W- Warhammer, Wizards, Wagon, Wrap

Warhammer Fantasy Role Play was originally released back in 1984 though the book pictured here is the 1989 version of the game unless I am mistaken. In 1984 the game was a hard cover book and I seem to have lost, traded or sold it at some point. To the best of my knowledge the 84 and 89 versions are very close if not identical. This was without a doubt my introduction to Dark Fantasy but I am still not sure I like my fantasy as dark as this makes it out to be. That does not mean that the game design and mechanics are not to my liking it is just the setting and you can always lighten that up. When I first opened the book in the store the art caught my attention but it was the character generation that hooked me. It reminds me of a greatly expanded upon Traveler system. There are career paths but you are not locked in by your initial choice all the time and there are enough options that characters are not cookie cutter. The major drawback is the magic system which as I recall was overly complicated making it not so fun or easy to play a caster character but that eliminates parties of all caster as well. I have not had much of a chance to review the new edition of the game so if I was going to recommend picking up something WFRP related it would be the 1e of the game.

Movie:

Wizards was directed by Ralph Bakshi who is probably best known for his early attempt to bring the Lord of the Rings to the big screen via animation. On an aside I sort of liked the animated version but onto Wizards. Wizards is a story set in post apocalyptic America where the two sides are lead by two brothers. One side is steeped in fantasy and magic while the other side in based off of technology. The story has a fairly adult theme and storyline so please do not rent this for your children (like most anime should not be) to watch. The story was entertaining enough though the message was perhaps a little heavy handed. If you want to play a post apocalyptic game setting that involves technology and magic this would work for ideas though the flip side where technology is invading a fantasy world would find ideas as well. I really agree with the premise that they can not coexist and find the idea of a campaign based on that intriguing.

Plot:

Wagons tightly covered and guarded arrive into town just as the sun begins to set and the guards remain with the wagon though the passengers on the wagons disembark and spread out about town going to various location but eventually meeting back up in a central location. The passengers will be of a nationality that the players have not seen before and speak in a tongue that none of the party know though the passengers speak the common tongue of the realm. The players can choose to ignore them but at some point a fight breaks amongst the strangers out and the level the fight goes to whatever level the DM needs. Hopefully the fight, the strangeness of the travelers or the mystery of the covered wagons will be enough to draw the players in. In reality none of this is exciting or adventure material, but the results of the characters action could be. Sometimes you have to throw the players a red herring and let them create their own adventure.

Magic:

Wraps of Transformation will be cloth squares anywhere form 5' to 20' square, The can also appear to be anything from ratty linen to finely woven silk. This makes them hard to identify which is part of their nature. The Wrap allows the owner to wrap an item up and then by speaking a command word transform the item into something else. The two items need to be close in size and weight but other than that can be as different as the owner desires. The Wrap can not affect living beings though. Anything that is changed by the Wrap will radiate a strong aura of magic if that is detected for though without some other sort of identification magic nothing more can be determined. Items changed in this fashion will retain their new form for a maximum period of one day per level of the person using the Wrap (I would use this as a plot hook but that's just me) after which it reverts to its true form. The item can be switched back by re-wrapping it in the Wrap. The Wrap can only transform one item at a time and can be used no more than 6 times per day and can have no more than a dozen transformed items at any given time.