Seriously considering Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (2nd edition)

[Maggan]

I like letting the players keep track of how many Fate Points they've got as it stops them from being boringly cautious. People still play it a bit safe because they don't want to lose those shiny, precious Fate Points, but having that slight safety net frees them to take risks and indulge in that there Perilous Adventure.

One idea that hit me was to to double the Fate Points, but also let the Player roll 1D4 to see how many FP he loses when called for.

Adds a randomness to it that prevents the players from being too sure about how they will fare.

EDIT: or just add the d4 roll. It is WFRP, after all.

/M

 

[Lord Belgar]

Warhammer Homebrew is fun, challenging, but fun.

Warhammer, IMO, is the best Fantasy /Horror Role Playing Game that I have ever played. I started playing the original in 1993 when I started college. A fellow student had a longstanding game and I joined in. Between the “Central Casting” from Task Force Games and the original rules, Warhammer had the best character creation. The characters were fleshed out and you immediately fell in love with them. He had his own homebrew and it gave me the idea to start my own. I have been using my own world since the summer of 1993. My world was created with Ars Magica and Pendragon with the World of Darkness and Ravenloft in for flavor. Something that is stressed is that there are bigger fish in the sea and you’re just a guppy and you will never be a shark unless you are smart and lucky.

The Rules are flexible enough to take the game out of the Old World and into yours. Simple name changes on a career can make all the difference. The division of magic doesn’t exist in my world. You only need to buy the skill in that magic field in order to start learning the spells. You also have to buy the spell with experience anyway. I have yet to encounter an unbalanced Wizard. Being a wizard in Warhammer sucks enough without having to deal with spell limitations.

Combat is quick and effective and downright scary. My players know enough now not to go out after dark if they don’t have to. I can’t hold that feeling with Dungeons and Dragons. We tried it and it was a dismal failure. D&D itself gives players instant courage. It’s not a scary game. You gain a few levels and you think you are on your way to godhood. Just the rules for WFRP are enough to keep people talking rather then fighting. I’ve had a player die from messing with the wrong barmaid. Halfling with to many hands if you catch my drift and wammo with a frying skillet….

Probably the biggest pain in the butt was dealing with the gods and priests. That took a lot of work and is an ongoing project but I have put it on hold until the Tome of Salvation comes out in July. That gives us a month to hammer out the issues. (We are taking a WFRP break right now. We are playing a New World of Darkness chronicle right now to break it up.)

I buy a lot of the Warhammer Products and many other games just to steal and barrow what I need and dump the rest. I have careers scanned and pasted into an ongoing word document so we aren’t constantly pulling the books out. I have created new playable races and careers that I have put into play. For me the game is a work in progress.

Warhammer 2nd Edition can be used in any Homebrew... I am not gonna lie, there are challenges to overcome to make it workable for a homebrew, but it is worth it just on game’s reputation alone.

 

[shilsen]

Something that is stressed is that there are bigger fish in the sea and you’re just a guppy and you will never be a shark unless you are smart and lucky.

That's one reason I'm looking forward to playing WHFR, as a change from the norm in my regular game. One thing I love about Eberron is the emphasis on the fact that the PCs are special, and I emphasize that in my game, so WHFR should provide an interesting variation.

The Rules are flexible enough to take the game out of the Old World and into yours. Simple name changes on a career can make all the difference.

So I've noticed. Mallus and I have been discussing how to use the system for his setting and so far I'm thinking it should be quite easy to do.

Combat is quick and effective and downright scary. My players know enough now not to go out after dark if they don’t have to. I can’t hold that feeling with Dungeons and Dragons. We tried it and it was a dismal failure. D&D itself gives players instant courage. It’s not a scary game. You gain a few levels and you think you are on your way to godhood.

