In July 2024 we presented two offers featuring Fading Suns Fourth Edition, the far-future passion-play SFRPG from Ulisses Spiele: the revived July 2022 Fading Suns 4E Bundle, with all three Fourth Edition core rulebooks and early supplements, and the all-new companion, Fading Suns 4 Lost Worlds, a collection of recent supplements that explore the star systems cut off from the Known Worlds a millennium ago.
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 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.
FADING SUNS 4E [July 2022]
This revived July 2022 Fading Suns 4E once again presented the core rulebooks and key supplements – everything you need for a complete campaign of tumultuous drama across the Known Worlds. If you’re new to the game, start here.
There were seven titles in this revived offer’s Core Collection (retail value $74.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the 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. For this revival Ulisses Spiele has kindly added the Explorer’s Gear Equipment and State & Perk Card Sets and the Gamemaster Screen. (And if you purchased this Fading Suns 4E offer during its original July 2022 run, you got these new additions automatically on your Wizard’s Cabinet download page and in your linked DriveThruRPG Library. When you buy a Bundle of Holding early, you never worry about missing a title added later – even much later.)
Those who paid more than this revived offer’s threshold (average) price also get this revival’s entire Bonus Collection with five more titles 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.
FADING SUNS 4 LOST WORLDS [all-new]
This companion offer, Lost Worlds, added recent supplements funded in the July 2022 Fading Suns: Lost Worlds Kickstarter campaign. These sourcebooks take us 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.
There were eight sourcebooks and adventures in this offer’s Lost Worlds Collection (retail value $115.50), including the eponymous Fading Suns: Lost Worlds and its New Frontiers Play Kit; St. Paulus’ Field Guide to Spacecraft and its New Frontiers Spacecraft Deckplans; Vuldrok Space; Hard Times on Hargard; and two more Imperial Dossiers: Brother Battle and Charioteers Guild.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to these two Fading Suns offers’ designated 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.
