Quote from: Spinachcat;735737Yes, if you want deeper involvement into the canon of the setting.

Is the canon interesting at all?

Or is it similar enough to Dune + Stargate with the serial numbers filed off (and other similar stuff) ?

This was a blog I ran in my college years. Each player made an entry for each session: http://morningstarfs.blogspot.com/

I loved it. It is my favorite Sci-Fi RPG setting of all time. I could come back to it 10 years from now and know what I wanted to do with it.

The one downside is that it is indeed too big so you can be a bit overwhelmed with the options you have. I made up for this by having my players make characters that were very much an established crew and had very set goals in mind. We mad the game very episodic. We even had a flashback episode about how each character joined the crew. We RPed it that they were all talking in the galley at a table (just like the players are at a table) and everytime one had a turn to reminisce on how they joined the ship, we would RP that as well, but with preset goals that the characters needed to meet to remember the story right.

The setting had something to interest every player and give their unique character a place, but was consistent enough that they were not confused by what was going on. I had 7 players for this without conflict or too much time wasted. I even had a few players, on their own without provocation, end up having an in character theological debate. The setting was indepth enough that they had all the material they needed to pull this off without thinking about it, and it was interesting enough for them to actually read such material ahead of time.

You like Dune? Play Fading Suns. You like Saga of Galactic Heroes? Play Fading  Suns. You like Stargate? Play Fading Suns. You like Warhammer 40k but think it a bit too over the top? Play Fading Suns. Like Firefly? Play Fading Suns. Like Cowboy Bebop? Play Fading Suns. Like cosmic Marvel comic books like Silver Surfer or Guardians of the Galaxy? Play Fading Suns. Etc. Nearly any kind of Sci-Fi genre, including the ones that feel like fantasy like Dune or Book of the New Sun, have a very definitive place in Fading Suns. I even had a session that was completely Noir with everyone wearing suit and ties, even the fire branding inquisitors and the cyborgs were wearing suits like it was a 1940s movie. My players remarked that they were imagining it in black and white that day.

I cannot recommend this setting enough. I will admit, while the system matches the themes of the setting and can capture it quite well, it is very convoluted and crunchy when it comes to combat. That is my glaring flaw with the setting: the system needs a do-over. But most of the books and materials area actually really well written and interesting fluff rather than additional rules, so you won't mind reading them even if your end up with a different rule system for your choice.

Quote from: ggroy;735739Is the canon interesting at all?

That's a hard one for me to answer. I love RPG fiction, I gobble up Warhammer novels, but I'm much less interested in reading canon from splatbooks. For me, Fading Suns canon was a bit more fun to read as some of it was woven into the continuing storyline of an adventuring group.

Quote from: ggroy;735739Or is it similar enough to Dune + Stargate with the serial numbers filed off (and other similar stuff) ?

It's got its own twists, but it doesn't stray too far from its source material. You can certainly run entire campaigns from the core book if you and your players were fine with expanding the IP via your thoughts on Dune and Stargate.

Quote from: 3rik;735679I find FASA a rather confusing company. Look at what happend with Blue Planet before they lost the license. FASA did three books for it and all three were available in different formats (softcover, hardcover, pdf, B&W, full color) and through different channels (DTRPG, FASA shop). Capricious Games got the license and went back to Blue Planet 2E...

You get the impression any FASA gameline or edition may be abandoned prematurely at any moment.

The current group of Line Devs they have for their various lines are a bunch of morons.

I love big settings. I rather have a setting in which you have to pick out what you like (a buffet) and ignore the rest. I don't like the do-it-yourself settings. So  in other words I like settings who are subtractive and not additive.

I also really like the three layers in the game. Merchants, nobles and the church. I like the fact they are covering really broad archetypes, while you can still describe them in one sentence. Spanish nobles who are very militairy.

Quote from: Sommerjon;735780The current group of Line Devs they have for their various lines are a bunch of morons.

That may well be the case. I was genuinely interested in the Blue Planet Revised books they did. Had they been available in a format that was more consistent across the whole line and more easily available I might well have picked them up.

I'm hoping for Capricious Games to come up with some decent fixed-up Blue Planet 2E material in print, preferably with hardcovers of the core books.

Quote from: jan paparazzi;735840I rather have a setting in which you have to pick out what you like (a buffet) and ignore the rest.

Agreed, but you need players who are cool with that. I often find canon monkeys get whiny over leaving out any bit. It's why I often go "core book only" to shut down canon monkey complaints about what's in splatbook 123.

Quote from: jan paparazzi;735840I also really like the three layers in the game.

This is a big part of the fun with Fading Suns. The interaction and rivalries between forces within the layer and out of the layer can add lots to a campaign. The tension between all three layers and how zealots in all three are dangerous to the future of the whole can be lots of fun. All three layers are irredeemably corrupt, yet necessary to hold the Empire together.

