Hello anyone, I have just purchased WFRP 3ed .. This is my first RPG.. I've never played any D&D or anything like this.. I've read most of the books inclosed in the Box but im having a hard time understanding how to get Started.. . Can anyone Send me some links to Step by Step Help or Video's ?

What is my character sheet suposed to look like when im done.. How do i decide on a Dice Pool.. .. Basicly i need a WFRP for dummies .. Any links or input would be appreciated..

For the most part I will be the Gm.. and my girlfriend is going to be the only Pc.. .. How do i use a party sheet for only one player..? Can she make and use 2 Pc's. Is there anyway that one person still uses a Party Sheet?

Where do i Start and What does it all mean.. and then how do i keep going.. Character points ?? Skill card distribution ?? Dice Pools ?? Anything would be useful .. Thank you

Welcome!

I don't think anyone could give you a step by step guide and the available videos are way too general to help you with that. My advice is to read the rules carefully and take notes. Go get some user created "cheat sheets" or rule summaries. The best one being Universal Head's excellent reference sheet. It basically sums up everything in just 10 pages.

As for the 1 player party - it's possible (skip the party sheet) but it may be better if your girl controls a couple of characters or if you provide helpful NPC's when in need (Taking a long and dangerous journey? Have her hire some mercs.) ... the Warhammer world is not a nice place to be alone!

Good luck and have fun!

atykduzt said:

I can understand that it must be a bit tough starting without any previous RPG experience. But once you've started to geta feeling for it I think you will find that the system is pretty smooth and easily played for a beginner. Note that reading the rulebooks is not enough for this system, you really need to look through the cards and stuff too.

I haven't really seen any step-by-ste guides, but I can try to give you some pointers. I also heavily recommend UniversalHead's rules summary sheet, it's really good.

1. Character sheet. The character sheet is slightly different from many other RPGs in that you actually have many different parts that make the entire character (the sheet, your actions/talents, your career card, stance pieces and so on). This means that the actual sheet you write on does not have to contain all information. On the front side of the sheet you should have your abilities written down (str, agi, t, int, wp, fel), and checks on the skills that you have bought. The white boxes next to the ability scores are where you write the number of fortune dice you have for that ability (you can buy fortune dice with experience after some adventuring). You should also write down any specializations you have picked for the skills you have trained. Write down any racial abilities in the special abilities box. If you have bought any advanced skills write them up in the box for that. Write your weapon(s) in the weapon box along with the properties (e.g. damage and crit rating). It should look something like this for a starting char:

(this was done in a fillable sheet made by one of the forum members here, you can find his post with some searching, never mind the check boxes for Fatigue, Stress and Fortune, you're probably better off using the counters for that if you're a beginner)

On the back side you write down the equipment that you get as starting stuff along with any extra that you bought before starting. You can also write down the names of the cards you have bought (actions and talents) in the "card repository" box (however, that box is way too small once you've played a couple of sessions). If you have a back story (and you should) you can write down any possible enemies in the Adversaries box. Most of the stuff on this side will be filled up once you start to play.

2. Dice pool. The dice pool is determined by using the ability scores, skill trainings (and specializations) and possible benficial circumstances to get the positive dice. The ability score gives you the number of blue dice you should use, which ability to use is printed on the action card you're using or given by the situation/what you're trying to do (e.g. when trying to notice a couple of beastmen in the forest you should use Intelligence since Observation (normally) is an Intelligence skill). You must switch out a number of blue dice equal to the depth of your stance (if in conservative stance you switch some of the blue dice to green dice, in reckless stance some blue are switched for red). Note that you should never have both green and red dice in the same dicepool (the stances are mutually exclusive). The number of crosses you have for a certain skill is the number of expertise (yellow) dice you should use. If you're specialized at the task you're trying to do you get to add one fortune (white) die to the pool. For my wardancer above I would add 1 fortune dice to all checks involving Weapon skill using hand weapons (I seem to remember that the specialization is called ordinary weapons, but I might be wrong). The GM can also add white dice to the pool if he thinks the player is doing some nice describing/roleplaying of the skill check or if there are circumstances that make the task a little bit easier (like if you're outnumbering an opponent in battle).

