Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[The Bogwater Flows On]

Any classic Warhammer adventures? And any YouTuber you recommend reviewing them?

IDK about youtuber recommendations, but I know the basic starting adventure in WHFRPG 2nd Edition is a very good starting adventure. Everyone starts in a village that was recently attacked by Chaos or Beastmen (I know I used Beastmen) and the town is in shambles so the party is there to help them leave the battered village to a nearby town and there are dangers in the woods. It's very good because it allows the players to be basically anything that would be in the Empire (from soldiers to peasant farmers) and has plenty of wiggle room for the GM to add flavor where they choose.

There were two more adventures I remember liking, but I can't remember what they were called. I just remember one this head of a house hires the party to find his missing daughter who was stolen by chaos agents (IIRC) and another one where the party stays at an inn, during the night a murder occurs, and the murder weapon is planted in the possession of one of the party members (there's also a thief in the area causing additional issues).

I'll try to find the names and books they are in, but I ran WHFRPG 2E about 7 years ago lol. I just remember the books were pretty solid and honestly could be worked to fit in most fantasy settings with a little work.

 

[LovisXVI]

Everyone starts in a village that was recently attacked by Chaos or Beastmen (I know I used Beastmen)

It is probably Chaos since WHFRP 2e starts in the near immediate aftermath of Storm of Chaos from the wargame.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

It is probably Chaos since WHFRP 2e starts in the near immediate aftermath of Storm of Chaos from the wargame.

Most likely. I know I used Beastmen for some reason. I mean, they are usually allied since Beastmen are mutated freaks cursed by the Warp.

Edit: I'm a retard I can literally just check the book. Chaos ransacked the town and a massive Beastman Herd is on the way to uber destroy it LOL.

2nd Edit: I'm extra retarded and didn't mention it's the introductory adventure in the Core Rulebook.

 

[Sheep King]

I've wondered if some kind of backpack system could work, where items are easier or harder to access depending on where they're kept. A quick belt with limited slots, a medium for pockets (clothing or backpack) and longest to get stuff in the main pack as you dig around for it. Never ran a game where it would matter, however.

Gear like special holsters or belts to get items quickly in the heat of combat isn't an especially difficult thing to implement, if you wanted to. It's just a question of if you want to run fights with that kind of resolution. In GURPS DFRPG there are Fast-Draw skills specifically for pulling out a weapon or potion without using up a turn, and specific belts or webbing to keep them on.
For what it's worth, DFRPG is a pretty solid standalone repackage of GURPS if you just want to run a fantasy game without digging through the core rules (I've never actually read them).

 

[AnOminous]

Oh you found a giant throne room treasury filled with gem-crusted statuettes, glittering battleaxes, and piles of gold? Okay, let's think about this a bit more now, shall we?

My players learned very quickly that bad shit was about to commence immediately.

 

[Konigsberg]

Any classic Warhammer adventures? And any YouTuber you recommend reviewing them?

Night of Blood, either the original or the updated 4e version which is what I ran. I ran it for 7 people as a one shot. It made a pretty fun introduction to what Warhammer Fantasy adventuring is like and was easy enough to run even for 7 speds, although if you're running for a big table you gotta change the Beastman encounter and the daemon encounter at the end to keep it challenging as a straight up fight. Use environmental challenges and you'll probably have the PCs in check even without bigger encounters. For example a couple of my players, perhaps the least agile of the bunch, wanted to get onto the stable/barn roof to investigate something they'd seen up there, and nearly slipped off the roof and died due to the roof being drenched from an ongoing thunderstorm and their own awful rolls.

It introduces that Warhammer adventures are layered, it's never just what you see on the surface that's going on, and the PCs are also not ubermensch right out the gate either. If you go fucking around on a slippery roof without a good plan or idea to mitigate the circumstances (A drenching thunderstorm that's been going on for hours, it's the pitch black middle of the night, and you're an ungainly literal Peasant (career)) you might just fall and die, as thousands of peasants throughout history before you have slipped off rooftops and died. Adventurers gotta earn their stripes before they go rawdogging something like that so it pays to be thinking ahead. I really liked the adventure and it was a fun run.

No YTer recommendations because I typically never watch YTers review adventures.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

Night of Blood, either the original or the updated 4e version

You mentioned 4e have you played it? I was wondering how 4e handles careers/classes? (If not no problem)

 

[Hatewerfer]

Gear like special holsters or belts to get items quickly in the heat of combat isn't an especially difficult thing to implement, if you wanted to. It's just a question of if you want to run fights with that kind of resolution. In GURPS DFRPG there are Fast-Draw skills specifically for pulling out a weapon or potion without using up a turn, and specific belts or webbing to keep them on.
For what it's worth, DFRPG is a pretty solid standalone repackage of GURPS if you just want to run a fantasy game without digging through the core rules (I've never actually read them).

