Post by Brad the Inhaler on Dec 24, 2004 15:50:01 GMT
What is Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay?
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is Games Workshop’s answer to Dungeons and Dragons, a game of grim and perilous adventure set in the Warhammer World. Most of the action takes place in the Empire, the most powerful human nation in the Old World.
So What is the Old World?
The Old World is a continent in the Warhammer World very similar to Europe in the early Sixteenth Century. It has three great nations, the Empire, Kislev and Bretonnia and a number of smaller nations. Kislev, in the far north, is a little bit like a mixture of Russia and Poland, the Empire is based loosely on the Holy Roman Empire, and Bretonnia is based on France. The Old World is bordered in the east by the titanic World’s Edge Mountains, where the Dwarves live, beset by Goblins and Orcs. Beyond the World’s Edge Mountains lies the Dark Lands, a highly volcanic area which is home to countless orcs, goblins and other evil creatures.
So how do I play?
Character Generation -
The first thing you need to do is post a thread in the Character Generation forum saying what sort of character you would like. You need to say what race you would like to be (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling) and what career class (academic, warrior, rogue, ranger). If you are unsure of what to do you can take a look at the characters other people have ask for. Claude Duval (the GM) will generate a character for you based on what you ask for, and he will determine what sorts of stats and skills you will start out with.
Note: When you first start out your character will be quite weak and puny compared to the many monsters, and some of the other players. Don’t worry, in time you will earn enough experience for your character to become stronger and more skilled.
What do all these numbers mean?
Once you get your character you will see something like this:
M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl Wp Fel
4 23 31 2 2 6 29 1 34 29 31 29 31 38
0 0 0 0 0 +2 +10 0 0 0 +10 0 0 0
The row of letters on the top tell you what the numbers in the row underneath mean. These letters and their associated numbers are your characteristics, and hold all sorts of information about your character.
M - Movement, how fast you can move, a normal human has an M of 4.
WS -Weapon skill, what your chances are to hit an opponent with a melee weapon. In the example above the WS value is 23, which means that for every swing this character makes at an enemy with his weapon, he will hit 23% of the time. The normal WS value for a human who is just starting is between 20 and 40.
BS - Ballistic skill, what your chances are to hit an opponent with a ranged weapon. So the character in our example above has a 31% chance to hit with every shot he makes.
S - Strength. The strength of a normal human is somewhere between 2 and 4. Strength is very important in combat (which we shall cover later), but it also gives you an idea of how much weight your character can carry, and how good he or she is at forcing things open or smashing things.
T - Toughness, how resistant you are to physical damage as well as to poison and disease. An ordinary human has a toughness of between 2 and 4. Toughness is important in combat.
W - Wounds, how much damage you can take before you are seriously injured or killed. If your wounds drop to zero you don’t die but you are in imminent danger of doing so as any further damage will be critical (critical damage means chopped off limbs, or punctured lungs or even worse things including instant death!)
I - Initiative, how swift you are. Characters with high initiative usually strike first in combat, unless they are taken unawares or charged. Initiative also controls how alert you are, a character with high initiative might notice something that a character with lower initiative would miss. Acrobats, thieves and elves often have high initiative.
A - Attacks, how many times you can strike with a melee weapon in ten seconds. Most characters will only have an A value of 1, but skilled fighters and many monsters will have a much higher A value.
Dex- Dexterity, how nimble you are with your fingers. Characters with high dexterity are better at intricate manual tasks such as making things, tying knots or picking locks. The Dexterity value is the percentage chance to accomplish a relatively difficult manual task, for example making a raft. So our example character above would have a 34% basic chance to build a raft that he could actually use, on his first attempt.
Ld- Leadership, how good a leader your character is. Like Dex, Cl, WP, Fel, I, WS and BS, Ld is expressed as a percentage. Our example character has an Ld of 29, which means if he starts bossing people around there will only be a 29% chance that anyone will listen to him.
Int - Intelligence. Most humans have an intelligence of somewhere between 20 and 40, although especially clever people such as wizards may have a much higher Int value.
