Mini Spoilers >> Back Cover Text from A Day Late, A Shilling Short

By ynnen, in 2009 WFRP The Emperor's Decree Event

Attendees at the Essen game show in Germany have already played demos of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and have posted some of their feedback and comments to forums across the internet -- so I just wanted to let people know in case they want the event to be a complete and total surprise.

However, since some of this information is online, and for the most part in German from various sources, I thought I'd provide a teensie bit of a spoiler myself by posting of the back cover text from A Day Late, a Shilling Short .

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Something is definitely wrong. Vaerun the High Elf Envoy is expecting an important package that was supposed to arrive on the last coach. The Road Warden Birgitta’s partner Rutger was escorting the package. The coach, the package, and Rutger are all a day late. Worried about what may have happened, Birgitta and Vaerun head off to investigate. Kurgi Balginson the Dwarf Troll Slayer joins them, eager to pay back his honour debt to Birgitta – or die trying.

Used with the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Set, this demo adventure provides step-by-step instructions to help a Game Master introduce this new type of gaming experience to a group of players.

This demo pack highlights key sections of the rulebooks from the Core Set the GM should be familiar with before play, provides tips on preparing for the game session, and offers suggestions on how to get the players ready for the adventure. The scenario also includes four pre-generated characters to allow everyone to dive into the action quickly.

What became of Rutger and Vaerun’s package? Your players can find out if their investigation doesn’t end up A Day Late, A Shilling Short .

Nice!

A quick question for you about the demo ... is it possible to play it with more than 3 players? I realize that that there are only 3 pre-made characters, but assuming I get time to read the rules and create one or two more, would it throw off the balance of the demo (as written) to have 4 or 5 players? Increasing the NPC baddies isn't a problem, but if there was some other balance issue with the adventure (and more players) I'd like to know ahead of time.

I am concerned that quite a few people might show up to play when I run, and I'll be forced to turn people away, so I'd like to accomodate as many as I can (within reason) each session.

The demo actually includes 4 pre-generated characters.

  • Human Roadwarden
  • High Elf Envoy
  • Dwarf Troll Slayer
  • Human Grey Wizard Apprentice

I'd encourage people to play the demo with 3 or 4 PCs first to get a feel for how the game plays. If the GM is comfortable accommodating more players and making the necessary changes to the adventure, they might want to do so.

Once the person running the demo is comfortable with the rules and scenario, it's estimated the demo will run 60-90 minutes long, which may influence the GM's decisions. However, more PCs has a tendency to mean a longer run time per demo (more questions, more individual player turns and actions). Ultimately, it is up to the person running the demo to determine their own comfort zone.

Great, thanks! I knew the first 3 PCs from the spoiler, but there wasn't mention of the wizard apprentice. 4 will likely be a good number, excellent! I'm hoping to have a shot at looking at the game from my game store a few days early to prep for the demo, so I'll be relatively familiar with the rules and scenario (I hope).

I am running twice for now, noon and 5pm. So, give me an hour for food between, and I've set aside about 4 hours for each game to play. Plenty of time to explain rules, answer rules questions, and handle a larger group if need be (well, it better be!).

I can't wait!

Great news, thanks for the spilers Jay! Can't wait to see the game, will we see the demo adventure on the page after the event?

Good to see the blurb! Should be fun.

Birgitta - Roadwarden
Vaerun - High Elf Envoy
Kurgi Balginson - Troll Slayer
Guy-in-Red-Shirt - Grey Wizard's Apprentice

Jay

What's the Wizard's apprentice's name?

Thanks,

Jay H

The Grey Wizard Apprentice is Diedrich Scheffler.

A dwarf and a high elf in one party? Would be interesting in how many game rounds the Troll Slayer kills the elf before the end of the adventure.. gui%C3%B1o.gif .

I'm curious is there (in the adventure) any background provide to handle i. e. possible Player vs. Player attacks (worst case)? After all it's Warhammer (remember: War of the Beard) and not a generic Fantasy-World.

