A Pair From Fading Suns

I've long been a fan of the Fading Suns RPG line.  Once released by Holistic, but now under the creative control of Red Brick, Fading Suns meshes elements from some of my favorite sci-fi universes. Take a dash of Dune and mix with a twist of Warhammer 40K, along with some truly unique aspects, and you have a rich compelling universe to adventure in.

That's Fading Suns. More than a decade ago, when the property was still actively controlled by Holistic, they did a small but fine run of 28mm miniatures for the game.  They even did pre-painted versions. But I went for the unpainted ones and painted them up myself.

Thanks to some holiday time off the last few days, I took some bench time to re-paint and re-base my Vorox alien from the Fading Suns background. This model marks one of the best 28mm scale four-armed aliens in my collection. I wish Holistic had done more when they had the chance. Pictured with him is a fine star-faring noble adventurer, also from the Fading Suns line.

Pictured with a Foundry 2000 AD cyborg. 

I've been working on some sci-fi RPG rules mixing aspects of FUDGE and Fate, and writing rules for multi-limbed races that are fair and balanced is not easy!  I settled on allowing a player running a multi-limbed creature the option to make two attacks at -1 each should he choose. He can still make just one normal attack if he likes. We'll see how it works.

Of course, gaming aside, we cannot ignore the calendar, so Happy Christmas to all my readers who celebrate the holiday!  I hope you find plenty of gaming goodies under your Christmas Trees, and perhaps give some games as gifts yourselves!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Nobody Asked Me, But....

Being an occasional feature where I share my thoughts on various gaming related topics.

• Strange Aeons is really cool! Not such a surprise that I think this--especially if you've read my last few posts, but it bears repeating anyway. I'd love to see what Mike & Co. could do with another genre, or even see them adapt the battle against the Elder Gods to other settings, like ancient Roman Britain. Fancy some "Worms of the Earth" skirmish?

• My buddy Rico and I are working on a fantasy RPG of our own. It will use a heavily modified version of the FUDGE rules, so we will release under OGL License if and when we get to that point. Although FUDGE dice will be an option, I think we're going to use a D6 - D6 mechanic made popular in many FATE-based games. I am always working on a few projects at once, so I'll provide semi-regular updates on this as we move along. Don't want to give too much away until we have more to show for our work!

• I turned 41 earlier this month, and aside from marching ever closer to my ultimate oblivion (comforting thought, I know), I did get some lovely gifts from friends. Among them were some of the awesome Lead Adventure Bruegelburg fantasy civilians. I'll be painting at least one of these great minis up this week and posting photos of him here.

• We're playing D&D 4E this weekend picking up our Forgotten Realms campaign and returning to Neverwinter. Now that we're at 3rd level, things are getting even more interesting.

• Steve Long and Darren Watts are leaving Hero Games. Sad news. Both guys are true pros and I wish them all the best!

• I have to admit that the new Necron plastics really entice me. I know that a fellow whose blog I follow and really like, Rushputin has sworn off of them due to problems with the list and background, but since I was never a fan before, I am not sure I'll have the same issues. We'll see. I need to sell off or trade my Tyranids before diving into another 40K army. I have the Orks (3,000+ pts.), and I will never part with them. But I don't have the desire to play the Tyranids much anymore.

• It may seem like heresy to some, but I am really starting to like paper minis! There, I said it. The sort of stuff put out by OneMonk Miniatures really grabs me. I may experiment with using them in some of my RPGs when I get a chance. Plus, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to get some nice paper minis made in this style than it is to get 3D minis made. As much as I love collecting and painting minis, there is no cheap way to get your own made.

That's all for now! I promise more pics of painted minis later this week!

--Scott