Setting Info: Fading Suns @ Bundle of Holding

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

THE DARKENING SKIES OF A STELLAR EMPIRE

Through Monday, February 13 we present the Fading Suns Bundle, featuring the 2012 Revised Second Edition of Holistic Design's far-future science-fiction RPG of humanity's fate among the darkening stars of the sixth millennium. Humans reached the stars long ago, building a Republic of high technology and universal emancipation -- and then squandered it, fought over it, and finally lost it. A new Dark Age has descended, for the greatest of civilizations has fallen and even the stars die. Now feudal lords rules the Known Worlds, vying for power with fanatic priests and scheming guilds.  Nobles, priests, knights -- starships, psychics, aliens -- lost worlds and ancient artifacts -- all these await you in Fading Suns.

Given its feudal galactic empire and dark-age atmosphere, some call the Fading Suns setting "the love-child of Warhammer 40,000 and Dune," but designers Bill Bridges and Andrew Greenberg cite influences like Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Asimov's Foundation stories, Clark Ashton Smith, Doc Smith, and (as Bridges put it) "many readings in religion and metaphysics, especially the work of Jung and Alfred North Whitehead." It's a medieval passion play, with the Universal Church of the Celestial Sun (modeled on the historical Byzantine Orthodox Church) immersed in cosmically significant intrigues against the five major Noble Houses and the guilds of the Merchants League. Readers today may be reminded of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, though the first edition of Fading Suns (1996) was published the same year as A Game of Thrones.

In its glory days of the 1990s, Bridges and Greenberg published Fading Suns through their own company, Holistic Design. Later they licensed the game to RedBrick Enterprises, then FASA Games. In November 2016 the German gaming company Ulisses Spiele GmbH took over publishing the Fading Suns RPG line. The new company has big plans -- starting with this new Bundle of Holding offer, presenting the Fading Suns Revised Second Edition Player's and Game Master's Guides (2012 and 2013) and the most useful and best-regarded supplements from across all editions. This bargain-priced collection gives you everything you need for a complete campaign of drama and intrigue across the Known Worlds.

Pay just US$14.95 to get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $53) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the two-volume Fading Suns Second Edition Revised rulebook -- comprising the Player's Guide (retail price $20) and Game Master's Guide (retail $20) -- as well as the setting supplement Worlds of the Realm (retail $13).

And if you pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $23.95 to start, you'll earn Experience and also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more titles (worth an additional $48):

Lords & Priests (retail $13): One of the most highly regarded Fading Suns supplements, this sourcebook details the Noble Houses and the Universal Church of the Celestial Sun.
Merchants of the Jumpweb (retail $10): The third great power center in the Known Worlds, the guilds of the Merchant League.
Byzantium Secundus (retail $9): Visit the capital world, where incessant feudal politics threaten to destroy humanity's empire.
Weird Places (retail $6): Seven hotspots in the Known Worlds.
Into the Dark (retail $10): Five dramas (adventures) that take Questing Knights into the unknown Dark, nemesis of the Empyrean Light.
That's a US$101 value for a price you couldn't hope to get from the alien merchants in the Gund Zone at the Istakhr Market. (And why would you go there anyway? The al-Maliks will just try to sell you bootleg weaponry.) Ten percent of your purchase (after gateway fees) is split evenly between the two charities chosen by Fading Suns publisher Ulisses Spiele: Doctors Without Borders and Barenherz, a local home for terminally ill children in Wiesbaden, Germany.

But it won't be long before the suns, and our Fading Suns offer, flicker into nothingness -- specifically, Monday, February 13.

   http://bundleofholding.com/presents/FadingSuns

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

I like the Fading Suns setting quite a bit and am intending to use it for a miniatures campaign. The Symbiots make a great foe, as does House Decados (aka House Harkonnen). GW's Tau I use as Fading Suns Vau. I use Warzone Wolfbanes as Vuldroc raiders. etc. etc. Symbiots are some sort of infection that takes over people, plants, things(?). Lots of suitable figures for that!

Here is the basic starmap. The setting uses Jump Gates to span the distances of interstellar space. The symbols on the map show the primary hldings of the Great Houses, but they all have multiple holdings and there are many minor houses as well. One thing I like about the setting is that most, if not all, the systems have a system map and map of the primary planet. The system map show satellites and other planets in the system. The planetary maps show the landmasses, any special environmental features, settlements, starports, and - for my purposes, very important - the areas where there are conflicts: civil unrest, wars, rebellions, etc. Any one of which could be a scenario or multiple scenarios. All already sketched out for you. Perfect.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

I just found this Wiki devoted to Fading Suns...

http://fadingsuns.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

[AWu]

Great concept. All time favorite of mine.
I did some Mantis Guards and Questing Knights in 15mm many years ago, and now I am tinkering with ideas forsome 28mm Fading Suns Miniatures