Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay n00bie

[Wilphe]

The aphorism goes like this:

Warhammer characters think they are in D&D, but come to realise they are really in Call of Cthullu

 

[Spell]

it seems that there is a kind of riot going on on the BI warhammer forums... apparently, the quality of practically any other book except for the basic manual and the bestiary is quite low... (i can attest on the low price/ usefulness ration of the two packs, but not on the old wolrd armoury and the adventures... i was lucky enough to decide that i didn't need new adventures and not to like equipment books... )
so i'll give you another advice. buy the basic book and the bestiary, and then (if you need them) try to find old background and adventure books on ebay, or in some shops (i had some luck in this regard in newcastle... ).
as always, just check the reviews AND the books before you buy!

 

[ssampier]

at some point in the corebook, there a very short story about an academic who has the opportunity to acquire a forbidden chaos book, masked as a mundane book... you are in the same situation!!! you think you have just bought another RPG, but, in fact, you are one step closer into becoming a chaos adept!!! FOR GOD'S SAKE, BURN THE BOOK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!

Chaos book, that sounds cool. I assume the Chaos is a form of forbidden knowledge aka Call of Cthluhu "Great Ones"?

EDIT: you can also mine for ideas Call of Cthulhu websites and adventures.

The aphorism goes like this:

Warhammer characters think they are in D&D, but come to realise they are really in Call of Cthullu

Neat. I like the idea running a fantasy CoC. I guess you can roleplay your character and kill a few buddies until you fight the "nasty beasties"; then you're dead. Creating new characters is quick, right?

How does morality and/or alignment work in Warhammer? My players have a habit of playing evvvvvvvvvvvill alignments.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Chaos book, that sounds cool. I assume the Chaos is a form of forbidden knowledge aka Call of Cthluhu "Great Ones"?.

Neat. I like the idea running a fantasy CoC. I guess you can roleplay your character and kill a few buddies until you fight the "nasty beasties"; then you're dead. Creating new characters is quick, right?

How does morality and/or alignment work in Warhammer? My players have a habit of playing evvvvvvvvvvvill alignments.

One of my players is becoming a mutant and is keeping it very hush hush from the other players because they will kill him. There is no aligniment in Warhammer, just the rule of law and the rule of Nobles. If you murder people, have witnesses, and can't bribe your way out of it, you will get a price on your head in most cases (DM), you kill a noble (or a connected person); your ass is grass. Basicly, your players will do what they want IF they think they can get away with it.

 

[ssampier]

One of my players is becoming a mutant and is keeping it very hush hush from the other players because they will kill him. There is no aligniment in Warhammer, just the rule of law and the rule of Nobles. If you murder people, have witnesses, and can't bribe your way out of it, you will get a price on your head in most cases (DM), you kill a noble (or a connected person); your ass is grass. Basicly, your players will do what they want IF they think they can get away with it.

My players will LOVE that aspect.

I will love the political intrigue (and the chance to send hordes of diseased rat-men after them).

 

[tarchon]

Neat. I like the idea running a fantasy CoC. I guess you can roleplay your character and kill a few buddies until you fight the "nasty beasties"; then you're dead. Creating new characters is quick, right?

How does morality and/or alignment work in Warhammer? My players have a habit of playing evvvvvvvvvvvill alignments.

You can do it as series of a one shots. I think when we first started playing we went through a couple sets of characters until we started a long-term campaign. Most of the monsters you typically encounter are other humans or mutated variations thereof (beastmen), and in the remoter areas goblinoids are fairly common. Real monstrous monsters, trolls, demons, and such, were fairly rare and very lethal in the 1st edition, like most characters couldn't handle them until they were well into an advanced career. I'm not sure if that's still the case. Most of our advanced character deaths involved demons.

WFRP 1 had a largely irrelevant alignment system that's been scrapped in the 2nd edition. Most WFRP characters may not quite be evil, but "good" would be a little exaggerated as well.

 

[Spell]

Chaos book, that sounds cool. I assume the Chaos is a form of forbidden knowledge aka Call of Cthluhu "Great Ones"?

it's much worse than Call of Cthulhu, in some regards. for example, the Old ones don't look for worshipper actively (as a matte of fact, most of them couldn't care less about humans...), whereas in Warhammer the Chaso (be it the gods themselves, their cultists, or the chaos warriors and the mutants) have a much more active impact on the world at large... you might decide to turn to chaos for the power, for the knowledge, to spare your life (just as if beastmen would treat you nicely if you are a chaos adept), and so on...

you could check http://uk.games-workshop.com/warhammer/
amidst advices for painting miniatures, wargame scenario, and so on, you do have some good general introductory background information that will probably answer most of your questions.

