It always rains in Nuln

It's finally here. Light your pyres and crack open a casket of finest ale, because I've finally watched "Black Death", a incredibly dark and gritty medieval horror movie. Was it worth the wait? In short: yes, yes it was. I was captivated by "Black Death" from start to finish, especially since it just oozes the grim and perilous atmosphere, which I hold especially dear to my heart. This is a movie which perfectly shows the difference between the American and European approach to medieval cinema. Throughout the whole experience the audience can almost taste the dirt, muck and shit which are omnipresent in "Black Death". They can almost smell the stench of grime and feces, of unwashed bodies and death hanging in the air. I love American cinema, but Europe simply does movies like this better. Who is the mysterious lady in red? Do note that it's an ugly movie. It has ugly people in it (even the normally super hot Eddie Redmayne is shown a...

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...

How time flies! The great Kalevala Hammer website is now decade old! I still remember the first time, when I discovered Jackday's awesome website. His various timelines (including the one from Gotrek & Felix series), creature PDF's and the wonderful Norsca sourcebook, have helped me many times, during my time as a WFRP Gamemaster. After the end of the controversial 3rd edition, Kalevalahammer was one of the lone islands of light in the void, keeping the flame alive. Happy birthday! When I myself felt that Warhammer Fantasy was not for me anymore, it was Kalevala Hammer, among other things, that helped me find my passion, once again. For that alone, Jackdays will have my everlasting gratitude. Anyway - check out his website , download his stuff and enjoy endless hours of hard work that he poured into Kalevala Hammer. He deserves it, as well you, for there's a ton of grade A, fan-made material there, perfect for Gamemasters and players alike. As the man hi...

I've been regularly playing RPG's since late 2008. For me it all started with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, a classic title and one with a huge following. During the course of my long and ilustrious career as a Gamemaster (don't like being a player, sorry), I've decided to collect as many fan-made material, as possible, for every system that I've ran. This includes Warhammer 40,000 RPG's, classic World of Darkness and, of course, the venerable WFRP. For that last title I have undoubtedly the biggest collection of freebie goodies, which "weighs" 3 gigabytes and consists of nearly 2000 files. All are catalogued, labeled and sorted in their respective directories. There are fan-made materials for all 3. editions of Warhammer Fantasy RPG, something that can be interesting to anyone, who's a fan of the Old World (and beyond!). There's artwork there, as well! Altough not that particular piece (picture by Bartek Błaszczeć ) Now I want to shar...

For a few weeks now we know that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay will return. GW sold the rights to their venerable RPG, and it looks like Cubicle7 will be the distributer of all things grim and perilous. But is it really a good thing? There's no doubt that WFRP is a timeless classic, no matter how you look at it. From the ancient, but still viable 1st edition, to the controversial, almost-like-a-board-game 3rd - this game raised thousands of avid roleplayers, over the course of a couple decades. Sadly, as its parent franchise got killed off, it too fell into oblivion. Long before the End Times, Fantasy Flight Games, which held the rights to the franchise, after Black Industries, ended their developement of the controversial 3rd edition. A few books and card decks (sigh) were only available on demand. Some time later, Games Workshop decided to withdraw their license from FFG and... it all went quiet. Until Licensing Expo 2016 in Las Vegas, where they were spotted, while they were offe...

Holidays are coming, but on my little slice of internet they're already here. I present to you an interview with one of the biggest legends of fantasy writing - William King. Now before you'll read the interview itself, I just wanted to say that for me, getting interested in Warhammer would be impossible without the classic "Gotrek and Felix" series, about the infamous Old World duo. Before that I only really knew a bit of elven lore and... that was prestty much it. After reading the first two omnibuses however, I've understood that there is so much more to Warhammer Fantasy, than just army book. Novels, short stories, the classic RPG's - it all became known to me, beacuse many years ago I've decided to pick up two big books in a bookstore in London, and give them a go. It was a choice that I've never regretted. So I wanted to say: thank you Mr. King. Thank you for bringing so many people into this hobby with your talent and writing skill. We owe you...

Let's end the very first edition of Grimvember with a bang! I've recently ran a fantastic adventures by Hectorius, named "Heralds of Woe". Right at the start I would like to state, that this particular scenario took me, and my group, almost half a year to finish. Granted we're playing once every two weeks for 3 hours tops, but still - for a single scenario that is quite something, and it wasn't spent on pointless backtracking or some other kind of adventure filler. Far from it, I honestly think that "Heralds of Woe" was one of more interesting and captivating adventures, that I had the pleasure to run. The scenario's action takes place in Altdorf, altough it can be placed in any of the Empire's bigger cities. We've played it in Nuln (obviously) and it worked like a charm. The heroes are hired by the College of Heralds, an ancient an venerable institution that keeps track of any inheritance claims and cases. It sends out the titular...

