I can’t start writing these reports until I delve into my group’s gaming past a little, and lay down some backstory for you all. That’s what this Prologue is.

Inside this box, a world.

Warhammer Quest, Games Workshop’s incredible dungeon slaying board game from 1995, is a big favourite of ours. When we played it, we used the GM rules, allowing the randomly generated dungeon game to be played like a light RPG campaign. I used a mission from the Roleplay Book as a starting point, and kicked something fresh off from there.

As an aid for the players, I would write up a rough ‘The Story So Far’ document for each session. I’ve managed to dig one out for your pleasure, covering most of our Warhammer Quest adventures. Again, it’s rough, so don’t expect a literary masterpiece.

THE STORY SO FAR

A team of adventurers entered Karak-Azgal on a mission to find out the fate of the Star of Dawn and the Grunsson clan.
Lazlow the Dwarf (Kenny) died at the hands of a Minotaur.
The warriors decided to fight on while a man down. Foolishness and arrogance in equal measure. Treguard (Joanne) was bested by orcs. Bala Mory (Louise) and Glorfindel (Richard) fell soon after, swamped by Greenskins in the stinking darkness of Karak-Azgal.

In an act of vengeance, a new team arose.
Thomas the Tank (Louise), Blotto (Kenny), Lego (Richard) and RightGuard (Joanne) ventured into Karak-Azgal.
Ill-prepared to fight, and consumed by grief for his lost cousin, RightGuard fell in the very first hallway. A tragedy. The other warriors returned to Barak-Varr to tell RightGuard’s family the sad news. On the journey home, Thomas breaks both of his legs in a fall.

I’d like to step back in here for a moment to say, yes, these reports are very rough and change tense and everything, yes, I KNOW. But also to just stress that Warhammer Quest is an insanely tough game. It is ROCK HARD. There’s no shame in dying or being party wiped in WQ, because it is terrifyingly hardcore. One more thing – many of the things that happen in WQ are taken from the roleplay book – events in town are randomly generated. Thomas’ legbreaks and the upcoming duels and weddings are all randomly generated from tables and unlucky dice rolls.

Mental. Onwards.

FireGuard (Joanne) is stunned by his brother’s death. He promises his sword to the warriors. Sadly, soon after, he is killed in a duel without ever leaving town. He died fighting for his family’s fading honour. It seems this family is cursed.
Meanwhile, Blotto is press-ganged into marriage.
Firefox, the matriarch of the wizard family of Barak-Varr, takes up her staff for the first time in years and sets out with the other warriors. She has had her fill of tragedy.
Lego is banished from the city after jilting a fair maiden at the altar, because he was busy watching Blotto wrestle in a duel.
A plague then hits the city, and the warriors are forced to flee. All except Blotto.
Blotto stays behind to look after his dying wife, braving the plague. His honour grows at Barak-Varr.
As the sun sets, she dies in his arms

Remember, all of the above comes from tables and dice rolls from the Roleplay Book. Warhammer Quest is a crazy, hilarious game between the dungeons.

By this point in the story, I had decided to start introducing little strands of narrative that were completely my own.

On their return to Karak-Azgal, a Bretonnian guard awaits. He tells them that the Bretonnian Kingdom has interests within the ruins.
Blotto pledges an oath to the Lady, and is now allied to the Bretonnians. He feels a warmth enter him.
The Bretonnian questions Lego’s honour.
Inside the dungeon, the adventurers best Skabnose the Shaman and take his magical book. Skabnose vanishes. The book is returned to the Bretonnians. It seems that the Greenskins and the Hordes of Chaos are looking for the Star of Dawn and the Grunsson clan got in their way.

The journey back to Barak-Varr is fraught with danger.
The city is still stricken with the plague. The adventurers stock up on supplies with great haste, afraid to spend the night in town. Despite their care, Firefox and Blotto catch the plague. They are greatly weakened, but decide to venture out to Karak-Azgal regardless.

