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Fading Suns is the first RPG release from Holistic Design, a company known for computer games like Machiavelli: The Prince. Ex-White Wolfers Bridges and Greenberg created a deeply-detailed science fiction/Gothic setting and created a fine set of rules to play in it.

The background on Fading Suns is too deep to fully explain here, so a quick overview will have to suffice. It's only a few years until the beginning of the Sixth Millenium. Humanity is spread across the stars, thanks to jumpgate technology left by a mysterious and long-extinct alien race known as the Annunaki or the Ur. Humans once had a great technological society, the Second Republic, but it fell. Now the Known Worlds are ruled by Guilds, Nobles, and the Universal Church. Technology is mistrusted as a tool of evil, and human civilization is penned in on all sides by barbarians and aliens. It's all quite remniscent of the Dark Ages. And the stars, for reasons unknown, have begun to fade. The Church says it's because the Pancreator is about to drop the curtain on the passion play of the universe. They might be right.

Characters in Fading Suns are assumed to be from one of the ruling classes, or possibly aliens or barbarians (you could play a campaign around land-bound serfs, but you can only make so many rolls to grow food). Characters are built based on points, rather than randomly, and taking a page from White Wolf, points are divided up into different categories (Attributes, Skills, etc), with extra points added wherever the player wants at the end to customize things a bit.

Task resolution shows a bit of the designers' White Wolf heritage, in that successes are measured to determine how well a character accomplishes a task. There's also a bit of Pendragon in what the designers call the "Price is Right" system: roll a d20 and get as close to your target number as you can without going over. The number you roll is the number of successes you get, and how many successes you get determines how many extra dice of damage you do, how far you get in you efforts to pick an electronic lock, or whatever. This system is good enough that I've considered tinkering with White Wolf's Storyteller system to make it more like Fading Suns' system.

Holistic has also shown that they're willing and eager to support their game. Thus far, they've released books detailing various aspects of the world from Technology to the Church, and with the exception of the GM screen (which was a bit flimsy) all have been excellent. Anyone looking for a detailed science fiction or science fantasy game and willing to skimp a little on the hard science in favor of a bit of mysticism and high adventure should look into this game.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Fading Suns
Author: Bill Bridges & Andrew Greenberg Category: game Company/Publisher: Holistic Design, Inc. Reviewed by Kevin Mowery on 08/14/97. Genre tags: none	Fading Suns is the first RPG release from Holistic Design, a company known for computer games like Machiavelli: The Prince. Ex-White Wolfers Bridges and Greenberg created a deeply-detailed science fiction/Gothic setting and created a fine set of rules to play in it. The background on Fading Suns is too deep to fully explain here, so a quick overview will have to suffice. It's only a few years until the beginning of the Sixth Millenium. Humanity is spread across the stars, thanks to jumpgate technology left by a mysterious and long-extinct alien race known as the Annunaki or the Ur. Humans once had a great technological society, the Second Republic, but it fell. Now the Known Worlds are ruled by Guilds, Nobles, and the Universal Church. Technology is mistrusted as a tool of evil, and human civilization is penned in on all sides by barbarians and aliens. It's all quite remniscent of the Dark Ages. And the stars, for reasons unknown, have begun to fade. The Church says it's because the Pancreator is about to drop the curtain on the passion play of the universe. They might be right. Characters in Fading Suns are assumed to be from one of the ruling classes, or possibly aliens or barbarians (you could play a campaign around land-bound serfs, but you can only make so many rolls to grow food). Characters are built based on points, rather than randomly, and taking a page from White Wolf, points are divided up into different categories (Attributes, Skills, etc), with extra points added wherever the player wants at the end to customize things a bit. Task resolution shows a bit of the designers' White Wolf heritage, in that successes are measured to determine how well a character accomplishes a task. There's also a bit of Pendragon in what the designers call the "Price is Right" system: roll a d20 and get as close to your target number as you can without going over. The number you roll is the number of successes you get, and how many successes you get determines how many extra dice of damage you do, how far you get in you efforts to pick an electronic lock, or whatever. This system is good enough that I've considered tinkering with White Wolf's Storyteller system to make it more like Fading Suns' system. Holistic has also shown that they're willing and eager to support their game. Thus far, they've released books detailing various aspects of the world from Technology to the Church, and with the exception of the GM screen (which was a bit flimsy) all have been excellent. Anyone looking for a detailed science fiction or science fantasy game and willing to skimp a little on the hard science in favor of a bit of mysticism and high adventure should look into this game. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)