Neat. I like the idea running a fantasy CoC. I guess you can roleplay your character and kill a few buddies until you fight the "nasty beasties"; then you're dead. Creating new characters is quick, right?

the way i see it, the game is more than call of cthulhu in a baroque fantasy world.
but that's certainly a way you can play the game. you can have different themes for your campaigns, and fighting the chaos is just one of them (albeit, it's a rather cool one, and the fact that the presence of chaos is so big will probably mean that your player will end up facing it anyway... )

creating new caracter... mmmh... it can be slightly more time consuming than the original D&D (nothing beats: 1. roll 3d6 six times; 2. chose your class; 3. pick up a weapon; 4. pick up a couple of spells; 5. play!), but not much more, if you are in a hurry.
as usual, rolling on the various table to have your background (some of them are in one of the packs, i think the player, but you can create your own background tables OR use those that have appeared for other games, such as those in old dragon issues, or in AD&D unearthed arcana, and so on... the existing tables are almost all for "imperial" characters... if you want a foreigner character, you are a bit on your own), and spending time to flesh your character out is not only incredibly funny (more than usual, since you have a good amount of blackground information... well, i have, anyway! ), but also very very valuable for the GM.

How does morality and/or alignment work in Warhammer? My players have a habit of playing evvvvvvvvvvvill alignments.

morality? what's that?
seriously, as somebody else pointed out, morality in warhammer, is what it is in our world. it's a personal thing, not an abstract absolute. you can be "evil" and fight the chaos, or you can be stupid, good, and worship the choas because you think that will bring good things for the majority of the community (how in the world you ended up with such nonsense in your head is something hard to understand, but nothing in the rules prevents you to do so).
it is true that the average warhammer character (both player and non player) will do everything he wants if he doesn't run the risk of getting caught... and that's why the world is so grim!

 

[Shining Dragon]

How does morality and/or alignment work in Warhammer? My players have a habit of playing evvvvvvvvvvvill alignments.

Morality in Warhammer amounts to "whoever has the largest torch-wielding mob on their side...". Pretty much like the real world. Although having Flee! can be helpful when others disapprove of your morality.

There is no alignment in Warhammer (that little gem being removed in the new version of the game). The only thing that the character have to watch out for when committing eeeeeeevil is that torch-wielding mob I mentioned above.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

morality? what's that?
seriously, as somebody else pointed out, morality in warhammer, is what it is in our world. it's a personal thing, not an abstract absolute. you can be "evil" and fight the chaos, or you can be stupid, good, and worship the choas because you think that will bring good things for the majority of the community (how in the world you ended up with such nonsense in your head is something hard to understand, but nothing in the rules prevents you to do so).

One issue of Warpstone magazine had the local equivalent of the British Royal Society, and [spoilers]a couple of high-ups were Tzeentch worshipers.

And this is not inconceivable - after all, change can be for the good of people.[/spoilers]

And Chaos is part of the inherent makeup of humanity anyway - fighting against one's inner nature is hard.

Like others said, combat can be rather deadly, so be sure to get that point across to the players before they get into trouble that's over their head. Mind you, they will likely do so anyway sooner or later - it's in the nature of Warhammer - but this way they can't say you didn't warn them.

Combat ability is certainly important - but more important is a basic sneakiness that allows the PCs to do whatever needs to be done. A clever plan beats charging straight at the enemy any day, which is why Trollslayers have such short life spans.

Try to convince them to start with random characters - it's more fun this way, and is much quicker, too. But don't press the point if they aren't comfortable with it.

 

[Shining Dragon]

Chaos book, that sounds cool. I assume the Chaos is a form of forbidden knowledge aka Call of Cthluhu "Great Ones"?

Yes and no. Right-minded citizens will abhor chaos in any form of and nail to the nearest tree and burn anyone who looks like they may have partaken of that forbidden fruit. This can include strangers, old women and wizards with pointy hats ('cos everyone knows that pointy-hatted wizards play with chaos and made my goat give birth to a one-headed kid).

Thus anyone who decides to worship the Ruinous Powers (a.k.a. the Gods of Chaos) must hide their religous affiliation from their neighbours (bloody nosey sods!). This means that any rituals must be performed in basements or other such dank environs (the city sewers is a good place) and the remains of the sacrificial "volunteers" must be hidden afterwards (this can be difficult since entrails have a habit of slithering all over the place and heads like to roll into the darkest corners).

Of course when living in the Chaos Wastes its not necessary to hide your devotion (nor your multiple tails and horns for that matter) from its inhabitants since everyone there sooner or later "decides" to follow the path of chaos.