"Gross!" muttered Geofe, to his master Hector. The young servant had just stepped in a glob of the disgusting slime that covered the floors and sides of the cramped sewer tunnel. "Quiet, you'll get us caught," admonished Hector in a horse whisper. "This whole thing was your idea in the first place. I thought I was done with chasing after followers of Nurgle, but no! You have to be the hero and rescue a woman who has been ground into sausages by now for all we know." As they turned a corner in the darkness, a bolt ricocheted off the wall, barely missing them. Geofe charged towards the thug in the unsteady footing while the man tried to reload his crossbow without success. Geofe slammed into the shooter and the two of them slid down the tunnel in the muck as a large man made a break through a side tunnel that exited into the river. "I've got that butcher, you keep that punk off me back," Hector called to his servant who suddenly found his hands full with the close quarters fighting....

After publishing a good number of background supliments, Green Ronin Publishing and Black Industries comes forth with the first book of adventures for Warhammer Fantasy Role Play. This is a role playing aid for the game and is not designed to stand alone in any means. Unlike the many releases in the original version of the game, Plundered Vaults is not a campaign but a set of six unrelated adventures that take place in many of the different regions of the Empire. I found this to be very refreshing because as much as a player group likes having a continuing story, having little side adventures ready is a great aid when the Game Master finds himself unprepared to continue because time constraints keep him from being able to prepare for the next phase.

Once again, this is a nice hard back book and will stand up to the abuse of being used often. This is, however a very thin release and the $24.99 cover price may seem to be a bit much for a mere 100 page book. However, the game play enjoyment will more than make up for the cost. One of the small changes that I did notice about this volume of the game series was that it is all in black and white format. I expected the same rich color format as the rest of the hard cover books for the cost, but I was disappointed.

Inside The Empire

The six adventures are designed for player groups of different experience within the game. Unlike other Role Playing Games (RPG), Warhammer doesn't use levels to determine the power of a character but by how many careers the character has completed. The first adventure is The Grapes of Wrath and takes place in a village just south of Middenheim. It is designed for characters just starting their second career.

The next one is For Love or Money and occurs in the far southwestern Provence of Wissenland. There are several reasons that your player group could be in such a remote place of the Empire, the most likely being that they started there as this is made for characters in their first career. This particular adventure is a good introduction to the skaven for the players and can be relocated to any village in the Empire that is near a river.

The Haunting Horror is one of those rare adventures that can be placed anywhere you like. This is one of the types that I truly enjoy running for it isolates the characters from outside help and makes them really have to think to solve the problem. It begins with the characters finding a secret door that leads to a gloomy house. It is recommended for those at the end of the first career or beginning of the second.

While traveling through the Reikland, let your players experience a Rough Night at the Three Feathers. This complex adventure has many things happening at the same time and events that are interwoven into a complex mystery. The characters will be exposed to a total of SEVEN different plot lines and a great deal of events that take place during the night. This highly confusing adventure can be broken down into the seven components by the GM and used multiple times in order to keep the game play rolling along when researching the next major part of a main campaign. This adventure is for characters of any ability as it is mainly the deductive prowess of the players that is being tested here.

Carrion Call gives the characters that are about halfway through their starting careers and good look at the powers of the undead in Warhammer. Although it can be quite challenging to most starting careers, those with two or three careers might find it too easy because of the items or powers that have been gained from before.

Last, the players are forced to Sing For Your Supper with a really gruesome adventure that gets them caught up in trying to stop a sickness from spreading through the city of Nuln. The several clues provided in the build up of this story lead to some really fun role playing and can end up being a blast. With some rather sick twists and turns along the way.

Each adventure comes complete with maps that are easily photocopied and some even have handouts. Each of the stories is well thought out and designed to provide different kinds of challenges rather than the mere hack and slash of so many other game systems.

And the Rest

Although I was disappointed with the lack of color in this volume, it does have some nice little extras. A new (sort of) monster is introduced in the first adventure that can be readily adapted to any setting. The different types of adventures are showcased quite well in this collection, proving once and for all that there doesn't HAVE to be some big, bad monster to kill at the end of every adventure. Many of the tricks and stories within this volume can be revised to make greater adventures that might just be what you are looking for.

On the other hand, this is a volume for the sole use of the Game Master. Never should a player be allowed access to this book unless he/she forswears ever participating in any of the adventures that are contained here. This little volume is a great asset for both beginning and experienced Game Masters. It will teach the methods of running a game smoothly to those who are just getting started and while it also has the ability to make even the most experienced GM enjoy driving a story along and watching his player group figure out the subtle (and sometimes not) clues that he gives them.

Recommended: Yes