It always rains in Nuln

 This is a public service announcement. This is the last post that I'll ever publish on this blog. I've moved to WordPress and you can find my little slice of internet under this address. https://italwaysrainsinnuln.wordpress.com/ . I won't post anything more on Blogger. It was fun for the last couple of years, but this platform's mechanics, bugs and other issues prompted me to move to a new domain. A much better one, I might add... I will leave this blog as it is. I have a lot of memories connected to it, but from now on I'll be posting exclusively on WordPress. Hope to see you all there. Until next time... in a new and better place! Xathrodox86

This was bound to happen sooner or later - I am moving from Blogspot to WordPress in a couple of days. Yeah, no "normal" post this time, sorry. Lately I've decided that I'm done with Blogger. The platform was never that good to begin with. It had formating issues, the mobile app is a joke and lately they've cut the number of words in the search description. Especially that last change proved to be the main tipping point for me, as it hit my analitics very hard. I honestly don't know what kind of stuff people at Google are smoking, but it looks to me like they literally hate their premiere blogging platform and anyone who's using it. Out with the old... Back in 2014 I've decided to start using Blogger because it was convinient. I was able to control all of my social media platforms and accounts from one place, and for a time it proved to be a good decision. Unfortunately not anymore. The pitifully small ammount of tags that I can use for each post is ju...

As an avid roleplayer a lot of things that I do in life are connected with my hobby. That said, I would have never imagined that my friends would organise me a... Hunter-themed bachelor party! Oh yeah, it happened. Last year, during late Autumn I got married. Before the ceremony my closest friends decided to threw me a bachelor party that I'd never forget. It was a tricky task, since I'm not into clubbing, strippers (obviously my wife is reading this), not even racing or gambling! So these absolute madmen gathered together one day, and decided that Hunter: The Reckoning-themed bachelor party is the right way to go. Oh boy, do these boys know me well! Survive your bachelor party, inherit the Earth! Simply put - it was awesome. Those of you who follow my blog for some time, know that I'm a huge Classic World of Darkness fan. In fact my favorite CWoD splat is the underdog of this whole line - Hunter: The Reckoning, a game from 1999. I will write a comprehensive review/love let...

Today was supposed to be James Purefoy day, but to be honest I didn't had time to fully watch "Ironclad". Too much things going on at once! That said, I did finally managed to read "A Brutal Finish", the official adventure from "Realms of Sorcery". I've been running various scenarios for the 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy roleplay for some time now. Most of them have been adapted from the 2nd edition, and before we jump into "Rough Nights & Hard Days", I wanted to run "A Brutal Finish", the scenario from 2nd edition's "Realms of Sorcery" book. Is it worth checking out? You may want to pour yourself something to drink first... Taking place in Averheim, shortly after the death of Marius Leitdorf, the "Mad Count of Averland", the adventure is centred around a series of mysterious deaths. Apparently the capital of the province has been plagued by a series of mysterious spontaneous combustions. People fr...

A few days ago I've posted a rather controversial tweet about sandbox games, and why I think they're infinitely less appealing than those "on the rails". I also made a terrible mistake of forgetting about how much people get offended these days. My meme-based tweet twisted a lot of panties, fortunately most of the people interacting with it were reasonable and understood its tongue-in-cheek nature. To those people I say: thank you. Now back to topic. I dislike sandbox games a lot. They're boring, sluggish and only offer the guise of freedom. Shit, I almost forgot - this is of course only mine opinion, even if I present it as a revealed truth. Introducing the meme that started it all! Anyway, sandbox games - they're boring. Every single sandbox that I was playing or running was suffering from that problem. Even the ones that I watched on YouTube were horribly boring. The main problem here is that sandbox only works if the players have a clear goal for both thei...

Yeah, I know that I was supposed to review "Ironclad", but stuff happened and y'all get something else. Almost five years ago I've managed to finish the first "Warhammer Quest" on the PC, and now I'll tell you all that you need to know about its sequel! Let's not beat around the bush here - this title takes place during the End Times, the final death troes of the venerable Warhammer Fantasy. Now, as most people I consider the finale of WFB to be some of the worst written fiction of all time. Fun fact, I haven't read a single positive comment about it! Really, not even one. There were a few people who liked the army lists they've prepared in the ET books, but I haven't met a single person who said: "Yes, the End Times were fantastically written. Can I have some more, please?" That said there were a few good things about them, mainly the "Vermintide" games. "Vermintide" 1 & 2 are seriously some of the coole...

Yeah, about that official adventure review - it ain't gonna happen. At least right now. For you see, I've finally read "There are no Such Things as Skaven" by Sami Uusitalo, and have fallen in love with that scenario. Metaphorically speaking, of course! This 2nd edition scenario is probably in my personal top 3 WFRP modules of all time, and the fact that I haven't GMed it yet is a travesty. Fortunately that will change in 2 days, as I'm about to unleash this masterpiece on my unsuspecting players who've just entered Averheim (the change in location is the only alteration I'll make here). Anyway, what is this scenario about, exactly? Skaven! Skaven, and all of their vile schemes! A prosperous town of Ashendorf, near the great city of Nuln, was visited by the evil ratmen some 150 years ago. The mythical beasts brought with them a horrible plague that decimated the populace of the city, and its ruling elite decided to make a devil's bargain. In order ...

