It always rains in Nuln

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 ...

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...

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...

Welcome to the second episode of "Beat the boredom!". Today we'll be looking at a 4th edition scenario which takes place in the frozen reaches of eastern Kislev! "Cold Comfort at the Tasrina's Gate" won the first WFRP Game Masters Facebook group, scenario writing competition. Together with my fellow admins, Jim and Elie, we've decided that Philip Davies, the author, made a fantastic job writing this piece, and I definitely think that it's worth playing. Given that a lot of us have more time on their hands, why not try this one out? But let me tell you more about the "Cold Comfort at the Tsarina's Gate". The adventure takes place in the far-eastern parts of Kislev, in the World Edge Mountains, in fact! The PCs are on their way to a small dwarven hold of Kazid Irkulaz, where they hope to score some sweet merchant deals. Their earlier trip to the legendary Slayer Keep of Karak Kadrin ended in a disaster, and this gig is their last c...

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 bored...

2019 came and went, but it was one of the most intense, hobby-filled years of my life. First of all - I got married! It was, to this very day, the happiest moment of my life. What can I say? Being married rocks! Here;s to my wife, Lia - I love you baby, more than anything else on this world. Hobby-wise, 2019 was intense as hell. I've continued to explore Delta Green, the modern, para-military system, centred around the dreaded Lovecraftian Mythos. I can safely say that this is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and that in 2020 I intend to play it a lot. A few months back I've started to regularly (once a month, usually) enjoy it via Roll20, with a couple of very nice people from Sweden. Johanna, Jim and Martin - here's to you. Fhtagn! Just keep those SAN points high! When it comes to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, it definitely regained a place in my heart, as my all-time favorite roleplaying game of all time. A few years back I couldn't look at the ruleb...

"The Enemy Within" is the quintessential WFRP campaign, and one that almost every, single fan of the franchise knows by heart. Now it's going to recieve a special, collector's edition for the 4th iteration of the game. First things first, however. Kalevala Hammer, one of the best Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay sites, is 12 years old! How time flies. I remember reading Jackdays' excellent addons at the beginning of my GM career, and his work has greatly influenced my gaming style. Jack is such an awesome dude, that he even published my fan-made WFRP sourcebooks, not too long ago. Here's to him and his fantastic website . May it continue to inspire and help more people in the future Happy birthday! As for the "TEW" Collector's Edition - it looks awesome. It's beautifully made and full of additional goodies. Aside from the 5 campaign books, it will also contain 5 new companion books, full of authors' commentaries, new plot hooks, new ...

In a couple of days I'll be running the first session of "Lichemaster" for my original group (well, what's left of it anyway). It's the second time that I'm GM'ing this campaign and the last time that I'm doing so, using the 2nd edition WFRP's ruleset. Let me be perfectly clear: I love the 2nd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. It's the game that started my whole journey into this hobby. I still have my battered, spineless rulebook that I've bought for my last money, more than a decade ago. I have almost every, single sourcebook for 2nd edition, except "The Renegade Crowns" (planning on buying that soon!). I've clocked hundreds, if not thousands of hours into this system. And I don't want to play it anymore. It's time to move on... After finishing "The Thousand Thrones" in my Roll20 group, and the "Lichemaster/The Enemy Within" in my IRL group, I won't be returning to 2nd edit...

Another year, another mark. 2018 was very a hobby-heavy period for me, but I'm not complaining. In fact I can't wait for the 2019, as it promises a lot more action for me! First of all - I'm getting married next year. That fact alone is making me smile like a madman and I can't stress enough how happy I am about that fact. My fiancee is a wonderful human being and I'm extremely lucky to have a second half like her. This will be a completely new chapter in my life, one that I'm very keen to explore. As for the 2018 and my hobby related stuff... it was a blast. I've finished GM'ing "The Thousand Thrones" in one group (the first of my IRL groups) and "Terror in Talabheim" in the other (Roll20), together with a bunch of one-shot scenarios. Both campaigns are for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition, and both of them are long-time favorites of mine. I've also ran a demi-campaign set in Khuresh, in the far east of the Warhammer...

