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Basics: Fading Suns: d20 published by Holistic Designs
describes itself on the front cover as “space-fantasy
roleplaying”. Fading Suns: d20 keeps all the flavor of the
original Fading Suns rules set while converting it so that
fans of the d20 system may play Fading Suns in a role
playing structure that they are familiar with and enjoy. The
book is divided into seven chapters along with an
introduction and an appendix. The editing of Fading Suns:
d20 is better than the original version of the game. During
character creation, the d20 version of the rules requires
less turning back and forth in the book looking for needed
information on constructing a character.
Fading Suns: d20 allows a player to assume the person of
a human, two humanoid races or even a very alien race.
A player can choose one of twelve character classes.
There are no prestige classes included in this d20 system
game. Some of the character classes are similar to
character types in the original Fading Suns game while
other classes are unique to the d20 version, i.e. The Living
Weapon, which seems more related to the monk class in
the current edition of Dungeons and Dragons than
anything in the non-d20 system of the game.
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The “skills” and “feats” chapters are both a mixture of old
and new items.
Fading Suns: d20 is a 191 page, perfect bound, paper
back book with a retail price of $25.00.
Storyline: As the title of the game implies, the suns of the
galaxy, in the game year 5001 a.d., are fading. The
reason(s) for the dimming of the stars is unknown. A
gamemaster is allowed to come up with his/her own
reason(s) for this stellar phenomena. The Universal
Church of the Celestial Sun has several different sects.
Some of these factions propose their own theories for the
dimming of the suns. It could be a punishment by the
Pancreator for the sins of Man or that too much
technology is to blame.
It is a time of superstition and hope. A new emperor of the
Known Worlds, Alexius, is attempting to unite mankind in
an effort to emerge from a second dark age that has
befallen man. Mankind has fallen far since his high point
during the technological “utopia” of the Second Republic.
Noble houses, merchant guilds and sects of the Universal
Church vie for power and wealth. Some caring for the
common man while others look upon the citizenry as just
another resource to be exploited. A player can outfit a
character with all types of goodies: from a dagger to a
blaster rifle and psychic powers to theurgic rituals. And if
your character happens to end up on the loosing end of
combat you can always (if you have the cash, of course)
invest in some cybernetic replacements for the offended
body parts. Better living through electronics.
Presentation: Fading Suns: d20 has a user-friendly
layout. The text is very legible. As with all d20 system
games there is no shortage of charts and tables. Each
character class receives a good description and each gets
it’s own leveling chart that will be quite familiar to anyone
that has played any other d20 system role playing game.
The interior artwork is done in black and white only. This
artwork does a good job of conveying the anachronistic
flavor of the game setting. There is a picture of men
wielding swords and axes as well as a drawings of
futuristic scenes: a jumpgate, the passage to the stars,
and futuristic cityscape. The cover painting is the only
color artwork; a man in plate armor holding a banner with
flying machines in the background. Both the interior
artwork and the cover painting are very appealing. They
are better than one comes to expect from a gaming
company that is not named Wizards of the Coast.