About the adventure
The Old World! Grimy, muddy, corrupt, full of dangers and adventures! Where do you want to go? Throw yourself into the intrigues and challenges of Ubersreik? Travel the roads and waterways of the Empire? Go up against the Great Enchanter, Constant Drachenfels? Explore the narrow alleyways of Altdorf or follow the Paths of the Damned from Middenheim to Nuln? Or perhaps you prefer to join up with the smugglers of Salzenmund and from there set sail on the Sea of Claws? Or maybe you yearn to journey into the Vaults Mountains between the Empire, Bretonnia and Tilea in search of the Doomstones? Though beware you do not run afoul of the Litchmaster, or get sold down the River to Marienburg. In almost 40 years and through a first, second and now forth edition (the less said about the 3rd, the better), the Old World has accumulated an incredible amount of lore, scenarios and entire campaigns. This game aims to make the best use of all of it: Using the 4th edition rules, we will meet every Wednesday evening (UK time), and explore many of the most fascinating corners of this world. Overall the game will be quite sandboxy, following the characters and their ambitions, though the idea is to let you experience as many of the old and new adventures, scenarios, locations and NPCs from across the decades and editions of this classic TTRPG. We will follow the original sensibilities - "grimy fantasy", as one of the designers called it - and the classical irreverent mix of horror and silliness that was the heart of this game. After all, grimdark was always meant to be dark satire. But as always with nostalgia, it is important to be wise about what parts of the past to brush off and reuse, and this game will of course be fully LGBTQ+ and BIPOC player friendly.
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Wednesday – 5:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3.5–4.5 hours
1 / 5 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
Martin
he/him
5.0
(10)
Schedule
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Report Adventure
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(10)
2 years on StartPlaying
275 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, World Builder, Storytelling
About me
When I was 11 years old, I discovered a red box in my local bookstore with what I thought at the time was the coolest image I had ever seen - a Conan-like muscle-bound, sword-wielding hero facing down a huge red-scaled dragon defending a vast treasure of gold. The mysterious words on that box read "Dungeons & Dragons - Basic Rules Set". I knew that there was something magical about that box the moment I laid eyes on it, but I did not know how much it would change my life. That was in the spring of 1984. In 1989 I also discovered Call of Cthulhu, in 1991 - after I had just read William Gibson's "Neuromancer" - Shadowrun. Soon Cyberpunk 2020 followed, then Paranoia, Vampire - The Masquerade, Werewolf - The Apocalypse, GURPS, Conspiracy X, In Nomine and, well... there has never been a time in my life since I took home that original red box and showed it to my best friend that I haven't played some form of roleplaying game. I also went to college, moved to Berlin, got married, wrote screenplays for German TV, worked as a translator for novels and film, wrote novels myself, had children who themselves grew up to become gamers, and through all of this the simple act of sitting down around a table with people and together *living* a story - often epic stories, sometimes silly stories, scary stories, even personal stories - never lost its original magic. And now the magic of the internet allows us to do this together, no matter where we are in the world. Maybe you have heard of D'n'D but have never played and don't know anyone to play with but want to give it a try. Maybe you moved or your old group broke up because you all left college. Maybe you just want to try a new game with an experienced game master. Whatever your reason, let me take you on a journey into that magic.
View Profile →Reviews (10)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Creativity
World Builder
Storytelling
Blake
Played 88 sessions
He's an amazing story teller and world builder and super helpful if you're new to the system
Lance Sullivan
New review
Played 45 sessions
Martin is an excellent GM. He comes to each game well prepared and weaves a story that wisps you away into another world. Can easily run pre-made campaigns or can create his own. He has a very good eye for party, as well as character, narrative.
Scott
Played 32 sessions
An amazing professional gamemaster that runs modules and adventures as written and does a great job of adapting to the player plans and actions.
Luis
Played 10 sessions
Hi Martin had a great attention to detail. He prepares games and character to the maximum detail. He is patient and flexible and encourage a fun roleplay storytelling very hard to get in Vampire Dms. His voices an interpretation are cool and surely knows how to organize a big chronic.
