Hey, people. I'm the guy who's been running The Enemy Within Campaign and figured I'd share the after-action report of Shadows Over Bogenhafen.
If you don't know "The Enemy Within," it is one of the most celebrated RPG campaigns there is (at least for the first three parts), and can be adapted for any setting, though it was written for Warhammer Fantasy.
Our adventurers include: >Human Squire (Short temper, unofficial leader, player is moving soon, so this is his last hurrah) >Human Burgher (Cowardly and greedy, but with a sense of justice) >Dwarf Watchman (Retired, out on an adventure to reinvigorate his life -- has a personal diary of grudges, but he can't read, so he makes the Burgher write for him) >Human Vagabond (Out for himself, ties to the Thieves' Guild)
We also included two new players in our last session because some people saw us playing and wanted to join. Also, because the Vagabond dipped for real life reasons. >Dwarf Agitator (#DwarfLivesMatter) >Human Wizard's Apprentice (Noob)
>Human Squire How was the discussion with him about the trapping requirements and that he probably not gonna be a full fledged knight? >Human Wizard's Apprentice (Noob) >I realize you have no wizard, so I am gonna fill that spot. Typical starting mentality, IF this was the case with him. I really like groups without magic because for once it distance itself from the D&D play style and second in gives you the feeling of vulnerability having no one that can sense magic, that makes it more thrilling. Rest sounds nice. I myselfe played the game before stroming the castle at the Reik.
Cooper Watson
I told the Human Squire there's always the chance he can FIND the trappings (gotta keep his hopes up).
As for the Wizard, that was basically it, except I mandate that everybody roll their careers.
He got "Bounty Hunter" or "Wizard's Apprentice" and he realized the party had no magic, so he went wizard.
Continuing from I totally forgot we had a fast-talking Halfling Valet who'd left his master's service in a huff over lack of respect.
(Prior to the inclusion of our last two players)
Our adventurers delved into the sewer as impromptu pest-control to trap and recover a three-legged goblin, the "star" of a freakshow. By the time they tracked down the goblin, the Dwarf Watchman (acting as scout because of his night vision) had blinded himself by agitating a pocket of Red Mold, the squire (taking the lead) set off a methane pocket with his torch, and the halfling was nearly devoured by a pack of rats in the ensuing darkness that followed as they tried, and failed, to re-light their torches/lanterns in absolute darkness.
In the meantime, the Vagabond was delving into whatever he could find, including a door which led to the cellar of a Thieves' Guild safe house (whereupon he was promptly beaten and told never to come back or disturb their secret door).
Finally, they found the goblin in a carved-out niche adjacent to the sewers that appeared to be a temple where homeless vagabonds had been sacrificed. As the Vagabond tried to catch the goblin, a Guardian Demon appeared from the center of a pentagram daubed on the floor and deboned/devoured the goblin. The (singed) squire, the (blind) watchman, and the Halfling rushed in to save him while the burgher hid outside.
Through some stroke of luck they defeated the demon by ganging up, knocking it to the ground, and stabbing repeatedly until it stopped moving.
Benjamin Gomez
...
Austin Peterson
At this point, our heroes congratulated themselves on their victory and accruing a couple insanity points between them. They recovered the three-socketed pelvis as evidence of a job poorly done and returned to the surface.
Where they learned that nobody believed their story and everyone was under the impression the goblin had been killed elsewhere, an hour after they entered the sewers.
Despite talking to everyone they could, the burgher yelling "demon, there's a demon!" and the Dwarf Watchman waving the pelvis at anybody who would listen, they were generally met with a stone wall. The important members of the town council either ended up dead or were suspected members of the Conspiracy. Attempts to secretly tail and observe suspects were routinely botched by the Vagabond or the Watchman preferring more direct avenues of attack, including breaking into the offices of one of the heads of the conspiracy (one Franz Steinhager), and beating the 63 year-old doorman half to death while trying to get information... forgetting that neither of them could read.
Ultimately, they pinned down two guys as "definitely" (with only circumstantial evidence) part of the conspiracy, Johannes Teugen, the most important merchant lord in town, and Franz Steinhager, his cohort and another wealthy merchant in his own right. They didn't trust the Captain of the Watch or anybody in authority.
