Xathrodox86 reviews: “Terror in the Darkness” by Carl Sargent

Found out about this gem of a scenario relatively lately. Already GMed it and so I decided to share my opinions about it with y’all. Originally written by the late Carl Sargent, one of the legends of Warhammer, this advenutre was updated for the second edition of the game by Alexander J Bateman. You might […]

Xathrodox86 reviews: “Terror in the Darkness” by Carl Sargent

WFRP 4 Monsters: The Index

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A couple of years ago, I started a project to create unofficial WFRP 4th edition stats for a lot of old Citadel Miniatures.

There are quite a few of them now, so I’m posting this index for easy reference.

If you like this kind of content, please leave a rating so I’ll know to do more (as everyone says online, like and subscribe!). If not, please leave a comment to let me know what you’d rather see. For example, I’m thinking of doing WFRP 1 stats for those creatures that don’t already have them.

Zoats
Ambull
Viydagg
Mardagg
Mabrothrax
Jabberwock
Gargoyle
Toad Dragon
The Spectral Claw
The Mud Elemental
Ngaaranh Spawn of Chaos
Leaping Slomm Two-Face
Zygor Snake-Arms
Independent Daemons
Chaos Snakemen
Menfish
Golems
Giant Bats and Fell Bats
Lesser Daemon of Malal
Greater Daemon of Malal
Medusas
Daemons of Law
The Cook: A Mutant
More Mutants
Great Cats and Elven Beastfriends

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Monsters are one of my favorite elements of fantasy, myth, and folklore, so I hope you enjoy these.

Also, watch this blog for news as my #cunningplan develops and the #secretproject takes shape!

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Announcing MythWalker™

I have an exciting announcement. In July of last year, after 14 years as a freelancer, I took a full-time job. It is an exceptional job, with an exceptional team, helping to develop a new fantasy gaming IP. Funny to think that’s how my career started, being hired by Games Workshop to organize and develop the Warhammer Fantasy IP and co-create Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. But I digress.

Just a few days ago, the game was announced and the studio moved out of semi-stealth mode. MythWalker™, the first title from NantGames, is a mobile geolocation RPG featuring the parallel world of Mytherra, which players can explore through their phones by moving around on Earth. It is now in closed Beta, but there is much, much more to come.

Here are some links for more information. Be sure to check out the trailers – yes, I’m in them, but on the other hand they were partly shot on the same soundstage as The Mandalorian and other hit shows.

Announcement Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovkhkou8T8o

Extended Announcement Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcIaKIB578c

Sign up for Beta: https://MythWalker.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MythWalkerGame

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mythwalkergame

Ashes to Ashes, Bling to Bling

It’s been a while since I posted anything here, but an image of this ring popped up in my feed and I just couldn’t resist.

It’s a mourning ring from 17th century England, now in the British Museum. In a fantasy game, though, what necromantic powers might it have?

Images copyright British Museum. Used without permission.

It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Bling

If you like this kind of post, you’ll also want to see these:

Armillary Rings: Handy for astronomers, astrologers, and navigators.

Compartment Rings: Hide your true allegiance, or carry a secret message.

Poison Rings: An old classic.

Gun Rings: Add more punch to your punch.

Eye Rings: Protection, divination, gaze weapons, and more.

Miscellany: No theme, but lots of possibilities.

Let us Bling: A Ring for Clerics that unfolds into a portable shrine.

Return of the Bling: Rings that look like buildings, and may have some of their properties.

Medusas – Three Old Citadel Miniatures

Citadel’s C18 Night Horrors miniatures were issued between 1984 and 1986. Most of them never received game stats for Warhammer or WFRP, and I have covered a few of them in earlier posts in this series.

The Stuff of Legends site has a complete listing of the range here, but for this post, I’ll concentrate on the Medusas.

There were three figures in total. One was a snake-haired hag, another had a snake body like the version of Medusa in the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans, and the third was armoured and dressed in a flowing robe (actually a simple head-swapped variant on an armoured wight figure from the same range).

To the best of my knowledge, Medusas (or Gorgons, as I prefer to call them, since in Greek myth Medusa was one of three sisters by that name) have never received rules or stats in any official WFRP publication, though a comment below shares some links to previous Warhammer incarnations. I’ve based my stats and rules more on the miniatures than these past versions, though. Needless to say, what follows is in no way official and should be considered a fan work. No challenge is intended to copyrights or trademarks held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, or anyone else.

