Retro RPG: Fading Suns

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Published on May 4, 2020 6:00:11 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzRNxDWBZC0

Game:

Emperor of the Fading Suns (1997)

Duration: 15:08

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Description: Fading Suns is a science fiction space opera role-playing game published by Holistic Design. The setting was also used for a PC game (Emperor of the Fading Suns), a live action role-playing game (Passion Play), and for a space combat miniature game (Noble Armada).

The action is set in the Known Worlds, a future medieval-analogue empire built on the remains of a previous, more sophisticated human space-faring civilization made possible by ancient "jumpgates". The jumpgates are relics left by the mysterious Anunnaki, an ancient civilization (or civilizations) which seem to have influenced the evolution of lesser species, such as humans, for their own end, and waged a devastating war many millennia ago using them as tools and weapons.

The atmosphere is strongly reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune and of the Hyperion stories by Dan Simmons, but is influenced by many other science fiction and horror books and movies as well, including the Cthulhu Mythos. The Known Worlds are a very superstitious and dangerous place.

Power is administered by five major Noble Houses, five major guilds within the Merchants League, and six major sects of the Universal Church of the Celestial Sun.

While most role-playing situations arise from the strict codes regulating the everyday life of the empire's citizens, the Imperial Age is rife with opportunities for adventure. Following the fall of the old regime, and centuries of darkness and warfare, most worlds have slipped backward to a technology level not much more advanced than 21st century Earth, and a number of alien threats lurk in the shadows. Pushing at the borders of the Known Worlds lurk the mutangenic horror of the Symbiots, the ancient and enigmatic Vau, and the barbarian empires of the Kurgan and the Vuldrok, all waiting for their chance to throw humanity into darkness and chaos.

Players can take the role of either a member of a Noble House, of one the various merchant guilds, or a member of one of the numerous religious sects. A number of alien species, most notably the human-like 'psychic' Ukar and Obun, and the six-limbed, bestial Vorox, are also available as player characters.

Two separate types of occult abilities exist within the game universe: psychic powers and Theurgy. Psychic powers manifest, generally, from the practitioners' own mental abilities. Psionicists, castigated as 'demon worshippers' and heretics, are often hunted down and killed by the Church, or enrolled in the Church's ranks (after a good bit of 're-training'). Theurgy is a kind of ordained divine sorcery practiced by the Church through various approved rites and is capable of producing miracles, often by calling on the assistance of various saints and angels.

A large library of supplements provides descriptions of locales (planets, space stations, whole sections of space), alien societies, minor houses, guilds and sects, monsters and secret conspiracies, thus expanding the thematic possibilities offered by the setting.

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