I have - finally - recieved issue Nr. 15 of Warpstone magazine, probably the most famous magazine for WFRP, especially since White Dwarf no longer covers role-playing games. As all Warpstone issues it has superb layout and the images are far above average, although not always my cup of tea. The only point of criticism is that some of the articles have extremely small fonts, which does not make them easier to read. However the standard of Warpstone is much above that of other fanzines.

Besides the regular columns, like news, this issue opens with a piece from Timothy Eccles. His regular column "The Correspondent" is certainly not anyone's taste. And a lot of people would disagree with him. However he always raised some relevant points and even if you do not agree, they are worth considering. In this issue Tim discusses the role of the PCs within the Old World. Are they in any way special, what makes the different between townspeople and adventurers. A point really worth thinking about and, as all of Tim's contributions, worth reading.

What follows is the second part of Graeme Davis' and Phil Gallagher's article on the secrets of the WFRP writers. The article is of little value for the actual gaming. But it does lift the veil a little bit and give you an insight of the process of the canon of WHFRP (the rulebook, Enemy within, etc.). It is fun and interesting to read.

John Foody has written a short article on the use of patrons in the game. Patrons are, as he understands them, a good way to introduce PCs into adventures and help them in certain situation. As John sees it, and I agree with him here, patronage is a two-sided thing. They may be helpful in certain situation, the players may begin to rely to much on them. This problem, which is detailed, makes my reaction somewhat ambiguous. John gives a number of problems with the use of patrons, but he fails to solve them himself and leaves that for the GM. Also the article is too short to detail the topic in depth.

The centrepiece of this issue is clearly N.Arne Dam's and Timothy Eccles' article on the church of Sigmar. I had a lot of expectations on this article, but felt a little bit disappointed after reading it. The description is good and pretty detailed. The article suffers only from the fact, that the authors have used the Catholic church and transferred too much of its structure in the Middle Ages. I had looked for more new materials. You do not need the article if you already have knowledge of the structure of the Catholic church. If you do not, then the article may be helpful. The best part of the article is the one which details various schools of thought within the church of Sigmar. The description is much too short, but it shatters the image of a coherent cult. A new career, that of the flagellant, is detailed in the article. This career is in my opinion of only very limited use, since such a character would only occupy a very small niche within the world.

Stephen Cumiskey wrote an article on the religious history. Again, the informations are too brief and too much centered around the church for Sigmar, probably because it was done parallel with the article before. The article has some nice ideas, but I did not find it too convincing. An interesting approach was found by Garett Lepper in his article on Geheimnisnacht and Hexennacht. I enjoyed the descriptions of Garett. The article builds atmosphere and discusses something that was virtually shunned by any other material. The only problem with the article is that it gives detailed rule for game-play during the two nights. This somehow works against the atmosphere Garett has just created. I would have preferred if the actual effects would have only been hinted at. But this is personal taste. Over all a good article. The next article is Ouroboros "The Lore of the Ranger". In my eyes the down-point of the whole issue. The authors gives thirty new or modified skills for the ranger careers. As the authors says the skills should be restricted to ranger careers. When you consider that the rulebook has 131 skills (the spell skills not included) this shifts the balance very much in favour of the ranger. Some of the skills are also very dubious. I do not see a need for joinery, which allows the character to make small pieces of furniture ("he was a great warrior and hero, but his name will ever be remembered for his fine spice racks"). Too many of the skills are not necessary. They could be created ad hoc with the help of attributes and a skill is not necessary here. If someone is really looking for more skills, I advise him of using Rolemaster instead of WFRP.

As all Warpstone issues, an adventure finishes this issue. Much to my enjoyment it is an adventure of investigation and less and adventure of battle. Set in the city of Nuln, the PCs have to find the secret behind a city official, who is a necromance (what else?). The adventure is nice, although I could not test it so far. The only difficulty may be that the adventure is tied into a corset of a sequence of time, which might make it difficult top play. But as I said I have not played it.

Over all the issue is good. There are a number of articles that are really worth reading. However a number of articles are a disappoint (church of Sigmar) or of only limited interest (the lore of the ranger). You should have a look before buying this issue. I cannot give you unlimited recommendation to buy it. (ls)