By Ian Hewitt, Staff Reviewer

Available at www.warpstone.darcore.net

Initiative Round
If I may be so bold as to go out on a limb in order to premise this review, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is (arguably) to European gamers what Dungeons & Dragons is to their American cousins - and Warpstone Magazine is to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay fans what Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine are to D&D fans. The difference being that Warpstone Magazine is a fan-produced magazine and not the product of an established and wealthy company.

Warpstone Magazine is devoted to the support of Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game. It is a product of the dedicated work of its editor John Foody (who is also a regular contributing writer) and a devoted core of fan writers, editors and artists. The magazine is produced roughly quarterly and is available for subscription or for purchase through their website. It is priced at $7.50US, perfect bound with a glossy cover, 64 pages and all black and white content. This review shall focus upon the latest edition, Issue #22, but may be considered a review of the magazine in general. Although the magazine is of course devoted to a non-d20 system, this is a d20 website and so this review shall attempt to evaluate it's value to both players of WFRP and the role-playing community at large.

Issue #22 features a disturbing black and white painting by Ian Miller of a demonic-possessed treant-like creature that suitably sets the tone for the grim chaos themes of the WFRP setting. The interior art by John Keane, Steven Punter, Pawel K. Klopotowski, Ralph Horsley, Richard Martin, Eric Fessard and David Bezzina is all black and white and of varying quality that is never less than good and is often excellent.

The issue covers twelve articles and features of varying length beginning with a regular review feature. This issue reviews two books: All Quiet In Kislev and Kislev. Both books are Warhammer related supplements, the former an independently produced scenario and campaign setting, the latter a supplement for the associated tabletop war strategy game Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The third review is of a fan-produced website, www.bergsburg.darcore.net that hosts an online project to fully design and detail a city within the Warhammer campaign setting. All three reviews are fair, concise and honest and are written with an informative style that should allow the reader a good understanding of what to expect from any of the products. The second feature is a brief section of "reviews and news from the World of Warhammer" that delivers exactly what it promises with news of upcoming product releases, a convention report and some Warpstone Magazine subscriber's news. Both of these sections are well-written and valid additions to the magazine and should prove useful and informative to any fan of WFRP.

The first real article is a five-page interview with Chris Pramas of Green Ronin and Simon Butler of Black Industries. The interviews focus primarily on the recent and eagerly received news of WFRP's upcoming Second Edition. For those not familiar with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP), although never especially successful west of the Atlantic, this gritty, dark, sometimes humorous career-based game has enjoyed tremendous success and longevity throughout Europe. Initially released in 1983 by Games Workshop and produced under license by Hogshead Games for a number of years it has remained the same durable game since its first release. A second edition of the game is soon to be released, again under license from Games Workshop and developed by Green Ronin of d20 fame and Black Industries. The interviews are timely and extremely informative, addressing the issues that every true fan of WFRP is dying to know regarding the direction and content of the revised edition as well as the support that it will receive in the future. The interviewer does not shy away from the potentially contentious questions and asks what is in every fan's worried mind: "Will d20 have any influence over the revised WFRP rules?" and "Will WFRP2 rules be contained in one book?" The answers to these questions, by the way, are No and Yes, the latter probably being a foreign concept to any fan of the prolific d20 rules books and supplements.

Following the interviews is a single page feature that provides the distances between different cities in the WFRP campaign setting, in a chart format similar to that found in any road atlas. This is a brief and simple article but one that would provide instant value to any WFRP campaign.

Next is a regular feature entitled 'The Correspondent'. This issues' article is a two-page essay on 'Real World History and WFRP' by Tim Eccles. The essay examines the use of real world history in a fantasy game world. Of course the article focuses upon the Warhammer world, but it is a well-written and well thought out discourse that might provide valuable food for thought for a DM of any game system or campaign setting, particularly those interested in creating and developing their world of choice. This article does not provide specific 'crunchy' value to anyone's game but it should provide some insights into world building that are transferable to any system. It is guilty of revealing the distaste many WFRP fans have for d20 "WFRP is not an old-fashioned game of dungeon hack where players travel from dungeon to dungeon without any sense of why these places exist, how they were built, why no one else has ever found or disturbed them and why large amounts of jewelry and magic seem to have no effect upon prices or the standard of living of the locals. WFRP requires more thought." But it also raises valid points for consideration and discussion not often addressed in role-playing articles such as "[Game design] follows the traditional western European system of inheritance and succession. Why? In a polytheistic society, the notion of innate male superiority and the concept of bastards are far from certain to be followed...inheritance of property and position, inter-family feuding and the ascension of the nobility are tried and tested sources for adventures...assuming that they will follow a (badly fitting) real world system fails to recognize the nature of religion and society."

