1987 Birthed Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as a tangential affair to Fantasy Battle. You could look from one side of the fence to the other and the Warhammer World looked pretty similar. One was just "zoomed" in so to speak.

*Wayne's World Doodaloo Doodaloo Scene Shift*

Now here we are almost three decades later. We have eight editions of Fantasy Battle, three editions of Fantasy Roleplay and all that juicy fan content that started to be produced in the dark years at the first death of first edition and just kept on rollin'. In terms of "canon", time has skipped forward, backward, sideways, heroes have vanished, races have disapeared (gnomeo where for art thou gnomeo). Countries have shifted around, entire cities have floated away. Vague un-defined canon has given rise to flame wars and fan content which is either widely adopted or derided as unofficial fan fiction. Basically we are all speaking phase shifted dialects of the same nerd-language. Suffice it to say we have all the necessary ingredients for a holy war (and one that has been waged multiple times by the bannerpeople of each edition of both the battle and roleplay versions of the game).

I consider myself lucky to only feel like I have to pick up the mechanics of third edition since my conception of the world is pretty well ingrained in my grey matter over the last 16 or 17 years. Of course my view of the flim and flam of the world is going to overlap with some people and run at varying odds with the rest of y'all. Having recently fired up the engines to update myself to 3rd edition I have been thinking a lot about how it must feel to be completely new to Warhammer coming from any of the myriad tactical or roleplaying games that exist. Forget the sticker shock of the price of Warhammer 3rd edition...wtf is even going ON in this setting?! A simple "Hey how does this work" question on the forum can get four completely different answers and a couple of /facepalms.

So let's break it down Rosetta Stone style guys n dolls.

Tell us how do YOU percieve the various unique aspects of the Warhammer Setting! This is a fictional world and there may be "typical" answers but in no way are they "right." Who knows, maybe the canonicle response to a setting question will disapoint a new player, when some far fetched kookoo idea ensares their imagination and causes them to play WFRP with us for the next 20 years (like Elves being made of raspberry jam and Orks are vampire werewolves from beyond Morrsleib). I don't care if we agree, I just wanna know why and where you got your information. Let's keep it civil, and avoid flaming people for sharing their imaginations with us. I'll go first.

IN MY WARHAMMER:

Sigmar is one of the lost Primarchs from Warhammer 40k. [basis: Thousands of widely rejected discussions on the matter]

Fimir are still lurking around waiting to pummel players [basis: 1st Edition monster that I have ported along with me in each edition]

Zoats have been left behind [basis: Abandoned after WFB 3rd edition and WFRP 1st edition. I like Dragon Ogres better...]

Storm of Chaos got flushed [basis: 2nd -> 3rd Edition setting shake up by GW, and one that is very welcome in the stories we tell at our table]

Tip of the Iceberg stuff really...how about you?

In MY Warhammer...

• Sigmar was totally a Space Marine, who flew in on his Twin Tailed Comet (space ship) united the realm and then took off (cuz his job was done here).
• Chaos Dwarves and hobgoblins will return one day with the fancy Russian hats.
• Fimirs are gone. Good ridance, they were silly anyway =)
• Albion only has 1 large island and 1 small island.
• Blood Bowl is totally canon =)
• The Great Horned Rat is a lesser Chaos God
• Snotlings are smaller forms of Goblins, who are smaller forms of Orcs, who are smaller Black Orcs. Just depends on how long the fungas grew and mutated.
• There are no female Orcs

Gitzman

From my campaign website: www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/deaths-dark-shadow

*SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MY WARHAMMER CAMPAIGN *
•Yes, there are dwarfen steam engines, occasional Imperial gaslamps and wierd technologies of the “alleged” ratmen. It’s just out there sometimes..waiting for you to mess with it and put your fingers where they don’t belong.
•No, you’ll never meet the emperor so who cares what he looks like, what he rides, or who his retinue is. You’re not going to meet the Countess Emanuelle von Liebewitz either. You’re a peon, pissboy, or bog-iron picker to the likes of the gold tier and don’t think any different.
•High elves are like stone cold assassins, ever caught up in their blood war with the Druchii while attempting to maintain some semblence of civility in the impulsive and reckless world of men. Exasperated disgust is their main expression towards all other races.
•Wood elves actually do steal babies (and other blessed varmints) and perform all manner of alien rituals to the woodland spirits in ways that man cannot understand..sometimes even returning their capture to their owners..with gifts. Why they do ANYTHING is a mystery to all but themselves.
•There are not really any honest people and ironically, halflings, which are considered most disonest and thiefly are more honest than most men. That priestess of Shallya who just healed will probably send her thugs after you to get the rest of the silver you probably have hidden in your boot.
•Dwarfs (not dwarves), hold grudges. They have tomes of grudges for which all must be answered. It’s the main reason why they are beleagured. They just can’t let it go.
•Gor beastmen love to rhyme and wax poetic when they battle (and when they do that hang-you-upside-down-to-drain-you-thingy).
•You’ll probably never be fully healed-up. Rub some puke-soaked goat-feces on it and get over it you big wuss!
•Here’s how your character will probably end his career: disease, mutation, in the asylum with insanity/madness, critical wounds/death, alcohol poisoning, in the loving embrace of a daemonette’s orificial tentacle, and/or all of the above if you made any attempt to be the hero you were meant to be!
•True magical items are very rare and the local baron would just as soon kill you for it if he finds out you have any. That glowy-stone you’ve got is probably warpstone too, so don’t put it in your pocket next to your junk. There are however, superior quality items that are pretty dang good – adding either a white or blue die to your actions.
•Heretics are burned at the stake daily in every town as a way to ward off evil spirits and since evil spirits are actually real, and “chaos” is more than just a term, heretics are relentlessy rounded up by the Witch Hunters. The term heretic is applied loosely to include: actual heretics, presumed heretics, accused-by-the-neighbor-who-doesn’t-like-your-barking-dog heretics, mutants, people who’ve been visited by the verruca gnome too many times, braggarts, people who cast spells, people who suddenly came into a lot of money, people who collect butterflys, children who get lippy, wives who don’t put-out, children born with an extra toe/finger/nose/head, mother-in-laws, men with too much chest hair, men with too little chest hair, elves caught alone in the dark, etc. etc. etc. Ironically, not too many halflings or diseased people are actually ever burned at the stake as any discriminating witch hunter has no desire to catch cooties.
•There Is No Greenskin Mother’s Day: Orcs and other greenskins progenate from spores for the single purpose of using you as practice dummies for thier choppa’s.
•Moving barges and riverboats is usually accomplished by steam power. Occasionally mule teams and human labor along canal trails are still used.
•Beer and Vodka! Calm your fears and help you sleep while the rats in the common room pick you clean of crumbs from supper! Which will you choose? Will it be the fleabag in the used-cask room of the Thunderwater Inn or the straw tick of an anemic harl-ot at the Stewpot hostel?
*WFRP is not low magic..just low magic item made up for by additional types of superior items.
*Canon: anything wfb, bloodbowl, zoats, fimir, gnomes, airships n gyrocopters, man-o-war, comics, novels, wfrp (any ed), WAR, and anthing Carl Sargent has written ever.
•Not canon: D&D, Star wars, and anthing from LotR that hasnt been improved by moorcock.

In my Warhammer......

Sigmar is not half as cool as Ulric. The space marine stuff sounds cool, but frankly, I am not interested in the connection.

Chaos Dwarves are totally happening.

Mordheim still is out there! Its a long abandoned city with countless Dungeons and denizens!

My Warhammer leans more towards High Magic. Its more pervasive and the Fantasy element competes with others of the fantasy ilk.

Man o War and thus the battles along the coast with bad guys is more prevalent than what one would infer from the realm as introduced.