Cl - Cool, how good your character is at keeping his or her head in a crisis. Some monsters and spells cause fear, and the Cl value gives you the percentage chance that your character won’t run away because of these things. Our example character has a Cl of 29 which means that he would be very likely to run away if a ghost appeared in front of him (he would only have a 29% chance of NOT running away).
WP - Willpower, how strong your character’s will is. Characters with high willpower are more likely to resist spells. This also works as a percentage, so our example character has a basic 31% chance to resist a spell. However, wizards can use magic points to lower someone else’s chance of resisting a spell, so a powerful wizard could cast a spell at our character which he has a 0% chance of resisting. Also some spells, such as the Fireball spell cannot be resisted. Spells and spell casting will be covered in another FAQ.
Fel - Fellowship, how well your character gets on with other people. A normal person will have a Fel value of around 30. People with a lower Fel are more difficult to get on with, either because they are shy, gruff or because they are not very nice. People with a Fel value higher than 30 tend to get on better with people and are nicer to talk to. Of course the Fel value doesn’t show how nice someone really is, only how nice they seem to be.
But what about the second row of numbers?
The second row of numbers are your advance scheme. Don’t worry about them for now, they tell you what characteristics you can increase and by how much whilst following your current career.
And this other stuff?
Well, most of the other stuff is fairly explanatory.
Career. What your character normally does for a living.
Magic Points are a measure of how much energy you have to cast spells. Most people in WFRP can’t cast spells so they don’t have any magic points.
Fate Points (or FPs) are your ‘lives’. If something really nasty happens to you, you can spend a fate point to spare your character from its effects. So for example, if your character was killed by bandits you could spend a fate point to avoid dying, and instead you are simply knocked unconscious. It is best if you ask the GM if you want to use a fate point.
Skills are very important, but as there are so many different skills they are described in a separate FAQ. Located here.
Trappings are your possessions, such as clothes and weapons. If you buy, find or steal something you should add it to your trappings.
Money is measured in the standard Old World denominations. This will be explained later on. Don’t forget to update the amount of money your character has as you earn it and spend it in Mesembria.
Career Exits are the possible careers your character can enter once he or she has enough experience points and has finished with his or her current career.
Spells. If your character can cast spells, they will be listed here.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is Games Workshop’s answer to Dungeons and Dragons, a game of grim and perilous adventure set in the Warhammer World. Most of the action takes place in the Empire, the most powerful human nation in the Old World.
So What is the Old World?
The Old World is a continent in the Warhammer World very similar to Europe in the early Sixteenth Century. It has three great nations, the Empire, Kislev and Bretonnia and a number of smaller nations. Kislev, in the far north, is a little bit like a mixture of Russia and Poland, the Empire is based loosely on the Holy Roman Empire, and Bretonnia is based on France. The Old World is bordered in the east by the titanic World’s Edge Mountains, where the Dwarves live, beset by Goblins and Orcs. Beyond the World’s Edge Mountains lies the Dark Lands, a highly volcanic area which is home to countless orcs, goblins and other evil creatures.
So how do I play?
Character Generation -
The first thing you need to do is post a thread in the Character Generation forum saying what sort of character you would like. You need to say what race you would like to be (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling) and what career class (academic, warrior, rogue, ranger). If you are unsure of what to do you can take a look at the characters other people have ask for. Claude Duval (the GM) will generate a character for you based on what you ask for, and he will determine what sorts of stats and skills you will start out with.
Note: When you first start out your character will be quite weak and puny compared to the many monsters, and some of the other players. Don’t worry, in time you will earn enough experience for your character to become stronger and more skilled.
What do all these numbers mean?
Once you get your character you will see something like this:
M WS BS S T W I A Dex Ld Int Cl Wp Fel
4 23 31 2 2 6 29 1 34 29 31 29 31 38
0 0 0 0 0 +2 +10 0 0 0 +10 0 0 0
The row of letters on the top tell you what the numbers in the row underneath mean. These letters and their associated numbers are your characteristics, and hold all sorts of information about your character.
M - Movement, how fast you can move, a normal human has an M of 4.
WS -Weapon skill, what your chances are to hit an opponent with a melee weapon. In the example above the WS value is 23, which means that for every swing this character makes at an enemy with his weapon, he will hit 23% of the time. The normal WS value for a human who is just starting is between 20 and 40.
