I interviewed Steve for my blog back in 2022. He was one of the authors of the “Night’s Dark Masters” supplement for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition. He also created two additional semi-official bloodlines for WFRP: the Jade-Blooded and the Mahtmasi. Both of them are very interesting, especially the Cathay-based Jade-Blooded.
Aside from various RPGs, Steve worked on a lot of board games as well. Some of his more popular ones are “There’s Been A Murder” and “The Score”. I plan to grab the latter next month, and play it with my friends and family. He also taught other people how to make their own games, which was something truly admirable. It’s always great when industry veterans encourage other folk to try their strength at creating something unique. Steve wasn’t just a game designer – he was also a teacher.
I wanted to share his last Patreon post that he made on the 31st December of 2025. It’s worth reading to discover just what kind of a passionate, fantastic person Steven Darlington really was.
You can find Tin*Star games here, while Steve’s BoardGameGeek profile can be found here. His entire portfolio can be found here.
His passing is tragic. We lost a talented writer, games creator and a passionate man who wanted to share his love of games with others. He will be missed.
2026 is already here and so it’s time for me to take a look at my life and hobby endeavors in 2025.
Did a post like this one at the end of 2024, so why not make one at the beginning of 2026? I wanted to make a quick summary of all my hobby-related activities in 2025, as well as some major life changes.
The biggest change in my daily life was the birth of my daughter, Amelia. She’s now almost a year old and I completely lost my head for her. She’s the sweetest and cutest little pumpkin on this planet, and everytime she smiles the world gets a little brighter. Given what’s currently happening all around the globe, having this tiny human be a spark of pure joy is a godsend.
Obviously her arrival slightly changed my hobby schedule and gaming time, at least for the first few months. Now it’s mostly back on track, and I continue to run games and enjoy some tabletop Horus Heresy and Warhammer: The Old World from time to time. Not as much as I used to do, but I don’t mind. She’s 100% worth it.
Ok, now let’s get to some hobby-related stuff, shall we?
When it came to RPGs I mostly stayed in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay lane. In my Roll20 group I finished my fan-made demi-campaign called “Crimson Shades of Altdorf”, which started as an impromptu scenario. It was a real blast and I loved seeing my players save Altdorf from a massive Dark Elf invasion. After that we switched to the “Ill Met in Bögenhafen” adventure, which was written by Chris Pramas and Robert J. Schwalb. It can be found in the 2e’s sourcebook “Sigmar’s Heirs: A Guide to the Empire”, and is seriously worth checking out. While ostensibly easy and rather straight forward, it ended with my players losing their hard-won inn in Altdorf, and deciding to travel to Lustria, to earn some riches! That’s when we switched to the fantastic scenario called “The Temple of Tepok”. It was written by Pip Hamilton and is a true gem in the world of fan-made WFRP material. I reviewed it not too long ago, and I highly recommend trying it out, especially if you’re a Lizardmen fan.
How can you not love the Lizardmen? They’re just jawsome!
In my second IRL/Roll20 group I played in a friend’s Kislev campaign, which sadly had to be ended prematurely. That’s where I went back to GMing, with my first ever playthrough of “The Temple of Tepok” (the aforementioned one was actually the second time when I ran it). My players loved it, and after finishing it I ran John Foody’s “Eternal Guard”, a short, horror-themed scenario in Marienburg. From there we ended our 2025 WFRP endeavors with “The Tears of Myrmidia” by Brian Gillatt and Paul Mackintosh, a very well written adventure set (mostly) in Araby, one of my favorite locations in the entire Warhammer Fantasy setting. I still need to write a review of this module…
Interestingly enough, these last two scenarios came from the venerable “Warpstone”. Anyone remembers this independed, WFRP-focused magazine?
Oh and I even enjoyed some “Vampire: The Masquerade” as a player. Loved RPing a Toreador that was 100% rude and crude, rather than a refined and pretentious fop. Creating such detailed, unique characters is really one of my favorite things about Classic World of Darkness.
There are very few things that I dislike about the Classic World of Darkness. It is, after all, my favorite fictional setting of all time!
With my third group, which actually is the first and oldest one chronologically, we finished a Classic World of Darkness “Project Twilight” chronicle and returned to our old playthrough of “The Enemy Within”, the OG one. Sadly we only played it for a couple of months, before real life obligations forced us to halt our meeting for the foreseeable future.
I only bought a single TTRPG-related product in 2025, which was a Nuwisha sourcebook for the classic Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Here’s hoping that in 2026 I’ll expand my role-playing collection much, much more.
A very interesting tome. I love those Classic World of Darkness books so much!
As for the tabletop wargaming experience things have slowed quite a bit for me. I did play some Horus Heresy 2.0 and 3.0, and I really enjoy the new edition of the game. 2.0 was, in my opinion, the worst iteration of the game to date. 3.0 is much better, if slightly too simplified in some areas. Still it’s an improvement over the second edition, a game that I will definitely not remember fondly or with any sympathy (even though I played a lot of it!).
I really got massively into Warhammer: The Old World though! Not only did I greatly expand my Vampire Counts, but I also started collecting Grand Cathay, one of my favorite factions in the game. For many years I dreamed of the day when Games Workshop would eventually release Cathay as a fully playable, standalone faction, and here it is. The minis are gorgeous, assembling them is great fun, and I can’t wait to field them on the table.
I took a real deep dive into the Empire of the Celestial Dragon!
