Stuff I Have Been Reading: Legends of the Dark Knight

In anticipation of Arkham Origins I've been reading Legends of the Dark Knight, an old series of comic books released after DC's Crisis on Infinite Earth reboot designed to show early tales of the Caped Crusader. In particular two stories are worthy of comment so far.

Venom

This is a story that predates Bane's introduction to the Batman mythos by a few years deals with Batman getting hooked on the stuff after he fails to rescue a little girl in a cave-in. Conveniently the creepy father of the girl is able to hook him up with the pills and tries to use them to turn the Dark Knight into a zombie-addict. The pills make Batman stronger, but dumber.

Having failed to completely zombify the Dark Knight the evil scientist and his military buddy decamp to Santa Prisca where they proceed to zombify the military buddy's slow-witted son. He goes from nice "alright" kid to ruthless killer in a rather brutal manner (these comics were not for kids!)

Aw... ain't it sweet.
Wait, what's this below?

Drugs are bad. We get it.

Well worth a check out, if only for beardy Batman on drugs, and Batman punching a shark (no shark repellant was used).

Seriously, beardy batman!

Flyer

This one is memorable for all the wrong reasons. In the seminal Batman: Year One there was a scene that is almost wholesale lifted in Batman Begins where he uses a sonic device to summon a flock of bats. Among the many things that they do is block the vision of a helicopter carrying snipers, causing it to crash. This is the story of the pilot who was crippled for life in the wreckage of said helicopter. But luckily he was a half-German fellow with an evil Nazi warcrimes mother who worked on experimental tech and was able to give him an exo-skeleton suit. She is also waiting to find an ubermensch to breed with - and has decided Batman is the man for her. The Flyer, her son, lures Bats to their underground base. Which leads to this scene:-

Holy Bat Rape! The Climax? I don't wanna see that...

One of the things I liked about LotDK is most of its stories exhibit a certain groundedness in reality. Not to the extent of Nolan's Batman movies, but more like the first Burton movie. It boggles my mind that a gritty noir story like Batman: Year One should be referenced in a story that is... well... less grounded with cybernazis and worse.

Anyway - Year One made a spiffy straight-to-DVD feature. Well worth checking out.

and here is my favourite scene from its quasi-sequel Dark Knight Returns.

Nationals Swag

The Nationals were here again this year, and despite the fact they I only decided to go as a player on Friday night, rather than booking months in advance, I played in the D&D 3.5 category which included Pathfinder. I didn't win. Leicester Sabres did however, which makes next year's commute (assuming I'm not doing a UCAS Day or some such) more manageable than the 7am dash to Sheffield both days.

It was my first ever game of Pathfinder, and the setting was a kind of Wild West Arctic wasteland. Overall I like a lot of the changes they made to the D&D 3.5 system but they seemed relatively 'minor' to justify buying another rulebook (I have the Pathfinder Core Rulebook but have struggled to see any significant differences from 3.5 in the core game). An example of the minor changes I liked included having a Perception skill instead of Search, Spot and Listen. This makes more sense as smell is an often overlooked skill in RPGs.

The other game was D&D 3.5 and was also fun. However perhaps it was the characters I played (Half-El.f Bard on day 1, Halfling Expert on day 2) but I found I seemed to derail the plot a lot and get creative with the characters skills. For example in Pathfinder I used Summon Instrument to create a wind-shield by summoning a pipe-organ to block a doorway. I also charmed a giant worm and if it didn't do flame damage on touch I'd have happily re-enacted Dune. However having a massive worm sidekick made up for the fact I perhaps wasn't the most min/maxed Pathfinder bard.

I also had the chance to pick up some indie RPGs from Patriot Games in Sheffield, who seem to specialise in that sort of thing. I'll be going back there. I was hoping to get a copy of Once Upon a Time by the Great and Powerful James Wallis and other decent chaps but they only brought 1 copy with them! So I ended up spending more money than I should on some cheap Warhammer novels and the following beauties:-

The Committe for the Exploration of Mysteries. I just liked the cover. Haven't read it, it's a Victoriana type game.

Forsooth is a Shakespearean roleplaying game where you all make up a Shakespeare play by playing the actors. It sounds a bit like Baron Munchausen with more rules but looks silly enough.

Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies looks like a 7th Sea clone, but I'm assured it has its own identity. It's about Musketeers and skyships, so it must therefore be awesome.

I hope to inflict these games on people in the future.

Fiction: For Want of a Grail

I used to write the odd article, adventure and such like in exchange for a small amount of cash and last year the Black Library, publishers of Warhammer fiction, had an open submission month. It seemed like an excuse to do some writing and I thought after all the critiquing of their novels on this blog I'd have a go at writing my own short story - a kind of psychological horror story about a quixotic senile knight hunting a witch in a backwards rural village in Bretonnia (basically a backwards Arthurian medieval France setting) while his squire, a treacherous fellow who uses the knight's senility and rank to get an easy rise, dissuade the knight from his investigations. There's also some stuff about an evil version of the Grail I eventually put into last year's Nationals module.

Anyroads, I wrote a synopsis and a short 1,000 word sample. Black Library then announced they didn't want a synopsis and it seems the original synopsis is lost to hard disk crashes.

Since Games Workshop never got back to me in nearly a year I guess they were after more teenage-friendly action and less psychology, so I'm posting it here for general comments/critiques.

For Want of a Grail, A Warhammer Fantasy Short Story by Stuart Kerrigan

Overview: The Questing Knights of Bretonnia who find the Grail become Grail Knights but what of those who do not succeed yet remain bound by their oath to stubbornly continue their quest?

Sample 1,000 words:

The mood in the common room was as cold as the snow that carpeted the village commons Jacques thought. On a normal night Beyonne’s keg house echoed with sounds of ribald jests, grumblings and tales of mundane drudgery. Tonight their nerves were on edge and their glassy eyes squinted into their glasses of cheap wine.

Jacques cursed under his breath. The drinks were flowing as slowly as the conversation. His eyes scanned the length of the dirt covered bar looking for a dirty glass to spit and clean. Suddenly the door to the keg house opened and the barkeep felt the kiss of the chill wind upon his skin. A single figure stood by the door, his stooped form in silhouette from the single lantern hung from the rafters that bathed the room in urine-yellow light.

The man moved towards the bar with a pronounced limp on his left leg, and when he at last stood in the light Jacques saw the man had a weathered countenance. He was bald as an egg, wearing a brown eye-patch over his left eye to match most of his mismatched leather jerkin. A scar marred his left cheek and when his right hand slammed onto the bar Jacques noticed a mere three digits.

“My liege, Sir Brisbois, Knight of the Quest, finds this weather too cold for his liking,” said the man in a deep, scratchy voice. “He wishes to stay the night in your fine establishment.”

Jacques stood at once to attention, “Aye milord.” Perhaps tonight would not see his takings down. Knights were a capricious breed - unschooled in matters of commerce they were often unwittingly generous, but if they found the service wanting their anger could be great.

The ill-favoured character nodded in acknowledgment and exited the tavern, leaving the door open. A few moments passed and the warmth continued to escape the common room. Then he returned, holding the arm of his master.

