BAROQUE DYING EARTH FANTASY
Explore a world far past its prime, built upon the bones of history long forgotten
Shadows of a Dying Sun (or SoaDS) is a roleplaying game rules toolkit, written by Alan Bahr, set in a world on the brink of extinction, where fantasy, science fiction, magic, and faith all intermingle in a complex web of adventure. It’s explicitly designed for running dying earth genre fantasy, in modern frameworks influenced by narrative games, as well as classic adventure games.
Shadows of a Dying Sun is written with the following philosophies in mind:
- Death. Death is an ever-present threat for the adventurer, and as adventurers walk the Heron’s Path, they draw every closer to their inevitable demise. But approaching death can be freeing, and as such, you gain access to powerful new abilities and rules.
- Resource-management. As many rules as possible are resources that are in the characters’ control. This allows them to be aware of where various situations and conditions are, as well as make as fully an informed choice as they can.
- Guidelines, not absolutes. The rules in this book are designed to get you 90% of the way there. The last 10% happens at your table and makes your game truly unique. Expect to have to make rulings, not reference rules, and use the existing ideas in this book to leverage the new items you create.
- Weird, extravagant, dying cultures and civilizations. The cities and nations that still remain in the Shadow of the Dying Sun are the last remnants of baroque and ornate worlds. The world around you should feel alien and different
Shadows of a Dying Sun is inspired by KNAVE, along with various OSR, d20, and board games. The toolkit in this game is deliberately incomplete, designed to provoke you to define the setting and world of the Dying Sun as you play through it.
This 88-page book includes the game’s core rules, solo play rules, a brief bestiary, character creation, and more. You will need a variety of dice, notecards, and your copy of Shadows of a Dying Sun in order to play.