The Thousand Thrones: Once More Unto The Breach!

Last Friday, I managed to get in on another game of the 2nd edition of the Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing Game aka Warhammer FRPG. The Thousand Thrones is a massive book that details out rise of Karl, 'Sigmar Reborn' in the Empire and the various events that happen around the lad as well as the general terribleness of the Warhammer world.

In this setting, I'm playing a Troll Slayer.

I finally came into some coin in the campaign. I don't want to say it was overdue because I understand that the Warhammer FRPG isn't like Dungeons and Dragons 3rd or 4th edition where X amount of coin and equipment is assumed to be in the player's possession on a level by level basis.  I'll say though, that it was good to have some coin.

Now with the Troll Slayer, the only thing I need, in terms of 'gear' for my advanced career, Giant Slayer, is my great axe. Well, that's not quite true. I also need to kill a giant. The GM has assured me that when the time comes that won't be a problem even though there are no giants within the campaign itself.

This week's session found the group continuing our quest to discover the traitors and assassins within Karl's massive procession. There are those seeking to kill and or capture the boy. This means killing a whole bunch of people around the lad.

This time it would seem that we were against cultists of Papa Nurgle, the ruinous power of plague and disease. Someone trying to poison the soup!

Again, the efforts to find information and discover what is going on, are far more at the front of the game then they are in the big D&D. The game doesn't rely solely on combat or treasure as a method of advancement so those things aren't the focus on most games I've been in.

Mind you, I'm a Troll Slayer and well, I play the character as one whose easily bored with the various gatherings of information, often testing the sharpness of my blade against my thumb. My fellow players have joked that I've done it so many times that my whole thumb is a giant scar at this point.

But in the two combats we had this sessions, they were glad to have the giant orange mohawk there.

Our first encounter was one we essentially knew was going to end in violence as we sought out 'the Butcherer'. This individual was working with others in the camp to poison people with a magical stew of Papa's. We quickly disposed of him and brought our efforts to Karl and tried to beat some information out of the 'rat' in the nest but Karl was distraught with our methodologies and banished us!

The Game Master did note though, that despite our banishment, we were still devoted to the Karl. For those who've never played, that's because Karl is a mutant whose power is inspiring devotion to him. I made my initial Will Power roll to avoid falling under the trap initially a few sessions ago but missed it this time so I too was now planning how best to serve.

Mind you that's what I'd been doing before because the boy hired us to watch out for him and our original mission involved that anyway.

I asked the GM is we would have to sneak back into the giant encampment and work our way from there or if there were things that could happen outside that, as we were in the city of Aldorf. I can't remember if that's our final destination or not but I do know that it's a huge city and we were able to explore a bit including some shopping.

The GM even broke out the Old World Armoury because our newfound apprentice mage in the party kept looking for darts. Not in the core book and not in the Armoury. GM said, "Don't worry about it. It's a non-expensed resource, you just have to make sure you renew your supply every so often." Seemed a good solution to me.

Now again, I have all the 'trappings' I need for my next career. I did struggle with how much armor to buy. A troll slayer starts with a leather shirt, 1 armor point, and mine was destroyed by a critical hit earlier in the campaign. I'd been going shirtless since then. I weighed the whole suicidal urges of the Troll Slayer against the practicality of playing the character. In art, I'd seen Troll Slayers garbed in chain armor before and there isn't really any restriction to it.

But I stuck with leather and gave a lot of my gold to another player who fully armored himself up with it. The other players sought out leads and information unto becoming their next advanced careers and went about buying the trappings to help make that happen.

When you have a character concept, how far will you go against the grain of that concept to insure some level of survivability? Would anyone have bought the chain shirt and said screw the leather? Should I have just went without any armor?

The good news, is that the leather soon proved it's use as agents of caravan from various factions where in the city and a fight broke out between some of them. We assisted those we thought were the 'good' guys based on our previous research, although this being Warhammer, it's possible all of them were chaos cultists.

