The Summer of Oldhammer

One of the biggest defining moments of my career as a British-based Tabletop Fantasy Gamer is, without a doubt, Warhammer. A constant in the monthly White Dwarf magazine, its grim but darkly humourous take on fantasy gaming, which took in a melting pot of influences (Tolkien, Moorcock, classic British Warmovies), was playing to the crowd of bloodthirsty teenagers who were already addicted to the worlds of imagination shown in early Fighting Fantasy solo game books and of course D&D.

Its been a while since I’ve done a series of linked posts, and I’ve got an ulterior motive in that this is research for a game I’m designing (big reveal later this year). Plus, it will be damn fun to look at the roots of my hobby; this is Warhammer, after all!

One big thing is that I will be looking at early editions—collectively called Oldhammer by Grognards. For reasons that I’ll make clear during my posts, I don’t have such a strong connection with modern editions of the game.

Warhammer 1st Edtion, cover by John Blanche

So here’s an overview of what I plan, which I may deviate from if I get overenthusiastic about something.

  • Warhammer and Me.A personal introductory post where I get out of my system how early editions of the Warhammer games have affected my gaming and publishing.
  • Oldhammer part 1: White Box. Warhammer Fantasy Battle 1st Edition. Primarily a wargame, but with elements of RPGing.
  • Oldhammer part 2: Forces of Fantasy. 1st Edition WFB army lists but packed with extendtions to the base game. The equivalent to the OD&D supplements (Greyhawk etc) that leads to…
  • Oldhammer part 3: Red Box. Warhammer Fantasy Battle 2nd Edition. Now a wargame pure and simple, but still with the narrative background of an RPG.
  • Oldhammer part 4: Red Box supplements. The Tragedy of McDeath, Blood Bath at Orc’s Drift and more! The game’s Grim Dark humour reaches a high mark, a bit too much Carry on Warhammer?
  • Oldhammer part 5: Green Book. We reach the first total RPG take on the Warhammer World. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying 1st Edition.
  • Olhammer Part 6: Judge Dredd the Roleplaying Game. Perhaps a surprise entry to some in this series, Games Worshops Sci-Fi RPG based around the popular 2000AD comic character.
  • Oldhammer Aftermath: Further editions of WFRP (2nd-4th), what I make of them, and the British OSR games that carry the torch.

A Jam of OSR Goodness

At Last….. Vegas, Adventures in Jam. It started off as pisstake of the most fabulous excuse that came out of the very very late James Wallis’ Alas Vegas Kickstarter , an almost non-update where James made excuses and then stream of consciousness rambled on about Jam making while on holiday in the South of France, but has grown into a OSR UK scenario/mini-rpg pack.

Here’s the link to the Kickstarter.

I’ll let creator Mick Reddick explain:

So my spoof kickstarter has funded and is pushing it’s way towards the third and fourth stretch goals! For a measly £2 [about $3] get scenarios for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Swords and Wizardry, WHFRP, Into the Odd and a new standalone game/scenario…. With random tables, jam based recipes and more in fact there are still two limited edition dice bag pledges left!!!….. its a deal, it’s a steal, it’s the sale of the f*****g century 😊