noble houses

[signoftheserpent]

What about the game King Arthur Pendragon?

It's about noble houses as well, and players have to manage their property as well as their relations with neighbours, and they have vendettas between houses, and moral conflicts when they have to choose between their surezain's commands and their family well-being.

The players don't have to fight amongst themselves, their's a whole bunch of NPC noble houses and some other kind of enemies.

If you want a noble house setting, you have the perfect example in this game. This setting is based on historical reality, and the game gives a few rules to manage some important points, like the excellent "winter phase" (sorry I don't know the term in the english version of the game). This game should be a major inspiration for you.

-Shlo.

Actually the traditional WW splat approach is probably the best since it maintains the factional model while allowing players to create their own faction from among them.