Aiden Rivera
Finally, our characters got a lead from Friedrich Magirius, another member of the Town Council as well as the cult responsible for all of these activities, the Ordo Septenarius. While he had believed it was simply a fraternal order (imagine an Elk Lodge) where merchants could form a cartel for mutual profit, Johannes revealed he planned a human sacrificial ritual at midnight for some great boon for the town. Magirius sought out our adventurers (who had since become known in town as the madmen waving pelvises at everyone and asking about the Ordo Septenarius) to tell them what he knew.
At this point the Vagabond had to leave (probably a good thing, as the player's paranoia and violent tendencies would probably have seen him merc Magirius) and our two new players joined.
When the adventurers met at Magirius' house, they were promptly framed for his most heinous murder. Before the Watch arrived, they saw he'd drawn a last message in his own blood, sending them to Warehouse 13 in the Ostendamm district. A mad chase ensued, in which they lost the watch, but were also framed for arson by a demonic doppelganger, as they rushed to Warehouse 13 to stop a ritual before midnight.
Ethan Reyes
>>(at least for the first three parts) What's wrong with the rest of it? I have no knowledge about TEW, aside from a Middenlander becoming Emperor.
Camden Williams
The way this is supposed to go, the adventurers wait outside, watch the various members of the cult arrive and set up thugs around the perimeter to watch. They then have to sneak past or fight the thugs, come upon the ritual as it's about to be completed, and somehow disrupt it.
The ritual, by the way, is to open a Chaos Gate within the town and begin the End Times. Most of the cultists don't know that -- they just know Teugen tells them the ritual will bring great glory and wealth to their houses.
A Lesser Demon (much stronger than any of our adventurers) is among the cultists, disguised as Teugen's servant. It's this demon who seduced Teugen to Chaos and helped him form the cult. It wears a magical ring which combats the "Instability." (For non-Warhammer fans, unstable demons need to roll each turn to see if they fade out of the physical plane unless something magical binds them).
The ritual involves placing the ring inside the heart of the sacrificial victim, meaning the adventurers can actually defeat Gideon once he removes the ring to conduct the ritual.
Instead, the adventurers immediately broke into the warehouse (finding it empty -- they were early) and hid behind crates in the back of the warehouse. They watched as the cultists arrived, drew a pentagram on the floor, set up black candles, and began chanting as a bound/gagged woman was brought into the room. Teugen drew a knife.
And it was at this point that our burgher grew a spine or maybe it was just his sense of justice, because he would not stand idly by while an innocent woman was sacrificed.
The Dwarf Watchman rolls to hit with his crossbow, targeting Teugen. (Warhammer is a percentile rolling system, whereby you need to roll d100 under your skill level. I also use CoC's Hard/Critical Success rules, meaning if you roll less than half for your skill, you get a bonus, and if you roll less than half of half your skill, it's a critical). He called his shot for Teugen's head. He rolled a 1. Teugen had no armor. Teugen was dead. Meaning the ritual wouldn't begin. Meaning Gideon wouldn't take off his ring. Meaning the adventurers were essentially fucking boned.
The fourth part, Something Rotten in Kislev, is considered a very poor successor to the third part, Power Behind the Throne, sending the players on a detour to Kislev which has nothing to do with the greater plot and is written in a much more fantastical style. In addition, it was later revealed that Kislev wasn't meant to be part of the campaign, but as Enemy Within was famous, they made "Something Rotten" part of the Enemy Within campaign in hopes of making it sell based on the brand.
John Taylor
Mind you, Kislev itself is super-interesting.
Chase Reyes
Gideon throws off his human disguise, revealing his demonic form, to kill the adventurers.
Everyone takes Fear tests. Including the oblivious cultists. All the cultists save Franz run the fuck away. Our noob Wizard's Apprentice now thinks it's his turn to shine. He casts "Magic Dart" at Franz Steinhager.
He fails.
Franz Steinhager, a petty caster in his own right, responds in kind.
Critically wounding the wizard's apprentice and reducing him to two health points.
Gideon casts a fire spell at the Watchman, setting fire to him and the warehouse they're in. Squire and Dwarf Agitator charge to start whacking at the demon ineffectively (demons are only weak to magic, takes a very lucky roll to hurt a demon with mundane weaponry). They get manhandled.
Burgher has yet to pass his fear test and is frozen on the spot in the burning warehouse. Basically, all is lost.
Halfling steps up with his sling. Aims at the demon. Hits. Procs ULRIC'S FURY.
>Ulric's Fury A mechanic in Warhammer Fantasy. If you roll a 10 for damage, Ulric, the Wolf-God of Winter and War, has smiled upon you. Roll again to hit. If you succeed again, you may roll ANOTHER damage die. If you roll ten, again, repeat the process. Add each damage roll to your original.
