FAL Review: The WFRP Companion

I remember one of my first moments of going "wow, this is so cool" in relation to roleplaying supplements. It was after seeing and thumbing through The Call of Cthulhu Companion for the first time. After that, I was sold on the Companion format. Rolemaster used Companions to great effect, and my own first steps as a game writer I dubbed The Unofficial Cyberpunk Companion. I did one for WFRP as well. So basically, I love Companions, and their eclectic mix of stuff that can be both enormously useful and mind-numbingly useless. But it's the mix that's the thing for me, the chance to read many different views on the game in question fills me with anticipation. So it comes as no surprise that I really like The WFRP Companion. I'll be up front about that, and about the fact that I'm a sucker for the concept. The physical book is a softbound tome, it clocks in at 128 pages and it's black and white. This is in my mind a very good format for a Companion product, to underscore its premise of "here are some stuff that might be cool for your game, but also some stuff you might not like". In the pages of the book we find an abundance background, new careers, new rules and new NPCs.



The book contains the following material, arranged in the order appearing in the following list:

• Credits (1 page) - Of note is the bunch of writers involved. The Companion is a result of an open call for submissions that Black Industries put out, and those who frequented the BI forums recognise many of the names from there.
  
  


• Table of Contents (1 page)
  
  


• Introduction (1 page) - a background to the contents in the same style as the introductions in the other books.


• A Guide to the Known World, by Owen Barnes (7 pages) - covering what's outside the Empire.


• Freaks, Thieves and Travelling Folk, by Andrew Peregrine (8 pages) - a detailed look at the life of carnival folk.


• Life and Death on the Reik, by Andrew Law (9 pages) - harking back to the information given in Death on the Reik, this is an expose of life on the greatest river in the Empire. Contains four new careers, Stevedore, Foreman, Wrecker and Riverwarden.
  
  


• Advanced Trade and Commerce, by Jude Hornborg and Dan White (17 pages) - An extensive piece covering most aspects of trade in the Empire. A very nice mix of rules and background material.
  
  


• Star Signs and their Meanings, by Kevin Hamilton with Robert J. Schwalb (7 pages) - instructions on how to use star signs in your campaign.
  
  


• Medicine in the Empire, by Steve Darlington (8 pages) - is there a doctor in the house? If not, use this article to inflict medicine on the hapless adventurers.
  
  


• Social Conflict and Advanced Criminal Trials, by Jude Hornborg (10 pages) - put your social skills to use, you uncouth adventuring scum! Provides a basis for clashes of wit instead of steel.
  
  


• Sartosa, City of Pirates, by Eric Cagle (7 pages) - care for change of focus in your campaign? Send your characters to Sartosa. Enough information to get you going is presented here.
  
  


• Tobaro: City of Sirens, City of Fools, by Andrew Kenrick (8 pages) - An exposé of the city of Tobaro in Tilea. Contains one new career, Deepwatcher.
  
  


• The Cult of Illumination, by Brian Clements(5 pages) - a cult to drop into your own campaign.
  
  


• Pub Crawling, by Jody Macgregor (6 pages) - a bunch of Inns to visit.
  
  


• Bring Up the Guns! The Imperial Gunnery School of Nuln, by Bill Bodden (7 pages) - A look at the Gunnery School, with maps and a new career, Artillerist.
  
  


• Gugnir's Blackpowder Shop, by Eric Cagle (4 pages) - meet Gugnir. He makes and sells gunpowder.
  
  


• Perilous Beasts, by Andrew Law and Jody Macgregor (17 pages) - a few classics and some new faces presented in the same format as The Old World Bestiary: Amoebae, Behemoth, Bloodsedges, Bog Octopi, Chameleoleeches, Doppelgangers, Mermaids, Naiads, Patchwork Men, Promethean, Reik Eels, Spites, Stirpikes, Tendrophilus Fungus, Tree Kin, Triton. Phew, quite a bunch of critters there.
  
  


• Index (1 page)
  
  

The best, most interesting and useful articles are Freaks, Thieves and Travelling Folk; Life and Death on the Reik; Advanced Trade and Commerce; and Social Conflict and Advanced Criminal Trials. The rest of the pieces are well written and contains many fun and interesting ideas, but their utility is not as great for my campaign as the others.