The core rules are fine, and lite/ultra-lite are alright options for simpler gaming. I however delve greater depths of autism like Tactical Shooting. I do like inventory management and all the complexities that you can get into but you gotta have the right players who enjoy a bit of tactical dress up and tactical preparations with their combat (and outside of combat of course, we are still roleplaying, not just dungeon crawling). Of course the ones who enjoy that are probably high tier spergs.
There really is no upper limit to the resolution you can get to, there are people out there that make me look like a reasonable person.

 

[Konigsberg]

You mentioned 4e have you played it? I was wondering how 4e handles careers/classes? (If not no problem)

I don't have a ton of WFRP4e experience outside some one shots and very short adventures years ago so keep that in mind. However I do have a slight autistic obsession with WFRP4e so I have PDFs of almost all the books and have read most of them.

What would you like to know about how the careers are handled? Anything specific?

In short, I like it.

Spoiler: In long

4e puts a lot of emphasis and effort in how the Classes (Academics, Burghers, Courtiers, Peasants, Rangers, Riverfolk/Sailors, Rogues, Warriors.) and the Careers (Tier 1-4, Status of Brass, Silver, Gold, rated 1-5) in them interact with the game world around them. The not-dungeon crawling parts of the game revolve around it. What Tier and Rating of Class/Career you are really matters if you want to get the most out of roleplaying, plot hooks, etc. You can't get a bank loan or even open a bank account with less than Silver social status, you get bonuses and penalties trying to do different interactions across social levels depending on your status and the status of those you're interacting with, among a lot of other little interactions you can do (I recommend playing into them) or ignore (I think you're missing out on some fun if you ignore it.).

What I like:
The class : career system makes it pretty easy for players to know what their character is like intially, and sort of follow the story of how they change over time. It helps tremendously with people who struggle getting into their characters mindset. You may start as Gerhardt the Villager, circumstances (like adventuring!) mean you eventually become a Guard in the big city after leaving home, then later you do something badass enough to become a Knight. Changing careers, raising yourself up through the social classes of society as you go, which is also changing how both you and the world interact with each other. The bank might have told Gerhardt to fuck off when he was a Villager and wanted a bank loan to buy some sick gear, but now that he's a Knight they might be coming to you to offer you loans (with a catch).
Career Trappings are also pretty locked in to the class/career system, and I think a great way to encourage players to pursue things they might not normally ever think of or care about if they want the benefits of hitting their higher tiers in their career. Trappings are basically the Things your career should have and use at the appropriate tier. If you start a fresh character in Tier 1 of a career they come with that career's Tier 1 trappings. Any bum can start (or end up) as a Brass 0 Beggar, but if you want to be the motherfucking Beggar King of the local munincipality you gotta come up with how your broke ass is acquiring both a lair and a large group of beggar followers. It gets players thinking ahead or getting into their character mindset to try and acquire this stuff.
PCs can still branch out into skills/perks that aren't part of their career, even without changing careers, it's just more expensive. This simultaneously gives PCs freedom to expand and diversify while also encouraging following your career path (cheaper xp buys).

What I didn't like:
You start off as a true blue fuckin' jobber as a fresh character in a career. It's not like being an adventurer that happens to start as a Rat Catcher, you are more like a teenager/young adult that just started rat catching somewhat recently. If I were running a WFRP4e game tomorrow I'd give the PCs enough xp to finish or almost finish the Tier 1 of their careers right off the rip before we sit down to play, just so they can be a little better at the basics of what they do. It's not even a huge bump it's just a 5% skill increase across 8 career skills, a perk, and something else that slips my mind. It helps get the game started and isn't a huge deal since Tier 1 is the most basic of basic bitch part of each career, and characters are expected to have multiple careers across their lifetime anyway. For a complete fresh group that's never played WFRP4e I would probably recommend starting as the book suggests, fresh no bonus xp, just to see what it's like at least the first time.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

What would you like to know about how the careers are handled? Anything specific?

In short, I like it.

I don't exactly remember how 2E handled it, but I remember the branching career paths/ways you could make going from one career to another work (in most cases, however it might have a few steps). I cannot remember if they properly tiered them, but tiers were extremely obvious with how you progressed what your power level is. Pretty sure it kind of followed that feeling where if you want your playaers to feel stronger faster, you either guide them to the right career/give them a bit of an XP boost. (You can also start off with 7 farmers against the world. I remember my friends actually killing a higher tier chaos adversary as 7 farmers. Well 5 of them died, but still.)

