taking over their Phony Office claim, by turning scam mastermind Rickey Dwayne Reed into a useful ally, or by helping the community and shutting down this unsavory character. (Free idea: as a Personal Trouble development, one of the PCs' loved ones gets ripped off by LegaLife. What are you gonna do about it?)

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more updates and previews as work on Copperhead County: The Final Product continues.