Rating: 
Summary: "Record of Lodoss War" Planescape-style
Review: STORYLINE (in my own words): Once upon a time, there was a man named Duke Darkwood, the leader of a philosophical/political faction called the Fated. He was a hard-working, but stubborn man who was either busy trying to clean up his faction's evil, theif-like reputation, annoying his nemisis Erin Montegomery as well as the leaders of the other factions, or planning to destroy the Lady of Pain and claim Sigil, the City of Doors, as his own. One day, he finds some interesting information that could make his goal of conquering Sigil come true: There is a magical gem and a special spell which have the power to kill the Lady of Pain once and for all. After years of searching, his quest comes to a successful end. Now he has started to disrupt the peace in Sigil by piting the factions against each other while he attempts to carry out his plan. COMMENTS: Faction War is different from most fantasy stories/game modules because when the heroes (the players) appear, they are stuck on the side-lines, trying to survive in Sigil during the war. In the course of the story, the heroes find out about the gem and the spell thanks to a fiendish but friendly shopkeeper named A'kin. I'll let you read the rest of the story. There is also a bunch of extra information concerning the Planescape setting. Another reason to buy this book. SIMILLAR MOVIES: Record of Lodoss War (The English dubbed version is the best! Available here on Amazon.Com) RELATED (AND NEEDED) BOOKS: Uncaged: Faces of Sigil (This book gives more details on the characters found in Faction War), Planescape Campaign (extra information on Duke Darkwood), and Factol's Manifesto (main info on Duke Darkwood). These books are also available on Amazon.Com
Rating: 
Summary: Poor use for 128 pages of Planescape material
Review: This adventure was one of the last Planescape products to be published since Planescape was discontinued with the announcement of 3rd edition AD&D. The author, Monte Cook, is a veteran gamer and has demonstrated his ability in the past to design Planescape material such as "Dead Gods" and "The Great Modron March". This adventure rips the heart (i.e. the factions) out of Sigil and leaves nothing behind to fill the void. "Faction War" totally invalidates one of the best Planescape products produced, "The Factols Manifesto". Sigil is left in shambles and over a dozen of its best NPCs removed without hesitation. The adventure itself is rather tame. Most of it is just a scavenger hunt through Sigil. The few locales your characters travel to aren't any more creative than the ones described in "In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil". The 128 pages could have been better spent on another Planescape Monstrous Compendium or a detailed tour of the Abyss or Baator. It is a very poor note to end Sigil on because there will be no further Planescape products in the near future to correct this mistake or redefine the city.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting? Yes. Necessary? No.
Review: This book deals with what happens when an overachieving factol goes too far. It changes Sigil drastically; anyone who enjoys the factional intrigues of Sigil probably won't like these changes. This book does have some good higer-level adventures in it, but DM be warned: you'll have to water things down significanly for lower-level adventurers (example: a goristro tanar'ri running amuck in the Lower Ward.) Admittedly, Faction War does make for some good reading, and at least it explains who wrote The Factol's Manifesto. However, I do not understand why TSR felt compelled to shake things up in Planescape this soon (comparatively) after introducing the campaign setting. In short, don't bother with this book if you like the status quo in Sigil. Faction War is a decent book overall, but Modron March it ain't.
Rating: 
Summary: Big change in Sigil, but not much fun.
Review: This is not a good adventure to buy if you liked Sigil the way it was. Most of the factols are dispensed with in an offhanded manner that does not involve the PC's at all. It is good if you are getting tired of Planescape and want to change some things, but don't worry about it if you want to keep your Sigil as it is.
| 