Robert
Martin has a knack for epic, atmospheric scenery, on a large-scene and small-scene scale. I´ll never forget the converted resource-harvesting walker with a black market hanging below on a desert planet in our first Star Wars-campaign. He is clearly interested in building atmospheric worlds and telling great storys. Powergamers should avoid him. No pure Dungeon-Crawling in sight with Martin either. He is also very good "off screen", discussing things liked and disliked. He is very focused on being inclusive, using inclusive language and is, over all, very approachable.
Malon
It's never a strictly "by the book" adventure - the story provided is of course there/followed, but always with a lot of creative input from Martin as GM, be it locations, scenery, NPCs, etc. A lot of thought goes into how things develop, how PCs drive the adventure forward, and how it all comes together. And that shows - it's never boring! :-) Having never played before we met, Martin was the perfect GM for a bloody novice like me, and what can I say - one of the adventures turned into a story arch turned into a campaign which we played for 21 years IRL... As for being a PC, as long as your stats can *plausibly* explain your action/reaction (be creative!), it will work, but he'll not be letting you get away with everything. Which is only fair.
Character creation
Creating your character
During the (free) Session Zero, we will talk about the sort of campaign everyone wants to play and decide on the starting scenario. This will require some flexibility from the players in order to find a party composition that works for everyone. As such Edgelords and other brooding loners, "Thirteenth Warriors" and generally character concepts that "do not play well with others" are discouraged. Such characters can be great in films and novels, but tend to ruin the fun for everyone else in a TTRPG group game. You will start with beginner characters as per WFRP 4th Edition rules, and we will create characters together during Session Zero. Players joining later will get a private (free) character creation session.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You will need a (free) Roll20 account, a (free) Discord account and a working microphone. Cameras are encouraged (they make the roleplaying flow better) but not mandatory. We will usually play via Roll20, using that platform's Audio/Video-Chat, and fall back on Discord in case of technical issues. We will also use Discord for communication between sessions. It will make things easier, if you have access to the WFRP 4th Edition, but I can provide everything you need in order to play. Characters are created together, sheets exist within the game on Roll20, as does a dice app, etc. You do not need anything else.
What Martin brings to the table
I will bring the world, the NPCs, the adventures, maps, the rules, imagination and creativity as well as help and advice (if necessary), and hopefully lots of fun, laughter, joy, tension and excitement.
Platforms used
Safety
How Martin creates a safe table
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is both irreverently humorous as well as a horror fantasy game. And from its inception it has played with sensitive subjects: The Empire is a violent, feudal Theocracy. Between the humans, the Halflings, Gnomes, Dwarves and Elves racism is rampant. Witchfinders roam the land and drum up hysteria that leads to lynchings and burnings. Many commoners live in abject poverty, while nobles enjoy lavish luxuries and wield nearly uncontrolled power over the lower classes. The cities are infested with revolutionaries and insane cultists, the government is bureaucratic and corrupt. The rivers and highways are beset by outlaws and pirates, committing casual murders, while the wilderness is crawling with all manner of horrible and bloodthirsty monsters. You will encounter death, disease and gore. And half the time all of that is played for laughs. True heroism is rare, and when it is encountered it often comes along with vanity or incompetence, or is met by cynicism. And yet... Underneath all of this, the game expects the players to be heroes. The mechanics actively punish the wicked with corruption points for acts of cruelty, and reward the truly noble with fate points. In spite of everything, the world is canonically neither sexist nor homo- or transphobic (society does not discriminate between genders and while examples of canonically queer NPCs are rare they are present), and while all humanoid races behave horrendously on a regular basis, nobody considers skin color a relevant feature for their prejudices (who needs that when you can discriminate by the pointiness of ears or the use of magic?). In the end, this is a game and meant to be fun. I will talk about safety at the table in session zero, ask for limits and triggers, and encourage players to let me know anytime before, during or after a game, if I am touching on something they feel uncomfortable with (you can do so either publicly or by sending me a private message, however you prefer). I will not tolerate any bigotry at the table.
