This is it. The final chapter. The finale. Will it be as good as previous parts of “Rough Nights & Hard Days”? Let’s find out.
The final chapter takes place in Ubersreik during a party organised by Lord Elrich von Holzenauer, who wishes to become the next ruler of the city. Of course a gathering of such magnitude will inevitably result in trouble. Lots and lots of trouble.
Once again the main location of the adventure doesn’t really matter. Ubersreik is merely a background for “Lord of Ubersreik’s” many devilish plots, surprise twists and inevitable bouts of violence. Niederstadt Haus is the main “arena” in which all of the action will take place, a huge, sprawling mansion filled with many rooms, corridors, a large garden and everything else a good WFRP intrigue-based scenario requires. The entire adventure takes place during a single evening and there’s a specific timetable for each of the events taking place within the mansion. Of course the GM can modify it freely to suit his needs, exactly like in the previous chapters.
When it comes to NPCS “Lord of Ubersreik” is definitely the most ambitious of Graeme Davis’ works in this book. There’s a literal swarm of nobles and other important people present in this scenario. Lots of them will be familiar to the players who enjoyed the previous iteration of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Make no mistake – this is a classy party and PCs who are low-born (or just scoundrels) might have trouble navigating the corridors of Niederstadt House and talking to the guests found within its premises. Of course wise and crafty players will, almost certainly, find some way to offset their lower class positions, but I have a feeling that this scenario is perfectly suited for nobles and aristocrats, as well as important military personas, such as knights and high-ranking Imperial commanders.
Every important family from Ubersreik is in attendance during the party. That said some of them are not that interesting to use and, as in previous entries, it’s almost certain that not all plot hooks will be used during the game. I don’t mind, the structure of “Rough Nights & Hard Days” is quite clear in this regard. That said, in the campaign finale, I would probably like to see a bit more fleshing out of the “posh people” of Ubersreik.
The various plots are mostly interesting. We have the obvious political shenanigans and power plays for the control of the town. Baron Eberhardt von Dammenblatz confirms his status as the biggest bitch in the book, by trying to finally off Gravin Maria-Ulrike von Liebwitz, with obvious, predictable results. In my game the PCs punched his ticket in front of everyone present at the party, and since von Dammenblatz is such a pussy, no one even commented that they’ve killed a noble. All of them were commoners, by the way.
There’s a cool Skaven plot and since I love the sneaky-stabby rats I was overjoyed to use them in this chapter. I think that this is probably the best part of this scenario. A couple other plot threads are presented as well, including a horny couple and a Grey Wizard doing silly stuff with magic, but they all pale in comparison to the main arc of the adventure (politics, baby!), as well as the Skaven one.
“Lord of Ubersreik” is not particularly long. It took us less than two 3-hour sessions to complete it. It’s a fitting finale for the “Rough Nights & Hard Days” demi-campaign, and overall I really think that it’s good. Not as good as “Nastassia’s Wedding” but hey – nothing in this book can hold a candle to this scenario, at least in my humble opinion.
This post concludes the 2021 Grimvember event. As I’ve mentioned before I will not be reviewing the pub games presented in this book, nor the new (or maybe old?) race of the sinister and wily Gnomes. I wanted to present you my views on the adventures found on the pages of this fine tome, and that’s it. All in all – you should definitely buy it. It’s a great addition to any WFRP collection and it’s more than worthy of a place on your shelves.
In two weeks I’m going to treat you with yet another WFRP scenario review, this time for the venerable 2nd edition. I can’t wait to discuss “The Pig, The Witch and Her Lover”!
Until next time!
Xathrodox86
It always rains in Nuln 