Hey guys,

I'm an experienced DM who played starting from 3.5 and 4E (experienced but not old as you can figure out) and after watching reviews I decided to buy the box. Now I need help.

The setting looks very intimidating (I'm used to create my own setting) but the setting is part of the core mechanics of the game. Plus, the setting looks great. I need help on what a great first game session would need to hook the players and make them feel the setting. Is there any good roleplay I should adopt or NPC to bring. I understand that greenskin are the comic and fun part of this grim world so apparently making them fail miserably is important (so when they fail to attack they chop their own leg). I particularly loved this quote that Iv'e found on Warhammer Online website :

"Try to understand that for a greenskin, a day that start by killing someone with your bare hands and ends with those same hands being chopped off in battle is a good one"

So to simplify this, here's a list of questions/concerns I have with this game:

1. How do you create NPC? I couldn't find anywhere in the books from the Starting box how to create NPC. Let say I'd like to create a powerful Apprentice of the Grey Order who tracks the PC..I just create him the same way you create a PC?
2. Do the monsters have access to basic action cards (I bet the answer will be yes) like Block, Parry etc.?
3. The starting box came with 3 character boxes but how's the game with more players?
4. The pace of the game seems to reside in how quick you can create the dice pool. So is it better if each player buy its own dice pool?

That should be all for now. Thanks!

Hello and welcome.

I´ll try to help solve these questions, but I expect more experienced folks came by.

1- You create a NPC with many points and powers you like. You can use NPCs from the adventure book as a base, OR creating like a PC, but with many Advances you need. In your example, looks like your NPC is like a nemesis, so I´d create as a char with maybe 8 Extra advances. (its powerful, but its still a apprendice)

2- Depends on the monster. A Skeleton with a sword and shield would have Basic Attack and Block, but not "Acess the situation." In the adventure book the monster´s actions are listed and normally I would use as it is, with the exception of a powerful monster. It depends on your flexibility.

3- You can have as many players you want. I made one extra box with paper and glue (there is software to create fold up boxes, just google it), in the support part of the warhammer page there is a pdf with the basic actions and a pdf with blank cards, that your players can use if someone take the same action of another player. If you like to have more parts, the Adventure Toolkit has tokens and cards for a extra player (beside 10 cool careers and lots of new cards)

4- I bought extra die, but it isnt necessary. If you put all dices in the center of the table, everyone can use it without problems.

Ahn, and sorry about the english errors.

> The setting looks very intimidating (I'm used to create my own setting) but the setting is part of the core mechanics of the game. Plus, the setting looks great.

The world is very encompassing of all things fantasy, just like D&D worlds. The best way to look at it is that Empire is pretty much a fantasy version of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) with Sigmar as it's chief god. Since you really only need to worry about the Reikland for now, I'd recommend that you just read up on that. There are a couple nearby cities that are also worthy of note: Nuln (where a lot of black powder is made), Middenheim (where the rival god, Ulric is hailed above sigmar), and Marienburg (which is like the Netherlands..and is seperate from Empire..it is a city of guilds). Altdorf is the capital of EMPIRE and houses everything and the colleges of magic.

Something to know about this world is that it is simply dirtier than D&D worlds. If you continuously describe the smoke in the air, stepping in puddles of vomit and filth, downtrodden and diseased people everywhere, you're doing a good job. Otherwise, you'll be fine running it like your other D&D worlds Yes, the greenskins are humorous (and numerous). One thing to make sure everything doesn't seem the same that I've done is to make beastmen the opposite of greenskins. I have them be serious and be prone to rhyming dark sayings (pick something shakespherean).

When it comes to knowing the world, start small. The PCs aren't going to know a lot about the world when they first start, so you guys can learn together!

> How do you create NPC? I couldn't find anywhere in the books from the Starting box how to create NPC. Let say I'd like to create a powerful Apprentice of the Grey Order who tracks the PC..I just create him the same way you create a PC?

Yes, this is a good way to do it. Something you should learn though as a new gamer: DO NOT STAT UP NPCs UNLESS THEY WILL BE FOUGHT! I've seen a lot of good GMs burn out creating stuff that doesn't need to be created (and that includes NPCs). About the only stats you're going to need for NPCs will be their Fellowship or Intelligence, as the PCs will likely be talking to them and trying to convince them of things.

> Do the monsters have access to basic action cards (I bet the answer will be yes) like Block, Parry etc.?

YES, and you should keep a COPY OF THIS CARD ON YOUR GM SCREEN so you don't need to have a stack of cards to sort through. Some players also prefer that sheet to having a stack of the basic action cards (it takes up less space and if you have a 4th or 5th player, you don't have to worry about extra cards either).

>The starting box came with 3 character boxes but how's the game with more players?

If you want to print out another, here's a copy of the back of the boxes. You can easily accomodate more players using the summary of basic actions card above or sticking your stuff in a plastic bag when you're done

>The pace of the game seems to reside in how quick you can create the dice pool. So is it better if each player buy its own dice pool?

Yes, I'd say that's true. It's best to have two players essentially start their actions at the same time if they're on the same initiative. This step alone will keep your game moving fast.

One last thing. You may find some useful things in my house rulebook.

jh

I came from D&D to WFRP. I love D&D, but for different reasons than I love WFRP. I also play Star Wars SAGA, Call of Cthulhu, and several other RPGs, all for different reasons. WFRP is much darker and the PCs are not super heroes. Disease, corruption, wounds, and insanity all matter in WFRP where as the PCs in most D&D games shrug these things off like dirty laundry. WFRP is a fine balance of putting the fear in your players without being ruthless and simply murdering them. One other thing, WFRP doesn't have the precise rules to cover 99% of the situations like D&D does, so interpret the rules as best fits your players, you, and the setting. Probably in that order.

