Into the Delve!!

After 15 solid weeks of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay our summer campaign has come to an end! If I can say so, I'm going to say we had a blast - so much, in fact - that I believe this has to be the best game I have had the pleasure of running - ever!!

I can even tell you why!

We have a lot more stuff these days, folks...way more than we did back in school (grades 6-12)!! A lot more toys, a large group of good people to play with - hell yeah! The metagame is totally set up! People are familiar with the setting, which has it's schticks and it schticks to them. It was great!

Oh, you're interested in the characters and about the campaign itself? Lets see...

Lets start with Khazid Grimaz itself!!

The dwarf citadel has been beleaguered lately by all manner of foes, the foremost of which have been the Bloo Moonz clan of orcs which are massing for a WAAAGH!!! nearby. There were foes more insidious than this, of course...but the fact that they were vanquished (or that they were present in the Khazid at all) is a fact that has been kept secret by those who know the truth...so far. We'll just assume you are privy to the secrets, including the presence of Warpstone and Daemons.

Now, the mines that have been opened (on purpose or not) during the reclamation of the Alderhalls yield more precious metals, including the ultra-rare gromril ore. This was previously unknown to exist here, and the so-called "Black Vein" has had most of the warpstone siphoned away. However, the gromril from the Black Vein cannot be smelted normally - that requires the process the ancients described for the Doomforge.

The taint of the warpstone beneath the halls is being contained, for now...for only residual dust remains. The huge chunk of warpstone in the diabolic machine must have somehow siphoned it away from the Black Vein (the gromril) and distilled it into a summoning. However, for the unknown Daemonologist attending the machine, it did not go according to plan.

There are still strange things in the deep below Khazid Grimaz, but now at least the halls are quiet and the dead can rest. However, they are huge beyond reason...and the tunnels go on quite some ways. Some may even connect to other holds, though it is unlikely.

Of interest in the city now is the Deeping Well Mercenary Company, founded during the reclamation of the Alderhalls and named for the waterworks beneath the city that served as the principal entrance for the expeditions exploring the halls. Interested parties can inquire at their Guild Hall in the Upper Valley for securing sellswords for miscellaneous adventuring.

What's next in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay?

Well, for the next few seasons we'll be running / playing in other worlds. The time has come to make our dimensional slip, but don't despair. You'll see these characters again. What are they doing in the meantime? Let's see...

1. Crumpwit Tumblewine is the Paymaster for the Deeping Well Mercenary Company, and seeks to expand the options the new guild has going forward. He has his work cut out for him, but is surrounded at all times by the able hands of the Deeping Well's sellswords. He has traveled a bit around Wissenland, especially to Nuln to visit Doctor Lecroix.
2. Jean-Marc Lecroix has traveled to Nuln to study with the Physician's Guild. A few short tests, and he is in the University...learning more about the fascinating and mystical world of Old World medicine. He hasn't forgotten his friends at the Deeping Well, and keeps in regular contact, planning to one day return as Commander of Surgeons.
3. Damgrunt Heaganinson is a high ranking member of the Deeping Well Mercenary Company...one might say he is as close to Captain as they have. With connections throughout the Khazid on both sides of the law, he has made quite the inroads for the Company. During the following months, Damgrunt is at the head of operations for the few skirmishes the Company takes part in.
4. Martin Mueller has decided to stay in the Khazid with his new friends. He had quite the resources and connections to the Exalted Imperial Guild of Armorsmiths, where his family has made their fortune for six generations. As such, he tends to add gravitas to meetings the Company takes part in. He has taken residence with the others at the Guild House, and the Deeping Well has installed a forge for him to ply his trade. He only makes a modest sum in the Khazid (he's only a man), his major function is Quartermaster of the Company.
5. Grodal Skorgrimsson has known the members of the Company only a short while, but as he lives in the Khazid he stays in touch and becomes friends with many of the members of the Company. During the next few months, he is present during many of the proceedings and knows more about the history of the Khazid and the truth about the Black Vein than any of the other characters. He studies hard over the next few months, and learns the secrets of the Rune Smiths as a journeyman in that guild.
6. Ilsa Gustav has become the de-facto bodyguard for the Company, staying close to Crumpwit, Damgrunt and Martin. Without anywhere else to go, she has come to adopt the Company as her family. She is present for many of the meetings Crumpwit has, even traveling to Nuln with him on occasion. Even though she's a hard woman, during the weeks after the destruction of the daemon...Ilsa still has nightmares about the goblin's giant spiders!
7. Maneaus of the Hold asked to take his cousin's spot in the Company after the destruction of the daemon. He was deeply affected both by Ceaphous' death and by the magic he unleashed to combat the monster, and rested in the Guild House for quite some time before emerging from his room with new purpose. The path of fire calls to him, and he finds solace in war. The Deeping Well Mercenary Company makes great benefit of his skill with Aqshy...most of the time.
8. Fiach Fiachnasson got really drunk. The slayer fought against a daemon of terrible power, and survived to tell the tale. Now, tales are told in hushed whispers...folk may yet come to know of the horrible tale of the daemon and the slayer who was involved. As he slides toward the undignified brand of Daemonslayer...Fiach got so drunk he wandered away from the Khazid one night. No one has heard from him since...but it's unlikely he's gotten himself killed. Yet, anyways.
9. Pazho returned to service with the Throng of the Khazid. His unit went forward with the Imperial Army that arrived in the Khazid a few days before the destruction of the daemon, and has been deployed near Athel Loren ever since. Pazho is a grizzled old soldier however...it would be unwise to write him off just yet.

