Derrick Norton has kindly shared some more of his WFRP recollections below. This time he discusses the work he did to develop Carl Sargent’s draft of Power Behind the Throne (one of my favourite adventures in The Enemy Within campaign).

Given that much of that work was until now unappreciated, I suppose that appropriately makes him (along with Phil Gallagher and Graeme Davis) Power Behind the Throne‘s own éminence grise.

Warning. Spoilers for Power Behind the Throne and ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ follow.

INITIAL REFLECTIONS ON DEVELOPING WFRP’S POWER BEHIND THE THRONE Having edited and developed ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ I was commissioned by Phil Gallagher to do similar work on Power Behind the Throne. We (the WFRP community) all knew it was coming as it had been advertised in White Dwarf and trailed in Warhammer City. I’d played ‘Malmir Giluviel’ (a PC from TEWC) in the first three adventures so the prospect of working on the next major episode was pretty cool. I started on PBtT sometime in December 1987, overlapping with the final edit / proofing for ‘GoW’. The manuscript came in the post, with a commissioning letter from Phil setting out my role, GW ownership rights, target page count, and deadline (probably January or February 1988 for a spring release). The manuscript was from Carl Sargent, and it had been worked on already by Phil and Graeme Davis (I am not sure how much but I think mainly to lift out text on Middenheim City to publish as a product in its own right).

A “thoroughly corrupt individual”

In any event, most of the artwork was done or had been commissioned (fun fact: Gotthard Goebbels is based on Paul Cockburn, ex-WD editor). The way printing was to be done (on two different types of paper) meant a spare page existed for handouts but the main text was way over the 96-page limit and had to be reduced. It’s fair to say I was daunted by the size of the manuscript. I was new to commercial editing and the amount of raw material dwarfed ‘GoW’. The length alone would mean lots of checking and editing irrespective of any other writing or development. I started reading. There was a short introduction (including something about some taxes) and then the main material on Middenheim, the Todbringers, rumours, Carnival attractions (minor and major), and NPCs: page after page after page of detail and relationships with every other NPC. Being honest, this first read-through became a real slog (though Luigi was a welcome relief) and my head started to spin with it all. As the NPC descriptions continued I thought, “Where is the adventure, where are the monsters?” At first, I couldn’t see the point. I seem to recall that the original introduction only dropped “all will be revealed” hints about the plot, and the summary included in the final version was no help because I hadn’t written it yet! As I carried on reading past the NPCs I started to understand (or was told) what lay in store: PCs would be talking to NPCs with a view to getting information and influencing them. It’s a great credit to Carl that such an approach (and on such a scale) was written for WFRP which at that time was still more Old World than open world. Having played and GM’d Call of Cthulhu the notion of PCs largely investigating their way through an adventure wasn’t an issue. But my overwhelming feeling was that the end result – the one set out in the manuscript – was too hard: hard for the GM to read and understand; hard for the GM to run; and hard for the players to play if not impossible. As I saw it, a PC might not have much to do either because: (a) there was hardly anything to fight, steal or magic; (b) the PC – if played in character – would be a complete liability when interacting with the City’s high-and-mighty; or (c) even normal levels of PC paranoia would make for very cautious interaction with every single NPC in case he/she was the Power Behind the Throne.

The adventure was also a step-change in level: weeks earlier the same PCs had probably been chasing flying death skulls around a small village but now they were expected to hobnob at the highest echelons of The Empire. The WFRP spirit is captured completely by its strapline “A grim world of perilous adventure” and the game produced PCs with names like ‘Elfspitter Trollslayer’, ‘Thatcher Rat-catcher’, and ‘Sea Captain Dougal McGrugal-Hugal’: such PCs tended not to attend Royal Garden Parties! The sheer focus on interacting with Middenheim’s upper society seemed like a double-edged sword: great if it worked but a car crash if it didn’t. These structural issues couldn’t be addressed without changing PBtT beyond all recognition, and I didn’t have the remit to do that. As editor, I had to get the draft down to 96 pages of English (including art but excluding handouts), formatted in GW house style. As developer, I had to align content and make improvements consistent with the core plot and open world ethos. In my mind this meant making it more understandable, playable, and enjoyable: PBtT would stand or fall by how well it played not by the scale of its ambition. My list of required and possible revisions got very long: “That needs to be shorter”; “This makes no sense”; “That won’t work”; “The mutual attitudes of these two NPCs don’t align”; “Flunkey is spelt with an E”; and so on. Over a couple of days my thoughts evolved into high-level intentions. It’s highly likely I discussed these with Phil to check we were on the same page (sic): Phil had recently edited and developed Warhammer City from Carl’s manuscript so he was quite aware of the type and scale of the work involved. Memory lane is a dangerous path: some of my recollections after three decades are quite clear, others less so. The examples below are based on what I do remember and/or help illustrate more hazy memories. I made it easier for the GM to read and understand by cutting back NPC descriptions. I aimed for two-pages per NPC (not always successfully) to keep each NPC section proportionate and to free up space for the material I wanted to add, such as more explanatory notes and ‘what if’ advice (what if a PC actually beats Dieter and becomes the Graf’s champion).

The original NPC descriptions included long, meandering paragraphs. I DARK-ed this material (deleted, added, revised, kept) under discrete headers (reactions, knowledge, misconceptions, goals, attitudes, and so on). Imposing this structure made the text much easier to navigate and was invaluable (to me at least) in highlighting gaps, and ensuring NPC descriptions were consistent with each other and the plot. I remember writing the ‘evil plot’ summary (which I should really have entitled ‘Chaos plot’) for GMs given my own difficulties initially, but also to make sure I understood the plot and made changes consistent with it. I also added or enhanced material that could help PCs follow and get involved with the adventure, for example: Luigi’s perceptions about Ar-Ulric; the spider-web diagram; possible helping hands such as Golthog; the cycle of visits by ‘Frau Kenner’ on Festag night; the incriminating note in the actual handwriting of the Power Behind the Throne; and so on. I wrote the text on the back of the book to provide colour, but also to get over to players that there was a protagonist (and helper) amid the endless cast list of NPCs: their PCs just had to find them. And I would have added some jokes because that’s what WFRP writers did. Thirty years on I am not suggesting that the writing credit belongs to anyone other than Carl. My role (after Phil and Graeme) was to edit and develop PBtT which I was more than happy to do. I enjoyed trying to figure out how best to turn the material into something publishable and, hopefully, more playable. I did find it a challenge but I like to think I made it better, even if I didn’t spot or fix all the gaps and inconsistencies (I overlooked at least one major plot line). I also added one major element which some people found contentious: ‘The Traitor Unmasked.’ (To be continued.)

Derrick’s next post will continue his reflections on Power Behind the Throne. The first of Derrick’s posts can be read here.

Power Behind the Throne is now available again in PDF form form Cubicle 7. Note the Cubicle 7 version includes the additional adventure ‘Carrion Up the Reik’ added by Hogshead Publishing.

Title art by Les Edwards. Internal art by Martin McKenna. Used without permission. No challenge intended to the rights holders.