I was just wondering does it have the freedom of careers? I know 2e had restrictions to go from career to career such as downgrading your tier, but sometimes being able to fast track to a similar tier of a different path. Does it have careers for people playing characters outside the Empire or is it very Emprie focused? I know 2e was Empire focused, but it had plenty of careers/books for Bretonnia and Kislev.

Your spoilered write up gives me a great vibe and great hope for it.

 

[Ghostse]

Gear like special holsters or belts to get items quickly in the heat of combat isn't an especially difficult thing to implement, if you wanted to. It's just a question of if you want to run fights with that kind of resolution. In GURPS DFRPG there are Fast-Draw skills specifically for pulling out a weapon or potion without using up a turn, and specific belts or webbing to keep them on.
For what it's worth, DFRPG is a pretty solid standalone repackage of GURPS if you just want to run a fantasy game without digging through the core rules (I've never actually read them).

My favorite case of this was I ran a 4e and a player non-stopped bitched that they had to spend a minor action to pick up items or put them into a hand, and that I tracked hands. It was even better because one of the other players used a feat for Quickdraw. Which 4e had my favorite Quickdraw adjudication which was "You draw the item as a part of the action that uses it" so you can't do munchkin infinite action shit.

Than then tried to complain about me getting "like an accountant" about action economy.
Bittch you literally tried to plan out a turn where you tried to do 5 things and complain. I wouldn't care except you are trying to powergame so I HAVE to care. You also do nothing with your minor 90% of turns. I'm letting you put away the weapon you are trying to swap as a free action. If you wanted to to do these things, Quickdraw is right there as a feat. But you wanted +2 damage instead, and declined swapping on last level up when I offered.

 

[Konigsberg]

I don't exactly remember how 2E handled it, but I remember the branching career paths/ways you could make going from one career to another work (in most cases, however it might have a few steps). I cannot remember if they properly tiered them, but tiers were extremely obvious with how you progressed what your power level is. Pretty sure it kind of followed that feeling where if you want your playaers to feel stronger faster, you either guide them to the right career/give them a bit of an XP boost. (You can also start off with 7 farmers against the world. I remember my friends actually killing a higher tier chaos adversary as 7 farmers. Well 5 of them died, but still.)

I was just wondering does it have the freedom of careers? I know 2e had restrictions to go from career to career such as downgrading your tier, but sometimes being able to fast track to a similar tier of a different path. Does it have careers for people playing characters outside the Empire or is it very Emprie focused? I know 2e was Empire focused, but it had plenty of careers/books for Bretonnia and Kislev.

Your spoilered write up gives me a great vibe and great hope for it.

Spoiler: Long answer again.

As far as I recall there are no restrictions for moving from career to career outside of the Race restrictions from older editions, with a single exception I'll go over next paragraph that's still ultimately up to your GM. Villagers can become Nobles over the course of a campaign as long as you're willing to work with your GM, as they have final say. Or say middle of an adventure the PCs get press-ganged into a ships crew, the GM can offer a free conversion to T1 of the Sailor career or other Ocean related careers. It's especially easy to justify if you're moving into a Career that's similar to your own. A Watch Sargent becoming a Sargent in the State Army is hardly a stretch after-all.

The only speed-bump for changing careers into an equivalent tier comes at Tiers 3 & 4 because at those tiers for your career in 4e you are considered a sort of notable for your career, with responsibilities and street cred. You're even expected to dedicate some of your downtime activities to maintaining your status in those tiers by actually doing your job. 4e has a list of pre-made downtime activities your character can engage in off-screen between adventures, but you only have so many you can do per amount of downtime available. If you fail to maintain the status T3&4 of your career you're actually bumped down in Status and earning potential to the next lower tier, but this only affects your social standing and how much money you can make by performing your job. You're not going to lose any advances you bought in the higher tiers and can continue to buy advances at those tiers, but you gotta go rep the set again if you want to be treated as a T3 or 4 by society at large. An Inquistior (T3 Witch Hunter) has subordinates, has responsibilites, has investigations assigned to them that need looking into, it's hard to justify a swap over to a Councilor (T3 Villager) but the ultimate decision comes down to your GM.