So, as we leave it...the Deeping Well Mercenary Company has become quite the figure and talk about the town. When we return at last to the Warhammer World, tell your friends if they have a problem, and no one else will help - if they can find them, then they can hire: The Deeping Well Mercenary Company.

Hunting Humans: NWoD is coming!!

Our new game is about to start here at the Wargate, and we'll be death-trippin' with a new Games Master for a bit. Josh is here to tell us a bit about his reflections in the new World of Darkness, with perspective born from the old.

Hunting Humans by Josh Swearingen

Well, it's August. Fall is right around the corner, and we've spent the hot, sweltering summer deep within the cool, dark caves of Khazid Grimaz. Now, it's time to crawl back out into the world...the World of Darkness.

I first encountered the World of Darkness in the early '90's (with everyone else who was alive at the time). I had played other RPG's before, mostly GURPS. We had a highly creative Gamemaster back then who had practically invented a brand new trope every other week.

Soon, however...I fell in with a group of bad kids. Bad kids who played Vampire. I instantly fell in love with the gothic-punk world. It was perfect for my brooding, angry sensibilities. However, eventually the group I gamed with burned out, grew up, grew apart, and quit playing. I sold my books, and hadn't thought about the game for years.

About two years ago, a friend was spring cleaning and found his "fairly" complete World of Darkness collection. He knew the best place to sell a set of gaming books was the Wargate. I snatched them up, and was instantly brought back. The layout and the artwork in those books was always great. I found out that the World of Darkness had been ended with a series of books labelled The Time of Judgement.

As I looked these books over, I realized - out of perverse desire - that I had to destroy my old playground, the object of so much wonderful game time. I would end the world. I decided I wouldn't run the White Wolf metaplot verbatim. I would pick and choose elements that I and my group would enjoy. For more details on this campaign, read Dave Bone's great article Magick in Montreal. As the game began to reach it's climax, I took another look at the old World of Darkness, and a few things began to occur to me.

1. The game is a bit dated. If you look at Mage: The Ascension, you'll notice the technology creep if fairly apparent. Dante (the cover mage) doing magick on a huge desktop computer is only one example of this.
2. My characters had a lot of out-of-game knowledge. Though they were fairly good at not abusing it, there were more than a few out-of-game discussions about what powers high level antagonists would possess and other metagame information.
3. They ended the damn game. There would be no more books. Of course, White Wolf would point out that you could keep playing indefinitely. The game designers simply wanted to work of something different. Perhaps I needed to find another modern horror game...Call of Cthulhu, maybe? Some mish-mashed D20 garbage? My short trip through game land soon took me to a new World...of Darkness.

Over the last few months, I've collected a great core set - and there are so many improvements.