Welcome to the final part of my review of the 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Today we'll take a look at the final core mechanics of the game. That picture is so fucking metal First there's Corruption which can make even the noblest of warriors fall to the whim of the Dark Gods. It's a bit different to the 2nd edition's mutation mechanics. Simply put if you'll stare long enough into the abyss, it will give you a lot of shit, as well as some tasty Corruption points. Witness a Greater Daemon in all its malefic glory, chug a warpstone brew or stand in a place suffused with Dhar and its Endurance rolling time. Fail that and gain a shiny, new mutation. If you'll get too many of these then your character becomes one of the lost and the damned and you'll need to create a new hero. Nasty, climactic and very grim. What can I say? I love this system! Did I mentioned that you can take Corruption points to re-roll a failed test? Talk about making d...

Let's take a look at WFRP 4th edition's core game mechanics and see how well they work. Is the current iteration of this venerable game better than the previous ones, especially the much loved 2nd edition? First of all we have Success Levels now. What are they? They're similar to succcesses from the 2nd edition, but more important, if that makes sense. Every full "10" that goes above your character's stat is a success. The more of them, the better, and they're especially important during combat. During the fights each opponent counts the levels of successes in a counter test, and then, based on the ammount each of the combatants had gathered, SOMETHING happens. You see, there's no more "I hit you, you hit me back" type of combat, present in this edition. Now even if both of the opponents miss, some damage will be dealt. It's a great way of making the encounters more cinematic and intense, albeit with a lot more tracking and keeping sco...

Now we're getting to it. It's time to take a look at the core rules concerning skills, talents and characteristics, as well as their advancements. On a first glance the 4th edition looks very similar to the venerable 2nd. But wait! There are a few changes. Agility has been divided into three, separate parts, which are Agility, Dexterity and Inititative. It's a very cool concept, as each of these is used for different tests. Dexterity is utilised for complex manual work, while Agility and Initiative will be used more often than not during combat. In my opinion this is a very welcome change and adds quite a lot to the game itself, as it really distinguishes a martial character from, let's say, an artisan of any kind. Nice job C7. Now the party can be really varied and full of unique characters! Attributes and their developement has also been changed. In essence it now costs a lot more points to level your characters, as you always go from level 0, no matter how...

The second part of my WFRP 4th edition review will concentrate on the available classes and their choosing. Will the 4th turn out to be as diversed and interesting as my beloved 2nd? Let's find out. First of all I highly suggest to check out Viluir's fantastic WFRP 4th edition review. It's in Polish only, but if you know the language, then you're in for a treat. The review can be found on her blog, cheekily named Rzuć 90k6! (Roll90d6!). Now for the character creation. The standard races are all here with the small change for the elves - now there are those from the forests, the Asrai, and the ones from Ulthuan - the Asur, the High Elves. I really like that change, as anyone who knows even the bascics of the Warhammer lore, knows that these two factions are vastly different to each other. You can roll a dice to determine which race you're going to play, in lieu of chosing. If you do so, you'll get additional 20 XP. Neat! The non-humans are a bit more s...

Well, here it is - the 4th edition of WFRP has arrived and already people are divided about its quality. I'm going to take a look at this newest iteration of a classic RPG and give you my honest opinion on it. First of all - this will be a multi part review, with each part covering the different part of the rulebook. These will be written once a week, since there will be about 4 to 5 parts. I hate reading PDF's, as it makes my eyes really tired, so reading a whole rulebook on my PC's screen was a major no-no for me, sorry guys. When the starter set eventually arrives, I'll review it as well. In this first part of my review of WFRP 4th edition, I will concentrate on the overall look of the book, the graphics, artworks and lore, all of which can be found within its pages. I can already say - I like it a lot! What a fantastic bunch of colorful characters! First of all, the art is very consistent in 4th edition. It's a nice mix of a dirty, down-to-earth...

Quite a lot of things is happening right now in our fandom. The 4th edition ofWarhammer Fantasy Roleplay is right around the corner, Zweihander will recieve yet another expansion and Titanicus is making everyone sweaty! I will try and cover it all in no particular order, but first we must talk about some very sad news. After many years online, the fantastic Strike to Stun forums will be closing down this year. It's all because of the European Union's privacy policies, potentialy aimed towards the social media giants like Facebook. In reality, as is often the case, the main victims of such a law are relatively small internet communities, like StS. It's very sad to see it go. For many years it was home to people who loved WFRP, as well as those who created various editions of this venerable game. There are alternatives, like the Ratchater's Guild Discord server and the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay reddit community, but Strike to Stun is one of a kind. It will be archived...