The negative dice are collected by first taking a number of challenge dice (purple) equal to the inherent difficulty of the task. Tasks should be classified into complexity by the GM, a very easy task might use 0 challenge dice while an extremely hard one would use 4 (or even more if you extend the rules in the book). Actions have set difficulties given on the card, all attacks "vs target defense" has a basic difficulty of 1 challenge die. You then add a number of misfortune (black) dice to the pool depending on any circumstances that would make the check harder. In attacks you always add a number of black dice equal to the opponents defense stat (that you get from having armour/shields).

And roll the dice! (here's a link to a dice simulator if you want to practice : http://www.gmtools.excelocms.com/dice_roller.html#clear)

3. Party sheet and NPC allies. If she's playing alone without any NPC allies you shouldn't use the card. I think you should allow her to play at least one more character though, and then you should use the sheet. I would normally not recommend a beginner to play more than one character, but in this case I think you will have an easier time to make encounters of appropriate difficulty if she has at least 2 characters. What I reccomend is that she makes two very different characters, that can be important in different types of situations. Perhaps one talkative diplomat with not so good combat capabilities and one heavy duty fighter that can protect the diplomat?

4. Action/talent cards. These are bought at character generation or later when you spend advancements/experience. The player can any actions he/she wants, but make sure that the card is useful (i.e. that you fulfil any requirements for using it). The actions are used in encounters (combat, social encounters which can be played as a form of social combat, pursuit encounters or other encounters) and you can only play one per round. You also get a set of basic actions. Talents are more permanent "buffs" to your character and are slotted (can be exchanged if you have more talents than the number of slots).

Don't forget to have fun and please ask if you need help with any specific rule.

Nice, Thank you both. thats a really good start, and now we're well on our way " My gf has created a Dwarf - Hunter. Im getting really excited about getting into a story Im still not quite sure how my character skill points are distributed .. for purchasing cards and talents, wealth. I will comb through the links added and again, thank you

I wouldn't recommend playing more than one character at a time, especially if you're new to RPGs! Playing a character in this game is particularly complex since it has many peices to manage : character sheet, actions cards, talent cards, stance, wounds, etc.

Stick to one character, and make one or more NPCs that will help her. I suggest making NPC with the GM rules, not with all the PCs rules, it will be easier for you to manage it/them. They shouldn't be too influent since your gf might want the NPC to take decisions, knowing that you, as the GM, knows what are the good choises. So, a NPC that don't take too much decisions and don't have too much lore is best.

Hello again, and thank you to everyone with suggestions and answers.. But im still a little stuck.. .. Creating a character and purchasing things like skills, talents, and action cards.. how it all works.. So basicly.. We have a Dwarf-Hunter.. and 20 points still to distribute.. Can someone give me an example as to what action/talent cards I would be collecting .. How and Why which cards are selected.. Which action cards can I purchase and why.. How much does it cost / creation point wise.. .. I really just need an example of a complete Dwarf-Hunter .. which cards are selected / purchased.. and how it works.. I've read the Rule book over and over.. but something just isn't sinking in.. lol .. PLS help

Selecting action cards before you have even played is actually very hard. It's very hard to know what will work and what won't. I suggest you let her switch out actions/talents after you have played a couple of sessions to try them out.

A dwarf hunter you say. As a dwarf hunter you start out (before buying anything with your 20 build points) with:

- Str: 3, T: 4, Agi:3, Int:2, Wp:2, Fel:2
- 1 action card
- 1 skill + 1 one racial skill (chosen from Weapon skill, Resilience and Discipline)

Now, try to think about what kind of hunter you'd like to play. Is it a sneaky crossbow hunter that tries to stay in the bushes and kill his prey in a distance? Or is he using traps (mind, there are no rules for that, although I guess Nature lore could be used). Or is he using tactics/athletics to actually stalk the animals with an axe (yeah that sounds a bit ludicrous, but whatever). You should also try to decide whether he'll be using the reckless stance (taking risks to get really great results) or the conservative stance (playing it safe to achieve assured success) more often. Based on what character concept you have you can now abilities, skills and actions.

