Review: Altdorf – Crown of the Empire (part 1)

This is a book I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Surprisingly enough WFRP has never before provided a proper guide to the capital of the Empire. 2nd Edition’s Spires of Altdorf provided a disappointingly brief guide to the city focused largely on the Colleges of Magic. Aside from that example, 1st and 2nd Edition adventures have largely steered clear of the city, with brief jaunts into it in the first section of The Enemy Within (either called Mistaken Identity or Enemy in Shadows depending which edition you’re reading) and Empire in Flames, none of which provided much detail on Altdorf. (I’m assuming Empire in Ruins spends time there too, but I haven’t read that yet.)

Altdorf: Crown of the Empire fixes that, with a 220-page deep dive into the greatest city¹ of the Empire. As usual for Cubicle 7 products there is some absolutely fantastic art in here – both of the city itself and the many, many intriguing NPCs detailed within the pages. There’s a great map of the whole city – I don’t like it quite as much as the Ubersreik one, but it is still a very nice map and about five million times better than the one in Spires of Altdorf! The bulk of the book is taken up with a district-by-district guide to the city with major locations detailed; fantastically every single district is preceded by a small map of the area (an excerpt from the main city map) which enables you to place the detailed locations in context – I find this incredibly helpful and I’m so glad it is there. One nitpick however: I wish the map excerpt was keyed to the detailed locations, which would be pretty simple; as it is you have to guess at the precise locations of some of the places. It’d also be very nice if the map gave the names of the major roads – something that would be incredibly helpful in play.

Example of a district map. Copyright Cubicle 7

Before we get to the locations (which make up some 150 pages), we get some more general info on the city. This includes a table to generate “Fog and filthy air” (marvellous), information on the city’s history and some welcome detail on the current Emperor and his line. We get more detail on the politics of the Emperor’s Court, which is great – I always appreciate a bit of information on the politics of the Empire! This includes details on some key ambassadors, including the Cathayan ambassador, providing some tantalising details on that mysterious nation. There’s also a fantastic short section on Altdorf legends – my favourite is the one about how a frog stole light from the Sun² in order to warm the world, and was hidden from the Sun’s wrath by the Mother Goddess using a magical fog – explaining the famous Altdorf Fogs.

One thing that really struck me is how much the authors have attempted to synchronise the WFRP 4E background with that of the first Warhammer novels which I devoured as a teenager (and which I’ve been re-reading recently) – in particular Kim Newman’s Drachenfels and Beasts in Velvet (the latter of which is actually set entirely within Altdorf). Key characters from those books appear as statted NPCs, and the authors of this book have managed to synchronise some of the outdated aspects of the lore. One example is the fact that in the novels Emperor Karl-Franz has a son (Luitpold) which rather contradicts his heir being Crown Prince Wolfgang (e.g. as early as Empire in Flames). In this book its explained that Luitpold is an illegitimate son who lives with his father in the Palace and is accorded a lot of privileges, but he can’t be heir, hence why Karl-Franz’ nephew Wolfgang is the Crown Prince. Neat.

Chapter 3 details the gangs of Altdorf, specifically the Hooks and Fish. Again, these are taken from Beasts in Velvet (I don’t know if they existed before Newman wrote this book), and they dominate the docks and lower-class areas of the city. The Fish are classic criminals with links to revolutionaries; by contrast the Hooks attempt to project a more respectable front, presenting themselves as patriots, and have a more hierarchical structure. We get some sample NPCs, and here we get a prime example and one of my frustrations with the book – there’s a page with two NPCs on it, and it doesn’t obviously specify which gang they belong to. A quick read will reveal that both are Fish – but it doesn’t feel great that you have to actively search for that information in several paragraphs of text! This is probably the worst example, but this sort of layout issue recurs throughout the book – another recurring example is boxes of adventure hooks where it isn’t obvious which location they relate to on that page.³ 

