ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG - a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay retroclone
GMMichael
Guide of Modos
Nice link. There, I learned such cool things as: the Grimoire is 95% done, and there will be a free pdf! Do you guys have plans for some FoolTube videos featuring actual play? I'd love to watch the insiders go at it for 5-10 minutes.
I already know that the fully-illustrated Kickstarter version will blow the free one out of the water. Cheers!
I already know that the fully-illustrated Kickstarter version will blow the free one out of the water. Cheers!
Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
ZWEIHÄNDER fans! As promised, we have a special treat for you before we close up for the holidays.
Far below the hustle and bustle of the streets of mankind lies a secret, a myth that few can determine whether is real or not. Whispers of rat-like men that control the aristocracy, a warren filled with terrible half-human monsters and the worship of a god lost to the annals of time are all hearsay and bedtime stories meant to scare. What is more terrifying is these are not myths, but the truth of the Skrzzak…
Find out more about the Skrzzak at the following link: http://grimandperilous.com/?p=793
Far below the hustle and bustle of the streets of mankind lies a secret, a myth that few can determine whether is real or not. Whispers of rat-like men that control the aristocracy, a warren filled with terrible half-human monsters and the worship of a god lost to the annals of time are all hearsay and bedtime stories meant to scare. What is more terrifying is these are not myths, but the truth of the Skrzzak…
Find out more about the Skrzzak at the following link: http://grimandperilous.com/?p=793
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Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
Magick Items in ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG
There are legends of enchanted blades of mythical strength, armor which can withstand the most formidable of blows, rings which grant extra lives, mantles which cause one to become invisible and more. From artifacts wrought in the dawn age by the firstborn gods to grimoires bound in the flesh of men, hundreds of stories persist of ancient items of great Magickal repute…
Yet, most of these are simply stories. Sure, there are plenty of amulets out there that swindler priests will pawn off as being Magickal, swearing that such and such ring gave a little old lady two hundred long years of life before she choked to death on a crouton in her soup. They may even spin a hilarious yarn of a pair of silken boots that gifted their brother exquisite dance moves that landed him a local Aristocratic lady’s hand in marriage. The huxster will try to convince you that dropping this simple – yet expensive – coin into a tankard will automatically dissolve the poison from unrequited lovers and turn them into a sex-crazed maniac. But for every story, nine times out of ten, these are useless trinkets pawned off as magnificent objects. However, for the tenth one…there may be some truth to it.
Magick Items in ZWEIHÄNDER are unlike those of other tabletop role-playing games. Magick items are not found in shops nor sold on the open market. There aren’t artificer wizards churning out armor, shields, weapons and fetishes for other’s use. The art of enchanting items has been long lost, and not even the elder races understand how to craft them today.
Only the mightiest of champions in the histories; decidedly doomed heroes to be certain, have beheld items of true Magickal repute. The promise of power is enough to drive anyone mad – rest assured that these same “heroes” were villains through and through, abusing its power for their own mad design. Even if these items were to be uncovered, assuredly inquisitors and other would-be heresy branders would do everything in their power to seek them out and destroy them (unless they, too were ensorcelled by their promises of power).
http://grimandperilous.com/?p=807
There are legends of enchanted blades of mythical strength, armor which can withstand the most formidable of blows, rings which grant extra lives, mantles which cause one to become invisible and more. From artifacts wrought in the dawn age by the firstborn gods to grimoires bound in the flesh of men, hundreds of stories persist of ancient items of great Magickal repute…
Yet, most of these are simply stories. Sure, there are plenty of amulets out there that swindler priests will pawn off as being Magickal, swearing that such and such ring gave a little old lady two hundred long years of life before she choked to death on a crouton in her soup. They may even spin a hilarious yarn of a pair of silken boots that gifted their brother exquisite dance moves that landed him a local Aristocratic lady’s hand in marriage. The huxster will try to convince you that dropping this simple – yet expensive – coin into a tankard will automatically dissolve the poison from unrequited lovers and turn them into a sex-crazed maniac. But for every story, nine times out of ten, these are useless trinkets pawned off as magnificent objects. However, for the tenth one…there may be some truth to it.