Halfling proceeds to do 26 damage to the demon with his sling bullet. The demon only had 20 health points.
William Sanders
Yes. But the stories from Something Rotten were not. And they involved making a deal with a necromancer, which resulted in completely fucking over any dwarf, sigmarite, or morrite players.
This is followed by "The Empire in Flames," the last part of Enemy Within, which continues the descent into high fantasy bullshit with magical creatures everywhere and the players going on a grail quest to recover Sigmar's Hammer and meeting a random flock of pegasi who fly them home in time to save the Empire.
James Adams
Franz Steinhager was finished off swiftly afterwards when burning rumble fell on him.
Ultimately, the adventurers fled the town in a river boat, wanted for the murders of the town's leaders, Friedrich Magirius, Johannes Teugen, and Franz Steinhager, as well as for arson (both the framed arson and the warehouse), and known as a bunch of insane travelers shouting about demons and spooking people with skeletal pelvises. But, they saved the town, so that's what counts right?
Oh, and the woman the burgher was trying to save in the ritual. They forgot about her and left her to burn in the warehouse. But the burgher DID remember to grab a box of jars of preserved fruit.
Ryder Myers
Exactly how it's meant to end.
Eli Miller
He's gonna remember that random lady every time he eats that fruit.
Or he'll sell it.
Justin Hernandez
wow - that's a bad end.
Adam Miller
Warhammer adventurers are supposed to finish campaigns worse than they started them
Julian Murphy
Next up is Death on the Reik. Adventurers get their own river boat.
Lucas Bennett
how long do you think that will take to run through? i'm very intimidated by its complexity.
Owen Jenkins
Just Death or the whole Enemy Within?
We are taking a break and I'm reading Death over Christmas. But so far, Mistaken Identity and Shadows Over Bogenhafen took four sessions of 3-4 hours each.
Owen Ross
>meaning the adventurers can actually defeat Gideon once he removes the ring to conduct the ritual. How are the players meant to figure that out?
Jacob Wilson
the campaign's ideal situation doesn't have the players act until Gideon has already removed the ring and the girl is dead
Jace Rodriguez
Protip for the future, OP: include Warhammer in your OP, or it won't show up when people check the catalog or search the boards for "Warhammer".
It was sheer luck I saw the thread, because I usually search for Warhammer or WHFRP.
Nicholas James
The Enemy Within Campaign seems like it's a hell of a mess in terms of there being different versions of the various parts and different "add-on" adventures.
Is there any full-scale walkthrough/adaptation of it for Second Edition?
Christopher Harris
Nah. There's Winds of Chaos for stats and a GM Supplement from a third party I randomly found on Scribd. Then, of course, there's Empire at War.
However, none of them solve the deep problems with the finale of the campaign (though the GM supplement does what it can to improve Something Rotten in Kislev). Ultimately, I had to make up my own ending using material from Empire in Flames, Empire at War, the GM supplement, and Second Edition fluff. Otherwise, Karl-Franz dies.
I'm gonna start a new post per 's recommendations and I'll include the supplements I used.
Lincoln Rogers
Actually, screw it. I'll wait until this thread dies and next time I bring it up, I'll put Warhammer in the title.
The way I tried to fix the ending fluff for second edition has been set up in the beginning, when I introduced the players to the world.
The year is 2501 of the Imperial Calendar. The Empire has just celebrated its fifth centennial. It is led by Emperor Luitpold von Holswig-Schliestein. He has two sons, Wolfgang and Karl-Franz. Wolfgang is the crown prince. Karl-Franz is engaged to the daughter of Graf Boris Todbringer of Middenheim as a political union between the principal Sigmarite and Ulrican factions.
Now, this still requires some sacrifices to the lore, but it puts us two years away from Karl-Franz's actual coronation and allows you to preserve the Dying Emperor/Mutated Prince saga from the last chapter of The Enemy Within. In addition, Boris's connection to Karl-Franz means you don't need to actually put Heinrich Todbringer on the throne -- you can have Karl-Franz as the 'younger brother' to Wolfgang, step into the role once everything goes to shit.
Too bad, I had hoped that someone would've made a cleaned-up unified campaign of it by now, since I know especially the ending is a mess
>Otherwise, Karl-Franz dies. Well, nothing inherently wrong with that in a roleplaying game. The second the players stepped onto the scene, the narrative diverged. I always hated the warrior-king interpretation of Karl Franz, anyway, and having the start of the second-edition narrative set off with the death of the Emperor might actually not be that bad.