This time, in the second deep of the dungeon, the adventurers rescue a prisoner from a cell. He claims to be an Empire historian, by the name of Alberto Laranscheld.
While in battle, the adventurers lose sight of Alberto and he skulks off into the darkness. Finally, the adventurers face off against Skabnose again. The adventurers quickly dispatch him and his Chaos Warrior guard.
Before moving on, they find Alberto Laranscheld. He is a necromancer. But he is a poor one. Tripping over his cloak, and turning his minions into rabbits, it is not long before the Warriors slay him – Lego putting an arrow between his eyes.

The Warriors step inside the void portal they have opened. They go on. And are lost.

Finding themselves in a new area of the dungeon, they almost fall foul of a magical trap that makes it seem they are forever looping in an unending hallway. They come to their senses and find their way through.

They survive almost drowning, battle past minotaur and Chaos Warrior, and pay respects to the Dragon idol of Karak-Azgal. Finally, they free Grunsson from his stone prison, and return to him the Star of Dawn.

He leads them out of the dungeon, and they are hailed as heroes by the Dwarven clans above.

END CAMPAIGN ONE

At this point, I had been enjoying myself so much that I pretty much just wanted to go completely roleplay with the game. I started to create a revenge story, something with a bit of depth and a bit of sadness in there too.

Lego is approached by a frightened man. He asks Lego to assemble the adventurers and meet with him.

The adventurers hear how the man’s daughter has been kidnapped by a necromancer, and is being held deep in Sylvania. He promises great wealth to them if they bring her back alive.

The adventurers travel to Sylvania, and are lucky to make it through those blasted lands alive. Inside the dungeon marked on the map, there is a sad and desolate atmosphere. The adventurers hack their way through the undead and go deep inside.

Passing a mirrored door, for a moment Lego cannot see himself.

Following a cryptic puzzle the old man gave them, they travel on. They see off 3 Minotaurs in strong fashion, and soon find themselves battling each other as the black warp magic consumes them.

Firefox bests her friends, and she alone can pass through a portal designed to receive only the champion.

Once through, she uses her wits to solve a puzzle. This allows her friends to join her, and there they care for a small wounded bird. Lego heals it, and watches as the bird flies off through the rock ceiling of the cave. It was merely an apparition. A sad apparition.

A final battle ensues, with a terrible Wight Lord appearing to attack them. They see him off easily, Lego trapping the Wight Lord with great bravery, while Firefox’s magic kept all things under control.

Then, under the stone floor, they find bones. Bones of the kidnapped girl? No. it seems not. Elven bones.

Lego realises he holds a magical letter. From Gunther Laranscheld. He is taking revenge for the murder of his son. The great Necromancer Gunther Laranscheld has sprung his trap.

Lego fades out of existence, as the realisation seeps in that these bones are his. His friends pick up the bones, but as quickly as they do, they start to forget their friend.

All forget but the dwarf. That noble dwarf remembers that friend they once had. The friend who is long dead, a hundred years or more.

That is where my ‘Story So Far’ sheets end. The rest will have to come from memory.

Gunther Laranscheld had used his enchanted mirror to pull Lego back in time, and imprison him in the past. The other adventurers went back to their lives. Until, that is, a boy pleaded with Firefox to come and visit his dying great-grandmother. The strange old woman lay in bed, about to breathe her last, and persuaded Firefox to rescue a forgotten friend. The old woman enchanted Firefox and the other adventurers with the last of her strength, and sent them back in time.

The adventurers made their way into the past, and found Lego trapped in Laranscheld’s ancient prison. Suddenly they remembered their friend and fellow warrior. A little girl was in the prison too, and they befriended her. She had been held there for years, and knew the way through the dungeon. She seemed taken with Firefox, and asked if she could wear Firefox’s pretty magical ring.

They fought their way through the prison, defeating Laranscheld’s minotaur guardians, until they found what Laranscheld was hiding in the depths of his vaults. Skaven technology. Impossible technology that allows passage through time. (This was a Warhammer Quest map tile that came free with White Dwarf magazine. A beautiful Skaven tile.)

They managed to solve the puzzle of the machine, and shut down Laranscheld’s time portals. Firefox gave the little girl her ring, and sent her off into her own time. A sad parting for the adventurers and the little girl.
The adventurers then returned to their own time, to Barak-Varr.

