War in the Heavens 3

[El_phantasmo]

So, it's likely been discussed already and I think I saw it mentioned on the old forums pre-move when I was lurking, but is there any play/idea of finishing the WitH with the Ur book?

The Vau and the Symby books were both excellent and I wondered if Redbrick were going to continue the trend? I always got the feeling it'd been written (Or, at least, it was known what was going to be going in and the ideas behind it) just never released and then taken a back from during the pre-Redbrick days?

Even if it's not going to be printed or developed, is there a way of ever releasing what might have been (Much like Nightfall did with SLA Industries "Truth"/writing guide document)

I'm dying to know more about the Ur and the WitH/history of the FS setting. I've had great fun messing with the Quill'poth (sp?) etc in games and creating my own mythology/backstory to the setting, just wondered what the canon version is?

[Angelman]

(As far as I know) we know as much as you guys about WitH3:Panteon. It is not a RedBrick thing and I doubt we'll ever do it. There were, however, talk a while back, probably just a pipe dream, of convincing Bill Bridges to finally write the thing - I think this was on RPG.net - and I think there were some indication that Bill liked the idea (again, probably as a novel pipe dream only).

The WitH series seem to split the fans in hates it/loves it camps. We will most likely rather focus on fact-sourcebooks about the Symbiot and Vau, and the Anunnaki we can't even touch

[El_phantasmo]

*Ponders trying to contact Bill Bridges*

Hmmmm.

Whats Bill up to these days (He asks as if he's ever had even an ounce of contact with the man)?

[Angelman]

I know he is very busy, so you should probably let it lie
(Hint: I have myself been discouraged from bothering Bill for the time being, heh heh )

[El_phantasmo]

There's always Twitter. If I tweet, they shall Trend. .... or something.

I wonder if he has a Twitter ... *Opens rarely used Twitter account"

**Edit - He does exist on FB and his own webpage it seems.

[Angelman]

Yepp. I don't know if he has a Twitter account though. I have never thought about looking for it actually - for me Twitter wore itself out in a couple of weeks, now I can't be bothered

[Danos]

I'd kinda rather not have it. War in the Heavens I was disappointing; I didn't need a new set of rules for symbiot powers, and I didn't need White Wolf Werewolves In Spaaace! No offense to the HDI guys, it was an interesting read, but I've played Werewolf, I've run Werewolf, and if I want to explore those themes I'll run it again. I don't need it in my FS. War in the Heavens II was OK, I liked the source material, but the adventure was not that useful to me. My players are not the sort to go meekly along with a plot. The old decision tree plots from Shadowrun are the way to go - it is one thing to have a timeline of when things happen, it is another thing to have a linear progression over which the players have no control. When I run linear plots, they tend to be chases or explorations. As for the third installment, I've run it as everything from demons eating the suns to an ascorbite invasion to an inbalance in the interstellar ley lines caused by Sathra Dampers. I prefer the mystery, and let every GM make the call. Or better yet, don't make the call, and let it be an unsolved and unsolvable mystery.

[El_phantasmo]

The Vau material was excellent. The art also really helped some of us get a good feel for them other than "The Curtain/Drape people!". The Symbionts I thought got a good write-up but were humanised a little too much. I prefer more of a mindset for them of the Arachnids from Starship Troopers (The movie, not the game, never played it!) where they're more instinctual and less ... co-ordinates and with houses/clans/tribes etc.

As for pre-made adventures; I always avoid them. I only own those that come bundled with a game/sourcebook. I've never run or played in one. Our group doesn't do linear at all.

Mr Bridges does have a Twitter. I tweeted and he followed me but hasn't replied to the tweet. I rarely use it tbh.

I have my own philosophy/reality as to the Anunnaki, the fading of the Suns etc ... just always nice to see what the "official" line is ever if I never use it (Much like the Gehenna/Apocalypse stuff for the WoD that wrapped everything up and tied up loose ends. Nice, good to read, but nowhere near how my WoD works or would end.)

I still think more Vau stuff is needed too.

[Danos]

Starship Troopers. That is one of the best Sci-Fi BOOKS I have ever read. I periodically re-read it, it is excellent stuff. The movie was a travesty. I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more if it had not pretended to be based on that book.

I like the Symbiots as Zerg/Tyranid analogs. I agree completely, they were humanized, and IMHO explained, way too much. Ironically, I liked the adventure more than the sourcebook. It was flipped for me with the Vau, I liked the sourcebook but not the adventure.

I still periodically run old WOD. I am now sure that the game line won't contradict me. My last effort was a mage campaign set in Deadlands. Mages only - I did not use the white wolf rules for werewolves or vampires or anything else. I take that back - I adapted the werewolf fomor rules for Harrowed.

Anyway, back to FS. I agree, it is nice to see what the game designers think of something, even if you don't use it. But then you have to manage player expectations, and explain to them that you aren't using canon. It's a slippery, greased slope. I would rather have mystery and have my players accept what I tell them without comparison because they don't have a "canon" version to compare my work to. Maybe I'm too egotistical. One of the things I've always loved about Fading Suns is that the 'metaplot' is very low key and open-ended. It tends to open game doors rather than close them. And Fading Suns is heroic. I always loathed those game systems where the player characters existed to get enough experience to serve as the cannon fodder or lackeys for Methusalahs and Elminsters. I don't want to game in someone else's cool campaign using their setting. I want to run my own campaign in someone else's cool setting. I love that Alexius Hawkwood has no stats. I've run him as gay, a womanizer, a psychic, as strong and as weak, as a born warrior and as a born diplomat. Every time I start a new campaign, and I think that my current campaign is the 7th one I've run, I decide how I want Alexius to be this time. And no source material contradicts my choices. That's what makes Fading Suns great - it is rich, detailed, and is ultimately a blank canvas waiting for us to write our epic on it.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.