I'm not a novice gamemaster (ran various D&D-style games, Mutants and Masterminds, only played in Warhammer 2nd edition never ran it), but my group just purchased the 3rd edition set and plan on starting a game. I guess my question is what pitfalls should I plan on seeing? I've got a diverse group and plan on running an Eye for an Eye as a lead up to the Edge of Night.

To run the game, I scanned the map of Ubersreik and blew it up to 30in x 24in and going to use standups to mark the various important locals around town. Planning on doing something similar (but not quite as big) for the estate in an Eye for an Eye.

My group is a good mixture of careers (a dwarf solider, a dwarf smuggler, a Tilean scout, a Rieklander gambler, a initiate of Sigmar, and an Ubersreik watchman) and have generated a few NPCs from the character's background (using an enemies and friends generator from second edition). From a story view, I have most of the character's lined up for good motivations for heading off to the estate in an Eye for an Eye (gambler needs to lay low for a bit, the initiate was asked to check on Sister Sonja, the solider and the scout are mercenaries and the pay's good enough), but having a few issues with the dwarf smuggler. I get the idea that there are low-lifes in every society, but I'm just trying to figure out how the dwarf criminal would interact with the dwarf sector at Ubersreik. They just seem too honorable. I mean, maybe he could play off their honor and scam humans, but that just seems like it'd only work a couple of times.

Anyway, any help or suggestions would be welcome.

Sounds like a good time waiting to happen.

Some pointers:

1. With this many players, table space may be an issue. Consider asking players not to lay out all their action cards, and keep their play area very tight and organized (it'll be easier for you and your players to scan across the components to notice conditions, wounds, etc.).
2. Recommend splitting your dice (you do have extras don't you?) across the table so that each player has easy access.
3. WHFRP utilizes abstract distances, so use this to your advantage. You may not have to blow up an entire map (as you have done), but you can use notecards (with names of locations on them) or location cards with counters between them to make up your "battle map". Hopefully, this will also take up less space. Along these same lines, players may ask, "What is the distance between location A and B?". Sometimes this is relevant - but resist the urge to define all possible distances (i.e. making a fully connected graph) from location to location - this will just muddy things up.
4. Encourage your players to utilize their components are roleplaying "aids" - but keep the focus on roleplaying and less on min/maxing rules/dice/actioncards. It can be easy to get bogged down on components.
5. NPCs are a bugger to track (as in all games). Consider generating a few sample combats amongst NPCs to help you practice tracking their stats (wounds, A/C/E, etc). I believe you'll find that there is a happy medium between full detail (completely accurate tracking of every statistic) and winging it.
6. For big fights or encounters - consider resolving in story mode with 1-3 different dice rolls to determine what happens.
7. Utilize trackers. My players love (and hate) when they see me tracking something. Sometimes I inform them of the meaning - while other times, I leave them in the dark.
8. For me - sticking to the 3-act structure is still a bit of a challenge, but for the sake of certain mechanics that the players depend on (i.e. rally steps), I try to use it. Don't forget to use a rally step as a necessary commercial break in between lulls and even to give the players the appropriate amount of time to appreciate a cliff-hanger!
9. Unless your components are protected - aboslutely no drinks on the table.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the tips, gsoul. I've already taken a few of those considerations (hopefully they'll work).

For one, instead of using the action cards, we made photocopies of the cards so that each player just has a couple of sheets that he can flip over depending on if he's reckless or conservative stance. Also, considering how much money we spent on the card (full disclosure, in total we got the core set, two copies of the player's book, one of each of the vaults with two of the player's vault, six or seven extra sets of dice, and enough card sleeves for everything) I don't want to damage anything we can help. For wounds, stance trackers, and talents we're using the cards, but almost everything else has just been photocopied.

I blew the map up because quiet a few of my players are visual people (and I do a bit of graphics design work), and because quiet a few of my players have played games like DA2 and I was stealing a bit of their method of having a big map with a bunch of frequented locals and special event locations for the players to visit that I can pull and place when appropriate (And occassionally remind a few of the absent-minded players "oh yeah, that dock house we visited a few weeks ago! Maybe they'd know something." Hopeful, I know.)

The tracker is one of my favorite parts of the game and something I plan on using to torment my players to no end (they love it, I'm sure). I used to use something similar to that in my D&D games and it always made for interesting nights (i.e., "Stop advancing that tracker!" "How was I supposed to know critting with elemental-based attacks would make the elemental lord more powerful!"). Between the trackers for party cohesion, the adventure based ones from Eye for an Eye and the Edge of Night, and other ones I've got in mind, it should make for an interesting tool during the games.