Hooks vs Fish. Love the weird perspective! Copyright Cubicle 7

Over the page, we are suddenly considering revolutionary movements in Altdorf – even though we’re still in the “Gangs of Altdorf” chapter, and we haven’t had a new subheading since “The Dockside Gangs”. Again, a bit sloppy. Nevertheless this section is fantastic! Various different competing revolutionary factions are briefly detailed (once again, many taken from Beasts in Velvet), ranging from the highly theoretical Brustellites, the highly romantic Kloszowskiites (perhaps more keen on inspiring a pretty young lad or lass into bed than to the cause of revolution) and the bonkers hardliner Yefimovites. We also get “PLANT” – the Popular League Against Nobility and Taxation – who are sort of umbrella organisation for various revolutionary groups. I have to say that the acronym constantly irritates me whenever it pops up (it feels much too modern to me), and I find it unlikely that (per the book) they are now so widespread that Imperial authorities feel it unwise to challenge them too openly. Just look at their name – it seems extremely improbable that the nobility of the Empire would let this organisation operate! 

Nevertheless aside from PLANT, I think this chapter is pretty excellent. It is great to get details of a slew of organisations that are marvellous source of conflict, particularly when they are not just your classic Chaos cults, and some of them are likely to rouse some degree of sympathy with players. I can easily imagine a campaign centred around a cold war between the Hooks and the Fish, or with the PCs either aiding a revolutionary group, or infiltrating it at the behest of a patron. Naturally you can throw in Chaos influence into here, but it could be very satisfying without it, demonstrating that not every threat to the Empire comes from the Ruinous Powers.

Following this, there is a chapter with some general information about life in Altdorf, including its festivals and entertainment, examples of places to stay and why PCs might be drawn to the city. (This chapter also details the city’s bridges and major city gates.) I think this sort of information is great for bringing a city to life, and I’m really glad it is here. After that, we’re on to the bulk of the book, which is the descriptions of each of the 36 districts of Altdorf. 

The City Guide

The locations are split into three major regions of Altorf: the South Bank (mainly upper-class, includes the Imperial Palace and Grand Temple of Sigmar), the East End (lower class, lots of criminals, plus the College of Engineering) and the City North (mainly mercantile, plus wizards and the University). Each of these three major areas features between 6 and 17 districts, and each of those contains perhaps half a dozen detailed locations with at least one adventure hook for every one. You also get occasional NPCs detailed.

Some stand-outs from the South Bank include the Imperial Palace, which comprises both the Emperor’s residence and the sprawling governmental buildings. There are details on various prominent individuals (my favourite is a Nordland baron trying to curry favour – there’s an adventure hook where he’s in a tricky position since a high-up noble has asked the Baron to make overtures in Salzenmund, where he is a sadly a laughing stock), information on Altdorf knightly orders, and a page of “Sights and Sounds of the Palace” to add colour. Great stuff.

Bridges of Altdorf, plus an absolutely fantastic ship/cathedral thingie. Copyright Cubicle 7

Other districts detail the chapterhouses of various knightly orders; temples to Shallya, Manaan, Ulric, Rhya and Myrmidia; Empire House – the central headquarters of the Altdorf Watch; and the Imperial Zoo (a marvellous source of adventure if the PCs are asked to either steal an ingredient from a creature kept there, or go adventuring in far-off lands to find new specimens). We also get the Grand Opera House, the Celestial Body Press (source of a marvellous sycophantic newsheet, which is basically dedicated to supporting the nobility and attacking anyone who threatens the status quo) and the cursed, haunted palace of the von Konigswalds (yet another reference to Drachenfels). There’s a street filled with sellers of religious charms and relics of dubious provenance, which includes tantalising references to minor deities of the Empire like Katya (Reikland goddess of disarming beauty), Gargali (a Wissenland mining deity) and Kakarol (Ostland’s god of horses).

