This is Faction War, the end of Planescape.

Planescape’s factions are its heart and soul. They’re a number of organizations that are headquartered in Sigil, the city at the center of the multiverse, and their beliefs have the potential to change the fabric of existence. Characters can throw their lot in with a faction and join the philosophical cold war – because of course the factions don’t get along. They’re all searching for ever more power to ensure that the multiverse sees things their way. The war is kept cold, though, out of fear of Sigil’s mysterious ruler, the Lady of Pain. Faction War is what happens when things turn hot.

If you run a long term Planescape campaign, I think the natural course is to have the factions eventually bubble up into some sort of outright violence. The core box sets this up, so I suppose it makes sense that the line would come to an end in this way. And the story arc is good enough, though the elaborate conspiracies wind up casting players as spectators as often as participants.

It disappoints me, overall. The end result is a complete paradigm shift from what is presented in the campaign setting box set and the new order, while interesting, never has a chance to develop, since, you know, the line was closed. It seems abrupt and a bit strange to put out one product that nullifies another, no?

I think Planescape factions work much better in a never-ending cycle of skirmishes and detentes, with the status quo shifting just a little bit back and forth. It is natural, of course, for a story, even a meta-story, to end, but it strikes me as unfair for a setting to suffer something so final.

Adam Rex and Hannibal King are on art duty, which is another bit of glum news. I like their work well enough, but it seems a missed opportunity to not have DiTerlizzi or even Randy Post at the help of Planescape’s swan song.