So far I've been reviewing only short scenarios for WFRP. So let's change that, shall we? I'm going to tell you about one of my favorite campaigns for WFRP 2nd Edition - "Terror in Talabheim". Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay had many great campaigns, made for it over the years. Some of them achieved legendary status, like the famous "The Enemy Within". Others however, were not so lucky. "Terror in Talabheim" is in the second group, and unfairly so, I might add. This is a really excellent campaign and sourcebook, all in one. I just love those freaky covers so much! "TiT" is divided into two parts. First we have a section, detailing the history of the ancient city, supposedly created, when Taal brought down a mighty dragon from the skies and the resulting impact created the crater, in which the city is located. Talabheim is pretty unique, when it comes to settlements in the Empire, for the fact it is almost entirely placed within ...

Grimvember continues with another entry. This time I'll be writing about one of my favorite, fan-made adventures of all time, "The Lord of Lost Heart". There are many, fantastic fan supplements for WFRP, but for me the best ones are always scenarios and campaigns. For many years I've struggled with writing my own stories, so I took any chance to run a well written adventure. Some of them were good, others less so, but a few were real gems. Among those is "The Lord of Lost Heart" by Pip Hamilton, a scenario for 2nd edition WFRP, which takes place right after the Storm of Chaos in the village of Hohlesbruck. It won an award in the Strike to Stun's 2009 Scenario Contest, and rightfully so. Seriously, this adventure is all kinds of awesome. Unfortunately there's no official cover, so here are some creppy trees. Trust me, you'll see many of them in this adventure Naturally I'll avoid spoilers, so you'll be able to enjoy it fully, on...

Halloween came and went and here I am, hitting myself in the head, for not writing an adequately spooky post. All is not lost however, as the fine month of November gave me a splendid idea for a brand, new event on this blog. From this point, every November will be known as Grimvember on "It always rains..." blog. What is a Grimvember exactly? Well, some time ago I've realised that after discussing various video and board games, as well as talking about the game itself, I've never reviewed a single module for WFRP. This will not stand. From now on, every week of November will be dedicated to a specific adventure, campaign or sourcebook for this fine and legendary game, which I especially value. Of course there are too many of them to contain within a single Grimvember, but you know... there's always next year and the year after that. I think we'll be fine. Oh, and this one is for Karl Voss of Averland and the rest of the guys and gals from Warhammer-Empire...

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, so I wanted to commemorate it in some appropriate manner. Fortunately, thanks to a gaming buddy (thanks Andy!), I've managed to land an interview with one of the original game's creators, Graeme Davis himself. It's really short, but for a WFRP geek like myself, who grew up with the game and had so much experience with it, both good and bad, this is a huge thing and a huge honor. Happy birthday WFRP! Without further ado, here's the whole thing. Enjoy. Xathrodox86: Which edition of Warhammer Fantasy did you enjoyed working on the most? Graeme Davis: First edition, definitely. For the others I was a freelancer working at home on material that others had created, but for first edition I was deep in the creative craziness that was the GW Design Studio in the 80s. It was a unique time and place and a unique team, and a fantastic experience for me. Xathrodox86: How big was your input in the...

Oh yeah, it's my first reblog, but don't worry! It's done for a just cause. I'm not the one for long speeches (yeah, yeah I know - "Chaos in the Old World" review) when it comes to important things, that happen in my life, be them family matters, personal successes or hobby related. So I'll let Jack Days from Kalevala Hammer grab this one. His post about WFRP's 30th anniversary is much better, than anything that I'd ever write here. Visit his website and read his post , it'll be worth it, I guarantee it. While you're at it, go and check out his fantastic fan-made material, like the WHFRP Norsca supplement. Great stuff. " Kalevala Hammer: 30th anniversary of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay... : This is the year, when Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay becomes 30 years old! And it might be one of these autumn days (October), when that happ... " Altough I will add a few things from myself, why the hell not? A few posts ago I've wr...

This will be a short one, but important none the less, especially for all the WFRP fans out there. The guys from  Grim & Perilous Studios have finally released the ZWEIHÄNDER RPG, a successor of sorts of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I've first discovered their project, while browsing through the Strike to Stun forums a while ago, and from the beginning took I knew that this would be something worth following. Their artworks are glorious as well (property of  Grim & Perilous Studios) Here are a few words from the game's authors themselves (taken from their website): " ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG will be the first of its kind to market: an inspired version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, adaptable for any “grim & perilous” campaign set in the familiar Old World, the politically-inspired intrigues of George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire, the racial tensions of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher, the criminal underworld of Scot...