Given the hit and miss of the usefulness of the articles, I think the price of the book is a bit steep. For some the mix has been a turn off, but for me the format makes The WFRP Companion an exciting book, and provides me with plenty of inspiration for my game. So with the above in mind, I highly recommend it, but also caution that you check it out as much as you can before purchasing it.



Magnus

WFRP: Black Industries put down

In an incredibly disappointing move, Black Library today announced that Black Industries, the publisher of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay and Talisman will cease publication of games. In a spectauclar display of corporate lingo, Black Library claims they will take this opportunity to focus on the core business of publishing novels.

Well, it was a good run while it lasted, and WFRP have emerged from this stronger than ever. It's going to be interesting to see how WFRP fans deal with this. If the past is anything to go by, there will be much gnashing of teeth and boasting of prophetic prowess as people fire up their "I told you so"-engines.

The fact remains; BI put out a great game and some great supplements, and their efforts will be sorely missed.

EDIT: here's the link to the announcement:

The terrible news!

/Magnus

WFRP: Fumbling the scenario competition

Well, to make it official: I couldn't get my manuscript done in time to enter the BI scenario competition. The scenario is still mostly bare bones and after the playtest on tuesday last week, I realised that some stuff had to be added and other stuff changed, but alas ... I couldn't find the time. Well, such is life, I guess.

But to all who did manage to get their entries in ... I'm impressed!

And good luck to all of you. My scenario might show up some other time, when I've assembled the pieces. One such piece is Uriah Hepp, which was posted yesterday, and most likely more pieces will show up in due time. In the meantime, look forward to an update to the iAltdorf project in a few weeks.

Magnus

WFRP: Black Industries scenario competition

Just a quick post to say that my synopsis for an adventure called A Piece of the Pie was accepted to round two of the Black Industries scenario competition. I've got until November 5 to finish it, so there should be plenty of time to finish it and playtest it with my regular group. Also, congratulations to the other people who went through to the second round, and good luck to you all!

Magnus

FAL News: WH40kRPG Demo Up

Well, finally it's been released! I hit the download button and then headed here to post the news:

The WH40kRPG demo Shattered Hopes is available for download. Get it here!

This is easily one of the most anticipated releases since the original release of WFRP. It even beats out second edition WFRP.

A quick glance through my download assures me everything looks ok, but a bit heavy on the old laser printer. Now I know what we'll be playing on tuesday, if I get a shot at the Game Master's chair!

Magnus

FAL News: WFRP wins Silver and Gold Ennies

The Ennies award ceremony have come and gone and even though WFRP didn't win everything it was nominated for, the result is pretty impressive.

Best Cartography - Silver award for Game Master's Toolkit
Best Writing - Silver award for Children of the Horned Rat
Best Adventure - Gold for Lure of the Lich Lord
Best Supplement - Gold for WFRP Companion
Product of the Year - Silver for Children of the Horned Rat

And Black Library snatched a silver for Liber Chaotica, in the Best Regalia category.

This result and the number of nominations speaks volumes as to the quality of the current WFRP product line, and the efforts of Black Industries and the fans, of which many wrote for the books awarded!

Congratulations to all involved!

Magnus

FAL News: Cover of WFRP Kislev sourcebook?

Poster Slaneesh on the BI forums spotted a placeholder image on Simon Says that could show the cover of the upcoming Kislev sourcebook for WFRP. It follows the standard set by earlier region books, so it sure could be the real thing.

Click here to view the cover!

Magnus

FAL News: Covers of Warhammer 40,000 RPG revealed

Poster johnnype on RPGnet has discovered images on Amazon that's supposed to be the covers for the Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying game. Apparently the rulebook is supported by an adventure book, a GM's kit and a Character Folio. Click here for the thread.

I think they look mighty spiffy, and I think I'll be all over this game when it's released! A shame about the pushed back date of release though ... well, there's a teaser released at GenCon later this month, so at least progress is made!

Magnus

Visions in my head

I dreamt the other night. I dreamt of towering spires, of gleaming stars and showers of comets. I dreamt of marching feet and children’s laughter and a thunderclap so loud it tore the sky apart. I dreamt of treachery and death, of heroism and defeat, of blood and bile. And then I woke up to the screams, and that was not a dream.