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Medusas

These fearsome but reclusive creatures inhabit the remotest mountains of the southern Old World, from the Border Princes to eastern Tilea. They appear in several legends from Classical times, but their origins are unclear. While they are clearly creatures of Chaos, they appear not to be aligned with any one of the Ruinous powers, although a Medusa will occasionally ally with a Champions of Chaos or other warlord for the right price.

M	WS	BS	S	T	I	Ag	Dex	Int	WP	Fel	W
4	35	45	35	45	45	25	35	45	45	20	15

Traits: Fear 1, Mental Corruption (Hateful Impulses), Mutation (Snake Hair – see below), Night Vision, Petrifying Gaze, Weapon +5

Optional: Armor 2, Champion, Mental Corruption (Unending Malice), Mutation (Snake Body), Ranged +9 (150)

Snake Hair: A Medusa’s hair gives her a +5 attack at Personal range, with Venom. This cannot be used in the same round as any other attack.

Snake Body: Movement -1, Tail +5 attack

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The Monsters so Far:

WFRP 4 Monsters – The Index

Johannes Bund, Imperial Spy

Here’s an NPC who didn’t make it into The Horned Rat Companion. See what you think. But first:

It is no secret that the final chapter of The Horned Rat is an affectionate pastiche of all those spy movies that see the resourceful hero infiltrating the villain’s lair to stop an insane weapon from causing unthinkable damage. Therefore, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the PCs might encounter just such a resourceful hero in Karak Skygg.

Johannes Bund is a tall man, of medium build but evidently very fit. His dark hair is worn short in a military style, and his blue eyes hold a gleam of sardonic amusement. He is fairly handsome, his looks marred only by a hint of cruelty about the set of his mouth.

He is daring to the point of recklessness, and has a deep interest in (and an encyclopedic knowledge of) everything connected with good living: the best food and drink, the most fashionable clubs and gambling houses, and the most beautiful women. He has left a long trail of romantic conquests in his wake, and fancies himself a great lover — something which may become an inconvenience to any female Character he encounters.

Bund speaks with a soft Nordland accent, marked by a slight lisp that turns ‘s’ into ‘sh.’ He has a habit of introducing himself as ‘Bund — Johannesh Bund.’

This description, of course, is based on Sean Connery’s portrayal of the character. As GM, you should feel free to make any changes you like, to make the NPC fit another version.

And, of course, like everything else on this blog the following is to be regarded as a fan work and does not constitute any challenge to any trademark or copyright held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, Eon Productions, or anyone else. It’s all just for fun.

Johannes Bund — Agent (Gold1)

Former Seaman, former Assassin

M	WS	BS	S	T	I	Ag	Dex	Int	WP	Fel	W
4	65	40	45	65	55	75	40	35	50	65	12

Skills: Animal Care 30, Animal Training (Pigeon) 30, Athletics 45, Bribery 45, Charm 65, Climb 55, Consume Alcohol 30, Cool 65, Dodge 45, Endurance 45, Entertain (Acting) 45, Gamble 45, Gossip 55, Haggle 30, Intimidate 30, Intuition 55, Language (Battle Tongue) 30, Leadership 30, Melee (Basic) 60, Melee (Brawling) 30, Melee (Fencing) 30, Navigation 30, Perception 55, Ranged (Crossbow) 30, Ranged (Thrown) 30, Ride (Horse) 35, Row 30, Sail 30, Secret Signs (Scouts) 30, Sleight of Hand 30, Stealth (Urban) 30, Swim 30

Talents: Accurate Shot, Ambidextrous, Attractive, Blather, Careful Strike, Carouser, Catfall, Cat-Tongued, Combat Reflexes, Dirty Fighting, Disarm, Etiquette (Nobles), Furious Assault, Gregarious, In-Fighter, Lip Reading, Marksman, Menacing, Read/Write, Relentless, Reversal, Seasoned Traveller, Shadow, Strike to Injure, Strike to Stun, Strong Swimmer, Warrior Born.

Trappings: Good quality clothing, hidden sleeve dagger¹ (right sleeve), hidden sleeve pistol² (left sleeve), 12 explosive coat buttons³, 8 gas sleeve buttons⁴, poison bracelet⁵, fine quality pistol (Lightweight, Practical), 10 shots of normal powder, 10 shots of silent powder⁶, 10 normal bullets, 10 alchemical bullets⁷, belt with hidden wire garrotte, 2 throwing knives (one in each boot), blowpipe hidden in right boot, 10 blowpipe darts disguised in the lapels of brocade jerkin, 10 doses of Black Lotus hidden in boot-heel, license to kill signed by the Emperor himself, sewn into jerkin.