Magick Items in ZWEIHÄNDER are unlike those of other tabletop role-playing games. Magick items are not found in shops nor sold on the open market. There aren’t artificer wizards churning out armor, shields, weapons and fetishes for other’s use. The art of enchanting items has been long lost, and not even the elder races understand how to craft them today.
Only the mightiest of champions in the histories; decidedly doomed heroes to be certain, have beheld items of true Magickal repute. The promise of power is enough to drive anyone mad – rest assured that these same “heroes” were villains through and through, abusing its power for their own mad design. Even if these items were to be uncovered, assuredly inquisitors and other would-be heresy branders would do everything in their power to seek them out and destroy them (unless they, too were ensorcelled by their promises of power).
http://grimandperilous.com/?p=807
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Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
Social intrigue systems in RPG seem to have a love it or hate it relationship: either Gamemasters love the complexity of the system or dislike its use (Forge-based RPGs). Universally, players and Gamemasters alike tend to take umbrage at systems which focus solely on “skill rolls” over role-playing to determine success. A few even employ social combat, albeit intensely mechanical in nature (Honor and Intrigue, Song of Ice and Fire). Many tabletop role-playing games don’t even have social skills (early editions of D&D), instead leaning on player’s ability to influence non-player Characters through role- play to get the job done. Some games, like Pathfinder, distill social interaction down to a handful of dice rolls, without giving players much agency or allowing role-playing to augment their chances of success. Heck – some systems actively discourage third person role-playing all together!
While we certainly see a place for these approaches, here at ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG, we think we found a great middle ground. We encourage role-play above all, with Skills augmenting the conversation yet not ultimately determine success or failure. Both first and third person role-playing is supported, and rewarded. In our optional Social Intrigue system, there are two simple approaches a Gamemaster can take:
SIMPLE EXCHANGE
This is whenever Social Intrigue warrants an expedient answer through use of a Skill. This is the most common type of Social Intrigue in ZWEIHÄNDER. For instance, either the player gets the lowest price possible for a piece of equipment using Bargain, manage to Charm a doorman to let them into an exclusive tavern or even Intimidate to scare off onlookers upon a scene of a crime in a crowded marketplace. These sort of Skill Tests are very simple for the Gamemaster to rule on, distilling down role-play into a single, binary result. While role-playing is still considered to be a factor, generation of success or failure determines the outcome. Social Class and the Character’s Order & Chaos Ranks influence the Difficulty Rating.
COMPLEX EXCHANGE
Complex exchanges are reserved for specific interactions which require delicate wording, subtle threats and honeyed words to persuade another non-player Character to consider and approve of something they’d normally not agree to do. Before complex exchanges occur, all participants in Social Intrigue discuss above board what their objectives are and what’s at risk. Once determined, each player selects one Skill to use – otherwise known as a Social Tactic – which will drive both the role-playing they employ and how it influences the emotions of the non-player Character they interact with. In this system, they make Social Tactics check before in depth role-playing begins. As before, Social Class, along with Order & Chaos Ranks, determine the Difficulty Rating.
The results of these rolls determine emotions, otherwise called Temperaments, that the Gamemaster writes down to help guide them on how to role-play the non-player Character the players are interacting with. Success and failure matter; one can generate favorable Temperaments, whereas the other can generate unfavorable ones. Once these Temperaments are generated, the Gamemaster references them throughout the interaction to determine how the non-player Characters interact with the players in return.
Download the Social Intrigue entry from the Game Master chapter here, and tell us what you think over at our web forum at Strike to Stun.