Chase Gonzalez
I know. But his characterization is totally different than his characterization in 2e. Again, not an issue, but two of our players were familiar with Warhammer Fantasy (from the strategy game).
Had they all been warhammer noobs, it wouldn't matter at all.
I just moved the timeline backwards. Karl-Franz's father, Leopold, will die instead.
Wyatt Murphy
I always get shit from my main GM for suggesting stock shit, but honestly, there's nothing wrong with base scenario in the Core Rulebook.
The Core Rulebook has the "Through the Drakwald" mission that ties straight into the Campaign/Background Book of "Ashes of Middenheim" (itself the first book of the Paths of the Damned Campaign).
I like it because it's a good introductionary adventure that takes you to Middenheim, and the arrival to Middenheim makes for a good timeskip opportunity of getting situated.
Basically, once they've arrived at Middenheim, they can wrap the quest up, and then you can ask them what they'll be doing there, starting the next session/adventure with getting them situated in the city, and what they've been doing for the last week or however long you want them to have been there, telling them how shitty it is there and how the refugees are pouring in and how the noble of the party is living in the nicest tavern but - get this - has to share a fucking room with some burgher.
Through the Drakwald is an excellent starting adventure, in my opinion, because it can take practically any characters and "force" them together, and it takes you to a natural hub, ending just when you need an excuse for them to get settled in. Whether you decide to continue with Ashes of Middenheim or not, I recommend the book anyway, because it gives you everything you need to use Middenheim, and tells the story of how fucked the Empire is at the moment, after actually having won the war. It's a war-torn city full of refugees, and although it's not touched upon in any major fashion, it's soon going to be winter.
Lincoln Evans
>con't
And the entire city is riddled with sewers, a truly ancient dwarven city (and a dwarven guild of engineers that just happens to be the only ones that knows how all of this ties together), collapsed waterworks that might contain chaos forces that have stayed behind, collapsed because they were used as entryways by the enemies during the recent Siege of Middenheim, and, obviously, this all ties into the Skavendom Under-Empire to boot.
Progression is intentionally slow in Warhammer Roleplay, and the Career system supports this, so having good time-skips and an overall narrative to cover career progression is a good thing, which is probably why it works so well to work out of some form of hub where the characters are more or less settled, even if that can change from time to time - maybe even due to the progression itself (becoming a Priest is a good excuse to be sent somewhere else, etc).
David Turner
>Again, not an issue, but two of our players were familiar with Warhammer Fantasy (from the strategy game).
Just say that oh no, Karl Franz is dead! I mean, the fluff doesn't actually change that much, it's just that some of the established timeline changes, but that's already true anyway, the second you set for in the universe, if you think about it.
The biggest issue as I see it is that some of the events described as part of the Storm of Chaos can't play out the same way, for obvious reasons.
>I just moved the timeline backwards. Karl-Franz's father, Leopold, will die instead.
Doesn't that mean that the end of the Campaign won't lead into Storm of Chaos, which is what I've been lead to believe that it does? Because by the time of Storm of Chaos, Karl Franz has already been on the throne for a couple of years, and there's been at least two wars prior.
But that said, it's not a bad call. There's simply no way to truly reconcile the differences between Politician-Franz and Warrior-King-Franz and also reconcile the Enemy Within with what plays out during the Storm of Chaos and the set premise of post-SoC 2nd Edition.
Something's got to give one way or another. Having already started the campaign prior to Storm of Chaos, I would've had no qualms with killing the shit out of Karl Franz and set that as the point of major divergence from other established timelines.
Jack Scott
The Enemy Within does not lead into Storm of Chaos. It leads to civil war and the deaths of most of the leaders of the Empire and Heinrich Todbringer, Boris's bastard son, getting elected Emperor once the adventurers reclaim the "hammer of sigmar" from the Dwarf Hold/Warp Gate where Sigmar disappeared. It's a 'happy' ending because the players arrive with the "grail" and give it to Heinrich and he wins the war and becomes Emperor and it turns out he's actually descended from Sigmar and the hammer flies to his hand and...
It totally breaches with anything even sounding like Warhammer 2e.
Adrian Fisher
>the adventurers reclaim the "hammer of sigmar" from the Dwarf Hold/Warp Gate where Sigmar disappeared. >the players arrive with the "grail" and give it to Heinrich and he wins the war and becomes Emperor >it turns out he's actually descended from Sigmar and the hammer flies to his hand and...
