Convergence - A Warhammer Fantasy Role Play: A Rough Night at the Three Feathers Review

 

Cubicle 7

The tavern is such a staple of fantasy roleplaying games that starting a campaign in one is a cliche at this point. But well before that introduction outstayed its welcome, published material for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition featured inns and taverns prominently. It makes sense, considering WFRP has always been standard fantasy at its core, though the gothic and British punk influences - with a healthy dose of dark humor - distinguished it immediately.

A Rought Night at the Three Feathers covers all those bases, a Graeme Davis penned, seven page adventure published in White Dwarf issue 94 and later reprinted in Apocrypha Now and The Restless Dead. Broadly there are some similarities to Jim Bambra's Night of Blood, even down to the naming conventions. Sharing the same basic premise, the module saw the adventurers retiring for the night only to get far more than they bargained for.

Cubicle 7

Night of Blood might have been relatively complex for its short length but A Rough Night at the Three Feathers is far more experimental, by Davis' own description. Though no mutants are on the characters' trail this time, the adventurers end up embroiled in a murder mystery, a noble's entourage, another visitor's extramarital affair, and of course, a Chaos cult.

Now where did my coin pouch go...

The scenario sports seven plotlines unfolding over the course of a single night, most with multiple personalities involved. A few can play out fully devoid of player involvement or the motives are left unknown to the players. 

Experimental is certainly the word for Rough Night, which more than lives up to its name with such a short page count and time frame. On its face it seems daunting to run. Admittedly I had to read it over four or five times before running it myself.

Despite what one might think, the short length is why this scenario works at all. Seven plotlines is a lot to keep track of, in part because they intersect so much. Rough Night even recommends dropping a few if needed. A longer page count would require too much back and forth,

as going down the timeline provided is already enough to handle. As it stands, I think this is the only session I've ever run almost entirely in "real time."

This is a particularly lean adventure, as the plotlines and personalities are given just enough context and motivations for the game master to grasp what's happening. That lack of detail makes Rough Night more digestible, as GMs get a sense of direction but also a lot of leeway with presenting and interpreting even the more "scripted" events.

Even with that leg room, there are some excellent set pieces and characters. My personal favorite are a suspect procession of Morr priests with one of the recently departed in tow. Also a strong contender is bounty hunter Ursula Kopfgeld. She gets an unwieldy "girl power" moment but as somewhat dated as it feels, it's another addition to the varied, relevant woman populating WFRP 1E, in stark contrast with many of its contemporaries and even more recent Warhammer media.

Cubicle 7

Beyond interesting characters and encounters, Rough Nights plays to the strengths of WFRP. There's no shortage of conflict at the Three Feathers inn but navigating this Gordian Knot requires more of the player characters than swinging a sword. That's tempered by how they're often spectators to events beyond their understanding, in some ways even during the climax.

In that way, Rough Night plays into the mundanity that makes WFRP so compelling. Warhammer Fantasy might not be the most original setting but it feels like a believable one, where characters have coherent goals informing their actions. There's a whole world outside of the player characters' quests, and they don't even fully grasp what they have encountered, as a single night at the Three Feathers will forcefully remind them.

That's by design, as Rough Night points to how many hooks for future sessions it provides. Even as a complete module, that sense of confusion works for the chaotic, humorous tone it nails so easily.

It's far from the strongest WFRP module art wise. But the bar is set very high with the likes of Russ Nicholson and Ian Miller contributing to the other publications. Jamie Sims' grubby art certainly fits the setting but feels a little flat. 

Admittedly there's hardly any room for him to show his stuff. Rough Nights is bursting at the seams as is, so the most he gets is a few thumbnails besides the well illustrated map of the establishment.

A Rough Night at the Three Feathers may have been an experiment but it was certainly a successful one. Beyond the numerous reprints, the scenario was rewritten for WFRP's 4th edition as a part of Rough Nights and Hard Days, a set of interlinked scenarios with that famous, disastrous night at the Three Feathers as a starting point. That's more longevity than most adventure modules enjoy, especially for magazine article length tests of what the medium is capable of.