Review: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition was published by Cubicle 7 quite recently. They were kind enough to send us a pdf to review and we will be reviewing this game in two parts. This first part is written by Lauri who has been there since (almost) the beginning. And the second part is the newcomers view written by Ville who has not played any edition of WFRP (published later).

Grognard’s Grumbles

Disclaimer: We haven’t actually played this fourth edition yet so all of my opinions are based on my earlier knowledge and reading the book so they must be taken with a hint of salt.

As said in the intro I have played WFRP a very long time. I started in the 90’s with the Enemy Within campaign (as player) and have GM’ed every edition since. My most active era of Warhammer was in 2002-2010 when I ran several campaign, wrote for Liber Fanatica and created the Daily Empire as a base for all fan material. So my approach for this game couldn’t be farther from Ville’s view which should create an interesting contrast to our views.

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Trying Out: Shadespire

Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire is a newish game by Games Workshop. It was released at the end of 2017 and I noticed it only after buying the Sepulchral Guard for just painting skeletons.

In this post I’ll be discussing my views of the game and how I experienced it while playing. Spoiler alert: I love the game.

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Lukukokemus: Käärmetanssija

(This is a review of a Finnish fantasy novel Käärmetanssija. Review summary in English at the end of the post.)

Petri Hiltusen Jaconia-maailmaan sijoittuvia kirjoja on viime aikoina julkaistu useampia. Vanhemmille roolipelaajille praedorien maailma tuli tutuksi ensin Conan-sarjakuvan ja myöhemmin roolipelilehti Maguksen sivuilta. Itse säästelin pitkään Maguksia juuri praedortarinan vuoksi, sillä Kuninkaan lapset edusti mielestäni Jaconiaa puhtaimmillaan. Kiehtovan erilaisena fantasiamaailmana, jonka sisäiset lainalaisuudet saivat sen vaikuttamaan elävältä.

Yhteiset tarinamaailmat eivät fantasiakirjallisuudessakaan ole uusi ilmiö. Mm. 90-luvulla julkaistu Varkaiden maailma kokosi yhteen kirjailijoita, joiden tarinat muodostivat yhdessä kokonaisuuden, jonka ristiriitaisuus vain korosti novellien maailman kiinnostavuutta.

Vaskikirjojen julkaisemat Praedor-novellit ja -romaanit esittävät Jaconian useista eri näkökulmista. Useimmat niistä ovat kuitenkin pyrkineet vain kertomaan oman tarinansa, jättäen itse Jaconian sivurooliin. Ville Vuorelan syksyllä 2016 julkaistu Käärmetanssija tekee kuitenkin kuin läpileikkauksen koko maailmaan, houkutellen lukijan syvemmälle niin valtakunnan kaupunkeihin kuin Borvarian pimeyteenkin. Ja onnistuu samalla kuitenkin olemaan loistava tarina.

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Lauri’s Top 5 Boardgame Recommendations

Since it has been little over a year since I rediscovered my love for boardgames I decided to list my Top 5 of boardgames. This list consists of only newer games without the advantage of nostalgia and isn’t limited to only games with an actual board.

Lets get started then!

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New Fiasco Playset – Heart of Dreams

Heart of Dreams is the fourth Fiasco playset created on our Guild’s forum. It started out as a small idea for a oneshot but quickly evolved to a playset for Fiasco. This time only Aki and I participated in this but I still think it tops our previous playsets.

You can download the playset HERE or from the Resources page where you can also find the previous playsets.

Heart of DreamsWith a rising, award-winning director with a vision, an excellent script and plenty of funding, from both various public institutions and wealthy investors, the movie was going to be the biggest, most talked about since Star Wars.

Things didn’t go quite as planned. 

The director insisted on a remote location for the shoot based on some half-spoken dream. He always seems to get mad when anyone brings it up. The conditions are horrible. Weather is a problem on most days and the shoot is over a year behind. Tensions are high, because there seems to be no end to this. The director and the star have been on each others throats for months, but most of the crew just wants to get by day to day.

As always we hope that you have good time playing something we have created!

If you find yourself wondering about something or just want to give us feedback, please feel free to drop as a comment or contact us on Twitter.

Failing Campaigns

Biggest lesson from last few years of gaming to me might have been that I can accept the fact that not all campaigns will work.

At first this seems like no-brainer. But only after some consideration, failures, and successes was I able to embrace this. It is not “letting your players down” nor is it “failing”. Understanding your own resources as GM is a tool.

So in this post I will try to explain this personal notion.

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My Gaming Year 2017

This year was more diverse in terms of gaming than I had grown accustomed to. I got excited about boardgaming after a long hiatus, published the beta version of my AWengine hack Eldritch Sigils, managed to ran a successful rpg campaign and got interested in various Magic the Gathering formats (instead of just playing Commander).

Having played much more in 2017 than in years has had a positive impact on me as a person. I have noticed even though I have struggled with some personal stuff it has not drained me as completely as few previous years. I have made my best effort to surround myself with different playing groups (though all of the players are from our Guild) so that I can have a weekly gaming night even if one group hasn’t been able to get together. Continue reading

MtG Cube: Rise of the Machines

Recently I have found it difficult to guide the remains of my energy to any profitable direction; thus I have spent time brewing Magic. I started with putting together Card Kingdom battle decks so that I would always have a few casual decks at my summer cabin for random games. Then while watching newest Tolarian Community College video it recommended watching video about Cube. After watching it I just decided to put together my very first Cube. Aki kindly reminded me that this was something I could and should share here – so here we are!

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Quick Word About Mutant Chronicles

I recently downloaded the free quickstart for 3rd edition of Mutant Chronicles from Drivethrurpg. I knew about its successful Kickstarter-campaign and have been fan of franchise since the days of Doomtrooper way back in the 90s. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the quickstart and to learn that Jay Little of all people was behind the development of the core rules. I was even thinking about getting to know the system and GMing it. But then I bought two sourcebooks for brewing ideas…

I like buying roleplaying books. I think most gamers do. I have shifted from physical products to PDFs mainly to save space and a little money but still like to expand my collection. Usually the books I buy deal more with the flavor and ideas than actual rules. But this time I feel mislead. Twice. Continue reading

Sandbox on Rails

Sandbox campaigns are a dream I have chased for years. A campaign where the players participate in the story, create memorable content and I act only as a referee. I know that many people chase the same white rabbit and I’m going to discuss my methods of catching it.

We finished our latest season of Eldritch Sigils just last night. It was one of the most epic season with game starting in 2099 and ending in 1770s after a detour in about 2300. When we started this campaign exactly ten months ago I had no idea where the story would take us. I was once again trying to force my players to play with me on my sandbox.

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