Packed with fascinating places, dangerous people and enough story hooks to snag an entire ocean of adventurers, Middenheim – City of the White Wolf is a top-notch setting guide that never makes the mistake of forgetting its purpose of helping GMs to spice up their games.
The positive impression is helped, of course, by the fact that Middenheim itself is a naturally fascinating place. Drawn from a fantastical take on northern Europe blended with the traditional Warhammer Fantasy madness, it’s a fortress city that sits atop a spur of rock in a land of ice and snow, holding itself as a bastion of civilisation in a frozen realm of danger and death. It’s home to noble knights and juicy religious tension, and manages to capture all the practicalities of a game set in the heartland of The Empire – the assumed base setting for the RPG – while still feeling distinct from the warmer southern provinces.
The aim of the book is to give GMs and players alike a chance to explore the city and make it feel like a living, breathing place rather than just a handful of stats on settlement size and import fees. As with most other gazetteers and setting guides it does this by running through the important places and people, as well as trying to paint a picture of what makes the city special.
With the entire book clocking in at just under 160 pages the inevitable whistle-stop tour rarely has the space to delve into too much detail – it’s very rare for a single entry to span more than a half-page of text – but unless you’re really desperate for maps and deep-dives into particular businesses this doesn’t ever cause much of a problem. Indeed, the brevity of most of the pieces allows them to just sketch what makes a place interesting and move on. This approach even manages to make the description of the lawyers’ guild offices an entertaining read, which is a rather impressive achievement.
Most importantly, however, the writers never seem to forget that the book is a game tool rather than a guidebook. Aside from the occasional bit of history or smattering of context, every single entry in the book is built to around the idea that it could play host to an adventure. This isn’t just supported by the main text either; almost every single business, manor and landmark it mentions is accompanied by a little box-out marked with the sign of a fishhook and filled with a potential call to adventure.
The humble farmers’ association, for example, might be home to a potentially dangerous blend of magical experimentation and guild politics that needs to be defused by adventurers, while the cabaret is secretly being run by a vampire on the hunt for high-powered patrons to seduce. It’s virtually impossible to go more than a couple of pages without reading something that can kick off a fizzing wave of adventurous inspiration, and if you’re ever stuck for something to do when game night rolls around you can probably let the book flop open on a random page and still cobble together something enjoyable.
This, ultimately, is a sign of a well-built setting guide, and while those looking for extra rules and character options to round out the location may be disappointed with the book’s relatively modest offerings, Middenheim – City of the White Wolf is a solid addition to the library of any WFRPG party.
The positive impression is helped, of course, by the fact that Middenheim itself is a naturally fascinating place. Drawn from a fantastical take on northern Europe blended with the traditional Warhammer Fantasy madness, it’s a fortress city that sits atop a spur of rock in a land of ice and snow, holding itself as a bastion of civilisation in a frozen realm of danger and death. It’s home to noble knights and juicy religious tension, and manages to capture all the practicalities of a game set in the heartland of The Empire – the assumed base setting for the RPG – while still feeling distinct from the warmer southern provinces.
The aim of the book is to give GMs and players alike a chance to explore the city and make it feel like a living, breathing place rather than just a handful of stats on settlement size and import fees. As with most other gazetteers and setting guides it does this by running through the important places and people, as well as trying to paint a picture of what makes the city special.
With the entire book clocking in at just under 160 pages the inevitable whistle-stop tour rarely has the space to delve into too much detail – it’s very rare for a single entry to span more than a half-page of text – but unless you’re really desperate for maps and deep-dives into particular businesses this doesn’t ever cause much of a problem. Indeed, the brevity of most of the pieces allows them to just sketch what makes a place interesting and move on. This approach even manages to make the description of the lawyers’ guild offices an entertaining read, which is a rather impressive achievement.
Most importantly, however, the writers never seem to forget that the book is a game tool rather than a guidebook. Aside from the occasional bit of history or smattering of context, every single entry in the book is built to around the idea that it could play host to an adventure. This isn’t just supported by the main text either; almost every single business, manor and landmark it mentions is accompanied by a little box-out marked with the sign of a fishhook and filled with a potential call to adventure.
The humble farmers’ association, for example, might be home to a potentially dangerous blend of magical experimentation and guild politics that needs to be defused by adventurers, while the cabaret is secretly being run by a vampire on the hunt for high-powered patrons to seduce. It’s virtually impossible to go more than a couple of pages without reading something that can kick off a fizzing wave of adventurous inspiration, and if you’re ever stuck for something to do when game night rolls around you can probably let the book flop open on a random page and still cobble together something enjoyable.
This, ultimately, is a sign of a well-built setting guide, and while those looking for extra rules and character options to round out the location may be disappointed with the book’s relatively modest offerings, Middenheim – City of the White Wolf is a solid addition to the library of any WFRPG party.
Anyone have any info on if they're going to re-print the GM Screen as an aside? I missed the first print run and have been watching their website but haven't seen anything updated to indicate that they're going to do another print run. :/ When I snagged my physical copy and pdf of the core book I should have just snagged the GM Screen as well. Ah well.
