I'm deeply interested to purchase Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and I'm just curious how it works. Is it possible to be played with just two people? How is the intensity of this game in terms of rules? How long does it take to play? If it takes about more than 5 hours or so, I don't think I will be able to play it.

A description on how Warhammar Roleplay works would be greatly appreciated.

Ok im going to preface this by saying I havent played WFRP yet, at least not this edition, but I am preparing for a game starting and have learnt the mechanics. I have also played enough other RPGs to answer most of your questions.

WFRP has a few things that make it a bit difficult when trying to learn the rules but once you know them it flows well. Its based off of a very simple core mechanic the main problem is that while its intuitive to use its not the easiest to explain. Its advantages is that it doesnt require the players to know many more rules than the ones they have on the cards in front of them. It also makes the GMs life easier by giving the players alot of the work normally done by the GM without burdening the players.

Well you need a GM and a group of players so 2 isnt an great number really. It can be played with 2 people but its really not suited to it, a group of 4 is recommended. 3 is workable and higher numbers of players work up to a point depending on the skill of the GM. 5 is a good upper limit to set yourself as a new GM as in you and 4 players as it allows you to learn the ropes without getting overwhelmed by player questions, due to the core set limitations a group of 4 is better to start with as WFRP as you can buy the game in a box and just get going.

Session lengths can be however long you want them to be but I would say that to get stuff done you need 4 hour sessions at least all though no doubt there is people who do with shorter. I know that we have an hour of general chat before we tend to get started but we tend to run games for 8hrs due to the hassle of everyone getting there to meet up we prefer to get as much out of each session as possible.

Kaihlik

mi-go hunter said:

mi-go hunter said:

Are you asking from the perspective of someone who has never roleplayed before, or just never played Warhammer before? The answer will be similar, but more involved if you've never roleplayed in the past.

Any roleplaying game is possible to play with two people - you will (pretty much always) need a minimum of one GM (Gamesmaster - otherwise known as Dungeon Master, Keeper, Referee, Storyteller etc) and one player.

The GM controls the world, and all NPCs (non-player characters) in that world, and the other players control a character (a PC) that intereacts with that world. More players mean more characters, which means they will have more diverse abilities, not to mention the game doesn't end if a character dies

Game length can vary from a few hours to many months (or more) - it completely depends on how much of a story the GM has to tell. A session will usually be around the 3-5 hour mark though.

As for rules, there's a lot of rules, but nothing overly complex (of course, it's difficult for me to be objective as I have been roleplaying for over 20 years). However, there are a lot of crib sheets etc around that condense these rules, which make them a lot easier to remember - not to mention the GM screen which, while the greatest screen in the world, has a few things on it which should be of use.

In essence, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is very similar to most other roleplays, except for the rules/components (which is what FFG have used to make it shine IMO). If you ever roleplayed before, it won't be too different. If you haven't, its a great place to start. The adventure in the Core box is a decent one, and you could get through it in two 3 hours sessions without too much difficulty (possibly less even). Having two or three players would definitely be better for the game, but if that's not possible, it won't be the end of the world - an NPC henchman that hangs around with the PC, or even the player controlling two characters is possible (though means personality is harder to inject in them I find).

Sausageman said:

It is absolutely common to stop a roleplay session in the midst of an adventure and to go on in the next session – as there is no gameboard you have to store, it is absolutely no problem to divide an adventure into some segments. So the players can decide themselves how much time a session shall take. However, I have to say that roleplaying is a very time-consuming hobby – a session is rarely shorter than 4 hours and it takes some time until the deep atmosphere arises. However, I think there are nearly no other games that are such rewarding than a role-playing game.

Roleplaying does definitely work with two players, I've played long campaigns as game-master with just one player. However, in most cases I wouldn't recommend to play it with less than 3 or 4 players (including gamemaster). Especially fantasy RPGs assume to be played with parties of a few heroes – and so does Warhammer Fantasy RPG. You can definitely play it with just one additional player, but it will take some adjustments on the adventures nd I think it won't be the same fun. However, I think it won't be too difficult to get some additional players, there are boards for players searching other players for a group. It's harder to get competent game-masters...

