WFRP: The Enemy Within

[quindia]

Ok, question... I've always played D&D. We flirted with WFRP in the 90's, but always went back to what we knew best. It will soon be my turn to GM again for our group and I love adapting old stuff for new games. With the recent anniversary of WFRP, I realized I have never read The Enemy Within campaign books, but they are always listed as classics and touted as one of the best published campaigns (Kislev and Empire in Flames being weaker than the others, but still worth playing). I thought it might be cool to adapt them for my next campaign.

So I just finished reading Mistaken Identity and thought... meh.

- - SPOILERS - -

The adventure is a series of forced, railroaded coincidences. There are cliche encounters (The foppish Bretonnian who encourages you to join in a card game is cheating? Really?) and situations the GM is suppose to force (the bounty hunter ALWAYS gets away early on and then MUST die in the final encounter so the players can't question him). There are zero choices for the players that have any real meaning to the path they will end up taking (though I can see my guys being like 'The expedition left two days ago? We can still catch them!'). The players travel to Altdorf and have no meaningful encounters or interaction that required a trip to the capitol - the encounter and NPC they do meet could have been literally placed anywhere on a river bank. Even the river barge seems pointless because the end of the module states that the trip takes four days and is uneventful. They could have just as easily traveled by caravan to Bogenhafen. I know the adventure was meant to introduce players to the Old World, but apart from the way the Coaching Inn system works, I didn't get much out of that goal either.

I like the idea of the mistaken identity leading the characters through the adventure and the bounty hunter starting the 'WTF is happening?' moment for the characters. I don't think I've ever done that in a game so even my veteran players might not see the potential for complications with that. I have the perfect player to model the dead guy after because he would definitely be all for trying to claim the inheritance.

So, my question is does it get better? My games are usually designed to let the players drive the narrative (or at least think they are). There are always multiple paths toward the conclusion. I read the summary for Bogenhafen and didn't see any reference to the Mistaken Identity plot (not in the summary anyway). The summary again reads like 'the players stumble through random stuff until an NPC points them in the right direction.'

What am I missing? I'm reading the 1st edition books at the moment. Are later versions better? I actually purchased old copies of the first two modules on eBay and I don't want to invest in any more if this is the way the campaign plays. Again, I haven't read through the second book yet, so I'm willing to be open minded if some of you encourage it.

Help and advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance...

 

[dieselmonkey]

It's been a long time since I've read through the Campaign, but I've played and run it a few times, I think that what you've described is pretty much how WFRP is meant to be played, or at least certainly how I used to play/DM it.

You're not all conquering heroes fighting for the survival of the Old World, you're pitiful bystanders that get caught up in something you have no understanding of or no influence over beyond your immediate surroundings, and even then only slightly. I mean, the starting characters are pathetic! It's only later on in the campaign that players even start to get a decent understanding of what they're involved in, and even then, they're way over their heads. I think it all adds to the helpless feeling that players are meant to have in WFRP.

Mind you, I mainly used to play CoC and Paranoia, neither of which the players had any influence over or any real chance of survival, so that may have influenced my GM'ing...

 

[quindia]

Ah... ok, thanks. I don't mind the characters getting in over their heads or caught up in things they don't immediately understand. It was the linear nature of the plot - I could actually run this a solo game (hey, maybe I'll do that... ). The first module was literally the definition of railroading the players.

I normally write my own adventures and was just trying to save myself a little work. Maybe I'll just look at these as a source of ideas and work the series into something that more resembles one of my campaigns. I normally run more of a sandbox style, with villains going about their business wether the players get involved or not. However as Bogenhofen has the potential to literally ruin part of the campaign world (very Cthulhu as you mentioned) that's not a take it or leave it thread! As I said, I like the mistaken identity concept and I liked the cult in Bogenhofen not realizing what their actions were leading up to.

Thanks...

 

[jon_1066]

You also have to remember they are 30 years old and came out at a time when many of the published D&D adventures consisted of Turn left, kill five goblins, enter the next room, kill a hill giant, go down a corridor. Choices? Well you can go left or right.

Actually having a plot the players needed to figure out and social interactions being a large part of the game (rather than just killing stuff) made them stand out at the time, alongside the wider information contained within the books for the setting.

 

[Fimm McCool]

Having just finished writing a roleplay campaign book I can vouch for the fact that it is very difficult to fit an expansive, completely free-roaming, source-dripping world which still maintains an engrossing plot into the size of book it is economical to produce. That's where developing GM skills to allow you to build on the world, adapt situations and invent new ways of getting the pertinent information to your characters comes in. There needs to be a strong narrative (and yes- a lot of direction) for beginner GMs and players to be able to engage, once you're used to running or participating in RPG adventures then you can go 'off-piste' as much as you like. So anything published either has to have a 'beginner' or 'experienced' label on it o needs to cater for the party that needs the most direction.

 

[dieselmonkey]

You also have to remember they are 30 years old and came out at a time when many of the published D&D adventures consisted of Turn left, kill five goblins, enter the next room, kill a hill giant, go down a corridor. Choices? Well you can go left or right.

Actually having a plot the players needed to figure out and social interactions being a large part of the game (rather than just killing stuff) made them stand out at the time, alongside the wider information contained within the books for the setting.

i don't think this point can be overstated too much either. It really was a step-change away from generic goblin-bashing in an abandoned temple that made up the vast majority of the preceding 30 years of adventures before it's release.

Having had a bit more of a think about how I played it as a GM (20+ years ago!), I think a lot of the campaign was about letting players do what they wanted within the confines of the game, whilst continually steering them back towards the plot. The balancing act was giving them enough leeway to make them think they were in a sandbox world, without getting too far away from the action.