The knight that entered was thin and stooped under the weight of his armour. A short untidy white beard ordained a wrinkled and elderly face and matched the crop of hair on his head. He wore what had once been fine, albeit old-fashioned, plate mail that was now encrusted in dirt and rust. Some of the ringlets of his cuirass and underlying hauberk lay broken. A still-fine silver-hilted long blade and a cruel looking double-handed sword were girthed to his left side. Jacques grandfather and great-uncles had been men-at-arms. From them he knew that a squire who kept his knight’s raiments in such a shabby manner would be horsewhipped to within an inch of his life.

The rogue who accompanied the knight led him down to a table near the bar and pushed him onto the bench non-too-gently. “Bring him wine,” said the squire. “And bring me some too.”

Jacques dusted off a Bastonne vintage he kept under the bar and brought it to the table along with a pewter goblet. The squire gleefully seized both saying, “This’ll do for me. Bring him the house red.”

Jacques looked uncertainly from the braggart to the knight, but the old man still shook from the cold of the winter night. Jacques returned with a chipped pewter goblet full of the local red. The old man slowly drained it while the braggart swigged from the bottle.

“Thank you Grenell,” said Brisbois hoarsely.

“That’s not my name,” said the rogue, ignoring the knight and speaking to Jacques. “Not that he knows or cares anymore. Milord here is forever listening to the dragon as the Bastonne’s would say.” He tapped the side of his temple whilst rolling his eyes in mockery. “The real name’s Malloc.”

“Have you tended to the horses?” asked the old man, oblivious to his squire’s disrespect.

“Of course I have milord,” said Malloc patronisingly. He handed Jacques a silver penny and whispered, “Have your boy stable his mule out front. The thing’s half dead with cold. Old devil thinks it’s an elven steed gifted him by the Lady.”

Jacques brow creased, partly in confusion and partly in disgust at this so-called squire. Before he could decide how to respond he was joined by Russo, a dirt-covered farmer who had been sat by the hearth. The peasant stooped unsteadily over the knight’s table. He focused on the old warrior and knelt in supplication, “Have you come to deliver us from the devils sir knight?”

Brisbois said nothing, tilting his head and seemingly staring past the peasant with his tired grey eyes.

“Horrors plague the farms sir. Last week my cow, she gave birth to a two-headed calf, she did and the others say I be…”

The peasants head hit the table as Malloc backhanded the peasant. He laughed, “Livestock are not our concern peasant.”

Tears formed in Russo’s eyes as he lifted his head, a nosebleed mingling with the filth and straw on the common room floor. Jacques took a deep breath and turned to the knight, “A month ago someone snuck into the barn and cut Dominic’s prize sheep open. Its entrails were snakes and when he found the carcass and the snakes bit him. He died days later he did. An’ there’s been more over the last few moons.”

“Enough!” said Brisbois, surprising even Malloc with the sound of his voice. “I have heard enough!” The knight reached his feet unsteadily, shaking as he did. He drew his double-handed sword in his palsied hands and moved it an uncertain arc over Malloc’s head. The squire recoiled, ducking under the table. “You have described to me the signs that a daemon infests your town of…”

“Beyonne, milord,” said another peasant to nervous chuckles. “Yer in the back of Beyonne.”

Brisbois continued unphased, “Of Beyonne. By the Lady I swear to you I shall find your demon and excise it from your soil, and regain her favour.”

The peasants chattered excitedly. Brisbois unsteadily lowered his sword to the table and knocked over the bottle of Bastonne red.

Malloc cursed under his breath. This had become more than an overnight stay in Beyonne.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Once Upon a Time in Marienburg Part 2

Day 5 (contd):

Returning to the Pelican's Perch tavern the companions retrieved their evidence and travelled to the Temple of Shallya to leave it in the care of the acolyte Getta. There Zhlak and Darok were treated for the sneezing they began to exhibit from floating in the canal during their misadventure with the monkey. The two were forced to wander around the city wearing pungent herbs in a pouch around their necks.

Back at the Perch the companions asked the barkeep about their assailant - the one legged man with the eyepatch and monkey, but before long turned their attention to the mysterious whaler Whitey that Max had told them about. Ishmael, the proprietor of the Perched Pelican, directed them to the White Dove, a ship that had been in dock for the past few days.

Directed to the captain, van der Valk, onboard the company asked if he knew where Whitey was. The captain said he did not know, and that Whitey had not signed on for the next voyage yet. He told them to look either in the Suiddock keghouses or ask Godymas, a priest of Manaan who tended a local whaler shrine nearby. He warned them not to offend the priest as he was well-thought of in the local community.

At the whaler shrine the group met Godymas and he told them he knew of Whitey, but not of his whereabouts. In exchange for a few guilders the priest mentioned they should speak to another crewman, Chekov, who was in a house of ill-reputed called Beatrice's, and Voger, who was indulging in the Black Lotus at Ho Kong's den.

As the company travelled to Beatrice's they witnessed a docker being attacked by thugs. When challenged the thugs told the company they were on guild business. Never the less Zhalok and Mellisandra wounded one of the thugs while Dharok covered the other in canal mud. After the thugs withdrew, vowing vengeance, they learned the docker, Rip Otter, was being threatened for working on the docks without being a member of the Stevedore's guild - yet another example of Marienburg's laws that favoured the multitude of guilds. Zhalok feared they had made yet another powerful enemy within the city.

Beatrice's was a terrible bawdy house and its sawdust floors and stench of tobacco offended the companion's senses. The caked-makeup of its madame did little to disguise the multitude of bruises on her face, and the clientele comprised of sailors and unsavoury types. Dhalok left in disgust after an initial inquiry into the whereabouts of Chekov was met with jeers. Only when Melissandra offered 10 guilders did Chekov reveal himself.

The man, a Kislevite, spat with disgust at Whitey's name and said he was not friend of that kossak. He said all the sailors were gathering for a cock-fight on a ship called the Salderbeam that night, but also warned Melissandra off the man, telling of how he had been found adrift in the Sea of Claws by the White Dove and had no memory of his past life.

The trio then travelled to Ho Kong's den, perhaps the least salubrious of Riddra's Black Lotus dens. Only after paying 5 guilders to enter did the Nipponese folk allow the company into the den, and the stench of the smoke overwrought Melissandra's elven sense of smell, lightening her head. Within the dregs of humanity that lined the berths and floorboards of the den Zhlak noticed even one of his kinsfolk partaking in the Black Lotus.

Finding Voger was not as hard as finding Chekov - the man, giddy on the lotus readily identified himself and spoke with him, though often he lamented about a comrade called Jake, and seemed to find it hard to focus. He said he thought Whitey was staying with his friend and fellow whaler, Terather, or Lady Veil.

Enquiries around the Suiddock lead the companions to Terather's house - she was well known being an oddity, a woman whaler - believed to be an elf, who dressed all in black and wore a veil. Knocking on the door the trio tried to pretend that they knew Whitey, and that Melissandra was called Ella. Though the veiled elf saw through the ruse she opened her door to them and they were greeted by Lady Veil in her full mourning regalia. With some trepidation they entered the woman's darkened parlour where she offered them tea while she regarded them peculiarly - Dhalok especially.

While Dhalok tried to sense for magic the dwarf and elf spoke to Terather, who evaded their questions about her veil, her profession as a whaler and elven ancestry with platitudes. She spoke of Whitey sympathetically, claiming she recognised him as a kindred spirit, a damaged person, and that she permitted him to take a room in her house. He was away, and was often away from the house.