1. It's a new game, the mechanics for all the main games are all redesigned, streamlined and unified. The default race is human - something that was all but ignored in the old World of Darkness.
2. Mystery is back! Metaplot is lighter, everything is much more subject to Storyteller interpretation. The supplements are more general. Asylum, for example, is about how mental hospitals and other institutions operate and how that can relate in the game. Similarly, Tales from the 13th Precinct is all about law enforcement and police procedure. To my knowledge, this is a fairly unique supplement - a gaming book spelling out basic police procedures is just so great.
3. Anyone who has looked at the new books can tell you - they are beautiful. The art direction is more unified, consistently using one artist in each book. The layouts are slick, the fiction is almost always top-notch. In fact the new books are so great, card carrying non-emo guy Dave Bone can pick up a few.

So in a couple of weeks, dust off your D10's, put on some dark clothing, pick up a pack of clove cigarettes (LoL).

Because the elder things of the night aren't gone. They've just been sleeping.

Soon, they awake...

Index Mardannon: Mardannon Subsector

This section of the Warhammer 40,000 Battles Book details the Mardannon subsector, the chief stronghold of the Imperium in our portion of space. This treatise includes Ordavis, in the Carpithica system. These entries change from time to time as battles are fought and won, and the fortunes of these distant stars wax and wane. After The Battle for Ordavis, I'll post an update for the Carpithica system when I update the Battles Book. Until then, familiarize yourself with the 'core' planets of the Mardannon Sector! Included is a small Warp Chart for planning those pesky jaunts through the Immaterium!

Mardannon Subsector

		6						1	Mardannon
			1			5		2	Bulgaris
								3	Garrinax
		2						4	Kathis Mundanus
					3			5	Drogo
	4							6	Carpithica

The Seat of Imperial Power

Mardannon is the highest populated Imperial-controlled subsector, for it is the seat of the Throne’s power throughout this region of space. This was the first subsector colonized in the Old Crusade, and maintains the proudest traditions venerating this fact. Mardannon is strongly controlled by the Imperium, and the hope remains that once the rebellions here are quelled, Mardannon’s might will surge forth and cleanse the rest of the sector as well.

Mardannon is one of the most advanced and civilized of the subsectors listed here, due to the relative safety of the zone. It is far away from most of the alien dangers in the sector such as the Orks of Magnum Sierra, but is not entirely untouched. Daemonic cults seem to flourish in the population, and the Inquisition is known and feared throughout the subsector.

Mardannon System

• Mardannon Prime

• History: Colonized in the early part of the Old Crusade, Mardannon has become a massive hive world sporting no less than eight massive hive spires. The orbital docks and shipyards surrounding the planet are top notch, as Mardannon serves as Battlefleet Command for the entire sector.

• Geography: The surface of Mardannon Prime is covered in snowy mountains and low plains. The hives belch smog continuously into the atmosphere, and after five thousand years the sky is perpetually grey. Although there aren’t any major ash deserts the southern wastes are particularly hot and deadly.

• Inhabitants: The people of Mardannon Prime are a generally happy lot, generally free of corruption and are an industrious and productive people. Service in the regiments of the Imperial Guard is voluntary, and there are always thousands of hivers seeking another way of life in this manner.

• Mardannon Secundus

• History: Terraformed shortly after the colonization of Prime, Mardannon Secundus is a thriving Agri-world. Secundus produces food bound for several systems within the subsector, and is guarded like a treasure. The planet sits not far from Prime itself, with the Fleet close by.

• Geography: Most of Secundus is flat plain littered with Agri-Domes and the Habitats of the Serfs. In the north, massive mountains dominate hemisphere. Most of the southern hemisphere is under high density water.

• Inhabitants: On Secundus, the farmer’s way is the only way. The Agri-Barons rule in a feudal manner, with the top Agri-Barons trading with off-world merchants for the highest profits. For the serfs themselves, life is made easier with abundance of technology, but only slightly.

• Ortaph Maximus

• History: As soon as Mardannon Prime was slated for colonization, Adeptus Mechanicus Explorators arrived on this small and nearly barren planetoid and began the construction of what would become one of the most important Forge Worlds in the entire sector. Today, Ortaph Maximus is covered nearly entirely by Mechanicus compounds and orbital shipyards.

• Geography: Ortaph Maximus is inhospitable and barren, with a broken and jagged granite-like surface. Abundance of many minerals within the crust of the planet is cited as the reason for Explorator colonization. Human life cannot exist outside the Forge Hives due to the weak and polluted atmosphere.

