The Griffons of Greyfang

A wilderness adventure for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying

The Gamemaster’s eternal conundrum is creating the adventure that they themselves want to play in, but must GM. Well, herein is the adventure I want to play, chock full of design wish list grooviness.

I’ve been hankering for an adventure in the great outdoors where the players felt like they could take any route but the GM was able to manage the scenario without a zillion locations to moderate. And there must be some big monsters to fight cos, y’know, it’s fantasy role slaying playing- but there had to be some way of giving the PCs a believable chance of winning, or at least surviving the encounter. A ‘frontier boondocks to palatial high society’ story arc was on my radar, along with a few jump scares, and a twist ending or two.

The scenario nearly wrote itself – an expedition into the Middle Mountains to snatch a Griffon egg for an Elector Count. Gamers can expect to encounter the denizens of the mountains (aka big frikken monsters) as well as rival egg hunting parties just as deadly as any creature; high altitude hi-jinks with mountaineering tropes up the wazoo, including a cold case murder mystery with bonus avalanches & plummeting to one’s doom; heroically facing off versus a swooping Griffon on a windswept pinnacle (the ‘money shot’); defending a frontier hut from ravenous humanoids; a chase scene whilst shooting the rapids; getting caught up in a Warhammer Fantasy Battle; montages as PCs traverse the high and low roads of the Empire; dashing highwaymen; fiendish assassins; tactical challenges; bureaucratic assholes; certain death…the usual stuff.

The adventure progresses in a non-linear format, however the quest nature of the McGuffin, along with mountainous terrain, steers the characters’ paths in several likely directions. The scenario beginning allows for believable grouping up of characters who haven’t met before. The precipitous terrain and primary opponents at the climax also allow the GM to implement an ‘obscure death’ rule for both PCs and NPCs.

Ideally the gamers will experience classic mountaineering and exploration themes in the wild frontier backwoods of Hochland, along with the usual Warhammer dark fantasy intrigue in rustic villages, along spooky high roads, into bustling townships and finally high society! But enough blather – have a read and see what you think: click on this Griffons of Greyfang link or just go to the Warhammer drop down menu at the top of the page.

Redesigning the White Council

Beating Sauron at his own game doesn’t mean you need to break canon, just bend it a little.

The Valar leave Middle-earth littered with undefeatable primordial monstrosities. Nice one asshats! By Third Age 1000 they finally send the five Istari, not to fight, just prompt and nudge. And four of them don’t even do that! So it’s up to the free peoples to out think the Enemy and the White Council is formed…

Well the White Council pretty much sucked arse at getting the free peeps ready for the end of the Third Age. Gondor and Rohan have despair and corruption at the highest levels. Elves, Dwarfs and Humans mistrust each other. The roads linking the supposedly allied realms from Erebor to Eriador, Michel Delving to Minas Tirith are mostly sketchy tracks plagued by Goblins and Wargs or worse. And the Head of the White Council is actually a pawn of Sauron!!

The Council of Elrond redeems the failures of the previous centuries but only by the skin of its teeth. But imagine if the White Council had actually been effective. A firm hand on the tiller, with a hardcore approach to unifying the free peoples, might have given the Enemy a run for his money from the get go.

Why rely on the passive, don’t-poke-the-dragon approach, when you can clickety click on Defeating Sauron – A Strategic Rethink and see how to organise the Elves, Dwarfs and Men into a force to be reckoned with! (Or just go to the drop down menu at the top of the page under Middle-earth, cos that’s what the gaffer would do)

The Dungeon under the Keep on the Borderlands

The fabled Keep on the Borderlands guards the realm of mankind from the forces of evil. But beware- the Keep is built atop an ancient cave system!! That’s right all you nostalgic Dungeons and Dragons fans- it’s an expansion of the Gary Gygax classic B2: The Keep on the Borderlands.

Take one look at the B2 wilderness map and you’ll see long forested slopes and rolling hills, but there’s the Keep on a sheer rocky plateau sticking out like a sore thumb! There’s no other steep plateaus or mountains nearby -so what gives? Something wicked, that’s what!

The Keep needs a sewer, and you can’t have a sewer without nasty critters AND secret doors leading down to some basic, kick ass D&D action! So take a level 1-3 trip down memory lane and check out the caving adventure right underneath the hallowed ground of the Keep… clickety click on The Dungeon under the Keep on the Borderlands or go to the drop down menu under ‘Role Playing Game’ at the top of the page!

