THE SET UP
Once again, I was forced to take up the yoke of GameMaster as the people in my group who wanted to try the full version of WHFR were unwilling to spend time reading the material and making a campaign. I took the huge box of components and began my slow tutorial into the new version 3, thinking about how to best introduce the new people to the game.
Our game (well, the FLGS's version) arrived last Sunday, and they excitedly (or tenuously, in the case of Mike) examined every component and book. Beautiful, to say the least. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cards would not create a space problem as I had initially anticipated. Mike - the one guy who was very negative towards the announcement of a 3rd version and highly skeptical of it's operation - merely rolled his eyes. I knew at this time I was going to have a hard time trying to get him deeply involved in our adventure.
So after 5 days of reading, I started writing up the bare bones of an adventure to merely introduce the players (3 in all) into the new Warhammer world. I knew from reviewing materials that we would focus on the party sheet and the careers for more in-depth roleplaying. So our first get-together was to mostly pick a party type and characters. Joe (an old but excited WHFR gamer) decided to be a Dwarf Trollslayer. Tom was a new, young player (loved to play CCGs before playing RPGs) and unexpectedly joined our game because he was interested in how neat the game looked. He chose to play the Wood Elf mercenary. Finally, Mike decided to be a Reiklander cleric of Sigmar, as it was the most likely combo that would prove how overly complex and unfun this game would be. They decided to be swords for hire (Mercenary party).
THE ADVENTURE
I started them out working with a group of dwarven warriors in the mines in the World's Edge Mountains, looking for a lost ballista weapon to salvage for protecting the dwarf city of Karaz-a-Karak. The first part of the adventure introduced them to combat with giant spiders and blood thirsty giant bats. Mike lightened up a bit, since he picked up how the die rolls actually worked and how slotting talents/tactics cards actually improved the party's odds. They also interacted with the dwarves quite a bit, the elf not doing so well (having failed a Fellowship roll when trying to help).
Eventually, the party reached the ancient weapon, and started digging it out. The elf and the Trollslayer were put on watch, with the priest basically taking time to bless the diggers. The elf spotted the swarm of goblins way before the dwarf, and managed to fell two before they reached the dig site. After that, it became chaotic as the goblins attacked in a giant mass, overwhelming the party and the other dwarves. They were split away from the dwarf diggers and forced down a side tunnel as Orks showed up. The party was holding their own, taking only a few wounds and killing five goblins before the priest convinced them to run from the large party of Orks (ten in all). The party fled into the darkness, away from the fighting, only wounding two Orks in the process.
The elf led the party, using his ability to know which direction they were traveling. The priest spent time renewing his strength, and the Trollslayer complained that he felt cowardly running away from the battle. The priest pointed out that killing mere orks was no way to commit honorable suicide - chances are, the farther they fled, the more likely they'd meet a worthy opponent. Eventually, they entered a hallway full of traps that the Trollslayer and Wood Elf took turns disarming/defeating. The dwarf was lightly injured after all the fighting and the traps, and their food was running low. They decided to rest.
They rested and then found that they were in a cavern where a few Skaven and two Chaos Warriors were making a trade of warpstone for something called the Book of Screams . The elf managed to spy on most of the conversation before the Chaos Warriors slew the Skaven, taking their book and keeping their warpstone. One of the Skaven scouts fled into priest and Trollslayer's location, and they cut him down. The priest was unfortunately poisoned, which he tried to resist and failed. So weakened, they tried to skirt around the two Chaos Warriors. That failed when one of the Warriors detected the presence of a rival faith (Sigmar) and went on the prowl. He found the party, and chased them across the cavern and down a tunnel, with his fellow Warrior close behind.
They finally reached a large open space with a narrow ledge and a rock bridge that was only wide enough to allow one person to cross at a time. The elf quickly (and easily) ran to the other side, and began hammering the lumbering Chaos Warrior with arrows. This only lightly wounded the Warrior, and the Trollslayer declared he'd go last over the bridge. The priest cast a few blessings and tried to smite the Warrior, but only the Trollslayer was empowered. The priest reached the other side, while the Warrior and the dwarf fought a retreating battle across the bridge. The elf turned his attention and his bow to the new, unwounded Warrior that entered the space.
The dwarf nearly toppled over the edge a few times, but the Warrior was unnaturally sure-footed. They continued to take chunks out of each other, as the bridge began to crumble under their feet. The Trollslayer finally struck a critical blow that sent the Warrior over the side into the pit (which did not count as a "kill" because the Warrior still had 50% of his health) with the Book of Screams. The second Warrior started out on the bridge, but the dwarf created a gap in it that would require a successful leap. The Warrior paused, and they fled down the tunnel away from his curses and crossbow.
