In what campaign do you play?
Pre-Faction War
Post-Faction War
Or do you do something else?
Just curious to see what everyone is doing.
But basically, I don't know what to do about FW. Use it as a campaign closer? Have it roll around somewhere in the middle? Ignore it entirerly in favor of creating a different plotline? All seem like perfectly good options from where things are standing at the moment.
I have yet to run the Faction War module, so it's partly the reason why my campaign is still in pre-FW.
(Nope... don't have any sort of 'exemplar-meddling weirdness' campaign idea in the works at all. :: whistles innocently ::
)The factions are nice, but their kriegstanz really does have the potential to steal the spotlight and get the players involved in human-level politickings and machinations,
But that is what made Planescape such a great setting. Planescape was the first campaign to become so involved with politics, which was a great opportunity to get low-level characters involved in the outer planes.
The tone is different in some ways, but oddly the same in others. The best way to say is that the Kreigstanz is still there, but the players on the field are reorganized, some new, some the same, and some altered from what they were.
Despite the Factions being nominally out of power, they had a huge and continual impact in that first campaign, and even in the new campaign, 160 IC years later, they're still around, and some of them are in shallow, restless graves, still casting a damn long shadow.
I agree with the idea that the factions actually remain (some changes or replaced) after FW but I would wait until I'm realy sure I've used-up all the potentionl of the pre-FW factions before introducing such a change and I honnestly believe thiere is potential for decandes of playing with the old factions.
There's also the fact that I didn't realy like Faction-War. The story is good and interesting but the module has the players play such periferal roles in it that there's a good deal of what's going on that they'll likely never know about. I think the story should be built more so the players can appreciate it not juste so the DM can have them play a small bit of a big thing that only he will know about. But that's just my opinion.
On the other hand, I use faction war a lot but more as an accessory than an adventure. There is a lot of information on Sigil in there and it is a good complement to In The Cage on that level.
However, we have found ourselves in the same place as many Planewalkers: without material. Thus far we play that a group of bloods, including Swanson have set up a make shift city council compossed of cutters of all alignments to get the city's basic services up and running again. Meanwhile, with the Guvners gone, the Dabus have doned judges robes and have begun sorting out all the cases that have piled up. No one knows if this is temporary, or the Lady's way of telling Cagers who has the final say on Justice in the city of doors.
As far as life without the factions goes, tis a small thing really. Other groups will emerge in the Cage and try to cut out their own kips. Many of the city's most influencial have already begun moving to take over the Faction's old headquarters. The Hall of Records has been converted back into a center of learning as it was before the Fated got their hands on it.
Personally, I think it's great. True, the Faction War Module was more about watching what was happening than it was about being the rattler that started it, but as both our characters are worshippers of Thoth (the egyptian god of secret knowledge), watching suited us just fine. Plus, the power vaccum created after the whole thing was over spawned all kinds of plitical intrigue.
Besides, Sigil has had things like this happen before: the death of Aoskar, the great Upheaval. I think it is cool to have a character that actually lived through one of the greatest events of the planes. It's character building. Sigil will go on and new groups will come. They might not call themselves factions, but they will amount to the same thing. It's all just the Unity of Rings.
1) the factols (except "Duke" Rowan, of course) are not mazed (you can let them die at the hand of opposit factions members, pf course)
2) The Lady's edict doesn't expell the factions from Sigil (with the possible exception of the Fated, who, on the other hand, when the plot is revealed, will become everyone's enemy and risk kill on sight from angry Sigilians....)
Basically, the Lady does nothing until the final confrontation with the Duke, when she removes him from the scene ('till the next time loop, of course :D ), as she is unconcerned of the petty power plays and intrigues of the factions..only when she is personally menaced (and so is the city), she harshly remainds everyone who is in charge...
So, you can play this great adventure without a major change in the setting'workings, mantaining the factions structure and presence in sigil and only replacing those factols who are killed in the war..
just my two cents...
I don't understand why you can't play Faction War in a Planescape campaign simply changing two facts:
1) the factols (except "Duke" Rowan, of course) are not mazed (you can let them die at the hand of opposit factions members, pf course)
2) The Lady's edict doesn't expell the factions from Sigil (with the possible exception of the Fated, who, on the other hand, when the plot is revealed, will become everyone's enemy and risk kill on sight from angry Sigilians....)
Basically, the Lady does nothing until the final confrontation with the Duke, when she removes him from the scene ('till the next time loop, of course :D ), as she is unconcerned of the petty power plays and intrigues of the factions..only when she is personally menaced (and so is the city), she harshly remainds everyone who is in charge...
So, you can play this great adventure without a major change in the setting'workings, mantaining the factions structure and presence in sigil and only replacing those factols who are killed in the war..
just my two cents...
I agree. But I think the whole point is that all subsequent material will assume that the module was completed as written.
The factions are nice, but their kriegstanz really does have the potential to steal the spotlight and get the players involved in human-level politickings and machinations,
But that is what made Planescape such a great setting. Planescape was the first campaign to become so involved with politics, which was a great opportunity to get low-level characters involved in the outer planes.
This just reminded me of long ago (read: mid-90s) when I saw an ad for PS saying something like 'The planes aren't just a safari.'
...
Oh, found it. http://web.archive.org/web/19990209073333/www.tsr.com/Planescape/What_Is.html
Seems to support both sides a little. Hmm. Well, all things in infinity, I guess.