(Note...I never played 1st or 2nd edition. I have never played Warhammer Fantasty Battles. I have played Mordheim. BloodBowl and Man o War....A lot!

I am using 3rd Edition mechanics in a v1 world.

Well, it's mostly v1, but I've added my own province, and I weave in a little more of the AGOT sense of noble Houses to drive some of the meta plots surrounding the players. But it's mostly v1.

Emirikol said:

Eh? Is it Elfs too? Please explain

Hi,

In My Warhammer...

• Sigmar is no Astartes. He's an ambitious and creative warrior, a Rieklander who got ten fortune dice once per session. He was cannier and luckier than those around him. Then, after he passed on, predictably, lots of people argued he proclaimed this, outlawed that, and declared people were to behave in a particular way and pay x amount to us..
• Blood Bowl is still snot ball but is totally canon. A favourite familly entertainment.
• Elves or Elfs are rare and generally uninterested in the PCs. Wood Elves are elusive highly intelligent eco-mentalists, like stone cold zoologists with machine guns.
• Criticals, diseases, insanity and mutations make me laugh.
• Everyone in the Old World has an ulterior motive no matter how petty.
• Nobody in their right mind travels alone on the road... at least not for long.
• Abit of bribery goes a long way. So does blackmail.
• Fimir exist, skaven are still the worst kept secret.
• You are destined to play your part in saving the Empire from an as yet unkowable threat, putting life and soul at risk for a greater good. Then you will die from criticals/disease/insanity/mutations, in agony and embarassment. Cursing the injustice of it all, and I will be laughing...

In MY Warhammer (cont'd.)

Karl Franz is <spoiler omitted from Enemy Within Campaign> and everything continues on as per the political norm in the day-to-day Empire

No one is above an arse-whoopin.

The Warhammer world is actually quite high in magic, but attaining said magic is beyond the ken of mortals (including Elfs) without exacting a horrendous price

There are bright and shiney <nouns> in the Old World worth fighting for, even if it is a hopeless cause that will end with a short drop and a sudden stop for the PC's. Live well and die better.

The Colleges of Magic are not invisible versions of Hogwarts. They are a less final alternative to being handed over to the Witch Hunters/Villagers, and upon emerging from their gloomy spooky interiors the happy-go-lucky witch that went in is changed in fundamental ways that they will never speak to the living about.

The average citizen of the Empire may be downtrodden scum, but any one of them could surprise you both for good or ill...and that is how we begin our story

Callidon said:

This is quite a good idea. There's something that always bugged me about colleges of magic being these benign organizations. I'm leaning towards that they REALLY ARE greedy, power-hungry people with "less responsibility" because they now have the sanction by the state behind them..whereas, an unlicensed witch needs to be really careful (or just plain evil), I may encourage our upcoming wizard player to act more "irreverent" as long as the witch hunters aren't looking. It's almost as if the colleges of magic are more like those from Discworld, than being what they should be: just above a witches coven with a lot of secret, evil scheming and, just like the elves, baby-stealing-for nefarious purposes. When caught, they just claim, "oh, he was just a rogue wizard." When in reality, they're all in on it.

In my warhammer, magic IS going to be more evil. More the Raistlin of Dragonlance than the Gandalf of Tolkien.

jh

Speaking as one who is new to this setting, I find this thread very intriguing and inspiring. I will soon be setting my GM's foot into this world for the first time after years of playing those myriad other games Callidon mentioned. I am already in love with the system and am rapidly falling for the setting. I hope my players will follow my lead. Reading the different approaches you veterans take is fascinating and really shows the extreme depth and variety of the Warhammer world. Keep it coming!

In MY Warhammer...

Being poor sucks, but getting rich can be worse

Peasants are people too, and you can still get your buns handed to you by a fat man with a rake for a weapon...or a lynch mob of them for that matter.

Superstition trumps logic almost every time

Boris Todbringer is a total badass with one eye who should be followed by a quartet of heavy metal basists wherever he goes (D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D).