Really? Someone forgot to tell my players/PCs that. The 13th lvl PCs in my aforementioned Eberron game are the most powerful characters in Sharn, the largest metropolis on the continent. The wizard is the most powerful arcanist. The two druids are the most powerful druids in the entire nation. And a standing joke among them is that they won't go buy a newspaper without being fully buffed and accompanied by the other PCs. Because painful experience has taught them that a bunch of smart, weak opponents can make them very miserable.

Honestly, I believe that whether D&D is a scary game or gives players instant courage or not depends very highly on the capabilities of the DM.

Just the rules for WFRP are enough to keep people talking rather then fighting. I’ve had a player die from messing with the wrong barmaid. Halfling with to many hands if you catch my drift and wammo with a frying skillet….

Even without having played the game, it seems fairly obvious that a few lucky rolls can swing a fight in WHFR between opponents of vastly differing ability. And going up against multiple enemies is esp. scary, much more so than in D&D.

But here's a question for you and anyone else who's played WHFR - have you changed anything about healing in the game, esp. with magic? A single priest with access to the Lore of Shallya can heal an entire group to full health in a minute or two with the Cure Wounds spell, with no risk at all.

That doesn't seem to fit the flavor the game puts out, so I'm thinking I'll add the caveat that one person can be healed only once with magic during or after an encounter. That restriction does exist in some places, but not with Cure Wounds.

Do you think that'll cause any problems that I'm missing?

 

[Jody Macgregor]

But here's a question for you and anyone else who's played WHFR - have you changed anything about healing in the game, esp. with magic? A single priest with access to the Lore of Shallya can heal an entire group to full health in a minute or two with the Cure Wounds spell, with no risk at all.

I haven't felt the need; I wouldn't call the chances of Insanity Points and The Wrath of the Gods no risk at all. Limiting the spell in the same way that the Heal Skill is limited, however, would certainly work.

 

[shilsen]

I haven't felt the need; I wouldn't call the chances of Insanity Points and The Wrath of the Gods no risk at all. Limiting the spell in the same way that the Heal Skill is limited, however, would certainly work.

Unless I'm missing something, somebody rolling only one die to cast Cure Wounds (which only has a casting number of 6, so you succeed 50% of the time even with just one d10 roll) can't ever roll doubles. So there is no risk of Insanity Points or The Wrath of the Gods.

 

[Rel]

Unless I'm missing something, somebody rolling only one die to cast Cure Wounds (which only has a casting number of 6, so you succeed 50% of the time even with just one d10 roll) can't ever roll doubles. So there is no risk of Insanity Points or The Wrath of the Gods.

Except that if you roll a 1 on the casting die then you have to make a Willpower Test or gain an Insanity Point. So usually you only heal people up if it's REALLY necessary.

 

[Henry]

You can get an insanity point just from casting a Light spell, much less any healing magics - it's even an example in the book (the poor hedge wizard...)

Think of it this way... someone with a 50% Willpower will have a chance to get an insanity point 1 time out of every 10 castings, and WILL get an insanity point 1 time in 20 (or 1 time in 40 with fortune rerolls...)

 

[shilsen]

Except that if you roll a 1 on the casting die then you have to make a Willpower Test or gain an Insanity Point. So usually you only heal people up if it's REALLY necessary.

You can get an insanity point just from casting a Light spell, much less any healing magics - it's even an example in the book (the poor hedge wizard...)

Think of it this way... someone with a 50% Willpower will have a chance to get an insanity point 1 time out of every 10 castings, and WILL get an insanity point 1 time in 20 (or 1 time in 40 with fortune rerolls...)

Thanks, guys. That's what I was missing.

 

[Rel]

Thanks, guys. That's what I was missing.

But then there's the peer pressure. "Who cares if you get one lousy Insanity Point!? I could DIE if a Goblin sneezes on me!!"

 

[boredgremlin]

I made it even harsher in my game. Spellcasters cant use fortune points to re-roll caster checks... So if you blow it you blow it.

And that peer pressure only works until the first few IP points add up. After that you'll find your spell casters putting thier foot down alot more often.