I also played some 2 vs 2 games during my Autumn RPG/tabletop trip with a bunch of friends. I can safely say that Warhammer: The Old World is one of my favorite games that GW ever made, much better than the final two editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I probably still prefer WFB 6th edition, if for the nostalgia factor alone, but WTOW is a magnificent title, really well made, reasonably balanced and with rules that are relatively easy to master. Good stuff.
Oh and I got some Demigryph Knights for my long-neglected Empire of Man army, which I still need to test in Warhammer: The Old World. After all, it was my first major fantasy force that I started to collect as an adult, all the way back in 2014.
I also enjoyed quite a bit of video gaming. First of all, I finally finished the “Mass Effect” trilogy! After years of hearing about it, reading about it and being told by my friends how good it is, I gave it a shot in June and… finished the entire thing in early September. I played the Legendary Edition on Steam, of course, and what an experience that was! Despite having one of the worst endings in any media fiction that I witnessed, it was a true masterpiece, an epic saga that I was very happy to finish all the way. I sincerely hope that Mass Effect 5 will expand upon Shepard’s story, and that maybe it’ll give us a proper explanation on how part three canonically ended.
Hopefully not with any of those stupid “choose your favorite color” resolutions. How could they screw the finale to such a magnificent tale so much?
That was one of the best gaming experiences of my whole life!
After finishing the entire “Mass Effect” saga, I jumped straight into the first “Dragon Age”. While a very well made game, I can’t muster the same levels of enthusiasm that I had for the ‘”ME” trilogy. Perhaps it’s the general fantasy genre fatigue that I’ve been feeling lately, or maybe it’s the mechanics (they are rather… archaic) – I don’t know. I will certainly finish it, but won’t be starting part 2 anytime soon after that.
I also watched quite a few TV shows and movies which worked well as inspiration for my WFRP games. Among them were Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood”, “Warcraft: The Beginning”, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”, “The Great Wall” with Matt Damon and the entire “Castlevania” series on Netflix, including “Nocturne”. I enjoyed most of them, especially “Robin Hood” left a lasting impression on me. It’s one hell of a movie and I highly recommend watching it, especially if you’re massive history buffs like me. Come to think of it, I should probably write a review of it in the near future…
Seriously, this is such a good flick. It’s rather long but totally worth the time to watch it from beginning to end!
Finally we get to my blog, which turned 11 years old in the Autumn of last year! 2025 was the year of the reviews. I did a bunch of them, including the aforementioned “The Temple of Tepok” and “Eternal Guard”. I squeezed a couple of Black Library reviews, and I even wrote my thoughts on Zack Snyder’s cult classic, the epic “300”! I wrote my thoughts on the new “Warhammer: The Old World” RPG by Cubicle 7, a game that I eventually plan to try out someday.
I also conducted an interview with Zekiel from “Ill Met by Morsslieb”, one of the best Warhammer-related blogs currently on the web. He did an interview with me, back in 2024 so it was only natural that I’d return the favor. Chatting with him was truly delightful and I sincerely hope that we’ll be able to collaborate on some cool projects in the future.
Zekiel’s work is truly inspiring. Definitely give it a look, you won’t be dissapointed!
There were a couple other cool things, like the “Elector Counts” Card Game review, but mostly I focused on the unofficial WFRP scenarios’ reviews, since that is something that both me and my readers (the majority of them at least) find most interesting.
So there it is – my 2025 retrospective… or a year in review, if you will. Despite being a rather wild ride with the little one, it was still a very productive time for me, hobby-wise. I will write about my 2026 “roadmap” soon, since there will be a few changes in my standard role-playing repertoire and scheduling. That said, I didn’t want to write about these things in my first post of 2026, especially one in which I reminisce of last year’s endeavors. This whole article would end up being just too damn long.
Today I am making a well-deserved shout-out to one of Warhammer Fantays Roleplay’s greatest authors – Graeme Davis!
It’s hard to imagine WFRP without Graeme Davis’ involvement. He worked on the setting from its very inception and wrote some of the most iconic books and publications, like the legendary “A Rough Night at the Three Feathers”, one of the best Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay scenarios of all time. His work on the classic “The Enemy Within” is one of the reasons why that campaign is so memorable (he also worked on the 3e and 4e versions). He collaborated on one of my favorite 2nd edition books – “Ashes of Middenheim”. When it comes to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, his work is, at least to me, some of the best. No matter the edition, Graeme always delivers.
The timeless classic! Also I absolutely love that cover by the legendary John Blanche!
WFRP is not the only setting on which he made his mark. “Clanbook: Assamite”, “Wraith: The Oblivion Second Edition”, “The Succubus Club” and “Book of the Kindred” are only some of the Classic World of Darkness titles that he worked on. I made no secret of the fact that CWoD is, for me, the greatest fictional setting of all time (sorry Warhammer!) and I greatly enjoyed reading Graeme’s take on it.
There are also many, many other titles that he worked on – GURPS Vikings, Midnight Rogue, Colonial Gothic and more. According to his bio on the BoardGameGeek website “he has written over 30 books and 100 magazine articles for various role-playing games, and contributed to the design of over 15 computer and video games”.
Graeme has a fantastic blog which you can find here. It’s a treasure trove of old WFRP lore, including the origins of many of its famous modules and NPCs, the “Monster of the Month Club” Patreon that offers system-agnostic creatures for all TTRPGs and lots of awesome freebies for lots of titles, including WFRP, AD&D, GURPS, Colonial Gothic and Call of Cthulhu. Seriously, do yourselves a favor and visit it. Even if you’re not Warhammer fans, the sheer amount of knowledge and historical gaming trivia is beyond priceless, and truly worth checking out.
