Review: The Dying of the Light

This is my first review of WFRP First Edition adventure, and appropriately enough it’s one that features Morrslieb in a starring role. The Dying of the Light (wonderful title!) was published in 1995 by Hogshead Publishing as, I believe, their first brand new publication for WFRP (previous titles having been reprints). It thus came out just as my interest in WFRP was waning and I never heard of it at the time (I suspect Games Workshop store had stopped stocking Warhammer roleplaying games by this point). For an adventure set in and around Marienburg, it is perhaps surprising that it was published several years before the Marienburg sourcebook (which I reviewed last week). And unlike that citybook, this adventure is tragically not available to buy in digital format as far as I can tell (please comment if you know a legitimate source to get hold of it).

The Dying of the Light is a multi-author work, with each chapter written by a different author (or pair of authors). The writers comprise (in order of the chapters): Andrew Rilstone, Ken & Jo Walton, Phil Masters, Sandy Mitchell, Chris Pramas, Anthony Ragan, Lea Crowe, Lief Eriksson and Stefan Karlsson, with Andrew Rilstone, Phil Masters and James Wallis (Hogshead’s CEO) editing.

Massive spoilers follow!

Not how I’m used to seeing Morrslieb depicted, but very effective nonetheless! Copyright Games Workshop 1995

The Dying of the Light is in some ways very much of a piece with certain other 1st edition adventures such as Lichemaster and Something Rotten in Kislev (both of which I intend to review sometime soon). It has some really interesting concepts (more on them below) and some absolutely fabulous artwork, really evocative and unusual¹. On the other hand there is plenty of railroading, with phrases such as “the PC should realise this is really the only option” (a particular bugbear of mine!). There is a somewhat adversarial relationship assumed between the GM and players, with notes along the lines of “the point of this section of the adventure is to annoy the PCs” (!), or “don’t be afraid to punish the PCs” [if they don’t follow our railroad].

There are also plenty of indications that the Warhammer World still hasn’t fully been nailed down (which I found surprising, given that it was published well into the era of Warhammer Battles Fourth Edition when a lot of the lore had been codified). For instance you have a sorcerer of Malal² making a guest appearance; you have a daemon of Khorne who acts like a classic trickster – much more akin to what you might expect from a follower of Tzeentch; you have Fimir³; you have followers of the Law God Solkan. (Happily you also have some silly puns, in classic WFRP 1st edition style.)

Just a regular Warhammer astronomer… (Spot the hidden assassin!) Copyright Games Workshop 1995

The plot, I am afraid to say, is disappointingly railroady. The PCs are supposedly in Marienburg to find a rare book for a scholar patron, and have to try to track down another scholar. There is some attempt to enable player choice, but it rather quickly disintegrates (there’s a sequence that is described as something the PCs may take part in, but the next scene then assumes they’ve met a key NPC there). Anyway, the PCs end up finding an astronomer who has discovered a prophecy relating to Morrslieb eclipsing the sun, due to happen soon, and the PCs are unavoidably sent off to find a magic Macguffin to stop things. The twist is they only have a magic compass to guide them to it – together with dire warnings about over-using it – which supposedly necessitates them striking off cross-country in a straight line, rather than using roads like a sensible person. This enables the adventure to place a series of annoying obstacles in the PCs way. I’m unconvinced about this – I feel like a lot of players will skirt round the obvious obstacles (like a cursed marsh!) and then check the compass afterwards to ensure they haven’t bypassed their target – thus avoiding the writer’s carefully-constructed encounters! Even more annoyingly, once the PCs have found their Macguffin, the adventure still stipulates their route home – this time claiming that “the only sensible route” is to take a particular road back to Marienburg, with no consideration that the PCs might retrace their steps overland. This is particularly ridiculous when the “only sensible route” apparently unavoidably leads through a magical fog, surrounding what is essentially a combat arena which the PCs have to battle through!

However, what do I like about the adventure is that is features a nice variety of scenarios and some fun characters. Muuthwaug – the tricker-daemon chappie – has the potential to be great fun, even if he doesn’t feel at all like a Khornate daemon – and his encounters are sketched a bit too thinly. I loved the astronomer whose eye has mutated due to studying Morrslieb (see the image above) and the secret knowledge cult whose members cut out their tongues as a sign of their dedication to keeping knowledge secret. There’s a nicely-drawn pair of witch hunters – they’re fanatics, but they will listen to reasoned arguments rather than just shouting “witch, burn them!” There’s a sequence with a dwarf-built dam, the breaching of which leads to a flooded village being drained – revealing its undead inhabitants, which I thought had some great potential for a creepy encounter. There’s also the sequence with the revelation of the Macguffin herself – who turns out to be a cute 7-year-old girl blessed with miraculous luck – whose foster parents are a doting pair of hideous mutants. Their farm also features a bunch of mutant pig-men (who used to be actual normal pigs) which I thought was quite cool.

Just a regular daemon of Khorne… Copyright Games Workshop 1995

I’m a little dubious about the Macguffin herself – rather oddly referred to as “the Egg”. (She’s centuries old but has been in stasis on Morrslieb (!?!) until 7 years ago when she crashed to earth in a sequence suspiciously reminiscent of Kal-El’s origin story.)  Her powers are nicely detailed, but the adventure doesn’t see fit to give much guidance on her personality, likely behaviour or motivations, which seems odd since the PCs are going to be dragging her after them for half the adventure. She’s generally assumed to be a massive annoyance (which, to be fair, is quite realistic for a 7-year-old in such circumstances).

