The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The people at Holistic Design, as I've told them, haven't quite figured out this business. They keep producing supplements on time, and of superior quality. What gives? I'm fully prepared to wait 6 or 7 months for a shoddy product, and they go and publish something like the Players Companion. Like most Fading Suns supplements, I can't imagine a group of players not wanting at least one copy of this. The expansions to the rules and the background of the already-rich Fading Suns universe are invaluable.

The Players Companion adds a few new rules, including more weapons, more armor, new psychic powers, a new quasi-sect of the Universal Church, and a few new guilds. New rules for combat include a table for people who don't like to roll big heaps of dice for damage (I suppose the table is quicker and less prone to misreading, but there's something about taking two handfuls of dice and throwing them onto the table that I like) and much-needed restrictions on the accenting rules.

The Players Companion really shines in four areas, though. The first is information on the armed forces of the Known Worlds. Players of the computer game (Emperor of the Fading Suns) have been curious about things like Dervishes, Tracker Legions, and Grimsons (genetically-modified, chemically-enhanced nightmares) and the Players Companion doesn't disappoint. There's also an in-depth section on the other alien races of the Known Worlds, from the ubiquitous, playful Gannok to the ancient and mysterious Oro'ym, who may hold the secrets to humanity's past. Each of the new alien races has several pages devoted to it, describing physiology, social structure, history, and so forth. Another part of the book that was much-needed was in the chapter on religion. Two new religions are detailed. Gjarti was a new-age self-discovery movement that evolved into pagan Goddess worship. It's mostly practiced by the Vuldrok and "backward" folks on a number of worlds. Manja is an ancestor worship religion exclusive to nobles based on a perversion of Ukari beliefs, and is very suitable as an "evil" religion if you want one in your game (and don't want it to be the Universal Church). The final part of the book that impressed me no end was the section on the Changed. People who don't think they're being persecuted enough playing aliens can play genetically-modified humans, widely known to be the spawn of demons and frequently incinerated by the Inquisition.

In fact, out of a 205 page book (207 if you count the beautiful index), only a handful of pages struck as me being not very useful. Unfortunately, these pages are right at the front, after the opening piece of fiction. The "A Day in the Life" chapter is supposed to give insight into the life of all the character types (and serfs) from the main rules, but isn't really all that impressive. Some of the pieces are boring, others are blackly comic (like the Vorox piece), but left me knowing very little that I didn't know before. In fact, here's what I learned from this chapter: the Vorox collect "trophies" in the form of parts of their kills. Nobles and priests have already been explored in depth in their respective books, and hopefully the book for the Guilds will not be too long in coming. The three alien races from the main rulebook were given very short shrift here, with only one new thing being told about the Vorox (the trophy thing) and absolutely no new information about either the Ur-Obun or the Ur-Ukar. After reading the Players Companion, I could easily run a campaign where all of the players were the very alien insectoid, bloodsucking Ascorbites of Severus, but I'd still be uncomfortable running an adventure where human characters went to an Ukari city, despite the fact that the Ur-Ukar have been available as player characters from the very beginning of the game.

That complaint aside, however, this is an excellent book in every other respect. Players and gamemasters of Fading Suns should look into getting at least one copy for the group, maybe more. It's rare that any supplement for a game is "essential", but the Players Companion is just that.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Fading Suns Players Companion
Author: Bill Bridges, Jackie Cassada, Sam Chupp, James Estes, Andrew Greenberg, Dan Greenberg, Lee Hammock, Sam Inabinet, Ross Isaacs, Chris Howard, James Moore, Russ Quaide, Chris Wiese Category: game Company/Publisher: Holistic Design, Inc. Capsule Review by Kevin Mowery on 08/19/97. Genre tags: none	The people at Holistic Design, as I've told them, haven't quite figured out this business. They keep producing supplements on time, and of superior quality. What gives? I'm fully prepared to wait 6 or 7 months for a shoddy product, and they go and publish something like the Players Companion. Like most Fading Suns supplements, I can't imagine a group of players not wanting at least one copy of this. The expansions to the rules and the background of the already-rich Fading Suns universe are invaluable. The Players Companion adds a few new rules, including more weapons, more armor, new psychic powers, a new quasi-sect of the Universal Church, and a few new guilds. New rules for combat include a table for people who don't like to roll big heaps of dice for damage (I suppose the table is quicker and less prone to misreading, but there's something about taking two handfuls of dice and throwing them onto the table that I like) and much-needed restrictions on the accenting rules. The Players Companion really shines in four areas, though. The first is information on the armed forces of the Known Worlds. Players of the computer game (Emperor of the Fading Suns) have been curious about things like Dervishes, Tracker Legions, and Grimsons (genetically-modified, chemically-enhanced nightmares) and the Players Companion doesn't disappoint. There's also an in-depth section on the other alien races of the Known Worlds, from the ubiquitous, playful Gannok to the ancient and mysterious Oro'ym, who may hold the secrets to humanity's past. Each of the new alien races has several pages devoted to it, describing physiology, social structure, history, and so forth. Another part of the book that was much-needed was in the chapter on religion. Two new religions are detailed. Gjarti was a new-age self-discovery movement that evolved into pagan Goddess worship. It's mostly practiced by the Vuldrok and "backward" folks on a number of worlds. Manja is an ancestor worship religion exclusive to nobles based on a perversion of Ukari beliefs, and is very suitable as an "evil" religion if you want one in your game (and don't want it to be the Universal Church). The final part of the book that impressed me no end was the section on the Changed. People who don't think they're being persecuted enough playing aliens can play genetically-modified humans, widely known to be the spawn of demons and frequently incinerated by the Inquisition. In fact, out of a 205 page book (207 if you count the beautiful index), only a handful of pages struck as me being not very useful. Unfortunately, these pages are right at the front, after the opening piece of fiction. The "A Day in the Life" chapter is supposed to give insight into the life of all the character types (and serfs) from the main rules, but isn't really all that impressive. Some of the pieces are boring, others are blackly comic (like the Vorox piece), but left me knowing very little that I didn't know before. In fact, here's what I learned from this chapter: the Vorox collect "trophies" in the form of parts of their kills. Nobles and priests have already been explored in depth in their respective books, and hopefully the book for the Guilds will not be too long in coming. The three alien races from the main rulebook were given very short shrift here, with only one new thing being told about the Vorox (the trophy thing) and absolutely no new information about either the Ur-Obun or the Ur-Ukar. After reading the Players Companion, I could easily run a campaign where all of the players were the very alien insectoid, bloodsucking Ascorbites of Severus, but I'd still be uncomfortable running an adventure where human characters went to an Ukari city, despite the fact that the Ur-Ukar have been available as player characters from the very beginning of the game. That complaint aside, however, this is an excellent book in every other respect. Players and gamemasters of Fading Suns should look into getting at least one copy for the group, maybe more. It's rare that any supplement for a game is "essential", but the Players Companion is just that. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Fading Suns Players Companion