For all your WFRP history needs accept no substitute!
I was very fortunate to be able to interview Graeme a couple years ago in 2016. You can find the whole interview here.
Back in 2018 the wonderful folks from Toa Tabletop Podcast (previously known as Mud & Blood Podcast) invited me and Graeme to talk about various periods of WFRP history (as well as alt-history!), and how they can form a solid basis for fascinating and engaging scenarios and campaigns. It was a truly unique adventure and I am very grateful to Matt and Liam for that opportunity, and to Graeme for a chance to chat with him live! You can listen to the entire episode here.
I wanted to write this post about one of the fathers of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and a genuinely nice man, always willing to chat and answer lots of questions. Graeme Davis is a fantastic person and I am glad that I got to know him and speak with him. I wanted to thank one of my WFRP players, Andrew Dyer, without whom that would not be possible. He was the one who contacted me with Graeme many, many years ago. I will always be grateful for that.
Until next time… when I’ll have another WFRP scenario review for you all. Or maybe… something even more interesting…
First interview of 2025 and it’s a good one. Zekiel from a fantastic blog “Ill Met by Morrslieb” answers all of my questions.
Haven’t done one of these in a while (last one was in the January of 2022!). I always enjoyed making interviews for “It always rains in Nuln”. Asking people from the fandom a bunch of random questions, learning about their opinions and discovering fantastic and unique stories – these are all great things about conducting interviews. Zekiel, creator of the “Ill Met by Morsslieb” blog, currently one of the best Warhammer-related websites, was kind enough to answer a bunch of my questions. A few months before he actually interviewed me and so it was only fair that I should return the favor.
Not to mention I don’t want to get on Dark Moon’s bad side! (art belongs to Cubicle 7)
So without further ado here’s the whole thing. Enjoy!
What was the catalyst behind creating “Ill Met by Morrslieb”? What inspired you to start blogging?
I’ve always loved writing (as well as reading!) The other day I came across a quote from the novelist E.M. Forster, “How can I tell what I think til I see what I say?” which rings true for me – I love analysing stuff (books, films, videogames) but I never really know what I think of something until I’ve scribbled a few hundred words about it! So I’ve been writing down my thoughts about stuff for decades that no-one but me will ever read! With videogames, films and novels, there are a million and one review sites out there, and so I never felt there was a lot of point in publishing my own thoughts. But when I started reading WFRP 4th Edition sourcebooks, I was surprised that I couldn’t really find many reviews of books aside from the core rulebook and the Enemy Within campaign. One day I just decided to start blogging; people (including you) said nice things about my reviews, and that encouraged me to keep going.
When and how did you get into roleplaying and why WFRP is your game of choice?
Like many people of my generation, I got into roleplaying via the D&D Red Box set, playing with school friends, and into Warhammer via the HeroQuest board game. One day (I think in 1991?) my parents took me to the Nottingham Games Workshop store, and that began the process of all my pocket money disappearing into metal and plastic miniatures! But at the time GW stores also stocked WFRP books (1st edition), so I was able to combine my love of D&D and my love of Warhammer, and introduced my gaming group to the perils of the Old World.
What is your best WFRP-related memory? What do you think it is that makes Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay such a cool and unique game?
Honestly, I can’t remember that much of my WFRP gaming days. My best memory is probably reading Shadows Over Bögenhafen for the first time. Wil Rees’ artwork of the town, full of wonderfully ugly people, is so evocative of a grim but grounded world. (You can see some of those images in Gideon’s review of the new version of the adventure.) It transported me to a different place and had a major impact on what I think makes WFRP, well, WFRP.
I’m sure there’s a strong element of nostalgia in my love of WFRP, but I think it has something that no other roleplaying game quite captures – that sense of a gritty and pseudo-realistic world that feels almost tangible; dark yet leavened with silly humour, where heroes feel all too vulnerable and you have to rely on your wits as much as your blade.
Probably a rather obvious question but it must be asked: which edition of WFRP is your favorite and why?
No quick answer I’m afraid! I’ll always love 1st Edition for being my introduction, and I think the sense of groundedness has never been matched, plus it has (in my opinion) the most consistently excellent adventures. 2nd Edition feels like my favourite from a mechanics standpoint, and I love the breadth of the sourcebooks. 4th Edition feels like a bit of a synthesis of those two – in general I think its got a fantastic tone, the artwork is gorgeous, and there are some really fantastic sourcebooks.
Your beloved WFRP book and why? You can name two!
Alright, I’m going to cheat (if you’ll allow it), and name my favourite from each edition (that I’m familiar with).
1st edition: Warhammer Adventure. At the time I got into WFRP (1992 ish), the first three parts of the Enemy Within campaign were sold in a single volume (with different coloured pages for each part!) So this collects the original Enemy Within sourcebook, Shadows over Bogenhafen and Death on the Reik – one amazing sourcebook, two fantastic adventures. It was like a window into another world and I’ve read it so many times.
2nd edition: Tome of Salvation. I’ve always been fascinated by fantasy religion, and this is a deep dive into the approved cults of the Empire is just fantastic. It does an amazing job of depicting how central religion is to the folk of the Empire (as it was to the folk of the 16-17th century in the real world).