Adolphus Altdorfer
Konigstag, Nachexen 2, 2522 IC

What has the poor Altdorfer gotten himself into? Probably nothing he won’t survive, cause I’ve still got some mileage to get out of him in this blog. Anyway, I speculate that his dreams were visions of the newly hinted at adventure campaign for WFRP, or adventure path as the D&D crowd calls those things. A set of connected adventures which reach a splendid climax in the last chapter, raining doom and fire on the hapless characters. Or something like that. I like the ideas of campaign presented that way, my favourite being Masks of Nyarlathotep and The Enemy Within. There’s just one catch; I never get to finish the damn things.

Anyways, Kate Flack has hinted about a new campaign at the BI forums, and from what little we know about it, I think it sounds intriguing. It’s a one book deal and ties in with Tome of Salvation, Realms of the Ice Queen and Night’s Dark Masters. Supposedly Marienburg will be featured in the book, and the new stuff will be compatible with the old stuff. I like the fact that it’s one book, I can’t be arsed to wait for stuff any longer than I have too (I’m looking at you WH40k), and the larger format probably means that the book will be in colour and 256 pages thick (or something like that).

More interesting though is the revelation that the writing team are actively using the forms of communication offered by the Internet to keep the ideas and writing coordinated. Just like I was hoping for in my previous post about the future for 2007. Also of interest is the stated goal of consistency with earlier published material and a comment stating that the new WFB campaign, Nemesis Crown, will not have a huge impact on the WFRP timeline.

Oh, and the inspiration for the campaign; the Children's Crusade.

Looks good so far.

Magnus

As the years pass us by

A question that continues to haunt me is that of the future of Altdorf. There have been times when the Imperial capital has been located elsewhere, and such a possibility still exist should the Emperor fall. Or be toppled. Is there such a risk? Our rulers say no, but is almost impossible to know how the machinations of Chaos have wrought changes upon our Empire. The Storm of Chaos has changed all and enemies can be found where once there were allies. And maybe the other way around, though Schrechlich's Witch Finders frown upon such talk. I fear I must keep such heretic thoughts to myself until such a time they can be made public. Probably after my death, if I'm any judge.

Adolphus Altdorfer
Backertag, Vorhexen 33, 2521 IC

As the last day of our present year grows darker and snow is yet to fall, it is with great interest I await 2007. A lot has happened with and around WFRP in 2006 and the next year looks to be a year of further consolidation for the product line. The rate of new releases has slowed down, and many new writers have been brought aboard. The next will hopefully give Black Industries (BI) the time needed to leverage their newly won expericence and establish continuity with the writers, and also getting procedures in place for research into game world continuity, something which is high on the wish list for many players of the game. I also hope that they will tap the creativity and knowledge of the fan base to a larger extent than before. I believe there has been clear signs in that direction, and I hope BI will follow through on that.

I also feel that the quality of the books in the WFRP line has picked up during the year. I believe that to be one of the positive results of the management change that occurred late 2005 and the reorganisation that followed. A management change that had some fans predicting the imminent cancellation of WFRP and the closing down of BI. During 2006 these fears have been proven unfounded and BI has turned out some stellar books, albeit marred by editing problems. But things have been improving and I eagerly await the releases of next year.

If there is anything I see as a risk, it is the Warhammer 40k Roleplaying Game. I have waited for it for nigh on 20 years, and since much of my previous writing was heavily influenced by WH40k (i.e. the Mutant Chronicles RPG) I feel very excited to finally see such a game being released. But I have some fears that it will prove to be to the detriment of WFRP as publishing resources are probably allocated to next year's biggest release. So I'm happy and a bit vary at the same time. Still, I count 21 releases for the second edition of WFRP since the relaunch. There have been a mix of highs and lows, but the result for me is clear; a rekindled interest in WFRP. The releases for 2007 are an interesting mix and I hope that my fears for a neglected WFRP will be proven wrong, as was the reported demise of BI and WFRP in late 2005.

Good luck to BI during 2007! Keep up the good work, and throw the bag of spare misprunts out with the christmas tree.

Magnus