The Inside Scoop on Gaming

THE ENEMY WITHIN CAMPAIGN (TEW) was intended as the prime source material for WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY (WFRP), each scenario would continue the plot but also provide background. The first book contained much-needed information about the Empire, WFRP's presumed setting, plus an adventure called Mistaken Identity. The second book, SHADOWS OVER BOGENHAFEN (SOB) was primarily adventure, with detail about the town of Bogenhafen and the Guilds of the Empire thrown around the edges. Hogshead has reprinted both in TEW VOLUME 1. I've separated them for the purposes of this review, but unless you're an eBay junkie you'll probably find them together.

THE ENEMY WITHIN

Artwork: Pictures of herbs of the Empire are useful, so are the typical dress pictures. Seeing the same picture of a river three times is not.

One of the flaws of WFRP's rulebook was a lack of detail in its setting. When it was first published most of its audience probably came straight from WARHAMMER FANTASY BATTLE, so they knew all that stuff already. Fortunately TEW fixed the problem. It contains a proper history of the Empire, notes on its political structure, detail on the cult of Sigmar - the state religion (inexplicably given short shrift in the rulebook, by which I mean about a paragraph), a gazetteer of a major province, a calendar, etc, etc. Everything but a day in the life of Joe Peasant, but they can be forgiven for omitting that. All of this stuff should have been in the rulebook of course, making TEW resemble a White Wolf Player's Guide.

Importantly, there are also notes on the atmosphere of the campaign, reminders to be humorous and suggestions for handling travel, training, character death and so on. It's conceivable that WFRP could be run as a straight dungeon-bash, but not by anyone who has read this.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Artwork: NPC pictures are good, although too small. I don't know why, but I like to know what the character I'm roleplaying looks like, and sometimes I show the pictures to my players as well. The rest of the art is pretty bad, except for the slimy faced mutant who gets the horror idea across.

(If you're a player you know not to read this stuff or you'll screw up the game. Plus I might tell you what Rosebud is.)

Opinions on the Oldenhaller Contract, the scenario from the rulebook, are mixed but I consider it a bad introduction to the major themes of the game. Mistaken Identity may not be a brilliant scenario, but at least it's got the right atmosphere. It starts the players off responding to an 'Brave Adventurers Required' style of poster, which I suppose is a better hook than the guy in the pub, although it does say, "No . . . dwarfs need apply." None of the sample PCs are dwarfs, but I assume this is a joke.

The party does spend some time at an Inn early on, but you're forgiven for thinking they get in a brawl and some dodgy guy hires them. They don't and he doesn't. They overhear rumours, interact with some well-rounded NPCs and actually roleplay. This is a refreshing change from the usual "Get them fighting first and talking later" style of the STAR WARS INTRODUCTORY ADVENTURE GAME and others. The first fight (an ambush by mutants) doesn't happen until later and is improved by a simple tool: one of the players is given a handout describing their former friendship with a man who has now become one of the mutants. Some might say this is taking away some authorial control from the players, but it doesn't bother me. It could just as easily lead to other players 'recognising' acquaintances and other elements from the past, especially with encouragement from the GM. Also, it gives a straight combat a slight roleplaying element: "Rolf, it's me, your old friend Kirsten. What's happened to you?" "Uuuuurh." "Aaaaaah!"

Now comes the important bit. A dead body the PCs stumble across looks just like one of them, practically a twin. And this dead guy (or girl or dwarf or whatever) has a letter saying there's an inheritance waiting for him (or her or it). Hmmm.

I've heard the distinction made between adventure hooks (like the ubiquitous man in the pub or adventure noticeboard) and adventure seeds. A hook drags you along; a seed is planted and grows later. On your way to Camelot you pass a seemingly uninhabited castle that isn't on any map. You note it down to investigate later. You hear they're hiring mercenaries down in the Southlands, but right now you're busy questing for the seven magic shiny things. You're on your way to Altdorf when you find a dead man who looks just like you . . .

When the party gets to Altdorf it turns out they're too late for the Brave Adventurers gig, so now they're low on cash and far from home - but there is the small matter of the inheritance. You can imagine how a group of players who were being railroaded into some lame wilderness trek are now plotting a scam, taking the initiative and maybe investigating on their own, buying the right clothes, rehearsing what they'll say. If only every intro scenario got the players this involved.