Rally phases, I think, are my least understood part of the game. I get that they're intended to split up different acts, but I don't know how well my game (which generally runs five-six hours) will fit into the whole 3-act episode structure. I think I'll get away with just having two-three rally phases at "intense" moments throughout the night and eventually get my feel for it.

Just a few tips: play some combats out on your own, to get an idea of the rules, then try a few sample combats with your players. You don't need to have everything perfect, but it'll help avoid the problem of you accidentally killing all the players in the first encounter of the game is you've got a vague understanding of how they work. Also, you can avoid boring players with slowing down the game if you've run some trial combats first: use these to check rules in books etc.

Gitzman's Gallery is a site with a bunch of useful downloads - electronic character sheets, maps, great rules summaries (which have loads of concise and useful information) and small, compact 'cards' with lots of handy rules on them. eg. all of the basic action card rules on a single sheet of paper, of a card with a key explaining all the different dice results, etc.

My advice with the rally steps is to drop them in whenever you feel necessary and/or appropriate, and don't worry about the 3 act structure. They're really two different mechanics, aiming to do two different things. The rally step is used to allow your players to recover from a dangerous fight enough to heroically plow on with the adventure rather than retreating, and to give you time to set up the next scene. The 3 act structure is a guide for helping GMs write exciting adventures. If you already write exciting adventures, then don't worry if you're not working in the 3 act structure! (You may even find that you're more or less doing this by intuition anyway, so don't 'force' yourself into 'following the rules').

Allow / encourage the players to interpret their own dice rolls, and the rolls of the other players. This takes some of the pressure off you, and keeps all of the players engaged.

Consider using location cards before you use a map. So; the players arrive at town. Rather than show them the map, and ask where they want to go; just put down the city gates card in the centre of the table. If they want to find a rousing tavern, have them ask for directions. When they get there, put the tavern card on the table in roughly the right place. As they get to know the city more, and more and more location cards are coming on to the table (and at about the point where it might get confusing), you can now switch over to using the map. The players will already have some idea of where most of the key locations are by this point, get the excitement of 'exploring' and now have the reward of a beautiful map.

My suggestions:
* You've got a lot of players. Space reduction:
1) have your players mark their talent slots on their character sheets instead of having the career sheets out there (plus then you don't have to worry about spillage)
2) instead of using giant basic action sheets or all those basica ction cards, shrink this down to 3x5, laminate it with some clear packing tape, and give one to each player: www.gitzmansgallery.com/WFRP3_Resources/Docs/WFRP3/WFRP3%20Basic%20Action%20Card.PNG

Eye for an Eye
* Let your characters shine at the right moment. Make sure it's clear to the low fellowship guys that they will quickly start suffering stress if they think they can talk as well as they can fight... Insanity happens quickly to players who metagame. Let them know ahead of time
* I gave my players a copy of all of the NPC's (sans whether they are good/evil). I introduced them to all the nobody servants and soldiers FIRST to throw them off suspicion of the major npcs.
* Each time I've run this, a character always sneaks off and looks at the painting by himself. I always just hand them an insanity, drop the curtain on them, and have the painting "disappear" to the cellar. They then get the chance to rant to the other players

Rule most often looked up:
* Healing. Just photocopy this page right now and hand it to each of your players. Include the insanity page.

Character integration:
dwarf solider, a dwarf smuggler: good options here with the hammer hidden in plain sight; I would introduce some schlaf into beer..what dwarf can resist??? The soldier will have lots of roleplay options with the "soldiers" there. I would have the smuggler notice that some of the soldiers have been sneaking some extra untaxed alcohol or something.
Tilean scout, a Rieklander gambler: both of these offer good social options and skill checks
Initiate of Sigmar: check the character's skills. If they trained in first aid, should be interesting at the hospital
Ubersreik watchman: depending on the player personality, these characters tend to march through scenarios with question after question. Make liberal use of loss of time when he makes conservative checks and gets delay symbols.

Remember a couple other things:
* Exhaustible talent recharge is 4.
* Use lots of skill checks and try to stay in encounter mode when possible.

Good gaming!

jh

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insomn14 said:

Re the Smuggler - read the back of the Smuggler career card... Smugglers are criminals, yes - but they're not con-men looking to scam people. They are primarily trying to circumnavigate trade embargoes or (most commonly) avoid paying tax/duty on items. There are lots of options for a smuggler (some mentioned in the career description) but in general they are moving contraband around and selling it on. In order to interact with the dwarf sector in Ubersreik perhaps they supply a Dwarfen barkeep with some special Dwarfen ale/spirit? I'd imagine there'd be a few options for smuggling something illegal into the manor in an eye for an eye or perhaps collecting something that is already there, so a reason for them going there shouldn't be hard to come up with...