After that fight we gathered a bit more information and the GM called a halt to the session. We still haven't finished the chapter though, so no XP! Argh! That's okay, one of the 'swing' parts of Warhammer and it's random character creation, is as a Troll Slayer, I have a LOT of advances to take. Most of the other players? Not so much.

Looking forward to the next session.

Harry Brown (2009)

Harry Brown, staring Michael Caine, came out in 2009. Thanks to Nexflix, I've just gotten around to watching it. I'll be pinging some spoilers after this so if you're not interested in that sort of thing, read no further.

The movie takes a few popular themes, that of the semi-common person who is pushed too far, and the retired warrior who has to come out for one last mission, and mashes them together. While the vigilante theme is more popular in modern settings, especially super hero ones, it's possible to have 'masked' crusaders in older campaigns but those would generally have to take place in highly civilized areas where a break down of the local order is seen as a bad thing as opposed to just a thing happening.

The retired warrior bit is there to remind viewers that being a bad ass apparently isn't a matter of age. This movie doe it a letter better than the recent legend of Krell that I read. For example, when Harry is chasing down someone, he collapses into a near death-coma experience thanks to emphysema. No such thing tends to happen to the fantasy heroes who might complain about stiff joints and old wounds but cut through legions of their enemies like butter with a hot knife. Harry? Harry has to cheat a bit.

Michael Caine plays Harry Brown, an elderly individual who lives in what must be the slums of England. Everything is in a state of decay, graffiti is everywhere and there are gangsters and drug deals on every corner. Not good times for those who live there.

Harry Brown though does okay until his pushed moment when one of his elderly friends, who happens to mention what a bad ass Harry was in his youth, decides that he's had enough and seeks out revenge against those who've tormented him only to die at their hands.

The interesting bits that can be taken are the sense of urban decay. The sense of uselessness on the part of the law. When Harry's friend is out to take the law into his own hand, Harry urges him not to but to contact the police and his friend replies that he did.  To me, the writers here did something a little different. They didn't necessarily make the police corrupt, not did they make them grossly incompetent in most matters. They did make them a bureaucracy though and one that takes time to lift its mighty fist to smash against those who disturb the public.

In terms of acquiring the supplies he needs though, Harry does something any respectful adventurer would do. He becomes a 'murder hobo' or adventurer who finds a villain and kills him and takes his stuff. Along the way he also burns down a massive amount of drugs and saves a drugged woman's live and kills the henchman of the bad guy. But here's the thing. He has to have this equipment.

The movie doesn't play it off like the last Rocky movie where, "I've still got something inside" or whatever it was the old Rocky said. No, this is an old man who needs every advantage he can find. In a fantasy game, this might include poisons, various ranged weapons, weapons that can kill instantly like Vorpal blades and death spells pre 4th edition and other such toys.

In terms of characters I enjoyed about the movie, was the twist at the end. During the entire movie, Harry is going to a pub and while he sees the various drug deals and other illicit activities going on, he never suspects that it's anything other then, "Yeah, that sucks, but what's the owner going to do." Turns out the owner is a major power player in the events going on and is directly responsible for much of the crime in the area. By keeping that bit tucked in, it reminds the Game Master that NPCs shouldnt' be running around laughing manically ever few seconds and boasting of their evil plans. The best ones shouldn't even be known to be evil.

Lastly, at the end of the movie, while that twist is going on, it's brought on by a crack down of the authorities on the local scum. This is essentially a full scale invasion of the slums by the police that involves home made fire bombs, riot gear, tear gas, cars ramming into each other, and other property damaging events. The thing about this though, is it acts as a background to allow other events to happen. When planning out your own games, don't forget the things that the players don't directly control but can use as a distraction, or the things that the other characters in the setting, can use as a distraction against the players.

Harry Brown might be slow in a few spots for some viewers but I prefer to think of it as character development and set up. See if this old warhorse can stir some ideas for your game.