The "Beat the boredom!" series is slowly coming to an end. I've enjoyed it immensely, but it's time to return to my usual writing schedule. Plus I want to write about other things than scenarios! That said, today I will review another WFRP adventure - "Blood Is Thicker"! Written by two authors, it takes place in a small village of Neubühl, which normally isn't even present on any map. Yup, it's that small. Just a tiny hamlet, somewhere in one of the deep forests of the Empire. Lately there's been something going on with the villagers living within its premises. They've begun to act strangely and hostile. Once Neubühl was a welcoming site to any traveler, but now it's full of unpleasant people who don't like strangers and are generally unwelcome to almost everyone. That's not all, however, as more and more citizens of this village go missing, and there is talk of rampant mutations amongst the populace of the town... The PCs find a ...

You know what I really love? Cheese. Hard, soft, blue, cottage - doesn't matter. I am a dairy man through and through, and so when I've stumbled upon the "Strange Harvests" scenario, I knew that I had to GM it! Professor Eggburger, the author of "Strange Harvests", tells a very interesting tale with with this adventure. It takes place in the south of the Empire, where the sun is always worm, the fields are always green, and the rich, healthy climate allows for the people living there to experience a modicum of joy and peace. No wonder that no one likes Averlanders, eh? They just have it too easy! Anyway, the party visits the idyllic and rich city of Edelpilzen, where a trial is taking place. A beloved noblewoman has been murdered in the most brutal way imaginable, and the two suspects are awaiting the final verdict of the judges - all of whom are the ruling members of the town, as well as masters of the Cheese Makers guild. The party can partake in the trial...

Welcome to another episode of my weekly WFRP scenario review! This time I'll be taking a short look at the timless classic - "The Oldenhaller Contract" by Richard Halliwell and Graeme Davis! Let's not mince words - most Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay enthusiasts have played this adventure at least once in their lives. It is an introductory scenario for the 1st edition of the game. I still remember reading it back in the days of elementary school and being freaked out by the creepy fly guy at the end. Mind you, back then I've mainly played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in a weekly club, organised by one of my school friends' older brother. Warhammer was something completely new to me, and at first I... didn't liked it that much. Yeah, it was too dark and gritty, and back then I was mainly playing heroic elves in a forgotten realm of the classic fantasy world, created by Gary Gygax. It was great fun, but a couple years later I've finally managed to catch t...

This week's scenario is a real treat for any horror fans out there. I kid you not, this one is genuinely creepy... and it has zombies! Before we begin - I don't really know who wrote this adventure. In the credits at the end of the PDF there's a mail, from which I've gathered that the man's name is "Bob", but that's it. So Bob - if you read this, give me a call. Oh, and you've written one, damn fine scenario! "The Madness of Baron Von Richter", written for the 2nd edition of WFRP, takes place in a small village in Todesburg, somewhere in the Empire. The PC's travelled for a long time and they're obviously tired, hungry and thirsty - not necessarily in that order. They will surely decide to visit the "Long Rifle" inn, where they can eat a hot meal and rest their weary bones. What they don't know is that very soon they'll have to defend this place from a huge horde of shambling dead. You see, our heroes have arrive...

Last week Cubicle 7 dropped a bunch of info about their future WFRP releases. It's quite impressive, and it actually made me rethink a lot of things about the current edition of the game. Yeah, no scenario review this week, sorry. You see, on the 30th of April we've been given a long and impressive list of upcoming 4th edition titles from the developers at C7. You can find it here . Among these we have a bestiary of sorts, a book about magic, both human, elvish and dwarf (in the form of runes, naturally), more parts of the "Enemy Within" remaster and a bunch of other sourcebooks. All in all, that's pretty impressive. Is it finally time for the 4th edition to pick up the pace a bit? Yeah, I'm not even kidding. That is genuienly impressive stuff. Mind you, I don't believe that we'll see any of these titles this year, but kudos to the C7 team for giving us a long and easy to read list of books which we might see... someday. Perhaps. You see...

For this week's "Beat the boredom!" episode I'll be writing about a favorite classic of mine - the WFRP 2nd edition starter adventure, called "Pretty Things"! It was included in the GM's Pack, which was sold with the GM's screen. I still have both of these products, even though they're quite battered. After all, I've been using them for almost 12 years now. Anyway, this scenario was written by Alfred Nuñez Jr., who's one of the WFRP veterans and is still active in the fandom. You can find his website here , and it is definitely worth checking out! As for the adventure itself - it's a perfect introduction to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, as it details the PCs quest to reunite a small, frightened girl with her father. On a lonely, Talabecland road, our heroes encounter a scene of utter carnage and promise a dying woman to rescue Bianka von Radische, a little girl kidnapped by vile bandits. Little do they know, that these hoodlums will ...