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D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
Warhammer fantasy 4E D&D - Proposed House Rules?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4229153" data-attributes="member: 62992"><p>I too reckon that the designers of 4E are big-time fans of WH; Monte certainly is; Ptolus alone has tons of elements from WH including Chaos, Ratmen, firearms mutants etc. I reckon the PoL setting defualt was inspired by the LoTR movies and the WH world whilst 1st level characters in 4E seem to me to be very like Exalted characters.</p><p></p><p>Before I start this post, let me first say that when I say Warhammer, I mean the Warhammer world of the roleplaying game, not the Wargame (which is actually VERY different and IMHO rubbish).</p><p></p><p>On the surface, D&D PoL settings and then WHFRP world seem similar, but there are some important distinctions; I have played 1st and 2nd edition WHFRP for many years and so am very familiar with the setting. I also really love the novels, and these are worth a look if you are thinking of running your game in this setting (look for Dan Abnett in particular). </p><p></p><p>I think some of the problems you will have using the WHFRP world with 4E could be worse than with 3.5E; I recently ran a D&D campaign, set in an Imperial Colony in Lustria (Warhammer South America) that was very hard to adapt to keep the WHFRP "feel" because;</p><p></p><p>a) D&D is HEROIC and Warhammer is NOT. It is gritty, it is nasty and the Heroes are all fallen. As long as you spell this out to your players at the beginning, things will be fine. Just make sure there are no GOOD character or evil ones. Extreme alignments in the WH world tend to de-rail the campaign quickly. Moral ambiguity is the watch-word in WH.</p><p></p><p>b) Magic will be a problem in a 4E Warhammer game; in the Warhammer world, magic is looked upon as corrupting and no one trusts ANYONE who wields it. If you start casting magic willy-nilly, you will soon be burnt by a paranoid mob led by a witch-finder, even if you have a writ from the Emperor to say its OK. How you square this with At-Will abilities for wizards is anyone's guess. I would suggest you set your campaign a long way from civilisation for much of the time so the players can cut loose with their spells.</p><p></p><p>There is also the corrupting influence of magic; in Warhammer, magic is like radiation. The more you use it, the more likely you are to become physically or mentally or spiritually corrupted no matter how well intentioned you are. How you model this in D&D without significantly underpowering the spell using classes is challenging. I made the PCs change bodies several times after their original ones were mutated. I mutated them all because they were all exposed when their friends, the wizards, cast spells. You can make it really creepy, with grave robbing etc. You basically have to make these effects apply to the whole party, and make them affect the story. Then it works. Think of a party of PCs inhabiting dead bodies (aka Frankenstein) who are trying to save the world but are hated and hunted by the very humans they seek to protect.</p><p></p><p>c) Warhammer will work fine for Heroic Tier, but high D&D levels don't work well in the civilised WH world. 4E will be better because of the flatter power curve, but there are still some powerful effects. The spells are simply too powerful and the setting is irrevocably changed by them. Having said this, if you have the campaign go into the wastes of Chaos at high level ( a place that is almost off-limits in WHFRP itself) then high level D&D characters could kick ass. I would suggest you mutate them all so they can't go back to the normal world or have something like the Storm of Chaos happen in the Old World so that there are champions of chaos running around and the PCs are the anoited of Sigmar or something.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, have fun. It can work if you think a little way ahead and agree with your players beforehand that magic is mutagenic etc, but that the story will move forward anyway and you aren't penalising them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ydars, post: 4229153, member: 62992"] I too reckon that the designers of 4E are big-time fans of WH; Monte certainly is; Ptolus alone has tons of elements from WH including Chaos, Ratmen, firearms mutants etc. I reckon the PoL setting defualt was inspired by the LoTR movies and the WH world whilst 1st level characters in 4E seem to me to be very like Exalted characters. Before I start this post, let me first say that when I say Warhammer, I mean the Warhammer world of the roleplaying game, not the Wargame (which is actually VERY different and IMHO rubbish). On the surface, D&D PoL settings and then WHFRP world seem similar, but there are some important distinctions; I have played 1st and 2nd edition WHFRP for many years and so am very familiar with the setting. I also really love the novels, and these are worth a look if you are thinking of running your game in this setting (look for Dan Abnett in particular). I think some of the problems you will have using the WHFRP world with 4E could be worse than with 3.5E; I recently ran a D&D campaign, set in an Imperial Colony in Lustria (Warhammer South America) that was very hard to adapt to keep the WHFRP "feel" because; a) D&D is HEROIC and Warhammer is NOT. It is gritty, it is nasty and the Heroes are all fallen. As long as you spell this out to your players at the beginning, things will be fine. Just make sure there are no GOOD character or evil ones. Extreme alignments in the WH world tend to de-rail the campaign quickly. Moral ambiguity is the watch-word in WH. b) Magic will be a problem in a 4E Warhammer game; in the Warhammer world, magic is looked upon as corrupting and no one trusts ANYONE who wields it. If you start casting magic willy-nilly, you will soon be burnt by a paranoid mob led by a witch-finder, even if you have a writ from the Emperor to say its OK. How you square this with At-Will abilities for wizards is anyone's guess. I would suggest you set your campaign a long way from civilisation for much of the time so the players can cut loose with their spells. There is also the corrupting influence of magic; in Warhammer, magic is like radiation. The more you use it, the more likely you are to become physically or mentally or spiritually corrupted no matter how well intentioned you are. How you model this in D&D without significantly underpowering the spell using classes is challenging. I made the PCs change bodies several times after their original ones were mutated. I mutated them all because they were all exposed when their friends, the wizards, cast spells. You can make it really creepy, with grave robbing etc. You basically have to make these effects apply to the whole party, and make them affect the story. Then it works. Think of a party of PCs inhabiting dead bodies (aka Frankenstein) who are trying to save the world but are hated and hunted by the very humans they seek to protect. c) Warhammer will work fine for Heroic Tier, but high D&D levels don't work well in the civilised WH world. 4E will be better because of the flatter power curve, but there are still some powerful effects. The spells are simply too powerful and the setting is irrevocably changed by them. Having said this, if you have the campaign go into the wastes of Chaos at high level ( a place that is almost off-limits in WHFRP itself) then high level D&D characters could kick ass. I would suggest you mutate them all so they can't go back to the normal world or have something like the Storm of Chaos happen in the Old World so that there are champions of chaos running around and the PCs are the anoited of Sigmar or something. Anyway, have fun. It can work if you think a little way ahead and agree with your players beforehand that magic is mutagenic etc, but that the story will move forward anyway and you aren't penalising them. [/QUOTE]
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