...that.. that sounds utterly and completely retarded. What in all the fucks of Sigmar Heldenhammer?
I wonder where I got the idea of it leading into the Storm of Chaos from. Having not played the adventure, I was lead to believe that it was basically a prelude to the war, with chaos trying to fuck over the Empire from within in preparation for the Storm of Chaos or something.
I had no idea the ending was that level of wtf:d. Given how amazing the rest of The Enemy Within is supposed to be, I'm surprised no-one has created a quality alternative that fits into all the rest.
Andrew Baker
Dude. I left out one of the worst parts. The players are racing against the clock to get the hammer and bring it back to Altdorf. A random flock of domesticated pegasus appear to help them fly back in time.
Both Something Rotten in Kislev and Empire in Flames were rushed and spawned from books which were not originally meant to be part of Enemy Within.
There has been an attempt to fix Empire in Flames called "Empire at War" which I linked above. But it replaces the wonky, high-fantasy elements with politics. Lots of politics. Holy shit so much politics.
It's better, but it offers very little to players who 1. Haven't been paying attention to the overarching mysteries and 2. Don't care about fantasy renaissance politics of the Empire. It also "fixes" Karl-Franz, by simply giving the players the opportunity to sneak into his palace and save him.
Having read most of it, I think it's fine, but it could still use some improvement, which is why I'm relying on the GM companion for pointers.
Nathaniel Davis
Thanks for the read, OP. It's nice to see action reports, it shows that a part of Veeky Forums actually plays from time to time.
Kayden Moore
>A random flock of domesticated pegasus appear to help them fly back in time.
Fuck me. Someone needs to be suffocated in their sleep for doing that to a Warhams scenario. I sincerely hope it was written by someone that had no fucking clue what they were doing and had never actually played Warhammer Roleplay.
>But it replaces the wonky, high-fantasy elements with politics. Lots of politics. Holy shit so much politics.
Based on what you're saying, though, that's infinitely better, but I guess it could be a bit big of a departure compared to the rest of the Campaign?
>1. Haven't been paying attention to the overarching mysteries. >2. Don't care about fantasy renaissance politics of the Empire.
But then why play? Only mild sarcasm.
>Something Rotten in Kislev
The way I've understood it, Something Rotten in Kislev can be freely ignored, having never been intended to be part of the campaign to begin with, but was just sorta forced in there?
Nathaniel Foster
In defense of the pegasi and the high fantasy elements, the "Failure" scenario for Shadows Over Bogenhafen (if the players do not stop the ritual), results in a Chaos Gate opening and Tzeentch himself coming into the world... based off the actions of a piddly merchant fraternity that half of them didn't realize was a cult.
The First Edition of Warhammer had yet to get the tone completely right.
>Something Rotten in Kislev It was forced in because it was due for print and the Enemy Within had good brand exposure. But the evidence is obvious. For example, the pre-generated player characters that the campaign modules have assumed you've been using from the start are suddenly replaced with new guys. However, with regard to the flow of the story, a detour or delay of some kind is required to get the players into the Civil War (otherwise they might try to stop it as it's brewing, you see). By temporarily exiling the players to Kislev, you get them away from the action long enough for the territorial conflicts in Ostland and Talabecland to evolve into full-scale, Thirty Years' War, religiously-tinged conflict with alliances between various electors setting the stage for civil war.
The GM Companion nixes the Something Rotten in Kislev stories, but keeps the players in Kislev, replacing it with a story taking place in Erengrad and involving the Skaven, which I think is rather good.
Wyatt Gray
anybody have Castle Drachenfels?
Kayden Phillips
Nope. But the Warhammer Fantasy General should have links to all of the RPG books
Does anyone have a non-scribd copy of the GM Companion
Colton Cruz
Only ever found it on Scribd. Don't even know where it's from. But it's free access, so what's the prob?
Adrian Jenkins
So what exactly makes Enemy Within so good? I hear the name mentioned over and over again when the "best module" discussion comes up- but people rarely give a detailed why.
Nathaniel Turner
I don't know. It's my first roleplaying experience. And I figured if I was gonna start, I was gonna start with the best.
Lincoln Robinson
The tone and how the adventures weren't dungeon bashes but almost CoC, with a bunch of fantasy Germans trying to come out ahead of horrible yet darkly humorous situations.