Quote from: Spinachcat;735903Agreed, but you need players who are cool with that. I often find canon monkeys get whiny over leaving out any bit. It's why I often go "core book only" to shut down canon monkey complaints about what's in splatbook 123.

My players have the Nirvana mentality. "Here we are now, entertain us.". They never read anything.

Quote from: Spinachcat;735903This is a big part of the fun with Fading Suns. The interaction and rivalries between forces within the layer and out of the layer can add lots to a campaign. The tension between all three layers and how zealots in all three are dangerous to the future of the whole can be lots of fun. All three layers are irredeemably corrupt, yet necessary to hold the Empire together.

I like it, because I can ignore all the interaction between all forces much easier than WoD games. You can use the interaction, but you don't have to. It's not the primairy focus of the game, unlike Politician the Bickering.

Quote from: Spinachcat;735476BTW, if anyone is a D20 fan, the D20 Fading Suns is good, and that's coming from someone who doesn't prefer D20.

How much crucial information is in the d20 FS core book?

I have the d20 FS Character Codex and the d20 Lord Erbian's Stellar Bestiary books.  (I also have the d20 Stargate SG-1 System Lords splatbook).  From skimming through these books, it looks like a space opera using d20 style rules is relatively straightforward.

But offhand, the only rulesets which I don't see readily are ones related to operating a stargate/jumpgate or a spaceship.

Love the setting dearly. Looking for that right group willing to give it another go. Hard to compete with Chargen: the Min/maxing, though.

I actually find the setting's tech differentials refreshing and manageable. Smart phones can screw modern settings right quick nowadays, but Fading Suns' spacefaring feudal decay reins in many of those concerns. Rather ingenious past solution to a current challenge.

Quote from: ggroy;736308How much crucial information is in the d20 FS core book?

I've run two campaigns just with the core book, but I have FS1e and FS2e so I was familiar with the setting before the D20 book came out.

I don't know how much "crucial" setting info is only in the core vs. the other books. I suspect a Wikipedia search will fill in any holes.

Quote from: ggroy;736308But offhand, the only rulesets which I don't see readily are ones related to operating a stargate/jumpgate or a spaceship.

I don't even know if FS has rules for that. I always picture the ships as giant capital ships, even if they have minimal crew. Everything is huge and ancient ala 40k in my mind.

Quote from: jan paparazzi;735912My players have the Nirvana mentality. "Here we are now, entertain us.". They never read anything.

Hey, what have you done with my players???

I have accepted that non-reading gamers are a blessing and a curse and its the GM's choice which one they turn into. My chuckleheads all love "deep rich settings" and they read novels and enjoy video game canon, but oh no, the nimrods can't handle a RPG setting with more than 2 pages of intro.

I can give them one double sided sheet and that's it. Fortunately, that works for me so I can get them invested enough into wanting to play, but then introduce the setting in actual play.

And that's why going to GenCon is fun because you can advertise a Stormbringer RPG session, ask for the players to show up knowing the game and having read the novels, and out of the 50,000 people who show to GenCon, you can get 5 people who are excited to finally play with other Stormbringer fans. Then you can run a cool deep canon adventure.

Quote from: jan paparazzi;735912I like it, because I can ignore all the interaction between all forces much easier than WoD games. You can use the interaction, but you don't have to. It's not the primairy focus of the game, unlike Politician the Bickering.

Very true. The setting is vast enough that you can just shove lots of interactions into the background and choose those you and your players want to be in the foreground.

Well for ship combat there is always Noble Armada for Fading Suns. Miniature war game, but hey you could always have the fight be to bring down the shields in the war game and after a successful boarding action switch to the PCs in Fading Suns rules as they fight through the enemy vessel (Similar to a lot of Earthdawn Navy and Airship fights that I had over the years, a ship combat until a boarding action occurred, but Earthdawn includes those abstracted rules in the Companions or Core over the years).

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/89621/A-Call-to-Arms-Noble-Armada

Quote from: 3rik;735888That may well be the case. I was genuinely interested in the Blue Planet Revised books they did. Had they been available in a format that was more consistent across the whole line and more easily available I might well have picked them up.

I'm hoping for Capricious Games to come up with some decent fixed-up Blue Planet 2E material in print, preferably with hardcovers of the core books.

Heh, Capricious Games just put print-on-demand versions of all three books for Blue Planet Revised back up on DTRPG. Makes one wonder if they read these forums. Only pity is the Player's Guide isn't available in color, but that's probably FASA's fault.

Anyway, back on topic.

On their Facebook page:
Capricious Games shared a link.
March 12
It's down to the last three days of the GM's Day Sale at DriveThruRPG and we've enabled the Blue Planet Revised titles, originally released through RedBrick and FASA Games. While we won't be working with this edition moving forwards, we still want to make sure that the titles are available.

I might additionally add its the last day to grab Blue Planet or Fading Suns/Noble Armada for 30% off.