The last few days, I've been considering... what really is the tone and theme of The TOWR, especially compared to WFRP? And why does it feel different from what I expected?
From listening to various interviews before reading and playing TOWR, I expected a more heroic and... well, glorious, game than WFRP. (I think I really leant into that "grim and glorious" tagline when building my expectations.) But I find it isn't really. Sure, players succeed at rolls more than most versions of WFRP, but that hasn't changed the feel of my games. The grounded and diverse nature of most of the careers still root the game in gritty realism. Which is awesome, just not what I expected.
Compared to WFRP, the tone actually ends up feeling more grounded because of the ties to a location and contacts, and because of downtime being completely tied to downtime. Assets and contacts make the players tied to the world and in-game community. Now, these are fantastic mechanics for a certain kind of game. And from what I saw of WFRP 4th eds starter set, it seemed the way someone at C7 wanted to take WFRP at that point. But then they did The Enemy Within (TEW), and... well, WFRP always has been and always will be tied to that campaign, for better and worse.
The thing is, TEW is epic. So when the grim and gritty TEW-bound WFRP was supposed to get a grim and glorious cousin system, I expected something even more epic... like... well, Doomstones maybe? Or rather: Warhammer Quest and MB HeroQuest! And TOWR is not that. Indeed, WFRP could probably do that better (at least without house rules), because it lacks the rules tying the characters to a certain place and to having downtime to be able to advance.
And then there is the grim portents, which means that as written, TOWR characters will have enemies that are aware of them and actively trying to get them. And adventures will often be about reacting to that.
But what is TOWR then? To me, it seems that while WFRP is a game about incompetent nobodies slowly gaining skills and renown while travelling the hero´s journey towards what might be either their doom or a hard-won but little noticed victory, TOWR is a game about grounded but highly competent somebodies who try to defend their lives and their communities in the face of a common enemy. Even a rat-catcher is a somebody here, because of their ties to contacts that are invariably important NPCs.
Which is really cool! But that's a type of campaign I've run in WFRP time and time again - and for me, that makes TOWR end up feeling more like WFRP than WFRP itself... Buuuut, for those who used WFRP primarily to run epic and sprawling campaigns like Doomstones, The Enemy Within, Dying of the Light, Thousand Thrones or Paths of the Damned, it might be a completely new and refreshing take.
So C7 has managed to make a game that completely fits how I've usually been running WFRP - while also being completely different from the tone of the most well-known campaigns for that game.
I love The Old World Roleplaying Game, but it's very far from what I expected.
...now I'm half-minded to go make a fan supplement about running epic and truly GLORIOUS fantasy in TOWR, and convert Kellars Keep to a TOWR campaign. I'm sure I could find an excuse for Duke Emperor Ludwig and his army to take refuge in ruined Karak Varn. Or perhaps it should be set in a different time altogether to allow for some barbarian player characters... wielding Broadswords of course.
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