4th edition: Incredibly hard to choose! I’d probably go for Rough Nights and Hard Days, which I think is just a fantastic collection of adventures in some wonderful locations.
Are you excited for the Old World RPG? Do you think that Cubicle 7 did a right choice of creating another Warhammer Fantasy TTRPG?
I’m very excited for it: I love the Old World, and I think Cubicle 7 generally do a great job writing material that gets the tone right (in my opinion), so getting more RPG content from them set in this world is a good thing. I can totally see the argument of those fans who feel it should have been a series of sourcebooks for WFRP 4e. But the 4e rules are too complex for my liking, so I’m hopeful that this new RPG will provide a more streamlined ruleset too.
You also reviewed some Wrath & Glory titles. Are you a fan of the Warhammer 40,000 universe? Do you play the tabletop strategy game, paint some minis?
As with Warhammer Fantasy Battle, my 40k days are a long way in my past (I played 2nd Edition), but I have very fond memories of them. I collected Orks, Eldar and Tyranids, of which Orks were probably my favourite – they rarely won a battle, but there were so characterful and fun! I am a bit sad that from 3rd Edition on the Orks became less colourful and zany.
You also did a few interviews for your blog. Which one is your favorite and will there be any more in the future?
Oh no I can’t choose a favourite! I really appreciated interviewing Simon Wileman, since he was my first interview and I didn’t really expect him to say yes! It was great interviewing you too, my first interview with another fan blogger. I will definitely do more – I’ve got one lined up with someone from Cubicle 7 about the Old World RPG, and I hope to talk to more WFRP authors and bloggers in future.
Will you cover more TTRPG titles in the future that are not Warhammer-related?
Definitely. I bought the Dragonbane RPG recently and I’m really interested in looking at that. I’m also a big fan of Symbaroum and eventually I’ll get round to reviewing that.
Finally: what can a man do when the light of Morrslieb shines on his face and the moon’s grin fills up the sky? Is there any chance for salvation from the Chaos Moon?
When the light of Morrslieb falls on you, one can only make a choice: whether to cry out to Lord Morr for protection, or to commit your soul to the uncertain mercies of the Changer of Ways!
Thanks so much for the opportunity to talk about my favourite hobby!
So here you go – all of the questions that I asked were answered wonderfully by Zekiel. He really is a great person to chat with, a truly passionate and knowledgable individual and you should all totally check out his blog, “Ill Met by Morsslieb”! Unlike me he writes in a cohesive, disciplined way and his opinions on all things Games Workshop-related are really worth reading. To me he is currently one of the best Warhammer bloggers out there and we truly need more people like him in the fandom.
After all… it is impossible to avoid the sinister light of Morrslieb! (art belongs to Cubicle 7)
Next post will be a review of a WFRP 4th edition product. Which one? Tune in in two weeks to find out!
It’s all in the title really. Given the ammount of duties, obligations and other real-life stuff currently going on, I want to realistically detail what is about to happen with my blog this year.
I’ve been doing this whole writing thing for more than a decade now and, even though sometimes it gets hard, I don’t imagine quitting. That said, with me becoming a dad in January this year, my free time got seriously reduced. My job, even though I love it, also doesn’t do me any favors.
I decided to create a sort of 2025 roadmap for “It always rains in Nuln”. It’s not super detailed, with each post planned meticulously, but rather showcases what I plan for my blog this year. I intend to stick to it and make it work as best as possible. This will give me a sense of discipline and purpose. Lately I often felt that my writing became slightly too chaotic, like in the case of the “Elector Counts” review. Ever since I started writing, I almost always “go with the flow” so to speak, but recently I recognised that perhaps it would be beneficial to me to actually structure my work a little better. So without further ado here are my plans for blogging in 2025.
Trust me, they’re going to be lit (art by Jason Brisken)
1. Interviews. I love doing them. I was privileged to interview a bunch of fantastic people from the Warhammer community, mostly Black Library authors and game developers. William King, C. L. Werner and Steven Darlington are only some of the creative minds behind one of my favorite fictional universes, and in 2025 I intend to interview at least two people who use their creative minds to breathe life into the Old World (and beyond!). I also want to ask a bunch of questions to other authors in the fandom and, if I’m lucky, the first of these interviews will appear on my blog in two weeks time! Stay tuned.
2. Warhammer Fantasy/The Old World model reviews. As some of you may know I recently really got into collecting and assembling my Empire and Vampire Counts armies. I already played a few games of TOW and have been really enjoying the system. Lots of cool models get released (and re-released) for this new iteration of the classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I want to share my opinions on some of them, like I did in my very first post for the blog, all the way back in 2014! I was still on Blogger back then… I already have a few cool sets that just beg to be unpacked, photographed and written about by yours truly.
This is definitely one of the highlights of my miniatures collection!
3. The Araby Chronicles. I ran my WFRP 4th edition “Araby or Bust!” campaign from early 2021 to early 2022. It was some of the best gaming I had in my life and exploring lands beyond the Old World was a huge breath of fresh air. I’ve been writing recaps of this chronicle for some time now, but I usually do them when I don’t have anything else prepared. In 2025 I want to bring this series to a close. Even though I have all the notes from these games, I am afraid that in time I’ll forget the crucial details and elements of the campaign that started in the Old World, and ended on the scorching sands of Nehekhara. Again, it was some of the best WFRP experience in my life. I want to share it with y’all to the end.
Seriously, every time I recall thiscampaign I feel super satisfied. It was a great experience!
