Warhammer Community -Charlotte Hamilton

We love hearing from the wider RPG community and this week we want to introduce you to Charlotte, who some of you may already be familiar with from Twitter, Facebook or the multiple Discord servers Charlotte moderates!

Let’s start this off with a brief introduction: I’m Charlotte (aka Foxfyre) and I run the various Discord servers surrounding the latest Warhammer Roleplaying Games. You may also see me from time-to-time around Facebook dropping invites for the discord servers. I talk a lot and invite people to discord. It’s what I do.

I got started with the Rat Catchers Guild in May of 2018 with Matt and Liam, who have moved on to run their podcast ‘Mud & Blood Podcast’, where they review, interview, and run actual plays of gritty games. You can also find me on there taking part in the APs. 

To be honest, I don’t remember how it all started, I think I was looking to see what was around for WFRP at the time. I spotted  a link for a new server, and being the Discord junkie I am, I clicked on it. It was the first or second day that the Rat Catchers Guild was live. So, I dove in with great enthusiasm. I started talking with Matt, Liam, and some of the others already on the server. It didn’t take long for me to offer my services to help keep the server running smoothly. Here we are, 3 months away from our 2nd anniversary, and enjoying the company of 3200 other members! Some of you may be asking, ‘What’s the Rat Catchers Guild?’ The Rat Catchers Guild is our inclusive discord server for all editions of WFRP, where you can discuss your games and hobby with like-minded folks. Discord is a program similar to a chat room. The invite to the server will be included at the bottom of this post!

My first exposure to Warhammer itself was Necromunda back in the mid ’90s, admiring it from a distance at an FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) and dreaming about making all types of different terrain for it. It was probably 2 years after that when I bought the Warhammer Fantasy Battles starter set with Bretonnia and Lizardmen. I was into Warhammer then, but it wasn’t until I finished school and left home when I dove into the Warhammer Universe. I bought Mordheim and started to play at a local store, as well as picking up some of the Novels. The old Warhammer Fantasy Anthologies and Genevieve books are some of my favourites to date. It was the dark and grim themes that really drew me in. 

My first foray into WFRP came shortly after that. We were on leave from military training when we came into Edmonton, and in a local used-game store, I found a copy of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition and a pack of the character sheets. I read through the book, fell in love with the randomness of the character creation system, but all I did with WFRP1e was read it. I never had any friends who were into it, and I wasn’t confident enough back then to GM WFRP. 

Jumping ahead a few, or 15, years, my enjoyment of all things Warhammer was high, and a desire to get back into Tabletop Roleplaying Games was present. Then I came across information that a company called Cubicle 7 was developing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition, and here we are!

At the time of writing, I run the Rat Catchers Guild, a WFRP discord, Age of Soulbound, a Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound discord, the accompanying Facebook group, as well as a server for the upcoming Wrath & Glory re-release from Cubicle 7. Having a hand in guiding these communities has been a very rewarding experience. There’s something about having people come together around a shared interest that brings me back day after day. The communities that we have built are second to none, and while from time-to-time some of our members may not see eye-to-eye, we are generally able to keep things on the right track. 

One of the benefits that we have in these communities is the ability to talk to the folks from Cubicle 7 as they progress through the various stages of development. Being able to discuss with Emmet Byrne (producer) and TS Luikart (writer) about some aspects of Soulbound has been fun, and at least for me, helps build the hype around the upcoming Age of Sigmar roleplaying game: Soulbound. I can only imagine what it must be like from a writer, or an artist’s standpoint when they hear people talking about the game they helped make. 

Alongside the WFRP watercooler, we also have The Ratter, which is a collection of fan-made content typically for WFRP 4th edition and is released seasonally. To date, we have had interviews with numerous writers and illustrators, and coming up in the next issue, we have an interview with JG O’Donoghue – artist on WFRP 4th edition. We’ve had fiction pieces, custom careers, adventures, campaigns, pieces of art, all from members of the community. We are always looking for more people to submit content for future editions.

As for my own gaming endeavours, over the past year I have been a part of various streamed games as a player and a GM, some of which were WFRP 2nd & 4th edition, and a player on a couple of Actual Play podcasts from Mud & Blood Podcast. For my table side gaming, I am the undisputed Queen of One Shots! I like to run one shots at conventions, and my FLGS to help people experience the hobby, and have the opportunity to try different games out. It’s not as difficult to schedule the one shots compared to a continuous campaign. It tends to be easier to herd cats then get a bunch of adults to have a consistent schedule! 

If you are ever looking for a place to talk about your favourite Warhammer Tabletop Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7, come join us via the links in this post!

Charlotte.