I've been thinking a bit recently about how the new WFRP is a great system for new players who aren't RPG vets because the game is so visual and you don't spend a lot of time calculating modifiers and stuff. Still, the system as it is is a bit on the heavy side with the amount of rules to keep track of, which I see as easily becoming a detriment to the RP aspect of the game, since players easily get so distracted by the rules that they don't pay enough attention to the roleplaying.

So what I was thinking of, was to make a sort of "WFRP Lite" set of rules that boiled it down to its bare essentials:

You have a character sheet that represents you strengths and weaknesses.

You tell the group what you want to attempt.

You roll some dice, which then instantly tells you how it went.

As the players become comfertable with reading the dice and doing the actual roleplaying, you can introduce the rest of the rules for a deeper connection between the RPing and the mechanics.

The first thing that comes to mind, is the stance meters. Just cut out the whole thing, including removing the red and green dice. For which side of action cards to use and similar mechanics, just consider careers with more recless slots to be in a recless stance and character with more conservative slots to be in a conservative stance.

Talent Cards might also be worth removing as they generally don't have a large effect on play and is just one more bit of info to keep track of.

Stress and Fatigue? It's tempting to remove them, but they're a good passive indicator of increasing tension and could be handy to have available as minor penalties.

Action Cards? Ok, stripping away the action cards might leave the system completely naked, but it could be better for you to keep all the standard actions and just give the characters their special action cards to make it easier to keep track of.

Or you could simply give them no action cards and apply standard actions that are suitable for what they want to do. For example, you describe that a character is being attacked and then ask that player how his character reacts. If he says he tries to roll out of the way, use the Dodge card, if he wants to hide behind his shield, use the Block card and so on.

Instead of having selected a few action cards for their special moves, you can just let players make up what they want to attempt freely and then create a dicepool that fits. You can easily come up with results that match just as well as the different success lines on the cards.

I dunno, what do you guys think? Any suggestions?

Couple of thoughts.

Using abstract strengths and dice, narrate outcome can be a fun game, In a Wicked Age is essentially that game.

If trying to introduce people with idea of moving into full WFRP, I would use one talent and one or two "thematic" action cards. That gives each player a little "something special about my character" (we all like that shiny something afer all) and is a mini preview of the cards.

Rob

Ralzar said:

I find the system is very deceptively rules-heavy, when actually the interface of the cards,etc. makes it exceptionally rules-lite. Concepts are not vague and abstract like they are in other systems, they are concrete with concrete definition. I have a number of players at my LGS who care nothing for system. They have never tried to learn it, generating is a chore, they never spend xp, they hate flipping through the books full of pages of stats.

The cards allow them quick access with catchy titles to build the character they want. Adding up color squares and symbols is easier way for them to understand what's going on. They see 4-5 bulky chits next to their stats and can tell stress/fatigue levels. They have no trouble understanding the mechanics, making pools, interpreting dice, etc.

Honestly, the people I find have the most trouble with the system are the traditionalist, old-timers. They just don't get it. They don't grasp the interpretation as quickly, the mechanics seem confusing to them, they don't know which cards to reference, and have trouble understanding their chances of success. I think this is largely to do with how much the system, overall, is a departure (and for me a welcomed one) from the traditional mechanics. Also, before anyone starts jumping the gun, this is totally an observation, not based on posts here but the people I play with at my LGS which sees all walks of gamers. New players and players who never "get" system grab onto this beast and beg for more. Traditionalists seem to pick it to death because most of the time, they just aren't fully on board with all the new ways of doing things. It's not a bad thing. And trust me once they get it, they love it to death. The learning curve (and getting over prejudices, etc) seems to happen slower than with a newb.

I had been thinking about the stance system as well. I think its not really necessary to have the stance meter. Let the pleyers decide how far into the stance they wanna go even without the cost of stress. There is inherent danger/balance in the dice. to many red and you will quickly tire or roll a lot of banes which hampers your results. too many green dice and you will end up with all your actions recharging soon enough.

only problem here is if you remove the recharging sustem as well. then you'll have to come up with a different penalty for rolling delays. perhaps going down the initiativ line. loosing your free manoeuvre or theuse of defensive actions or something like that.

I'm looking forward to the new player's guide hardcover coming out at the end of the year. Think there could be something useful in there and I have a feeling that they could be useful for introducing new player's to the system.

-L