Although I understand the point of the party tension meter (and dont' plan to ever have to use it), I don't agree with the point of putting players in such an obviously unpleasant tension. I quit the RPGA because of BS like that. I DM'ed too many folks that didn't even need any encouragement to be A-HOLES to each other..and now that same unpleasantness is built into the system that I'm so looking forwards to. (!?!?) Good luck with that if you use it ;)

The war of the beard is going to have to be dealt with especially now that 50% of the races in the game are elvish.

jh

Emirikol said:

Although I understand the point of the party tension meter (and dont' plan to ever have to use it), I don't agree with the point of putting players in such an obviously unpleasant tension. I quit the RPGA because of BS like that. I DM'ed too many folks that didn't even need any encouragement to be A-HOLES to each other..and now that same unpleasantness is built into the system that I'm so looking forwards to. (!?!?) Good luck with that if you use it ;)

Getting a bit OT here, but I wanted to comment on this.
It seems like you've had a bunch of bad experiences with intra-party conflict and wile it's certainly something that needs to be handled with care it can also lead to great opportunities for roleplaying and adventuring.

If you just have a couple of dolts who wants to kill the other PC's just for fun then you have a problem, but if you have good players who actually try to use possible volatile situations as a source for roleplaying and added party dynamics it can be a lot of fun! It's definitely something that works best if you play with a group of people who know each other well and who knows how far they can take things.

I've never had any of my games devolve into a PC actuallt trying to kill another character, but harsh words, "pranks" and the odd fist fight is not unheard of. It doesn't even have to go that far though; I love it when my players (or actually their characters) start squabbling about nonsense things! It makes the characters and the situation just feel that much more real.

Sorry for running off on a tangent there... er... I'm looking forward to the PDF version of the scenario! happy.gif

Poe said:

Sorry for running off on a tangent there... er... I'm looking forward to the PDF version of the scenario! happy.gif

Good to know that I'm not the only one waiting for this.

Poe said:

I've never had any of my games devolve into a PC actuallt trying to kill another character...

I have. It got REALLY nasty. I actually got worried that my friend was gonna punch me (which IS a scary thought, because he's a boxer).

So I empathize with Emirikol, really. But I will still use the Party Tension meter.

Good grief. Suggest to your players that the elf/dwarf might dislike the other, but that does not mean the characters are willing to personally commit murder or that it is blind hatred. They might not trust each other, might bicker a bit and make snide comments, but that *does not* mean that every elf and every dwarf wants to hack down the other on sight. Perhaps it would help to suggest they think of it like Gimli-Legolas from LoTR, with a slightly harder(more bitter) edge. Lots of comments and mistrust, more bluster than actual bite. Remember, the PCs also have their own sense of personal honor, and murdering a group-member should not be acceptable.

As a GM, I'd frown on any intentional intra-party physical violence without strong reasons. A PC who is that upset at another PC so much as to derail the game trying to kill another group member, I'd tell one or the other players that either their characters need to work it out to a less violent level, or one of the characters needs to leave the group (player rerolls a new PC).

This might sound a bit harsh, but the fact of the matter is that the game is being played to be fun for everyone. If a player or two cannot roleplay without it coming to violence, then the rest of the group (GM included) won't be having fun, and likely the subject of the violence as well.

I repeat, the tension and dislike stemming from the War of the Beard can be roleplayed without it escalating to violence. If your players can't handle that, they probably shouldn't be playing those characters. If you're concerned, make sure at character creation time to let your players know that violence against other party memebers is unacceptable and/or make sure you don't have a both a dwarf and an elf in the party.

dvang said:

Good grief. Suggest to your players that the elf/dwarf might dislike the other..I repeat, the tension and dislike stemming from the War of the Beard can be roleplayed without it escalating to violence. If your players can't handle that, they probably shouldn't be playing those characters. If you're concerned, make sure at character creation time to let your players know that violence against other party memebers is unacceptable and/or make sure you don't have a both a dwarf and an elf in the party.