She told them a tale of when Whitey had been lost on a whaler's boat, and when she pulled him from the water he said, "I can't find them. They are gone ... must find ... the Guilder ... Stein." and that in his sleep

The company idled away two hours with Lady Veil but eventually they decided Whitey was not coming home and they wished to go to the Salderbeam to seek him out. After wasting several hours in a dockside keghouse the trio saw scores of seamen boarding the Salderbeam. A queue began to develop as two dockmen took coins off each seaman and let them aboard the vessel. After a while Melissandra used her feminine whiles to arrange the trio to be allowed to cut in front of the queue. This infuriated a boorish drunk that was in the queue behind the company.

Later the trio split and mingled amongst the crowd. While Melissandra and Zhlak grew despondent that there was no sign of Whitey amongst the seamen Dharok found his luck was in on betting on the cockfighting and after a tip from one of the sailors he made a small amount of coin. He again ran into the boorish drunk who started to fight with him.

A circle formed around the two combatants and the sailors began to take bets. Dharok swiftly beat the man with his stave and left the fellow vomiting up the contents of his stomach on the deck. He was congratulated by several seamen, including one called Wilheim who introduced himself and invited Dharok to share a mug of rum.

The two discussed Whitey and Wilheim revealed he too was a crewman on the White Dove, and was a friend of Whiteys. Whitey was not in attendance this evening as there had been an incident on the docks this afternoon that had upset him - a beggar in a ragged coat of the Pilot and Seaman's guild had approached them and had knelt before Whitey begging forgiveness. The fellow was as bald as a coot and was missing two fingers, but Wilheim swore he wore a Holy Olovad medallion identifying him as a pilot who had fallen on bad times. Whoever he was, his presence had soured Whitey's mood. He had returned to his lodgings in a foul mood.

Flush with his success and the congratulations of the seamen Dhalok returned to his companions. In the morning they would return to Lady Veil's dark residence.

Day 6:

After a Pelican breakfast the three set out to Lady Veils and were granted admission. While Dhalok finally penetrated the mysterious energies of Terather's magical accoutrements and talked with the elf about magical training, Melissandra and Zhlak found Whitey in the kitchen preparing a breakfast of eggs. He did not recognise Melissandra from their encounter in Messtag and seemed reluctant to talk to them, even when she tried to introduce herself as Ella.

Whitey seemed almost disinterested in learning about his past life and when Dhalok pointed out his wedding ring he looked at it as if it were the first time he had seen it. Whitey struggled to remove the band and only judicious applications of grease by Melissandra were they able to remove it. Dhalok noted a maker's mark on the ring.

The three left Lady Veil's residence. Dhalok left for the Pelican to ask about someone named Guilderstein. Ishmael, the ever knowledgable barkeep, told him it was not a person but a van Onderzoeker vessel that had sank 3 years ago. He said the Port Authorities might be able to tell them more.

Meanwhile Melissandra and Zhalok travelled to Winkelmarkt to seek a jeweller. The jeweller identified the mark as being that of Stew Underson, a halfling who lived nearby. They decanted to Underson's house, an elderly halfling who offered them food and weed, whilst ensuring he took great quantities of both. He remembered he had made the ring 7 years ago for a wedding, and that the mark identified it as a Verenan wedding ring.

The trio left to go to the Temple of Verena, where for a handful of guilders earned them access to the marriage records. Alas without a surname they realised there were 30 Ellas. They tried a handful but none of the residents answered to Ella, and some of the addresses were empty.

As the day drew to a close the company returned to the Perched Pelican. As they walked along the docks a drunk bumped into them. They recognised the drunk as Max, and he whispered killers were following them. Sure enough two men were following them and after making certain they were being shadowed the party fended them off by threatening them with their weapons.

Day 7:

The group went to the port authorities where they learned from an unhelpful clerk that the Guilderstein was an old decrepit vessel belonging to House van Onderzoeker that sank with all hands and cargo enroute to Bibali three years ago. The date of departure was the same day as the White Dove. The House of Fooger had been obliged to pay the van Onderzoekers an extensive insurance claim. A second clerk was unable to find the detailed file on the Guilderstein - the files being removed by a clerk named Gheist that no-one seemed to know.

The group discussed what to do and returned to Godymas to ask about the Guilderstein. The elderly mariner-cleric said the captain of that ill-fated vessel was one Claude Bresson, who had owed many debts to the van Onderzoekers. He knew the captain had a widow, Ursula, and that a former mate on the vessel, Tanner, was still at large in the Suiddock.

As they left, the priest's voice echoed as he recited a poem, "That ship was there when I visited the Raven's realm. I saw it sailed his seas."

The company found Tanner drinking in the Pelican, where he cursed his lot, for he was now a stevedore - having been unable to secure a post on another ship. He confirmed the Captain owed the van Onderzoekers a lot of money, and stated the ship occassionally carried prisoners - prisoners that often disappeared after a few ports. As a mate he could not be certain - perhaps they were sold as slaves in ports like Bilbali. Occassionally from the hold he had heard children's voices. He was glad the Guilderstein was gone - he was certain the van Haagens had sunk the Guilderstein.

Hearing the name van Haagen again Zhlak frowned - was it the van Haagens that were behind this whole affair?

To be continued...

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Once Upon a Time in Marienburg Part 1

Session report from 14th July session at East Midlands Roleplaying Gaming Group, Brunswick Inn, Derby

Dramatus Personae:

Darok the Almost All-Seeing: A tall Kislevite expatriate with a gift for augury and divination. Little is known about Darok, but he hails from the north-east of Kislev, where the winds of Chaos blow strong. (Human Kislevite Male Seer)

Zhazhicl Dizmad Hirn (Zhlak): A hardy and itinerant dwarf who makes his living fighting for coin in the pits of manlings. As with so many of his kin he does not suffer fools and has a long memory for grudges. (Dwarf Male Pit Fighter)

Mellissandra: A high elven archer fresh off the boat from Ulthuan, seeking the sights of the city that now stands upon the elven outpost of Sith Rionnasc'namishathir. (High Elf Female Hunter)

 "An act of violence is never solitary. Its ripples affect all around it and nothing is as it was before."

As the sun rose over the canals of Marienburg the local fishermen waved, as was their habit, to the crew of The White Dove as it gently approached the Suiddock docks, its hold overflowing with cargo. On board the man once known as Marius Steinfield, looked at a city he did not remember. Little did he realise his return would set wheels in motion. Woe betide those poor fools crushed under those wheels.