Following the discussion of the past is one of the future. A six-page article entitled 'The Sign Post of History: The Many Paths of the Warhammer World.' This is an extremely innovative concept for an article that many of the well known Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings could benefit from. It is a thought-provoking article for any player of WFRP, but it should be inspiring enough for any DM to consider the future of their own campaign world. It is an examination of several potential futures for the in-game world based upon established themes and foreshadowing hints presented by canon products. Each prediction is written by a different author, each of whom is a well-known author to anyone who has ever read a WFRP product - Anthony Ragan, Martin Oliver, Alfred Nunez. Jr., Graeme Davis, Dave Perry and Clive Oldfield. This is a wonderful article that succeeds magnificently at extrapolating fact and rumor from the game's past and present and delivering various outcomes for the future complete with ideas on how to involve the PC's and how they might impact the unraveling years.

Author Matthew Pritchard provides the next article, 'Keep It Secret!' Although it references the WFRP rules, this is an article that provides basic DM-ing strategies to maintain atmosphere at the gaming table that are easily transferable to any system. The techniques are simple, not always incredibly original, but likely very effective such as rolling the dice in secret to determine whether the secret door or trap is found or keeping track of a player's Wounds (or hit points) secretly and just providing them with vivid descriptions of the injuries they have suffered. This is a brief and un-ambitious article but it still manages to deliver a few curve balls to toss at your players - even if you never do it more than once.

The following article is one that should feel most comfortably familiar to any D&D player and is one that immediately lends itself to alternate game systems. 'Going Underground' by Craig Bunting is a scholarly examination of the hazards and features of underground environments such as methane or carbon dioxide gases, echoing sound, natural and artificial lighting options, and space - or the lack of it! The article also covers 'Engineering and Geology' in regard to the construction of mines or dungeons. The entire article is well written and clearly well researched, and although it covers ground that is likely very familiar to many long-time players the approach is somewhat fresh, examining 'real world' features and their application within the game rather than simply a set of hazards to throw randomly into a dungeon geomorph. The entire article is very rules-light and this adds to its appeal to players of any game.

The largest article in the magazine is a complete adventure 'Don't Look Now' by Clive Oldfield. Warhammer adventures should be easily transferable to any game system by a half-way skilled DM and more than worth any effort involved. Warhammer adventures are written and designed with a completely different approach to those written for typical Dungeons & Dragons adventures - rather than being a series of skirmishes linked together by a linear plot they are written in such a way as to emphasis the roleplaying and character development and they often follow a much more investigative path. Plenty of opportunity for action and mayhem are provided, but the PCs may not assume that friend and foe are so delicately balanced that they have a good chance of success if they play well - running away to fight another day might very well be the best chance of survival. 'Don't Look Now', is a prime example of a decent Warhammer adventure. Inspired by the movie of the same name, it is a supernatural and eerie adventure dealing with the demon-possessed ghost of a tortured and murdered young girl. The girl was sold to a necromancer by her own father in return for the false promise that the necromancer could save her brother from the terrible wasting disease that was slowly killing him. The PCs are lured into the adventure after witnessing the ghost/demon leaping into the river. They have no idea that she is anything but the little girl she appears to be and likely spend much effort trying to rescue someone they will never find. Other encounters are less subtle, but no less horrifying such as when the PCs have the opportunity to attend a medieval autopsy. After the DM is finished with the dissection and bottling of organs and juices, the ghost/demon returns to demonstrate to all how she was killed (she was locked in a cage for two days before having her throat slit and being hung above a contraption worthy of Dr Frankenstein as her bodily fluids slowly leaked into a device of unbelievable necromantic cruelty). The adventure is a superbly written psychological/ supernatural horror story, that should be equally appealing to fans of M. Night Shamalayan movies, Cthulhu fans and roleplaying fans. A great addition to any WFRP campaign, this adventure would need only a few stat blocks to provide an excellent urban horror tale to a d20 game.