I also don’t want this series to share the fate of my End Times reviews – seriously by this point I’ll never finish them… and it’s for the best, really.
4. More, even bigger reviews! I love reviewing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay scenarios, mostly fan-made. However I’ve been thinking about writing longer pieces about the larger campaigns, like “Terror in Talabheim” and “Paths of the Damned” for quite some time. These modules were instrumental in my journey of becoming a seasoned gamemaster and so I want to share my honest thoughts and opinions on them with my readers.
I also want to see if, after so many years, my perception of these books has changed. Maybe not all of them aged as well as I remembered them to be? That was definitely the case with Karak Azgal… Oh yeah, that review is going to contain LOTS of bile. Your usual Troll doesn’t have as much of it in his belly as I, when I think about this “masterpiece”.
5. Writing about things other than just Warhammer. I love WFRP, despite some rocky history with the system, and the setting of Warhammer Fantasy in general. I really do. That said, I’ve been exclusively writing about it for a year and a half now. I used to cover other kinds of stuff on my blog, back in the day, like Delta Green, World of Darkness, Warhammer 40K, various movies etc. While I understand and recognise that approximately 99% (if not more) of people visiting “It always rains in Nuln” do it because of Warhammer Fantasy content, covering ONLY this genre becomes sometimes extremely tiresome. I don’t want to marginalise it in any way but I do plan to cover other topics as well, from time to time.
Expect posts about Call of Cthulhu, various video game reviews, opinions on movies and other stuff. It’s going to be a rare thing, but a slight deviation from the Warhammer Fantasy path will become a thing, from time to time. I need this for my creative hygiene so to speak.
Hmmm, should I? Or is it slightly too ambitious?
These are the things that you can definitely expect from me in 2025. Will there be changes to this impromptu schedule? Almost certainly. Nothing is set in stone and improvisation is the key in writing, at least from my experience. That said, I intend to stick to that list as closely as possible. I hope that my blog will benefit from it and that you, my dear readers, will enjoy it even more.
Another year comes to an end. I wanted to make a quick summary of all my hobby-related activities in 2024.
First of all – yes, today was supposed to be a WFRP scenario review day. That said the end of the year is hectic, to say the least. My daughter will arrive soon and work is not doing me any favors. I simply didn’t had the time to even read the chosen adventure. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that next time. Time will tell.
As for 2024 hobby-wise… it’s been great! Probably one of the best years I had, when it came to RPGs and tabletop stuff in general. At the beginning of the year I finished my lengthy Project Twilight campaign, which I started all the way back in 2022. Classic World of Darkness remains my favorite roleplaying setting of all time (sorry WFRP!) and I was really glad to be able to run a rather obscure splat that not many people remember nowadays. Next year I will GM another massive CWoD chronicle, this time set in 1970s Italy. The main theme: Inquisition! Can’t wait to see my players hunt some Kindred in Rome, Florence and Venice!
This is one of my favorite Classic World of Darkness titles of all time!
I managed to secure a copy of “Dwarfs: Stone and Steel”, a truly excellent WFRP 1st edition book and the best Dawi sourcebook to date. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t cheap, but I am damn glad that I have it on my shelf. Most of the lore it includes is still relevant to this day.
Truly one of WFRP finest tomes…
2024 was generally a year in which I added a lot of TTRPG books to my collection, almost all of them from the Classic World of Darkness range. Titles from games like “Vampire: The Masquerade”, “Werewolf: The Apocalypse” and “Mage: The Ascension” are kinda hard to get, at least here, in Poland, but I was able to secure quite a few. I am especially happy with the “MTA” rulebook, wich is one of the best written World of Darkness tomes of all time. Makes me really want to run “Mage” in the future. Who knows, maybe next year?
That’s one hefty book. I think it might be thicker than the rulebook for “Vampire: The Masquerade”!
The only thing that I wish I did more of was writing my own stuff. Except for a bunch of reviews and other articles for my blog, I haven’t really written anything new when it comes to campaigns and chronicles, something that I regret. I will certainly try to rectify that error during next year. What I don’t regret, however, is taking part in a four day-long TTRPG trip in which I participated in November. I ran WFRP 2ed for almost tvelve hours a day, non-stop for three days (the last day was reserved for board games). We finally finished our year-long “Karak Azgal” playthrough by literally blowing up the world!
I have… some strong opinions on this book. It’s not really good, to say the least. Full review coming in 2025!
As for tabletop strategy games: 2024 was more than generous. My Vampire Counts have truly grown in size and strength. I deployed them a couple of times and won every single battle with them. There’s something super satisfying of just throwing hordes of deathless mooks at your opponent’s living armies, and watch them get absolutely curbstomped by the living dead. It’s also worth mentioning that Vampire Counts and the Undead in general, were always some of the best looking armies Games Workshop ever released. The ammount of detail and character these sculpts possess is crazy.
Just look at these skelly boys! They’re oozing menace and dread. Age of Sigmar really knows how to treat the Undead the right way!
Of course I can’t forget about my main tabletop game – the Horus Heresy! In 2024 I took part in two huge Apocalypse battles as well as dozen smaller engagements. Great fun was had at the table and playing in one of my favorite fictional settings is always a blast. White Scars, Imperial Fists and Thousand Sons all saw lots of action and I am very glad to be able to muster a large force of all these legions. Despite having some critical opinions on the second edition of the game, Horus Heresy remains one of my favorite tabletop titles of all time and I plan to continue to enjoy it in the future.
