Before, ages ago (aka Warhammer 1st edition) Chaos was a mixture of corruption and big frackin' monsters. Although there were no rules for it, the idea of corruption was extremely strong. The Enemy Within is the core concept of the original edition.

With Warhammer 2nd edition, we received a generally cleaner version of Chaos. It was all about the monsters, as I feel the wargaming influence took over the design of even the RPG. Chaos became little more than hordes of beasts.

3rd edition skirts the edge. They've presented nothing new, but that's because what they've presents is scarce at best. They have plenty of time for a Chaos supplement.

But in the meantime, I would like to know if anybody else wants to implement some sort of corruption system for 3rd edition. You read lines like 'tendrils that caress the minds of their mortal servants', which are wonderful evocative, but you get nothing to work with. No rules to support the fluff.

My only thought is to adapt the Stress system to represent corruption of the Chaos gods. Like when you are at your worst (lots of stress) you are weak and one of the gods can hear your plight and convert your stress into a point of corruption. Something like that.

One thing I really dislike about how Chaos works is that it compels people into worshipping the dark gods but for a truly stupid payoff: Mutation. Yes, it makes sense that chaos would 'gift' people with mutation but the folks of the Empire fear mutants I I feel, unless they are insane (which I figure most chaos worshippers are) they would never get into worshipping the dark gods. There must be a more subtle reason. Subtle is what makes 'the Enemy Within' a strong statement. It's not just the fact that this random noble turned evil or this witchhunter went insane and started following Chaos. That's too blunt. I want a subtle system.

But I'm not sure how best to implement something like this. Any thoughts?

You must remember that what the chaos gods offer is power, either via super human strength or unlimited magical power, though you must also remember that they are fickle and get bored. Only a small percentage actually get what they want but that is enough to tempt people to worship them. Remember Chaos is a constant threat to people to the old world so people may even join rather than opposing them (fools that they are).

The new magic expansion due for release deals with the physical mutations that can occur.

There is more than enough history and texts on chaos to give you all angles, you are the GM make chaos your lap dog lol.

YN

Sarim

The latest designer diary actually presents a quite neat (IMO) corruption mechanic, that not neccessarily lead to mutation (you can always use all the corruption on players tests to add the difficulty when you need it, or you think chaos can make its subtle move).

The glimpse of mechanic presented focuses mostly on the negative effects of corruption you already acquired, so we don't know yet how exactly will the PC's get corruption points, or if corruption will have some other effects (like for example benefits while casting spells).

And there is nothing to stop you as a GM from giving a corruption point to your players when you see fit, just roleplay a situation so the players have to choose something (help the beautiful noble woman chased by witch hunters for the promise of information they badly need, or give her to the authorities, and find another harder way to obtain the info) and if they choose wrong, corrupt them, you don't need a mechanics for that.

Your players don't have to worship chaos gods, or dabble in dark secrets to become corrupted. Ignorance, dire need, carelessness it can all lead to corruption.

Lets wait till we see the full mechanic along with its benefits and drawbacks.

Then we will think about expanding it if necessary.