Bund’s Gadgets

Johannes Bund would not be a proper pastiche (or homage, if you prefer) without an array of hidden weapons and other gadgets. Here are brief descriptions of some of them.

1. Hidden Sleeve Dagger: Secured in a spring-loaded arm-sheath, it shoots into his hand at will, without needing to be drawn. Counts as a normal dagger.

2. Hidden Sleeve Pistol: A one-shot weapon strapped to his lower arm, which can be fired even if he is holding something in his left hand. Rang 6, Damage +6, otherwise as normal pistol.

3. Explosive Coat Buttons: Appearing to be normal gold buttons, each one is a small bomb that explodes one round after being pulled from the coat. Blast 2, Damage +6, otherwise as normal bomb.

4. Gas Sleeve Buttons: Appearing to be normal gold buttons, each one is filled with an alchemical gas that is released on a 2–yard radius on the round after being pulled from the coat. Every creature in the cloud must make a Hard (-20) Endurance Test or gain the Unconscious Condition.

5. Poison Bracelet: This bracelet of gold set with gems is fake. Each of the 8 gems is a Heartkill capsule which dissolves in food or drink within one round.

6. Silent Powder: A alchemically modified form of gunpowder that detonates silently and without smoke. Range is reduced by 10% and Damage by 1 point, but otherwise any weapon loaded with silent powder fires normally.

7. Alchemical Bullets: Hollow bullets containing a concentrated explosive. Shots that hit a living target cause double normal damage; those that hit inanimate objects are treated as bombs with Blast 1 and Damage +4.

Wonderful Toys

The array of special weaponry on Bund’s person will probably cause any player’s eyes to light up with envy, but it will be very difficult to get hold of them without Bund noticing. Quite apart from the fact that he is a highly-trained agent with an unforgiving nature and an Imperial license to kill, most of these items are physically attached to him and tricky to remove.

Unscrupulous PCs might be tempted to try and murder Bund for his equipment, but this will not be easy — even in the midst of a horde of Skaven. In the unlikely event that they succeed, the PCs will find themselves hunted throughout the Empire by other agents of Bund’s secretive agency, all similarly skilled and equipped. When the events of Empire in Ruins take them to Altdorf and their success depends on the goodwill of the Imperial authorities, this could be inconvenient to say the least.

Encountering Bund

As one of the Emperor’s most skilled and trusted agents, Johannes Bund is in Middenland on a secret mission to find out what plans are afoot to declare northern independence and plunge the Empire into civil war. He chanced to be in Middenheim when the Skaven attacks took place, and has been conducting his own investigation independent of Graf Boris, Baron Heinrich, and the other northern authorities. Somehow he came to learn of the Skaven presence at Karak Skygg, and he infiltrated the place at more or less the same time as the PCs.

The GM has a couple of different options for having Bund cross the party’s path, depending on events.

A Fellow Prisoner

When the PCs are captured by the Grey Seer and treated to the gloating speech in which he lays out his evil plan, they may find that they are not the only prisoners. Bund may be there, tied up and stripped of all his obvious weapons. When everyone is left to die in the beam of concentrated Morrslieb-light, one of the PCs may be close enough to Bund to reach one of his boot knives, or pull a button from his coat — and perhaps free one or both of them without being badly cut or blown up.

A Rescuing Hero

Just when the PCs are at the point of freeing themselves from their bonds, or getting themselves out of some other tricky situation, Bund may appear and rescue them in a gratuitously spectacular style, whether they want him to or not. Thereafter, he will treat them as his lackeys, issuing orders and setting out plans as though he were the hero of the adventure — which, of course, he is in his own opinion.

He will not listen to the PCs about anything, and will take the most reckless and dangerous approach to any situation. His recklessness might even be instrumental in getting the PCs captured by the Grey Seer, with or without the help of some other NPC betraying them. In that case, he might free himself with irritating ease, heading back into the hold with the intention of destroying the device and assassinating the Grey Seer — and promising to come back for the PCs but conveniently forgetting to do so.

Doomstones 5 – What might have been

The covers of Flame’s edition of Doomstones.

Hogshead’s 2001 title Heart of Chaos by Robin D. Laws was not the first attempt to wrap up the Doomstones campaign for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and solve the problem of what to do with the Player Characters now that they have all four Crystals of Power. When the campaign was adventures originally written for D&D, a concluding episode had gone unpublished.

While I was working on the WFRP adaptations at Flame publications, I started working on an outline for a fifth instalment that would tie things up nicely. I left it behind at Flame when I quit Games Workshop in 1990, and I had assumed that, like so many other things, it had vanished in the mists of time. But I was wrong.

