EMPIRE IN RUINS COMPANION - DriveThruRPG.com

6
EMPIRE IN RUINS COMPANION I 1 Sample file

Transcript of EMPIRE IN RUINS COMPANION - DriveThruRPG.com

EMPIRE IN RUINS COMPANIONI I

1

Sample

file

WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPL AYI I

22

EMPIRE IN RUINSCOMPANION CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: SHINING ROCK

Just Passing By ....................................... 6A Research Mission ................................ 6The Relic................................................. 6The Priests’ Quarters ............................... 9The Place of Shining Rock ..................... 9Father Gregor Braun ............................ 10Priest Silvie Unterfaust ......................... 10Wolf-Born Fernand Wagner ................ 11Priest Manfred Ulricson ....................... 11Brother Martin and Brother Rolf ......... 12Return to Shining Rock ....................... 12The One True Faith .............................. 13Let there be Peace ................................ 14In Boca Lupo ....................................... 14

CHAPTER 2: ALTDORF IN CHAOS

Changing Times ................................... 15The Blue Scribes of Tzeentch ............... 18Marsie Wagnershoff ............................. 20Child of Chaos ..................................... 20The Body Thief ..................................... 20Restless Locals ...................................... 22Frenzied Altdorfers............................... 22Unstable Foundations ........................... 23Hit and Run ......................................... 24Moving Day ......................................... 24Dish of the Day .................................... 25

CHAPTER 3: THE MADCRAW TRIBE

The Origins of the Madcraw Clan ........ 30Relationships ........................................ 30The Green Racket ................................. 32Olgog Gristlefang ................................. 32Gitface .................................................. 33Birdstrike .............................................. 34Dive bombing ....................................... 34Unleash Olgog! ..................................... 34Eclectic Cruel Blade Acid Pest ............. 34On the Road ......................................... 34

CHAPTER 4: THE IMPERIAL OSTLANDERS

Reputation ........................................... 37Operations ............................................ 37Recent developments ............................ 38Colonel Reikhardt Mathis Seivers ........ 39

Flag Sergeant Borys Zielin ................... 40Father Eduard von Tunz ....................... 40Scout Sergeant Alicja Bohun ................ 41Bengt Livmatz ...................................... 41Renia Grünewald ................................. 41Sebastian, Esmer and Jozef ................... 42The Vanguard........................................ 42Soldiers ................................................. 42

CHAPTER 5: THE NORDLAND QUESTION

Recent Events ....................................... 46Nordmarshall High Duke .................... 46Theodoric Gausser ................................ 46Dowager Duchess Ingrid Gausser ........ 47Baron Werner Nikse ............................. 47Baron Ludolf Köhler ........................... 47High Priest Erich Granholm ............... 47Conspirators’ Congress ......................... 48A Night for Fighting ............................ 48

CHAPTER 6: ALTERNATIVE EMPIRES

Yann Zuntermein ................................. 49How Zuntermein Wins ........................ 49How Wasmeier Wins ........................... 51Kastor Victorious .................................. 53Could This Happen? ............................. 54An Empire Reborn… Sort Of .............. 55

CHAPTER 7: THE CHANGELING

The Changeling .................................... 56Gideon as an Aspect of the Changeling 57The Changeling as Rival to Gideon ...... 57The Changeling as an Ally of Gideon .. 57

CHAPTER 8: OMINOUS THREATS

Chilling Horror .................................... 61Betrayal Incarnate ................................. 62Prize of the Pits .................................... 63Lumbering Graves ................................ 64

CHAPTER 9: THE ROAD TO BLACKFIRE PASS

Sadikur the Wanderer ........................... 68Using Sadikur in Empire in Ruins ....... 68

CHAPTER 10: THE BIGGER THEY ARE

Adventure Summary ............................ 69Arriving in Kenselheim ........................ 69What just happened? ............................ 70A Place to Stay ..................................... 72Erwin von Oberholtzer ........................ 73The Lost Lord ...................................... 73Rewards ................................................ 77Other Characters .................................. 78Gerta Faernmaus .................................. 78Ruprecht Etzburger .............................. 79Guards .................................................. 79

CHAPTER 11: THE SIEGE OF DIESDORF

Running this Scenario .......................... 80Diesdorf ............................................... 82The Coming Horde .............................. 84The Remains of the Council ................. 86Day One ............................................... 89Day Two ............................................... 92Day Three ............................................. 94Day Four .............................................. 95Day Five ............................................... 96Miscellaneous Events ........................... 97and Consequences ................................ 97Popularity ............................................. 98The Numbers Option ........................... 99