E.g., my dwarfen hunter Tegrid Skallagrimson is going to be a somewhat crazy old dwarven hermit who got his cabin destroyed by beastmen and has now hooked up with some adventurers. He is very agile for a dwarf and is also really tough. He usually trusts in his crossbow and tries to keep in the distance when hunting. He doesn't really like sneaking around (but can do it if he needs) but rather tries to find good (and high) spots too shoot from where the animal can't see or smell him. He favours the conservative approach when hunting but sometimes loses his head in melee.

Abilities: Str: 3, T:4 Agi: 4, Int :3, Wp: 3, Fel: 3 (cost:13)

Actions (3 actions cost 2 build points):
- Sniper shot (very good ranged attack, but requires some preparation)
- Extreme shot (attack from very far away, make sure that you notice the enemy first though)
- Reckless cleave (or something else, this really needs reckless stance to shine, it just fits with what I wrote above)
- You also get a number of basic action cards

Talents (1 point))
- Catlike reflexes (get to add 2 fortune dice on agi tests or 2 extra black dice on dodges)

Skills (3 points, give 4 skills and 2 specializations + 1 racial)
- Weapon skill (racial skill)
- Ballistic skill (+ specialization in crossbows)
- Nature lore (+specialization in survival?)
- Athletics
- Observation

Wealth (1 point)

- Poor, start with some stuff (notably a crossbow).

This is just an example though. Your girlfriend should look through the cards and talents to see if there are any specific cards she finds cool or thinks fit her concept of a dwarf hunter. As I mentioned above, as GM you should let her switch out cards between sessions when you're still learning the system.

gruntl said:

No, that sounds cool. It might be the best way to hunt in the caves below the Hold.

If you have time to listen, check out "Journey to Madness", the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay podcast at http://warhammer-enemy-within.blogspot.com/. It is also available, free, via the iTunes store. The group is playing a campaign setting published for first edition WFRP using hybrid WFRP1 and WFRP2 rules, but the GM and players are outstanding, and thoroughly portray what a WFRP campaign should be like. Skip to episode 2 or 3.

You and your player might consider running the "Day Late, Shilling Short" scenario a couple times, even switching roles, until you are comfortable with both regular and social combat situations. If you have a store where people play, try to get an experienced GM to run you both through it before you run it yourself. Use "Day Late" as an example of a simple scenario, and construct some more equally simple encounters to get comfortable with the system.

Please note that, while most of the people on this forum are experienced gamers, the authors of WFRP 3rd edition were writing for YOU, the new player. There is a lot of material aimed squarely at people just starting out in the books. More information of this type is in the GM Toolkit. Unfortunately, there are not nearly enough examples in the books, which would help you enormously. It looks like you are getting great assistance here in the forum, so you can look forward to great results when you play.

Get more players as quickly as possible. The group dynamic is at least half of the fun.

gruntl said:

Just a quick question here.

My understanding of the dwarf rules was that "may train one of the following skills during character generation" translates to "he can choose one of those, even if they are not on his career sheet, but he still has to pay for them". Same for Wood Elves.

High Elves get some things without having to pay for them, but it explicitly says "for free" there.

Did I get that wrong?

FFG also put up this helpful example of character creation: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=820

Tear said:

I'm not sure. I think we played it as get one extra skill for free. The book is certainly not clear on this issue. Reading it again I think I would make the same interpretation you did, you have to use one of your skill training slots to get it.

edit: Oh, turns out I was right. Check the FFG character creation item that Lexicanum linked. The dwarf in the example get one skill for free from the racial ability.

****.

Don't tell the dwarf in our party.

So, i think i've run into troubles already.. my wifey and i have been Rolling Random attacks agains single enemies.. slaughtering most the enemies in the book just for dice rolling/understanding purposes.. Something just doesn't feel right..

