So I finally got around to combining all of my WFRP stuff now that the Guides and Vaults are out, and to be honest I am bit overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff. I am in the process of organizing all of it in a nice carrying case, but I got to thinking...

For random draw decks that have some impact on play, Wounds, Insantity and Miscast decks mainly, what is the thought about combining decks of cards from different sets. That is to say, let's say you own both the Core Set and the Game Master's Vault - do you only use one of the Wound Decks (70 cards) and then add in the cards from the expansions like the Adventure's Toolkit? Since the Core Set and Game Master's Vault decks are identical, does doubling up the deck have any impact on the game other than making the additional cards added from the expansions slightly rarer?

What about having two Wound draw decks, one for the Game Master and one for the PCs?

It all seems rather flexible and a deck of cards is even less random over time than say a chart you are rolling on. I can't see why you couldn't just use everything.

true. I just bought all the products in one month time and reading this + understanding is a challange (let me say +2 dices ;-p)

I realized the active defence and response rules only after reading players guide (i couldnt figure it out from core set...)

If I were you, I just mix it all togather. does not matter if the rarity is improved here.

I'm keeping the Core cards separate from the Player's and GM's Vault cards for the random draw decks. This includes the career cards as well as wounds, disease, miscast, and mutation. For action and talent cards it's handy to have the spares around in case my players want to double up on abilities.

If duplicating publications the results are as follows.

For Wounds, Miscasts and Insanities (also Diseases, Mutations):

- Assuming the designers were on their game, and at least for the wounds I have reviewed them and I think so, the decks reflect a balance of different severities etc. (so many severity # vs severity #) - in effect the deck is like a percentile table with really bad results rarer but with the advantage of take it and put it in front of you don't write it down, and with the meta-balance that if a really bad critical is in play then it's less likely another comes out (stopping a run of really bad ones) and every low value severity critical in play makes it a smidge more likely the next one is higher value critical. So I think that for these situations combining decks changes probabilities. I wouldn't do it myself but if you like the change, okay.

For Action Cards and Talents:

- Here it's a question of whether you like "unique" characters or not. I like the outcome of "only one Winning Smile" in a group, a PC's trademark tricks are really "trademarked", only one per group. So no sense in combining/adding others. Here too, if your table doesn't like the unique aspect, wants to have multiples of same action card or talent, then okay that works fine.

If not duplicating, yes add Wound cards from a Winds of Magic etc. to the Core box because again reviewing them I find the "small batches" of new ones seem to maintain distribution of severities.

Rob

Thanks for the thoughts.

@Rob - I was thinking about this a bit more while cleaning up the basement today and I think I came to the same conclusion. It's not like there aren't enough Wounds cards or whatever already in the game. I figured I would stick with one set. If the campaign demanded it I could easily tailor the critical aspect of the Wound deck to be less or more brutal simply by adding in the appropriate cards - but why mess with the formula right out the gate.

Additionally - keeping them extra cards (career cards and all that) out, I have a nice backup set in case someone dumps a soda on the table or whatever. It also makes my WFRP parts bin much lighter and easy to manage!

Now to just figure out what to do with all those cardboard stand-ups...