CHAPTER 12: TRIUMPH OF THE GRAVELORD

The Undead ........................................ 104Staging the Encounter ........................ 104Gräber’s Progress ................................ 106The Rumours ...................................... 107Handling the Rumours....................... 107The Alarm .......................................... 109The Old School Spirits ....................... 110The Attack Begins .............................. 112Ending the Attack .............................. 114The Aftermath .................................... 116NPCs and Monsters ........................... 117Hans Gräber, ‘The Gravelord’ ............. 117Flying Death Skulls ............................ 118Hexwraiths ......................................... 118Abyssal Terror ..................................... 118The Gravelord's Zombies ................... 118

Sample

file

EMPIRE IN RUINS COMPANIONI I

33

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers.

CREDITS Compilation: Graeme Davis

Writers: Dave Allen, Graeme Davis, John Foody, Mac Dara Mac Donnacha,Pádraig Murphy, Anthony Ragan, and Simon Wileman

Editor: Síne Quinn

WFRP 4 Line Developer: Dave Allen WFRP 4 Producer: Pádraig Murphy

Cover: Sam Manley

Illustration: Jared Blando, Alberto Bontempi, Andy Hepworth, Ralph Horsley, Jérôme Huguenin, Daniel Kovács,Yugin Maffioli, Sam Manley, JG O’Donoghue, Daniele Di Parma, Fabio Profida, and Scott Purdy

Graphic Design and Layout: Rory McCormack, Pádraig Murphy

Cubicle 7 Business Support: Tracey Bourke, Anthony Burke, Elaine Connolly, Andrena Hogan,Donna King, Kieran Murphy, and Cian Whelan

Production Team: Dave Allen, Emmet Byrne, David F Chapman, Walt Ciechanowski, Tim Cox, Zak Dale-Clutterbuck, Cat Evans, Ben Fuller, Runesael Flynn, Dániel Kovács, Tim Huckelbery,

Elaine Lithgow, Andy Law, TS Luikart, Dominic McDowall, Sam Manley, Pádraig Murphy,Ceíre O’Donoghue, and JG O’Donoghue

Creative Director: Emmet Byrne

Publisher: Dominic McDowall

Special thanks to Games Workshop

Published by: Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd, Unit 6, Block 3, City North Business Campus, Co. Meath, Ireland. Printed in China.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2021. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition logo, GW, Games Workshop, Warhammer, The Game of Fantasy Battles, the twin-tailed comet logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likeness thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world, and used under licence. Cubicle 7 Entertainment and the Cubicle 7 Entertainment logo are trademarks of Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited. All rights reserved.Last Updated: 2 December 2021

Sample

file

WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPL AYI I

444

FOR GROGNARDSGrognard, n. From French grognard, ‘grumbler’. An old soldier or other kind of veteran: originally, a member of the Old Guard in Napoleon’s army, whose long and faithful service won them the right to complain, even in front of the Emperor. More recently, an experienced (and often opinionated) player of wargames and/or roleplaying games.

Over the last 30 years or so, an awful lot of people have played the Enemy Within campaign. This new version includes some changes and, at key points in the story, boxes like this one offer new ideas and different events to make the campaign just as fresh and challenging for seasoned WFRP fans as it was when it first appeared in 1987. Those players who think their previous knowledge will give them an advantage may find the forces in the shadows and behind the screen more formidable and tricky than before.

Some of the material in this volume has also been reprinted from earlier sources, and grognard boxes are provided where appropriate with the same ends in mind. Of course, if the alternative options look better, feel free to use them instead of the originals!

THE EMPIRE IN RUINS COMPANION

Sample

file

CHAPTER 1 THE PLACE OF SHINING ROCK

On the road to Middenheim, about 50 miles from the city, there is a remote shrine known as the Place of Shining Rock. Unusually, it is sacred to both Ulric and Sigmar, and the two cults coexist here peacefully, as they have done for thousands of years.

The Place of Shining Rock features in Empire in Ruins (chapter 3), as the Characters attend a meeting between delegations from Altdorf and Middenheim. This chapter presents more detailed information on the shrine, along with some ideas that can be used to add complication to the events, or give Characters reason to return to the shrine at a later time.

