Middenheim NPCs 2 - Dieter Schmiedehammer (Patreon)

Hiya, All-access peeps. Here's an early morning post for you all.

Given the positive reaction for the last post in this series, let's do another. Up today is Dieter Schmiedehammer, the Graf's Champion in Middenheim.

My version is kinda different to the published versions in that he's actually pretty damned good at his job. After all, the Graf's Champion position, for all it may be largely ceremonial, is too tempting as job for capable folks not to attempt to secure the position, so I need a Dieter than can properly handle himself in a scrap and defend the position from would-be challengers.

So, that's what this version is!

My Dieter also had an important character change for the LAWhammer version. All of the NPCs in this version of the Power Behind the Thrown are wearing some sort of face to hide who they truly are. It's a motif of this adventure and the campaign as a whole (all is not as it seems). So, to reinforce this core theme, Dieter has an extra layer as can be seen below...

So, he's a bit of a lady's man. Which is certain to land him in trouble if he's not careful. Kirsten will not take it well.

Not only does this add a little depth to Dieter and support the 'everyone wears a face' motif I'm using for this adventure, but it also highlights another core motif: 'power corrupts'. In this instance, Dieter's inherently good nature has been worn away by his desire to 'get one over' the various nobles who barely treat him as human in court. He is in a position to retaliate in a way he really enjoys, so he does. It's not a good look for Dieter, but nobody is perfect, and he does keep receiving very tempting offers from bored wives and daughters at court. And with Boris happily egging him along, poor Dieter is now neck-deep in trouble. In his mind, he is fully justified in what he is doing and also loves Kirsten with all his heart. He won't realise just how foolish that position is until too late (assuming that time ever comes). Should Kirsten ever find out about the other women Dieter is still sleeping with, her reaction will be devastating and final. Dieter, without the political nounce or wit to survive this, will almost certainly be chewed up and then spit out of the court. So, if he's not very careful, Dieter's future is likely bleak, penniless, and far from the court and his many 'friends'. Still, maybe he can pursue the simpler life of a smith that he daydreams of?

Also, yes, I went with having Dieter 'ensorceled' not 'hypnotised' as suggested by both printed versions. In my version, the Purple Hand is behind this. And that's a Tzeentch cult, FFS, so I'm using magic. That's how Tzeentch works and I want to reinforce it. So, magic it is. It also provides an opportunity to do two other things: 1) show that magic is much more complicated than just the Colleges of Magic, and 2) show that spells can manifest almost like they are living, writhing things. The second demonstrates just how dangerous magic can be in Warhammer when the PCs encounter it, and it also nicely sets things up for the Blue Scribes later (assuming I use them, which I currently plan to do at some point). The Scribes are attempting to capture every spell in the world, all of which they believe are tiny shattered pieces of Tzeentch - i.e.: tiny Daemons. Fun times!

As a last point, you'll also note that my version of Dieter is much shaggier. This is to differentiate between the clean-cut nobles and those who emulate them and this version of Dieter who is 100% from peasant stock. I also wanted a bit of a beard to reinforce the Ulrican inclinations he has. That said, there is still somewhat of a callback to his dodgy page-boy haircut from WFRP1 if you squint through the loose curls - but you really have to squint!

As before, the PDF is attached to this post.

If you'd like to discuss any elements of his build, dive into the thread over in Discord and we can pick it up there.

Next up will be Rallane. Prepare for some Elf bullshit.

EDITS
09/04/24
1) Updated Dieter to include more of his Peasant background after chatting about it with Smiling Tom on Discord.
2) Significantly expanded my blog post explaining Dieter's 'secrets'.