Hello everyone.

I've just started running a game of 2nd ed WFRP. Now, it's going to be based in Nuln and mostly be about foiling the Skaven (who were the focus of the opening session).

With this in mind, what should I be looking at sourcebook-wise?

Children of the Horned Rat almost goes without saying.
In addition, I've been particularly looking at Tome of Corruption (for mutation and that sort of thing), Forges of Nuln (for the city info), and possibly the Companion/Sigmar's Heirs, though the last two are more of an "if I have the money" thing.

For Forges of Nuln in particular, could the adventure in it be run without playing the first parts of the series? Even if not, would the book be worth getting for the setting info on Nuln?

Any other suggestions and pointers are, of course, very welcome too.

I don't own Forges of Nuln, but if the preceding two city-adventures in the series are anything to go by then the information will be painted in fairly broad strokes. They tend to be evocative when establishing the atmosphere and general cultural outlook, but a little sparse on detail. I can understand the idea -- a setting and an adventure in one book sets you up from the get-go -- but would have preferred a more thorough exposure of each city in a single, dedicated volume like the old Middenheim source book from 1E.

The adventures are designed to be played as an ongoing campaign, but include alternative hooks for those who don't want to run through the earlier chapters.

Thanks, that's helpful, actually. It doesn't sound like it's really worth it for this campaign. Unless the adventure is really good, which might make it worth getting.

I can probably do fairly well with printing out a map and adding stuff to it as I go along. The only hiccup would be if I run a scenario set in Official Nuln that contradicts my Made-up Nuln...

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of information in the city books, especially for someone who is brand new to the setting. It's just that each volume seems designed more as a selection of highlights in order to accomodate space for the adventure.

A three page taster of Forges of Nuln can be found here:

http://www.blackindustries.com/pdf/previews/wfrp-fon-01.pdf

It gives you a rough idea of how these books are presented. If it's anything like the previous two it will include a short breakdown of various districts as well as noteworthy locations within them.

Oh, OK, I'm with you.

Hmm...I suppose it's not that expensive, so even if only half the book is setting, that might do it. Of course, the obvious thing to do would be to flip through the book before I get it, but unfortunately IIRC the only WFRP stockist in Hong Kong shrinkwraps all its books....

I think I'll get the Skaven book to start with and then see how flush with cash I'm feeling.

Don't bother with forges of nuln unless you are doing the whole 3 book adventure it's not worth it for the cursory city info.  ANything you make up will be fine, and I wouldn't worry about conflicting with future info.  They won't be doing any more adventure books that specifically focus on Nuln.

As for what to buy

WFRP 2 Core books
WFRP main rule book
Bestiary
Realms of Sorcery
Tome of Corruption
-----------

The secondary but very good books
Children of the Horned Rat
WFRP Companion
Renegade Crowns
Karak Azgal
Sigmar's Heirs

I think you could reasonably run a very good game with just the Core book.  The Bestiary is the only other book I can think of that I'd put on an almost-must-have list.  And yeah, as you noted, if you're using a lot of Skaven, Children of the Horned Rat will be essential.

If you're looking for more, though, I'd recommend both Realms of Sorcery and Tome of Corruption.  Even if you never use the latter, it's a delightful resource.  You'll likely get more use out of it than out of RoS, since RoS is mainly geared for players (and we all know how tough it can be to get a decent spellcaster PC).

Everyone praises Sigmar's Heirs, but honestly I don't know that it improved my game much, if at all.  It's one of those background-type books which is really more valuable for reading material than immediately for a game, imho - very light on rules, but pretty enjoyable fluff.

This year, they're coming out with a Divine supplement, in theory.  If it's even remotely decent, that will go on my must-buy list, too.

-O

Quote from: CaudexHello everyone.

I've just started running a game of 2nd ed WFRP. Now, it's going to be based in Nuln and mostly be about foiling the Skaven (who were the focus of the opening session).

With this in mind, what should I be looking at sourcebook-wise?

Children of the Horned Rat almost goes without saying.
In addition, I've been particularly looking at Tome of Corruption (for mutation and that sort of thing), Forges of Nuln (for the city info), and possibly the Companion/Sigmar's Heirs, though the last two are more of an "if I have the money" thing.

For Forges of Nuln in particular, could the adventure in it be run without playing the first parts of the series? Even if not, would the book be worth getting for the setting info on Nuln?

Any other suggestions and pointers are, of course, very welcome too.

Forges of Nuln can certainly be used without the other two parts of the series (though its more fun with the first two parts), the adventure part serves as a good introduction to the city, since the premise of the adventure would have the PCs arriving in Nuln from elsewhere (Altdorf, if you used the last adventure, otherwise it could be anywhere you wanted), and arriving at a very critical moment in the recent history of the city.

In any case, the first half of the book is exclusively a guide to the city as a setting (which is what WFRP has been doing with all of its City books), not tied to the adventure. So even if you didn't plan to use any of the adventure (though I think you could run the adventure in its entirety, or if not that you could certainly use a lot of the stuff in the adventure in other ways), I'd still strongly recommend this book for a campaign set in Nuln.

Tome of Corruption is awesome too.

RPGPundit

Thanks for all your replies, guys.