Even though I received the Core Set, Adventurer's Toolkit, and GM's Toolkit for Christmas this past year, I've never had a chance to run WFRP for my gaming group due to being knee-deep into other games. However, one of my gamers in my Rogue Trader group called in sick at the last minute (he actually plays the Rogue Trader), so we all decided to hold off a week until he could join us again.

Soooo...that meant everyone was up for trying something new. I only had a few hours heads-up for this, but I decided that now was the time to introduce my players to the wonderful world of WFRP3 by running "A Day Late and a Shilling Short".

All I have to say is...WOW! Everybody absolutely loved the game (much more enthusiastically than I expected, really). Once they grasped the dice mechanic and the stress/fatigue system, they were all about it. There is one guy in my group who always loves to push the boundaries of what he can do during his turn (not to give me grief, but because it's fun for him). The stress/fatigue system was a godsend for him. Once he realized he could do just about whatever he wanted as long as he was willing to accept the consequences I offered to him...he was sold.

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time to get into great detail. I just wanted to share my excitement of introducing this game to new players. Looks like we'll be starting up a serious campaign in the near future.

Congrats on your experience. I've run a several one shots for various people and all have been successful. I've picked up a few staunch haters as well and converted them. While most people are at first a little overwhelmed by everything once play starts the system sells itself.

Still trying to get my group to try it.

Not sure if this will help but this was my experiences with people I regularly play with and how things went.

The first session I made pregens for them. Then spent about 30 minutes going over the rules at a basic level. This is how you make a dice pool, these are what the different dice mean and some example rolls.

Then I explained to them what actions cards did and went over combat briefly, as in each turn you get 1 stance shift, 1 maneuver and 1 action for free. Anything else you have to pay for in stress or fatigue. A few other rules as well (party, fortune etc..) but that was basically it in about 30-45 minutes. Some other rules came up in play but I preempted the action if there was an exception or made a suggestion after the fact. Which is something I'd do for any game. I will say that while things at first seemed a little overwhelming to them with their player area being full of stuff. They learned the game much faster then any other game that's come to the table. The action cards are certainly key to that fact. There's no question of 'oh crap what does this ability do again' it's right there at a glance and they can plan on things ahead of time.

The second session we did character gen as well, mostly because I was curious how long it would take to create a full party from scratch. In that session they picked their careers (draw 3 keep 1) then spent their points. While they were doing that I tried to get an understanding of what they wanted in their character (I want to be a sneaky thief, dual weapon fighter, a sniper etc...) then I went through and picked out a bunch of various action cards that I thought would fit with their concept. Of those action cards they then picked their allotment.

I will do this method in the future as it makes it a little simpler for them to pick cards and yes as a GM gives me a little veto power to keep power gamers toned down.

At this point there were a few comments on liking the variety of actions and that the action cards help a great deal to getting up to speed quick. But for the resistant players it was still a 'meh' game for them with a few ideas done well in making a game more presentable to new players.

With the basics out of the way I started the sessions in earnest. Nothing really out of the ordinary here other then me trying to provide various opportunities for them to use their characters outside of combat. A simple less frantic way to get a few dice rolls in and seeing how the dice can effect the outcome beyond pass/fail. I'd say after about two dice rolls they caught onto the mechanics easily enough or at least enough of them did that I constantly didn't have to step them through building pools each time.

Then combat started and they were hooked. The biggest thing they all loved was the new initiative method. Which is something you could adopt to any RPG. Combat was a huge success. They almost instantly started working as a group. It wasn't a case of 5 players doing their own thing. they were working together to support each other to make the most of their various actions and positions.

Some of them played it safe doing the bare minimum and others went out of their way to try everything they could do, pushing stress, fatigue and fortune. Trying various action cards just to see effects. They were also collectively making suggestions on what other player should do and it's this team work that really seemed to make the biggest shift.

* I should footnote that in saying that most of these sessions were with people that regularly game together and have for years. They all commented that for some reason they felt more connected in WFRP 3 then they have other games. That factor was probably the biggest selling point for the resistant - the hook if you will.

The only other thing I did, that I typically don't is rolled all my dice in the open as well, even for events I normally would hide from them. I did this just to reinforce the dice/action elements so they had a bigger understanding of how things worked as a whole. I also took it probably a little easier on them combat wise then I traditionally would, but that was also part of my learning curve to get a feeling for the threat levels.

Lastly I gave them each a copy of Headless Hollow's WFRP 3 ref sheet. They didn't use it much the first session but it definitely helped for the char gen session.