I'm glad that there is a history of animosity between the races. This SHOULD be palpable, and I hope it's worked into the PLAYERS section of the system somehow on how to deal with it. I'm just tired of GM-guides telling me that I need to be the parent/daddy/mr.policeman to players. The party tension meter is NOT going to help. I feel like it's a parent-child time-out meter. I'm not their parent. I have kids. Sadly, I play RPG's to have adult time ;)

The first page of all player rulebooks should be "Don't be an A-hole and don't let your fellow players be a A-holes. If the GM has to something, somebody probably needs to be asked BY THE OTHER PLAYERS to leave the game."

jh

Yep My point is, though, that there is indeed some left-over animosity, but it's not outright killing hatred. It's not like having an Orc in the party with a Dwarf, or a dark elf with an elf player. Sure, the characters might snub each other, try to outdo the other, prove the other is incompetent, etc. They're not about to murder them in their sleep, though, for example, nor even try to kill the other for disagreeing with them. None of the animosity should spill into physical combat between the characters, unless there is a complete egregious error made on the part of one of the characters involved.

I wonder if the details of the war of the beard should be handed out to elvish and dwarvish players. Encourage them to jib-jab at each other about it (if it's their character's nature).

Speaking of such things..why do the Tolkien Elves and Dwarves dislike each other?

jh

Does the scenario have to have those characters, as most of the groups I have played with, are generally very light on non-human races, especially elves.

Yes, everything whih is said is right. The intention of my post, was to find out if FFG did the homeworks with the setting. That the PCs kill each other was only to get some posts in this thread. In every other setting i have no problems with elf s and dwarfs in one group, but the Old World is a little bit different. After all they fought a long and unforgiven war against each other. This should be mentioned and roleplayed accordingly.

Bruenor said:

Yes, everything whih is said is right. The intention of my post, was to find out if FFG did the homeworks with the setting. That the PCs kill each other was only to get some posts in this thread. In every other setting i have no problems with elf s and dwarfs in one group, but the Old World is a little bit different. After all they fought a long and unforgiven war against each other. This should be mentioned and roleplayed accordingly.

That's true, in my gaming group i had sometimes that probmelm with dwarf and elf in one group. I can't say there wasn't any problems, sometimes PC characters want to kill eachother and argue with eachother but still they can make a good team. That's what makes warhammer sessions so special.

As a side note, why IS the elf vs. dwarf animosity such a prevalent theme in fantasy settings? I mean, Tolkien was great and all, but for crissakes: can't we move ON?

I got a question to Hay little and it would be nice if He could anwser:

will the demo adventure "A Day Late, A Shilling Short" be avaliable for download after the event?

For the event are the GMs only being provided with the core set and not the toolkit?

I ask because as it has been pointed out a few times, the core set comes with sufficient cards to deal with 3 players without sharing. If the intro adventure comes with 4 pcs, then it would be good to see how much of a problem (if at all) having the "extra" player causes in relation to having to share cards etc..

I for one, would be interested in seeing some comments about that after the event from those involved in the event.

FFG obviously aren't concerned about it if they went ahead and designed the scenario for that number of players and only provided the core set.

Gut instinct says it won't be a major problem if there is some sharing, from what i know, it only gets a bit tricky if pcs share a card that takes some time to re-charge, because then you have two lots of re-charge tokens on it and it could re-charge at different rates meaning one pc gets it back before the other, and then perhaps that pc wants to use it again but with a different stance, so the card needs to be flipped, but the previous pc still has it under the existing stance etc etc but still there are numerous work arounds for this scenario too.

...If the also provided the toolkit then ignore everything I have just said

Cheers

pumpkin said:

For the event are the GMs only being provided with the core set and not the toolkit?

That seems to be the case given the information people are posting.

Correct. The Emperor's Decree event uses the Core Set for the demo.