A few things I really like about WFRP

[MNblockhead]

What campaign are you running, one of your own creation or published? How is it going so far?

The system was new for all of my players. None had ever played any edition of Warhammer Fantasy. So I suggested we go through the starter set adventure to learn the system. The starter set is quite railroady, but it is basically a tutorial. Similar to a video game tutorial. It takes you through a very linear set of scenes and encounters, which step you through all of the games mechanics.

I can't help myself, though, so I also bought the Ubersreik Adventures and started building additional plot threads based on plot hooks in the various books and Patrons of the Old World. But I intend it to eventually lead into The Enemy Within Campaign with Rough Nights & Hard Days built in. In addition to the RN&HD and EW plots, I'm also working in some plots riffing off of the write ups for Angela Hedamme and Wilhelm Von Vaulk from Patrons of the Old World.

So not much true home brew, but I like to tweak and expand on various things.

So far we are really enjoying it but I can tell that the party is ready to get out of the duties to the Watch and travel beyond Ubersreik. Next session there will likely be a side quest that will give them a quick change of scenery and then we'll finish up Making the Rounds. They have some hooks that, if they bite, may lead to one or two further adventures in and around Ubersreik but we should heading out and getting started on Enemy Within soon.

 

[TheSword]

The system was new for all of my players. None had ever played any edition of Warhammer Fantasy. So I suggested we go through the starter set adventure to learn the system. The starter set is quite railroady, but it is basically a tutorial. Similar to a video game tutorial. It takes you through a very linear set of scenes and encounters, which step you through all of the games mechanics.

I can't help myself, though, so I also bought the Ubersreik Adventures and started building additional plot threads based on plot hooks in the various books and Patrons of the Old World. But I intend it to eventually lead into The Enemy Within Campaign with Rough Nights & Hard Days built in. In addition to the RN&HD and EW plots, I'm also working in some plots riffing off of the write ups for Angela Hedamme and Wilhelm Von Vaulk from Patrons of the Old World.

So not much true home brew, but I like to tweak and expand on various things.

So far we are really enjoying it but I can tell that the party is ready to get out of the duties to the Watch and travel beyond Ubersreik. Next session there will likely be a side quest that will give them a quick change of scenery and then we'll finish up Making the Rounds. They have some hooks that, if they bite, may lead to one or two further adventures in and around Ubersreik but we should heading out and getting started on Enemy Within soon.

Love that. I too am running an Ubersreik campaign for one of my groups. Just finished Heart of Glass which was fun. Also ran If Looks Could Kill which I think is brilliant, and tied it into some of the Rough Nights adventures. Also if you want a cool little side quest - check out The Pig, The Witch and her Lover. Great little rural adventure.

Ubersreik adventures 2 & 3 are even better and to be honest take people out of the city more and more. Particulary 3. Which has the really good Horror at Hugeldal and Eye for an Eye.

My other group that is a mix of people are 3/5 of the way through Enemy Within. It is amazing to run and It’s huge. We’ve been playing every other week for a year and a half now. I started inserting bits into it but soon realised there was enough going on. I found I was giving too much xp out and the players were quickly outpacing the adventure but I adjusted a few bits and brought it back on track. About to start the Horned Rat on Tuesday and can’t wait.

 

[MNblockhead]

Yeah, the player are going to be a bit over experienced when they get into the proper beginning of the Enemy Within. I've been stingy with XP but they will get a healthy bump at the end of the starter-set adventure. I'm thinking of dropping the side quest (Spirit of Mondestille) and also Red Moon Burning but I'm suffering from sunk cost fallacy. I bought them and prepped them. Also Red Moon Burning has their first option to get a cool weapon. But maybe its better for them to start The Enemy Within without a cool weapon. If I go with what I have planned, there is probably 16 hours of play before they start The Enemy Within. If I give recommended XP, they'll all be starting that adventer well into the second level of their careers. My GM intuition and experience tells me to drop the fairly random two side quests. They'll still be doing one of the Rough Night and Hard Days scenarios which will lead them into the Enemy Within.

Ugh, I have so much content and I want to run it all! I'm envious of your running two campaigns. Running both an Ubersreik campaign and a separate Enemy Within campaign sounds awesome. I just don't have the time right now. Started a new job, lots going on family wise.

BTW, was meaning to ask you, have you downloaded any of the Rat Catcher Guild's The Ratter e-zines? I have lots of community adventures from there but haven't had time to really read them. If you have, are there any you particularly recommend? Especially something that would fit into the Enemy Within campaign? Though, I'm not sure I should be looking to add MORE to an already massive campaign.

Looking forward to checking out Ubersreik Adventures III. But I'm waiting for the Foundry module to be available.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I really like the Old World as a setting.

And I think I'd like a system like WHRP. But I promised myself I'd lower my spending on roleplaying games and the sheer amount of books released for WHRP 4th edition is not something I want to hesitate on.

 

[MNblockhead]

Buy the way, I want to highlight the plot-hook callouts they sprinkle through all their books. E.g.,

This isn't the best example, I just happened to have the PDF open. But there a number of them that I've taken from the Starter Set and Core Book and have woven in. He helps flesh things out and allows for less linear play the players take the bait.

 

[MNblockhead]

I really like the Old World as a setting.

And I think I'd like a system like WHRP. But I promised myself I'd lower my spending on roleplaying games and the sheer amount of books released for WHRP 4th edition is not something I want to hesitate on.

I hear you. I've also had to cut my TTRPG spend. Most of my spend late last year and so far this year has been on WFRP.

I will say that you can get the Starter set and run a mini campaign with pregens. Or just get the Core Book. Maybe some of the Ubersreik Adventure books in PDF version. Or just download the The Ratter fanzine and use the free adventures.