While we certainly see a place for these approaches, here at ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG, we think we found a great middle ground. We encourage role-play above all, with Skills augmenting the conversation yet not ultimately determine success or failure. Both first and third person role-playing is supported, and rewarded. In our optional Social Intrigue system, there are two simple approaches a Gamemaster can take:
SIMPLE EXCHANGE
This is whenever Social Intrigue warrants an expedient answer through use of a Skill. This is the most common type of Social Intrigue in ZWEIHÄNDER. For instance, either the player gets the lowest price possible for a piece of equipment using Bargain, manage to Charm a doorman to let them into an exclusive tavern or even Intimidate to scare off onlookers upon a scene of a crime in a crowded marketplace. These sort of Skill Tests are very simple for the Gamemaster to rule on, distilling down role-play into a single, binary result. While role-playing is still considered to be a factor, generation of success or failure determines the outcome. Social Class and the Character’s Order & Chaos Ranks influence the Difficulty Rating.
COMPLEX EXCHANGE
Complex exchanges are reserved for specific interactions which require delicate wording, subtle threats and honeyed words to persuade another non-player Character to consider and approve of something they’d normally not agree to do. Before complex exchanges occur, all participants in Social Intrigue discuss above board what their objectives are and what’s at risk. Once determined, each player selects one Skill to use – otherwise known as a Social Tactic – which will drive both the role-playing they employ and how it influences the emotions of the non-player Character they interact with. In this system, they make Social Tactics check before in depth role-playing begins. As before, Social Class, along with Order & Chaos Ranks, determine the Difficulty Rating.
The results of these rolls determine emotions, otherwise called Temperaments, that the Gamemaster writes down to help guide them on how to role-play the non-player Character the players are interacting with. Success and failure matter; one can generate favorable Temperaments, whereas the other can generate unfavorable ones. Once these Temperaments are generated, the Gamemaster references them throughout the interaction to determine how the non-player Characters interact with the players in return.
Download the Social Intrigue entry from the Game Master chapter here, and tell us what you think over at our web forum at Strike to Stun.
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Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
Hello again, ZWEIHÄNDER fans! As promised, here’s our January progress report.
We are moving along at a steady clip, on track to finish up Bestiary by mid-February. The chapter is coming in at a monstrous 120 individual entries! This means that we’ll have a bevy of creatures for Gamemasters to introduce into their game, ranging from challenges at Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Tiers. We’ve also introduced a unique band of foes into the mix, called the Elite Tier, who can be used as movers and shakers in your campaign.
In the Bestiary, you’ll find many fan-favorites from the Old World, in addition of truly unique beasties of our own design. In ZWEIHÄNDER, creatures are classified by families (Abyssal, Animal, Beast, Humanoid, Mutant or Supernatural) and further categorized by Risk Factor, analogous to the Slaughter Margin from WFRP. Each entry in the Bestiary is fully fleshed out; this means that all stats and abilities will be present in the entry, so you don’t have to go digging into other chapters to figure out how creature’s traits function. Every creature, both small and large, receive at least 1/4 to a full page description of its appearance, ecology and tidbits of mythology to draw upon for your own grim & perilous campaign world.
Follow this link to see the entire listing of creatures! Perceptive readers may even find a hot link or three to nasties we’ve recently completed, which can be used in the free-to-play GRIMDARK Beta Edition now!
http://grimandperilous.com/?p=835
We are moving along at a steady clip, on track to finish up Bestiary by mid-February. The chapter is coming in at a monstrous 120 individual entries! This means that we’ll have a bevy of creatures for Gamemasters to introduce into their game, ranging from challenges at Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Tiers. We’ve also introduced a unique band of foes into the mix, called the Elite Tier, who can be used as movers and shakers in your campaign.
In the Bestiary, you’ll find many fan-favorites from the Old World, in addition of truly unique beasties of our own design. In ZWEIHÄNDER, creatures are classified by families (Abyssal, Animal, Beast, Humanoid, Mutant or Supernatural) and further categorized by Risk Factor, analogous to the Slaughter Margin from WFRP. Each entry in the Bestiary is fully fleshed out; this means that all stats and abilities will be present in the entry, so you don’t have to go digging into other chapters to figure out how creature’s traits function. Every creature, both small and large, receive at least 1/4 to a full page description of its appearance, ecology and tidbits of mythology to draw upon for your own grim & perilous campaign world.
Follow this link to see the entire listing of creatures! Perceptive readers may even find a hot link or three to nasties we’ve recently completed, which can be used in the free-to-play GRIMDARK Beta Edition now!
http://grimandperilous.com/?p=835
Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
Hello again, ZWEIHÄNDER fans! Here is our April progress report.
