Ok, after a month of reading 2nd second edition (and skimming 1st edition, mostly because it has way more background information in the main book), I'm feeling froggy and ready to try it out on my Saturday guys. Having never played or GM'd it, of course, I'll be feeling my way around a lot of the little details and such, but I can say it looks like a ton of fun, and not at all like D&D (mostly due to wonky magic and super-deadly combat).

So, just looking for advice or suggestions from folks who have played it before - I know we seem to have quite a few with experience in the system and setting. What are some things that might be handled differently with experience that a first-timer might miss? Any "must do" or "must have" elements of an adventure (I'm loving the Lovecraftian vibe of the setting, so I've got a handle on that already)? Having read a couple of short adventures, it seems much more suited to "skulk and dagger" rather than the "kick the door down, kill the moster, loot, repeat" style, which I'm frankly bored with.

So, whatchagot?

My advice would be to always use sudden death criticals for most enemies.  It's just not worth the effort.

Insanity points - fun for everyone.  Be quick handing those out.

Other than that, make sure to play up the various Chaos gods rather than just an all out "Chaos Undivided Deluge" of various monsters.  All kinds of good stuff on Greater Daemons and what they do to the world around them in Tome of Corruption.

Being a rookie WFRP gm myself and starting the Enemy Witin-campaign next Thursday, I'll tag onto this thread. Bring on the good advice!

Yeah, make sure you post about how that's working out and I'll do the same. Always nice to know what other people are doing with the same rules.

I'm thinking I'll use one of the pre-gen short adventures first, to get everyone into the true feel of the setting and rules, before branching out into my own thing. Also, that way, if it flops, I haven't spent 40 hours preparing stuff that'll never be used.

Heh, I was thinking the same thing. So today I picked up the Death's Dark Shadow adventure-pack from the local library. I will probably use some of those smaller adventures to cut my teeth rule-wise with something that won't fuck up the entire campaign.

Make the most of the Career system, make sure every character is buying into the idea of playing their career and coming up with how they progress to the next career in game. Its the thing that is most unique to wfrp, and when used well it can really elevate the game.

Remember: the players think they're playing D&D.  You know they're playing Call of Cthulhu.  Have fun!

All kidding aside, try to avoid dungeon crawls: what your average D&D party eats for breakfast will kill a similarly arrayed bunch of adventurers ten times over (e.g., a room of 30 goblins, etc.)

It's a good game for small groups, I've found.

That's all I have.  Anyone else?

Someone's story of how a WFRP game runs (I gather it was 1st ed).
This probably tells you everything you need to know about how to run a WFRP campaign

James Wallis Sunk My Barge

Fuckin' hell, I can only pray my adventures are half as cool.

I'm a doctor-cum-merchant with a shotgun in Herr Arnulfe's WFRP game. It's a blast.

Nobody that I've ever gamed with has ever given out insanity points for being critted, and Pundit IIRC once mentioned it as a rule he'd never seen anyone use, either. Stick with a winning trend.

Multiple attacks are usually more deadly than single big attacks because of how active defenses work. This means more shitty opponents can be more difficult than a smaller number of tougher opponents to overcome.

Rolls outside of combat or high-stress should usually have at least a +10 to them. In combat, PCs should be ganging up, flanking, charging all-out-attacking, etc. to get the maximum bonuses possible. Played smartly, there isn't really a whiff factor in WFRP.

Blunderbusses can be used by people without the Specialist Weapon Training (Gunpowder) talent because they don't require rolls to hit.

I recommend using degrees of success and failure as interpretive tools for almost every roll. Zero degrees of failure is a narrowly unsuccessful attempt. Three degrees is a serious failure. Six is catastrophic. For knowledge rolls, zero degrees of failure is incomplete, three degrees is unhelpful, and six is outright falsehoods.

Magic isn't nearly as deadly as people sometimes pretend. Neither is combat, unless your PCs are dummies.