So, A Dwarf Hunter.. St:3 To:4 Ag:5 Int: 2 Wil:2 Fe:2

Trained Skills. Athletics (1)

Ballistic Skill (1)

Resilience (1)

Stealth (1)

Nature Loer (1)

Observation (1)

Specializations : Balistic skill : Crossbow

Stealth : Silent Movement

Cards : Talents : Catlike Reflexes

Talents: Quick Wits

Career: Hunter

Action: Covering Fire

Action:Immobilising Shot

Action:Trick Shot

Action: Knockback Shot

The rest of the cards were the : Melee,Ranged attacks. Block, Dodge, Parry, Assess the Situation, Perform a Stunt and Guarded Position.

(did i miss any- or do any of these not belong in my deck? ) This is a Character straight out of Char Creation.. I forget if i spent points on wealth.. and I thought that dwarfs have some night vision skills that i should have written down..

The Career card has a section called Advances.. but . ?? ??? ?? ?? am i limited to 2 actions 2 talent 2 skill 1 Fortune 1 Con 1 Rec and 1 wound.. what the heck do they mean.. the book seems to spell it out in 2 different ways.. .. did i make my character wrong .. bought 2 extra action cards.. or does this advance section even matter ?? ?? what does fortune mean ?? can i buy 1 dice for a Characteristic that is permenant on that check ?

Dice Pool Question : I've been confused about the stance meter mostly.. so my gf just stayes on her first Conservative Green bar.

So for instance.. .. i said.. a Skaven comes Running out from Behind a burning pile of smouldering Rubble. Draging a charred corpse with the Scythe Weilded in his hands.. He slides to a stop, flicking the corpse from the blade of his scythe.. Raising it into the air, the Rat Ogre begins shaking his weapon high above his head..

So.. just off the top of my head.. for the sake of giving the initiative to my Wife, and since its just the 2 of us, a (check) didnt make much sense..

MY Understanding : Wife turn. . Manouver - Draw Aim to Target.. . i guess.. (dont really know) ..

Attack Card: Knockback Shot - Into the Smouldering Fire (1 extra challenge dice?) maybe.. the Card has One Purple dice in the corner.. .. .. does that mean that it would only be a challenge of One Purple dice ?? or does it add one to the already Semi difficult Task of 2 purple dice making it 3 dice ?? ?? ??

This is what we did.. Just made it 2 purple dice. .. and Ag:5 and one Green Stance.. .. one Yellow for the Ballistic Skill (1) trained.. So thats..

4-Blue 1-Green 2-Purple 1-Yellow

Here's where i get a bit confused.. .. In the Gm book .. it says

The Rat Ogre has an R3 Stance .. a 8/0/1 - A/C/E

St:7 (5) To:6(2) Ag:2(1) Int:2 Wp:4 Fel:3 and Wounds 18 .. Does that Mean Soak and Defence Totals 3 ??? ??? So 3 Black Dice ?? If No A/C/E points are spent.. if they could have been.? ?

So ... This is what She Rolled.. Kinda Fluke that it turned out like this but..

All Boon and Banes cancelled each other out.. Leaving 1 Success hammer. 1 Rightous Success (yellow) and a Chaos Star from the Purple Dice..

Kockback shot Requires to be at Close Range - Which we figured we were when the Skaven came around the Smouldering Fire..

The success of one Hammer says - Hit target for -2 damage from 6 (crossbow) =4 But also the Rightous Success. makes it Semi Critical with 2 Hammers causing the Target to Not Recieve a Free Manoeuvre on his next turn.. .. The book says, Righteous success grants the Roll of the (yellow) dice again.. Granting a Boon .. Which Cancels out the Chaos Star (counted as a Bane)

But.. Because my Wife wanted to add the Extra Purple Dice To try to Knockback The Target .. Into the Fire.. (challenge) she succeeded in my eyes.. .. and as the GM i should grant her something... or take extra damage from the Skaven.. But for now.. Lets just focus on the actual Attack.. To me a Sigmars comet would have made the Enemy fall into the Fire for sure.. based on the cards : sigmar Discription.. but here it is..