The Bestiary became a monstrous task (pun intended) over the past two months with further edits and the addition of several new creatures. We revamped the entry for Abyssal baddies, up to and including expanding upon the lore behind Higher Demons, Lower Demons and their servants. This resulted in a ton of new narrative material, which was brought to conclusion late last week. You’ll recognize Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay fan favorites, along with some of our own design. We’ll showcase some of this material later in our update.
As of today, we officially have one entry left in the Bestiary! We need to button a few things up in the Game Mastery chapter, but otherwise we are tracking to have ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG complete before summer hits. We’ll have more details in the coming days for our Kickstarter, but otherwise you can watch for live updates over at our Facebook page.
Finally, as promised, here’s a look at two classifications of Demons – Higher Demons and Lower Demons. We’ve included one Demon from each, which you can use today in your GRIMDARK Beta Edition game! Head over to our home page to learn more: http://grimandperilous.com/?p=848
The Bestiary became a monstrous task (pun intended) over the past two months with further edits and the addition of several new creatures. We revamped the entry for Abyssal baddies, up to and including expanding upon the lore behind Higher Demons, Lower Demons and their servants. This resulted in a ton of new narrative material, which was brought to conclusion late last week. You’ll recognize Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay fan favorites, along with some of our own design. We’ll showcase some of this material later in our update.
As of today, we officially have one entry left in the Bestiary! We need to button a few things up in the Game Mastery chapter, but otherwise we are tracking to have ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG complete before summer hits. We’ll have more details in the coming days for our Kickstarter, but otherwise you can watch for live updates over at our Facebook page.
Finally, as promised, here’s a look at two classifications of Demons – Higher Demons and Lower Demons. We’ve included one Demon from each, which you can use today in your GRIMDARK Beta Edition game! Head over to our home page to learn more: http://grimandperilous.com/?p=848
GMMichael
Guide of Modos
Who cares about monsters? This was my favorite part! Nothing like a new RPG to help you hide from the heat.
Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
Thanks Mike! We're pretty excited to see this come to fruition. The bestiary was a massive chore!
All that's left is polishing up a few things in the GM chapter, along with adjusting Divine Punishments and forms of atonement for divine magick. Plus, we have included a few new features in the GM chapter we haven't yet let the public know about. More on that later!
Cheers,
Daniel
Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
We have some very exciting news to share for fans of WFRP 3e!
In light of the licensing issues between Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games, our team has been working on a method to “back in” the dice mechanics from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay third edition. It took quite a bit of retooling, but fortunately, ZWEIHANDER’s ruleset has proven to be very accommodating to this approach.
Our play test phase begins tonight, to see how well they gel within ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG‘s framework. Providing everything goes according to plan (with tweaks here and there), we will publish these rules as a free PDF in the coming weeks, leading up to the print edition.
Did you miss out on ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG on Kickstarter the first time around? We are keeping Late Pledges open at CrowdOx until October 31st: https://app.crowdox.com/projects/grimandperilous/zweihander-grim-and-perilous-rpg
Come check out the world’s first Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay retroclone/loveletter/heartbreaker/OSR/spiritual successor: ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG: http://grimandperilous.com
In light of the licensing issues between Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games, our team has been working on a method to “back in” the dice mechanics from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay third edition. It took quite a bit of retooling, but fortunately, ZWEIHANDER’s ruleset has proven to be very accommodating to this approach.
Our play test phase begins tonight, to see how well they gel within ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG‘s framework. Providing everything goes according to plan (with tweaks here and there), we will publish these rules as a free PDF in the coming weeks, leading up to the print edition.
Did you miss out on ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG on Kickstarter the first time around? We are keeping Late Pledges open at CrowdOx until October 31st: https://app.crowdox.com/projects/grimandperilous/zweihander-grim-and-perilous-rpg
Come check out the world’s first Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay retroclone/loveletter/heartbreaker/OSR/spiritual successor: ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG: http://grimandperilous.com
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