Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

[SquishyStone]

Hey I recently picked up WHFR and after trying to find people who wanted to play I was overwhelmed with players. I was hoping for around 4 or 5 now I have 10 or so players. I am fairly new at the whole GMing thing and so I am asking for some help on ideas for running these people through this fantasy realm setting.

Another thing specifically I want to know; Is there an area for my to get some character sheets that do not have the intricate background? Or if printing off of adobe reader can ignore that?

Thanks
-SquishyStone

[hamlet]

Hey I recently picked up WHFR and after trying to find people who wanted to play I was overwhelmed with players. I was hoping for around 4 or 5 now I have 10 or so players. I am fairly new at the whole GMing thing and so I am asking for some help on ideas for running these people through this fantasy realm setting.

Another thing specifically I want to know; Is there an area for my to get some character sheets that do not have the intricate background? Or if printing off of adobe reader can ignore that?

Thanks
-SquishyStone

Head over to Black Industries. They're about to close it all down, but I think they should still have a LOT of good free stuff up on their website for download including character sheets, adventures, and nifty doo-dads for your enjoyment.

[its_all_ogre]

10 players!
amazing. the thing to realise is tht it is not a combat happy system, if your group like hack n slash then avoid! i love the system for its ruthless slaughter of silly rambo-esque players, but if this is not the groups style then warn them before hand.

as for the other queries i don't know i'm afraid

[Crazy_Uncle_Doug]

Ten players is a lot. I only have two players at this point. I am so jealous. I've never run a game with so many. I've played in large groups, tho'. Best to try to move between players to spread out the action. In a small group, I've found my players don't mind if one guy seems to be getting more NPC attention. In a large group, it can get boring for players who aren't doing anything.

The combat rules can look complicated at first, but once you're used to them you get into a flow. Much like any game, I like to keep scratch paper around so I can crunch numbers on the fly.

Are you running a pre-made game or making your own campaign?

[Myshlaevsky]

With a group that big, I'd love to run a Children of the Horned Rat campaign. Think of the group dynamics!

Like Hamlet says, there's a lot of good stuff available free on the Black Industries website.

Given the career system of WFRP, though, I can see why so many characters might be interesting, especially if you're going for an average-Johannes feel. Have you considered running the 10 as two seperate groups of 5?

[bosssmiley]

Hey I recently picked up WHFR ... I am fairly new at the whole GMing thing and so I am asking for some help on ideas for running these people through this fantasy realm setting.

You ever seen "Blackadder"? The PCs in WFRP start out as Baldrick in the most crapsack of crapsack worlds. Truly it is an evil GM's dream-world.

"Warhammer. You don't live a miserable life and die; you live a pointless, painful life soaking in excrement until you're killed horribly by some monster." - from tvtropes.org

[Squeeck]

Congrats! I have been in love with WFRP since the first edition came out back in - well, let's not go there

There's also a lot good stuff to download at

the Encroachment of Chaos


Worth checking out.

[Tsotha-lanti]

"Warhammer. You don't live a miserable life and die; you live a pointless, painful life soaking in excrement until you're killed horribly by some monster." - from the tvtropes.org

Come on, now, it's not Hârn. And it's still a fairly epic fantasy setting - the world is just meaner, and the characters mostly don't slaughter dozens of enemies single-handedly.

[hamlet]

Come on, now, it's not Hârn. And it's still a fairly epic fantasy setting - the world is just meaner, and the characters mostly don't slaughter dozens of enemies single-handedly.

Harn world was cruddy because that's what the medieval world (and, conincidentally, the modern world) was like, kinda cruddy.

Warhammer's world is not just cruddy, it's downright malicious.

[SquishyStone]

Thanks you guys. Hopefully on sunday I will have all of my players with their characters made. I am going to run them in one party. Though I am planning on having them all start being captured by cultists.

But anyways I am going to post who is in the party probably on monday.

[Crazy_Uncle_Doug]

Best of luck! Warhammer remains an old favorite of mine. My friends and I played 1st Edition for some time, and we like 2nd Edition as well. Some things you and your players will want to do:

Combat goes fast, and trying to figure out what you can do before you decide what you will do can drag things down, especially with 10 people. Get to know the concept of Half-Action and Full-Actions well. Especially figure out rules for Parrying and Dodging Blows. Warhammer has a high lethality -- which is why each character has a number of Get-Out-of-Death-(relatively)-Free cards called "Fate Points." Being able to Parry or avoid damage altogether is important.

For regular monsters and antagonist NPCs, don't do a lot of fancy stuff. It just makes it complicated for the GM. If they are taking on a major NPC or monster, then start getting fancy.

[Myshlaevsky]

I agree with the post above and I also recommend (if you're not planning this already) not using the critical tables for standard monsters or 'minions'. Having to roll on that for every beastman can get frustrating, to say the least.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Use combat cheat sheets. Write a one-page document or spreadsheet that lists combat actions and their types (maybe with a short description of the effect), and the most important stages of combat (attack, damage, parry). Hand one out to everyone. Makes things much easier for new players.

[Crazy_Uncle_Doug]

Good stuff. Also, if you can find it, I do recommend the GM's screen for Warhammer. It's one of the few I've found nowadays that has the best information there and handy. Or, make your own! A cheat sheet as mentioned above is a great idea!

If you have never run before, I recommend against using the hit-location. My friends and I love it, but it will complicate the game if you haven't run before. Get used to the combat system first, then add it in if the players think it's a good idea.

By the way, I fully approve of diabolical chuckling whenever your spellcasters roll doubles on their casting rolls. If you can get Realms of Sorcery and Tome of Salvation, do so. The charts are expanded and fun. My Journeyman Wizard's player already tried to ban me from using those charts. I informed him that since he took spells from that book, I get to use the charts. Muahaha.

[SquishyStone]

Heh, alright I will dumb down to basic rules for the first few sessions. I am going to be picking up some supplements pretty soon, which ones would you all recommend?

[Prustan]

I got the 1st Edition rules some years back, but several things prevented me from giving WHFRP a proper go - No players, high lethality, and horribly expensive books (about NZ$20 more expensive per book then any other system I might have been interested in).

If you think we're kidding about the lethality, players can die from a single hit. Wizards can go mad and attack random people, or their spells backfire and summon some demon who wreaks havoc. Recovering from wounds is slow and painful.

[Myshlaevsky]

Well, if you don't have it, the Bestiary is a must. After that, Realms of Sorcery has some good stuff. The Tome of Salvation and the WFRP Compendium are supposed to be good, but I've not had a chance to look at them.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Wizards can go mad and attack random people, or their spells backfire and summon some demon who wreaks havoc.

This is why the game has a great magic system.

Yep, spellcasters are more powerful than non-spellcasters. They're supposed to be. But magic has a horrible price.

You end up with Middle-earth style spellcasting, where the wizard beats things with sword and staff until there's no way to survive a melee against the enemy, at which point he begins unleashing magic and blasting everything to bits (or turning himself into a fiery messenger of death or whatever). With luck, the magic won't get out of control and kill everyone...

[Crazy_Uncle_Doug]

Realms of Sorcery, Tome of Salvation, and the Old World Armory all add more for both Gamemaster and Players. I recommend them all. With 10 players, I can easily imagine a Priest and Mage in the group.