The Rat Ogre has a Wound count of 18.. simply subtract the Ag of Ballistic Skill (5) and the 4 Crossbow damage.. = 9 ?? yes no ?

To me ... thats exactly Half.. one shot .. half dead.. But what wound cards were suposed to be applied.. Which were critical.. Did I use the right Dice pool.. .. Does any of this make any sence.. ???? ... To me.. because i cant help but be creative... the Skaven suffers 4 extra damage and is lit on fire.. lol but .. thats just being creative... but for now... 18-9 = (9) .... so thats what we did.. to me .. thats pretty critical .. .... Do i just flip a coin.. Randomly grab a Critical wound card.. i seen the book say, 1+ or -1 to something does something..but.. .. i cant find it.. ... so .. i just randomly pulled one.. and flipped it over... (Broken Rib) .. = Each time you suffer one critical wound + suffer one Normal wound.. .. with a 2 in the bottom right corner..

Lol ... for example.. the skill caused the Skav to lose his next free manouver.. so suffers one Fatigue to Get out of the fire.. lol .. no damage done.. cuz its an example.. no on fire.. cuz i dont know how to card and paper it.. ... Fatigue token given.. .. .. Another Token to Engage Target. (wife) .. thats a Fatigue Equil to the 2 Int 2 Wil 2 Fel stuff.. isn't it ??? ?? i dont know.. So .. an insanity, or Lingering Effect card.. .. Randomly granted a Demoralised Card to the Rat Ogre .. one Black Dice to all Skill Checks.. .. ..

See where im getting confused.. .. anyone >>>??? i havn't even started to kill stuff or run a campaigne .. .. im still stuck on the Spacific rules that i really want to understand.. .. I want to be playing by the rules.. and follow the game the way it was intended to be ran but.. im just stuck.. .. Where did i go wrong.. Character Creation ??? .. Point Distribution ?? Did the Career limit me.. and did i cheat by buying more skills that i was aparently allowed.. I dont seem to follow the book well enough.. and now .. the result is .. i just shot a hard character and split his life in half.. with a (lucky) roll or a (stacked) roll.. Did i do the combat procedure right.. did i miss anything.. Dice.. ?? Any Input would be appreciated.. thank you

You're on the right track, don't worry too much .

First, character creation seems alright. although you've made one error. You have one skill too much (you get 4 from spending 3 build points and one extra from the dwarf racial ability) Buying Agi 5 is really expensive (9 build points) which has caused your wife to have very bad values in the mental abilities. That fine I guess if you're only planning on putting her in combat situations where those abilities are rarely needed. However, the minute she faces something with fear or terror rating, that WP 2 score will be lethal. To me an Int score of 2 is a bit nonsensical, a hunter should be able to make observation checks with some degree of success.

The advances section on the career card refers to what advances you can buy for experience (she will get one point of XP after each session). Check the chapter on advancement. Within one career you can spend 10 advances (the ten first boxes on the second page of the char sheet), out of those 10 four are fixed (not dependent on the career). Those four are 1 action, 1 talent, 1 skill/specialization and 1 wound. Th remaining 6 open advances can be chosen from the ones listed on the career sheet. So a score of 1 fortune on the career sheet's advance section means that she can spend one of the open advances on getting a fortune die to one of the primal characteristics of the hunter career. Since it is 1 she canot buy 2 fortune dice during that career.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean about not needing to roll or initiative since you're only two? You should roll initiative anyway to check whether the skaven or hunter gets to start with their round. For a physical combat you roll Agi to determine initiative. Your wife would thus roll 5 blue dice (no stance adjustment yet), and the rat ogre rolls 2 red dice (monsters get to start in their default stance so Reckless 3 for the ogre). Your wife would very likely have won, but anyway...

I really like how you treat things flexible, like allowing a card to be used somewhat differently by adding some purple dice. That's exactly how you should do it.

