Infinity: Insert Pun Here

Wow, well it's been a while since I last posted. Hopefully I can get back up to posting semi regularly over the next few weeks, I have a couple of finished Otherworld minis to show, some WIPs on various D&D monsters and a few 40k bits.

But first...

Race as Class: Skilled Classes

Here are the Skilled Classes, the Specialist and the Gnome.

Fighting classes here, Magic classes here.

Race as Class: Magical Classes

Here are the magic using classes, MU and Cleric.

Fighting Classes here, Skilled Classes here

Weapon Damage: Notches

Some new house rules, adapted from a post by Logan over at Last Gasp Grimoire. He suggested that weapons could take damage (a notch) when the player rolls a 1 or 2 to hit, breaking when they get as many notches as their maximum damage. I thought that was awesome as shit so I promptly stole the idea and ran with it.

Race as Class: Fighting Classes

Finally sat down and wrote up the 8 classes for Ionia that I talked about here. These will replace the existing class and race system, with any new PCs generated using these classes. Magic using classes can be found here, Skill classes here. This first section is the biggest, with 4 variations.

Necro/Inquisimunda Mini Options

Porky over at Porky's Expanse posted a couple of weeks ago asking if anyone knew of any masterlists for alternative minis suitable for GW games. There doesn't seem to be anything out there, but I do have a loads of links I compiled for minis that would be good for Necromunda or Inquisimunda so I'm going to dump a load of them here, maybe they will be useful as guardsmen or cultists.

Gods of Ionia: Chaotic

Here is a description of the most powerful Chaotic gods in Ionia, though many more exist. Bonuses and penalties apply only to clerics of that god, though followers of any class can dedicate themselves to a particular god. You might notice a slight resemblance to the Chaos gods of Warhammer, cough cough, but that is just your imagination...

Alignment info can be found here, Lawful gods here and Neutral gods here.

Gods of Ionia: Neutral

Here is a description of the most powerful Neutral gods in Ionia, though many more exist. Bonuses and penalties apply only to clerics of that god, though followers of any class can dedicate themselves to a particular god.

Alignment info can be found here, Lawful gods here and Chaotic gods are to follow.

Gods of Ionia: Lawful

Here is a description of the most powerful Lawful gods in Ionia, though many more exist. Bonuses and penalties apply only to clerics of that god, though characters of any class can dedicate themselves to a particular god.

Alignment info can be found here, Neutral and Chaotic gods are to follow.

Alignment in Ionia

Alignment is an often discussed topic among D&D blogs with widely ranging views on how and whether to use it. For my Ionia setting I took a simple view, deciding to use the basic 3 point system; Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic.

The idea that Lawful=Good and Chaotic=Bad doesn't make much sense to me in a reasonably realistic world. If Chaos is an actual force in your game universe then sure, it's probably pretty much evil, but if thats the case why not use Good, Neutral, Evil as your 3 point system?

Anyway, I took the view that being Lawful or Chaotic are unrelated to concepts such as good and evil, especially in a world where the PCs and NPCs alike act in a decidedly grey moral zone.

In that spirit I decided:

Lawful
These people believe in the importance of hierarchy and laws in order to maintain society. They would hand over their children to someone who held a position of authority over them if ordered to. Can range from dictators and fascists who enforce their beliefs on others through to thieves who set up guilds.

So most people in positions of power will be Lawful, as are people that make a living from a comfortable and structured society such as merchants, land owners, farmers etc.

Neutral
Most people are Neutral, holding no strong views one way or the other,simply trying to live their lives and feed their families as best they can, worshipping no one god. This covers most normal people of all the sentient races in Ionia.

Worshippers of natural forces are also Neutral, working to keep the status quo and maintain the world in balance.

Chaotic
These people believe that randomness and decay are a natural part of life and that it should be accepted and encouraged.

Some strive to destroy civilisation in order to bring about a better world where there is no class system and people can be free to live without being ruled over by others while some simply revel in destruction and ruin.

Alignment in Game
In terms of game mechanics there is little effect from alignment, although Protection From spells work, often used by the followers of rival gods. There are a many gods that exist within each alignment bracket, I'll be posting some info about the 12 that are currently detailed later. Each god has some basic info in regards to followers, sphere/s of influence, image etc along with a few bonuses and penalties.

Having variations in spell lists and abilities allows for variant cleric classes such as druids to exist while not having to create a whole extra class for them. So far the rules have had little effect on the party as the cleric is a follower of the god of healing (predictably), allowing her to double the healing power of a spell once per day at the penalty of not being able to use damage causing spells.

1st Campaign Session Reflection Part 2: Running Death Frost Doom

Part 1 here, looking at the character creation process.

Now it's time for reflection of my running of the game, how my house rules worked and how I dealt with the players.

 # NOTE - CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DEATH FROST DOOM # (obv)

Dogs for Labyrinth Lord

Every adventurer loves dogs, cute, useful and ultimately disposable. Here are some rules for levelling up and developing dogs for those animal lovers who want to keep their pets alive.

1st Campaign Session Reflection Part 1: Character Creation

So way, way back at the beginning of January we played our first session of my Ionia campaign. This was my first time running a campaign that wasn't entirely traditional D&D, having only run 7 (I think) sessions of Keep on the Borderlands before and having never played D&D as a PC, so there has been a steep learning curve.

The first session was Death Frost Doom, an opening act before the sandbox starts properly. Players were dropped at the foot of the mountain with starting equipment. Here are some thoughts on how the session went, about time I did this with things in real life settling down and giving us a good chance of playing again. I'll be splitting this up into sections, looking at different parts of the session.

New Old School Minis

Things have settled down a little and there is more time for hobby activities, so hopefully I can get some more regular posts up. For now, here's some pictures of some new models that arrived this morning, courtesy of Miniature Heroes. MH did a competition for the New Year, where by liking their Facebook page you were entered into a draw to win a £10 gift voucher and my girlfriend entered on my behalf. Unbeknown to us, we won, and only found out this weekend, so straight away we claimed the prize and placed an order.

CSM WIP: Slaaneshi Warband

In the short times I've been at home in 2013 I've been slowly converting up some CSM, using models rescued from ebay and stripped and dismantled to the best of my ability. Here's a quick WIP of what will eventually be a Slaaneshi warband that will be used for 2nd ed 40k.

I'm not dead

Well January has been interesting, after a promising start, gaming wise, where we actually started the campaign by playing Death Frost Doom as kind of a prologue, painting and modelling (both D&D and 40k) was in progress and talk of 40k 2nd edition was afoot it's all gone tits up.

1,000,000 Space Marines can't be wrong: 2nd Ed 40k, Rogue Trader Era Chaplain WIP

A friend of mine is interested in playing 40k, something I played as a teenager but haven't played since the start of 3rd ed. I started with Orks in 2nd, then moved on to Chaos, loving the opportunities both armies gave to convert and mess around with the models. When 3rd rolled around I got the rulebook and Codex Chaos and was left completely cold by the whole thing. The glorious sprawling mess that was my beloved Chaos army was now dry and boring. I played a few games before drifting away from 40k and gaming in general for a good decade.

Smoking in Ionia

Smoking is a common activity across many of the cultures found in Ionia. Most adult humans, orcs and halflings smoke, carrying a personal supply of their favourite mix. Some smoke tobacco, often blended with fruit and herbs, while others smoke tobacco free blends, referred to as weed.

Santa's Gifts to Nice PCs: Magic Items 7 – New Year Celebratory Smokes

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year! Last post in this series, hoped you've enjoyed it. Just a simple one for today that fits the whole old year turning to new.