If your players are experienced they'll probably groan at a couple of the cliches, but for brand new roleplayers this is a good way to get them involved. Giving them a copy of EVERWAY and sitting them down to figure it out for themselves might be a better way, but Mistaken Identity still works fine.

(As everybody knows, Rosebud was W.R. Hearst's nickname for his girlfriend's private parts. Do you believe that?)

SHADOWS OVER BOGENHAFEN

Artwork: A vast improvement over the rest of the volume. Very brooding, with twisted, medieval-looking people. I'd prefer if all the NPCs had pictures instead of just a few though.

The story goes that a head honcho at GW said something to Graeme Davis like "I want a scenario that's a cross between CALL OF CTHULHU and WARHAMMER," and SOB[1] was what he got. SOB has a reputation as one of the best fantasy scenarios around, eschewing hack-and-slash for investigation, but what's the competition? Scenarios don't attract as much attention as sourcebooks and a fair amount of gamers don't look past the rulebook. Apart from MASKS OF NYARLOTHOTEP, I can't think of another famous campaign. Infamous ones yes, mostly published by TSR, but no other famous ones.

Anyway, the story probably starts with the PCs following up the lead from Mistaken Identity, but this is dealt with quickly. It might leave the players feeling cheated, but it does mean you can play SOB separate from TEW campaign, which is exactly what I did. There's a lead into VOL 2: DEATH ON THE REIK buried in here, but it's just one handout so it's safely ignored.

The town of Bogenhafen is home to the Schaffenfest (my grade school German tells me that's Sheep Festival[2]), a week-long festival the PCs will probably want to visit. While there, they chase a three-legged goblin into a sewer. You heard me, a dungeon. With a random encounter table. To their credit the designers recommend against using it, and the encounters are mostly non-combat (Methane Pockets, Dangerous Walkways and Unseen Obstacles) but it's still embarrassing to see. At least it's brief.

While down in the sewers the PCs discover evidence of demon-worship. This is the beginning of their investigation into the cult at large in Bogenhafen and the narrative proper. A day-by-day breakdown of events is given, then fleshed out with scene and location descriptions. The investigation itself is a dull read, but these things often are. The breath of life is supposed to come from your players after all. Still, I wish the writing had been a bit more lively and informal, actually telling us the designer's intentions rather than the bare basics. For instance, one of the villains is first met sitting in a darkened office, drinking:

" . . . a goblet of dark reddish liquid with a white, pasty hand. As he raises the goblet to his lips, the adventurers may notice (by making a successful Observe test) that two of his teeth are rather long and pointed."

Who wouldn't be reaching for the stake and hammer? And if they pull out the garlic, according to his description in the back of the book, he will "recoil in disgust." But no suggestions for restraining the adventurers are given, and the guy isn't even a vampire.

Towards the end there's a sort of 'out' for players who cock things up, a friendly NPC who gives them some important information and triggers the climax irregardless of what they have figured out. The climax itself is a Halt the Evil Ritual affair, and it does build up to a real race-against-the-clock feeling.

Then, best of all, you get two endings. One - our heroes save the day, then leave town wanted for murder and arson. Two - apocalypse. The whole town burns to the ground in a great big disaster movie ending. The designers describe the latter option with relish. No GM can read this and not think, "I hope they screw up." It sounds like so much fun. Helpful notes are given for working the disaster into the rest of the campaign, and the whole thing goes out of its way to say it's OK for your players not to succeed. Now I remember why I like this game.

PLAYTEST

Every time I come to this bit I think, "I belong in Critical Miss." That's right, it's another tale of woe from my dysfunctional players and me. I'll keep it brief.

I ran SOB as part of my own campaign, with three fighter-type characters just out of their first scenario. Fun was had at the festival, watching the wrestling, visiting the freak show, chasing the three-legged goblin into the sewers. They saw the evidence, and found the goblin's bones.

The investigation they didn't handle so well. One of them carried the deceased goblin's tri-socketed pelvis around for the rest of the game, trying to use it as proof that something was up, no matter how inappropriate it was to wave a pelvis at someone and say, "Whaddya have to say to this, huh?" They also pulled a blunderbuss on the villain the first time they met him, and on any other character who wouldn't (or couldn't) help them out. I don't think I'll let that player take a firearm again.

