Mayhemheim
An original campaign for Mordheim where brutal narrative meets competitive intensity!
Public Beta 1.0
You watch as signs of smoke waft skyward from the ruins of the once proud city of Mordheim.
“Aye, fires still fester in the city, almost a month now after the Doom,” berates Luthor Wolfenbaum, a.k.a. the Crimson Blade. Luthor, a mercenary from Reikland has become a local legend in the weeks after Mordheim’s destruction. He was the only survivor from a company of soldiers who reportedly first encountered mutants and beastmen near “the Pit” where the comet fell. Luthor turns and points directly at you.
“Hah! The ruins may smoulder but YOUR heart BURNS. Burns with ‘twin-tailed fever’, the promise of quick wealth and renown. Don’t deny it! I see it in your eyes lad.… I’ve seen it in many.”
“Go on then!” taunts Luthor, “See what fortune you can pry from the refuse.”
Adding with a smirk somewhere between a smile and a sneer, “…then see how long you can keep your bounty from the wretches and marauders who lie waiting in the chaos and mayhem.”
Hello fellow fans of Mordheim,
I’ve something to share with you I've been crafting for a long time: Mayhemheim — a new Mordheim campaign designed for players who desire a deeply narrative story combined with a genuinely competitive game. A tricky balance to achieve. Rather than isolating warbands with separate goals, Mayhemheim introduces shared narrative objectives and a direct conflict over amassing wyrdstone to determine the campaign victor.
While this is my first time formally publishing a campaign, I’ve spent decades designing and playing both wargaming and RPG content. This public beta is an opportunity to refine the system with your input. I’d deeply appreciate any and all feedback!
Mayhemheim is more complex than many existing campaigns, and it's best suited to experienced players or newcomers guided by veterans. It requires a game master (the Campaign Administrator), albeit one who can participate with a warband of their own.
I hope you enjoy exploring Mayhemheim as much as I’ve enjoyed building it.
Timo Kurvi,
Campaign Designer
The Campaign
The Mayhemheim campaign is designed for 4–10 warbands which play over 10 campaign turns/chapters (someday I intend to expand to 20). Every chapter presents up to 4 unique scenarios that reveal our story. Your warband will take part in only one chapter mission each campaign turn (the others are played by your fellow warbands). After each chapter’s battle, players go through Mordheim’s normal post battle sequence (with a few minor changes) to advance and update their warbands. Once all 10 chapters have been played the campaign ends and the warband with the most Mayhem Victory Points (MVPs) wins.
Generally speaking, the campaign rules of Mayhemheim make little to no changes to the table top mechanics of Mordheim, including any house rules you have. So your manner of playing the game should be unaffected. Specific scenarios usually add special rules for that battle, creating variety in games.
Mayhem Victory Points (aka Hoarding Wyrdstone)
Wyrdstone is the greatest source of Mayhem Victory Points in the campaign. That is, unsold wyrdstone, which warbands stockpile to someday take with them when they leave Mordheim. This treasury is no longer stored in some abstract hidey hole, it must be brought onto the table top and defended for most games. This opens the opportunity for you to make off with the treasure chests of opposing warbands if you can!
Other MVPs come from Dark Artefacts that can be found in the campaign, and optionally from the achievements of both individual warriors and resolving certain plots that appear in our story.
Surrounding Settlements of Mordheim
The four surrounding camps which formed in the aftermath of Mordheim’s destruction are sources for many of the scenarios in each chapter. As warbands succeed in the missions proffered by these settlements they earn the Loyalty of its citizens and leadership. Loyalty makes gaining new missions easier and earns practical support from the camps which improves a warband’s opportunities for victory.
Rich Narratives
In addition to the story elements intrinsic to the Mordheim game itself, our tale follows several plots, both large and small, involving the factions, divisions, and even individual citizens in and around Mordheim. Players can get their warbands stuck in with these schemes in the hopes of earning rewards or steering developments in their favour.
How do I Mayhemheim?
As a campaign beta, I chose to publish Mayhemheim as a website instead of a pdf. This way I can make & document changes much easier as the campaign takes shape. This website is arranged into four main sections.
3. Administrator Guide (being built)
As a player, all you need to do is to read through the basic campaign rules and create a Mordheim warband normally. The optional expansions add extra features and stories to the campaign. Your group can pick and choose which to add as needed. Players can read the Mayhem chapters (the scenarios) but especially if its your first time playing Mayhemheim you might want the story’s twists and turns to unfold one chapter at a time.
Mayhemheim needs a Campaign Administrator. Your administrator needs to read the campaign rules (basic and optional), Mayhem chapters, and administrator guide (when finished), to fully run the campaign.
The supporting gubbins section has Mayhemheim rosters and worksheets to help record data for the campaign. Coming soon are also Google Sheets versions which automatically calculate campaign standings when players update linked rosters.
The Appendices (a fifth section) are a list a various indexes of relevant campaign information, like the details of dark artefacts or a list of all scenarios.
My developer blog has updates of my progress in creating Mayhemheim.
Most rule sections on this website begin with a summary called in a comet-shell. While the full rules cover all details, including exceptions and descriptions of what game mechanics represent, for those who wish to quickly grasp how a rule set functions, the “in a comet–shell” overview will give you enough to get playing. Links to the full rules of key mechanics are included.
The full rules always take precedence over any discrepancy or imprecision from in a comet–shell summaries.
“…in a comet-shell
Play Testers
Kim Bäckroos, Kalle Dasilva, Nicklas Forss, Thomas Forss, Juho Hiltunen, Jarno Jalonen, Aki Kanerva, Toni Kuisma, Arto Kulmala, Jussi Kyrönseppä, Travis Larson, Sarah Lindström, Jussi Löytökorpi, Juha Luoma, Aleksis Meaney, Pekka Meskanen, Lasse Nevala, Eino Pihkala, Simo Pihkala, Tatu Puukko, Tommi Rämä, Fredrik Roos, Jarkko Silmu, Jake Suda, Eetu Tarkamo, Jukka Teräs, and Ville Toiviainen
Special Thanks
Jussi Löytökorpi
Thomas and Nicklas Forss
Aki Kanerva
Zuher “Supi” Turbi (Oh My Game–FLGS)
Game Factory (Maria 01)