1. Jay is right on the money here. No need to stat out characters if you don't have to. Also, get the Monster Vault if you have spare cash and use the Monster cards in the vault for as many monsters/NPCs as you can.

2. Yes, but they may not be smart enough or cautious enough to use them all. Monsters/NPCs should use card that are in character.

3. It works just like most other RPGs. The more you add, the slower it gets, but 3-5 PCs is usually fine, much like D&D.

4. Extra dice always help, but if everyone is conscious about putting the dice back in reach and people are wildly rolling dice so they scatter all over, you might be able to get away with one set, at least for the first few sessions. I have yet to invest in more, but I intend to.

I hope this helps.

www.liberfanatica.net/LF7download.html

also..above is a boatload of pregenerated characters that work well as npcs

I think I'll start simple and try to think of this RPG as any other RPG. Even if there's only one card of each class, I'll let the player tell me what they want to play and I'll provide the advise and the cards. If they want to play the same class I'll let them share the cards.

I have the Gathering Storm campaign and I'll read it from cover to cover and If I'm satisfy with the campaign I'll try it. Worst case scenario I'll craft my own scenario. I was thinking about starting small with beastmen problem in a village where the player suddenly stop on their way to X quest.

I want them to know what Chaos mean in Warhammer. I'll describe the beastman as mutation created by Chaos.

Have any idea how to make a party composed of very different profession join together? A player is thinking of creating a farmer (since he can in Warhammer)

JinPengyou said:

This is one of the things I like about Warhammer - someone wanting to be a Farmer.

What are the other professions? Is the Farmer going to be something like a peasant turned warrior or try to continue on with his Farmer career? The last may be difficult.

If the Farmer is the only odd man out, the first adventure you spoke of above could be the party saving the Farmer at his homestead from a beastman attack. You could add a dark and on-going element to your campaign by having some of his family killed and/or drug away by the beastmen. The sole survivor Farmer would then join the party at the start of his quest to save the remnants of his family from Chaos.

We have the "commoner" turned from milita bumpkin to hero! I was glad that people are breaking the mold of just the D&D-sounding careers

jh

Funny, I rolled a random career recently for Fenderstats game. My characters background is farmer.

Emirikol said:

As I said before, I come from D&D to WFRP, and my wife plays as well. I let her choose her career (everyone else tried random) and she choose the grave robber of all things. I was in awe. And to top it off, she came up with an awesome back story on the spot. This was very uncharacteristic of her, but it was awesome. There is something about Warhammer that seems to draw people in closer to their character and the setting than any other I have seen or used.

Well I'm glad someone is taking the non-epic careers because all I've got is bloody wizards! They must be handing wands and pointy hats out on the street in Altdorf I tells ya...

I'm not helping am I?

As the resident history nut, I suppose the best way to describe the setting is the explain it as very similar to the map of Europe about the 15-16th century. Now while international politics might not be everyone's cup of tea, there's still alot to be read about the things happening closer to home.

1. The black death is still a distinct possibility. It pops up from time to time.

2. 14 is a good age to be married for most commoners, 39 is good age to be dead.

3. Blackpowder and polearms are slowly replacing heavily armoured knights as the principal force on the battlefeild, but not if the knights have anything to say about it.

4. If a religious group isn't harping about how all other religious groups aren't impure, evil whoresons, it's because their too busy being tied to stake and burned.

5. Equality of the sexes? Ha!

6. Serfdom as a concept is largely obselete. Most landowners are now renting or using land-management systems estranged from the fuedal system, of course, if it looks like a duck, smells like a duck and acts like a duck...

In short, for background, if they're dealing with peasents, make the python-esque, grass-chewing hicks and if they're nobles make them inbred, trussed up snobs and you can't go far wrong. A cockney accent couldn't hurt either.

Sturn said:

Better still - how about have the farmer save the group of warriors? Doesn't have to be by wading into combat and defeating their enemies. Could mean rescuing them from a flooded river, leading them starving through the wilderness to 'civilisation' or something like that. If times are hard, the farm is struggling and he's not making a good living, he could then decide to join them. At least 'until they get to the city where they're headed, where I'm sure I'll find honest employment'...

Cue crazy adventures that give the characters cause to bond and trust each other...

Now I'm thinking with all your awesome reply for the farmer player starting with them being found almost dead on the road by the said farmer. They ran in some chaos trouble and after a couple days of treatment the farm is attacked.

This is one of the things I like about Warhammer's setting..it's not because you have a soldier title that you will survive the next round. I made it clear to my player : Warhammer is a more lethal setting (and system) than DnD and they might become insane or lost a limb..and I don't think there's a spell for that.

My player have the reflex to think of magic as a tool and ready to use commodity..but I'll make them understand pretty quickly that magic is different in Warhammer.

Now question of the day : I was reading on the Banes and Chaos star symbol...and my first idea was : I know the player will not accept quickly that a bane means a bad thing..

Like..2 Banes and 1 success overall : After hitting that nasty beastman with your axe, you loose grip on it a fraction of a second and it fly in the mud couple meters away. That's kind of easy : 1 manoeuver and you get to the axe, another one and you are ready to act.

But when it comes to : You slip in the mud and fall..my player will say : oh wait..I don't have a skill roll to do to see if I keep standing?

I just dump stress or fatigue on them, depending. Or draw a miscast. If they say they have some special rule I let them use it... At the cost of more stress.