So the helpful NPC saved them, they figured out what was going on and raced to the warehouse to stop the summoning. Arriving early, they set up an ambush, one hiding among crates and two up in the rafters. The ritual started, and they watched for quite a while before attacking ("Should we try to save the girl? Oh, he's cut her heart out. We'll wait a few minutes more.")

When they did attack, things didn't go as planned. The blunderbuss-bearer missed, twice. Another had his mind stolen by a spell and sat down to dribble for a bit. Then, one of the cultists threw off his disguise and revealed himself to be a lesser demon. The third player, in the middle of scattering the less important cultists complained, "You can't put us up against a demon! He'll kill us!" so I fireballed him. One turn later the demon became unstable and vanished into the warp anyway. The other two, recovering from their embarrassment, promptly finished the remaining bad guys with surprising ease. Up until the very end, I though they were going to fail so I could bring about the apocalypse, but no such luck. Maybe next time.

Player Opinions: They prefer more hack-and-slash. I could have used a more thoughtful group, but they'd be less interested in WFRP. Frustrating.

CONCLUSION

TEW is the most important supplement a WFRP GM can buy, even if you never run the campaign. It has more of what I love about WFRP than even the rulebook does.

A non-linear adventure like SOB will always depend a lot on the PCs. Looked at now, it's too investigative for combat lovers, but more thoughtful players who have games like CoC and MAGE to play are likely to shy away from the old-school fantasy background. Still, it makes a good template for better scenarios; the cultist investigation plot has been used well in WARPSTONE magazine and other places.

NOTES

[1] I swore to myself that I would avoid all jokes about this acronym, but putting it so close to a mention of GW is really tempting fate.

