I have never before GMed anything or even played any Roleplaying game. Neither had any of my players. So why not just jump into a game of Warhammer and see what happens ? I've always thought that RPGs looked interesting, but never known anyone who really played them. So I took the initiative and started my own group. Being an avid board & video gamer as are my gaming companions, I thought WFR3E looked like it could be a good intro due to it's innovative use of components to try to bring the game world to life.
I wasn't quite sure how to introduce the game to my group, and sitting them down for a 90 minute rules explanation and character creation pre-game process did not seem like a good idea. So I designed characters for them, based on their playstyles and personalities that I thought they'd enjoy. This aspect was largely successful, as it allowed us to jump straight into the story with them just "learning the rules as they go". This also helped shift the focus off of mechanics and rules (the focus of any board game) and onto the story and personalities of their characters.
The session was quite a lengthy one, last about 7.5 hours, but with a lengthy 1.5 hour break for supper in the middle. They managed to complete all of the introduction scenario "Eye for an Eye" in that time. The session had its highs and lows, and was a bit bumpy as might be expected in a group where no one has any experience with Roleplaying. None the less it was an enjoyable time that I had fun with, and I think my players enjoyed also. I believe they might be willing to try it again soon, but probably not anytime right away.
I had a total of 4 PCs (I have the Adventurer's Toolkit), and they managed to successfully stop the summoning of the daemon (they interruppted the ritual as it was in progress and managed to slaughter most of the cultists involved, as well as save poor Todd's life) and stopped the Wargor and his minions before they could torch the manor (though some of the outbuildings were burned to the ground, and many of the staff injured, maimed or killed in the attack). One of the PCs was knocked unconscious however (by the Wargor's Undying Ferocity no less!) and has several critical wound racked up though not enough to kill him.
The game was not without its issues however. My wife who is not a gamer but played with us and had been looking forward to the game quite a bit (and she did have a pretty good time overall) told me afterward "The combats were really boring and took forever....." The sad part was....I had to agree. There were only 3 combat encounters in the entire session (Fight with beastmen outside the gate, fight with cultists in the Chaos temple and fight with Wargor and 4 Gor henchmen in front of the manor in a dramatic finish). Yet I would imagine they easily gobbled up 60-70% of our playing time. Part of this may have been due to learning the rules and such, but even so combat as a whole even once we were familiar with it seemed to drag on forever.
So I come to you today to ask a simple question, how can I make combat more entertaining, exciting, and shorter? I foolishly neglected to use an Rally Steps, forgetting all about them in the excitement of GMing for the first time. I think these "pauses" for everyone to catch their breath could have helped this issue a lot. Also remembering that dramatic description and clever use of the enviroment and items (by the players or my NPCs) should not cease once encounter mode begins would probably be helpful. I also should probably try to remember to use more moral tracks and such, since once the combat is clearly won it would be foolish for one side to fight to the last man except under very desperate circumstances (I made that mistake in the Cultist fight, will all but 1 of the 8 cultists down there fighting until dead before I remembered they could run away once the battle was clearly lost ).
Anyone else have any tips on how to make combat encounters more enjoyable and dramatic?
The 2nd thing I recognized was that I need to do more work on bringing the NPCs to life, but I think that is just something I'm going to have to learn with experience. Still I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any for a new GM on how to be descriptive about the enviroment and NPCs as well as have them behave the way they should. Specifics would be very nice i.e. "When my characters enter the hospice I said 'X', and then I behaved in 'y' manner" Do you have the NPCs speak to the PCs first or ignore them until spoken to (I suppose it depends on the NPC)? Once they encounter an NPC do you try and stay "in character" the entire time that NPC is on the scene?
Finally one little rules question I had, with a priest's blessings, once they are invoked and draw favour, if they don't have enough then they cannot go off until the start of the priest's next turn correct? So even if the priest Curries enough Favour it is just placed in their personal supply and not on the card and won't be used until the start of their next turn? Same with gaining 1 favour at the end of their turn? Finally if casters are completely gassed (i.e. out of power or favour) how rapidly do you have that come back in Story Mode? I just used the "about a few minutes of mucking about" mentioned in the sample page of the player's guide for action cards recharging. Every so often I'd tell them they gained another power or favour.
Anyway, thanks for reading and if anyone could give any advice to my two main questions (making combat Fun and bringing the NPCs to life) or answer my rules question I'd appreciate it.
(Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I didn't think this really belonged in the GM or the Rules Questions forum).