A copy of my outline somehow survived in the archives of Marc Gascoigne, and recently made its way to me. I have no idea whether or not Robin Laws saw it while he was working on Heart of Chaos. There are some clear parallels between my outline and Robin’s final work (take that as a spoiler warning, if you will), but the similarities could be put down to the fact that some events and characters are obvious must-haves in a fifth and final Doomstones adventure.

Apart from saving the original Word file as a PDF, I haven’t done anything to it at all. It is just as I wrote it (though someone – probably Mike Brunton – turned it into a Word file from my original ProText file for Amstrad PCW and formatted it using Flame’s style of the time), so its integrity as a historical document is as good as it can be, for those to whom such things matter. Added later: But see the comment below about an earleir version on Gideon’s Awesome Lies blog.

Anyway, take it for what it is, make of it what you will, and I hope you find it interesting. Like everything else WFRP on this blog, this is completely unofficial and no challenge is intended to copyrights held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, or anyone else. Anyway, here it is.

Doomstones 5 GD outline – download PDF

Doomlord – Greater Daemon of Malal

Art by Tony Ackland

As I said in my previous post on the Lesser Daemon of Malal, the Renegade God was cut from Warhammer canon before Realm of Chaos was published. Two excellent posts from Awesome Lies and Realm of Chaos 80s give a fuller account. During my time on the project, I developed Lesser and Greater Daemons for him, based on existing art by Tony Ackland.

Before the decision was taken to cut Malal, I worked to include the Renegade God in my draft of Realm of Chaos. This included describing two Daemons for him: one greater and one lesser. By following my blog, Warhammer fans voted for both these creatures to receive stats for WFRP 1st and 4th editions. As always, what follows is to be regarded as a fan work and no challenge is intended to copyrights held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, or anyone else.

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The mighty Doomlords are the most powerful servants of the Renegade God Malal. Massive creatures with hooves, horns, and tails, they fight the forces of Chaos with massive weapons and soul-sucking magic.

WFRP 4th Edition

M	WS	BS	S	T	I	Ag	Dex	Int	WP	Fel	W
6	110	95	90	90	100	70	40	85	85	85	280

Traits: Armour 4, Belligerent, Bite +10, Champion, Corruption (Major), Daemonic 7+, Frenzy, Hatred (creatures and followers of Chaos), Horns +7, Painless, Size (Monstrous), Soul Drain (new), Tail +6, Terror 3, Unstable, 2 x Weapon +16
Optional: Fast, Elite, Hardy

New Trait: Soul Drain

When the Doomlord’s tail attack scores a critical on any creature without the Undead or Daemonic Traits, do not roll as normal. Instead, the tail-barbs seize the victim and the human-looking head on the tip of the tail bites deeply into the victim’s flesh, draining their soul in an instant and leaving their body a shriveled, dead husk.
Half of the victim’s Wounds (at the time the critical was scored) go to Malal as a soul sacrifice. The other half are added to the Doomlord’s own Wounds score, for the next round of combat only. If the Doomlord is wounded during the round, these additional Wounds points are used first.
This attack counts as magical.

WFRP 1st Edition

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Dex	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	Fel
6	90	93	7	7	39	100	10	89	89	89	89	89	20

Special Rules: 2 armour points on all locations. Subject to hatred against creatures and followers of Chaos (except Malal). Cause terror in all living creatures under 10 feet tall. Subject to instability. Immune to psychological effects except those caused by gods. Cannot be forced to leave combat except by such beings.

The Monsters so Far:

WFRP 4 Monsters – The Index

Doombringer – Lesser Daemon of Malal

Art by Tony Ackland

The history of Malal is well known. Created for the Kaleb Daark comic, he was cut from Warhammer canon over ownership issues. Two excellent posts from Awesome Lies and Realm of Chaos 80s give a fuller account.

Before the decision was taken to cut Malal, I worked to include the Renegade God in my draft of Realm of Chaos. This included describing two Daemons for him: one greater and one lesser.

No one had drawn or sculpted and Daemons for Malal, so I turned to the vast body of art that had been created for Realm of Chaos since the project was first begun several years earlier. The image above, with its birdlike skull, reminded me of Kaleb Daark’s weapon Dreadaxe, so I chose it for the Lesser Daemon.

Malal was cut, Mike Brunton wrestled Realm of Chaos over the finish line where so many others had failed, and this image was never used, so far as I know. The Daemons for each of the Ruinous Powers were set in particular forms, leaving this and many other Daemon images redundant and forgotten. So it was for more than 30 years.

