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Zain
2009-06-26, 01:19 AM
dear playgrounders

I need some ideas what Warhammer roleplay is like, never had played the game myself, but a friend of mien want to get me playing so hey why not6

general tips to char idea needed

thanks in advance

Tsotha-lanti
2009-06-26, 01:29 AM
You don't need a character idea - just roll your stats and roll on the career table, and go with it. The career-based character development is great for organically-grown PCs.

The game is gritty and lethal; magic is fairly rare and low-powered, and the stronger the spell the more likely that it goes horribly wrong and causes awful things to the caster and anyone in the vicinity. Hang on to those Fate Points you get, and make sure your DM understands they're not supposed to just negate a fatal hit, but to actually save your ass (you're not supposed to spend all three in one fight because you're at 0 Wounds and keep getting hit with fatal injuries).

The setting is dirty, dark, and grim, relishing in the worst of history. It's basically a synthesis of late Middle Ages as portrayed by Terry Gilliam, the early Renaissance, and classical fantasy. Graft, corruption, evil cultists, cruel and abusive nobility, money-grubbing and treacherous merchants, and base and violent commoners.

Swordguy
2009-06-26, 01:41 AM
WFRP is awesome.

It's one part Call of Cthulhu, one part Warhammer universe, one part Paranoia, and one part historical Inquisitorial Europe all stuffed in a blender and set to "gooify".

More seriously, it's a gritty, gothic setting of a fantastic medieval setting. The goal of the system is to play a more or less ordinary person, and MAKE them, by luck, skill, and force of will, into a hero. Unfortunately, you know who gets called a hero most often? The dearly departed.

That's right, WFRP is unapologetically lethal. It's a random hit location damage system, with each hit location with a differing armor value, dependent on what you're wearing. You have a Hit point Pool (from 8-14 wounds depending on Race. When you're hit, the attacker rolls 1d10 and adds the weapon's damage rating (usually from 1-5). That's the damage total. From that, you subtract your Toughness bonus (usually about 3-4) and any Armor you might have on that location (most commonly 1 or 2). The result is the number of Wound level of damage you take. Don't hit zero.

The rest of the game is pretty simple. It's a percentile system; figure out what skill/attribute to use, add or subtract modifiers to your percentage, and roll equal to or under that value. For example, Blather is used to distract people or stall for time while you're talking to them. I want to hold the guard's attention while my buddy sneaks past him, rifles through the files, and retrieves the MacGuffin. I walk up to the guard and start talking about nothing in particular. My Blather skill is a 45%, and since I'm doing something the guard is specifically supposed to be on guard againt, he decides it's a Difficult task (which applies a -10% penalty to my roll). I roll a 23 on my percentiles, which is a success.

There's more stuff to the system, but those summaries are 90% of the game. It's simple and fun to play. The biggest trick is getting people to accept the GRIMDARK setting of Warhammer (which is really almost a self-parody) and just go for it, since a lot of people don't like depressing settings. Which WFRP certainly is.

BloodyAngel
2009-06-26, 02:05 AM
Warhammer also has an incredibly rich and deep fluff and mood to it, as it's been around about as long as D&D... with many novels and stories made about it. If you're really interested, pick up one of the many novels and check it out.

If you don't have the time... just remember two things.

1: Combat is lethal.
2: See #1

It's possible to lose a starting warrior-sort to a single, lowly goblin. Let alone the myriad of things out there that are genuinely scary! Wounds are brutal, healing is scarce, if it exists at all... and the "heal" skill consists of amputations and a long and terrible list of how you might die of infection or blood loss. However, if you DO become a hero... you'll know you've done it despite ALL the odds. I'm a giant warhammer buff... so my opinion is a bit biased, but... So long as you can cope with a heroic death... you'll love it!

bosssmiley
2009-06-26, 04:53 AM
WFRP is fantastic. It is mechanically simple enough that you can hold the system in your head, but nuanced enough that it can reasonably be called what 3.X could have been (http://monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com/2009/06/warhammer-frp-2nd-edition-what-d-3x.html). :smallcool:

In many ways WFRP comes from the same school of play as old edition D&D. WFRP characters as generated by the book are no more than ordinary people (or dwarves, or 'obbits...) in extraordinary situations. They are scruffy little Baldricks who find themselves in an inherently unjust world that has more in common thematically with Call of Cthulhu than it does with D&D.

Initial career (first level) is a gauntlet that half the characters simply will not survive without a lot of sneakiness and low cunning on the part of their players. You initial goal is to just survive, then you can start messing with ancient mysteries, foiling nefarious plots, and taking down the Chaos Cults... Remember: fair fights are for suckers, and shiny-toothed, sword-waving heroes generally get themselves and a lot of other people killed.