They came home in time to see a funeral procession underway. The old woman from before, dead now.
Her great-grandson approached Firefox and said “She wanted you to have this”. The ring. Firefox’s pretty ring.

And that was where we left it.

I was delighted with how nicely we’d managed to move from vanilla Warhammer Quest into WQ with more roleplay and then into something approaching true RPG territory. We’d even ended on an adventure that left one of the players (Louise) crying at the sad ending.

I had the taste for a true RPG experience, with the knowledge that I would be playing with a group who would be brilliant at crafting memorable stories.

Which brings me to Rogue Trader. And The Darkest Reach.

And the first part of the campaign report, coming up shortly.

Going Rogue – Part Two

Last time, we took a look at how a Rogue Trader character is drawn up. Now we’ll take a look at the rest of the characters in the party, so that you have a nice overview of who is going to be setting out on this grim adventure.

PLAYER 2 – LOUISE

Our second female player and our second female character.

Louise’s character is Rosa, a Seneschal. A master of commerce and an ace of spies, Rosa was born on a Hive World, and dragged herself up through calamity and disaster to become a survivor.

Her stats:

Weapon Skill: 34
Ballistic Skill: 43
Strength: 37
Toughness: 37
Agility: 37
Intelligence: 38
Perception: 39
Will Power: 37
Fellowship: 37

A strong all-rounder, but we can see that Rosa is going to be a particularly strong shooter, no doubt due to her Stubjack background. She’s comfortable with weapons, and her history gives her the Quick Draw talent.

Her other talents suit her character class – she has a Resistance to interrogation, Nerves of Steel, and is Accustomed To Crowds, having spent her youth on that seething mass of humanity that is a Hive World.

She speaks Traders’ Cant, which lets her communicate effectively with the trade houses of the Imperium. A Common Lore skill of the Underworld rounds out her chararacter as the sneaky, savvy Seneschal she needs to be.

PLAYER 3 – KENNY

Kenny’s character, Sarvus, is an Explorator. Origin Path choices have him born on a Forge World, and a renegade member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. He is a bitter, vengeful character, having been press-ganged into service in the past. He answers to no-one but his Rogue Trader.

Weapon Skill: 35
Ballistic Skill: 44
Strength: 39
Toughness: 38
Agility: 41
Intelligence: 49
Perception: 34
Will Power: 35
Fellowship: 29

As can be seen, Sarvus is known for his blazing intelligence, which allows him comfortable use of his Tech-Use skills. He is a Free-Thinker who denies the God-Emperor, and the bonus to his intelligence he gains is balanced by a Willpower penalty and a position as an enemy of the Ecclesiarchy. He has the capacity for Mechanicus Implants, and is skilled in Forbidden Lore.

Sarvus starts with a Servo-Skull. One of these guys:

It floats alongside him, and can carry out tasks for him. It is his extra eyes and ears. And Kenny, for reasons we were afraid to ask, has fitted the Servo-Skull with a pict recorder, to capture video.

PLAYER 4 – RICHARD

Richard’s character is called Thrall. And he is the Arch-Militant. He stands at the side of the Rogue Trader, as her enforcer.

Born on a Death World, and hardened by miltary service, Thrall is also a mutant. Distrusted by many, he is loyal to his crew because they have given him somewhere to belong.

Weapon Skill: 42
Ballistic Skill: 42
Strength: 44
Toughness: 46
Agility: 42
Intelligence: 33
Perception: 36
Will Power: 30
Fellowship: 32

As you can see, Thrall is built for combat. What must be mentioned here is that, as a result of his past and his mutation, Thrall has an incredible capacity for taking damage.

Wounds: 20

A massive Wounds stat, making him the perfect protector and servant of a low-wound Rogue Trader. Thrall also has the Jaded Talent, his history of battle making him unflinching in the face of horror, which frees him from having to make Fear Tests. He has a hatred of Void Pirates. Why? At this point, we can only guess at the reasons. He has the Unremarkable talent, which makes him the master of vanishing into crowds, and defying description by witnesses to his acts.

Oh, and he starts with some Power Armour. Should he need to tear someone in half.

And that is our party. A well-balanced group with some nice history to explore.

Next time, we’ll be building a spaceship.

