The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Throughout my history of reading Fading Suns supplements, I have been disappointed only twice: with Forbidden Lore: Technology and with War in the Heavens: Lifeweb. I have a fair number of Fadings Suns books, and they are almost all uniformly excellent and packed with information, and the two disappointments stand out as such not because they were poor books in themselves, but because there were no where near the quality of the other material.

War in the Heavens: Lifeweb is the first in a trilogy of War in the Heavens books that Holistic Design intends to put out, and the next two will apparently be on the Vau and the Annunaki. Why they chose now to explore the alien races surrounding the Known Worlds instead of fully developing those actually within them, I do not know. The Vorox, for example, are the third most commonly seen alien race in the worlds, and yet we have the least information on them. There is more culture and rules are the Ascorbites than the Vorox. That said, I am not disappointed that they intend to look at the Symbiots, Vau, and Annunaki, I just would prefer other information first.

The opening story of the book is good because it showcases the way humanity views the Symbiots. While out narrating priest views the lone Symbiot with compassion, his otherwise open-minded companion seem more like Avestites in their hatred of the beast. It is also one of the first portrayals of a possibly sympathetic Symbiot I have seen, and as such, it works well.

The first chaper is history, and this is where the disappointment begins. The Symbiots start off as inherently occult beasts, born of psychics and propagated through a mystical connection to the lifeforce of planets, the same kind of energy that terraformers manipulate when they craft new worlds. The Symbiots then move on to divide up into "classes," all following on of the initial founders. This division simply did not work well enough for me. The hives, as they come to be called, become to focused for my tastes. They become professions, and the Symbiot culture suffers from it. While much of the history was very interesting, especially the personal interplay between the founders, the initial occult taint as well as the increasing impression of "humans in Symbiot suits" ruined much of it for me.

The second chapter revolves around Symbiot culture, looking at each of the different Hives and castes. We find out that there are many different kinds of Symbiots, from non-sentient drones to those who remember their lives pre-infection. Symbiots can arise from plants, animals, fungus, even bacterium. That non-human origin is something that should have been explored on a greater scale, I think. It seemed wasted with no further mention. As I mentioned above, the Hives become professions and almost character classes in many ways, with only certain Hives getting access to certain powers. The further look at Symbiot culture mentions things like Symbiot economy, art, and such, but as it gives no "A Day in the Life of Joe Symbiot" information, it does not connect. There is no feeling of how Symbiot society operates, other than saying that there is such a thing.

The section on metamorphic powers is easily the worst in the book, taking up space that could have been much better used to explain culture to my satisfaction. The exact rules on learning and purchasing the powers are somewhat confusing, but since I loathe the Fading Suns system anyway, I payed them little attention. The powers themselves continued and dramatically increased the occult feeling of the Symbiots, and they became even more supernatural, much to my annoyance. Instead of some wildly infectious pseudo-plague that warps the mind and the body, symbiosis becomes some sort of awakening of psychic powers and tapping into the lifeweb. I did not want supernatural shape-shifters when I looked toward the Symbiots, I wanted warped aliens. The biotechnology chapter was also similarly disappointing. Like in White Wolf's Trinity game, biotechnology is presented much too often as "like hardtech, but breathing." There are exceptions in both games, but neither looks deeply or thoroughly into the possibilities. I had been encouraged by the Symbiot tech from other books, but this rather dashed my hopes. Finally the chapter closes with a look at Antipathy, the opposing trait to Synergy, the Symbiot occult trait. Antipathy has some interesting ideas, and some very nice effects (like Metabolic Breakdown and Contagion), but it further enhances the "Symbiots are supernatural beings" feeling that detracts from the book.

The second part of the book is apparently the first chapter in the ongoing War in the Heavens series of books. From the format in War in the Heaves: Lifeweb, I am assuming that each of the later books will be one-half information and one-half adventure. While I usually do not like that format, preferring my adventures in separate volumes where I can simply not buy them, I liked the adventure in the book a great deal, finding it one of the best parts of the book. Basically, the synopsis is the characters travel to Daishan for a supposed vaccine against symbiosis. Getting there, they are in for quite a surprise as well as even more startling revelations about the view of the Symbiots that those in the Known Worlds hold. While the beginning is really rather rocky, it gets quite good later on. Good enough that I would like to run it, if I could actually find anyone out in Boston who wants to play Fading Suns.