Your positive dice pool is correct at this point (4 blue, 1 green and 1 yellow). But the negative dice are a bit trickier to calculate for an action like knockback shot. Knockback shot is an opposed test , Ballistic skill (Ag) vs Resilience (T). Opposed tests are described in the rule book, and means that the number of purple dice depend on how the two abilities involved compare to each other. For Knockback shot you get 1 purple die if dwarf's Ag is higher than the rat ogre toughness, 2 purple dice if they are equal and 3 purple dice if the rat ogre T is higher than the dwarf's Ag (and 4 if T is higher than double the Ag). The rat ogre is a tough bastard with toughness 6, so you get 3 purple dice to start with. If the rat ogre is trained in Resilience add an extra black die (I don't think they are normally). The GM can also spend Agression dice to add black dice in defense. If you do not spend any Agression and decide that trying to knckback into the fire is an degree of difficulty (+1 purple) the final dice pool becomes:
4 blue, 1 green, 1 yellow, 4 purple, a pretty hard check (it's about 50% chance of failure and very high chance of getting chaos stars).

The stat line for monsters are not very explained very thoroughly. St 7(5) means that the rat ogre has Strength 7 and normally wields a weapon that does 5 damage (so 12 in damage potential normally). To 6(2) means that the rat ogre has 6 toughness and 2 in soak (from some type of armor or just from thick leathery hide). Ag 2(1) means that it has Agility 2 and a defense of 1 (you add 1 black die to all checks vs target defense). Note that the defense stat was not used at all in teh check above since the test was opposes and vs Target Resilience (To) rather than vs target defense. You are also applying damage incorrectly. The total damage reduction that is applied to the damage potential of your wife's shot (5+6-2=9) is the target's toughness+soak so a total of 8 for the rat ogre. So the shot would have done a measly 1 damage (although probably some more from the fire).

Criticals are only applied if a) you spend boons to trigger the CR rating of the weapon, b) a card tells you to do a critical, c) you spend a comet symbol to get one crit. When you get a critical one of the wounds you deal is converted into a critical wound by flipping it. So you shouldn't just arbitrarily deal out criticals. The brief condition cards are normally used when an action card gives that result, but you could use them at other times too ( I would use them sparingly though). The rat ogre being in the fire is a perfect opportunity to give it some kind of condition (and likely some extra wounds). Or invent a condition of your own, perhaps something like: "On fire" , target takes one wound per round until the fire is extinguished.

That the rat ogre lost his free maneouvre means that he has to spend fatigue the next round to get out of the fire and close with your wife's hunter. Since monsters (normally) don't use fatigue/stress each point of fatigue is treated as one wound. The dwarven hunter will probably be in trouble despite this (the rat ogre has perhaps taken something like 5 wounds at this point and is probably very angry). Note that a rat ogre is a too hard opponent for one player to tackle (well, maybe excepting Ironbreakers).

Shoot.. Now that you pointed it out.. lol . i think i messed up with the point distribution thing completely.. but im glad that you gave me a 1-1 with which Opposing (defence) attributes are used in the combat.. As well as the Knockback shot being a Resilience check.. and not a Defence check.. the misfortune dice still kind of confuse me.. .. maybe another example would help me.. Im going to purchase the Gm toolkit when it makes its way to Canada.. aparently the stock missed the truck last week.. There's a few other things i would like to understand before actually starting a campaign..

If i Remake my character.. - Dwarf - Hunter.. can i get Advanced skills like Spell craft or First Aid.. im not sure how that worked.. so i only purchased the skills that were on the career sheet.. Same with specializations.. wasn't sure how it all worked so i stuck with the career sheet..

So .. my last few questions before i go back to combing the forums ..

When are condition cards and wound cards given to a player or monster .. as well as Insanity cards.. .. the fatigue lvl vs Conditions .. How many fatigues or stresses before i'm given a condition.. .. or is that how it works ??

And misfortune dice.. When attacking an enemy.. what skills or attibutes are turned into misfortune dice .. for instance.. ballistic vs Defence.. or Resilience.. .. or anything.. ..