In my Warhammer:

- The Chaos Gods are not so overtly evil. Even the knowledge of their existence is heresy, mostly people that search for them find any info about them. They are not "evil", and they are not always the villians, searching to destroy and conquer the old world, or the Empire in particular. They are not interested in that because they just dont care about it , doesnt need it really. Most of their power comes from the emotions and "worship" that all the races gives them following the emotions and urges that they represent, so in the end, the mortals are too much important to destroy them. They send armies to war, true, but is mostly a cover , part of the Great Game, just a distraction to their real goals. IF

But not because they are hidden, are they less powerful or less dangerous. I believe that to hide the chaos gods influence and power is more important than hide, for example, the skaven, that i believe is frankly absurd.

They manipulate the things according to their whims, and sometimes they manipulate armies to rise. I find it completely ilogical that they unite under a common banner, chaos is supposed to be chaotic! Sometimes in the cannon i see that Chaos seems more organized than any army, and that is not true in my warhammer. IF they unite, is mostly for fear of some event that can harm them, or some inescrutable goal, but is not common, nor expected, it is uncommon.

- The mutations sometimes happen, but the ones given to a follower of chaos, are not so bad, or sometimes not so deforming. After all, if chaos is so **** ungrateful, why to follow it in the first place? Chaos should be able to lure humans, not scare them away. That said, the chaos gods can do what they want, just that followers doing it right will get more blessings.

- Chaos champions and warriors are not so bleak and empty: they are most obseesed with their gods , and also far more ambitious, and more reckless, theya re not united with their armours, they can take it out In short , they are pleasing the gods, so the gods pleases them.

- The gods power are sijmilar to addictions, you can take them once, two times, but slowly you are gettign addicted to what they give to you, so some people will do anything for them, and then they will start to act as real cultists, not only for the devotion, but for the need of their dose of power and addiction (this idea is really from my girlfriend The ideology and ideals that the chaos gods represent , are far more dangerous than the ocassional armies that they rise.

- Malal exist, and is powerful.

- Middenheim is a fortified city, proud and difficult to rule. I read the Middenheim : people is more rebelious, and the rule is based in a nobility that is strong and powerful in a military way: no rules will last lomg if the population see it as weak, no matter the bloodline.

Generals are very important here, since Ulric teaches that bravery and battle are his ways, most of the people respect them, and the city itself is a militaristic kind of city, also Count Boris Todbringer is a general, and a war hero (as it is in cannon). His succesor is his most able son, not the sick one, that in cannon is his succesor.

- Humanity in general has suffered a lot, as in cannon, but now is reaching a time when they are believing to be the ruling race in all the world. They are developing new techniques and technologies, and in some parts consider the elder races as inferior. i plan to make parts of the human empire , where segregation occurs between the races, but still dont know how to do it.

- I plan to make something to adapt some of the elements of the "the witcher" world in my warhammer, but without losing it essence. Still not sure how to do it, though.

- Chaos and magic are , after all, mysterious and hidden. Thats why they are so powerful, and so alluring. Chaos in particular is difficult to define, even the gods, their names are just the way mortals categorize them, i believe they are far more, if something can be defined , and is easy to identify, it is less terrorific and less powerful. When they show, is to show to the humans that they are inevitable, and that they are the true masters, which in the end make poeple more scared, and more prone to unconciously feed them with their fears and emotions.

In my Warhammer

-there is no connection between 40K and Fantasy, also if there are many hints.

-Greenskins are no mushrooms

- Fimir do exist

-Zoats do exist

-Elves are very very rare in the old world, i'll change them in adventures to humans if possibile.

-Chaos Dwarfs have their empire in the east

Interesting thread.

In my Warhammer:

- whatever is going on underneath what appears to be happening is "held lightly" by me - who/what was Sigmar, is the god Sigmar an apotheosed mortal or an illusion etc., it doesn't really matter to the heroes so "let it be a question, a confusing one". I think more about what Count von Jungfreud's details and plans are than Sigmar etc.