There’s also the Fimir. My interest in this adventure, when I first learned of its existence, was enormously increased by the discovery that Fimir featured in it (since I can’t recall any other WFRP adventure that includes them!) Unfortunately their first appearance is highly disappointing (they might as well be Beastmen). Their second appearance is a bit more interesting, but not really any better better – it is bizarre and combat-heavy, featuring insane, daemon-possessed Fimm Warriors, a Meargh witch, and a second Meargh whose spirit is trapped in a magic obelisk. Yet its all rather forced and feels like the adventure would probably be improved by excising it entirely. I think the Fimir would be distinctly improved by either playing up their horror aspects (magical mists and so on), or by giving them motivations that would enable the PCs to negotiate with them. Oh, Skaven also turn up, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-them appearance, after some warpstone (because that’s literally the only motivation First Edition Skaven ever have!)

Fighting the Fimir. Copyright Games Workshop 1995

Moving on, we have some more interesting concepts. There’s a chapter set in a colony for mutants, founded by a heretical Shallyan priest, which is a really interesting set up – although the sequence that accompanies this fascinating setting is not especially interesting. There’s a brilliant concept where a troupe of travelling players are performing a series of plays which gradually become more and more real due to the influence of the Chaos Moon, culminating in an on-stage murder actually killing an actress due to the stage dagger becoming briefly real. Again, the actual scenario surrounding this fantastic set-up feels a bit more standard, but I still loved it. Then there’s a chapter where the PCs are captured and put on trial for kidnapping the Macguffin in a small town (and the judge is secretly a Chaos cultist), which in theory sounds interesting; however in practice it makes heavy use of the railroad stick⁴. I can’t think of any circumstance which relies on extended periods of PC captivity works out well!

Finally, the adventure concludes with a big setpiece where the PCs have to try and stop and a bunch of Law cultists (devotees of secret knowledge) from sacrificing the Egg in order to prevent the manifesting of a demon; the PCs have (hopefully) discovered that there’s a different ritual they can use to stop the demon which doesn’t involve horribly killing a 7-year-old girl. Meanwhile the Chaos cultists are also trying to stop the sacrifice in order to enable the demon to manifest. Its not a bad idea, although everything feels a bit vague (and I’m pissed off about a lack of a map for the climactic location of the whole sourcebook!). I was impressed that the scenario details four different outcomes that can happen, each with their consequences outlined, and it also makes mention of various NPCs from earlier on who can pop up again. It still uses the rail-roading stick a bit though, as the writer tries to manhandle the PCs into the role he wants them to take in this rather complicated finale.

One other nice thing is a collection of pre-generated PCs with well-fleshed out backgrounds and personalities. One of them is a rough-and-ready Sea Elf, which is a character type I’ve never seen before; another is a scholarly dwarf. They’re quite fun, and they are featured throughout the book taking part in scenes from the adventure, which is really nice to see.

Pictured: Sea elf fighter, Halfling targeteer, annoying plot coupon NPC, and much more. Copyright Games Workshop 1995

I sound a bit down on the adventure, and it certainly has plenty of problems – its basic structure being a major flaw. Yet it does contain a lot of inventive and imaginative elements, and I think it would probably provide a decent starting point for a better adventure. My instinct would be to say that it could be improved immensely by making it a proper hex-crawl, with locations such as the dam, the flooded village, the Fimir-haunted marsh and the colony of mutants featuring in it. Get rid of the magic compass (or make it a lot less specific), give the PCs some vague clues, and you could provide motivation for them to visit those locations in order to try to find the Egg – thus giving them a much greater sense of autonomy and accomplishment.

Ultimately, I think my feeling about The Dying of the Light is that it contains a LOT of good ideas, and some decent characters too. Transformation Moon – the scenario with the theatre troupe – has a marvellous concept, even if the PCs involvement feels a bit tangential. There are some other cracking ideas in here too. And its all written in a rather charming conversational style, which I rather appreciated. And it is genuinely fascinating to read a “new” First Edition adventure after all these years!

Edit: Added the second paragraph crediting the writers of the adventure, and explaining its multi-author nature (thanks to Theo Axner who commented on this, below).

1. The credited artists are Pete Knifton, Russ Nicholson and Tony Ackland; unfortunately I can’t tell which artwork belongs to which artist. ↩︎
2. The forgotten Chaos god, who was detailed briefly in the WFRP First Edition rulebook, then pretty much ignored thereafter due to copyright reasons. See this post on Awesome Lies for more info. ↩︎
3. Fimir might not sound surprising, given that they’ve appeared in WFRP 4th Edition, but they were excised from Warhammer lore around the time of Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th Edition (1992), almost certainly due to their extremely squicky mating practices. ↩︎
4. There is genuinely astonishing advice to the GM here to keep the railroad on track: since the bounty hunter taking them prisoner “is well aware of spellcasters” – this means he can just automatically disrupt any spellcasting with “a quick slap to the face”. So that puts paid to any annoying player attempts to avoid getting captured! ↩︎