• Inhabitants: Nearly all the inhabitants of Ortaph Maximus are adepts of the Machine God. The most important items churned out by the Forge Spires of Ortaph Maximus are myriad pieces intended for the construction and repair of capital ships. Naval munitions are also fabricated here.

Bulgaris System

• Bulgaris

• History: Discovered not far from Mardannon, this gas giant was quickly recognized as an abundant source for Pyrrin, a gas that when condensed becomes a highly flammable liquid. Prized as a source of fuel for the sector’s battlefleets, Bulgaris is well monitored and defended.

• Geography: Bulgaris is a binary star system, and the radiation of the twin suns is fatal to humans. However, it is exactly this radiation that produces the environment needed to create the Pyrrin gas. The planet itself is entirely composed of various stellar gases and liquids towards the surface. It does not have a breathable atmosphere and the gas miners avoid entering it.

• Inhabitants: Bulgaris has many orbital stations in geosynchronous counter-orbit, keeping them in the shadow of Bulgaris at all times. The inhabitants of these stations are Adeptus Mechanicus and various guildhouse workers from the nearby systems of Carpithica and Mardannon.

Garrinax Seclusia System

• Garrinax Seclusia

• History: Colonized during the initial expansion into the sector, Garrinax Seclusia became the repository for malcontents during the Crusade. As the oldest penal colony in the sector, Garrinax Seclusia has quite a reputation throughout the Guard and Navy, as well as hive criminals who have a notion that the place exists.

• Inhabitants: Only home to inmates and their tenders, Garrinax is almost totally devoid of human settlement. There are more living people scattered throughout the systems’ asteroid belts, of which it has three. The asteroids are rich with plenty of minerals used in a multitude of industrial processes, including metals and gases. The Adeptus Arbites train members as prison guards here before they are moved to active duty on worlds throughout the sector.

• Geography: Garrinax Seclusia has a rocky surface with barely any water or vegetation, and where such occurs is limited to zones around the equator. The equator of the world is wracked with seismic activity and is generally considered uninhabitable. The planet also teems with various mineral deposits that, while valuable, are extremely dangerous to harvest. Nonetheless, inmates are still assigned to harvester teams to mine resources from the planet as a means of punishment and / or execution.

Kathis Mundanus System

• Partisan Imperious

• History: One of the oldest hive worlds in Mardannon, the hive cities here are over five thousand years old. The relative high tech of the entire Kathis Mundanus system is maintained by Guilders closely working with adepts of the Machine God. Since the 13^th Black Crusade, this world has been embroiled in terrible wars of faith with guerilla insurrectionists.

• Inhabitants: There are eight huge hive cities on Partisan Imperious, and the factorums churn out materials that are needed all across the sector. Lucrative trade agreements with the Imperium have made the aristocracy rich. The majority of the populace still lives in the depths of the hive cities, but enjoy higher tech and comfort than similar Imperial worlds.

• Geography: Partisan is not badly polluted, but most of the surface is covered in high density water, unsuitable for drinking unless processed. The hives are built half in the water and half out, as only about twenty percent of the planet is dotted with islands of habitable land.

• Mordredus

• History: Colonized a thousand years after Partisan Imperious, this world was once home to marauding ork pirates. After being granted this cleansed world, the remnants of the Catachan 146^th worked closely with the Adeptus Mechanicus to erect the hives. Like nearby Partisan Imperious, the people of Mordredus have had to contend with guerilla insurrectionists in all of the hives and at large elsewhere on the planet.

• Inhabitants: Descended from the Catachan 146^th, the populace of Mordredus lives within three huge hive cities. As a production facility of assorted wares, these cities always deliver a surplus of goods that is sold off to Guild traders from Partisan. The hivers live well enough, as the hives are for the most part open and the atmosphere non-toxic.

• Geography: Mordredus, in stark contrast to Partisan Imperious in the same system, is largely covered in rolling mountain ranges. About forty five percent of the surface is covered in greenish water that when condensed and purified is highly nutritious. Static storms of varying magnitudes careen across the surface during storm season, but for the most part the world is idyllic.

