NEW YEAR SPECIAL: THIS FRIDAY (Patreon)

At the end of 2018, I polished off the final work on the WFRP Starter Set. It was a labour of love offering something that was, at that point, relatively unique for modern RPG starter sets: it wasn't just aimed at beginners to the setting, it was aimed to help all players start with Warhammer, even veterans.

To support that, it came with a complete guide to the city of Ubersreik. This 64-page setting book was stuffed with playable material spread across 10 districts, scores of locations, a complete provincial breakdown, a selection of nefarious cults, and over a hundred adventure hooks. Anyone could play for months, possibly years, with the enormous swathe of quality content offered by that book alone.

A Guide to Ubersreik, from the WFRP Starter Set

The primary writing was completed by Andy Leask and me, much of it in my livingroom. Lindsay also added details to many of the locations, sinking herself into the city to help us best bring something that felt real to life. We three proto-LAWhammer players had an absolute ball. Whether it was the bladed politics surrounding the Cutlers' Guild, the tentacled horrors of the Bog King, or the skittering ratmen that had invaded Ubersreik's sewers, there was just so much awesome to create and write about.

But, for all we had our own favourites, one story dominated over the others: the forces of Altdorf had recently seized Ubersreik, and no one knew why.

However, before I start on that, I'd like to take a moment to thank a certain video game company for all the help they provided when I was putting the starter set together: Fatshark.

When I was organising the research for the WFRP Starter Set, I contacted Fatshark to ask if they had any material they had created that would be useful to the RPG version of Ubersreik. Their Vermintide games were set in the same city, which they had developed from the version of Ubersreik presented in WFRP3, and I was hopeful they'd have something useful we could use.

And, boy did they!

A game set in Ubersreik eh? Handy...

I won't go into the detail of just how awesome Fatshark was, of the development build of Vermintide I was provided so I could fly through their version of the city, of the thousands of lines of dialogue I was sent, of the art assets I was offered for every corner of Ubersreik they had detailed. But, I will say that they were the friendliest, most open bunch of extraordinary people that I ever had the good fortune to work with.

Bluntly, Fatshark rocks. There is a reason I credited the company in the Ubersreik book and offered an 'extra big thank-you'.

But, that's not all I did.

If you go to page 39 of the WFRP Starter Set, you'll find Wahlund's Rat Catchers. That location was written to say thank you to Fatshark. The sign I drew on that page is an adaptation of the Fatshark logo. The Guild is led by the CEO of Fatshark, Martin Wahlund, and populated by his staff, including the marvellous Anders de Geer, Mårten Stormdal, and Rickard Blomberg, all of whom had such perfect Warhammery names. And, biggest of all, we depicted those four Fatshark luminaries killing Skaven in the sewers of Ubersreik, using their real-life faces to inspire the art.

Thanks, Fatshark. You rock!

Look at those credits! Not only a call-out to the awesome Fatshark, but it also includes four of us LAWhammerers: me (Andy Law), Andy Leask, Lindsay Law, and Erin Rea (our producer). And it also includes the brilliant Ralph Horsley - who you may hear me calling out every once in a while when I accidentally bash the cover art to the WFRP Starter Set that I use as a backdrop for LAWhammer episode!

But, back to the blog. Back to Altdorf. Back to the seizure of Ubersreik. And back to WHAT THE HELL WAS HAPPENING THERE?

When I was creating the story of Ubersreik, I decided that I wanted to wrap the town into the forthcoming campaign, The Enemy Within. I also wanted to show how the Warhammer setting changes over time, using Ubersreik as the first introduction to the earlier history of the Empire that WFRP4 would be examining centred around 2512IC, rather than, say 2522IC, as presented in WFRP2.

So, after devouring every last titbit of lore concerning Ubersreik, whether it came from novels, RPG books, video games, White Dwarf, Warhammer, or elsewhere, I built the city and its surrounds, I built the locations it needed and pinged the list to Andy Leask to start writing, and I built politics and the overall story the set would be telling. The story that led Ubersreik to its presentation as shown in WFRP3 and Vermintide. The story that also kicked off The Enemy Within.

And the story I built's impact on the Ubersreik book was massive.

So, what was that story?

It does not turn out well for Ubersreik.

Well, as detailed on page 7 of the WFRP Starter Set, the Emperor, Karl-Franz himself (and, yes, there is a dash between the two names - there is a reason for that as our campaign will explore later), has ordered Ubersreik be seized from its rightful ruler. In a surprise raid at the beginning of the year 2512IC, Ubersreik is forcefully annexed by Altdorf soldiers. For those who don't know the politics of the Empire, this is huge. To ensure you understand just how huge, the book goes into some detail explaining why. It affects every aspect of the city's description with tensions between invaders and locals colouring every interaction.

That made it super fun to write. And, beyond it being an interesting story in general, the febrile situation also makes for a dynamic setting for your RPGs. After all, who doesn't love a city in turmoil? Conflict makes for great roleplaying fodder.

However, although A Guide to Ubersreik explained the mess that had unfolded in Ubersreik when the Emperor seized the city, it did not explain why it had happened. Or how.

But, I always knew what happened. After all, I was building plots for The Enemy Within. And there was a much bigger reason than just 'the turmoil makes Ubersreik a fun city to play in'. This wasn't something that was added merely to make Ubersreik 'more fun' to play in. It was a part of a bigger story.

So, why, exactly, was Ubersreik attacked?

Not where or who...

Well, this Friday at 7pm LAWhammer is going to play through exactly what I had in mind when I wrote about the fall of Ubersreik. So...

• Want to know how Karl-Franz passed the midnight edict to seize the city?

• Want to know why he did it?

• Want to know how Ubersreik was seized almost as soon as that edict was passed, even though it was hundreds of miles away?

• Want to know if the Advisor from Total War: Warhammer was involved (a character called 'Dodgy Johann' by the LAWhammer - and one who was intended to be added to The Enemy Within, but that plan ended when I left as WFRP Producer)?

• Want to know what happened in Ubersreik itself?

• Want to know why it happened on, of all days, Hexenstag: the Empire's cursed version of New Year's Day?

All that and much more will be detailed in our one-off New Year's Day special episode that goes live on Twitch this Friday 15th December at 7pm UK time.

If you miss watching the episode live, the VoD will be posted on Hexenstag... err... New Year's Day, 1st Jan 2024, on the LAWhammer YouTube channel for everyone else to enjoy.

It's time for some secrets to be finally unveiled.