Day 1

The dwarf Zhlak was taking his ease at a cafe by a small unnamed square in Marienburg's Winkelmarkt, while Darok hawked his divinations to unheeding passersby. The two fell into conversation and over ales Darok decided he woudl jump into the nearby fountain to retrieve a brass penny - the only coin his toils so far had brought them. Mellissandra, a young high-elf archer newly arrived from Ulthuan, seeking the sights of the Elf District, observed the unusual pair.
As Darok emerged with his prize an out of control wagon nearly smashed into the fountain. He had to dive out the way to avoid being crushed. The driver fled from the wagon, driven off by men on the back of the wagon in common garb. A second wagon drew up beside and the men proceeded, at the behest of their leader, to rummage through all the wagon's crates, discarding all the mundane trade goods contained within.
Curious Darok attuned his gift to sense magic on the wagon and the leader, Ostav, asked what he was doing. When Darok finally explained Ostav told him to redouble his efforts, but the Kislevite seer could sense no dweomers eminating from the wagon. Zhlak in the meantime helped himself to a bottle of ale from the discarded goods, but his timing could not be worse as it was then that a score of Marieburg's watch, the Black Caps, descended upon the square. Ostav's men fled, but Ostav was too determined to make certain that Darok detected no magic on the wagon that he was left flat-footed.
The three were arrested, with the hapless Kislevite and dwarf assumed to be Ostav's men. They argued for a while before the Black Caps Captain ordered them forcibly manacled. The elf, when questioned, stated she had witnessed little of use. This was enough for the leader of the Black Caps to order her arrest as well.  It then became apparent the Black Caps would tolerate no mischief and were using an excessive amount of force and amount of manpower to bring Ostav to heel.
The four were taken by wagon to the Winkelmarkt watch station and then placed in a cell, still manacled. Zhlak continued to berate the watchmen, which earned both him and the silent Ostav a beating. After they were gone the strangely serene Ostav tried to reassure the fellows that all would be well, but Zhlak was not convinced.
The next day, still manacled, the quartet were taken by river to the Central Court in Paleisbuurt (Palace District). They were led to the courtroom by the Black Caps and sat while other trivial cases were dealt with by the attending magistrate, one Kai der Kwick. When it came to their turn the group Zhlak insisted on defending himself, until he learned that by quirk of Marienburg's law all those who defend themselves automatically lose their case (a law which Marienburg's legal profession approve of). However their lawyer seemed strangely passive, and as they learned the charges against Ostav and his band included assault and robbery upon numerous major houses of Marienburg Zhlak began to suspect why the wheels of Marienburg's justice were turning so quickly on this morning.
The trio availed themselves of the opportunity to speak in their own defence (though the Black Cap captain weighed in at every turn to counter their statements), with Melissandra's status as an elf being recognised by the magistrate. As her alleged crimes had not occured in Elftown she was subject to Marienburg's secular law but the magistrate agreed to postpone sentencing for her. For the others though he began to pronounce sentence until a court clerk entered and handed him a letter. After a moment the litigant declared the group not guilty, that it had been a terrible mixup. This enraged the Black Caps but they were removed from court. The group, Ostav included left the court room free men.
Ostav apologised for recent events, though it was clear this was not enough for most of the group, Zhlak most of all. When his belongings were returned he gave the company 3 guilders as recompense. After promising to make it up to them later the group let the mysterious fellow leave and moved to a nearby expensive inn to dine at Ostav's expense. Later they went to a boarding house recommended by Ostav and found the rates quite agreeable.
Darok later went out to a nearby alehouse by himself. Speaking to a trader from the Suiddock's Import-Export Exchange he learned the rumour that Ostav and his men had been found innocent at their trial because Ostav was either the son or nephew of Director van Haagen, the Haagens being of Marienburg's Ten Families.

Day 2

Before breakfast the company received a message, delivered to their lodgings by a young boy, inviting them to a house in Goudberg. Upon arriving there and being shown in they realised the man before them was Kai der Kwick, the magistrate from the day before. The magistrate said he had been impressed by the way the company had handled themselves in the trial and that he wished them to deliver a message to a person in the Suiddock. He impressed on them that this was a matter requiring both discretion (hence the seer and elf) and forcefulness (hence the dwarf) on the part of the deliverers - and paid them 10 guilders each. The message was a bag containing 50 guilders, and a strong assurance this was the last such payment.Following Kwick's instructions the company returned to Suiddock to an abandoned shop. A pair of thugs opened the door to them and they met Leon Reno and delivered the money and message. Reno told the fellows his response was, "The details are elsewhere" though he was clearly shaken by Zhlak's attempts to intimidate him.
Returning the group stopped by the Bruenwaser Kanal as Darok spotted a striking woman weeping by the canalside. Her brown tress of hair and facial features resembled their elven companion, Mellissandra, though the elf claimed she could see no such likeness. She gifted the elf a necklace made of shells, a good luck token she claimed, before departing. Darok could sense minor magics of life and death in the necklace.
Arriving once more at der Kwick's townhouse the trio saw a window on the third floor was opened, and heard a loud smash. When no-one came to answer the door the three of them forced their way in and ran up to the third floor. The bedroom where the window was on was deserted, save for part of a smashed vase.
Going downstairs the three found one room locked and forced the door open to reveal a small library with a dead woman lying upon the floor. Mellissandra noted an acrid sweet smell. Searching the room the trio noted books on the New World and Lustria, and on the desk papers containing poetry to the Goddess of Mercy, Shallya. An empty snuff box and an unopened box of sweetmeats also lay on the desk, and by the panels of the desk the fellows found a green cylindrical pod-like item. Mellissandra secured it upon her person just in time, for a group of Black Caps burst into the house with the magistrate.
Seemingly devastated by the death of his wife, Hanna, the magistrate acknowledged the trio as his men and that he had been expecting their return. He mentioned he had just returned from errands and had seen a dark figure sneaking about the upper floor through the open bedroom window. He had run to get help, little realising his wife was in the house. Finding no marks on the body, and after a lengthy interview with the fellows the Black Caps believed she had locked herself in the library and proceeded to die of fright as the looters ransacked the townhouse.
Bemused the trio returned to their lodgings to let their employer grieve. 

Day 3

The companions spent the day performing basic chores and making purchases with their new-found wealth. Darok identified the mysterious pod they had found at the magistrate's room as a cocoon. The companions decided to avail themselves of the library of the Temple of Verena in Templewjik. However Zhlak and Darok could not read and soon grew impatient. As Ostav had promised to contact them at their boarding house Zhlak sent a messenger to the Haagens.Mellisandra's efforts proved fruitful - she identified the cocoon as belonging to the Lustrian Tiger Spider. The description was, however, rather incomplete, and the other tomes in the library were written in the ancient Classical of Tilea.

Day 4

At breakfast the companions received a letter, stating:-My friends,
Please meet me at Deedesvald Graveyard this morning at ten. It is of the utmost urgency.
Yours in hope,
Getta