Farewell, and may the God-Emperor protect you.

Going Rogue – Part One

Rogue Trader is the new pen and paper RPG from Fantasy Flight, and it landed in DowntimeTown Towers a couple of weeks ago. Enough time for it to be read, digested, and brought to the table to allow the players to roll up some characters.

I thought it might be nice to keep you all involved in the process as we set out to play Rogue Trader. It might give those of you who are interested in the game a chance to see how it all works, and gain an insight into the new ideas it brings to the table. For those of you who have never played an RPG before, this will be a chance for you to see exactly what an RPG is.

Rogue Trader is set in the Warhammer 40K universe. For the uninitiated, imagine a far future world where everything has gone to shit. The Emperor is a corpse on a throne, surrounded by twisted administrators and political/religious/military bodies operating in His name. The known universe is embroiled in war. Neverending war. Only war.

In this universe, no man is free. Apart from the Rogue Trader. Operating under an ancient Warrant of Trade, the Rogue Trader and his crew have the God-Emperor’s blessing, enabling them to explore the uncharted areas of space in an attempt to establish new trade routes and make CRAZY MONEY.

And that’s where the players come in. The first thing that sets Rogue Trader apart from most of the other RPGs out there is the decision to place new players into the game in a position of power from the get-go. Rogue Trader Player Characters are well-trained, wealthy, own a starship and they oversee the fate of 20,000+ NPC crewmates. Think about that for a moment. No starting out with a shortsword and a pouch containing 10 gold coins here. In Rogue Trader you have a financial empire to control, crewmates to care for, and a ship to maintain and commandeer.

I will be Gamesmastering this foray into the grim far future. Let’s start our series of articles with a look at the first of our players:

PLAYER 1

The character creation process is very deep, and takes a bit of time. It took two sessions to have everybody rolled up, and the starship built and ready to undock. The process is a beautiful balance of luck and design, with players able to make up for any poor characteristic rolls by tailoring their character’s origin and backstory to compensate. When role-playing begins even during character creation, it’s clear something special is happening.

JOANNE

Joanne is the Rogue Trader. The Captain of the ship. Joanne was clear that she wanted her Rogue Trader to be an insufferable braggart with a decadent past. The origin path chart allows her to create a logical and consistent background for her character.

This is not Joanne's path. But an example of how the path works. Each choice on a track allows you to only choose the options directly below and adjacent.

Joanne first chose a Noble Born homeworld from the Home World track. Then, the option directly below, for a Vaunted Birthright. Each option gives your character certain bonuses and penalties. She follows through, right down to the bottom of the Origin Path, where she makes her choice of career – Rogue Trader. The Origin Path ensures that the character you create makes narrative sense. It is, as an example, impossible for someone born on a Death World to become a Rogue Trader. That career is simply “out of reach.”

Joanne’s choices tell us that her character was born into luxury, fell into decadence and drug-taking, and became embroiled in a blood feud that left her paranoid and unable to ignore any insult (the brilliant Brook No Insult trait, which means Joanne must make a Willpower check to restrain herself if someone besmirches her).

Joanne’s characteristics now.

Weapon Skill: 41
Ballistic Skill: 37
Strength: 33
Toughness: 35
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 33
Perception: 36
Will Power: 30
Fellowship: 52

As you can see, Joanne felt that Fellowship, her ability to charm and deceive others, would be her most important characteristic as she plays the game. She’s the leader, the person who will be responsible for keeping morale high, and the person who will have the responsibility of conducting diplomatic exchanges.

(Note for new kids: In an RPG, Joanne will be expected to conduct roleplay conversations with the characters she meets, and when trying to win them round she will need to make a percentile roll on two ten-sided dice. A Fellowship of 52 means she has a high base chance of rolling under that figure, and making a success of her “check.”)

One more characteristic we must note for Joanne.

WOUNDS: 7

Your wound score measures the amount of damage you can take. Joanne feels happy enough with this low total. Happy enough to be a Rogue Trader who can’t take a beating, because she intends to be barking orders and surrounding herself with people who would take a bullet for her.

