So there.

I had a pretty fun time playing it in th 90s.  It seemed like a sort of weird, madcap way to end our WFRP game on.

What is the deal with it?

Quote from: Cole;454305What is the deal with it?

Some WFRP purists think it's too "d&d" for WFRP.

The PCs find themselves in a hunt for 4 powerful magic items, they fight lots and lots of baddies - if run by the book, they then die horribly, even if victorious.

I admit, i don't really subscribe to the die horribly part unless they fuck up big-time, and the PCs didn't when i ran it - but they had a fraught time and also a blast.

I might even be persuaded to run parts 2 + 3 as a PbP (condensed for online play).

Quote from: One Horse Town;454313Some WFRP purists think it's too "d&d" for WFRP.

What do you mean by "too D&D?"

Quote from: One Horse Town;454313The PCs find themselves in a hunt for 4 powerful magic items, they fight lots and lots of baddies - if run by the book, they then die horribly, even if victorious.

I admit, i don't really subscribe to the die horribly part unless they fuck up big-time, and the PCs didn't when i ran it - but they had a fraught time and also a blast.

Is it hard to rework it so the horrible-death-at-the-end is not so certain, or does that require major rewriting of what comes before?

Quote from: Cole;454318What do you mean by "too D&D?"

Too much fighting, not enough investigation work.

QuoteIs it hard to rework it so the horrible-death-at-the-end is not so certain, or does that require major rewriting of what comes before?

Not really, it has ideas for other endings and follow-on adventures.

I quite liked it too, though not as much as Paths of the Damned, another one the WFRP-Swine claimed was "not in the true spirit" of the game.  Though of course, these guys aren't even holding up Enemy Within as their litmus test for "true spirit", instead they're holding up some imaginary version of Enemy Within where PCs never ever engage in combat and you're not actually expected to triumph against the bad guys.

RPGPundit

I thought Doomstones was one of the ones originally written for AD&D but then converted to WFRP by Flame.
Not that that bothers me, but I thought that was where it's D&D rep got started.
I've also heard it's a bit dungeon-bashy.

To me it sounds like it's perfectly in the WFRP spirit.

Yes it's a bit D&D but in a kind of mocking way that says "if proper adventurers in a proper fantasy world really had an adventure like this they would die horribly so fuck you Gygax"

I always roll my eyes when I see or hear someone claiming WFRP is "Call of Cthulhu in a fantasy Europe!" Fuck you, WFRP has always been about kicking ass and getting your ass kicked in return.

I also liked Doomstones btw.

I'd love to drop kick whoever came up with the idea that WFRP was all about investigation and stuff.   Yes those things are part of what WFRP is, much as they should be part of what any good RPG is.  But to suggest they eclipse combat.  

Did anyone maybe miss the whole section of the book about how to kill things, followed not to far after on a section about killing things with magic, followed up a little bit later with an entire section devoted to things you should be killing?

Quote from: kryyst;454398Did anyone maybe miss the whole section of the book about how to kill things, followed not to far after on a section about killing things with magic, followed up a little bit later with an entire section devoted to things you should be killing?

Or that all three editions prominently feature a punk rock berserker dwarf on the front?

Quote from: Cole;454404Or that all three editions prominently feature a punk rock berserker dwarf on the front?

Far to obvious, I think most people missed that or some how mistook it as just some crazy artists interpretation.

Quote from: kryyst;454398I'd love to drop kick whoever came up with the idea that WFRP was all about investigation and stuff.   Yes those things are part of what WFRP is, much as they should be part of what any good RPG is.  But to suggest they eclipse combat.  

Did anyone maybe miss the whole section of the book about how to kill things, followed not to far after on a section about killing things with magic, followed up a little bit later with an entire section devoted to things you should be killing?

...or that it was derived from a fucking WARGAME.

Quote from: Simlasa;454370I thought Doomstones was one of the ones originally written for AD&D but then converted to WFRP by Flame.
Not that that bothers me, but I thought that was where it's D&D rep got started.
I've also heard it's a bit dungeon-bashy.

That's correct. In the late 1990s, the WFRP mailing list hated it.

As Pundit has written, a lot of evident knowledge about WFRP is a post-TEW addition. The original rulebook not only had the cover, it had long, long, long sections on Fimir and various other strange monsters and such. The 1983 Warhammer game, which as a wargame had some guidelines for using the rules for roleplaying, also has this aspect - although it also has an entirely random career chart with entries ranging from "slave" to "chimney sweep" all the way up to high aristocracy, and a skill list (also totally random) including "transvestite" as an entry.

At its beginnings, Warhammer was a strange, strange game with a strong punk stamp. John Blanche's period art is very illuminating to look at in this respect.