Your WFRP character will never - even at the height of their power after 4-5 careers (think PrCs, but more characterful and less grindy) - be as replete with twinkish awesome as the named characters from the WFB army books. He'll probably have scars, missing body parts, and a couple of characterful diseases or insanities, and will have gone from being Baldrick to being a grizzled, hard-nosed badass normal who has earned every last particle of power and authority he wields.

Oh, and the game has a wicked sense of black humour. Play it! You know you want to. :smallamused:

only1doug
2009-06-26, 11:11 AM
WFRP is great, enjoy your game.

there are 2 editions of WFRP, the original edition wasn't modified for about 19 years (and there was very little wrong with it) the 2nd edition WFRP was brought out recently (2005 which shows my definition of recent :P )

see the wickepedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_Fantasy_Roleplay) entry for historical information.

the changes mostly consisted of:

(effectively) doubling the cost of increasing stats (slows character advancement);
increasing average weapon damage and basic hitpoints (removes naked dwarf syndrome).


(naked dwarf syndrome was the biggest problem in first edition WFRP, a dwarf fighter type would often be so tough that they didn't need to wear armour, the enemy couldn't hurt them.)

to convert a first edition game to second edition is actually very simple, just add a few Hp to each character (probably between 4-6), take advances as +5% at a time (strength and toughness to be increased at 0.5 per 100xp) and roll d10 for damage instead of d6. (a career that offers a +10% increase in a stat still does, you just buy it as two +5% increases.)

Morty
2009-06-26, 11:19 AM
I'd concur that WFRPG is a great game but sadly, I don't have much practical experience with it, although as a point of fact, I'm designing a 2nd edition WFRPG adventure for my gaming group.
As far as 1st edition -> 2nd edition changes go, I'd add that there was a huge overhaul of magic - from a rather generic fluff-wise system with spell points to the system with Winds of Magic and casting spells all day long as soon as Uncle Thzeentch) doesn't come for your ass. Although I've heard that Winds of Magic and Imperial Collegies were introduced in Realms of Sorcery book in 1st edition.

@V Thanks.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2009-06-26, 11:23 AM
@ Mort

Tzeentch.

I'm also interested in WFRP.

Matthew
2009-06-26, 11:30 AM
(naked dwarf syndrome was the biggest problem in first edition WFRP, a dwarf fighter type would often be so tough that they didn't need to wear armour, the enemy couldn't hurt them.)

This problem often gets misrepresented. The actual issue was that a naked dwarf could potentially resist damage better than a guy in mail and plate armour, but in Warhammer that is not often saying very much. More clearly the problem was that non-magical armour didn't provide much of a defence, 1-3 AP usually.

only1doug
2009-06-26, 12:12 PM
I'd concur that WFRPG is a great game but sadly, I don't have much practical experience with it, although as a point of fact, I'm designing a 2nd edition WFRPG adventure for my gaming group.
As far as 1st edition -> 2nd edition changes go, I'd add that there was a huge overhaul of magic - from a rather generic fluff-wise system with spell points to the system with Winds of Magic and casting spells all day long as soon as Uncle Thzeentch) doesn't come for your ass. Although I've heard that Winds of Magic and Imperial Collegies were introduced in Realms of Sorcery book in 1st edition.

@V Thanks.

Yes, realms of sorcery (the book that killed hogsgead publishing) did cover winds of magic (must fish out my copy)but not in quite the same fashion (must re-read my copy)

How a book killed a publishing company:

Hogshead had the license for WFRP from Games Workshop which limited their creative freedom severely, if they published something that GW later decided was not in line with Canon then they would have to pull the publication and swallow the cost. And Canon was self contridictory.

So Hogshead mostly re-printed existing books, untill they released Realms of Sourcery, which took a great deal of effort, it was a large book and they had to OK everything with GW, which they finally did.

Then a few rabid fans on the WFRP mailing list expressed their displeasure, it wasn't exactly what THEY wanted and they shouted about it far and wide. (I'd guess that only about 2% of the mailing list were anti RoS).
Hogshead decided not to bother continuing to bother if they weren't appreciated. (Hogshead was a very small company, there were 3 staff, only 1 of whom was full time)

Zain
2009-06-26, 01:43 PM
forgot to say in the first post, but what dice dose it use for combat (D20?)
hurray for rampaging farmers

Matthew
2009-06-26, 02:25 PM
Yes, realms of sorcery (the book that killed hogsgead publishing) did cover winds of magic (must fish out my copy)but not in quite the same fashion (must re-read my copy)

How a book killed a publishing company:

Hogshead had the license for WFRP from Games Workshop which limited their creative freedom severely, if they published something that GW later decided was not in line with Canon then they would have to pull the publication and swallow the cost. And Canon was self contridictory.

