Thursday 25 April 2013

A place that my armies can call home.......


A place that my armies can call home.......

I have spent some time building new armies and planning future projects but then I had a thought....just the one thought though, life is too complicated to have too many!  What about the big picture.  Where do my little men (and women) fit in the world?  Gaj and I have started to play/plan a loose narrative campaign and I really enjoy the story telling element, especially that the actions taken now can have repercussions later on.  So our campaign will start to define a small part of the Border Princes but what about the surrounding land.  In particular “The Empire” up north.

Now what does this empire look like in my mind.  Let me invite you into my head and you can see for yourself.  No don’t go there!  That is for my eyes only.  Anyway here it is “The Empire” in its glory, a large powerful but politically and religiously divided state.  Having played WFRP 1st edition in my youth my vision is based on this.  I will set my games at the conclusion of the “Empire in Flames” scenario which finished the “Enemy Within” campaign.  Here is a quick rundown of what has happened based on my memory.  If you are actually playing this role-play campaign, look away now.

At the end of “Empire in Flames” a great many things have happened.  Emperor Karl Franz (who was a blithering weak idiot) is dead.  His heir (who was revealed to be a chaos mutant) is dead.  Boris Todbringer is dead and his illegitimate son Henry Todbringer is the new emperor (and also revealed to be a direct blood relative of Sigmar).  There are many opportunities for the player’s characters, for example if you have a competent wizard they could become the new head of Imperial College of Magic in Middenheim.  Basically at the end all is well....or is it? I can see a different and more interesting future. 

Let us look at the new emperor.  His position has to be a worry for some of the other Elector Counts who prefer a weak and ineffective emperor.  Basically a man who is unlikely to meddle in their internal affairs.  Henry Todbringer (Emperor and the new Prince of Altdorf) is a strong charismatic man whose own sister is now the ruler of Middenheim, and he has married the Countess Emanuelle (I think that was her name...) of Nuln.  The Countess of Nuln also holds power over Wissenland. This makes him very powerful indeed.  I would have thought that this would challenge the ‘old order’ a fair bit.  I think there is scope for some Byzantine politics here.   Then what about the wounds, both physical and psychological, that have resulted from recent the civil war (yes that happened to) and the religious persecution of Sigmarites and Ulricans by each other.  Would this just be forgotten, I don’t think so.  And what about the cult of the “Purple Hand” who had such a large part to play in the recent events....would they just give up?  There are a lot of questions to be answered here.

I want my Empire to be based on this.....in chaos with conflicts and assassinations a plenty.  Thus wide open for unrestricted narrative campaigning.  

What do you think?  Do you have a version of Warhammer that you set your projects in or do you not bother with such things?
 
Regards
 
Andre

8 comments:

  1. I really like your idea of strongly defining the background from which your army comes from, and it is always something I have aimed to achieve, with each of the armies I start. It just gives them a greater sense of character, and a narrative that really draws you in.

    I even wrote up the background, detailing exactly where in Tilea my Dogs of War army was drawn from, partially as an exercise in creative writing, but mostly to really define what my army would be like and why.

    But I really must refute the claim and image of Karl Franz. He has always been a strong, and able leader. Not a weakling or a fool... Can't abide a slander of the canon. I've never actually played out a WHFRP campaign, so I can't really comment on it from that perspective, purely a WHFB one :)

    JJ

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    1. Many players of Warhammer would be very surprised by the image of Karl Franz in the 80's. He is not described in much depth in the Fantasy Battle version of the game and he is portrayed as a weakling in the Role-playing version. Then we leave the 80's and move to the 90's. Games Workshop changes and so does Warhammer. Karl Franz is no longer a weakling, or dead, but is back as a great leader. Boris Todbringer is not a weak, emotionally broken man, and dead! He is back and also great man. The civil war described in "Empire in Flames" never happend. The state of Sudenland dissapears entirely and is then later replaced as Solland........The Imperial College of Magic is no longer in Middenheim.....and the list goes on. I just choose to stay with the original as that was my introduction. Ultimately Warhammer changed along with Games Workshop. Some think this is bad some think it is good.

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    2. Josh

      I was thinking about this post and what I said and thought I should clear a point up. Karl Franz in the Empire in Flames (1st edition WFRP) is an old man in failing mental and physical health. Thus my rather harsh assessment of him. The whole campaign is based on this. Later versions changed timelines around a little with the Emperor being younger. You are right in that in his youth Karl Franz was a good leader and brilliant diplomat. All later versions of Warhammer have stuck to the timeline with the Emperor in his prime and disregarded the old aged man of the roleplay campaign.

      I just prefer the version with the leaders in failing health and thus the problems that result from this. I accept I am probably alone in liking this version.

      Andre

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  2. Whatever narrative you end up with (funny how they slip loose from your control eventually)you won't regret making story-telling a part of your gaming.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Let me write that again without spell checker just throwing in random words........I like the narrative as you cannot plan the end result. It could be nothing like the ending you originally envisioned.

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  3. Hello,

    Your blog is really very interesting. I am an enthusiast of old CITADEL miniatures and old GAMES WORKSHOP products.

    Bravo!

    Sir Roland
    http://jeux-de-plateaux-et-roles.blogspot.fr/

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  4. Thank you, Sir Roland! That's a nice looking blog you have yourself!

    ReplyDelete