What did you like about Warhammer Fantasy?

[Stone Angel]

Ar first I loved warhammer because it was a break from standard DnD, but then as I learned more about it I fll in love with the setting, and the carreer path was cool too. Wish I had more time to play back then.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

BTW, for all of you that like bleak, dark, hard core settings I think Midnight is gioing to kick butt.

can you give us any details, Sir Osis? (i haven't heard of it...)

 

[JoeGKushner]

For me, it was the complete factor of it. Everything you needed to play in one book. PHB, DMG and MM in one book. Even an adventure in it.

Outside of that, yes, the setting is the best thing.

In terms of changing... I'd drop a lot of the professions and make them NPCs. I can understand with the grim setting of the world how you'd want certain careers to be viable, but that should be optional. I'd drop the whole random career factor too. I'd also tier out the careers for low-powered, medium-powered and high powered starting careers. No way a bandit should be an option with a fisherman. A pitfighter on the other hand...

The magic system got a nice tweak with Realms of Sorcerery though and the new Dwarf book is pretty solid.

 

[Voadam]

The setting, chaos rocks, cool demonology, the green races are well done great dark fantasy atmosphere but gritty slum cities and decadence as well.

Critical hits were fun and well described. Toughness is very important in combat and can make you insanely tough or fragile depending on your score in it which is perhaps a weakness in the system.

I always thought it would make a great setting for any system, just use the core book or the nonstatted illustrated world encyclopedia for it.

 

[Voadam]

some of the best dwarves in fantasy ever, the homicidal berserk archetype that has been much imitated (battlerager concepts originated here).

And the art was incredible.

I know they were in the rulebook but I never once saw a halfling in the many games we played over the years (and felt that was a good thing).

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The setting, no doubts about it. Real, world-threatening Evil (or rather, Chaos). The forces of Chaos can only be held at bay (not defeated) by supreme effort, and even that woulnd't be enough if it wasn't more interesting for the forces of Chaos to fight each other than normal humans.

Then, of course, you have cool orcs, cool dwarves, and a cool, German-esque Empire, which is quite a break from Anglo-Saxon fantasy stereotypes.

The rules are OK, but after five long campaigns or so you tend to have explored every interesting career path. Now we have switched to GURPS, and it works like a charm.

 

[mearls]

WFRP is the perfect combination of Call of Cthulhu and D&D. No other game has come close to matching it in terms of the feel, depth, and cool bits in its setting.

If I were to revise the system, I'd do a few things:

Each career would have one, unique, useful ability that sets it apart from everything else.

I'd use a point-buy system for character stats rather than a completely random method.

Toughness would determine your wounds.

Toughness would no longer subtract from the damage you sustained on a one for one basis. Instead, armor would be much more effective.

The skill system would be completely cleaned up. Every skill would be tied to a specific stat. The "skills" that give you a stat bonus or a similar effect would be put into a separate category called talents. Talents would be analogous to feats in D&D.

The magic system would be altered slightly to fit in with the novels.

 

[pogre]

WFRP

I played WFRP from 1986 until Third Edition came out. Here's a few of my ideas. Yes, I really played it for that long as my main game.

We added a characteristic called Perception because the game relies too heavily on Initiative for searching and combat.

The Magic is cool, but I like a low magic campaign. Wizard Players must understand they will probably never get more than two or three spells, and that's after everybody else has had a few advanced careers.

The careers are the best and worst part of the game. 1st they are very cool and the experience system works well early on - but characters hit the ceiling pretty fast and they have to head into a magic career or call it a day. It's tough to run a campaign on a long term basis - believe me I have done it.

The new Realms of Sorcery was basically a GM source for NPCs - pretty neat, but does not add much for the characters in general.

It frustrates me that many people see the combat system as primitive. Simple and fun is an Advanced system to me. Anybody can make a complicated system, but a system that only requires a couple of rolls is quite exquisite. I think WFRP combat is the best part of the game.

I love the percentile system - it works really well most of the time. Another game that I think does this even more elegantly is Millenium's End by Chameleon Eclectic. Heck, that's a game to play for the skill system alone - although the wound system shock is WAY too complicated. I don't like Modern genre, but I ran this game because of the system! (It was recommended by a friend as an awesome system).

The setting was great in the beginning, but with GW's limits it became frustrating. We left the Olde World after a couple of years to play in a homemade world.

I'm not crazy about the Hogshead approach. They are really nice guys - James W. is especially friendly. But, let's be honest - they see WFRP as just a cash cow. They also view WFRP as a primitive system that "real" roleplayers have evolved past. Yes, I'm putting words in their mouths, but frankly that is their tone. Not a slam against them - I just disagree with their view.

One thing I loved about WFRP was insanity and Cool checks. They really brought a lot to the game.

Finally, I think Shadows Over Bogenhafen is the finest adventure ever. Even though it was more like a CoC adventure it blended all the elements that make WFRP great. It certainly got us hooked.

I would love to see a new edition of WFRP, but with the licensing restrictions I'm afraid it would be too much like the new Realms of Sorcery.

Keith Pogue

 

[hellbender]

I have to agree with many of the posters on Warhammer. The setting is very original, very grim, and extremely brutal. In the Warhammer world, you do not go for a dungeoncrawl, you just try to keep living until the next day. The Incursion of Chaos has shattered an already bleak world, and the forces of Chaos warp and twist everything in sight, creating new races (among them beastmen and skaven) while altering others (trolls, dwarfs and humans, among others). Foul gods, surface dwelling dark elves, malign lizardfolk, green races and humanity all create very formidable obstacles for your average garden variety adventurer. A great lark, and with books like the original Realms of Chaos tomes (you think the BoVD is vile? HA!) to add flavor to a world on the edge of madness. Not to mention the fact that the miniatures are already made, and the Black Library turns out some excellent novels to support the gameworld.

Father Nurgle watches you,
hellbender

 

[the Jester]

I'm with the consensus: the setting was the best thing. And I like my evil evil, thank you very much.

Also- I loved the fact that you knew exactly how you died when you died; very specifically which wound killed you, etc.