What is the Enemy Within? King of Campaigns [Spoilers]

Makes sense. The Kislev and Sigmar books didn't really fit in with the previous books.

I remember these fondly though. Had a lot of fun with classic WFRP before I moved to AD&D.

DragonLancer said:

Makes sense. The Kislev and Sigmar books didn't really fit in with the previous books.

I remember these fondly though. Had a lot of fun with classic WFRP before I moved to AD&D.

Click to expand...

Yeah. Something Rotten in Kislev, which I ran in my teens has nothing to do with the rest of the series. Instead book 4 was brand new… The Horned Rat. It covers the Skaven Conspiracy, a super weapon, and mopping up the Purple Hand in Middenheim. It basically could cement the party as trusted advisors to the Graf or see them banished (or dead in a Skaven warran). It’s a cool adventure.

I recently bought Enemy in Shadows and it's companion. They're lovely books. But I do have some issues with the adventure as an adventure.

First thing, and I am far from the first to point this out, the hook to get the players involved is contrived at best. It's a case of mistaken identity for those who don't know. The PCs then get chased over half the empire by a bounty hunter called Kruftos coz one of them looks like a dead cultist.

The first chapter of the adventure isn't an adventure. It looks to me like an intro to the Empire in a series of vignettes. Ideal for people new to the world of Warhammer. But it's connection to the second chapter is part of the same mistaken identity contrivance. Which is to say, kinda lame.

The second part, Shadows Over Bogenhaafen, is a good sand box mystery. I think the adventure comes into its own here.

I've already come up with my own variations on how to run it.

First thing - I've gotten rid of the mistaken ID hook and the whole first chapter. Instead I've just got the PCs working for the bounty hunter, Kruftos. The story opens with them waiting in Bogenhaafen for their quarry, all as part of the sting operation. I then kill Kruftos in the opening scene.

The other major change is I'm keeping the cultist, Lieberung, alive. (In the original he's the PC lookalike, and starts the story dead.) I'm going to play up the internal rivalries of The Purple Hand. This will let me feed clues to the PCs should they get confused.

I'm also taking the advice from the companion book to seed some of the longer term problems early in the adventure. e.g. the Ulrickan/Sigmarite tensions.

I'll second TheSword in saying that the people and places are all lovingly drawn. There's tonnes to work with even if, like me, you want to make some major story changes. E.g.g the first chapter has some nice vignettes you can drop in anywhere you might want.

Part One: The Enemy in Shadows

A combination of a short module called the Enemy Within which began the series and later gave it its name, combined with the classic Shadows Over Bogenhafen. They were combined in the Hogsheads 2nd printing of the original and again 25 years later into Enemy in Shadows.

For what it’s worth I think Shadows Over Bogenhafen is the best investigative module ever written. It’s the quintessential Warhammer adventure and stands on its own even if you never play the rest of the campaign.



Very Brief Synopsis.

On the way to the capital a coach trip interrupts a mutant ambush. A victim of which bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the PCs, and is set to inherit a large estate near Bogenhafen. This begins a train of mistaken identity where the party are caught between cultists who believe the double is avoiding sharing his new found bounty with them and a bounty hunter trying to use the inheritance to expose the cult. Funny, dangerous and mysterious.

A barge ride gets them out of the Altdorf and a chase down the rivers and canals of the Empire gives them a taste of riverfolk life. A little foreshadowing for the next book. The party can stop along the way to foil an arson, have another meeting with the Purple Hand Cult and confront the Bounty Hunter if they haven't already.

The Schaffenfest being held in Bogenhafen is a great cattle festival, complete with boxing ring, carnival, freak show, gambling, festival court, jousting, cattle fair and more. It’s a fun setting and the legged goblin and the job to track it down into the sewers is the inciting hook for the rest of the adventure. The sewers are well detailed and filthy and the end encounter is both chilling and worrying.

The rest of the adventure comprises a grand cover up, featuring murder, the suspicious Purple Brain Fever, a secret society trying to manipulate trade within the Empire. There are avaricious merchant houses, prophecies, demon summoning, flight from the city watch and raid to disrupt a significant ritual that could spell disaster for the Southern Reikland.

Highlights

The activities at the Schaffenfest offer fun for all the family. Such a good set of encounters for anyone new to roleplaying or a new party to find their feet.

The key members of the secret society are great. Some arrogant, some anxious, some driven. These give role players a great opportunity to question and dive into character, particularly when they are invited to a fancy private dining club.

The City of Bogenhafen is really well detailed and could easily act as a longer term adventure location.

Some of the consequences for failing are that a chaos gate can open over Bogenhafen - with the Duchy effectively mobilizing for war against daemonic invaders and destruction.

Starting the adventure in the capital shows the greatest city in the Empire from a very ‘low’ status vantage point. Clearly something is deeply wrong but in the final book the PCs return as significant power players in their own right

Downsides

Not many! Arguably the initial introduction is a little linear - it relies on the party travelling to Altdorf then Bogenhafen. After that it opens up. It’s not a problem if your PCs come with good reasons to head that way and the adventure offers several other good and pressing reasons. Once they reach the Bogenhafen the adventure opens up into a beautiful sandbox.