Re- fighting the Battle of Assaye

Step right up guvner. Come and see the ultimate turn of the (19th) century smackdown. Ten thousand redcoat whipping boyz versus fifty thousand heroes of the Maratha Empire. All star colonial attackers (boo- hiss) versus bronzed native defenders (hurrah!). Some no name, toffee nosed snob, Arthur la-di-dah Wellesley, leading the British East India Company, versus the renowned, up-from-the-ranks Colonel with a heart-of-gold, Anthony Pohlmann, generously assisting the Maratha Empire!

Will John Bull cop another bloody nose? Will highly trained troops, lead by an overzealous glory-hog, beat a horde equipped with modern weaponry, defending their own turf? Witness bullshit flanking manoeuvres over undiscovered river crossings, entire corps playing possum, ridiculous mismatched numbers, misunderstood orders, heroic last stands, last minute cavalry charges, and sacrifice of the highest order.

Watch the Armchair Corporal re-write history and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory… just click that ole mouse here 20/20 Hindsight: Re-fighting the Battle of Assaye, or go to the Alt History tab at the top o the page.

Action Movie Gamemaster

Hey pssst, want a great tip for running EXCITING role playing game adventures? This easy-to-use formula can be applied to jazz up almost any game type be it fantasy, sci-fi, horror etc, just so long as your players are ready for a fair wallop of action.

So, what is this magic formula for instant GMing success?

Well, sorry to go all click-baity on ya but you’re gonna hafta check out The Action Movie School of GMing to see what the dealio is. Or just go to the drop-down menu at the top under Roleplaying.

Epic Level Frodo!

The One Ring hits the lava and Frodo’s XP bar lights up like a pinball machine. The Halfling scores like 25 zillion experience points and levels up from maybe a basic level 3 to a legendary level 89-ish (give or take an RPG system).

Frodo spends all that XP on a massive wisdom bonus, some themey deleterious character attributes, and the ability to see the future. It does him about as much good as Paul Atriedes, but in-story where does this epic-ness come from?

Check out EPIC LEVEL FRODO for insights into the player’s handbook stored in Tolkien’s head.

Frodo’s Curse

Did you know that Frodo Baggins, the most peaceful, famousest and bestest hobbit in all of Middle-earth, used the evil power of the One Ring to command and kill via a fiendish curse!

Yep- Mr Baggins is a badass! But is he a baddy?

To find out how Frodo used the Ring itself to circumvent the impossibility of anyone destroying it, check out Frodo’s Curse

Flying the Eagles to Mordor – how would it be done?

The biggest plot hole in The Lord of the Rings is arguably “why not use the Eagles to get to Mordor?”

But imagine an alternate universe where Tolkien wrote LotR, with the same internal consistency, except the Fellowship of the Ring ride the Eagles to Mount Doom…

Could they get there? You bet! But it’s not as simple as it sounds. How do the Fellowship get in touch with the Eagles? Which way would they go? Who would go? How long would it take? What precautions would they take? How would they get over the mountains and past the winged Nazgûl?

All these questions and more are answered at Flying the Eagles to Mordor – A ‘How-To’ Guide.

Seriously, “Fly You Fools!!”

Gandalf’s Plan to get into Mordor

One does not simply walk into Mordor –       One looks at a map first!

What-the-Uruk was Gandalf planning on doing if he survived Moria and guided the Fellowship beyond Lorien? Specifically, how was he going to get into Mordor?!!

Tolkien may not have written Mithrandir’s plan down, but he seems to have left some subtle cartographic clues. Check out the analysis ( Gandalf’s Plan to Enter Mordor ) of the contour map of Gondor & Mordor in the front of The Return of the King.

Sharpening up Broadsword Adventure 7

Broadsword was a cool adventure for Traveller, a sci-fi role playing game by GDW. The booklet had fabulous detail on the mercenary Broadsword class starship, but sheesh did the scenarios need some work or what?!

The 800 tonne mercenary cruiser was the bomb! The ugly lil flying pumpkin was kitted out with beam lasers, missile racks, two modular cutters with potentially a squadron or two of star-fighters! AND it had three squads of marines armed to the teeth with hi-tech gear: ATVs, gauss rifles, fusion guns, pointy sticks- yeah baby!! All this was detailed with floorplans, a pecking order for the entire crew, SOPs etc.  But as for the provided adventure…yikes!

Rather than just a game of Traveller, the Broadsword adventure had vague mass combat scenarios more intended for Striker and High Guard: GDW’s dense ground and space combat rule systems. The overall campaign was a great idea, loaded with possibilities: The players conduct ground and space operations to prop up the regime of Garda Vilis during a rebellion. But the 4 scenarios are missing something. Namely crucial details, skulduggery of any kind, plot twists, and GM’s advice for when the players do the unexpected.

Click on Sharpening Broadsword: Adventure 7 to check out my expansion of the Garda Vilis campaign back into the realms of a RPG with added zing for the crew of the Broadsword.