FASA Games, Inc.

Well, this weekend I GM'd a FS adventure (Thorn Mansion) to a few players that never played Fading Suns.

So I did what I had, explained the basic rules and the scenario of the universe.
The rules are easy to explain and as the game follows the players get the mechanic.

The story part is tricky, since it has a lot of information, jumpgates, story, emperor wars and the factions on noble houses, guilds and church.
And I omitted tons of info like symbiots, 2nd republic details and Ukari-human war etc.

How do you present the universe to new players?

I am thinking on making a sketch or presentation where you just flip a few pages and present the main relevant history facts (dates, what, where, when and who) and the factions.

Any ideas?

I focus on the politics and a VERY brief overview of the history (since history is what ties FS to our own world), as well as whatever I need to explain for story reasons. The rest I leave very vague ("there are also space vikings and space ottomans about") or just leave out entierly.

I used to start by saying it's kind of like Dune or Warhammer 40,000. These days my favourite intro is to say "Imagine Game of Thrones meets Star Wars..."

In the past I've then shown players the intro cinematic for the old Emperor of the Fading Suns video game (you can find it on Youtube). It's a neat intro/set up and then lead into *just* focussing on the areas you are going to cover in that session. Start with a small focus and blossom out as the game/epic continues.

I'll be having the same inssue in the not too distant future. I did come across an older free intro pdf. If you remove the last bit where it gets in to the basics of the rules and character creation it is a quick and dirty primer that may work.

http://sholarijames.com/fadingsuns/Docs/FSIntro2.pdf

Hum... true it does give the information in a nutshell.

Well, does anyone has other nice ideas? =P

I usually give the players a copy of the Fading Sun's timeline and a brief breakdown of the 15 major factions. I try to avoid metaphor or similies when I describe the game as it tends to drive strange ideas into the play.

GM poker face is the hardest ever!

When people ask me a description of Fading Suns, I just say: "It's the middle ages... IN SPAAAAAAAAAACE."