- fimir exist, or at least a bogeyman in the marshes that seems to be them does (though the details about them are treated lightly)

- interesting as the zoats are, if they exist it's far off-stage or perhaps only really really close to extinction

- no Storm of Chaos and I hold at a distance any "completely topsy turvy turning" event hitting the Empire because I like playing with the "corrupt federation passing itself off as Empire" and all the plots in it more - that said, every campaign should have some major chaos shake up at some point for it to be the Old World

- dwarf steam-tech is very experimental (cf the recent dwarf book and invention rules it would always be "unique")

- the wood elfs are indeed [spoiler spoiler spoiler] the Bretonnians, though your average wood elf doesn't know all of the details and elfs generally don't consider humans "real people" anyway (heck in the real world getting most people to consider most other people to be real people has been a major project still underway)

- there's no connection to 40K universe, ideas can be stolen but there ain't no spaceships coming down (or at least if there are it's not humans getting off them), and no greenskins are not fungus/no spore reproduction (the tales of their infestations etc would be different if they were)

- the Ruinous Powers are nuts, they have objectives and pursue them rationally but they're not rationally defined/relateable objective (does what they want make sense even for them, no, but that's how they were created and they don't have the capacity to see beyond that, any more than Shallya can see that mercy is not always a good idea - she's the best example I can think of a "good" deity who's nuts in same "I've got my theme and principle, the need and dream I embody and answer, and it's run with regardless where it goes" principle, even if eventually it turns against itself).

In MY Warhammer :

- there is a connection between the Great Old Ones as described in what people call the Lovecraft "Mythos" and the mighty Old Ones of the Warhammer mythology... the Crawling Chaos, the dark Goat god of the woods, etc. ( even if I don't verbalize it as a GM and only use this idea as a source of inspiration )

- you don't meet hordes of Green skins or herds of beastmen everytime you're picking mushrooms in the forest.

- Skavens are still a myth, but some people are trying to warn about those " giant rats walking just like you and me "

In my Warhammer:

• Sigmar was totally a Space Marine, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to call him a Primarch.
  
• The timeline is set at the year 2000, right after the false second coming of Sigmar destroyed Mordheim.
  
• The entire Empire is in a state of utter chaos with trying to select a new Emperor (including the Count from Sylvania, yes they don't know he's a vampire yet).
  
• The Chaos is well known, but the individual gods not so much.
  
• Wood Elves are pretty mean people and almost non-existent in the Empire.
  
• High Elves are more and more common, especially as delegates and spies.
  
• Chaos Dwarves and Hobgoblins? Yes please! I really miss these guys from the model lines.
  
• Skaven? There's no such thing as Skaven. Yeah worst kept secret deal... its more amusing than practical. Even many of those who have been to Mordheim and fought against the rat-men face to face still deny their existance.
  
• Orcs and Goblins are fungal and I don't want to know more about how that works.
  
• Mordheim and 'wyrdstone' are the words on everyone's lips these days, and everyone thinks they are the fast track to fame and fortune rather than a soul corrupting deathtrap.

My Warhammer:

• Strange mix of all editions
• Storm of Chaos happened but almost everything known about it (ie. FaBa) is propaganda
• More Moorcock than current "high fantasy lots of diddlededoo"
• Bretonnia and Empire are on the edge of war (insert player characters)
• Lady of the Lake is a cult created by Wood Elves to gain defence
• The Curse of Mousillon was lifted which created a major lack of faith in Bretonnians
• This lack of faith is going to be replaced by living saints and gonna-be-gods
• There's a civil war in Bretonnia where WFRP1 kind of Bretonnia is on the raise and WFRP2 kind of Bretonnia is going down
• Archaon is needed as a champion of Chaos to enhance the faith of the men of Empire into their gods
• The End Times ARE here (possibly about 20 sessions away from utter destruction of the whole world)