"Beat the boredom!" Episode 1: "Schwarzehund" by Bill Beers
Welcome to the brand new RPG series - Beat the boredom! What is it about, exactly? Well, stick around and I'll tell ya!
Since most of us are currently hunkered down, waiting for that whole COVID-19 shite to pass, boredom became a very real issue. One of the best ways to beat it is to engage in some fin TTRPG experience with your friends. Naturally I'm talking about playing exclusively online. Roll20, Digital Playground, Skype and Discord - these are some of the perfect tools, one might need to organize a web RPG game. But there's also the issuse of WHAT to run. To this question I only have one answer - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay!
I've been on a huge WFRP drive lately. I'm reading everything about the new edition, running two Roll20 games simultaneously, and can't enough of the Old World! I've figured that starting a new series, focused on easy to run scenarios (and maybe even short campaigns) would be a decent idea. That's how "Beat the boredom" idea was born. In this new, weekly series I will present you, dear readers, some of my favorite Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay scenarios of all time. No matter the edition, or if they're official or fan-made - they have to be well-written and easy to use, both by the GM and his players. For now "Beat the boredom" will end on the 13th of May, but who knows - maybe it'll be renewed for a second season?
Also of note is the fact that I may revisit some of my earlier reviews from the "Grimvember" Autumn events, which I organize every year. Just FYI.
Without further ado here's episode 1 of "Beat the boredom!". Enjoy.
"Schwarzehund" by Bill Beers
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| Clifford, the big black motherfucker, is back and he's pissed! (art by PE-Travers) |
This was my first ever 4th edition scenario that I've ran as a GM. Clocking at only 5 pages, it's a perfect choice for a quick, single-session game, and as a prelude to a longer campaign. It centres around a small village of Lieske and a nearby work camp, run by a corrupt Kislevite overseer. Kiril Volskoy had amassed quite a few debts, and he wishes to pay them off by training vicious fighting dogs. Unfortunately he had a "bright" idea of feeding them... warpstone. Yikes! Not only that, but he exposed himself to the mutagenic mineral, and is now suffering the consequences. These are not his only troubles, however, as a roaming band of Skaven got the wind of a large ammount of wyrdstone, and moved to secure it at all costs... leaving no survivors, except for the hapless, heavily mutated overseer.
This is where the PCs come in. They've been hired by the de-facto mayor of Lieske to track down a couple of his men, sent to the work camp with supplies. It's been a whole week since they've left the village, and given that the trip to the camp takes only a single day, it's clear that something happened. Lieske lies on the Old Forest road, one of the most important trackways of the Empire, and is surrounded by deep, ancient and menacing forests with all manners of terrible creatures roaming them. What the mayor doesn't know, is that most of these gribblers would run away in terror from the horrible abomination which Kiril Volskoy's greed and stupidity have created.
This scenario has a very easy, 3-act structure. It looks like this:
1. The PCs arrive at Lieske.
2. The PCs leave for the work camp and (hopefully) discover what happened there.
3. The PCs return to Lieske and confront the titular Black Hound!
It's easy, sweet and tightly written. Bill Beers really managed to put a lot of tension on only 5 pages of text, and I'm honestly in awe of the man's writing skills. The 4 NPCs which the players can interact with are also very interesting. The mayor is also an innkeeper, and he genuinely cares about his village and the people living in it. Then there's the lovely Anya Scarano, a no-nonsense widow with penchant for buisness. Finally we have Lieske's resident priest - Heiko Klemmer, who's certainly not your typical Sigmarite cleric. It's at this point that I have to give kudos to "Schwarzehund's" art pieces and the layout of this scenario. The pictures are not too over the top. They're showing your typical Old Worlders, but at the same time they do give them a lot of cool details, a lot of style. Beers has chosen some excellent art pieces, and I can't praise him enough for that.
My only gripe with the scenario is the final boss. I know that the 4the edition baddies are usually weak, when compared to, let's say, your typical 2nd edition enemies, but the titular Schwarzehund really needs an upgrade or two, especially how it was described prior to the final confrontation. It's no big deal, however, as the 4th edition WFRP has a very easy buffing system for enemies. So you know - no problems here.
All in all, "Schwarzehund" is a perfect scenario for a one to two sessions, esepcially for people who are just starting their adventure with the 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (like myself!). It read really fast, presents some interesting ideas and is, generally, a very well written adventure. Give it a go, you won't be dissapointed. You can get it from the Warhammer Fantasy RPG subreddit.
I dedicate this post to my players: Marcin, Mateusz, Krzysztof and Czarek. I've ran this scenario for them, and without their involvement I wouldn't be able to fully test it in a proper way. Thanks, guys!
I also dedicate this series to Andreas who always says that I never find any faults in the things that I review. Well, I don't want to let him down, so for this new series, I will only choose the best adventures possible!
So that's it for the first episode of "Beat the boredom!". Next time I'll review another 4th edition adventure, and one that is very close to my heart. Until then - stay safe, stay at home and may Sigmar watch over you.
Until next time!
Xathrodox86
Comment by Andreas.
ReplyDelete"Thanks for the dedication! And yes, this scenario is better than "Everybody's talking at me", although that's just saying that some natural number is higher than zero... It has a plot that is somehow original (and not TOO absurd); it has a clear structure; and it has useful maps and descriptions.
I will not look to thoroughly for weaknesses of this scenario - it is useful in content and presentation, and that's great for a free, fanmade scenario. I just want to note that maybe the PCs have a little to little exciting to do, especially in act two - the idea to keep some Skaven around who look for more warpstone certainly appeals to me. That would also mean that the Skaven did NOT kill all prisoners, preferring to have them do some digging work for them, which in turns gives the PCs the chance to actually achieve something by rescuing those prisoners (some of which may already be physically corrupted, though).
This could tie in with personal interactions the PCs had in Lieske (presumably, but it would be a poor first act without that) - someone might be worried about someone who's there and asks the PCs to rescue that someone - maybe they just mean to spring that someone from the prison camp, since they don't know anything about the new developments.
But I just realize that I'm trying to patch up a hole which the scenario doesn't actually have:
"It's been 3 days since they've left the village, and given that the trip to the camp takes only a single day, it's clear that something happened."
That doesn't sound quite as urgent (a day's delay can have any number of not too serious reasons) - but actually they've been gone for a WEEK. Still, adding a personal angle will certainly improve the scenario!
One more thing:
"I know that the 4the edition baddies are usually weak, when compared to, let's say, your typical 2nd edition enemies"
That is because, as is usual with 4e publications, they're listed with baseline stats which the GM is supposed to buff to fit the group, not with average stats. I don't like that either, but that's how it is.
So, yes, a fine scemario - but one of "the best adventures possible"? I think you're underselling WFRP!"