Going to the cemetery the companions witnessed Hanna's funeral attended by many of the good and great of Marienburg, including numerous priests and priestesses of Shallya. They also saw Kai der Kwick, his maid Celeste and by her side the odious Luc Reno they had delivered the message to.
After the funeral Gretta made herself known. She was an initiate of Shallya and in hushed tones, concealed by the morning mists she told the company of Hanna's unhappy marriage to Kai, of how he beat her and how she had only found happiness in her work with the Church of Shallya. She was certain Kai had arranged for her murder, despite the lack of evidence. She implored the company to investigate. They agreed, though they were uncertain how they could help.
Going to the Elftown the trio made the acquaintance of Fiaroth, one of the apprentices that worked in the chaotic emporium. There they enquired about the tiger spider, including offering to sell it to the apprentice. The apprentice knew little about the spider (referring them to the Southlands Expedition Company, who had acquired the spider for the shop). Their attempts to sell the spider back were rebuffed when he said it was a niche market and that there was little demand for one – the last one had been ordered over a year ago and had just arrived from Lustria a few weeks ago. He, and a nearby dogsbody called Antonio, described the buyer as an Estalian called Heraldo Garcia.
In Messtag, the violent Estalian district of Marienburg, the trio learned Garcia could be found later than night in a brothel. To pass the time they returned to the Magistrate's mansion ostensibly for their pay. Mellisandra excused herself and was escorted to the facilities by the maid, Celeste. She noted the maid was wearing a set of expensive pearls. After she left the room she returned to the library. Searching it quickly she found nothing of import, but this time the books on the New World struck a chord with Mellissandra and she quickly found a reference to the Tiger Spider.
After receiving their pay and being told by Kai der Kwick their services would not be needed any further the group the group returned to the brothel. There they quickly found Garcia and cornered him. A sailor approached Mellissandra and accosted her, calling her Ella. Apologising the drunken sailor left with his comrades but not before Garcia tried to make a run for it. Darok restrained the Estalian and after renting a side-room they interrogated the Estalian, learning he had acquired the spider from the shop on behalf of an anonymous benefactor who had arranged for some ‘business trouble’ to disappear without charges. Through one of Messtag’s numerous local crime gangs, the Ramones, he had delivered the spiders through a series of anonymous contacts.
The group returned to the Suiddock and while returning to their lodgings were approached by a one-legged man with a monkey on his shoulder. He persuaded the group to join him on his barge, saying he had orders to take them to someone who had information for them. Zhlak had his reservations but they agreed. As he gently rowed the barge up the canal the man lit his pipe with a piece of paper and handed the burning paper to his monkey companion. The monkey ran below the barge. Then as they passed under the bridge a rope was lowered to the one-legged man and he clambered up it swiftly, pulled up by shadowy figures on the bridge. Mellisandra was the first to hear the hiss of a fuse and as Zhlak tried to push the barge a voice yelled for them to jump.
Mellisandra vaulted effortlessly into the canal water but began to flounder, while Darok leapt after her. Zhlak barely cleared the barge as it blew, but his armour protected him from the debris. Darok however was not so lucky and took some scrapes and cuts. The dwarf and elf struggled to swim but Darok used the debris that had buffeted him to get to shore and threw a rope to them.
All three were wet and miserable by the time they returned to their lodgings, but they spied a mob of black caps ostensibly searching the boarding house for three Chaos worshippers. The three decided to decant to a different hostelry, choosing the Perched Pelican, a nearby tavern. There they quickly made the acquaintance of the titular pelican, Beaky, and decided to drink to warm themselves and drive the taste of the filthy Suiddock away with copious amounts of alcohol.
As they were recovering from their ordeal a man approached them in a black cloak, introducing himself as Max. He stated he was the one who had warned them on the bridge. He told them that they had made powerful enemies in Marienburg, forces he wished to help them oppose. He told them that he knew they were a friend of the whaler Whitey and wanted to silence all of them. If they wanted to be safe they had either better travel to the New World or look into Whitey. After some questions he left the companions to their new lodgings.
The company discussed what to be done. They assumed it was Kai der Kwick who had tried to have them killed. He would have to be dealt with.

Day 5:

At breakfast the companions decided to leave the spider cocoon and a letter to the watch explaining how Hanna der Kwick had died with the barkeep, with instructions to take it to the Black Caps if they did not return. When they confronted the magistrate and mentioned that proof would find its way to the watch he first of all tried to blow-off their allegations. Finally he admitted to the murder, but stated no-one would believe them, and that he had not tried to kill them. He brought the companions the contents of his safe, 150 golden guilders and made the dwarf swear that they were finally done with each other.Flushed with success the companions returned to the Perched Pelican and decided that they would take their evidence to Getta at the Temple of Shallya. However if Kai der Kwick was telling the truth and was not behind the attempted murder, who was?
To be continued in August

Quote of the session
Naomi/Mellisandra: (looks bemused) “I don’t know how I feel about monkeys carrying fire.”

Two Good WFRP2 Fan Sourcebooks

I'm normally not a fan of fan-material (except the Oerth Journal for Greyhawk which is brilliant) but as WFRP is effectively out of print except for 3rd Edition (which has its issues and is overdue a long review but suffice it to say is effectively a new game) it's worth pointing out 2 unofficial sourcebooks for WFRP2E.


Warpstone Issue 25 was entitled Fimir: Ruinious Inheritence and is essentially is a WFRP2E sourcebook for the one-eyed rapists (Fimir cannot reproduce amongst themselves and have to abduct human females) that were quietly dropped from Games Workshop's line in the early 90s due to being too 'risque'. Probably due to the whole rape thing.

This is quite an interesting sourcebook, though it could be more professionally laid-out and less chatty. I've had a bit of a soft-spot for these guys in Heroquest, but they've all but disappeared now. The last scenario they appeared in was in the 90s and to be honest it would make a nice change from skaven being behind everything for them to crop up in an official scenario. As an aside, I'd love some bog-raider substitute minis (see left).


Defenders of the Forest came out today and is an unofficial but complete WFRP2E sourcebook for Wood Elves. This was a long overdue publication as an awful lot of the Bretonnian/Athel Loren connection was intended to be followed up in the elf sourcebook. You can get it here.

Elves have had a pretty rough time in WFRP with no source book to speak of. Dwarfs have a 3E book, as well as the excellent Dwarfs: Stone and Steel. It's a strange thing. A lot of people play wood elves as racist thugs who inexplicably travel through human territory despite hating humans. I'd see them more as the kind of fey types who could slaughter a village for logging but burst into manly tears because someone stood on a daffodil.

Previous WFRP editions assumed your elf PC was an 'urban' elf who was in some way assimilated into Imperial society, while WFRP 3E offers startup careers such as Wardancer that seem much more 'high-fantasy' than a human ratcatcher or road warden.

Wardancers are included in Defenders of the Forest but are not a basic career, an immensely good idea. The Kithband warrior career from the Core rulebook is and allows one to advance into Wardancer - a career I'd never noticed was missing from WFRP2E. Interestingly they get some magic advances (probably a typo).

I also rather like the fact that there is basically detailed gazetteers of the Wood Elf enclaves, allowing parties to actually explore Wood Elf territory, rather than having wood elf PCs trapse around the Empire stating how much they hate humans. Amusingly under the new rules wood elves also gain insanity points for extended periods away from the forests (1 point per month if they fail a will power test) that can lead to them being unable to return to their homeland permanently.

Pathfinder: Gothic Earth Eternal

A while back I gushed about the Ravenloft: Masque of Red Death Gothic Earth setting (as well as its woefully inadequate D&D 3.5 mechanics).

The Fraternity of Shadows, the Ravenloft fan site is working on a new project called Gothic Earth: Eternal.

This is a modern version of the setting, starting in 2013. The Red Death has been sorely wounded in the early 1900s with the coming of another evil entity called the Jade Horror (which was intended to be an 19th century oriental companion setting to the Red Death). In traditional Ravenloft ways the world now contains domains that are the seats of power of characters such as Dracula, Moriarty and Caligula who are effectively immortal. Chuck in contemporary man's wickedness and wilful blindness to the evils (apparently everyone knows about the supernatural, no-one talks about it).

This will I presume be a complete sourcebook as a pdf. The system used is Pathfinder (or D&D 3.75e) with a preview of the core classes here. So far it looks far more balanced than the original Masque 3.5 book.

Sotturm Finished

Here it is - the finished map of Sotturm, a town in Middenland for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay complete with hi-res download here.