Managed to deploy these two during my last battle of 2024. They did their job well… and bloody!
I also managed to secure a couple of rare and unique miniatures for my various Warhammer armies. The one that I am most happy with is the Galen and Doralia set from Age of Sigmar. I will be using them as Witch Hunters for my Empire for Warhammer Fantasy Battle/The Old World.
My first Commemorative Series minis and they’re excellent. Hopefully they won’t be the last! Also… is it just me, or is Galen really looking like Vesemir from “The Witcher” saga?
Lastly I got interviewed earlier this year! The super cool Zekiel from “Ill Met by Morrslieb” asked me a bunch of questions for his blog, and I was more than happy to answer them for him. He’s one of the pillars of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay community and you should really check out his blog. It’s one of the best WFRP-related websites out there.
I will hopefully return the favor and interview Zekiel next year. I’m sure he’ll have a lot to tell us about his work and passion for WFRP! In general I plan to do a couple more interviews in 2025, all of them Warhammer Fantasy-related of course.
Seriously, go check out his website. It’s a literal gold mine for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay!
All in all 2024 was one of the best hobby-related years in my life. My own blog, the one that you’re reading right now, turned ten years old in October. This is the 285th post that I’ve written, ever since starting out in the Autumn of 2014. I say that’s quite an achievement, if may be so bold. Interestingly enough 2024 was also the year in which I’ve written only about WFRP and nothing else. This trend will probably continue in 2025, since this is what the majority of my readers want, it seems. I don’t mind that at all, even if there are various other games and topics that I’d like to cover here, on “It always rains in Nuln”. Oh well, such is life.
My daughter will arrive soon. I will probably write one more post before her birth. Then I’ll probably need to take a short break. I’m sure you understand.
I know it’s Grimvember but I decided to make a shout-out to one of the best WFRP-centred blogs out there – “AWESOME LIES”!
Time is not being kind to me lately. Between harsh demands in my job and the fact that, together with my wife we are expecting a baby girl this January, I have very few opportunities for hobby-related things. That’s why I didn’t had a chance to prepare the 4e scenario that I wanted to review today. However I don’t like to skip post day, that’s why I decicded to do another random fandom shout-out. This time it’s to Gideon, creator of the magnificent “AWESOME LIES” blog.
I absolutely love this font and headline. Gideon really knows his stuff (image belongs to the “AWESOME LIES” blog)
If you’re looking to expand your knowledge on the history of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, its genesis and many other things related to this game (and Games Workshop in general) then “AWESOME LIES” is for you.
Gideon also created the incredibly ambitious and useful Companion for “The Enemy Within”, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay’s best known campaign. I am of course talking about the original version, not the 4th edition remake. Even though my own TEW playthrough has been put on hold for almost 5 years now, I do plan to return to it in the future. When I do I’ll surely use Gideon’s supplemental aids. They are excellently written and truly enrich the experience when playing/running this campaign.
There’s other stuff there as well, from interviews with famous Warhammer people to guest posts (also by famous Warhammer people!), to articles about other tabletop games, like Call of Cthulhu and Dungeons & Dragons. Gideon truly covers a lot of various, TTRPG-related topics and does so in a fascinating and engaging manner. I can never have enough of his style of writing. It’s insightful and makes you crave for more lost konwledge about role-playing games. I’ve been following “AWESOME LIES” for a long time now and I will surely do so in the years to come. I wholeheartedly recommend that you do so as well.
You can find Gideon’s blogHERE. He also has a profile on“X” (formerly Twitter) but it’s been dormant for some time now. Still it is worth reading some of his old tweets. Just like the articles on “AWESOME LIES”, they are always interesting to check out.
Next time I’ll surely write a review of a spooky WFRP 4th edition scenario. It’ll be in December and you know what that means. That’s right, this’ll be the second time when Grimvember transitions into Grimcember! Seems like this is slowly becoming a tradition here, on “It always rains in Nuln”.
It’s been a long, long time since I did one of these. Here’s a real treat for all you vampire lovers out there.
I consider “Night’s Dark Masters” to be one of the best WFRP 2nd edition books ever written. It’s a literal gold mine of vampiric (and undead in general) lore when it comes to Warhammer Fantasy world, and I love the fact that it includes bits and pieces from Steven Savile’s “Von Carstein Trilogy”. This series of books is one of my all-time favorites when it comes to Black Library, so I was very happy to see that it got incorporated into “Night’s Dark Masters”.
One of the best WFRP covers of all time!
Anyway, thanks to Twitter I was very lucky to be able to interview Steven Darlington from Tin*Star Games, who co-wrote this book with Jody Macgregor. Steven is a fantastic, approachable person, full of passion for his work, who agreed to answer a few of my questions. Without further ado here they are. Enjoy!
Xathrodox86: What was your role in the creation of this book?
Steven Darlington: The book was written by me and Jody Macgregor. Rob Schwalb was the line editor at the time and he helped fix some of the rules but it was really exciting to do something with me and my great friend.
Xathrodox86: How did “Night’s Dark Masters” came to be? Who gave the idea to create this book?
Steven Darlington: So we were given the assignment by Rob and Chris Pramas, who is the head of Green Ronin. I don’t know who originally had the idea to do a vampire book because Green Ronin were working with Black Library who were working for games workshop. The vampire counts were having a big year that year with the novels coming out and the new rules and new minis they year after. So I imagine it was important to GW to cover their big brands.
