"Pawns of Destiny" Warhammer 2nd. ed. project prelude.

It is my longest running project, with an unpresidented depth of polish I had to commit to. Getting to really create something special for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay felt necessary stepping stone in my RPG hobby, as Warhammer was my first ever roleplaying game, and a setting of which I am still very much fond of. It is with great pleasure that I share my labours with you, for I found little joy in playing the game itself. It was first created with live playing in mind, then moved to being solely play-by-pen, eventually returning to live play. What I desired to create was a wholy interactive set of narratively connected maps with a strong game like premise and not solely narrative context. A map with physical presence players can explore without the need of too much input from the game master. One where terrain and the breadth of detaile allow for immersion into the setting. I've got the idea upon watching the intro cinematic for Vermintide 2, where we can see a map of the Empire and the tiny hnefatafl looking figurines of chaos warriors. I thought that creating a stylised map for playing WFRP on would really allow for a lot of gameification of the encounters, allow for immersive exploration of the map and present a level of detail a normal theatre of mind game cannot concivably approach due to one's mental limitations, yet still allowed for verticality.

On a more narrative note, I sought to bring back the whimsical yet grim-dark feeling of the table top Warhammer into the roleplaying game. One such particular narrative article stuck in my mind as the absolute eptiome of Warhammer writing, the series of narrative clashes between Orcs and Bretonnians in "Siege" a supplement for what I believe is Warhammer 5th edition. I desired to put the same amount of game, into a WFRP scenario, where a strong narrative drives the party into doing actual objectives rather than generic narrative Roleplaying quests like chat a character up and roll once or slaughter a room full of critters. A pervasive terrible amoeba like dance of tokens on your Roll20 map, as each little round blob, swallows the other. I want there to be humour as well as some grit, but rather of the camp halloween variety.

The project was, and still is much more expansive. I found myself in an uncomfortable mindset of creating behemoth projects I would never have enough time to create at a pace I work at. The game was supposed to be a 9 campaign epic divided with 3 prologue scenarios opening each of the 3 chapters the scenarios are divided into, ending with a grand scale End Times scenario, attempting to do good in the ruins of Altdorf when the world is falling apart or a scenic pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes depending on your character choices. With some small short side quests thrown into the mix. As far as narratives and ideas go, I got quite far. When it comes to flesh and bone adventures I've managed to complete only the first prologue and the first campaign of the first chapter. With this project gnawing at my time and sanity, I begun to ask myself, why did I not create a video-game instead. I would surely spend as much time doing it, and playing it would definietly be much more enjoyable, and easier to facilitate. However I damned myself if at least a part of this game did not see the light of day. For it really is a passion project. So in the upcoming posts I will share with you the insight into my game. The maps, pawns, their descritipions, ideas behind quests and more. As well as my take on the Warhammer setting, as I did not enjoy it much in the new light of narrative or game philosophy which arose in the 1st and 2nd edition of the game. One which I believe lead into the creation of "Zweihänder." A certain misunderstading as to what Warhammer is. I don't take issue with the nature of the concept, I simply reject it as quintesentialy un-Warhammer-like. One emerging from one choice of a single but immensly talented designer, to remove orcs from Mordheim due to their lavish silliness. And a certain grind of the black library pulp. I found this growing schism in the narrative aspect of Warhammer troublesome and grating. I've never seen the Empire as a simply historical depiction of the HRE with some magical critters sprinkled on top. So thus I sought to bring the narrative gamy purpose, strong narrative emphasis and an old school spirit of Warhammer, I got to work. Inspired mostly by the absolutely stunning rendition of the Empire in Vermintide series, the maps finding so many ways of bringing in the high-fantasy fairytale bloat into a grim and dark and historical looking Teutonic city, trully I've never seen something so creatively inspiring. So thus I'll come to present to you the prologue of the first chapter titled "Tavern Trobules" and the following first chapter campaign of "The Trespass of Drachenfels." I hope you enjoy.