 

[Mr Papafakis]

I'm actually playing Shadows again ATM with a new group of novice roleplayers, which is quite interesting and enjoyable, as they all know nothing of the Warhammer world. I think the first time I played it was in high school (25 years ago ), then about 15 years later....and now today

I think you may have overstated the railroad aspect of it a tad though. Sure, there's key places to go, but there's choice in which place you go to, how long you'll be able to spend in each location (stuff going on at a certain time requires you to pick which is more important), who to converse with.....like any other normal RPG.

It may read as a railroad, but it sure as hell doesn't play as one as a contributing player Forces you to talk amongst each other, decide who's worth investigating etcetera. i.e. roleplay

TBH though, I've not had much luck playing WFRP with D&D players, they just can't seem to grasp the fact that their not able to (or supposed too) trounce every single adversary they might come across. I remember the guy who thought it was a good idea to take on a Chaos Spawn....bad idea, even if you win, you'll still lose

 

[Erny]

I've played TEW a few times and love it. By modern standards yes mistaken identity is a bit of a railroad but then the bonus is a tighter story arc. It is the start of the campaign though, so a little bit of a beginner’s story and also it's setting the scene. Even then nobody has to gamble or catch the stage coach. Perhaps they decide to walk and hit the ambush site a day or two later with the half eaten corpse of someone that looks like one of the characters. Or perhaps they refuse to go to Altdorf, decide to take a ship to Araby and fight in the crusades. But then they won't be playing The Enemy within. Their loss.

To me roleplaying isn't just about the GM serving the needs of the players, it's about collective storytelling and cooperating with the GM to follow the story is the sign of a good player that wants to have fun and doesn't take it all a bit too seriously.

Play the next couple of parts and let us know how you find it. If anything feels a bit unoriginal remember TEW probably did it first.

 

[MadGav]

I have GM'd TEW up to the end of Death on the Reik. If you are even thinking of playing it then I think you should as we had an absolute blast playing it (~5 years ago).

As folks have noted above, the opening section is a bit rail-roady but that was no doubt with the intention of easing in new role-players. I would think experienced players could easily add on something extra to make it more challenging. Also, WFRP emphasises that when PCs start out they are literally nobodies and are usually weaker (individually) than just about any notable NPC they come up against. If the players really need a challenge then insist that they all start as rat-catchers and beggars.

In any case, once you get to Bogehafen, things get very much more free-form and would probably suit your game style better, from what you say.

The first bit of DotR is also very free-form. (I should add as footnote that it's worth doing some reading around on the web about how to approach DotR as it does have some pitfalls if you're not careful). The last part of DotR (Castle Wittgenstein) is weak, however, in my view as some of the NPCs' motivations don't seem to ring true - be prepared to tweak it.

You should also take the opportunity to run a couple of one-off adventures (published in WD) during DotR: Night of Blood and A Rough Night at the Three Feathers.

After DotR is Power Behind the Throne. I didn't get on to playing that, partly because it looked so free-form that I wasn't sure how much my players would like it. Sounds like it would be your cup of tea, though.

Lastly, I don't think the different versions of TEW will hugely change your view of them. As I recall, most of the version differences are just cosmetic (a few smaller books collected into larger books etc). The only substantive difference is an extra section at the beginning of Power Behind the Throne (I think - it involves boats anyway) but it doesn't alter things hugely.

 

[quindia]

Thanks for the feedback, guys...

 

[daddyorchips]

moving away from the original query, a series of WFRP articles were published in WD around the 120-130 period i think featuring a Marienberg gazetteer. were these from a book and if so, which one.

 

[Fimm McCool]

moving away from the original query, a series of WFRP articles were published in WD around the 120-130 period i think featuring a Marienberg gazetteer. were these from a book and if so, which one.

I think they're the ones MadGav mentioned. To be played in line with Death on the Reik but not actually from any of the books.

 

[twisted moon]

moving away from the original query, a series of WFRP articles were published in WD around the 120-130 period i think featuring a Marienberg gazetteer. were these from a book and if so, which one.

the wd articles on marienburg were early drafts of what later became 'marienburg: sold down the river'.

 

[twisted moon]

Help and advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance...

have you tried http://forum.strike-to-stun.net/?

 

[daddyorchips]

moving away from the original query, a series of WFRP articles were published in WD around the 120-130 period i think featuring a Marienberg gazetteer. were these from a book and if so, which one.

the wd articles on marienburg were early drafts of what later became 'marienburg: sold down the river'.

never even heard of it!

cheers mate

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

I was hunting for the Marienburg book for years, and it was easy enough to find on Amazon & eBay, but prices were anywhere from several hundred dollars (US) to several thousand.

 

[dieselmonkey]

I was hunting for the Marienburg book for years, and it was easy enough to find on Amazon & eBay, but prices were anywhere from several hundred dollars (US) to several thousand.

Last one on eBay went for £50, which is about $70 or so. They don't turn up very often, I picked mine up years ago.

 

[ardyer]

I was hunting for the Marienburg book for years, and it was easy enough to find on Amazon & eBay, but prices were anywhere from several hundred dollars (US) to several thousand.

I got mine on a $20 BIN. And when it arrived, I opened it to find out was also autographed by the author

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

Shut up. You are dead to me, and I am unfollowing your blog.


Extreme example: https://amzn.com/B01A686TGE

 

[ardyer]

Shut up. You are dead to me, and I am unfollowing your blog.


Extreme example: https://amzn.com/B01A686TGE

Set up some searches on eBay. That was how I got mine, I checked the saved search and it had just gone up. I've seen it go in a few small lots too that are poorly labeled and go for a reasonable price.