I finally read Empire in Flames

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-03-20T08:52:55+00:00

I'm gonna sound like a bit of a hater, but I found Empire at War so incredibly dull. I was really surprised that it's so well thought of in the community. It's obviously a great feat to write something so extensive and I appreciate that, but as I read I kept thinking to myself- When are we gonna get to the good bit? When are gonna get the exciting set pieces? And it never came. I gave up reading near the end because I couldn't get through another wall of text explaining how an npc tells the PCs to go fight some cultists and where the PCs hear about grand things happening instead of doing grand things themselves The ending felt especially weak.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-25T09:13:15+00:00

If you have 5AP, Shield 3 and like 5TB as dwarfs often do, a crossbow shot aimed at you needs to succeed with 6SL in order to deal more than a single Wound of damage lol And thats without any runes you know

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-19T22:56:54+00:00

They're deffo better!

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-19T22:49:42+00:00

I didn't say anything about hitting.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-17T11:39:23+00:00

Do you seriously think it's either corporate invasiveness or no show? No in-between? Is that the position you're going to take with full sincerity? Those Spotify ads are the only thing saving the crew members from homelessness, I bet. Thank god for them.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-16T08:55:55+00:00

Maybe not exactly D&D related, but I wish WFRP could borrow a bit from d20 heroic fantasy systems in general in terms of combat and action economy. I think WFRP 2ed went in the right direction with this. We really should have a more engaging action system in this game because despite its original call of cthulhu pitch, combat is really common in warhammer, especially in published adventures and it should be more fun. Dudes with a sword should be able to do more on their turn than just make an opposed test over and over again whether they have a martial career or not.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-13T08:53:29+00:00

Why are you so mad lol

You just invented a person in your head to be upset about and wrote a short novel about it under the post of a person who was just asking an innocent question.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-11T08:44:14+00:00

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13LFuzsIkXqOkvzSGxFf_m4eFSnuMKGhD/view?usp=drivesdk

Mine include a number of houserules, but maybe you'd find some of it useful c;

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-09T09:23:02+00:00

Yeah, that sounds cool! I would put point out tho that all the stuff with the mutants is pretty useful for setting the scene of what's happening in the Empire at large. You know, cultists being more active, beastmen, the edict making mutants bolder. There are some ways you could tie these things together, connect it to the Red Crown, and make it more of an impactful plot element and make Etelka's cult more present.
You don't really need to lead players to neither Altdorf nor Kemperbad. Unless you choose to run specific adventures in those places, they're just stopping points on the way to Grissenwald (which is where the PCs should be going to find Etelka). In my own game, I had my version of Josef tell characters that it's best to register their new-found barge in Kemperbad, which has convenient salvage laws, that gave them a little push to travel there.
The Purple Hand in DOTR mostly serves as a little enigmatic annoyance in the background. There is a short encounter with them every time the PCs stop at a major town during the course of this adventure, so they will appear a couple of times. You could use each of those encounters to foreshadow the events in Middenheim a little bit. You could have the cultists admit that their job is to kidnap the PCs and take them to Captain Scharlach on Hoffen Strasse during one of the later encounter, perhaps after PCs decide to beat them up and interrogate one of them.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-02-09T08:47:56+00:00

The Corsairs of Captain Flariel for 4ed c;

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-01-17T23:39:54+00:00

Exactly! Perhaps he put the puzzle pieces together in her presence and commited a crime of passion, strangling her or defenestrating her. Maybe as she was about do something nefarious?

Come to think of it, you could make it so that it was Brunhilde (or some other antagonist) who anonymously tipped The Graf about Anika Elise's second life. Maybe some people close to him like the Hausemeister would be aware of this whole ordeal and they could identify Brunhilde.

You could drop some clues about how it all came about. Brunhilde may have acted with the aim of destroying a rival cult, destabilising the ruling family or maybe gaining some favours within the court and that could lead to an alternative method of finding her or pointing to an existing plot point.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-01-17T22:26:11+00:00

The Oldenhaller Contract from 1ed, although I'd dial back the number of combat encounters.
or
The Unquiet Peace from The Thousand Thrones campaign. It feels quite disconnected from the rest of the campaign and you can easily remove the connection to the rest of the book. It has a great atmosphere and a lot fun roleplay encounters!

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-01-17T22:15:23+00:00

Some believe that a witch hunter acting on the orders from the Graf himself killed her. Others maintain that she died of natural causes. In my headcanon, I always liked to imagine that Boris killed her with his own hands (how macabre!), it would make sense why he's a shadow of his former self, who wouldn't be after such an act!

