Hey all. I love, love, love, love WFRP 3E, but I hate, hate, hate, hate the WFRP setting. Really hate it.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience using WFRP 3E in a different setting; the game seems heavily tied to its setting, so I'm curious how it would work out. Any suggestions or thoughts would be welcome as well.

Scelous said:

You hate the WFRP setting... CALL IN THE SLAYERS!

Gallows said:

Call in the generic, redemption-seeking, death-wish, dwarf-warriors!

I've posted this link a few times...but what the hell. Here is the campaign setting we use for WFRP 3rd ed:

http://mageknightkevin.blogspot.com/2010/10/middle-earth-rpg-campaign.html

Enjoy.

Scelous said:

I'm not trying to start a flame war or anything... But why do you hate the setting? The reason I ask is that it seems pretty easy to run in very high fantasy (which I would hate) or very low fantasy (which others would hate) or anything in between. Does nothing within that range appeal to you? Is it the period (late medieval/early renaissance)? Is it the monstrous creatures? Is it the European-ness of it?

Just curious.

You don't have to justify your dislike to me, I love it myself but to each their taste.

That said, the game is really designed to the "grim perilous world" in many ways. Its magic users all reflect the winds of magic, priests the different gods, dwarf troll slayers the suidical dwarf goal, insanities and diseases those ideas etc etc.

To play with a different setting I think you would need to design the setting after choosing what parts of the system to keep. To use it for "another predesigned setting" may fail at some point if that setting has fantasy elements since they will not be "warhammers" take on those things. If it's a straight mundane setting, or one with non-PC magic primarily, then it can work - you can play Robin Hood and his friends etc. if you want.

I do understand loving many parts of the system per se. The way the dice system takes the indie concepts of Polaris and other games of not just "yes/no" but "yes and, no but, yes however, no and what's more" and implement them without pushing the theory at you just the outcome of it is great. The "card deck" approach to criticals takes a cumberson "roll on table and write down result etc." traditional approach of a Rolemaster and makes it sing along seemlessly etc.

Rob (WFRP fanboy)

Angelic Despot said:

That's exactly it. I want to like the setting, because I love the mechanics, but.... ugh. Taking a historical setting, filing off the names and then putting in it a half-assed world, it's just so creatively bankrupt to me, like they spent a total of five minutes creating the setting. The English country, the French country, the Arabian country, and they didn't even bother changing Nippon's name. It's in the same boat as uncreative races, which is one of the things that prevented me from playing Traveller. The dog-man race! The cat-man race! Wow.

They're setting it in a fantastical world that people will pay them for, and the best they can come up with is Europe and ratmen. It's so devoid of creativity that it actually makes me angry.

Ah, well. I do love the mechanics, though.

Also, in reference to using WFRP 3E in a different setting, I like the grim and gritty tone. I like the way magic is handled; I like most things about the system. I would just like a setting that has at least a shred of uniqueness to it, and so I'm curious as to if the mechanics could be lifted out of the Warhammer world.

Scelous, you are somewhat forgetting the fact that the Warhammer world was mostly meant as a satirical take on Medieval Europe (at least I hope). This means that you are mostly correct, it is some form of rip-off. But familiarise yourself a little with Warhammer Fantasy, it might hold a little more depth than you think.

Relating to your question: It should be possible to give your own setting a spin with the WFRP 3E mechanics if you understand the way the dice system works. But perhaps it is a huge effort to work around the whole card system. You'd effectively have to create your own cards.

The core mechanic (characteristic dice + modifiers vs challenge dice + modifiers) is going to work well anywhere. The career sheets are going to be a major source of trouble fluff-wise but you could easily make your own. Some of the mechanics (like the action cards) won't just tie you to a particular narrative but will also have in-game effects. For example it would be difficult to port the magic system into a world where you'd like Wizards to be safe and casting fireballs on every street corner.

If you like the grim and perilous part but just have an issue with the countries/races, I'd say homebrew up some classes and races and you'll be pretty good to go. Reskin the wizard orders and the gods on top of that and you could be looking at a game that feels like Warhammer but occurs in a very different world.

Good luck.

Thanks for the response and suggestions, Owlbear; it's very helpful.

Scelous said:

Ah, I understand. I see your point. I don't particularly disagree, but for me that's part of the attraction. The low-fantasy version that I play in is meant to feel like a twisted version of Europe. I would much prefer it to feel like a warped Europe with Chaos magic than something completely unrecognisable.

I do appreciate original game settings too (see DreamPod 9's Tribe 8 and Heavy Gear for some great examples), but I do like the dark fantasy WFRP setting.

Still, good luck with adapting the mechanics to another setting! It'll be interesting to see what you come up with!

My favorite fantasy setting is Magnamund. A WFRP engine of that would be a game I would never stop playing.

Scelous said:

I can't relate to this at all. In my 20+ years of role playing I haven't seen a better fantasy world. The setting is brilliant, the historical background of the different countries helps define them and their people. It feels much more like a living world than any other fantasy setting I've seen. Everything about the warhammer setting is just pure love.

I really hate settings where everything is named barakutahmanusistan or some other stupid made up name. And races with weird and exotic names that have absolutely no soul. I particularly hate some nerdy cunture description that you can't remember anyway and certainly can't roleplay consistently. But in WFRP if you,re from kislev, bretonia, estalia, the empire etc... you already have some idea. The setting puts the soul into the role playing.

I have a really hard time conceptualizing a true separation of the setting from the game (1,2 or 3) without a massive amount of work, but I admit that is my slanted view of things. It'd be interesting to see what you come up with though Scelos. You'll definitely get a truly intimate feel for the ins and outs of every mechanic as you peel them off the setting.

*3rd Rock From the Sun salute* Good Luck!

I would love to see a Dark Sun system based off the WFRPG 3e rules...

I went back and read the section of the rule book that describes the races and their respective histories again. I tried to put myself in the shoes of someone that hasn't played some version of Warhammer for 16 years and...I can see why the OP could develop the opinion that they did. Granted, the writers at FFG were tasked with collapsing each race's history into a pitiful number of words. That being said it is hard to get a feel for even the Reiklanders, let alone the elves or dwarves. If I had just come to the setting with WFRP 3e I would probably be underwhelmed as well.

Even if you do abandon the setting for something dearer to your heart Scelos I'd recommend looking into other sources of setting fluff to get a better appreciation for the detailed care that has gone into building the world's history in pretty hefty detail. Even this wikipedia article on the High Elves is far better than what I've seen in the 3E fluff thus far:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Elves_(Warhammer)#High_Elves_in_Universe