[2] My German actually proved a little useful here; I found a few interesting things embedded in the names. Bogenhafen means something like "Bent Harbour," a pre-gen PC is named Wanda "World Pain." Steinhager and Dassbut are also used, the names of a kind of schnapps and a boot-shaped beer glass respectively. French may be the language of love, but German is the language of alcohol. I've got my priorities.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Enemy Within Campaign Volume 1: Shadows Over Bogenhafen
Author: Graeme Davis, Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher Category: game Company/Publisher: Hogshead Publishing Line: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Cost: AUS$32.95 Page count: 125 ISBN: 1 899749 020 SKU: HP201 Playtest Review by Jody Macgregor on 07/18/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Horror	THE ENEMY WITHIN CAMPAIGN (TEW) was intended as the prime source material for WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY (WFRP), each scenario would continue the plot but also provide background. The first book contained much-needed information about the Empire, WFRP's presumed setting, plus an adventure called Mistaken Identity. The second book, SHADOWS OVER BOGENHAFEN (SOB) was primarily adventure, with detail about the town of Bogenhafen and the Guilds of the Empire thrown around the edges. Hogshead has reprinted both in TEW VOLUME 1. I've separated them for the purposes of this review, but unless you're an eBay junkie you'll probably find them together. THE ENEMY WITHIN Artwork: Pictures of herbs of the Empire are useful, so are the typical dress pictures. Seeing the same picture of a river three times is not. One of the flaws of WFRP's rulebook was a lack of detail in its setting. When it was first published most of its audience probably came straight from WARHAMMER FANTASY BATTLE, so they knew all that stuff already. Fortunately TEW fixed the problem. It contains a proper history of the Empire, notes on its political structure, detail on the cult of Sigmar - the state religion (inexplicably given short shrift in the rulebook, by which I mean about a paragraph), a gazetteer of a major province, a calendar, etc, etc. Everything but a day in the life of Joe Peasant, but they can be forgiven for omitting that. All of this stuff should have been in the rulebook of course, making TEW resemble a White Wolf Player's Guide. Importantly, there are also notes on the atmosphere of the campaign, reminders to be humorous and suggestions for handling travel, training, character death and so on. It's conceivable that WFRP could be run as a straight dungeon-bash, but not by anyone who has read this. MISTAKEN IDENTITY Artwork: NPC pictures are good, although too small. I don't know why, but I like to know what the character I'm roleplaying looks like, and sometimes I show the pictures to my players as well. The rest of the art is pretty bad, except for the slimy faced mutant who gets the horror idea across. (If you're a player you know not to read this stuff or you'll screw up the game. Plus I might tell you what Rosebud is.) Opinions on the Oldenhaller Contract, the scenario from the rulebook, are mixed but I consider it a bad introduction to the major themes of the game. Mistaken Identity may not be a brilliant scenario, but at least it's got the right atmosphere. It starts the players off responding to an 'Brave Adventurers Required' style of poster, which I suppose is a better hook than the guy in the pub, although it does say, "No . . . dwarfs need apply." None of the sample PCs are dwarfs, but I assume this is a joke. The party does spend some time at an Inn early on, but you're forgiven for thinking they get in a brawl and some dodgy guy hires them. They don't and he doesn't. They overhear rumours, interact with some well-rounded NPCs and actually roleplay. This is a refreshing change from the usual "Get them fighting first and talking later" style of the STAR WARS INTRODUCTORY ADVENTURE GAME and others. The first fight (an ambush by mutants) doesn't happen until later and is improved by a simple tool: one of the players is given a handout describing their former friendship with a man who has now become one of the mutants. Some might say this is taking away some authorial control from the players, but it doesn't bother me. It could just as easily lead to other players 'recognising' acquaintances and other elements from the past, especially with encouragement from the GM. Also, it gives a straight combat a slight roleplaying element: "Rolf, it's me, your old friend Kirsten. What's happened to you?" "Uuuuurh." "Aaaaaah!" Now comes the important bit. A dead body the PCs stumble across looks just like one of them, practically a twin. And this dead guy (or girl or dwarf or whatever) has a letter saying there's an inheritance waiting for him (or her or it). Hmmm. I've heard the distinction made between adventure hooks (like the ubiquitous man in the pub or adventure noticeboard) and adventure seeds. A hook drags you along; a seed is planted and grows later. On your way to Camelot you pass a seemingly uninhabited castle that isn't on any map. You note it down to investigate later. You hear they're hiring mercenaries down in the Southlands, but right now you're busy questing for the seven magic shiny things. You're on your way to Altdorf when you find a dead man who looks just like you . . . When the party gets to Altdorf it turns out they're too late for the Brave Adventurers gig, so now they're low on cash and far from home - but there is the small matter of the inheritance. You can imagine how a group of players who were being railroaded into some lame wilderness trek are now plotting a scam, taking the initiative and maybe investigating on their own, buying the right clothes, rehearsing what they'll say. If only every intro scenario got the players this involved. If your players are experienced they'll probably groan at a couple of the cliches, but for brand new roleplayers this is a good way to get them involved. Giving them a copy of EVERWAY and sitting them down to figure it out for themselves might be a better way, but Mistaken Identity still works fine. (As everybody knows, Rosebud was W.R. Hearst's nickname for his girlfriend's private parts. Do you believe that?) SHADOWS OVER BOGENHAFEN Artwork: A vast improvement over the rest of the volume. Very brooding, with twisted, medieval-looking people. I'd prefer if all the NPCs had pictures instead of just a few though. The story goes that a head honcho at GW said something to Graeme Davis like "I want a scenario that's a cross between CALL OF CTHULHU and WARHAMMER," and SOB[1] was