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Plundered Vaults is a bit of a strange beast in terms of format. At 96 black and white pages, it should probably be a soft cover book. However, it’s in hardcover format and runs for $24.99. Compared to some of Bastion Press’s d20 books, most 96 black and white pages in soft cover for $22.95, that seems fair. However, White Wolf has been doing 128 page hardcover books for $24.99. Actual play will determine overall value but objectively compared to other hardcovers in the same price range, it seems a little pricey.
Some of the material here is for the previous edition of the Warhammer game and has been updated to reflect the changes in the game system. Some may look at this as bad since they may not be interested in purchasing the same product twice. I however see it as an opportunity to check how the conversions went. Unfortunatly, the material reprinted is from older White Dwarf Magazines and Restless Dead, an older adventure anthology, so I can’t take any notes on that.
The first thing that bothers me is the organization of the adventures. The starting one, “The Grapes of Wrath”, is meant for characters starting their second careers. Since other adventurers in here are for starting characters, why not have those come first and include some transition notes between adventurers? This way the GM can run the adventurers in sequence as opposed to flipping between pages to see which ones are appropriate for his own game. In addition, like some point based games, overall game balance in Warhammer is not an easy thing to judge. While the careers are far more even in terms of skills and abilities then they were in the first edition, the fact that not all abilities ‘rise’ as they do in level based games like Rolemaster or D&D, means that something meant to be challenging for characters in their second careers could be a cakewalk for the right characters in their first careers.
Grapes of Wrath puts the characters in the employ of Henri-Philippe Rocheteau, the Mayor of a small village, Pritzstock, who seeks assistance against screaming skulls. Details are included for several NPC’s of the village, as well as a map and an outline of possible events. In some ways, this showcases the difference between Warhammer adventures and standard dungeon crawls. Here, the characters aren’t just going into a pit and hacking things and taking their money. They have to do a little investigation first. In addition, the GM has to do a little more to bring the adventure to life. There are several factions moving about and none of them have a golden halo about them that the players can use as a gauge in determining how they should act towards other events.
For Love or Money is a brief adventure in and about the small town of Mittleresdorft and is meant for characters in their first careers. Once again, the party finds themselves under the employ of a powerful man, in this case, Bela Dustermann, a merchant who seeks the party out to aid him in recovering his daughter. Of course everything is not as it seems, especially as the daughter is apparently pregnant. The nice thing about this adventure is that it continues to show that the Warhammer world is generally not a happy one. That there are rarely good endings even for the innocents or those who just wish to live their lives in piece.
My one complaint of this adventure is that for all the hype and fear that the Skaven, a rat like race of humanoids receive in the core book, they are thrown into the mix too quick and it can quickly jade Warhammer players on the ‘rarity’ of monsters in the Empire and it’s lands.
The Haunting Horror is a site based adventure meant for characters who are either ending their first careers or just starting their second careers. In many ways, it’s a typical haunted house scenario but with a Warhammer touch as things are generally worse here than they might be in another fantasy system. Nice thing about this one is that it includes a map of the haunted town house that could probably work for other town houses that the GM may wish to populate.
One of my favorite adventures, Rough Night at the Three Feathers, is also one of the shortest in terms of page length. That’s because like some of the others, this one relies heavily on the GM to take numerous plot elements and the time line and make something great with them. This is almost like a soup with a lot of ingredients that the GM has to stir to flavor for his own group. The GM is given a map of the Three Feathers, seven different plots, and a timeline with stats for all the non-player characters. The rest is pretty much up to the GM and how he presents things to the players and how he interprets their actions.
Carrion Call is useful for several reasons. First, it can be set in any location in the Empire. Second, it also involves the GM reacting to the players and feeding them clues that he wants them to follow in terms of who they should trust. Third, it pits the players against another popular menace in the Empire, the Undead. One can only fight against Skaven and Chaos so long after all. The only thing that might seem a little out of place in a low-magic run game is the appearance of Sothelin Vonreuter at the end of the adventure as he comes in like some type of death knight from a Dragonlance novel.
Sing for your supper is another adventure that pits the characters as investigators and demands that they use more than mere swordplay to discover what is happening with a particular brand of sausage. It’s another one that shows that evil isn’t always wearing big spiky armor and that innocents are often victims in the crossfire. One useful tool here is the inclusion of several Red Herrings not only to expand this adventure, but to act as examples to new GMs in how to throw players off the track of a mystery.
GMs can copy the handouts at the back of the book. These aren’t sophisticated and detailed hand outs, but rather, things that should get the characters into the adventure like job postings and letters.
Overall, I think Plundered Vaults is a good start for a series of unrelated adventures. I think more time could’ve been taken in terms of the adventurers set up and some side bars included to allow a GM to run one after another. Some more hand outs that were more than a letter or so, like a half ripped map or something along those lines, might’ve contributed more utility to the game.
In looking over the adventure structure, I was surprised by when the players were called on to make Will Power Test or risk gaining Insanity Points. In one case, they come across a scene “so gruesome” that they have to make a check. It’s good to see how the authors did it, but I would’ve liked to have seen some sidebars with the author explaining why they were putting such checks there and not in other places and ideas on how the timing and pace of the adventure was meant to be delivered.
Overall though, the adventurers touch on many of the Warhammer elements. They utilize some of the familiar enemies of the setting like Chaos, Undead and Skaven, while showing the deep and unrelenting corruption that lurks in the hearts of most men. The setting comes across in many small details and in most cases, feels appropriate and fitting for the world. Maps are simple for the most part and they could defiantly take a page from some of the d20 companies and hire Ed from Skeleton Key Games to get some more detail in their drawings which look like, no offense, that I could do them. “Yeah, you’re in this square room and this square in the bed. Any questions?” Art is grim and dark, fitting to the Warhammer setting.
The book is also a little on the expensive side. For the main book, the fact that it was in full color was a big bonus. It’s page size, twice that of this book, also made the price tag easier to swallow. The market will determine what’s appropriate, but given the choice between this and a 128 page White Wolf product, (not necessarily aimed at the same audience), it’ll be interesting to see who comes in ahead.
For me though, the big advantage is that I now have like eight pregenerated adventurers, including the one from the screen, that I can use, change, and mix up to challenge my players. As a full time worker who has a fairly active social life and time consuming hobbies (raises angry first at unpainted figures), I can always find a use for new maps, NPC statistics, and even ideas.
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