The next article has been a regular multi-authored feature for seven issues that reaches its conclusion with Issue #22. 'Talabheim' is a city within the Warhammer setting that has received an in-depth examination in the pages of Warpstone Magazine. The city may belong to WFRP, but could easily be lifted and placed in any medieval/rennaisance type setting. This concluding article examines several aspects of the city including 'The Talabheim Warrant Execution Company' which is basically a bounty hunter's organization or guild. It addresses the benefits and the restriction enjoyed and imposed upon its members, how a PC might become a working bounty hunter, the issuance of warrants either by private individuals or the City and the relationship the organization has with the military, local temples and the ruling nobility (for example if a fugitive seeks the sanctuary of a local temple the bounty hunter must approach the clergy and abide by their decision). The article ends with a brief examination of the most prominent personalities belonging to the guild, no game statistics are provided allowing for a DM to take the NPCs and outfit them according to their own game system. The remainder of the article looks at a few locations outside of the city walls (the city itself having been extensively detailed in the previous six installments) such as 'Traitor's Copse' a site in the woods where traitors to the city are disposed of in unmarked graves and at the town of Talagraad. Talagraad is a much smaller town that lies in the path of any visitor to Talabheim, it is a poor cousin dominated by a working-class and criminal population that primarily work at the docks - either legitimately or as smugglers. An overview of the town is presented along with a couple of choice locales: the governor's home Fort Lackey, the taverns The Ten-Tailed Cat, The Bald Badger and the Hare & Hounds (owned by the Warrant Execution Company). The last location to receive attention is The Pit, an establishment hidden beneath the floor of a warehouse that hosts illegal pit fights accompanied an examination of the Brotherhood of the Pit - an organization of illegal pit fighters and gladiators.

The penultimate article in the magazine is 'A Dark Art in the Bright Light: A Treatsie upon Alchemy' by Leif U. Shrader. The alchemist is a career (character class) within WFRP and the intent of this article is to provide background information to players interested in the career. However, this well researched and written article uses no game mechanics and so is equally valuable to players of alternate systems. The article examines the origin of alchemy in a fantasy world, the elements (fire, water, air and earth) and their place within the science of alchemy and the search for the 'Quintessence' or the Philosopher's Stone (the fifth element). The article concludes with a look at metals and metallurgy, magical ingredients and astrology but perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the piece is the discussion of the creation of the Homunculus, "the artificial human...must be possible... since we too are composed of elements."

Warpstone Magazine Issue #22 concludes with its regular piece of short-fiction, a five page story by Francois Dube called 'Treasure Hunt'. The story is a fitting conclusion that demonstrates perhaps best of all the flavor of a classic WFRP campaign.

"One day while I was borrowing The Forbidden Lords - Tome IV, he came and stood by me and said: 'You did not complete the third my son. It says the more you come into contact with Chaos the higher the risk of being corrupted and losing your soul.'

He raised his hand and I saw a glow of light in it. I thought I would be turned into a frog but nothing happened. Instead, he said, smiling: 'Your mind is strong Emilio but will you be able to refuse power when it is offered to you?'"

Critical Hit
I premised this review by comparing Warpstone Magazine's place in its community as akin to the Dungeon and Dragon magazines. It is not only of equal value, but it is of equal quality, a feat no less remarkable when you consider it is written, illustrated, edited and published by a dedicated fan-base who volunteer their time and efforts. The magazine has a professional quality to it that would lead an unknowing reader to assume it was an official product. There is not an amateurish quality to be found within its pages.

The nature of the articles and adventures are of undeniable value to any WFRP campaign, but with only a little effort they should provide just as much value to a different campaign - or perhaps more, given the different approach and writing style that may introduce fresh themes to a tired game.

Critical Fumble
Warpstone Magazine is a little difficult to get your hands on. One must order individual issues or subscribe directly from the magazine's website. This will likely be damaging to any potential sales' as prospective buyers simply cannot browse at their leisure before parting with hard-earned cash.

It at times assumes a certain air toward other (more popular and financially successful) systems, in particular Dungeons & Dragons that might seem snobbish or dismissively arrogant to some new readers and may turn them off.

Coup de Grace
Warpstone Magazine is certainly worthy of a regular subscription to any player of WFRP. It has a good amount of transferable ideas and articles that may also lend its appeal to players of alternate systems looking for a new source of inspiration for their game. Warpstone Magazine represents the very best of fan-produced material, that surpasses the quality of material published by many 'professionals'.

Final Grade: A-