Finished Sotturm Map.

Map key is as follows:-

S1. The Count's Holdings
S2. Wolf Pack Tavern
S3. The Garrison
S4. The Temple of Ulric
S5. Garden of Morr
S6. Temple of Sigmar
S7. Shrine to Taal

RPG Maps 5: Sotturm Finished?

Missing a few gates and possibly some relatively minor tweaks like a sensible scalebar and mapkey, but otherwise Sotturm is good to go. The full thing in high-res is available here.

Sotturm, mapped in Campaign Cartographer 3 with City Designer 3

Bretonnians at the Student Nationals 2012

So at the weekend I ran two sets of victims through my demented WFRP2E adventure. You can see what I am talking about at this micro-site. Maps, character sheets and the first 2 pages of the scenario are available.

This story was playtested by Naomi, Len, Josh, Fake-Charlie and Simon in Derby, who gave a lot of valuable feedback (mainly on tweaking the character sheets to avoid Death-By-Handouts and to be readable to a non-WFRP2E literate group of ne'er-do-wells). I did worry when we started around 3pm and finished around 2am, but we did faff quite a lot and my poor beloved Naomi got saddled with the female spellcaster with 6 pages of rules. The poor lass can still only count her RPG experiences on 2 hands. Coincidentally both tables at the con had exactly 1 girl and out of personal preference I preferred to give the girls the female character. I had a 2nd female character in case they wanted to play a fighty-type or we had more than 5 players, but Brunhilde the Norse Beserkeress was Lady Not-Appearing-in-this-Scenario both days.

The games themselves were a success. It was essentially a WFRP version of "The Quest for the Unholy Grail", chasing after a blasphemous Slaaneshi artifact that mimics and mocks the titular Grail of Bretonnia, with a white rabbit similar to the one-from-that-film. I've changed the scenario title about five times. It was set in Carcassone in Bretonnia, in an area called the Auveau Campagna. It was inspired by some of the Warhammer novels I've reviewed in earlier posts. Certainly the Knights of Bretonnia book and C.L. Werner's excellent Red Duke novel (read it on holiday, review forthcoming) were a big inspiration.

Some of the players on the second day commented that I'd made a lot of effort on the character sheets and character bios, though I think if your players pay over £100+ for accomodation, travel and convention fees they deserve a DM who didn't write the scenario on a beer-mat the night before. Both groups politely asked if they could keep their sheets and handouts, which was a nice compliment and I hope they like them.

Unlike in the playtest both days a character picked up an additional insanity. One the first day the Grail Witch picked up "Fire Bug" (i.e. pyromania) on encountering a ghost and failing a terror check. She roleplayed this reasonably well but sadly didn't burn down the inn the ghost was in.

On the second day brave Sir Tristan de Graal, Knight of the Grail, gained what was essentially depression on failing his terror check with the aforementioned ghost. Since he shortly afterwards learned from the ghost he would have to sacrifice his life to destroy the Unholy Grail it seemed kinda fitting he'd start to wish he was wrapped up in bed.

PC: "Why have you not done something about the ghost in your inn?"
Peasant: "Who am I going to call...Why did I just say that?"

While writing the scenario I thought it would be rubbish to have all 6-7 players playing knights in WFRP. Pendragon allows for diverse knights, but WFRP knights only differ in which munchkiny virtue talent they choose from Knights of the Grail. I then decided to add a herrimault (Robin Hood type peasant), but then make him outrageously over-the-top. Hence Caradas de Bergerac (Cyrano's little known cousin) was born. Probably he'll get retconned into de Berac to make it less obvious if I ever use that character again.

My favourite player was one who played Henchard, the Battle Pilgrim. Grail Pilgrims are basically weird groupies who follow Grail Knights around collecting discarded sundries to use as relics. This particular pilgrim was inspired by Baldrick in Blackadder: The Archbishop, and one player in particular relished wheeling and dealing in relics all the way through the scenario. As the only 'real' peasant in all 3 runs of the scenario I worried that this character might be a pain the arse to play as all the noble PCs had the license to torture him. This poor chap was reduced to riding on a donkey (the knight PCs suggested he be loaned a donkey, not a horse, even though the Duke of Carcassone was happy to lend him riding horse), but ultimately he wound up on the deal (as did the character in his other 2 incarnations).

Perhaps the most troublesome character was the Grail Witch. For some reason I cannot fathom Knights of the Grail does not allow PC Grail Witches (claiming they're too game-breaky with their prophetic skills) and a lot of the other careers like knight, yeoman etc. are 'male-only unless you play a woman pretending to be a man' and suggests this practice is very widespread!

Anyway, I found some rules for Grail Damsels and collated them into 1 pretty document. Thus Guenere de Chanel, Prophetess of the Grail, was born. My take on the Grail Damsels is roughly inspired by some of the sorceresses you *ahem* encounter in the Witcher 2 (a great CRPG you should check out BTW). All 3 lasses playing this character made pretty good use of her arsenal of spells - including the awesome Doom of Dol on the 2nd day with a pretty epic intonation of "Sir Luc du Besson, you will slay Sir Lancet d'Ouest."

One thing I will say was, the brief for the convention was to write an "Action & Adventure" scenario, and WFRP2E is not exactly the first system you think of (7th Sea is IMHO, or possibly Feng-Shui). However knights, dragons, damsels, explosions, fires and mutants all made it pretty action packed, although it was very high-fantasy (most PCs were in their 3rd or 4th careers and in the 2nd day in particular were bricking it during combats against mutated 1st-2nd career dudes).

I might return to Bretonnia one day. I've the idea for a low-fantasy campaign called "The Ballad of Derrevin Libre" which mixes resource allocation, Edgar Allen Poe, Arthurian knights and the French Revolution. Suffice it to say the PCs will be hedgefolk, peasants and servants, not knights of the realm.

(Artwork on this post and the sheets was Google Imaged without permission).

RPG Maps 3: The Town

I've moved on to mapping a town (~500 inhabitants, though I suspect I will have too many buildings at this rate). This is the first set of districts I've done - the poorer houses on the southern edge of town.

RPG Maps 2

And now the fruit of this afternoon's labours, a map of the Bretonnian village of Rochern that probably won't feature in the Nationals game this weekend...

Stuff I Would Like to Run

The Student Nationals are coming up in a few weeks time and I am hastily prepping my scenario, Vessels. It's a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition scenario, and I will not say anymore about it for now, though I've some vague notion of publishing it on my site for posterity after the Nationals, along with some of the amusing PCs I created.

I ran a playtest of it this weekend in lieu of our regular WFRP 3E game and it was a lot of fun despite the fact only 1/2 the scenario was statted and written (though I was using monsters out the books, except in one case).

It overran dangerously, but our group is prone to much faffing and silliness. This session was no different, but there was significant character development for every PC, which is difficult to do in a one-off, as well as 3-4 combats - including one very memorable one where the missus managed to mind-control a very, very powerful monster in such a way as the other PCs made mince-meat of it.

The only real rub was we only had 5 players, and I had designed the scenario for 6-7, including hastily genning one of the PCs the night before.

