In July 2022 we presented the all-new Fading Suns 4E Bundle featuring the 2021 Fourth Edition of Fading Suns, the far-future space fantasy RPG from Ulisses Spiele. This offer tied in to Ulisses Spiele’s new Fading Suns: Lost Worlds Kickstarter campaign. Lost Worlds takes us beyond the borders to worlds cut off long ago from the Empire and the solace of the Universal Church. Gear up and set off to rediscover these mysterious planets.
Fading Suns has starships, blasters, powered armor, alien races, and weird science — but also heroic knights, noble lords, high priests and headstrong merchants — quests, artifacts, and inscrutable mysteries. And there is horror: monsters and maddening, terrifying metaphysical truths. It’s a medieval passion play, where Humanity’s greatest civilization has fallen, bringing a Dark Age to the Known Worlds. The Universal Church of the Celestial Sun (modeled on the historical Byzantine Orthodox Church) pursues cosmic intrigues against the Noble Houses and the Reeves Guild. But even as the stars fade to cinders and the sinful await Final Judgment, a leader has arisen. Emperor Alexius has sworn to unite the worlds again under one banner — to ignite hope once more.
Designers Bill Bridges and Andrew Greenberg originally published Fading Suns through their own company, Holistic Design. At Ulisses Spiele since 2016, Fading Suns is enjoying a new vitality akin to the Pax Alexius that has brought hope to the Known Worlds. The company funded this Fourth Edition in a March 2020 Kickstarter campaign (called “Pax Alexius”!) that drew exactly a thousand backers. The new edition’s “Victory Point System,” based on the same straightforward d20 roll-under skill+characteristic tests from previous editions, replaces Effect Dice with Victory Points. Spend VP to cancel your target’s Resistance and create Impact, or to boost your Resistance against attacks. The same system works for physical combat and for social influence. Certain effects generate “wyrd points,” which permit outrageous and wildly improbable actions. Both VP and wyrd points also power the extensive list of psychic powers and Theurgic (clerical) rituals.
More important than mere Victory Points is the Fourth Edition’s tonal change. Pushing the timeline forward a generation, Fading Suns 4E depicts an unexpectedly peaceful universe. The jumproutes are open again, and pilgrims and merchants can travel safely. Emperor Alexius has married a Vuldrok barbarian shield-maiden, and the new Princess Aurora is rumored to be the Reborn Sun who will reignite the dying stars. The Questing Knights lead missions to rediscover the Lost Worlds, and the Prophet calls all to move forward to bring light to new stars. For players who may fear a Dark Age close to home, Fading Suns Fourth Edition shines a bright new flame against the shadows.
This all-new Fading Suns 4E Bundle had everything you need for a complete campaign of tumultuous drama across the Known Worlds. There were four titles in our Core Collection (retail value $57.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including all three complete 4E rulebooks — the Fading Suns 4 Universe Book, Character Book, and Gamemaster Book — and the Play Kit with pregenerated characters and useful charts, maps, and play aids.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got our entire Bonus Collection with five more supplements worth an additional $63, including the Faction Book guide to minor powers; Intrigues & Escapades (a catalog of the incessant schemes of the major powers); and three Imperial Dossiers that examine the major factions in depth: House Hawkwood, Reeves Guild, and Urth Orthodox.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to this Fading Suns 4E offer’s pandemic-related charity, Direct Relief. Direct Relief sends protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.