Favorite NPC

Gottri Gurnesson (no relation to Gotrek) a foul smelling and utterly drunken dwarf being tormented by urchins in the festival stocks, attaches himself to the party in the most pathetic way to wheedle himself money for more drinks. He keeps following the party for money and drinks, or ends up back in the stocks but eventually is found later having met a very sticky and tragic end.



Most Memorable Moment.

Breaking into the House of Steinhager offices at night to raid their safe, while avoiding guards, dogs and making too much noise. And returning there the next day and trying to pretend they had never been there before.

The Companion

Probably the most varied and useful of all the companion books. It contains the following

• Maps of the Berebeli (beer-belly) river barge
• Introduction to the Empire
• Highways and Coaching Inns
• Mounts and Vehicle Rules
• Journey Subsystem
• Road Wardens of the Empire
• Folk You Might Meet on the Road (about 30 detailed NPCs)
• Mutants in the Empire
• A guide to the Purple Hand and the Lore of Tzeentch.
• A roadside side quest
• The Affair of the Hidden Jewel module
• The Pandemonium Carnival module.

Basically a lot of good and useful stuff and two decent sized modules. (10 pages each). The travel rules formed the seed for Cubicle 7’s Journeys supplement for 5e and was itself heavily influenced by their Adventures in Middle Earth. The NPC library alone is brilliant and could fit into almost any setting.



Summary

A great mix of linear and sandbox. All the classic Warhammer notes: Daemons, cults, class, greed, mistaken identity and a great murder mystery. With a climax to avoid a chaos calamity. If you don’t read any other Warhammer product. Read this one!

DrunkonDuty said:

I recently bought Enemy in Shadows and it's companion. They're lovely books. But I do have some issues with the adventure as an adventure.

First thing, and I am far from the first to point this out, the hook to get the players involved is contrived at best. It's a case of mistaken identity for those who don't know. The PCs then get chased over half the empire by a bounty hunter called Kruftos coz one of them looks like a dead cultist.

The first chapter of the adventure isn't an adventure. It looks to me like an intro to the Empire in a series of vignettes. Ideal for people new to the world of Warhammer. But it's connection to the second chapter is part of the same mistaken identity contrivance. Which is to say, kinda lame.

The second part, Shadows Over Bogenhaafen, is a good sand box mystery. I think the adventure comes into its own here.

I've already come up with my own variations on how to run it.

First thing - I've gotten rid of the mistaken ID hook and the whole first chapter. Instead I've just got the PCs working for the bounty hunter, Kruftos. The story opens with them waiting in Bogenhaafen for their quarry, all as part of the sting operation. I then kill Kruftos in the opening scene.

The other major change is I'm keeping the cultist, Lieberung, alive. (In the original he's the PC lookalike, and starts the story dead.) I'm going to play up the internal rivalries of The Purple Hand. This will let me feed clues to the PCs should they get confused.

I'm also taking the advice from the companion book to seed some of the longer term problems early in the adventure. e.g. the Ulrickan/Sigmarite tensions.

I'll second TheSword in saying that the people and places are all lovingly drawn. There's tonnes to work with even if, like me, you want to make some major story changes. E.g.g the first chapter has some nice vignettes you can drop in anywhere you might want.

Click to expand...

Both really good ideas. I’m pretty sure the is a page long Grognard box on some other ways of using Kuftsos if you also don’t like the mistaken identity element. The original intent for the remaster was for the double to be a Skaven clone and for there to be a number of Skaven clones seeded throughout the campaign which is a creepy, invasion of the body snatchers style twist but it never materialized. Still an option though.

Regarding the into, you’ve got the nail on the head. It is certainly linear to start with, which makes sense for the first few encounters. I think the best way to solve this is to just make it clear in session zero that the players are heading for Bogenhafen and therefore they don’t want to deviate for that first section. I guess there needs to be an element of introduction.

I much prefer the bounty hunter thread in the remaster though as it has a much more interactive element and there is an option for a more friendly resolution between him and the party, even if it ends badly. Plus there is an actual reveal to find out what the hell was going on. I do think that if you want a patron it’s also worth considering Quintis Fassbinder (Kuftsos kooky contact) or Lady Emmanuel Nacht (his employer).

I've picked Lady Emmanuelle to be the patron. I'm also promoting her to Countess for no particular reason. The PCs will find a letter to her on Kruftos' body in the opening scene. She can be an emergency contact and even act as a good character witness should the PCs need it. And they're PCs, they'll need it.

Part Two: Death on the Reik

Intro

The expansive second part to the Enemy Within Campaign broadens its scope to the wider province of the Reikland… heart of the Empire. It contains some of the most memorable bits for many players and DMs and it’s fair to say it is the most polished of the books.



Very Brief Synopsis

At the end of Part One the players are likely either fleeing a chaos invasion or have made enemies of eight of the most powerful ruling merchant houses of Bogenhafen.

