Tabletop role-playing game
Fading Suns is a science fiction space opera role-playing game published by Holistic Design. The setting was also used for a PC game (Emperor of the Fading Suns), a live action role-playing game (Passion Play), and for a space combat miniature game (Noble Armada).
History
After the computer game Machiavelli the Prince, Holistic Design looked to try something new - a space strategy computer game, which ultimately became Emperor of the Fading Suns (1996).[1]: 322 Holistic commissioned Andrew Greenberg and Bill Bridges to use their world building experience to create a universe for the game, which would also be used as the setting for a tabletop role-playing game to be released simultaneously.[1]: 322 Greenberg and Bridges had previously helped define the style of White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness and, according to Shannon Appelcline, people noticed this game's similarity to the "White Wolf style".[1]: 322 Appelcline comments further: "Fading Suns is unique mainly for its distinctive setting. It is a hard science-fiction game, but much of the universe has fallen back to Medieval technology: noble houses, guilds and a monolithic church control most of the power in the universe. Many people compare the universe to that of Frank Herbert's Dune, though Bridges points to Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, Isaac Asimov's Foundation and others as his inspiration."[1]: 322 Fading Suns was well supported with supplements for a few years and in that time the line sold well.[1]: 322 Holistic released the table-top miniatures game Noble Armada (1998), which was designed by Ken Lightner and Chris Wiese as a spaceship combat game intended to compatible with Fading Suns.[1]: 323 Passion Play (1999) was a live action role-playing game for Fading Suns.[1]: 323 Holistic published a d20 version of Fading Suns (2001), and then published their later Fading Suns supplements with dual sets of statistics to use them for both d20 and their own "Victory Point System".[1]: 323 Over the next few years Holistic announced that they were working on a third edition of Fading Suns as well as new games which would have been designed using the d20 Modern rules and would have explored different periods in the history of Fading Suns, but none of these products were released.[1]: 324 In 2007 Holistic Design licensed Fading Suns to RedBrick, and in 2012 the license passed to FASA Games, Inc, which released a revised edition of Fading Suns later that year. In 2014 FASA Games announced they would be releasing a new version of Noble Armada.[2] In 2016 Holistic Design licensed the publishing rights for Fading Suns to Ulisses Spiele, who announced they were planning a new edition, with products published in both English and German. FASA Games retained the license for Noble Armada products and miniatures.[3]
Game setting
The action is set in the Known Worlds, a future medieval-analogue empire built on the remains of a previous, more sophisticated human space-faring civilization made possible by ancient "jumpgates". The jumpgates are relics left by the mysterious Anunnaki, an ancient civilization (or civilizations) which seem to have influenced the evolution of lesser species, such as humans, for their own end, and waged a devastating war many millennia ago using them as tools and weapons.
The atmosphere is strongly reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune and of the Hyperion stories by Dan Simmons, but is influenced by many other science fiction and horror books and movies as well, including the Cthulhu Mythos. The Known Worlds are a very superstitious and dangerous place.
Power is administered by five major Noble Houses, five major guilds within the Merchants League, and six major sects of the Universal Church of the Celestial Sun.
While most role-playing situations arise from the strict codes regulating the everyday life of the empire's citizens, the Imperial Age is rife with opportunities for adventure. Following the fall of the old regime, and centuries of darkness and warfare, most worlds have slipped backward to a technology level not much more advanced than 21st century Earth, and a number of alien threats lurk in the shadows. Pushing at the borders of the Known Worlds lurk the mutangenic horror of the Symbiots, the ancient and enigmatic Vau, and the barbarian empires of the Kurgan and the Vuldrok, all waiting for their chance to throw humanity into darkness and chaos.
Players can take the role of either a member of a Noble House, of one of the various merchant guilds, or a member of one of the numerous religious sects. A number of alien species, most notably the human-like 'psychic' Ukar and Obun, and the six-limbed, bestial Vorox, are also available as player characters.
Two separate types of occult abilities exist within the game universe: psychic powers and Theurgy. Psychic powers manifest, generally, from the practitioners' own mental abilities. Psionicists, castigated as 'demon worshippers' and heretics, are often hunted down and killed by the Church, or enrolled in the Church's ranks (after a good bit of 're-training'). Theurgy is a kind of ordained divine sorcery practiced by the Church through various approved rites and is capable of producing miracles, often by calling on the assistance of various saints and angels.
A large library of supplements provides descriptions of locales (planets, space stations, whole sections of space), alien societies, minor houses, guilds and sects, monsters and secret conspiracies, thus expanding the thematic possibilities offered by the setting.
Game system
The Fading Suns engine uses a simple attribute and skill, level and classless, single d20-powered system, called the Victory Point System (VPS).[4] The second edition of the game's rules solved many issues raised by the earlier rule book, while increasing the amount of data available. The current Revised Edition further updated and streamlined the VPS mechanics.
While generally stereotypical in their template-like form, characters are easily personalized through either life path or points-buy systems.
In 2000, an adaptation of the setting to the popular 3rd edition OGL system was also published - D20 Fading Suns. For several years, supplements carried rules for both systems.
Holistic Design has released a LARP version of Fading Suns entitled Passion Play.[5]
A fourth edition of Fading Suns is in development, helmed by original writer Bill Bridges.
Reception
In the August 1997 edition of Dragon (Issue 238), Rick Swan liked the sombre setting, but criticized the task resolution system: "Inexplicably, the designers pile on the numbers, adding stuff like effect dice, effect numbers, and complementary actions, all of which are intended to make task resolution more realistic, but just make it more confusing." But Swan liked the rest of the game, and gave it a rating of 5 out of 6, saying, "Although Fading Suns fails to scale the heights of Traveller — the setting isn't as rich, and the rules, though solid, aren't nearly as elegant — it succeeds on its own terms, evoking a vividly imagined future where street smarts count more than computer literacy, where betrayal and despair are more common than sunshine. With nearly 50 pages of background to digest, it's not the easiest game to get into. But for players who like a little anguish with their space opera, it's worth the effort."[11]