The system is crunchier than D&D 5e, though, so if you are not used to cruncier systems the Starter Set is good to step you through the most important rules. Makes it easier for both new GMs and players to pick it up.

There are a variety of fan-made GM screens and references out there that I find more useful than the official GM screen (which isn't bad).

 

[MNblockhead]

One ah-ha moment I had when familiarizing myself with the system was a great article on the Lawhammer blog that explains the monster stats.

One problem with the Core Book is that they try to put everything you need on one book: setting and lore info, rules to play, the GM guide, and the bestiary. Sounds great! And it mostly is. BUT, page limitations caused them to cut some important things. The Bestiary was the hardest hit. Basically, as I understand it, the stat blocks for all the monsters and NPCs in the Bestiary section are baseline stats. They are meant as monster/NPC templates to build on and customize. And it is actually really easy to do in warhammer. The traits are modular bits you can easily plug into the base stats. It is pretty elegant and much less finicky than, say, how the 5e DMG recommends creating or customizing monsters.

BUT, they didn't have space to explain this and given examples on how it should work. It is not obvious to many new GMs that these are just baseline template that you are meant to customize. It is a tool box, not a list of ready to run monsters and NPCs. So when you pull out a troll from the bestiary and try to run it as published in the Core book, it feels lack luster.

The following Lawhammer post breaks it down and gives an excellent primer and how it is meant to work:

Trolls, Trolls, Trolls, Trolls...

WFRP Trolls have recently been causing a stir on the WFRP4 Facebook. Why, you may ask? Well, for this reason: Short answer: it isn't. ...

lawhammer.blogspot.com

The author follows this up with a post "Let's Build Some Orcs" walking you through a concrete example:

Let's Build Some WFRP Orcs

I did a post about WFRP4's Bestiary and It proved much more popular than I expected. Since then, I've received dozens of emails and message...

lawhammer.blogspot.com

Now, if you use the Cubicle 7 WFRP4e system for Foundry, the monster stat block and trait items are designed for this and it is just a matter of pulling up one of the baseline monster actors and dragging some traits onto. And then it just run right in foundry.

I highly recommend any WFRP4e GM who wants to home brew adventures, or improv random encounters, or just tweak monsters and NPCs in the published adventures to read the above linked blog posts.

 

[MNblockhead]

Wondering if anyone can recommend any good WFRP4e live plays and podcasts.

The only one I listen to regularly is Laying Down the Lore. It is more geared to the miniature wargame but the lore is the same. Each episode is an hour+ long lore dump. And they do very deep dives into the history, lore, and important personalities from the Old World.

I also have the Old World Podcast subscribe to in my podcast app. I like their reviews of the book, though many may find them overly positive. They don't really look at anything critically, but they walk you through whats in the books, how different rules work, etc.

They also have some interviews with some of the designers of the game which I really enjoy.

But I can't say that I like their live play. I just couldn't get into it.

I have A Grim Podcast of Perilous Adventure. Which is a play through of the Enemy Within. I've only listed to the first episode. Not sure about it yet, but I plan to listen to a few more episodes. I'm hoping that it may at least be helpful as a kind of game prep, further familiarizing myself with the adventure as I'm preparing to run it. I'll post my thoughts after I've listened to a few episodes.

Garblag games is also running the Enemy Within campaign (Garblag Games - WFRP 4e - Actual Play). I haven't started listening to it yet. I'll listed to an episode or two and choose either it or A Grim Podcast of Perilous Adventure. I don't see myself listing to both, unless they both turn out to be entertaining. I just don't know that I have that much driving, housecleaning, and excercise to do to have time to listen to both. I have to make a solo 12-hour road trip (round trip) twice a month and that when I listen to most of my podcast content.

 

[MNblockhead]

BTW, @TheSword thanks for starting this thread. It is nice to be able to have enthusiastic conversation about a game other than D&D on ENWorld, especially since the D&D threads often get tiresome and negative. Some times you just want to geek out about a game you are into without a bunch of drama.

 

[TheSword]

Wondering if anyone can recommend any good WFRP4e live plays and podcasts.

The only one I listen to regularly is Laying Down the Lore. It is more geared to the miniature wargame but the lore is the same. Each episode is an hour+ long lore dump. And they do very deep dives into the history, lore, and important personalities from the Old World.

I also have the Old World Podcast subscribe to in my podcast app. I like their reviews of the book, though many may find them overly positive. They don't really look at anything critically, but they walk you through whats in the books, how different rules work, etc.

They also have some interviews with some of the designers of the game which I really enjoy.

But I can't say that I like their live play. I just couldn't get into it.

I have A Grim Podcast of Perilous Adventure. Which is a play through of the Enemy Within. I've only listed to the first episode. Not sure about it yet, but I plan to listen to a few more episodes. I'm hoping that it may at least be helpful as a kind of game prep, further familiarizing myself with the adventure as I'm preparing to run it. I'll post my thoughts after I've listened to a few episodes.

Garblag games is also running the Enemy Within campaign (Garblag Games - WFRP 4e - Actual Play). I haven't started listening to it yet. I'll listed to an episode or two and choose either it or A Grim Podcast of Perilous Adventure. I don't see myself listing to both, unless they both turn out to be entertaining. I just don't know that I have that much driving, housecleaning, and excercise to do to have time to listen to both. I have to make a solo 12-hour road trip (round trip) twice a month and that when I listen to most of my podcast content.

I don’t think they got very far with The Enemy Within just the opening. They didn’t have the full Foundry VTT at that point and I think the DM struggled with the rules.

One of the players started Once Upon a Time in the Old World for Garblag which I thought was really good. I watched the first 12 and need to watch the second series. You could tell the DM knew his stuff. Set in Ubersreik - his own ideas and materials. Very good. Shows how career and goals can be woven into the story really well.