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Hawkwood Fiefs: Imperial Survey 1 is a pleasant surprise. I expected the kind of thick book that Holistic Design has put out in the past for their Fading Suns role-playing game. Instead, I found myself with a thin (32 pages) book. Little did I know what was inside would help solidify how I run my Fading Suns games.

A Brief Aside:

Fading Suns, like the other game whose products I reviewed this week, Trinity, is in a tough spot. The majority of sci-fi gamers are happy running around in a licensed universe, like Star Trek and Star Wars, or sticking with the tried and true Traveller in any of it's incarnations. It's hard for me to remember a sci-fi game that really stood out and had a reliable publishing history before Fading Suns and Trinity. Both games are unique, with Fading Suns' Dark Ages future and passion plays and Trinity's cinematic, modern twist on space opera.

But maybe because I've been guilty of playing in licensed sci-fi settings and being content to run around in a universe in which all of the big changes are made on a TV show, I never had a lot of luck sustaining a campaign in either game. This week, I found products that helped me change that for both systems, and as such the Hawkwood Fiefs is a great supplement even with it's small size.

The Content:

Hawkwood Fiefs is a short brief on the worlds controlled by House Hawkwood. After a one page introduction, it describes each of the four worlds (Gwynneth, Delphi, Ravenna, and Leminkainen) in a matter of a few pages. It has the standard boxed summary of the system, and describes each world's key players and geography including major continents and islands, as well as major events. It delves into the state of the world's sun, and includes maps of each planet, as well as information on the rest of the solar systems and their celestial objects. At the back of the book is a brief page on other Hawkwood holdings.

What this book accomplishes for me that no other Fading Suns book has is to simply solidify the game designer's view of the setting and how it works. Fading Suns has always suffered by description…is it like Dune or The Book of the New Sun? Is it like Space Master or Warhammer 40,000? Finally, a book has described to me specifically how the high tech ashes of the Second Republic lie underneath the feudal worlds of the game. Finally I'm shown exactly how the delicate dance of Nobility, Church and Guild is maintained in practice. Yes, Byzantium Secundus was a setting book released early in the game line's life, but Byz II was always exceptional merely by being the Imperial throne-world, and the contents of the game have been fleshed out since then.

Each Hawkwood world is shown in such a way that they are not cookie-cut copies of one another. Each world stands on it's own feet, and is described as a dynamic entity coping with the Emperor, Church, and the Fading Suns.

There are plenty of plot hooks in the book, and plenty of places to send your characters. There's enough little items in this book that are packed with potential that an entire campaign could be run in the Hawkwood Fiefs alone…or even on a single planet, like Leminkainen.

The book is written entirely in-character, with only the planetary stats and a couple of creature stats intruding. The narrator, a Questing Knight, is easy to read about and comes through as a speaker of his place and time.

Everything Else:

The book has a scant few drawings, but what is there is alright. The inside back cover includes a map of the four systems described. The maps in the book, be they planetary or solar, are well done and easy to read, which is appreciated.

The page borders are also nice, uniquely bearing the Hawkwood symbol. The layout is clean and easy to read, and I like the cover. If I can be said to have missed anything, it would be the "Alustro's Journal" entry than normally prefaces Fading Suns products.

Overall:

Overall, any player of Fading Suns (or similar science-fiction game, for that matter) should grab this book. Combined with the impending 2nd edition for Fading Suns, I've grown very excited at the prospects for this game, especially for my chances of successfully running a Fading Suns campaign. This book manages to show how the worlds of this game actually work, and do so in a believable way.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Hawkwood Fiefs: Imperial Survey 1
Author: Christopher Howard Category: game Company/Publisher: Holistic Design Inc. Line: Fading Suns Cost: $6.95 Page count: 32 ISBN: 1-888906-15-4 Capsule Review by Eric Brennan on 06/11/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Far_Future Space Gothic	Hawkwood Fiefs: Imperial Survey 1 is a pleasant surprise. I expected the kind of thick book that Holistic Design has put out in the past for their Fading Suns role-playing game. Instead, I found myself with a thin (32 pages) book. Little did I know what was inside would help solidify how I run my Fading Suns games. A Brief Aside: Fading Suns, like the other game whose products I reviewed this week, Trinity, is in a tough spot. The majority of sci-fi gamers are happy running around in a licensed universe, like Star Trek and Star Wars, or sticking with the tried and true Traveller in any of it's incarnations. It's hard for me to remember a sci-fi game that really stood out and had a reliable publishing history before Fading Suns and Trinity. Both games are unique, with Fading Suns' Dark Ages future and passion plays and Trinity's cinematic, modern twist on space opera. But maybe because I've been guilty of playing in licensed sci-fi settings and being content to run around in a universe in which all of the big changes are made on a TV show, I never had a lot of luck sustaining a campaign in either game. This week, I found products that helped me change that for both systems, and as such the Hawkwood Fiefs is a great supplement even with it's small size. The Content: Hawkwood Fiefs is a short brief on the worlds controlled by House Hawkwood. After a one page introduction, it describes each of the four worlds (Gwynneth, Delphi, Ravenna, and Leminkainen) in a matter of a few pages. It has the standard boxed summary of the system, and describes each world's key players and geography including major continents and islands, as well as major events. It delves into the state of the world's sun, and includes maps of each planet, as well as information on the rest of the solar systems and their celestial objects. At the back of the book is a brief page on other Hawkwood holdings. What this book accomplishes for me that no other Fading Suns book has is to simply solidify the game designer's view of the setting and how it works. Fading Suns has always suffered by description…is it like Dune or The Book of the New Sun? Is it like Space Master or Warhammer 40,000? Finally, a book has described to me specifically how the high tech ashes of the Second Republic lie underneath the feudal worlds of the game. Finally I'm shown exactly how the delicate dance of Nobility, Church and Guild is maintained in practice. Yes, Byzantium Secundus was a setting book released early in the game line's life, but Byz II was always exceptional merely by being the Imperial throne-world, and the contents of the game have been fleshed out since then. Each Hawkwood world is shown in such a way that they are not cookie-cut copies of one another. Each world stands on it's own feet, and is described as a dynamic entity coping with the Emperor, Church, and the Fading Suns. There are plenty of plot hooks in the book, and plenty of places to send your characters. There's enough little items in this book that are packed with potential that an entire campaign could be run in the Hawkwood Fiefs alone…or even on a single planet, like Leminkainen. The book is written entirely in-character, with only the planetary stats and a couple of creature stats intruding. The narrator, a Questing Knight, is easy to read about and comes through as a speaker of his place and time. Everything Else: The book has a scant few drawings, but what is there is alright. The inside back cover includes a map of the four systems described. The maps in the book, be they planetary or solar, are well done and easy to read, which is appreciated. The page borders are also nice, uniquely bearing the Hawkwood symbol. The layout is clean and easy to read, and I like the cover. If I can be said to have missed anything, it would be the "Alustro's Journal" entry than normally prefaces Fading Suns products. Overall: Overall, any player of Fading Suns (or similar science-fiction game, for that matter) should grab this book. Combined with the impending 2nd edition for Fading Suns, I've grown very excited at the prospects for this game, especially for my chances of successfully running a Fading Suns campaign. This book manages to show how the worlds of this game actually work, and do so in a believable way. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)