Drogo System

• Drogo

• History: Drogo has been a primary source of income for the sector’s trading guilds for as long as it has been a recognized system under Imperial compliance. For about five thousand years, the crystalline surface of Drogo has been mined for Drogite, a very special mineral that can be rendered a hundred different ways for a hundred different reasons – at least so say the Mechanicus.

• Inhabitants: Inhabited by the Guilders and Mechanicus rendering installations, Drogo is a very heavily populated system – just not on the world itself. The space stations orbiting Drogo are in geosynchronous orbit with the corresponding mining station on the surface, and giant ‘crystal crawler’ machines till the soil in a systematic harvesting of the Drogite encasements that are literally spilling out of the surface, even after five thousand years. On the surface, ignorant techno-barbarians avoid the installations and mining crawlers and eke out an existence near the salt oceans, where the Drogite crystal does not form as readily.

• Geography: Drogo is covered in a thick, mineral laden soil which when exposed to oxygen and sunlight can actually begin to grow a crystalline residue when cultivated in certain conditions. The entirety of the planet has been converted by the Guilders and Mechanicus to actually promote this nutrient crystallization transfer. Much of Drogo is covered in differing kinds of water, and near the alkaline seas of the northern hemisphere is where the Imperials make their presence. The techno-barbarians regard the entire region as haunted by metal snakes that churn the earth – the crystal crawlers.

• Araba

• History: An explorator world, Araba is home to some of the most sophisticated equipment in the sector. Several Mechanicus Skitarii regiments are stationed here, as is the majority of the Mechanicus fleet presence in the sector.

• Inhabitants: The Explorator Corp of the Adeptus Mechanicus is the sole body responsible for events and equipment on Araba. The installations here are used to instruct new Mechanicus Adepts and refit stations all over the sector. As a result, there is a very machine-like and cold society on this world.

• Geography: A vast desert world made up of varying topographic terramorphs, Araba is generally considered quite a hostile environment. In the massive Mechanicus dome cities, life is lit by primitive haloglobes in dark corridors. Mountains of vast proportion jut from the earth in windswept upturns, their jagged spires piercing the very sky.

Carpithica System

• Carpithica

• History: For nearly four thousand years, Carpithica shone as a pristine example of the realization of the Imperial ideal. It was colonized shortly after the rediscovery of Ordavis, another planet in the system. It is a civilized world not overpopulated (due to heavy tithes of personnel to the Imperial Guard and other Imperial agencies) or heavily polluted. Vast tracts of land were set aside for farming, and the planet was a prime source of agro products for several systems. Until the Orks arrived.

• Inhabitants: Carpithica has been a war zone for nearly 8 years, where the human population has been pitted against a horde of Orks of various tribes united under the Waaagh!! of an as yet unknown warlord. Due to the large area of agro land between the population centers, the ork invaders and the human farm workers have been fighting a running battle in the fertile no-man’s land. At present, the orks control a large area near the equator, but are pressing northward into the human controlled area of the planet.

• Geography: Most of Carpithica is covered in salt oceans, but there are several large continents dotting the globe. Two of these continents are used by humans for the fertile agro land in the northern hemisphere, and a third continent in the southern hemisphere is the industrial zone. Heavy jungle and mountains ring the equator, where the ork base camps are. Ice continents have formed around the north and south poles, all in all Carpithica is one of the nicest worlds in the sector, environmentally speaking.

• Ordavis

• History: A massive hive world, Ordavis was brought into compliance with the Imperium once again during the Old Crusade. The people had lost contact with the Imperium for nearly a thousand years following a massive warp storm in the area, but continued to maintain throwback traditions that identified its folk as belonging to the Imperium.

• Inhabitants: Stern hive workers form the body of the population, while a few Guilder and Imperial noble houses handle trade and other off-world business. Orks arrived in the system 8 years ago, during which time reinforcements from the Imperium have arrived piecemeal, not enough to break the grip the ork flotilla has secured on the sector.

• Geography: A small planet with a grey skyline, a good portion of Ordavis is actually rocky crust of the planet, resembling at times a rock quarry. Many of the hives are built down into the crust, while others are built as spaceports and stretch into the stratosphere. There isn’t much drinkable water, and several hives are actually giant mega-condensers that struggle to support the atmosphere of the planet, which is only just barely livable by human standards.