Talk to me about Planescape factions

[RangerWickett]

I've only ever dabbled in Planescape, but since Numenara: Torment is coming now, I'm curious to learn more about the setting, and in particular the philosophical elements. What were the factions, which were your favorites, and how did they get used in your games?

 

[Nikosandros]

I don't know if you are aware of this, but the setting of Numenera has nothing to do with Planescape.

 

[RangerWickett]

Of course. But Numenara: Torment is the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, and since Numenara is still a long way off, my interest is attracted to the original, Planescape.

 

[Asmor]

I highly recommend picking up Planescape: Torment. There's a reason a 'spiritual successor' to it did so well on Kickstarter...

 

[Piratecat]

There's a crap-ton of factions, and the implementation is really quite brilliant. I loved having philosophical alliances to hang plots on. I'm betting there's a wiki somewhere for all of them...

 

[Stormonu]

Funny, just had the Planescape boxed set open...

Doomguard - Everything dies and breaks down, these guys are here to help it along
Mercykillers - Break the law, and you deserve to die. These guys enforce that.
Sensates - New sensations help to refine what is pleasurable or not. Pain or ecstasy, you can't know the heights of one without having experienced the depths of the other.
Xaocists - All is chaos - don't try to make sense of the universe.
The Athar - The gods are liars who are trying to keep power for themselves. You have the ability to rise above them and seize the power for yourself.
Godsmen (Believers of the Source) - Live the "good" life and keep getting reborn 'til you get it right and turn into a god/ascended being.
Bleak Cabal - "End the Universe, I want to get off"; life is a joke and you're doing folks a favor by showing everyone how futile living is.
The Dustmen - If everyone would just up and die and go to their rightful plane as petitioners, this universe would be a whole lot better off
The Fated - Your destiny is already planned out, so stop dawdling and start seizing your destiny now
Guvners (Fraterity of Order) - Without law and order, the universe would fall apart. Their job is to make sure things don't collapse
Indeps (Free League) - You are your own master, don't let anyone else tell you what to do
Hardheads (The Harmonium) - Big brother is watching you; We know what is good for you - we are your mother and your father ...
Anarchists (Revolutionary League) - Throw down the order of the multiverse; it's too corrupt to continue to exist
Signers (The Sign of One) - Only you exist; everyone and everything else around you is a dream in your own mind
Ciphers (Transcendent Order) - Thought is the ruination of the multiverse; Only by action without thought or qualm can you purify mind and body

 

[RangerWickett]

Purchased from Good Old Games, installed, played an hour.

Forgot that old games don't auto-save. Game crashed.

 

[Oryan77]

Purchased from Good Old Games, installed, played an hour.

Forgot that old games don't auto-save. Game crashed.

The game is known to be quite buggy. If you haven't already, search the web for a few of the Torment patches. There are also a few very good patches that do things like run Torment at a higher resolution and stack items in inventory that were not originally stackable.

As for the factions, there are too many pre-Faction War and post-Faction War factions to discuss all in one post. My personal favorite would be the Fated. Other than the fact that I just like their philosophy, I have a huge admiration for their Factol, Duke Rowan Darkwood. I always thought it was cool that one of the most powerful figures in Sigil (possibly THE most powerful other than the Lady) is not even a planar. And to top it off, he's a human. That's just gotta hit a nerve with those celestials and fiends.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Bleak Cabal - "End the Universe, I want to get off"; life is a joke and you're doing folks a favor by showing everyone how futile living is.

Funny how my interpretation of the Bleaker philosophy is pretty much the exact opposite. The way I see it, the point is that since the multiverse doesn't have a purpose, you have to look for purpose within yourself. Some may find it depressing, but it is ultimately freeing.

I think you might be able to guess which faction most closely matches my real-life beliefs... >_>

I highly recommend picking up Planescape: Torment. There's a reason a 'spiritual successor' to it did so well on Kickstarter...

Side question: Did anyone else hate that game? It's pretty much just people asking you to go fetch things that are all conveniently located in the same one-mile neighborhood of Sigil.

 

[Asmor]

Did anyone else hate that game? It's pretty much just people asking you to go fetch things that are all conveniently located in the same one-mile neighborhood of Sigil.

I... I am afraid I must ask you to step outside, sirrah.

In all seriousness, it's not the sort of game I'd expect to like (especially these days), but I did love it. I don't remember much about the specifics of the game, just that there was a lot--like, a lot a lot--of dialog, and it was awesome at the time.