You asked for a short description of what an RPG is: Well, imagine one person (the gamemaster) is telling a story and everyone around him may decide what one of the main characters is doing in that story: So the decisions of the players will be changing the story and will be creating some twists nobody could foresee.The players are really acting those main characters, like an actor in theatre or cinema (but only with words. If you are completly acting, it's called "live action role-playing", but that's not what Warhammer Fantasy RPG is). Moreover, the development of the main characters is an important part of roleplaying: In the best case, you'll be playing the whole life of a character and you'll watch him growing or falling in the years of his existence.

At last, I have to agree with Sausageman: Warhammer Fantasy is one of the best games to start with roleplaying because its "rule-interface" contains much elements that are common from boardgames. So it's less difficult for new players to get into the game.

However, if WFRP is your first RPG, you should start with the "core set" (and not with the new players handbook).

Fascinating topic.

RPG's work like board games, except you get to pretend (like an actor) to be the guy on the board. Another guy who runs the game get's to be all the bad guys. Your games can go as long or short as you want. They are the basis for almost all MMO and first-person shooter video games so they're a lot like that.

I'd recommend that you start by playing a couple games with someone else first.

One thing to remember about RPG's. Don't take it too seriously. It's just a game.

Here's a funny parody of how these things go:

Jay H

Wow, thanks for all the feedback! I'm starting to get how RPGs work now.

So a quick question. How will the enjoyment of RPGs be diminished if one player (me) controls multiple heroes? I don't know any RPG players around this area anyway, and all I have is my sister who would probably be the GM.

mi-go hunter said:

The real difficulty with that is being able to separate each "hero" from you, the player, so they can act independently and have their own motivations.

Unless you're really good at it, I find that playing multiple characters means that you won't get as much of the improvisational acting and internalized personality development of your characters that you would get if you focused on one character. But some people don't really roleplay for that even with one character and lots of experience at it, so go with whatever is fun for you.

Ok. Well after a while assessing the costs, time, and the players needed for roleplaying, I don't think I'm game for it yet. This looks VERY cool no doubt, but I don't think RPGs will work for me right now.

::Sighs in disappointment:: Maybe some other time I'll consider getting Warhammer. But for now, I'll just shelve the idea. Again, thanks for briefing what RPGs are about and helping me reach a decision.

mi-go hunter said:

You can always do some online (play-by-post) roleplaying here, or at other forums such as rpg.net, with freely available systems such as d20, Pathfinder, Shadow of Yesterday/FUDGE, etc., just to see if you like it.

I think of RPGs as collaborative storytelling.

My first RPG was the original D&D. My friend was the DM and ran a character. There wasn't a lot of character development (read: any). It was just dungeon crawling and smashing badies. It was just the two of us but, that's where I got hooked. 27 years later, he's playing a mage in my WFRP game with my wife and some other long time friends while our kids play on the PS3 in the basement. It's like Poker Night....with Greenskins.

I suggest checking out the RPG section of Reddit. People share a lot of stories about the games they play, the campaigns they run and bounce ideas off the hivemind.

mi-go hunter said:

I'd hate to see you give up before you try. If players is an issue, typically your local game shop will have something set up to help get players together for games. That might be worth checking into. Lots of times they will even let you play there, which is great. In addition, some games tend to lend themselves a little better to smaller groups, which might work out good for you too.

That's absolutely right, VegasBateman!

Moreover, it's a good idea to contact some additional experienced players when getting into roleplay, anyway: Having experienced players in your group will make sure that you'll get deeper into the atmosphere of roleplaying.

I'd recommend you to look for an existing or emerging roleplaying group around your town. (Just look at the board at your local game shop or in the internet-forums). I'm sure they'll let you participate in their group. Just visit some sessions by way of trial and you'll see if roleplaying is the thing you're looking for. (If there is no Warhammer-group around your town, just look for other RPG-groups like Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun or whatever... You can still go for Warhammer as soon as you know if you like roleplaying - however, Warhammer is a pretty good start.)

Me and my mate Play this and deathwatch with just the two of us.

In deathwatch i only GMed and he was the player with a team of 6 marines. We had a fun time but i enjoy fantasy roleplay far more.

Basicly how we do it is whoever's turn it is to run the mission is the Chief GM and Co Player and the other person the Chief Player and the Co GM.

This means that We both get to play the game with out characters and we GM for each other, with the Chief GM doing most of the NPCs generally unless they are engaging him where the Co GM takes over. It is actually a very good system and we had a huge laugh. We played for 11 hours solid. :L

Now i'm writing up the adventure in the form of a novel cos i love to write.

Thanks for all your pointers. I'll definitely check RPG out, and decide whether or not it's to my liking!