Let’s start with the plot. The British Bird Preservation Society (of all things) loses its annual expedition to an island near the Falklands in 1981. They go again in 1982. The players are on this boat because an occultist learned something about the situation, but then was murdered, which bears investigating. The secret is that a defunct cult hid their cult artifacts there and set two shoggoths as guardians. A non-believing descendant of the cult thinks they hid treasure there and is prepared to really fuck everyone’s trip up to get it. On top of all this, the night before arriving on the island, everyone on the boat eats ergot laced bread and basically starts going crazy. All of this is described in the sequence of events as if the investigators aren’t present and doing things, which will naturally derail the timeline, for which some guidance is given. It’s a lot of reading, but it isn’t a bad arrangement for a scenario. Even if it is kinda weird.

Oh, so, also, set in the ’80s, which makes this the first “modern era” Call of Cthulhu scenario to see publication. There are several new skills in the front of the adventure (most of them utterly useless for a boat expedition) like Nuclear Physics, Drive Motorcycle and, my favorite, Phone Phreaking. Oh, and there is an NPC named Hans Gruber, who is a retired mercenary, and it is my head canon now that the Die Hard character was inspired by a truly bizarre playthrough of this scenario.

Brian William does all the art, inside and out, and it is good. I don’t understand the quality gap between this and Nightmare in Norway. It’s so wide!

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Of course, that meant I’d be on the hunt for Blood & Iron (1989), one of two art books Games Workshop produced in the ’80s (the other, a collab between Ian Miller and John Blanche called Ratspike, is still very much on my want-list, but is pretty universally priced outside my budget). I found it recently for a reasonable price (no easy task) and while it may be the mustiest book I currently own, it was well worth it to get such a concentrated dose of Edwards’ work.

He’s gnarly, man. All bug-eyes and too-wide grins and gore galore. Some of his fantasy stuff is kind of hilarious (his covers for Fighting Fantasy are pure, glorious cheese) and it’s is cool to see the process essay for the gross AF cover of The Lost and the Damned, but his horror work is really where it’s at for me. It’s so metal (to the point that, unsurprisingly, a number of his paintings were used as album covers). Even his pin-up paintings, which routinely feature big boobs and improbable poses, still come off as appealing somehow — that black idol is so good! I don’t really care about the titular high priestess, but she doesn’t bug me the way a lot of other artists pin-up work makes my eyes roll (see Chris Achilleos, tomorrow).

Anyway, a real wonderful time capsule of Edwards’ work. Oh! The cover. I gotta mention the cover — it’s the second version of the cover of a Graham Masterton novel called The Devils of D-Day (1978) which was used to replace Edwards’ earlier cover painting. It’s a novel about a demonic tank? I dunno. But the first cover! That was re-used for the Metallica single Jump in the Fire. One of my favorite bits of fantasy/metal cross-over trivia.

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A couple things of interest here beyond the awesome art and the details on the two more interesting Powers (if you didn’t know, this is the definitive, objective ranking: the best is Tzeentch, followed by Nurgle, then Slaanesh, then that ding-dong edgelord Khorn). First is in-universe. I think it is actually no longer the case, but at this point in time, the ruinous powers were thought constructs assembled out of the residual desires of human souls that pass through Chaos; this lends them a surprising complexity. They are entities made up of extremes, dominated by negative impulses, but with positives shining through occasionally, like the way Nurgle comes off as caring, or Khorne honorable, or Tzeentch inquisitive. It makes the allure of Chaos, so often characterized by horror and mutation, somewhat more understandable.

Second, these are recent reprints of the books, available only at Warhammer World in Nottingham. I had originals at one point, but honestly the bindings are so fragile (and they command such steep prices) that it made much more sense to have a friend in Nottingham pick up a set and mail them to me (many thanks, Ruth!). If you want these books, I highly suggest making your own Nottingham friends.

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In the worlds of the Warhammer universe, Chaos is the ultimate opponent. In Warhammer Fantasy, I feel like Chaos represents the human impulses that undermine civil society (the veneer of which in Old World is incredibly thin). Whatever the faults of the Empire, it is preferable to the violent dissolution of Chaos, which takes the role of a Dark Power pretty typical of fantasy lit. In 40k, though, things aren’t so simple. The Empire is a fascist monolith and Chaos, repugnant though it may seem, is the antidote for that oppressively ordered “civilization.” Sort of. This conception of the late ’80s is way more interesting and complex than I ever really gave Warhammer credit for (and I think has been consistently eroded away in the name of uncomplicated commerce in the years since).

Anyway, what amazing books. Just jammed with stuff. Lists, mutation rules, all the traitor legions associated with Slaanesh and Khorne. Above all, though, the art. So much, so gnarly, by a GW murder’s row: Ian Miller, Tony Ackland, Gary Chalk, Martin McKenna, John Blanche, Russ Nicholson and like a dozen more, with John Sibbick on the cover. If there was a fever-pitched height of GW aesthetic, its Realm of Chaos. (Also, bonus: the gargoyle from HeroQuest makes quite a few appearances!).