Either way they begin a tour across the Reikland, either by barge along the Reik, that they acquire during an encounter on the Berebeli or south the Ubersreik (if the Ubersreik products are calling).

These are uncertain times as the Emperor seems to be making some very questionable decisions. While tensions between northern Ulricans and southern Sigmarites are heating up. The party can pursue an accomplice of the corruption in Bogenhafen, follow leads to the Purple Hand, become traders on the Reik or follow their own ambitions (or all of the above).

Dagmar von Wittgenstein’s hidden laboratory, teeming with undead beneath a half constructed semaphore tower leads to a hunt for the landing site of a warpstone meteor in the barren hills. A twisted chaotic landscape and an encounter with the sinister ratmen.

A dark wizard, whose apprentice the party have already met, also seeks the meteor for its magical power and the campaign might turn into a race to find it first. Or the PCs can travel south to Grissenwald and the decaying shanty of Khazad Slumbol where the dwarves have been displaced by the dark wizards goblin minions that now overrun her tower.

The meteor has long been removed to Castle Wittgenstein (which the PCs have likely sailed in the shadow of) where Dagmar’s descendants were tainted by its fell presence. Warpstone dust has corrupted the population of Wittgendorf and mutated beggars roam the area, treated by a lovesick doctor and preyed upon by ghouls that live beneath the temple of Sigmar. The threat can only be abated by tackling the Wittgensteins and their guards in an impregnable fortress (perhaps with the help of some local outlaws) which caps the end of this book.

Highlights

The lazy riverboat travel down the Reik on a sail barge is great way of exploring the Reikland. It gives a mobile base of operations and the river is full of interesting encounters like the partially built semaphore tower. The ascent it gives you a good reason to travel around with adventure sites quite spread out but with good reasons to visit them.

Wittgendorf village is fun to run. If you were looking for somewhere that is more miserable than Barovia village then you just found it. The mob of warpstone beggers are horrific, the love struck doctor is repulsive, the Temple of Sigmar is very creepy. Wittgendorf sets up the castle brilliantly and really makes you want to see the castle fall.

Speaking of which. the description on Castle Wittgenstein is detailed and well organized. Look at the picture of that beast of a location below. With clear guard rotations, various routes of attack, and plausible tactics. This is a living fortress with a well defended external section and a more relaxed, but more corrupt inner keep where a Gormundghast-like family lives that revels in its chaotic wickedness. The map is beautiful and it is replete with underground tunnels and dungeons. It lives up to the artwork and the imagination.



Downsides

The transition between this book and the next part is tenuous at best. They tried to beef it up a bit by fleshing out a small set of encounters to deliver a parcel. But at this stage it’s a bit contrived. Particularly given what has just happened. The fall of Wittgenstein was always going to be a hard act to follow.

The Etelka Herzen chase is really hard to do right. Particularly if you want to go to Grissenwald and the Black Hills. Worse players don’t even have any way of really knowing that they are chasing someone. This is one of those things that can easily pass people by. If you want the chase element better to make that a bigger part of the session.

Favourite NPC

Ludwig von Wittgenstein. The tragic patriarch of the otherwise seriously disturbed family. Who keeps to his tower and plays his harpsichord. Cultured and conversant and all too aware that the afflictions troubling his family will see them brought low. Mutated into a monster but too gentle to take matters into his own hands. A beautiful counterpoint to the degenerate hostility in the rest of the castle that my PCs really resonated with.



Most Memorable Moment

Exploring the village of Wittgendorf in the shadow of a corrupted noble castle and seeing the degradation and desperation of the populace. Which then leads to the fervent desire to bring down the noble house of Wittgenstein. It had some viscerally powerful encounters and descriptions. Not least of which was the literal and metaphorical fall of the house.

The Companion

It’s another bumper Companion book. This one themed around river travel. So many useful elements here, but my favourite is definitely the herbalism guide. It’s so beautifully detailed and gritty and gives a couple of less combat focused career’s time to shine.

• Herbs and their uses. The complete guide to herbalism… serious Aragorn shiz.
• Deleted scenes, the Imperial Plenopotentiary and The Maria Borgia river barge.
• The Empires great rivers
• River Navigation
• A typical Imperial River Patrol
• Fellow River Travellers. Another 25 fully detailed and illustrated NPCs to encounter.
• Random River encounters
• The Imperial Semaphore Tower Service
• Customizing boats
• Merchant Trading rules
• Wreckers, Smugglers and Pirates
• River Bestiary
• Waterborne diseases
• A guide to the Cult of the Red Crown
• Adventure: The Emperor Luitpold
• Adventure: Vengeance of the Gravelord

Summmary

While Castle Wittengstein and Wittgendorf stand as the capstone of the adventure. The expansive travel up and down the Reik is done well with some interesting things to explore. But best of all the PCs are masters of their own fate. My players went straight to Wittgendorf unable not to intervene when they sailed past the place. Exploring the castle is excellent and well worth getting the book for that alone.