Why Thousand Suns?

An Attempt at a Sales Pitch

Image Credit & Copyright: Franz Hofmann, Gemsbock Observatory

I’ve never been great at self-promotion. In fact, I’d say it’s one of the biggest reasons my RPG work hasn’t reached the wider audience I think it could — and why making more than a meager living from it has always been an uphill climb. I’m introverted by nature. Even though I’ve written a daily blog for years, I don’t like drawing too much attention to myself and I certainly don’t enjoy tooting my own horn or rattling the proverbial tin cup, though I know I should probably do both more often.

That’s why I’m taking a different approach this week. This Thousand Suns post is dedicated to a single, vital question: Why should you choose Thousand Suns as your science fiction roleplaying game instead of the countless other options out there?

It’s a fair question and an important one, especially as I prepare the game’s long-awaited second edition. Answering it serves two purposes. First, it shows potential players and GMs exactly what makes Thousand Suns special — why it deserves a place at your table. Second, it reminds me of what makes the game worth writing and revising, which will help guide every change I make as I bring this new edition to life.

So, let’s dive in and see why Thousand Suns might just be the science fiction RPG you’ve been looking for all along.

Timeless

At its core, Thousand Suns is built on what I call imperial science fiction, a proud, expansive tradition of galactic adventure filled with bold ideas, strange worlds, political intrigue, and sudden danger. This isn’t science fiction chasing the latest trends or drowning in technical minutiae. Instead, it draws from a timeless current of the genre that’s as gripping today as it was during the Golden Age.

The game takes direct inspiration from giants like Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, H. Beam Piper, A. Bertram Chandler, and many others, all of whom imagined vast interstellar civilizations bursting with opportunity and peril. But Thousand Suns is not nostalgia in disguise. These stories endure because of what they say and show: the thrill of discovery, the clash between personal freedom and imperial order, the danger of unchecked ambition, and the hope that courage and curiosity can still change the world — or the galaxy.

That’s the heart of the game. In Thousand Suns, you’re not a passive witness to history. You’re in the thick of it. Your character might be an explorer, spy, scholar, soldier, outlaw, diplomat, or something far stranger. Adventure isn’t just about firing blasters or piloting starships; it’s about making hard choices, navigating alien customs, and uncovering secrets buried for millennia.

Meta-Setting

The titular Thousand Suns, the game’s default backdrop, is drawn in broad, suggestive strokes. Its history, factions, and conflicts are there to inspire, not dictate. There’s no “official” storyline to follow and no canon you’re forced to obey. The setting is a launchpad for your version of the universe.

Want to run an espionage campaign between rival noble houses? Wage war on the galactic frontier? Hunt for long-lost alien technologies? It’s all on the table.

Game Masters will find it especially welcoming. You don’t need to wade through a 500-page space atlas before running your first session. The framework is there to spark ideas and support them, giving you just enough scaffolding to build something compelling, while leaving plenty of open space for your creativity to thrive.

Rules-Medium

Thousand Suns takes a rules-medium approach. It’s not a loose, purely narrative game, and it’s not a hyper-crunchy simulation. It’s the middle path: fast, flexible, and exciting.

The core mechanic — roll 2d12 plus modifiers against a target number — is easy to learn, quick to resolve, and versatile enough to cover almost any situation without getting bogged down in exceptions.

Characters are defined by broad attributes and skill packages that reflect who they are and where they come from, not by endless lists of hyper-specific abilities. Advancement happens in the setting, through training, mentorship, and lived experience, not by ticking boxes or grinding for experience points.

Combat is quick, tense, and dangerous. Starship operations are clear, engaging, and dramatic. Social interaction has real mechanical teeth. Diplomats, con artists, and negotiators are just as vital to success as mercenaries and spies.

This is a system that knows when to step forward and when to get out of the way, always serving the adventure at hand, never smothering it.

Adventuresome

Above all, Thousand Suns is adventuresome. The word says it all. This is a game where drama crackles, whether personal, planetary, or both. The universe is vast and strange, and your characters are the kind of people who can’t (or won’t) sit still. They chase mysteries. They take risks. They reach for power, truth, or meaning among the stars.

One session might see you brokering peace in the fragile neutrality of a border station. The next, you’re infiltrating a dangerous Von Neumann enclave or prying open the locked vaults of humanity’s own forgotten history.

This is science fiction that embraces excitement, imagination, and human drama. A universe worth exploring. A story worth telling. And you — always — are at the center of whatever happens next.

I can think of no better way to conclude this post than reprinting the back cover text of the 2011 edition, which does a great job of laying out what Thousand Suns is all about:

It is a time of wonder

Humanity has reached the stars and created a society of glittering sophistication and diversity on hundreds of planets. Poets declaim, lovers rendezvous, and rakes duel with wits and monoblades. Colonists settle virgin worlds, merchants princes vie for emerging markets, and free traders hawk their exotic wares. The Navy rules the jumplines, putting down pirates and charting new star systems. Scientists uncover startling new truths on long-dead worlds and posit revolutionary theories dizzying in their implications. Technology advances at a rapid pace, each year improving the lot of all who accept its boons. None dare deny the bright Man has seized for himself.

It is a time of upheaval

The inhabited galaxy — the Thousand Suns — teeters on the brink of chaos. Half a millennium since the Concord, and a generation since the bloody Civil War, the dynamism that ended the Age of Warring States is sorely tested. Diplomats try new gambits, shifting their ground for an unknown future. On dozens of worlds across known space, the lights are going out again and the process of decivilization begins anew. Despots and tyrants who would rather lord it over benighted backwaters than bend their knees to even a distant authority, arise once more. At the edges of explored space, rival — both human and alien — watch and wait.

It is a time of glory

Victorious fleets smash enemy armadas in distant star systems. Soldiers parade through liberated planets to alien cheers. Sector governors draw up breathtaking visions of terraforming and orbital cities. New jumplines open to the heart of unexplored space, daring the bold to venture into the unknown for profit and peril. Surveyors stumble upon lost colonies and puzzle out the mysteries of inscrutable clades. Captains with blazing eyes save worlds from barbarism — and rules them as gods. Daring thieves turn new technologies to unexpected ends or sell them to shadowy cartels on the fringes of known space. Meanwhile, bold operatives seek out these criminal plans for reprisal. Everything is possible with enough beauty, breains, or blasters, and it’s all within reach of a single jump.

It is a time of adventure