Magic World and the Warhammer Old World (21.05.24)

At the end of the last session, the party was split, with some inside the caves the others hidden outside. Due to player absence, and after discussion with the player, I ruled that the missing character had run through the woods as a distraction, leading the Orcs on a chase, so the rest of the party could deal with the Ogre threat.

So how did this pan out?

The characters holed-up in the caves spent some time searching the Ogres' loot and came away with some useful items.

Alone in the tunnels, another PC, Eckbert, heard chanting coming from another cave. Upon investigation, he saw an Ogre performing some sort of summoning ritual. Some good stealth rolls allowed him to retreat and alert the rest of the team.

After some negotiation, the party attacked and killed the Ogre sorcerer. Were the problems over? Of course not!

Three more bad-guys, hench-ogres of the sorcerer, were asleep in a nearby cave. Attempted stealth rolls, to explore deeper into the cave complex, were failed and the Ogres woke up. A large melee broke out and the party were eventually victorious, though somewhat beaten up.

After more looting and negotiation, the players decided go back to their start point, the town of Zvorak, to rest, recuperate and spend some of their loot.

 Magic World and Warhammer Old World

Here's a brief rundown of the characters involved:

• Steve the Cobbler: A skilled craftsman and respected local businessman, known for producing footwear of excellent quality.
• Lady True: A hero of old tales, missing and presumed dead for years, who reappeared in the Border Princes. Modelled on Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones. Reputed to be "a bit strange".
• Warrick the War-drummer: A Dwarf bard, who specialises in loud drums and raucous songs. He uses drumsticks topped with Orc heads and a beer barrel as a drum.
• Eckbert Almudsen: An ageing and somewhat absent-minded astrologer who was "directed by the stars" to come to the Border Princes. Has some magical talent and a few spells.
• Aeryn, Keeper of the Light: An Elven sorceress of some skill and lots of ambition.
• Remi the thief: An Estalian rogue, master of the glib tongue, scouting and bargaining.
• Raynor the Barbarian: A Norscan (fantasy Viking) warrior, the sole survivor of a mercenary unit who holds a grudge against Orcs.

Where these characters will end up is beyond me as a GM to predict.

Magic World and Warhammer Old World

OK, here's a brief rundown of the campaign setting and the characters involved.

The Old World of GW's Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is a pseudo-medieval/renaissance fantasy setting where we have analogues of Europe, among which are:

• The Empire: Late Renaissance Germany
• Bretonnia: High Middle Ages France
• Tilea: Renaissance Italy
• Estalia: Spain in the time of el Cid (and, for giggles, the Inquisition)

Other lands - Kislev, Lustria, Araby, Nihon and Cathay among others - are much further afield but could come into play.

The campaign starts in The Border Princes, a land of largely-lawless petty kingdoms, independent city-states, ruined towns and lots of Orcs and worse creatures. You can find out more here: 

https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Border_Princes

As a personal note, I'd suggest bookmarking https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/ because it's absolutely fascinating.

In the next post, I'll be adding a few details about the characters.

 Magic World meets the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Old World

Yep, you read it right. I'm running a campaign set in GW's WFRP Old World using Magic World as the rules. I'll be adding later versions of Warhammer, Stormbringer and Magic World lore and rules as we go along. I have 7 players and we've had two sessions so far.

The first was chaotic as the characters got to know each other, learned of a "legendary hero" who might be able to help with the situation and travelled to the hero's village to ask for her assistance.

Things settled down a bit in session two as the party concentrated on "the mission". It helps that most of the players are experienced wargamers and roleplayers; one has real-life military experience. Between them, they were able to formulate a plan.

It's a military truism that "no plan survives first contact with the enemy." And this proved accurate. They're now holed up in a cave complex, the lair of the Orcs and Ogres who have been causing the local problems, and the party is split, with some inside the caves and some outside.

Would you like to know more? If so, stay tuned and check back here when I update the thread on Reddit.