So Hogshead mostly re-printed existing books, untill they released Realms of Sourcery, which took a great deal of effort, it was a large book and they had to OK everything with GW, which they finally did.

Then a few rabid fans on the WFRP mailing list expressed their displeasure, it wasn't exactly what THEY wanted and they shouted about it far and wide. (I'd guess that only about 2% of the mailing list were anti RoS).
Hogshead decided not to bother continuing to bother if they weren't appreciated. (Hogshead was a very small company, there were 3 staff, only 1 of whom was full time)


Oh you should definitely check out How James Wallis Ruined my Life (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue8/jameswallisruined1.html), Introduction to the Faith of James Wallis (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue10/FaithIntroduction1.html), and The Authorised Book of James (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue10/AuthorisedBookOfJames.html). It is a small world, I was at Royal Holloway during Killercon 2000. :smallbiggrin:



forgot to say in the first post, but what dice dose it use for combat (D20?)
hurray for rampaging farmers

Roll equal or under your weapon on 1d100 skill to hit (it is a score between 0 and 100), same if you want to block/parry (though the latter was an optional first edition rule, not sure if it ended up in second edition). If you hit, roll 1d6+strength and deduct the opponent's toughness and AP to find how many wounds were lost. In second edition it is 1d10+strength.

littlebottom
2009-06-26, 06:14 PM
WFRPs... what can i say but... "ROLL WILLPOWER... YOU FAILED? INSANITY POINTS!" and "the troll hits you for.... 14 wounds and ulrics furys... causing a further ... 6 wounds on top... your TB is 4 you say? and AP 3? you have 12 wounds? *rolls further d10* ... yep your dead"

and that can happen to any character, even the naked dwarfs that are fully armoured, what people dont get is that if a player gets to the point of "naked dwarf syndrome" you simply throw something twice as deadly at them, that will soon shut them up if they survive... with WFRP there is ALWAYS something you cant beat. and even if youve had the character for years, one damn lucky goblin can slice your head clean off in one attack. although highly unlikely by that point

WFRP is infact the system i run on PbP on giant, so if anyone wants to join in, just search for recent posts by me, and your more than welcome to join, just be prepared to have to roll up a second character before too long.

only1doug
2009-06-29, 04:23 PM
Oh you should definitely check out How James Wallis Ruined my Life (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue8/jameswallisruined1.html), Introduction to the Faith of James Wallis (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue10/FaithIntroduction1.html), and The Authorised Book of James (http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue10/AuthorisedBookOfJames.html). It is a small world, I was at Royal Holloway during Killercon 2000. :smallbiggrin:


It really is a small world

Indeed I do count James Wallis as a close personal friend.

** When I say "close, personal friend", I do of course mean it in the Hollywood sense of: "bloke I've met three times who seemed pretty okay".
hmm, in my case more like 5-6 times.

I went to GW's Games day a couple of times (in England, where I live) to run Pit Fights (demo games of WFRP to encourage purchasing of the games system). All for the huge reward of a free T-shirt, a meal and my travel expenses. (although the 2nd year I got a free signed copy of Realms of sorcery. Edit: now that I think about it I got a free copy of SLA Industries the 1st year).

Running the Pit fights all day for a horde of screaming kids was... Interesting... and the final was doubly so.
The final of the pit fights was open to anyone who could survive 3 consecutive fights with a character (all characters were pregenerated), the winner of the pit fight won 1 copy of every book in the WFRP line published by Hogshead. Both years the Convention hall staff tried to chuck us out before the final was finished (resulting in us playing in a corridor).

The final was an All Vs All frenzy, the competitors were all thrown into the same arena, winner takes all. The problem was encouraging everyone to participate rather than wait for the advantage.

Edit: James Wallis wasn't impressed when I told him the flaws in SLA Industries, I suspect he may have stopped paying attention at some point...

I didn't tell him how impressed I was by Baron Munchausen, I think I bought it after Hogshead folded but I'm not sure. I remember playing it constantly at the Dragoncon where I bought it (possible even one game with the guest of honor, which was John Kovalik that year).

I loved the concept of Puppet Land but have never played it.

J.Gellert
2009-06-29, 04:32 PM
I love the overall style of WFRP, but its magic bugs me. On one hand you have Nagash, on the other hand you have Teclis, and while they are serious badasses, when your character tries to cast anything he has a chance to get eaten by Tzeentch...

And to the op, concerning a character idea, I'd just roll a real person. Imagine yourself in a world where people say "Oh, well" when yet another Chaos Raid/Orc Waagh!/Inquisition Cleansing destroys a few towns.