Jody and I pitched a lizardmen book but it never happened. But now I hear it may happen for 4e.
Xathrodox86: WFRP 2nd edition takes a lot from the 6th iteration of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. How much did this book took from the battle game?
Steven Darlington: That was our primary source. But we also had access to heaps of old stuff – GW sent us a bunch of old PDFs and books. We wanted to make sure everything in the most recent lore was kept true in our book. That includes the novels I mentioned and the Genevieve books. But we also studied heaps of vampire things as well. If it happened in a vampire movie we wanted to include it.
Xathrodox86: Which vampiric Bloodline is your favorite and why?
Steven Darlington: I love them all but I put so much into the Von Carsteins they’re my favourite. Mannfred is my boy.
Xathrodox86: How much did you enhanced the existing vampire lore? I always found the story of Vashanesh particularly interesting, and I don’t recall it being used in any other Warhammer product, except maybe for Steven Savile’s “The Von Carstein Trilogy”.
Steven Darlington: We worked with so much stuff (including Savile’s books) that it’s always hard to remember what you added and what was already there. Like I said, we wanted to provide all the options. We wanted you to to go “I saw this in a movie I want it in Warhammer”.
Xathrodox86: The blood drinkers are hard enemies in the battle game, and doubly so in WFRP. Was it hard to balance their rules for the roleplaying version of Warhammer Fantasy?
Steven Darlington: It was very hard to balance them. The percentage system means you have this absolute cap. But it was also important to us that vampirism be attractive. If you can be as tough as a vampire by just being a Daemon Slayer or a high level Bretonnian knight then there’s no reason you’d let yourself get bitten. So we had to make them just a bit better than human maximum without running into giants and daemons. It was a lot of work and Rob helped a lot here.
Xathrodox86: Vampires are cool but vampire hunters are even cooler (at least in my opinion)! There are awesome new rules for the mortal persecutors of the undead, in this book. How did you came up with the idea for the “silver in the wound” and other tools of the trade for the hunters?
Steven Darlington: A lot of the vampire hunter lore we got from movies. Hammer horror films were a big inspiration here. But of course so was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The grim halfling was one of my PCs in a Warhammer game. I think Jody wrote most of this though!
Xathrodox86: Sylvania is one of the most iconic places in the world of Warhammer Fantasy. It is often described in a very basic way. Did you invented new lore for this cursed province?
Steven Darlington: It was really important to beef up Sylvania, yes. Andy Law’s map is outstanding here. This chapter was all Jody. He’s amazing. It was a joy to see the things he was sending in.
Xathrodox86: Many WFRP players dream of playing a immortal vampire, being able to take on whole armies by themselves. Naturally this sort of thing is kinda in opposition to the “soul” of WFRP. Were there any concerns about giving the players this kind of power?
Steven Darlington: Like in the Skaven book we never wanted to judge our players, or tell them “no”. An RPG is a toy box and we want to give you lots of toys. Obviously there’s a risk of vampires over powering other characters so you wouldn’t want someone to take that into a campaign that unbalanced play. Some of that we left to the GM to say no. We also made it clear that these guys were the bad guys and also that they were snobs. They only embrace people they can control. I think it would be hilarious to have a character who wants to get bitten get turned down.
That was a really important guiding principle for me the whole way through: vampires are sure they are better than you. You don’t get to be one just became you want to.
Xathrodox86: Finally the new monsters – how did they came to be and which one is your favorite?
Steven Darlington: Some came from real folklore. Some from movies. Some from the war game. I think Jody did most of these! I did monsters in other books so I was tired by the time I got to the vampires.
Xathrodox86: Thank you for your answers and for your time!
Wow, that was insanely cool. I’m always incredibly grateful for the chance to interview people from the TTRPG industry, and Steven was one of the nicest people I ever had the pleasure to chat with. Lately I’ve started collecting Vampire Counts for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th and 8th editions, and it inspired me to reach out to Steven and ask him to do an interview with me. I am very grateful that he agreed to do so.
A small upadte from me, as I’m getting ready for my flight to Armenia. In a few days from now I’ll be starting a new chapter of my life.
In less than a week I’m getting married. Not gonna lie, I am stressed a bit, but also insanely happy. This will be a whole new experience, and I’m very, very glad to share it with the woman of my life. Life’s good sometimes!
Given the importance of this event I wanted to also take stock of my hobby endeavors, and to thank a couple of people, without whom I would not be where I am today.
Artwork by Baron Von Klatz, whom I also wanted to thank for being a fantastic sport!
First of all I want to thank my beloved fiancee, Lia. You’re the best that ever happened to me baby, never forget about that. I love you forever and a day.
I wanted to thank Marcin and Krzysiek for sticking with me for the last decade. Without you guys I would probably not remained in this fantastic hobby, and it’s great to have you as my wingmen. I also wanted to thank Czarek and Mateusz, two new fantastic players in our group. You’re making that “The Enemy Within” experience truly unique. I hope that you’re ready to face the “Death on the Reik”!
I wanted to say “thanks” to Bryan, Sean, Andy and Jason, a bunch of fantastic players from the US of A, for 4+ years of travelling through the endless expanses of the Old World. Running a game for so long in a foreign language is a fantastic experience, and without you guys I’d never start interviewing people from the tabletop industry, not to mention learn a lot about the American culture!