Of course we also get the Grand Cathedral of Sigmar – the largest temple in the Empire (and possibly the Old World?) and perhaps the most important building in Altdorf. We get details on its history, the regular worship services, the great library (which includes a hidden section housing forbidden books – maintained by “a cadre of blind and silent priests” – which sounds like a great setting for a larcenous adventure), an underground vault housing religious relics, and the palace of the Grand Theogonist. Sadly we don’t get a nice map of the place, which is a shame – even an overview map would have been useful.

Eastenders

The next major section of the city is the East End. This is the low class area, and boy does it show. The Fish and Hook gangs feature heavily in several of the districts here (not least in the Old Docks), and locations include such salubrious places as a flophouse, a pawnbrokers, several dubious inns, and the production house of Rumster’s famous meat (?) pies. There’s a fun Ogre butcher, a couple of genuinely hideous Mutants, and a rickety old clocktower which may or may not be inhabited by some sort of flying monster. (I’m a sucker for sinister clocktowers.)

The East End in all its grimy glory. The codes in circles denote the different districts. Copyright Cubicle 7

There’s also the Isle of Eels – an obvious reference to London’s Isle of Dogs – which is connected to the Old Docks by a single bridge, is run by the Fish, and heavily influence by revolutionaries trying to convince the people of the island to actually secede from Altdorf. The Watch don’t come here, and the powers that be of Altdorf are debating whether it’s worth trying to stamp the authority on the place when no-one here has anything really worth taxing anyway. It is perhaps a little improbable that such a lawless place could exist within the greatest city of the Empire (given that presumably a single warship could destroy most of it) but if you’ll accept it then it has great potential as an adventure location – weather the PCs are diving into the lawless murk to try and rescue someone, meet a shady contact, infiltrate the revolutionaries  – or even try and aid the criminals in declaring the Isle a sovereign state! 

Oh I also want to recognise the fact that (presumably due to the influence of the revolutionaries here), the Isle features a temple to Borchbach, an honest-to-goodness God of Rhetoric on the island, which I love. (It caters to agitators and demagogues, naturally.)

There’s also the Imperial School of Engineers (the map shows that one of the buildings has a big hole in the roof, presumably from an invention gone awry), which allegedly draws students from as far away as Grand Cathay and is “even respected by the Dwarfs” – high praise indeed.

Talking of which, we also get the official Dwarf quarter of Altdorf, “Metallschlacke”, which dates from a settlement predating the Empire itself. There’s a nice little section on Dwarfs Diplomacy – which provides some info on how the Altdorf Dwarfs relate to Karaz Ankor, i.e. the traditional mountain Dwarfs. All the locations here feel pretty much what you’d expect (Dwarf engineers’ guild, brewhouse, armoury, town hall) but there’s a couple of nice adventure ideas about industrial espionage on behalf of the ‘manling’ engineers (either aiding the spies, or trying to uncover them).

____________________________________________

That’s it for this week – we’re about halfway through the book, and halfway through my review, which ended up being so long that I decided to split it into two. So far, Altdorf: Crown of the Empire has impressed me greatly.

Join me next week for the remainder of my review!

Buy Altdorf: Crown of the Empire from DriveThruRPG. This is an affiliate link so I receive a small payment for purchases made using it. 

_____________________

Note on comments: There are a couple of comments below that cross the line between criticising a product (which is fine) and being mean about the authors of the product. I’m not happy with commenters engaging in name-calling (whether about product authors, or other commenters).

I’ve reflected on whether to delete the comments in question, and ultimately made the call not to since to do so would orphan the replies which I felt were worthwhile. Going forward I will be deleting new comments that engage in insults.

Just to be clear, it is fine to disagree with my opinions, and it is fine to criticise products. Thanks for reading!

1. A controversial take for any Nuln fans out there! ↩︎
2. A lovely nod to the Slann’s celestial engineering which moved the Warhammer world close to its sun. ↩︎
3. Meanwhile Willie Pick – leader of the Hooks – isn’t detailed until the very end of the chapter, long after we’ve moved onto other organisations. ↩︎