LOL sry ... IM just super Stoked about getting into this game... i want it to be a close to Perfect or Right on Track as possable.. Im going to Remake this Dwarf Hunter .. one more time.. just to get the feel for character creation.. Plus i'd like to make a Companion character for my wife to play.. was thinking of an apprentice Wizard.. .. Maybe you could help me with that too.. as to what skills im allowed to make and what advances would be good for a new player .. thanks a ton Grunti

atykduzt said:

Skills and advanced skill:
You only get to buy skills (for building points) that are on your career list. For a hunter these are: Athletics, Ballistic skill, Stealth, Nature Lore and Observation. But as a dwarf you get to train an additional skill chosen from Weapon skill, Resilience and Discipline. This is an extra skill that you don't have to buy for building points. Later on you can buy non-career skills for advances, but they cost 2 instead of 1 advancement (that is what career skills cost) to train.

During rank 1 (i.e. when you have 9 or less experience) you can only train a specific skill once. This means that you hunter can only be trained once in e.g. Ballistic skill from the start (and he can't buy an additional training until reaching rank 2). Advanced skill are a bit different, you can both acquire and train an advanced skill within the same rank. Advanced skills always need to be acquired before trained and you cannot even attempt a check for an advanced skill without having acquired it. The hunter has no advanced skills on his career list, so you cannot get any of them for this character. Note that all the basic skills can be used even without having the skill trained (you just use your blue ability dice but won't get a yellow to add).

Condition cards:
are given to players when there's an action card that tells you to give them. There might be some other sources of conditions too (failed Fear/Terror checks can result in the Frightened condition) . But as a GM, feel free to give out conditions when you feel it's appropriate. As a beginner GM you should probably err on the cautious side and not give out too many of them, but it certainly is in your power to do it.

Wound cards:
the player get one card per wound he/she suffers from an attack (or other sources). If the attack causes a critical wwound you turn as many wound cards as the number of criticals to the other side and check the effects. (e.g. there is a critical that causes you to add black dice to all Ag checks). The effects are into play until the critical damage is healed (naturally or by having someone treat you, check the rules for this).

Insanity cards:
You get an Insanity card when you acrue too much stress (and even more if you're also fatigued). If you have more stress tokens than your Willpower (i.e. your Willpower is distressed) you have to draw one insanity card each time you get one more stress token. Check the traits on the card, if any of the traits fit the situation, you have to keep it. If the trait(s) have nothing to do with the situation you were lucky and avoided the insanity (just put it back in the pile). You only have to draw one Insanity card per encounter, if you suffer even more stress you have to put as many tokens as the number of stress on the insanity card. The amount of tokens on a card then controls how difficult it will be to recover from the Insanity at the end of the encounter.

If you're fatigued and distressed at the same time, any extra fatigue/stress will force you to draw an insanity card. But for this situation you have to keep drawing until you get a trait that match the situation at hand.

These rules are a little bit complicated, I could try to construct an example later if you need.

Misfortune dice in combat checks:
Firstly, for any combat action that is a check vs target defense you add a number of misfortune dice equal to the defense statistic of the target. If the action is an opposed check you have to add one misfortune die per training step the target has in the relevant skill (so if the rat ogre above had been trained in Resilience once, you would have had to add one black die). Most monsters are normally not trained (but the GM can of course change this if you want to make the monsters a bit more dangerous). Some actions also have inherent difficulty forcing you to add a number of black dice (visible in the upper left corner of the card).

As a GM you can also add black dice to the pool if you think there are some circumstances that make the check harder (e.g., the target has cover, fighting multiple monsters). Finally, the GM also has the option of adding black dice from an NPC's ACE budget, to add a black dice to a physical check you take away one aggression, to add a black dice to a mental check you take away cunning.

I'm not sure an apprentice wizard is the best companion to use. The rules for wizards (or clerics) makes things even more complicated, so perhaps you should wait with that until you have played a couple of sessions? I recommend a straight up fighter that can charge in and occupy the monsters while your wife's hunter shoots. Perhaps a Thug, Mercenary or Soldier would work? I guess you're mainly going to play combat stuff, in that case you won't really need anyone doing social actions or skill checks. Feel free to post a character suggestion, I can give you some comments.