Warhammer Fantasy RPG II

[Byronic]

I'm GM'ing a Warhammer Fantasy RPG game (second edition) this Saturday and I as wondering if I could draw from your experiences on a few questions I had.

One of DnD 4e's best points is that it has very solid ideas on how much treasure to give and how many monsters they can handle.

How do you handle how much money you hand out in WFRP? Any tips or indication? I have yet to find anything on it in any of the Warhammer books.

What about conflict? WFRP does have it's Slaughter Margin, but I'm afraid I might have to be cautious what I throw at them, at least at first. Any tips there?

Giant Slayers have to slay a deamon of note, or an equivalent monster to become a Daemon Slayer. What kind of monsters would they be? They should be harder then Giants, but unless they're supposed to kill Greater Daemons (which aren't considered impossible for nothing) I can't think of anything. Are there any Daemon Princes?

Best scenario's? Especially for first time GM's and players? I'm thinking of Sing for your Supper" from Plundered Vaults. What are your favourites?

Favourite books? Which are the best ones?

Thanks everyone for your help, sorry that I asked such an awful lot. I am looking forward to Gm'ing though.

 

[the Jester]

I'm GM'ing a Warhammer Fantasy RPG game (second edition) this Saturday and I as wondering if I could draw from your experiences on a few questions I had.

One of DnD 4e's best points is that it has very solid ideas on how much treasure to give and how many monsters they can handle.

How do you handle how much money you hand out in WFRP? Any tips or indication? I have yet to find anything on it in any of the Warhammer books.

Essentially none. WFRP is not about treasure, it's about trying to escape with your lives.

I had a pc that was nearly finished with his second career and had never held more than a few gold pieces in his hands.

What about conflict? WFRP does have it's Slaughter Margin, but I'm afraid I might have to be cautious what I throw at them, at least at first. Any tips there?

If the pcs are stupid enough to fight, they should be at serious risk of being slaughtered or horribly maimed. WFRP is not about combat, it's about trying to escape with your lives.

Giant Slayers have to slay a deamon of note, or an equivalent monster to become a Daemon Slayer. What kind of monsters would they be? They should be harder then Giants, but unless they're supposed to kill Greater Daemons (which aren't considered impossible for nothing) I can't think of anything. Are there any Daemon Princes?

I can't help you here- but 2e had a Bestiary that might be of use. I've never looked it over, though, as I have only played (not gmed) Warhammer.

[/QUOTE]Best scenario's? Especially for first time GM's and players? I'm thinking of Sing for your Supper" from Plundered Vaults. What are your favourites?

Favourite books? Which are the best ones?[/QUOTE]

Again, I'm not really sure. I have heard amazing things about the Enemy Within campaign (from 1e) though- some have gone so far as to proclaim it the best adventure ever written for an rpg. Having neither read nor played it, though, I'm speculating when I recommend it.

 

[frankthedm]

What about conflict? WFRP does have it's Slaughter Margin, but I'm afraid I might have to be cautious what I throw at them, at least at first. Any tips there?

Don't be cautious, this is why the game has fate points. Combat is supposed to be brutal and deadly. If someone is hold up in TOO defensible of a position, use the maneuver action to get them out of it. Getting maneuvered into a mass of foes is a real good way to get the message across, combat is going to kill you.

It is more important not to make unavoidable fights rather than unwinnable fights. That roaming pack of beastmen don't care how many careers the players have. Worry less that the players will be grossly outnumbered, worry more that beastmen move too fast to avoid.

Equip foes with poor quality equipment if you have concerns about an encounter's balance. The 5% hit penalty helps more attacks miss, and shoddy armor slows the foe down worse allowing players to flee.

No lone foes. Unless the enemy is super durable, getting ganged up on will quickly kill it. Grapple rules are really bad about this too.

Giant Slayers have to slay a deamon of note, or an equivalent monster to become a Daemon Slayer. What kind of monsters would they be?

A Dragon would work. Do note, a slayer in the group really changes the was a campaign is played. Letting a Slayer direct the party should be suicide.

Best scenario's? Especially for first time GM's and players? I'm thinking of Sing for your Supper" from Plundered Vaults. What are your favourites?

Black Industries had a LOT of free adventures on thier web page, a rapidshare of those files should be somewhere.

Favourite books? Which are the best ones?

Companion is nice, beastiary rules, Magic books and Old world armory have some power creep issues.

 

[Byronic]

Essentially none. WFRP is not about treasure, it's about trying to escape with your lives.

I had a pc that was nearly finished with his second career and had never held more than a few gold pieces in his hands.

Wait wait, isn't one of the more common reasons for adventuring getting money? Even within WFRP? The easy spoils weighed against the horrific danger.

All in all shouldn't they earn at least as much as a mercenary or such?

 

[Jezrael]

Combat:

Your players need to understand that combat does not follow the D&D paradigm.

Combat is about two things. Ambushing people and outnumbering people. It is not about charging in heroically and laying the righteous smackdown on the goblin patrol (well maybe if you're Bretonnian...maybe). It's about lying in wait and filling as many goblins as you can full of arrows from ambush. It's about picking off stragglers at 3-1, or 4-1, or even 5-1 odds. None of this "Everyone pick a separate goblin then we charge in and fight them to the death" nonsense. You want your players to stack every advantage they can into a combat. Fate points can help them survive, but if they are too reckless they will burn through them like a hot knife through butter. You need to explain this to them point blank...do NOT assume they understand this. Make sure they say "Yes, we understand this."

Smart enemies will try and generally follow the same rules: stick to groups, lay ambushes, etc. The less they follow these guidelines, the easier they will be to kill. They can still waste a PC with a lucky hit though. There is no real way to judge which encounter is going to lay the PCs out...it can happen in any encounter. The only thing keeping them from outright dying will be their own cautiousness and ingenuity and the occasional expenditure of Fate points.


Money:

Monsters don't tend to use money. Or their money is seen as something worthless or bad to the Empire and its 'allies'.

Of the most common monsters:
Beastmen/Chaos: Just like to kill things mainly, not much use for any kind of 'money' though you might find some valuable war trophies such as expensive weapons and such.
Orks and Goblins: Use their own teeth as currrency; also again with the war trophies.
Skaven: Use Warpstone. It's pretty much verboten in that it's solidified Chaos. Also it can mutate you, which makes you verboten.

Humans have money though, then again humans also have pesky things like laws and courts and lynch mobs. Best not to kill someone unless you can prove (or 'prove') they were corrupted by Chaos or a traitor or something. And then someone with more power is going to want to seize all their wealth. A Church or Noble is sure to stick their nose in. Sure you might get away with some coin...but you aren't going to get Baron Vandergraaf's house, a full treasury, or all the horses in his stables when he's exposed as a secret Slaaneshi worshipper. You'll get whatever you can pocket without looking suspicious and a pat on the head. Elves probably won't stand for you rolling one of theirs...even a little. Dwarves? You want to take money from Dwarves? They might just start a war with the entire Empire to get it back. Honor or something, hard to hear them when they mumble through those beards. Crap, I think they just started a war with me over the beard comment.

Bottom line: You probably won't get much money from killing people, unless someone hired you to kill those people or you can somehow make sure you end up with all the stuff they have after they die. Maybe you can forge their will or something.

 

[Byronic]

Combat:

Your players need to understand that combat does not follow the D&D paradigm.

Shockingly, they didn't quite understand this. Despite having not playing DnD before either.

My first sign of this was when they burned down a cottage. With a woman and child inside. In the middle of a town. Next to an inn.

And they were STILL surprised that the encounter was unbalanced. Rest assured they all understand that straight face to face combat is not wise.