She chooses her skills, spends some starting XP to tinker with characteristics, and with her starting gear freebie, she buys a Lord Captain’s Baton – a ceremonial staff that will inform onlookers of her importance. Oh, and that she can use to hit people with. Oh, and her ship won’t be able to operate unless she places her baton into the command panel.

The Rogue Trader’s name? Livia. Named after this Livia who held the Roman Empire in the palm of her hand.

And with that, Livia the Rogue Trader prepares to take to the bridge of her Starship.

But who will be joining her on this adventure?

CONTINUED IN PART TWO

Time To Go Rogue

And our review copy of Rogue Trader, Fantasy Flight’s new Warhammer 40K RPG, arrived this very morning. I’m already 40 pages in, and when you get excited reading a section on character creation, you know that you’re in for something very special.

The cover - Delicious.

Colour illustrations on the inside. A beautiful book.

You have your own starship. What more do you need to know?

Starship combat. Battles in space. Boarding parties. Yum.

A big thick book. A big beeyooty.

I’ll be reading the book this week and updating you fine people with more thoughts via my Twitter feed.

And then, after I get it on the table, I’ll review it for your pleasure.

Zaa Ooo Zaa!

DowntimeTown Episode 7: Space Hulk

DowntimeTown Episode 7 is now live, and it’s all about Space Hulk: Third Edition.

Enjoy.

DowntimeTown Episode 7: Space Hulk from Robert Florence on Vimeo.

SPACE HULK DAY

Hopey holds the parcel that's just arrived...

Is it? IS IT? IT IS!!!

SPACE HULK DAY! SPACE HULK DAY! SPACE HULK DAY!

Hopey Versus Space Hulk In Desperate To Open It

Shrinkwrap begone! No foul collectors here!

Sprue The Looking Glass

Full colour Mission Book with plenty of fluff. YES!

The rulebook. Full colour. A Genestealer on front. BAM!

Every single door has UNIQUE ARTWORK. Amazing.

Check out the thickness of the card stock! Swooooon.

Hopey does her very first bit of component bagging.

The soon-to-be legendary debossed map tiles. Beautiful.

Big chunky thick enormous map tiles. Games Workshop have SMASHED IT!

Hopey designs her first mission.

The Broodlord. Oh mammy daddy help me I love it I love it.

The face of a man who has realised that 58 quid was a bargain for the most beautiful production values he's ever seen. And it's SPACE HULK.

HAPPY SPACE HULK DAY!

Please do show me YOUR Space Hulk Day photos in the comments section!

Zaa Ooo Zaa!

DowntimeTown Episode 6: Chaos In The Old World

It’s a brand new episode of DowntimeTown, an extra-long bit of banter about the brand new Fantasy Flight release Chaos In The Old World. It’s a game that’s NOT EVEN OUT YET in most places, and we’ve already played it and played it.

Ryan getting his Tzeentch on.

Check it out vimeo-style below, and be aware that there are some flickering images of demonic corruption throughout:

DowntimeTown Episode 6: Chaos in the Old World from Robert Florence on Vimeo.

NEW SPACE HULK CONFIRMED

Games Workshop’s classic game Space Hulk is back FOR REAL and I know for sure because I just pre-ordered it.

The new edition comes with beautiful, I say BEAUTIFUL new miniatures and delicious new floor tiles.

You can read all about it and go OOH AAH at the Games Workshop site.

They say numbers are limited, so if you’ve ever trusted me on anything, trust me on this – Space Hulk is incredible. It’s maybe my personal favourite game of all time. Thrilling, exciting, genuinely frightening. If you have the spare cash, get it ordered.

Zaa Ooo Zaa!

UPDATE

Video now in:

New Space Hulk Confirmed?

Space Hulk is maybe the greatest game ever made. And for a while there have been rumours that a new edition is coming. So, am I telling you now that it’s all confirmed?

Well, no. Not yet. But it’s starting to look very likely.

Indeed, early reports from Gen Con are that Space Hulk is indeed coming, and that the official announcement may be as soon as TOMORROW.

OH MY GOD. TOMORROW. OH MY GORROW.

Let’s cross our fingers and hope it’s all true. What better way to kick off Campaign Season than with more wonderful gaming news?

Zaa Ooo Zaa!

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