Sharing basic action wasn't a problem and I just kept the bulk of the dice in the middle of the table for whoever needed them with a box lid to roll in.

I'd like to say it's my general awesomeness that won them over. But really it was just a case of spending a little time explaining the rules, easing them into it when their characters lives weren't on the line and then letting them have some fun in combat to get a deeper feel for the mechanics.

That's basically it. I was already a big fan of the system before the games started and after seeing things work, several times now, I'm an even bigger fan. At the end of the day they all clicked at different points, but they all clicked.

I won't say that it's going to make your role playing better or any of that crap. But I will say that having all the cards on the table, keeps down time minimal. Having each die roll potentially mean more then just pass/fail kept the interest going when it wasn't your turn. I stress that having combat initiative be much more of a group effort is a huge plus that every game should do.

As for problems. The most common one on the FFG forum is stemming from GM's (particularly D&D) GM's who keep wanting more definitions and more charts and more examples and more rules. You will be required to rule on the fly at times and if that takes you out of your comfort level then there will be a bigger system shock to get over then all the bits and pieces in front of you.

hi

I love to read such posts about first time playing wfrp 3. Thanks for sharing Deadline 247 and Kryyst.

Huh? GM rolling the dice in the open? Is this something that goes around in particular for the new edition? For I certainly myself as GM do the same. I did so from the beginning so I wouldn`t miss anything, a habit that I have continued with ever since the first session.

some players have commented it, but mostly it doesn`t bother me or the players.

Good gaming

Just wanted to say thank you for sharing those great first game tales. I am just getting into the game and it's really helpful to see how it went for everyone else. So thank you.

A question for Kryyst: Did you start your game with just the Core Set, or did you add in other supplements? I'm trying to judge what I need to start with when I get my game going (I will probably have 4-5 players).

Thanks,

Matt

I would like to say that the Headless Hollow's WFRP3 reference sheet was a HUGE help to me. Definitely check it out if you don't already have it.

http://www.headlesshollow.com/downloads/games/WFRP3_v1.pdf

Kryyst said:

Actually, I think the original reason that games started getting so complex and rules heavy in the first place was to allow GM's to have something to back them up against combatative players (read: jerks). Of course, the same can be said of GM's that constantly bend the rules to make players lives a living hell too. You don't need every rule spelled out for you when players and the GM see the game as a cooperative experience. If players recognize that the GM isn't trying to kill them and the GM realizes that he is there to provide entertainment for the group, and thereby be entertained himself, there aren't any issues. The rules are almost an afterthought at that point.

As for complaints about this game, I don't think the main complaints about this game were related to wanting more definitions or charts at all...

Most wanted better organization in the rulebooks.

Some wanted options of playing with as many or as little of the components as they saw fit. (I guess that could lead to more charts.)

Other complaints were about the dicing conventions, but that has seemed to die down recently.

Then the other biggest complaint is that WFRP3 isn't 1st or 2nd edition... therefore it's bad.

Anyway, I'm not commenting on any of these arguments or trying to prove their validity. I just thought these were much more common than the requests you mentioned.

Kryyst said:

Did I miss something? How is initiative a group effort?

Spivo said:

Initiative is not assigned on a PC basis, rather each initiative roll of the PC buys the group "slots" if you will in the order of combat. And then any character can claim one of those slots for that round. Thus if you have three characters who roll 2, 3 & 5 successes means that one character (and any character) can act on the 5 slot, the 3 slot and the 2 slot.

Great to hear it went well.

One thing I've done as a GM is now that we don't have a bunch of situational charts to look stuff up, I've not felt the inkling to bother really. I mean, even the Location Cards dont' feel necessary. Sometimes it's just nice to play a basic game

Jay H

Thyrkill said:

I had the core set and the adventures guide before I GM'd for the first time. The first time I played was with someone else and just the core set. So far in every game we've had to share cards to some degree.

Kryyst said:

Actually, my complaints about organization were about... organization. I wasn't looking for new rules to replace ones that weren't there. You have two sections in the rules that describe how to utilize skills.... Why is that? If FFG had used any other RPG as a model for how to organize their rulebook, DH and RT included, they would have eliminated a lot of the complaints that came up about their lack of organization in WFRP3.

I'm really hoping the 3 core hardcover books will address the organization better. Jay says they will, but I'll judge for myself when the hardcovers arrive in the stores. Hopefully they won't be shrink wrapped.