Then last week, some Polish WFRP fans started to lobby for a treatment of this little beauty. As part of their fan project to bring the Old World to the Genesys system, they added Malal back into the lore and created a new treatment of the Lesser Daemon, naming it the Malignancy after the title of the Awesome Lies post. They asked me for stats, and provided enough blog follows and comments to unlock a new monster according to my promise of a little while ago – so here it is. I prefer the name Doombringer, but you can call it whatever you like in your own games. Trevor, for example.

As always, this post is to be regarded as a fan work and no challenge is intended to any copyrights held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, or anyone else.

Art by Barbara Szymańska

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After the warriors known as the Doomed Ones, Doombringers are the most numerous servants of the renegade Chaos God Malal. They may be summoned by his followers to help fight the creatures and servants of the Ruinous Powers.

Doombringers are a semi-skeletal mixture of bird and beast, with hoofed legs, a head something like a bird’s skull, and arms that end in long, curving blades of razor-sharp bone. Their beaks are armed with sharp teeth. Their skin is pitch-black, contrasting with the gleaming white of their hooves, skulls, and blades in the favored colors of Malal: black and white.

They are fast and agile fighters, leaping and slashing with uncanny speed.

WFRP 4th Edition

M	WS	BS	S	T	I	Ag	Dex	Int	WP	Fel	W
6	60	–	45	35	60	60	–	25	70	15	17

Traits: Armour 4, Belligerent, Bite 5+, Champion, Corruption (Moderate), Daemonic 8+, Fear 3, Frenzy, Hatred (creatures and followers of Chaos), Painless, Unstable, 2 x Weapon +9
Optional: Fast, Elite, Hardy

WFRP 1st Edition

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Dex	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	Fel
6	55	–	4	4	6	60	3	60*	89	89	89	89	15

* For agility-based tests only. Manual Dexterity is 0

Special Rules: 1 armour point on all locations. Subject to hatred against creatures and followers of Chaos (except Malal). Cause fear in all living creatures under 10 feet tall. Subject to instability. Immune to psychological effects except those caused by Greater Daemons or gods. Cannot be forced to leave combat except by such beings.

The Monsters so Far:

WFRP 4 Monsters – The Index

Giant Bats and Fell Bats for WFRP 4

I just noticed an omission in the adventure “The Return of the Gravelord” in The Horned Rat Companion. Stats were not provided for the Fell Bats in Gräber’s retinue. Fell Bats first appeared in the Vampire Counts army books for Warhammer, and to the best of my knowledge they have never received official stats for any edition of WFRP. Similar, though not as frightening, are the Giant Bats which were first described in the WFRP 1st edition rulebook. So here are stats for both.

As always, everything here is to be regarded as a fan work, and no challenge is intended to any copyrights held by Games Workshop, Cubicle 7, or anyone else.

Oh, and I’ll be adding another monster when the blog hits 350 followers. So if you haven’t followed yet, do it! And if you have, thanks – now, tell your friends!

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Giant Bat

A Giant Bat measures almost four feet from nose to tail, and is covered with jet-black fur. The head resembles that of a dog, and the mouth is equipped with long, sharp teeth. These nocturnal creatures are capable of attacking and killing an animal the size of a Human. They are also cunning scavengers, feeding off the carcasses of larger creatures. According to legend, some Sylvanian Vampires have the ability to transform into Giant Bats.

The Move score given on the profile is for ground movement. When flying, a Giant Bat gains a + 10% bonus to Initiative in the first round of combat, unless attacking in illumination equivalent to daylight.
The natural ‘sonar’ of a Giant Bat allows it to ‘see’ up to 20 yards in total darkness. There is a 35% chance that the bite of a Giant Bat may cause Infected wounds.

M	WS	BS	S	T	I	Ag	Dex	Int	WP	Fel	W
1	33	–	20	20	30	45	15	14	24	–	5

Traits: Bestial, Bite+4, Dark Vision (echolocation), Flight 60, Size (Small), Skittish, Wallcrawler
Optional: Fast, Infected, Infestation

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Fell Bat

The Giant Bats of Sylvania grow to monstrous proportions, with bodies as long as a human is tall and wingspans of fifteen feet or more.

M	WS	BS	S	T	I	Ag	Dex	Int	WP	Fel	W
1	33	–	30	30	30	45	15	14	24	–	22

Traits: Bestial, Bite+6, Dark Vision (echolocation), Fear 1, Flight 60, Size (Large), Undead, Wallcrawler
Optional: Fast, Infected, Infestation

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The Monsters so Far:

WFRP 4 Monsters – The Index