Warhammer Quest: The GM’s Back, Boyz
Warhammer Quest is getting an important new addition in the upcoming Shadows Over Hammerhal–a GM.
That’s right. Gamemasters are coming to Warhammer Quest and we are excited.
“Warhammer Quest: Shadows over Hammerhal is a new boxed game that works around the same basic system as its predecessor – Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower – and is the second such game set in the Mortal Realms.
The Gamemaster is a new addition to the game. Their job is to control the adversaries, and oversee the player’s exploration though the dungeons of Hammerhal. They’ll also be privy to certain secrets of the quests that the players will not know… The same is true when the adventurers leave the labyrinths between quests to return to the district of Cinderfall in the city above.
Speaking of the city above, Hammerhal plays a big part in the game. It’s a great and very immersive way of discovering more about the inner workings of Sigmar’s new Free Cities.”
So it sounds like they’ll be encouraging players to explore the actual city of Hammerhal (which makes sense, given that it’s in the expansion’s name), with plenty of opportunities for adventure outside of the dungeon. I think we’ll see more opportunities for players to get themselves entangled in the goings on of the city–maybe they’ll get chased by the guard, or run across Chaos cultists lurking in the dark alleys.
Knowing Games Workshop it’ll probably just be muggers hiding on every corner, ready to relieve you of your hard earned gear and money for no other reason than spite and sheer bloody-mindedness. This, of course, brings me to the next exciting piece of news. The addition of the Gamemaster. Another step in the continuing trend of making Warhammer Quest much more like HeroQuest (which we all know is the best Warhammer game of all time).
I mean it came with doors and furniture. What else do you want?
The GM takes on the task of handling the adversaries in the game (and presumably presides over whatever actions happen in the city phases of the game). And that lets you give your foes a little more character. After all, in Shadows Over Hammerhal, the players are trying to stop the evil Chaos Sorcerer, Lord Redomir, and having someone there playing him can really help liven up your sessions. And it’ll mean the fights can get a little more complex–you’ve got someone there handling the monsters–who knows whatever their secret goals are.
It also opens up the world a little more. Having a Gamemaster there to act as a buffer between the players and the game itself means you can have a little more going on behind the scenes. For instance, you could have a gamemaster keep track of a plot by Lord Redomir to establish a cult of chaos that advances based on player actions. So if the players investigated part of Hammerhal they might have a chance of coming across the ult in the idst of their plans and stopping them before its too late–or they might end up with Chaos unleashed.
At least that’s one possibility. After all, looking back at the greatest Warhammer game of all time, HeroQuest had a plotline. The forces of Chaos had various plots going on–whether kidnapping a knight or raiding a town–and having a gamemaster there to set things up meant you could have the game play differently each time you sat down. Granted, you can accomplish the same thing with the double-sided boards, but, hopefully GW has already accounted for this and has planned to up the complexity of their missions.
It certainly sounds like they’re hoping players will get a little more into the world–but we’ll have to wait and see what that actually entails.
What do you think the addition of a GM heralds for Warhammer Quest? Will there ever really be another Zardon/Morcar, or is he beyond compare?
