Help for a new DM please!

By Gollum9, in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Hi all,

I have been reading the forums for a while and have now finally come round to running my first WFRP session. I am running the demo adventure just to get the players into the system and our first night against the Beastmen went really well. I know that the next part of the adventure is the social encounter but I am struggling to get my head around the process to run it with the tracker, social action cards etc.

What would be really useful is if any more experienced GM's with the system could give me some help and maybe a step by step example of how the scene would run. Myself (and my players) would really appreciate it!

Many thanks for your help,

G9

I think your best rule is: keep it simple. There are a lot of /rules/ you wont remember right off the bat and dont worry about it. Its most important the players learn how to :

a) analyze the dice quickly to their Action or skill check

b) learn how to +/- from stress & fatigue

c) learn how to apply damage and soak

d) how to make a first aid check depending on severity of wounds and how much it heals

e) the wizard needs to learn how to power-up and cast a spell

f) how to make a skill check and interact with social cards

Here's the stuff I'd skip first game:

1. party sheets: including stress, socketing party talents, and fortune refreshes

2. universal bane/boon effects (if its not on the card skip it)

3. insanity

4. medicine checks

Each of your players needs:

1. www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html Universal head's game summary. He's brilliant. Get the uncensored one if you can. It beats the the actual rulebook. :)

2. a copy of the basic action cards (if they don't have a set of the cards). Dont' worry, they're the same on both sides.

jh

Gollum9 said:

Hi all,

I have been reading the forums for a while and have now finally come round to running my first WFRP session. I am running the demo adventure just to get the players into the system and our first night against the Beastmen went really well. I know that the next part of the adventure is the social encounter but I am struggling to get my head around the process to run it with the tracker, social action cards etc.

What would be really useful is if any more experienced GM's with the system could give me some help and maybe a step by step example of how the scene would run. Myself (and my players) would really appreciate it!

Many thanks for your help,

G9

Just view Chapter 2 as a series of events that will eventually trigger Chapter 3. Chapter 3 can either be triggered by the Player's successful investigations or by their failures - the Investigation and Cult markers on the Tracker are used to measure this. It stops Chapter 2, which is very much an investigative/roleplaying part of the adventure, dragging on indefinately.

The Tracker is just a way of monitoring the progress of the Chapter - Events happen at specific points in the course of their investigation. Whenever the players uncover a relevant clue (examples are listed on p.78) just move the Investigation tracker forward a space. When they have uncovered enough clues, and their token reaches an Event space, that Event happens.

The Cult Tracker is used to penalise the players if they chase dead ends or generally mess up. Each time they do (see p.79), the Cult Tracker moves on a space. When the Cult Tracker hits an Event space, that Event happens, as described on p.79.

The upshot is, at some point, the finale is going to trigger - either through the Investigation or the Cultist marker reaching the final event. Note also, the PCs CAN discover the final clue without being constrained by the Tracker - if they do so, just treat the Tracker as having been completed by the Investigation marker.

Reactions for each of the major NPCs, regarding the players, is detailed in their individual entries - just make rough notes to remind yourself and keep them at hand. Details for uncovering clues are also given under each location. I don't want to give any spoilers away here with specifics.

Its not actually as complicated as you might think, and it all worked fine for me with just the tracker and a handful of scribbled notes.