As a guideline for treasure, a PC exiting their first career will usually need to have spent between 50 and 100 GC to acquire the trappings of their next career (especially if they require Trade Tools of any sort). They'll probably be hauling around about 250 GC worth of gear (a decent suit of armour, a good set of weapons, some miscellaneous adventuring gear, and some raw cash).

Everybody has their own set of healing rules.

The Empire is a world of men.  The inhuman is feared.  Magic isn't trusted unless its from a priest, preferably one of Sigmar.  The Old Ways and Old Things lurk in the background and the Empire sometimes mistakes them for Chaos.   Paranoia, fear and wanton violence are the order of the day.

I like to delve into everyday life around the Empire and let the players drink in the squalor and splendor of the cities versus the beauty and danger of the wilds.  

Remember there are plenty of threats beyond Chaos.   Men, very bad men, have all sorts of plans they seek to put into action.   Don't forget the Empire isn't one big happy family either, nor are they on great terms with their neighbors.  

D&D is a wonderful monster mash.  Warhammer is best when its more like a horror movie than a fantasy film.  The Monstrous is a centerpiece of terror and not just an action scene.

Oh, and Elves aren't really your friends, Dwarves are too consumed by their own feuds to notice the Apocalypse, and the Skaven just might have an underground honeycomb of tunnels under the entire world.  

And those Vampire Counts?   Scary fuckers, but can the Empire stand without them?  

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;407523Nobody that I've ever gamed with has ever given out insanity points for being critted, and Pundit IIRC once mentioned it as a rule he'd never seen anyone use, either. Stick with a winning trend.

I do!  When that troll bites off your hand, it haunts you.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;407523Rolls outside of combat or high-stress should usually have at least a +10 to them. In combat, PCs should be ganging up, flanking, charging all-out-attacking, etc. to get the maximum bonuses possible. Played smartly, there isn't really a whiff factor in WFRP.

Very Important Point.

Being a WFRP 1st veteran (I liked 2nd but it didn't have the same flavour as the 1st - and I was stuck in my ways considering I'd been playing it since 1989), I'd advise:

- Whilst you're getting used to the rules, I find it helps not to allow any magic users (I do this with any game). The magic system in 1st is bulky and pretty naff, to be honest, and the 2nd edition cleans it up but I wasn't impressed by it. That's just to make your opening games a bit easier, so that's up to you.

- Don't get hung up on the career progression rules, such as having to complete all advances and gather all skills. I just asked the players to get all the advances and then they could move on. Sure, they might be in a certain career but it doesn't mean they were any good at it.

- Always let the players roll on the critical chart when they inflict damage on the NPCs/monsters that take them below 0 wounds. There's nothing more satisfying than their reactions when they roll a decent critical. If you can get hold of the old Hogshead GM screen they had an extended Critical Hit chart in there, for different types of weapons etc. Also, there was a great fumble table.

- Although the setting is 'a grim world of perilous adventure' remember that there are places that aren't always at war and under threat. Letting players visit and adventure in these places makes experiencing the darkness even more effective as being continually morose and grim and reminding the players how dark and futile it all is can ruin a game as the players either get bored of all the dark or just say, 'so what's the point?'

- Insanity points are fun and I used to hand them out if the PC was critted and failed a Willpower + Tx5 check. Thing is, if the players all start having mental health episodes during a game it seriously slows things down so don't be too generous.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you have to bleed to death in a stinking alley in order to play WFRP properly.

Personally, i think that v2 Insanity is less playable than v1, so if you've got that version take a look and compare and see which version suits you best.

Download as much fan material as you can - there's some very good stuff out there. There's also something like 60 free fan-made adventures from various BI competitions. A lot of them are very good.

Minor threadjack. What are the main differences between 1e and 2e, system-wise, if any?

Quote from: One Horse Town;407534Download as much fan material as you can - there's some very good stuff out there. There's also something like 60 free fan-made adventures from various BI competitions. A lot of them are very good.

//www.strike-to-stun.net is a pretty good fan site for that kind of stuff.