This means I've been bitten by the DMing bug, and there are a couple of WFRP campaigns I've got real interested in running. Sadly my only outlet is our WFRP3E game, which is a lot fun, but lately I seem to count down the days til our next game. I do plan to do a review of the system here (it is a bizarre experimental hybrid of board/card game and RPG) but the following factors have prevented me:-

a) It'd be -very- long.
b) It'd be fairly negative, though I've thought of some positive things to say - most of the 3 WFRP3E scenarios I've played or read have seemed pretty good. The only real let-down was, ironically, the major campaign boxed set we played through, though it's not the first WFRP scenario to have those flaws.
c) I worry my DM might hit me with a stick as he has probably invested £200+ (seriously, this is not a cheap game) in buying most of Fantasy Flight Games's shiny but shallow boxed sets and has every right to feel defencive of the system.
d) I don't own it, beyond some pdfs I've pulled off the web.

In the mean time I've become quite keen on WFRP2E. In addition to my playtest I ran an old converted scenario, Night of Blood at one of the Derby meetups I actually managed to make. The system holds up quite well, and I've a hankering to run a proper campaign, though that may wait until I finally get a bigger place to live with a games room. But here they are:-

The Dying of the Light

Mine! Mine I say!

I won this module at the Student Nationals in the late 90s when it was held in Glasgow for being the team leader and for us coming 2nd/3rd/4th or something I've long since forgotten. I presume Hogshead provided the prize support. Since no-one else claimed it, it sat on my shelf for years until I started buying the WFRP2E line. It seems to have accumulated significant value on Ebay.

Tangent 1: Not that I plan to part with it - it's mine, MINE, and was probably the only thing I ever got, in lieu of actual gratitude for being DURPS president and organising the society's nationals trip at a time when I had no car, much less a sat-nav and the only driver in the club who'd give me a lift didn't know where Glasgow was. One fellow even wanted an impromptu election at the Nationals to take the post of president off me when it looked like we might actually win, which was gratitude for ya and cemented my "take a hike you ingrates" attitude towards any overtures to get me back on the committee. Anyway, rant over. I didn't feel bad about keeping the module.

This is actually a set of linked adventures by different authors set in Marienburg and the Wasteland, Warhammer's answer to Amsterdam and the Netherlands. It's an interesting scenario as it gives the DM a lot of free-reign in running the scenario. A lot of the text is very conversational, "You might want to do this... if they do this, consider having maguffin behave like X, Y or Z, depending on which you think is more interesting"

It's fairly short (probably it would take 3-4 months of weekly play), but relatively epic in scope. There's some weird goings on in Marienburg, some talk of an eclipse of the sun by the Chaos moon and the city being destroyed. The heroes are drafted in through a rather long prologue that tries to leave the "you meet a man in a bar and he hires you to do the scenario" cliche behind, but instead assumes you've given the PCs a hook to go look up an NPC... who begs them to do the scenario. I'd probably tinker with this - there's some good Marienburg stuff in Warpstone to kick off this campaign with.

There's some crazy stuff in this module. Very little of it is set in the city, it is mainly a wilderness trek with a few rural encounters and sinister apocolyptic tones. One long-banished Warhammer/Heroquest monster makes a welcome entry in a particularly apocolyptic chapter of the scenario that I'm amazed made it past Games Workshop's sanctioning nazis as not only does it feature these creatures but it references Malal, a chaos god that Games Workshop technically do not own copyright on.

Some of Dying of the Light's maguffins are a bit suspect. There's a NPC that certain more psychotic players will want to murder (and only vague suggested consequences for doing so). There's the old magic compass maguffin, basically leading the PCs by the nose. Aside from the fact the writers forgot the PCs might try to triangulate their intended destination it suffers from the old RPG trope of being told "this trail/map/ is the safest route to your destination" and discovering it leads you through a series of suspiciously planned encounters and ambushes. It's pretty easy to fix that plothole in the scenario though.

Another downside is that it is a WFRP1E supplement (although 1E and 2E are pretty easy to convert on the fly. Don't get me started about 3E though!). Perhaps the last disappointment is this is for 2nd career characters. In WFRP you often start with a random and often pretty lame career - such as Rat Catcher or Servant (though WFRP2E wittled this away by making most careers fairly combat-orientated, nobles were no longer fops but deadly fencers, and WFRP3E starting characters are all superpowered gurus). Your 2nd career is typically chosen by you and is a more "adventurer" career. It's also typically when you finally get spells if you are a priest, or decent spells if you are a wizard.

The Thousand Thrones

The rather spiffy cover is actually a pretty major spoiler.

The Thousand Thrones is an epic, sprawling beast of a campaign taking PCs from Marienburg into the Empire, and eventually into the distant north. It was designed to use a lot of the WFRP 2nd Edition sourcebooks, such as the Kislev sourcebook. In many ways it is the WFRP 2nd Edition to the Enemy Within - although this is one book with numerous web-enhancements, rather than a series of books.

Set shortly after the Storm of Chaos (a large wargame event that saw Chaos overwhelm the north of the Empire and a possible reincarnation of the Emperor-God Sigmar managed to defeat its leader at the cost of his own life) this is one of the few Warhammer 2nd Edition scenarios that actively builds upon the events of that campaign rather than generically paying lip-service as part of Games Workshop's edicts at the time.

Tangent: It's worth noting the designers of WFRP suggested they make the rulebook setting neutral (i.e. pre-Storm of Chaos) and release books and adventures to handle the Storm of Chaos. Lead designer Chris Pramas suggested options for letting you play before the Storm, one during and one in the Age of the Three Emperors, but no, Games Workshop knows best. Incidentally the new WFRP is set before the Storm of Chaos.

A possible new incarnation of Sigmar has come to prominence, and has been blessed by the exiled Grand Theogonist Esmer. The PCs must chase after this charismatic avatar, leading to all sorts of interesting scenarios. It's a complete 256-page campaign crammed with information (the font size is criminally small) that could easily take a year or so to play through (though the campaign could end earlier depending on player decisions). I mananged to get it for about £15 on Ebay so I'm giggling.

In many ways it calls back to Dying of the Light. It is written by several authors and each chapter is a mini-scenario in itself. It begins in Marienburg but sends the PCs away chasing a maguffin fairly early on. It is probably best not played by ultra-lawful characters (no zealots, witch hunters and fire-brand wielding priests of Sigmar) as some of the maguffins involve working with Chaos infected characters.

There is a good mix of investigation and combat, though I'm only really familiar with the first half of the campaign. The ending of the campaign is notoriously rotten, resembling a player-killer dungeon crawl. Also like Dying of the Light the beginning scenario assumes the PCs are somehow already involved in events and does not provide more than basic hooks to get the PCs involved in the scenario - it is largely left up to the Dungeon Master and the player to play ball.

I listened to this being played on the RPGMP3 website. This is run by an exasparated Brit expatriate and played by a group dominated by Texans who sound like Yosemite Sam and really, really struggle with the more intellectual and investigative aspects of the scenario. Worryingly they remind me of when I was 17 and 'trying' to play Call of Cthulhu. It also highlights to me why the DM must have razor sharp adamantium hooks to ensure the PCs remain motivated to investigate the maguffin of the scenario.

This is not a ready to run campaign on its own, unlike earlier WFRP 2nd Edition scenarios. The Thousand Thrones as provided is a reasonably interesting campaign but significant tinkering is required to keep it on track, particularly if the characters go off track.