These events serve to underscore the differences of opinion between the most stringent and outspoken Sigmarites and Ulricans, and can serve to underline this conflict. Conversely, the shrine is also a place of union between the two Gods. Spending time here may help to remind Characters who are strongly partisan towards one god or the other that compromise between the two faiths is an ideal worth striving towards.

REACHING THE SHRINEThe Characters will visit the shrine during the events of Empire in Ruins, as delegations from Altdorf and Middenheim meet in an attempt to calm rising tensions between Ulrican and Sigmarite factions. However, during Power Behind the Throne they will also pass the site on their way to Middenheim, and it may help to add to the sense of gravitas the site enjoys if the Characters are already familiar with it before Empire in Ruins.

Any time that the Characters are travelling between Middenheim and Altdorf, they will pass by the road that leads to the Place of Shining Rock. Unless they have a reason to go there, though, they will probably overlook the place — they do have an Empire to save, after all. Here are a few possible ways to weave a visit to the shrine into the plot of the adventure, especially if you would like the Characters to visit it before Empire in Ruins.

Sample

file

WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPL AY

6

I

Just Passing ByThe Characters will have to travel between Altdorf and Middenheim at least once in the course of the campaign, which will take them past the side-road that leads to the shrine. If the party includes devout followers of Sigmar and/or Ulric, they may decide to visit, pay their respects, and pray — especially if one or more Characters has received Sin Points from either deity.

a ReseaRch MissionBy now, the Characters will no doubt be aware of the broad outlines of the doctrinal differences that have led to the growing conflict between the cults of Sigmar and Ulric. They may have learned part of the story from the scholar-monk Father Marcus in ‘Vengeance of the Gravelord,’ or they may have picked up bits and pieces along the way. (Death on the Reik Companion, pages 114–20.)

They will probably have heard, as well, that Sigmarite and Ulrican scholars are combing through ancient records and later works of theology in the hope of finding an underlying truth upon which both sides can agree, and which can provide a basis for peace. As a shrine sacred to both gods, the Place of Shining Rock will be of great interest to these theologians.

In the course of their adventures, the Characters have become acquainted with one or more distinguished theologians. Sigmarites might be monks from Father Marcus’s monastery near Dunkelberg, or from the other renowned monastery at Priestlichheim, or scholars from the Department of Theology at the University of Altdorf (Altdorf, page 159). Their Ulrican counterparts will almost certainly be from Middenheim’s Collegium Theologica (Middenheim, page 44).

In ‘Vengeance of the Gravelord’ in the Death on the Reik Companion (see pages 114–20), the Characters encountered Father Marcus, a scholar-monk whom Harald Gräber, the necromancer, tried to assassinate. In the original ‘Carrion Up the Reik’, Father Marcus revealed to the Characters that he had spent some of his time as a novice serving at the shrine, and when he left he took a tiny shard of the stone with him . As time went on he felt more and more guilty about it, and resolved to make a pilgrimage to return the shard to its rightful place. However, he was prevented from doing so by pressing concerns elsewhere, and asked the Characters to return the shard for him.

If you are reading this before you have run Power Behind the Throne, Father Marcus could give the Characters this little quest while they are travelling together on the river. The Characters might stop off on their way to Middenheim during Power Behind the Throne, although they will probably not want to delay their journey. They might tell themselves that they will keep their promise to the kindly old monk on their way back to Altdorf — which, of course, would be in Empire in Ruins.

Of course, there is always the chance that Father Marcus survived the Gravelord’s attack on the Characters’ boat, and their paths crossed at some other point in the campaign. So long as the Characters’ immediate travel plans will take them along the Altdorf to Middenheim road, he can still ask them for the same favour. Even if Father Marcus is dead, the Characters might run into his two subordinates, Brother Martin or Brother Rolf (page 12), who tell them of the good Father’s dying wish that the shard be returned to its rightful place.

FOR GROGNARDS: A STOLEN SHARD

Whatever their faith and wherever they come from, these scholars will need an escort on the dangerous highway through the Drak Wald, and although they expect that their research in the shrine’s archives will go smoothly and quickly, who is to say what they will find once they get there?

the RelicThe Characters are approached by priests of both religions, and asked to bring one chest of Ulrican relics and one chest of Sigmarite relics to the Place of Shining Rock, along with a sufficient cash donation to permit the expansion of the existing buildings and the construction of a new reliquary chapel. The priests’ aim is to promote peace between the two faiths by raising the profile of their shared holy place, highlighting its spiritual importance, and turning this sacred site into a popular destination for pilgrims.

Sample

file