The party suddenly found itself at the gates of a dwarven stronghold. They pleaded for entrance, but the dwarves on watch spotted the elf and he failed a Fellowship test. They sent a runner to check the elf's name against their Book of Grudges. The players waited a little while and suddenly the second Chaos Warrior burst into the entrance. The dwarves told the players to dispatch this filth they brought to the dwarf stronghold. The moderately wounded Trollslayer cursed his kinsmen and fights the fresh Warrior. The elf keeps plinking away at the Warrior with his bow, and the priest enters the fray, mostly making hits that can't penetrate his armor/toughness. The fight goes badly, so the dwarf begins using his free action to taunt his fellow dwarves, who take a shot with their crossbows into the fray when he succeeds at a Fellowship roll. All the crossbow bolts save one hit the Warrior - one hits the priest in the leg, critically wounding him. Finally, the runner returns with news that the elf is not an enemy, and the dwarf guards finish off the Warrior (again, no kill for the players).
We ended with the Trollslayer laid up for months to recover from several critical wounds, and one lost eye. The priest also spent most of his time healing, and using his abilities to assist the dwarf guard. The elf was put on guard duty, kept at long distance from the rest of the dwarves. He actually makes very little money, just barely covering his living expenses for two months. The party mostly spends their stipend from their previous job in healing and staying in the dwarf stronghold. The dwarf captain has put the players in charge of going back out and finding out what happened to the diggers who were ambushed at the ballista. Only two dwarf engineers are sent with them this time (they fail yet another Fellowship test, and the dwarves don't trust them since they couldn't kill a single Chaos Warrior without help).
IMPRESSIONS
- Tom : Loved the game. The cards and stance meter were helpful in keeping track of things happening in combat. He especially loved the fortune dice, and wants to learn more about Warhammer so he can earn more fortune dice through good role-playing. He told us that he's not used to playing a game where everything is so gritty and deadly. He's a little humbled at playing an elf that is not super-powered like Legolas. He missed a lot with his bow, and was very wary of entering melee combat with his weak sword and low Wounds. He definitely wants to play again.
- Joe : Loved the game. His biggest compliment is the dice - they worked well, and his inability to guess at the success of his actions actually made the game better in his eyes. He liked the Wound/Critical Wound system. He didn't really care about the Party sheet, as he often pushed the tension meter by insulting the dumb elf and the worthless human. He didn't mind socketing his Charge skill or another tactics card (that I forget now) to help the others. He had a great time, and was thrilled that he almost died on the stone bridge. "That's what I remember about the old Warhammer - the ability to die so easily and the fact that we had no help or flashy skills saving our asses. Half the time I felt things were going from bad to hopeless. I was watching a Trollslayer slowly bleed to death."
- Mike : Surprising, he liked the game. He tried so hard every time we came to some roll to find a flaw, but really actually began to like the dice. He told me he could tell what happened by just looking at the dice. His faith-related abilities were not difficult to use or keep track of with the cards. He especially liked the party sheet because he used it to remind the dwarf that they were working together. He remarked he really liked the Critical Hit cards - his extremely wounded leg in the end made him nearly leap out of his chair in excitement. I was surprised that he was warming up to 3v by the end of the game. I was certain that he was going to point out a number of perceived flaws at the end of the game, but he only had one - the fortune dice compared to fate points.
- Me : My reaction actually surprises me - I found the game to be less work than I expected as a GM. Every piece we used helped me more than the players keep track of what was going on. I knew it was more GM friendly, but this was almost ridiculously friendly. I had a hard time at first running the Chaos Warriors since I hadn't really expected the players to fight them. However, with a little ad-libbing and stance tweaking, I found it getting easier as we went. I'm going to have to really work my brain to make the campaign interesting for the players, and change the pace between adventures. I think I can do it, though - FFG gave me just enough ideas and tips for running a campaign. I think the Core set needed MORE setting/world stuff so I don't have to rely on my old materials to inspire me.
It was scored something like this: Tom (4 out of 5 stars), Joe (4 out of 5 stars), Mike (3 1/2 stars out of five) and me (4 out of 5 stars).
* I know this is a sketchy session report, but the reality is that I only took light notes and I don't have the game in front of me today since it belongs to the game store. However, I do own the first and second editions of Warhammer Fantasy RPG, so it gave me a framework to building an adventure with Warhammer names and places.
