ssampier said:
I do not necessarily regret the decision, but now the caffeine has worn off I wonder what I've gotten myself into.
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!!!
...
wait... what's that noise outside? looks like the lynching anti-witch town militia (what a posh name for a bunch of peasants!) was quicker than you...
ssampier said:
In any case, I like RPGs with story and plot hooks a mile a minute. My players are the opposite. My players say they like story, when push comes to shove, they'd rather bash someone's head in, rather than try diplomacy.
your players will be in for some serious trouble...
if played "properly" (i hate the term, but still...) warhammer is not about bashing enemies. you do have combats, but those are quick, dirty and deadly... hardly stuff of ballads.
your players will be able to easily bash normal humans, maybe... certainly not chaos beasts! as for normal humans, you have to consider the political side of said bashing.
the burgmeister is probably a chaos cultist... but you can't just show at his door and kill him. that will make an outlaw out of you (unless you can show substantial proofs that you were acting to protect the community...), AND the favourite target of the remaining of the other chaos cultists that are in town (chances are that the burmeister wasn't just a lonely worshipper, you know).
what i'm saying is that, if you want to enforce the general atmosphere of the old world, your players will have to watch their steps. even the first two editions of AD&D (which, in my opinion, was less prone to have quasi-superhero so-much-larger-than-life PC groups forming every other campaign) assumed that the PCs are the good guys, that the campaign world is generally a moral place, and that the law system is flexible enough to allow the PCs to get away with minor violations for plot's sake (especially if they are acting to eradicate the evil).
in warhammer, the PCs might be former rat catchers. they might be heroes, but they are probably more likely to be pawns of some obscure power, at some point.
the world around them might be cultured, but it is certainly not that moral.
chaos is everywhere.
you can't tell if your comrade is good or evil, and most of your actions will seem dodgy and evil to a certain extent.
the first question the average PC asks himself is not: "will that be good for the community and the church?" but "will that be good for me?".
there are drugs, alcohol, addictions. there's insanity.
town folk can hang you for reading a book, just because they think the book is evil*.
laws are fixed, but nobody enforces them unless they have some personal or political interest in doing so.
in general, i can just tell you to pick up some book about real life late medieval/ reinassance/ baroque period and read about the real life of common people... hardly the polished version you get in even the grittiest published (A)D&D world.
that's warhammer.
that doesn't mean that there's no place for idealists or for good people. that just means that, on average, they will have a much harder time than the average D&D character, that they will probably have to compromise their morals at some point, and that the world outside will be a source of horror and trouble more than anything else.
ssampier said:
In any case, I'd appreciate all the advice you can give a poor n00bie.
my advice is: read the book and see if you like the game world and the system. if so, you might want to read something more... there are few places on the internet dedicated to warhammer role playing, but those are generally good (i have found a couple myself... if you want i can pass the links to you) for getting more information. you can also get some of the novels written in the world of warhammer. i still have to check them out, though, so i can't really tell you anything about their quality (i hear, though, that they are reasonably good).
even without extra reading, you can start playing immediately. there are a bunch of adventures in here...
http://www.warhammer.net/warhammer_list_archive_adventures.html
plus, you might come accross some of the old adventures (those of the Enemy Within campaing are winners...) which shouldn't be too difficult to convert to the new edition (again, i am sure i have seen a free utility that makes the conversion work for you, somewhere... maybe in warhammer.net?)
be sure to tell the player to be cautious, or they will die in five minutes, assuming that they are just playing another D&D clone, and they will not be happy...
if you are not sure you can handle the world, the adventure, the new feeling, and the new rules in real time in a way that satisfies you, try to run a short play-by-forum game here (or somewhere else) and see what happens. i think play by forums are great to learn a new system, as you do have the time to check every rule you want before posting (as opposed to be forced to wig it all the time, to keep the game flow going).
i *might* be running a Warhammer adventure or campaign as play by post, in october, if time, assignment and job allow me.
hope this helps.
* i once read in a real 17th century tome about magic, that a pope (can't remember his name) was suspected of being a pratictioner of magic because, after his death, they found a mysterious book hidden below his mattress... the author of the tome said that the book was about maths, but nobody could understand it, so they assumed it was some kind of magic.
EDIT: you can also mine for ideas Call of Cthulhu websites and adventures.
EDIT2: if you are toying with the idea of buying the new adventures, check them out before ordering them. i haven't seen ashes of middenheim myself (well, i *have* seen it, but i never read it...) but it seems that the general consensus is that the adventure is a tad pricey and a bit too linear and two dimensional for warhammer... but, admittedly, for all i know, it can be value for money (especially so if you are starving for background information and original adventures and can't find some of the old books...)