BS - Ballistic skill, what your chances are to hit an opponent with a ranged weapon. So the character in our example above has a 31% chance to hit with every shot he makes.
S - Strength. The strength of a normal human is somewhere between 2 and 4. Strength is very important in combat (which we shall cover later), but it also gives you an idea of how much weight your character can carry, and how good he or she is at forcing things open or smashing things.
T - Toughness, how resistant you are to physical damage as well as to poison and disease. An ordinary human has a toughness of between 2 and 4. Toughness is important in combat.
W - Wounds, how much damage you can take before you are seriously injured or killed. If your wounds drop to zero you don’t die but you are in imminent danger of doing so as any further damage will be critical (critical damage means chopped off limbs, or punctured lungs or even worse things including instant death!)
I - Initiative, how swift you are. Characters with high initiative usually strike first in combat, unless they are taken unawares or charged. Initiative also controls how alert you are, a character with high initiative might notice something that a character with lower initiative would miss. Acrobats, thieves and elves often have high initiative.
A - Attacks, how many times you can strike with a melee weapon in ten seconds. Most characters will only have an A value of 1, but skilled fighters and many monsters will have a much higher A value.
Dex- Dexterity, how nimble you are with your fingers. Characters with high dexterity are better at intricate manual tasks such as making things, tying knots or picking locks. The Dexterity value is the percentage chance to accomplish a relatively difficult manual task, for example making a raft. So our example character above would have a 34% basic chance to build a raft that he could actually use, on his first attempt.
Ld- Leadership, how good a leader your character is. Like Dex, Cl, WP, Fel, I, WS and BS, Ld is expressed as a percentage. Our example character has an Ld of 29, which means if he starts bossing people around there will only be a 29% chance that anyone will listen to him.
Int - Intelligence. Most humans have an intelligence of somewhere between 20 and 40, although especially clever people such as wizards may have a much higher Int value.
Cl - Cool, how good your character is at keeping his or her head in a crisis. Some monsters and spells cause fear, and the Cl value gives you the percentage chance that your character won’t run away because of these things. Our example character has a Cl of 29 which means that he would be very likely to run away if a ghost appeared in front of him (he would only have a 29% chance of NOT running away).
WP - Willpower, how strong your character’s will is. Characters with high willpower are more likely to resist spells. This also works as a percentage, so our example character has a basic 31% chance to resist a spell. However, wizards can use magic points to lower someone else’s chance of resisting a spell, so a powerful wizard could cast a spell at our character which he has a 0% chance of resisting. Also some spells, such as the Fireball spell cannot be resisted. Spells and spell casting will be covered in another FAQ.
Fel - Fellowship, how well your character gets on with other people. A normal person will have a Fel value of around 30. People with a lower Fel are more difficult to get on with, either because they are shy, gruff or because they are not very nice. People with a Fel value higher than 30 tend to get on better with people and are nicer to talk to. Of course the Fel value doesn’t show how nice someone really is, only how nice they seem to be.
But what about the second row of numbers?
The second row of numbers are your advance scheme. Don’t worry about them for now, they tell you what characteristics you can increase and by how much whilst following your current career.
And this other stuff?
Well, most of the other stuff is fairly explanatory.
Career. What your character normally does for a living.
Magic Points are a measure of how much energy you have to cast spells. Most people in WFRP can’t cast spells so they don’t have any magic points.
Fate Points (or FPs) are your ‘lives’. If something really nasty happens to you, you can spend a fate point to spare your character from its effects. So for example, if your character was killed by bandits you could spend a fate point to avoid dying, and instead you are simply knocked unconscious. It is best if you ask the GM if you want to use a fate point.
Skills are very important, but as there are so many different skills they are described in a separate FAQ. Located here.
Trappings are your possessions, such as clothes and weapons. If you buy, find or steal something you should add it to your trappings.
Money is measured in the standard Old World denominations. This will be explained later on. Don’t forget to update the amount of money your character has as you earn it and spend it in Mesembria.
Career Exits are the possible careers your character can enter once he or she has enough experience points and has finished with his or her current career.
Spells. If your character can cast spells, they will be listed here.