I wanted to thank Martin, Jim and Johanna, a bunch of fantastic people from Sweden, for exploring the dark and twisted mysteries of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. You’re the best Delta Green team that a handler can ask for, and I can’t wait to yet once again see you saving the whole world from the tentacles of some nameless horror… preferably with a lot of explosions!
To the boys from the Polish Horus Heresy league I wanted to say: thank you. Thanks for letting me into the club, for teaching me the rules, and for letting me enjoy this fantastic tabletop game, set during the grim and epic Age of Darkness. I can’t wait for the Beta-Garmon mega battle. Titans galore!
Last but not least, I wanted to thank a bunch of people on Twitter and Facebook, who are full of passion, empathy and kindness. Huge thanks to Michael and Andreas for the late-night chats about Warhamer Fantasy Roleplay, as well as Matt and Liam for creating the fantastic Mud & Blood podcast, and inviting me last year for a chat about the history of Warhammer Fantasy, with the legendary Graeme Davis (whom I also wanted to thank for letting me interview him).
I also wanted to thank Paco, Tahina, Agent Pumpkin, Lee Carnell, WuTangPiglet, TJ Seer, Lee, johanngottliebfichte, glittersnicket, Crafty’s Tabletop, John Blacktree, Benjamin, Yanko, Redemundin kilta, Mittenzee, and many, many others for being a truly fantastic bunch of people, and restoring my faith in humanity.
There are also many, many other people who deserve the words “thank you”. as well. So I am saying just that: thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Even if you’re not mentioned in this article, so you know… keep on being awesome!
I’ll see you all soon, and in the meantime may Sigmar bless your endeavors. Until next time!
As I’m waiting for a certain interview to be finally finalized, I’ve decided to make a quick sit rep of what is currently going on with my RPG-related activities.
There’s is quite going on! A lot, in fact. My IRL weekly Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay group is going strong, as we plow through the classic tale of “The Enemy Within”. This is our last foray into the 2nd edition of WFRP, as the 4th is just so much better in almost every way possible (great job Cubicle 7!). Still, the wacky humor, the shenanigans, the sense of mild paranoia and secrecy – these are the hallmarks of our playstyle, and they truly make for some excellent experience. The gang is currently visiting Bogenhafen during the infamous Shaffenfest, and they’ve already left one of their own to tender mercies of the local Sigmarite clergy. Good times…
After all, they’re known for the compassion and forgiving nature…
My biweekly Roll20 WFRP group from the States is having a hard time dealing with “The Thousand Thrones”, although they’re not stopping by any means. One of the PC’s has a broken pelvis, and almost got his right knee removed by a crazy butcher’s wife, wielding a cleaver. He now must walk by using a crutch, and he must hold it in his right (good) hand. The party halfling, the longest surviving member of the gang, is dying of a nasty stomach wound, and got his entire right arm removed at the shoulder by a chaos knight of Nurgle. Lukas, the party’s biggest killer, now looks like Deadpool, after being engulfed by daemonic horse’s acidic breath. Finally Vincent, the sombre knight of Morr, lost his eye to the villain’s wicked blade. All of this, except for the broken pelvis, happened during a single session.
If you want to listen to our adventures, and have a major laugh (seriously, the humor is one of the best things about these games), then you can visit my YouTube channel which can be found here.
Now the gang is locked up in a abandoned coaching inn, deep in the Drakwald. It’s the dead of night, a bunch of mutants just barged through the door, but at least they’re friendly. However the entire beastmen warherd that’s closing down on the inn is not so friendy. At least they can count on the fat priest of Sigmar and his three cowardly lackies for asistance…
Now we move onto my monthly Swedish Delta Green Roll20 group. These guys are awesome. I mean: guys and a gal. They’re all excellent, and it’s a nice change of style, pace and atmosphere, being able to plunge into the otherworldy horror of the Mythos. So far one of them, an agent with multiple cover identites and a light trigger finger is proving to be a sort of loose cannon, but the others are trying to rein him in. After finishing two operations in New York City they’re now travelling to Miami, to face some chilling reception from a band of nasty Wendigos’. Who said that Florida must be hot and humid?
Especially with these guys running around! (original artwork by MorkarDFC)
Also we are thinking of turning our session recordings into a podcast. More info on that soon. Meanwhile you can listen to the first op here.
Finally the guys from my Horus Heresy league are enquiring me to run them a few Vampire: The Masquerade scenarios, one each month. I’m not big on V:TM, in fact I consider it one of the weaker CWoD splats, but I do like these chaps a lot, so I might relent. It would probably be a short game – 2-3 sessions max, as A) I don’t have THAT much time, and B) it’s Vampire, so… I don’t know. I’ll need to check if I’ll be able to fit everything together and make it work, especially because…
I’m getting married this October. Yeah, last year I’ve proposed to my girlfriend, and she said yes. So this year we’re travelling to her home country of Armenia to tie the knot. I don’t need to tell you how excited I am. It will be a whole new chapter in my life, and I’m so happy to share it with my favorite person in the world.
Anyway, that was a quick run-down of what I’m currently up to. Things are going well, more than well in fact. Me getting married, the blog being discovered by more and more people every day, my Twitter account almost reching 700 with me tweeting only about WFRP and Delta Green (no D&D, which is all the rage on Twitter), and many other fantastic things currently happening in my life, are what’s giving me joy and hope for a better tommorow. Thanks for being part of this journey people. I would not have made it without you.
I also have a couple surprises for you this year, but for now they’re, well, surprises. So shhhh…
It always rains in Nuln 