what he got. SOB has a reputation as one of the best fantasy scenarios around, eschewing hack-and-slash for investigation, but what's the competition? Scenarios don't attract as much attention as sourcebooks and a fair amount of gamers don't look past the rulebook. Apart from MASKS OF NYARLOTHOTEP, I can't think of another famous campaign. Infamous ones yes, mostly published by TSR, but no other famous ones. Anyway, the story probably starts with the PCs following up the lead from Mistaken Identity, but this is dealt with quickly. It might leave the players feeling cheated, but it does mean you can play SOB separate from TEW campaign, which is exactly what I did. There's a lead into VOL 2: DEATH ON THE REIK buried in here, but it's just one handout so it's safely ignored. The town of Bogenhafen is home to the Schaffenfest (my grade school German tells me that's Sheep Festival[2]), a week-long festival the PCs will probably want to visit. While there, they chase a three-legged goblin into a sewer. You heard me, a dungeon. With a random encounter table. To their credit the designers recommend against using it, and the encounters are mostly non-combat (Methane Pockets, Dangerous Walkways and Unseen Obstacles) but it's still embarrassing to see. At least it's brief. While down in the sewers the PCs discover evidence of demon-worship. This is the beginning of their investigation into the cult at large in Bogenhafen and the narrative proper. A day-by-day breakdown of events is given, then fleshed out with scene and location descriptions. The investigation itself is a dull read, but these things often are. The breath of life is supposed to come from your players after all. Still, I wish the writing had been a bit more lively and informal, actually telling us the designer's intentions rather than the bare basics. For instance, one of the villains is first met sitting in a darkened office, drinking: " . . . a goblet of dark reddish liquid with a white, pasty hand. As he raises the goblet to his lips, the adventurers may notice (by making a successful Observe test) that two of his teeth are rather long and pointed." Who wouldn't be reaching for the stake and hammer? And if they pull out the garlic, according to his description in the back of the book, he will "recoil in disgust." But no suggestions for restraining the adventurers are given, and the guy isn't even a vampire. Towards the end there's a sort of 'out' for players who cock things up, a friendly NPC who gives them some important information and triggers the climax irregardless of what they have figured out. The climax itself is a Halt the Evil Ritual affair, and it does build up to a real race-against-the-clock feeling. Then, best of all, you get two endings. One - our heroes save the day, then leave town wanted for murder and arson. Two - apocalypse. The whole town burns to the ground in a great big disaster movie ending. The designers describe the latter option with relish. No GM can read this and not think, "I hope they screw up." It sounds like so much fun. Helpful notes are given for working the disaster into the rest of the campaign, and the whole thing goes out of its way to say it's OK for your players not to succeed. Now I remember why I like this game. PLAYTEST Every time I come to this bit I think, "I belong in Critical Miss." That's right, it's another tale of woe from my dysfunctional players and me. I'll keep it brief. I ran SOB as part of my own campaign, with three fighter-type characters just out of their first scenario. Fun was had at the festival, watching the wrestling, visiting the freak show, chasing the three-legged goblin into the sewers. They saw the evidence, and found the goblin's bones. The investigation they didn't handle so well. One of them carried the deceased goblin's tri-socketed pelvis around for the rest of the game, trying to use it as proof that something was up, no matter how inappropriate it was to wave a pelvis at someone and say, "Whaddya have to say to this, huh?" They also pulled a blunderbuss on the villain the first time they met him, and on any other character who wouldn't (or couldn't) help them out. I don't think I'll let that player take a firearm again. So the helpful NPC saved them, they figured out what was going on and raced to the warehouse to stop the summoning. Arriving early, they set up an ambush, one hiding among crates and two up in the rafters. The ritual started, and they watched for quite a while before attacking ("Should we try to save the girl? Oh, he's cut her heart out. We'll wait a few minutes more.") When they did attack, things didn't go as planned. The blunderbuss-bearer missed, twice. Another had his mind stolen by a spell and sat down to dribble for a bit. Then, one of the cultists threw off his disguise and revealed himself to be a lesser demon. The third player, in the middle of scattering the less important cultists complained, "You can't put us up against a demon! He'll kill us!" so I fireballed him. One turn later the demon became unstable and vanished into the warp anyway. The other two, recovering from their embarrassment, promptly finished the remaining bad guys with surprising ease. Up until the very end, I though they were going to fail so I could bring about the apocalypse, but no such luck. Maybe next time. Player Opinions: They prefer more hack-and-slash. I could have used a more thoughtful group, but they'd be less interested in WFRP. Frustrating. CONCLUSION TEW is the most important supplement a WFRP GM can buy, even if you never run the campaign. It has more of what I love about WFRP than even the rulebook does. A non-linear adventure like SOB will always depend a lot on the PCs. Looked at now, it's too investigative for combat lovers, but more thoughtful players who have games like CoC and MAGE to play are likely to shy away from the old-school fantasy background. Still, it makes a good template for better scenarios; the cultist investigation plot has been used well in WARPSTONE magazine and other places. NOTES [1] I swore to myself that I would avoid all jokes about this acronym, but putting it so close to a mention of GW is really tempting fate. [2] My German actually proved a little useful here; I found a few interesting things embedded in the names. Bogenhafen means something like "Bent Harbour," a pre-gen PC is named Wanda "World Pain." Steinhager and Dassbut are also used, the names of a kind of schnapps and a boot-shaped beer glass respectively. French may be the language of love, but German is the language of alcohol. I've got my priorities. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Enemy Within Campaign Volume 1: Shadows Over Bogenhafen