Monster of the Week #9

 

This week we change paces to a new RPG I acquired - Warhammer 40K: Wrath and Glory.

The W40K setting is something I had briefly heard about several years ago, but never really got into it as the tabletop was exceptionally expensive. 

Recently, I have dipped my toes into the setting via the first instalment of Gaunt's Ghosts, recommended by a friend. Quickly after that, I loved the dark, bleak, comically miserable themes and discovered there was an RPG. Naturally... I bought it!

After running a few games using one of the free scenarios (maybe it will be reviewed on this blog!), and going through the Bestiary, I found a great adversary for a group of players.

The Mutant isn't one of the hardest enemies your group of grim dark warriors will face, but he has some interesting additions to his arsenal.

Most irritating (for players), is it's ability to make you drop your items using Wrath dice. In the game I played, it managed to get our essential evidence and bolted for it - completely botching our steal job.

The Mutant also has a reactive action - Desperation - which allows it to run up to dropped equipment as a reaction, giving them a lot of manoeuvrability when you have lost loot on the ground!

Mutants also set a grim tone (like many things in W40K as far as I can tell) which really helps new people like myself understand the everlasting, ever pressing harshness of the world - especially as this was our first encounter.

Have a look at the stat block yourself:

While this weeks Monster of the Week didn't go into too much detail - it's fun to look at how completely new game systems work. W40K is completely new to me, and all of the grisly and harsh worlds it has really appeals to the cosmic horror loving GM that I am!

Wrath and Glory is a great game to pickup based on what I have played so far, and while it feels like a crunchy system compared to the games I'm used to - it looks like there is a huge amount of freedom to be the 'murder hobos' that many TTRPGs players end up becoming.

Have you played W40K: Wrath and Glory? We'd love hear your take on some of the other monsters in that game if you have more experience! I'm sure more of them will be featuring here shortly! :)

-KJ