Fading Sundays: Different Settings?

Fading Suns, if you hadn't noticed from past posts in this blog, is one of my favorite RPG settings of all time. I've run a number of campaigns in this setting, and still follow the RPG to this day.

Now, what often comes up is the issue of the system (which was recently -- depending on your interpretation of recent -- revamped in a newer edition) as needing some tweaking or overhauling.

However, few people ever talk about tweaking the setting. I suppose part of this is because people take setting tweaking for granted -- part and parcel of GMing.

On my part, I have occasionally wished for more radical changes, such as:

• a bigger (or just different) map of the Known Worlds, with different factions and mixes;
• slightly different take on the Universal Church of the Pancreator, with a slightly less "inquisitorial" feel and more of the "cultural expectation and norm" feel -- especially bringing back the concept of people actually feeling obliged to tell the truth (regardless of their actual guilt in a crime) because they're swearing on the equivalent of a Bible;
• a different way of handling "in-system" travel, with slightly less opportunities to do space battles (because fuel expenditure is expensive, and pre-programmed burn times and revectoring is key for profitability and actually getting to your destination) and allowing for some fighter + point defense work to be used in space combat;
• a way to address the issues of the inter-system economy (more finished goods being shipped, key technologies, no raw materials, and perhaps an emphasis on shipping being more supplies to help the current worlds expand their colonies);
• an adventuring party culture that supports Questing Knights and other Wandering Knight orders;
• a system of nobility split between the classic definition, and the Traveller approach to nobility (in a universe that has known MegaCorps);
• a setting less terrified of exploration, to allow for more traditional ship-based exploration adventuring;
• a less "spell-list" oriented interpretation of the clergy's abilities, and a more investiture / rank oriented gaining of authority over things Seen and Unseen (dependent on faith and faithfulness to the Pancreator, of course).

And perhaps that's what future Fading Sundays posts will cover.