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Fun with Factions

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Mon, 2006-08-14 08:22
#1
Agamemnon
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Fun with Factions

Any one remember the factions presented by Tim Beach? I believe that they were supposed to have existed in Sigil at an earlier time, but had fallen into extinction. Of course, in a place deeply entrenced in belief, anything can be brought back into existence.

From my notes, I have the The Beautification League (the Decorators), The Free Flora Collective (The Veggies, the Tree-Huggers League), The Herbivorous Assembly (the Vegetarians), The Wizards of the Black Teddy (The Babes), & The Apathetic Alliance (the Apathetics).

I believe they were featured in an April Fool's edition of Dragon. Aside from a casual chuckle, would anyone really allow such a faction to operate?

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Mon, 2006-08-14 12:59
#2
Jack of tears
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re

Me, I'm fairly happy with the original set of factions and have seen no reason to expand upon that number. However, it is stated in a few places that there are factions outside the City of Doors, which never got a foothold in Sigil itself. Such "factions" would receive little serious attention from most Cagers, but might have a plane wherein their philosophies are widely aknowledged.

Mon, 2006-08-14 22:41
(Reply to #2) #3
Clueless
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Fun with Factions

Those factions are generally called "Sects" - and yeah, there's plenty of them out there - some more powerful than others.

Tue, 2006-08-15 16:41
(Reply to #3) #4
Azriael
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Fun with Factions

YES! The apathetics will rise again!!!

What? my membership just got cancelled? aah well

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Wed, 2006-08-16 07:22
(Reply to #4) #5
simmo
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Fun with Factions

There was an April Fool's edition with those joke factions. I can't remember any more than the ones that you have listed. I do recall that the Wizards of the Black Teddy were led by an Elle McFearsome or something to that effect and that they desired to give The Lady of Pain a make-over.

A lot of fun can be had with factions. If I was running a campaign now I'd consider using a joke faction. There's a list of some on the old mimir site here called Sectual Humour: http://mimir.net/sects/humour.shtml

In my view the factions are all about having fun with philosphy in the context of a role-playing game. So sure, why not include something silly. Howeve, I'd not recommend going over the top with it. The joke will wear thin eventually.

Wed, 2006-08-16 12:02
(Reply to #5) #6
ripvanwormer
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Fun with Factions

There was a apparently a joke among the online Dragonlance fan community about how many fans had given themselves names like "Lady Raistlin" and so forth - female fans who identified with that character. So Steve Miller, who was one of the big Age of Mortals designers back when the game was played with cards, wrote a long and involved history of the Wizards of the Black Teddy, attributing their origin to Raistlin Majere, who was secretly female and into BSM but hid it to survive in a male-dominated world. Anyway, that story isn't on DL3e.com anymore.

Also, this article on the Mimir details the fate of the "faxtions" after the Faction War. For example, the Wizards of the Black Teddy eventually leave Sigil.

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