Overall, the book was a big disappointment, but I have to be fair and say that it was not because Bill Bridges and company cannot produce a good book, but because they produced something wildly different from what I wanted. The Symbiots as presented here do not work in my "harder science" side of Fading Suns. For those who want epic adventures where occult power is bantered around willy-nilly, this book is quite worth the cost. People who, like me, want the occult on the fringes and in the shadows will find precious little in the book to use.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

War in the Heavens: Lifeweb
Author: Bill Bridges Category: game Company/Publisher: Holistic Design Incorporated Line: Fading Suns Cost: $20.00 Page count: 124 ISBN: 1-888906-12-X SKU: FS #235 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 07/26/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Horror Far_Future Space Post-apocalypse	Throughout my history of reading Fading Suns supplements, I have been disappointed only twice: with Forbidden Lore: Technology and with War in the Heavens: Lifeweb. I have a fair number of Fadings Suns books, and they are almost all uniformly excellent and packed with information, and the two disappointments stand out as such not because they were poor books in themselves, but because there were no where near the quality of the other material. War in the Heavens: Lifeweb is the first in a trilogy of War in the Heavens books that Holistic Design intends to put out, and the next two will apparently be on the Vau and the Annunaki. Why they chose now to explore the alien races surrounding the Known Worlds instead of fully developing those actually within them, I do not know. The Vorox, for example, are the third most commonly seen alien race in the worlds, and yet we have the least information on them. There is more culture and rules are the Ascorbites than the Vorox. That said, I am not disappointed that they intend to look at the Symbiots, Vau, and Annunaki, I just would prefer other information first. The opening story of the book is good because it showcases the way humanity views the Symbiots. While out narrating priest views the lone Symbiot with compassion, his otherwise open-minded companion seem more like Avestites in their hatred of the beast. It is also one of the first portrayals of a possibly sympathetic Symbiot I have seen, and as such, it works well. The first chaper is history, and this is where the disappointment begins. The Symbiots start off as inherently occult beasts, born of psychics and propagated through a mystical connection to the lifeforce of planets, the same kind of energy that terraformers manipulate when they craft new worlds. The Symbiots then move on to divide up into "classes," all following on of the initial founders. This division simply did not work well enough for me. The hives, as they come to be called, become to focused for my tastes. They become professions, and the Symbiot culture suffers from it. While much of the history was very interesting, especially the personal interplay between the founders, the initial occult taint as well as the increasing impression of "humans in Symbiot suits" ruined much of it for me. The second chapter revolves around Symbiot culture, looking at each of the different Hives and castes. We find out that there are many different kinds of Symbiots, from non-sentient drones to those who remember their lives pre-infection. Symbiots can arise from plants, animals, fungus, even bacterium. That non-human origin is something that should have been explored on a greater scale, I think. It seemed wasted with no further mention. As I mentioned above, the Hives become professions and almost character classes in many ways, with only certain Hives getting access to certain powers. The further look at Symbiot culture mentions things like Symbiot economy, art, and such, but as it gives no "A Day in the Life of Joe Symbiot" information, it does not connect. There is no feeling of how Symbiot society operates, other than saying that there is such a thing. The section on metamorphic powers is easily the worst in the book, taking up space that could have been much better used to explain culture to my satisfaction. The exact rules on learning and purchasing the powers are somewhat confusing, but since I loathe the Fading Suns system anyway, I payed them little attention. The powers themselves continued and dramatically increased the occult feeling of the Symbiots, and they became even more supernatural, much to my annoyance. Instead of some wildly infectious pseudo-plague that warps the mind and the body, symbiosis becomes some sort of awakening of psychic powers and tapping into the lifeweb. I did not want supernatural shape-shifters when I looked toward the Symbiots, I wanted warped aliens. The biotechnology chapter was also similarly disappointing. Like in White Wolf's Trinity game, biotechnology is presented much too often as "like hardtech, but breathing." There are exceptions in both games, but neither looks deeply or thoroughly into the possibilities. I had been encouraged by the Symbiot tech from other books, but this rather dashed my hopes. Finally the chapter closes with a look at Antipathy, the opposing trait to Synergy, the Symbiot occult trait. Antipathy has some interesting ideas, and some very nice effects (like Metabolic Breakdown and Contagion), but it further enhances the "Symbiots are supernatural beings" feeling that detracts from the book. The second part of the book is apparently the first chapter in the ongoing War in the Heavens series of books. From the format in War in the Heaves: Lifeweb, I am assuming that each of the later books will be one-half information and one-half adventure. While I usually do not like that format, preferring my adventures in separate volumes where I can simply not buy them, I liked the adventure in the book a great deal, finding it one of the best parts of the book. Basically, the synopsis is the characters travel to Daishan for a supposed vaccine against symbiosis. Getting there, they are in for quite a surprise as well as even more startling revelations about the view of the Symbiots that those in the Known Worlds hold. While the beginning is really rather rocky, it gets quite good later on. Good enough that I would like to run it, if I could actually find anyone out in Boston who wants to play Fading Suns. Overall, the book was a big disappointment, but I have to be fair and say that it was not because Bill Bridges and company cannot produce a good book, but because they produced something wildly different from what I wanted. The Symbiots as presented here do not work in my "harder science" side of Fading Suns. For those who want epic adventures where occult power is bantered around willy-nilly, this book is quite worth the cost. People who, like me, want the occult on the fringes and in the shadows will find precious little in the book to use. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)