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It’s rich! The book starts briefly with the manufacture of board game bits and gets right into the Owl and Weasel newsletter, showing all 25 covers, which is a treat (the version I crowdfunded came with a replica of #1, even)! There’s a lot of material on the import of D&D, as well as big chapters on White Dwarf magazine, Citadel Miniatures, Warhammer and Fighting Fantasy. All full of art and covers and photos of ephemera and even a too-brief catalog of painted miniatures.

The rest concerns business stuff, which has its own charm. Lots of vintage photos of warehouses and offices and folks painting miniatures and folks gathered at the storefronts. It’s all rather cozy, actually.

Highly recommended for GW aficionados, particularly those, like me, who appreciate the early period above all else. My interest whithers pretty much completely after 1991 or so (the Realm of Chaos books are the last to grab me), and this basically gives me everything I want. I’m keen to see what the publisher does with the forthcoming Fighting Fantasy art book (update: it’s fucking amazing), and how this account pairs with Grimdark: A Very British Hell.

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I guess, primarily, it is page after page of photos of miniatures, both painted and unpainted. I love this sort of thing — I loved these sorts of photos in adverts in Dragon Magazine, and I love them in this book. I think I like these in particular because I am not super familiar with Citadel designs, but I have some foundation in them thanks to osmosis, so it feel like…like a revelations of sorts. If nothing else, it is a time capsule for the Games Workshop that was truly punk rock and pushing a weird nerd hobby in a Thatcherite UK that wasn’t really having it. Love seeing Maggie on the orc banner, that cracks me up.

Fantastic art throughout. Melvyn Grant did the cover; not sure his deal, but it’s a banger. Back cover by Bob Naismith. That painting was also the box art for Citadel’s Monster Paint Set. That’s not something that would ever wind up in my collection, I don’t think, but the art is rad, and I’m happy to have it here.

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They’re delightfully illustrated, with lots of little details. There are pieces of furniture and other stage dressing, too, that can be cut out and placed as necessary — suits of armor, rugs, corpse, body parts, you name it. There’s a ritual room, of course, a grand hall in two pieces, and various sitting rooms. I love ‘em. This might be my favorite set of room tiles.

And damn, that Ian Miller cover. Just, I can’t imagine just, having access to Ian Miller and sticking his art on a box of room tiles, even if it is recycled from the cover of the Fighting Fantasy book House of Hell (1984). So good!

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At the very end of last year, Bryan Ansell, a man who played a pivotal role in the world of tabletop games, passed away. To understand just how important Ansell was, this week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we chat with Timothy Linward, Wargamer staff writer and author of the forthcoming Grimdark: A Very British Hell. Tim walks us through the early days of Citadel Miniatures, his rise to prominence at Games Workshop and his role in shaping the various flavors of Warhammer that emerged during his tenure from 1985 to 1991, culminating with Realm of Chaos. We also nearly spin off into a tangential discussion of the Horus Heresy, but luckily we pulled back from tumbling into that abyss. Another time!

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Stu’s book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground is for sale now! Buy it!Patreon? Discord? Cool RPG things to buy? All the Vintage RPG links you need are right here in one place!Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!Available on iTunes, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, YouTube and your favorite podcast clients.Send questions, comments or corrections to info@vintagerpg.com.The Vintage RPG illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Twitter.Tune in next week for the next episode. Until then, may the dice always roll in your favor!

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What you get is a history of the castle and its owner (the great enchanter Constant Drachenfels is a legendary, monstrous figure in the lore of the Old World), a detailed room-by-room description of the horrible place, scads of NPCs and several “adventure themes.” These last are interesting, in that they give motive to players to explore the castle while also acknowledging that the castle is largely unconquerable. No megadungeon is, but rarely are they so upfront about it.

Chatting to folks about this one has gotten some mixed opinions. It reminds me quite a bit of Jennell Jaquays Dark Tower or a less deserted version of Tomb of Horrors but with a sense of humor. That dark comedy seems to be the prime divider, as it is a bit zanier than what you find in the Old World up to this point — folks either love it or hate it. I fall in the love category. The castle is plenty horrible, it is nice to have what laughs you can squeeze out of the carnage. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a stone cold classic of the line, but it is nevertheless as fine an example of a large funhouse dungeon as you are likely to find.

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In terms of interestingness, it is probably second behind Death Rock (but in terms of quality, it is probably the least of the volumes). The final crystal is in an abandoned dwarven stronghold which is currently being excavated by one faction of dwarves in hope of finding the crystal to prevent a civil war. Another faction of dwarves is arriving soon, so the investigation of the ruin has a timetable a bit like Death Rock. I have a hard time caring about either of these dwarf factions though.

Weirder still, this doesn’t finish the campaign. The adventure ends abruptly, but threads dangle — the stones are powerful and probably tainted by Tzeentch and should be destroyed, but…there is no guidance for that. A fifth part was published by Hogshead in 2001, more than a decade later, but it doesn’t sound like it satisfied folks, even if it was written by Robin Laws. I haven’t seen a good explanation as to why Flame didn’t produce a finale, either — they were around for another couple years…

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