Altdorf - Crown of the Empire

I love detailed #ttrpg city books, and at 220 pages in length, Altdorf: Crown of the Empire for #WFRP certainly qualifies. As the capital city of the Empire, Altdorf is full of factions, power groups, NPCs with secrets, and lots of tiny neighborhoods - each with their own character, yet all feel plausible and believable for the setting of the Old World (well, maybe with a few exceptions - the "Popular League Against Nobility and Taxation (PLANT)" revolutionary group reads too much like something from the 20th century rather than the "German Renaissance" atmosphere the setting generally goes for).

So, why didn't I give this book full marks? It isn't for the bad puns in the German-sounding names - as a German WFRP player, I've learned to tolerate these. No, my problem is that this book doesn't really do enough to make its individual parts interconnected.

The setting of Ptolus, as usual, shows how to do this right: Each time a character, a place, an organization or something else has a connection to something done elsewhere, there's a page reference to where you fan find more. As a result, you get the feeling that the city - despite its fantastic nature - is an interconnected, organic whole. In contrast, while Altdorf has a long list of fascinating, atmospheric neighborhoods, they all too often feel as if they exist on their own, with connections to the rest of the city only being hinted at.

Nethertheless, a GM interested in running adventures or even entire campaigns in Altdorf will find plenty of useful material in this book. But they should put in some added effort to make this city feel alive.