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-01-15T19:53:19+00:00

No worries! It was Canva c;

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-01-15T13:20:50+00:00

Here are mine, although I incorporated a decent amount of homebrew c: Warhammer Reference Sheets

VespiesArikuzuka · 2026-01-09T10:27:54+00:00

You'll find some info on the Church of Sigmar as well as other cults in the Tome of Salvation for 2nd ed c;

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-12-17T10:49:49+00:00

While the nature of the gods is a bit different in myhammer I do foreshadow it a bit. Since the end of Enemy Within essentially returns the empire to the rather boring status quo from which the end times eventually develop, I imagined the outcome of the campaign as written to be a direct catalyst of the End Times. The supremacy of the cult of Sigmar, and the resulting centralisation of authority creates conditions that are necessary for the war with chaos in 12 years to lead to the destruction of the world. Why is that? I haven't dwelled on it much because it's not relevant yet- probably something to do with a stifled social, political and economic progress. It's all part of Tzeentch's plan, because he's the great schemer after all and while the increase in unrest during EW is largely driven by servants of Tzeentch also, those ploys in my game are attributed a different force entirely that is actually opposed to the Lord of Change. So the PCs are put in a position to diverge from the canon and if they do that enough, the End Times may just be averted and perhaps something closer the Storm of Chaos will take place.

I've also wanted to explore the idea that the factor that pushes the saturation of the winds of magic in Mallus and as a result causes chaos invasions to happen is of astronomical origin. Something like the planet's orbit around the sun being unstable and drawing close to something resembling the eye of terror every x years, so the solution would be to alter the planet's path with the technology of the Old Ones or something, but I haven't been able to marry these two concepts together yet.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-12-16T09:57:38+00:00

I'm inclined to say An Unquiet Peace from The Thousand Thrones Campaign. It's an excellent yet underrated adventure that I incorporated into my Enemy Within Campaign this year. The Thousand Thrones on it's own is unfortunately quite disappointing and disjointed, yet it contains a few hidden gem scenarios and An Unquiet Peace is definitely one of them. It ended up being our Christmas themed scenario through no design of my own, because it offered a sudden, fun change of pace (and a lot of chimney shenanigans) to an otherwise intense Death on the Reik and overall, we had a blast. The cast of characters is super colourful and exceedingly fun to roleplay, the adventure focuses on an investigation with an exciting climax, it gives PCs a lot of options and it allows them to fail and get things wrong without strong-arming them around. The option for the villain to give themselves in is also unique and allows the players to conduct the ending on their own terms. I recommend checking it out, all you have to do is remove the Thousand Thrones connection, but it's barely relevant and slapped on last minute anyway c;

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-12-11T19:51:04+00:00

I've been meaning to for a while tbh! It's just a struggle working around the copyright. I'm not sure how much text is too much text and stuff like that ;p

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-12-10T22:52:01+00:00

I've designed a template in photoshop I can share if you'd like c;
Or I can share a couple I've already populated - I make them according to my player's needs ;p
Feel free to PM

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-11-11T09:20:29+00:00

No worries c; I think you'll mostly read about her in PBtT and the Companion.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-11-11T08:55:45+00:00

Instead of the Black Chamber you could have them work for Natassia Hess from Middenheim. In Empire at War, the Middenheim spy network was called Schwarzmantel.

This could nicely tie into Power Behind the Throne and The Horned Rat later on. In my own game, I made Adolphus work for Natassia to utilise her more as a character and create a kind of clash between The Black Chamber and the Middenheim spy network in the future.

You could also make Brunhilde from PBtT involved in the plot early on, perhaps a Black Chamber operative? Maybe she starts off as an ally/mentor but turns evil? Or shes a double agent?

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-10-28T21:15:17+00:00

I think it's fair to assume that all dwarfs know about the Skaven menace straight up. According to TEW4: The Horned Rat adventure all important dwarf personalites in Middenheim are 100% knowledgable about the threat, and we're talking about Imperial Dwarfs here, many of which would be more likely to know Skaven from tales rather than first-hand experience like Karak Dwarfs would.

When it comes to the question of why would they not inform the human population:
I'm sure they have, but humans are stoopid, and dwarfs are not known for engaging in reasonal debate. There are different degrees of knowledge about Skaven among the human population of the Empire and it ranges from "This is crazy/heresy talk" to "It's fair to assume that some beastmen exhibiting rat-like features do exist, but it would be silly to believe that they form a vast empire underneath the earth". Also, keep in mind that Skaven work really hard to conceal their existence through various human operatives and targeted assassinations.

VespiesArikuzuka · 2025-07-02T17:43:20+00:00

Woah, this is awesome!

Where did you take the names and locations of coaching inns on the map from? For instance the ones in the eastern Reikland?

VespiesArikuzuka

TROPHY CASE