Return of the Lichemaster

[satakuua]

Is it any good, worth tracking down? Does it clash somehow with the 2nd edition setting (as much as that might matter)?

[Orin J.]

.....there's a dalek in it.


a magic-dalek, i grant you, but it's still very clearly a dalek because they had the rights for dr. who minis at the time. there's a later version in a white dwarf if i recall, because it's very much on of those adventures that leans heavy into the "cross over with warhammer fantasy battle" angle.

[satakuua]

Ah, I see.

Well, Daleks are cool.

[Angelman]

I've got no idea what Orin J. means by a dalek in Return of the Lichemaster... but then again, I've hardly ever seen a Dr. Who episode so what do I know?

I count RotL as one of the coolest adventures of WFRP1, a real forgotten gem. It has so much color and flavor -- great drama and characters, rich backstory, tension and excitement -- so much potential. Granted, it ends in a rather uninsipred end battle, which comes after a fantastically dramatic mid-story battle, but there is so much greatness going for it that you can easily pick it up and run it as written, or tweak things to fit your vision, or even scavenge bits for other stories.

As for whether RotL contradicts WFRP2 material, I actually do not know. I've never read the Bretonnia book but I would imagine there is little to nothing in RotL -- an adventure taking place far up in the mountains away from most of what is established territory in Warhammer (I think) -- that will cause you any major canonical issues, regardless of the edition you're running.

I wholeheartedly recommend any Warhammer GM to pick up Return of the Lichemaster

[satakuua]

Fair enough, (Angel)man!

Sounds like something to look for.

[Orin J.]

It's something to give a read at least once, at least- there's a lot of cool stuff that goes on leading up to the story. that might be the most damning thing about it, kemmler's deal with the chaos daemon, a wizard infiltrating a skaven city and the fight over a holy artefact with unknowable powers (to create the dalek..) are all a great story but well....your band of heroes come in at the very end of it all, learn almost nothing about any of it and by the end everyone pisses off into the woods with no real followup unless they thread the impossible needle of fighting off two enemy forces and keeping the casket to themselves.

this story is just BEGGING for a deeper rework, but it may not be something as a GM you want to deal with.

also, the story is officially canon in the warhammer lore proper, but has changed slightly over the decades (the dalek is just a generic golem for one ) so some names and faces may have changed to protect the innocent*.

wait, maybe i'm getting the two lichemaster adventures mixed up. return of the lichemaster's the second one right?

[skerrigan]

There's several Lichemaster scenarios. They were originally WFB scenarios - "Terror Of The Lichemaster" is one of the original WFB campaigns, "Vengeance Of The Lichemaster" is the sequel. Then there's Advanced Heroquest's expansion called Terror In The Dark where the Lichemaster shows up. And then the WFRP scenario Lichemaster by Carl Sargent et al. which is called Return of the Lichemaster in the book.

[Orin J.]

okay.....how about this, are we talking about his terrorizing the countryside or his vengeance at masiontaal monastery?

[Danke Dave]

Really enjoyed playing and running it. Can make for some very memorable moments, and the village that it mostly takes place in has some great characters. I would highly recommend it, I converted it to 2e and ran it for some players very easily without much work.

And I assume Orin means the Iron Man at the end of the campaign itself.

[Jackdays]

I think too, that it was good adventure.

Changes over the years:
1) La Maisontaal moved much more north. In The End Times maps it seems to be next to River Grismerie and much more north from Montfort and Axe Bite Pass. But, it is not first time places move in Warhammer Lore. And maybe it is new location of the monastery after destruction of the first one…
2) Lichemaster Kemmler is interesting character. He seems to pop-up time to time. Or not die. He is in Gotrek&Felix: Zombieslayer causing problems at Castle Reikguard. Then just little later he again attacks the La Maisontaal in The End Times.

[skerrigan]

I believe there is also a short story with him with Kell just prior to the End Times that's in the 1st issue of the new Inferno by Josh Reynolds. They were going to do a "Heroes" book on Kemmler before they switched to the End Times and this short story would've been a precursor to that.

2) Lichemaster Kemmler is interesting character. He seems to pop-up time to time. Or not die. He is in Gotrek&Felix: Zombieslayer causing problems at Castle Reikguard. Then just little later he again attacks the La Maisontaal in The End Times.