There is substantial online support and advice on tinkering. One of the authors, Jude Hornburg, has released several online supplements for it and it's nice to see as some WFRP 2nd Edition felt a bit 'churned out' by freelancers (like the ubiquitous Robert J. Schwalb, who wrote many of the more so-so supplements as well as the much criticised end to this scenario. Though to be fair he is credited with also coming up with the interesting central concept). Jude's latest effort will include an introductory scenario that actually gives the PCs hooks to follow the rest of the campaign.

Own Stuff

For a while I've been tossing around a WFRP2E campaign idea I came up with called "The Ruinous Powers That Be" when overdosing on George RR Martin stuff. I've actually written most of the first scenario up as a full PDF, with the second scenario being . At once point I considered making the 2nd scenario my Nationals scenario, but as the category I'm running in is "Action" chasing drug-dealers and phantoms around the hills didn't really seem classically action enough.

The other campaign idea I've been tossing around is a Bretonnian campaign where the PCs all play downtrodden peasants, based on Graeme MacNeill's story, Freedom’s Home or Glory’s Grave with a smattering of Robin of Sherwood, Edgar Allen Poe and the French revolution thrown in.

Evolution of a 3D Model

Recently I bemoaned my inability to produce some decent graphics for my games and twittered about finding a decent package to render walkcycles (making the walkcycle for TARDIS Trouble was tough using a pretty awful freeware walk cycle editor for AGS). Thankfully Korvar aka Big Mike of DURPS fame came to my aid - he does visual effects for the USS Intrepid fan films and like many of the other Star Trek fan films the special effects are state of the art - and recommended Daz3D.

The main drawback of Daz3D is that it comes with minimal content preinstalled - Victoria 4.2 - their female model - and a few (skimpy) outfits for her to wear. Daz makes most of its revenue off the model addons it produces and vends for 3rd parties. Thankfully the base models were free for the moment so I was able to install a male model (Michael 4) and with some browsing on their site I was able to find the content I needed for my model.

I decided to model the 8th Doctor, Paul McGann. Surprisngly there's a derth of Doctor Who models on Daz3D.com and other such places - I've seen a really good Chris Eccleston model, numerous Tennants and even a really good Matt Smith, so I decided to give the neglected 8th Doctor a whirl.

Here is where things went a little squiffy - oddly (IMHO though in Naomi's opinion this is unsurprising) there is a lack of male clothing packs for Daz3D compared to the dearth of female packs. You certainly don't get any male stuff with the default Daz3D install - though the Daz3D book I have later acquired gives you a lot of base stuff to work with.

Firstly I installed some packs allowing me the use of a frock coat, frilly shirts and waistcoats. I then fit these to the 3D model and after being told by Korvar how to prevent the "bleed" problem that persists when you try to dress a model in multiple layers of clothing.

My next problem was that despite the effectiveness of my ensemble my model looked like Ken from Barbie:-





(As an aside I do like the pose in the last image there - very Ascension-like).

However the good people at Daz3D were able to give me some hints (the face should be thinner, the chin longer etc.) Truth be told it would really be the hair that made or broke the model, as Doctor Who is a hairjob.

I then morphed the face - which basically involved turning dials until it thinned the face and made the chin more pronounced. I got carried away...



Then I managed to go from that baseline to something looking a bit more realistic...


And here is a comparison with images of the source face... which I think shows I did a fair job for someone who'd never used Daz3D before.





After that it was mostly touching up the model - changing the hair colour slightly, reworking the clothes. I decided I didn't really like the original waistcoat I'd given the model so I swapped it for a silvery "tuxedo" vest. I even found some ready made walk-cycle poses which has enabled me to generate a walkcycle...



and FYI don't ever have a character wearing a frock coat... talk about a nightmare to make a walkcycle...



Next I want to make a better cravat, create more animations for the character and trying to get rid of the jaggedy edge on the transparent renders.

They Bleed Me Dry...

As I noted earlier I'd bought the Centenary Edition of Robert E. Howard's Conan short stories. It's a beautiful black hardback volume. True to form I've discovered there are at least two companions volumes I'd like to get my hands on.

Firstly there is Conan's Brethren - a forthcoming volume collecting Howard's other creations including Solomon Kane and other characters I know nothing of. However I have heard of Kull - another barbarian who used to act as a backup feature in Savage Sword of Conan.

Kull I am reasonably familiar with -- I've plopped the kingly sum of £3 (inc. p&p) to buy the 'awesome' Kull the Conqueror movie on DVD. It stars Kevin Sorbo of Hercules fame stretching his acting range as a barbarian in a mythical world. Originally intended to be the third Conan movie (King Conan or some such) it was turned down by Arnold Schwarzenegger and rewritten to be a Kull movie. It's genuinely held as a bad movie and airs on sci-fi but it certainly isn't Uwe Boll.

Apparently Red Sonja was not a creation of Howard's but rather an addition from the comics in the 70s. This is interesting as the character went on to spawn a dreadful movie starring Briget Neilsen and Arnie (not playing Conan in name due to some bizarre movie rights thing). She nows stars in her own comic series and there is a new movie in the works by Robert Rodriguez with his missus in the titular role.

Second up is this amazingly neat volume collecting some of Lovecraft's best stories. I probably already probably have all these in some scruffy paperbacks back in Scotland but a volume like this is beautiful and apparently comes with a map of Arkham.

It does worry me though that most of my current reading interests are more at home in magazines than books, but hey ho!

A Study in Emerald

Watching TV's been difficult for a while, so I've been listening to a lot of audio drama. I listened recently to a Neil Gaiman short story called "A Study In Emerald". It's part of an anthology of HP Lovecraft meets Sherlock Holmes stories called "Shadows over Baker Street", a book I intend on buying at some point when I start earning money for unnecessary things like books, food and petrol.

Anyroads Neil Gaman made the short story available on his website here. It parallels the original Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, where Holmes meets Watson. Obviously Study in Emerald is somewhat different, but if you don't understand it (and you need to be up on your Holmes-mythos more than your Cthulhu) the Wikipedia page explains everything here.

By the way, does anyone think Neil Gaiman looks like David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends). I just don't see it, but my esteemed colleague, Dr. Steve thinks otherwise... you decide...

More Ghosts of Files Past

After threatening to bore people with my scribblings as a writer I was digging around on my almost defunct but still standing Dundee University Homepage I managed to find a copy of my first professionally paid article from Dungeon. If I recall a couple more followed, but AFAIK no-one saw the need to scan them. Anyroads, here it is for posterity.

The Ghost of Bios Past

I visited the Onnwal website today to get some files for a chum and noticed they need to update their bio for me, like, a bit. It's over 4 years old methinks and harks back to when I was a fresh faced PhD student writing scenarios instead of a PhD thesis. Still if anything it proves my wit hasn't improved with age.

Stuart Kerrigan, at 22, likes to think he brings youth, enthusiasm and good looks to the team that it simply couldn't do without. Born in Jedburgh, Scotland (a place that boasts "The Last Shop in Scotland") he has been roleplaying ever since the fateful day 12 years ago when hepicked up the Basic Set in Beatties model shop, Aberdeen. Since then Stuart has been hooked on roleplaying and has the death sentence on twelve systems(including D&D 3rd Ed). He currently roleplays regularly at Dundee University and allegedly works there on a PhD in Computer Vision when not writing 100-word bios.