It's also very Empire focused but the careers are vague enough that it's easy to convert them to something equivalent for a different locale, and there's even some advice for it in the Up In Arms book about creating Tilean characters and changing careers to have a more Tilean theme. You could carry over those same suggestions to make Human characters from basically anywhere, or even convert the old Bretonnian and Kislev careers into 4e versions (Cubicle7 has released a pdf about converting old WFRP content to 4e, it's on their website I believe).
However, instead of retreading the old Bretonnia and Kislev books for 4e, they've instead opted to do Race expansion books. So the Dwarf and Sea Elf player guides add new careers themed around Karak Dwarves and High Elves respectively, while also giving new rules for alternate tiers of base game Careers for members of those races. For example, a Dwarf who is a lawyer can swap out the T2&3 of the base games Lawyer career for the Reckoner (T2) and Grudgemaster (T3) career tiers added in the expansion book. Along with 10 brand new careers exclusively for Dwarves like Doom Priest, Thane, Runesmith, Ironbreaker etc.

I hope you give the game a try I think it's really fun and there's no worries about being pidgeon hole'd by your career choices. My biggest suggestion if you want to run or play a game is you should absolutely have Winds of Magic for spellcasting and magical careers and Up In Arms for martial careers, expanded and fixed melee combat, and new equipment. I'm not saying the game is unplayable without them but it's a lot better with them.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

(Cubicle7 has released a pdf about converting old WFRP content to 4e, it's on their website I believe).

I'm going through everything else you wrote, but yeah, that sold me. Having an easy or at least supported way to update an older thing to a newer system/version makes me very happy.

I just confirmed I bought the Beginner's Box at a game store sometime ago. I'll definitely crack it open with some friends.

 

[Konigsberg]

I'm going through everything else you wrote, but yeah, that sold me. Having an easy or at least supported way to update an older thing to a newer system/version makes me very happy.

I just confirmed I bought the Beginner's Box at a game store sometime ago. I'll definitely crack it open with some friends.

The Beginner's Box sets up a really good adventuring setting for PCs in Ubersreik, my players and I like political intrigue shit in games so we ran around there for most of our games. Part 5: The Prisoner and The Warden was also a good capstone to the introductory adventure that comes with the box. Hope you guys like it and have fun.

 

[LovisXVI]

4e puts a lot of emphasis and effort in how the Classes (Academics, Burghers, Courtiers, Peasants, Rangers, Riverfolk/Sailors, Rogues, Warriors.) and the Careers (Tier 1-4, Status of Brass, Silver, Gold, rated 1-5) in them interact with the game world around them. The not-dungeon crawling parts of the game revolve around it. What Tier and Rating of Class/Career you are really matters if you want to get the most out of roleplaying, plot hooks, etc. You can't get a bank loan or even open a bank account with less than Silver social status, you get bonuses and penalties trying to do different interactions across social levels depending on your status and the status of those you're interacting with, among a lot of other little interactions you can do (I recommend playing into them) or ignore (I think you're missing out on some fun if you ignore it.).

Yeah, reminding me why I hate that so much. An arbitrary tier system that makes every character essentially equal, which is completely contrary to the original spirit of wildly varied standings, not to mention the often insane and circuitous routes you could take through the careers, lost completely by turning it into some linear bullshit.

 

[Manly_Brony]

Any classic Warhammer adventures? And any YouTuber you recommend reviewing them?

Plundered Vaults contains several old classics going back to 1st edition (The Grapes of Wrath, Rough Night at the Three Feathers and The Haunting Horror).
Karak Azgal is thin on plot but pretty good if your party likes dungeon crawling as it's a partially retaken Dwarf hold with lots of friendly and hostile factions. Adventurers and Non-Dwarfs are tolerated as long as they keep clearing out its nastier denizens and handing over most of the treasure they recover. There's a bit of every Old World foe in there which I found refreshing because WFRP tends to focus on the two setting Cadillacs: Chaos and the Skaven.
A Brutal Finish from 2nd edition Realms of Sorcery is also nice if someone is playing a Wizard. The book is great too.
If you want your party to leave the Empire for a while then Renegade Crowns is a must. It's just a sourcebook/princedom generator for a wild and bonkers region (a female Halfling ruling over a Bretonnian community of a town with Arabyan roots is definitely possible) but the scenarios just write themselves. Better than the Kislev and Bretonnia books IMHO.

101% of Warhammer YouTube seems to be just lore content so sadly no. You might get lucky with grognards flexing their collections on their channels.

 

[The Bogwater Flows On]

Karak Azgal is thin on plot but pretty good if your party likes dungeon crawling

Me and Karak Azgal are enemies ... not really at all. It's just I tied several adventures together with the party working for a dwarf trader going to Karak Azgal and it took a long time getting there. Then we got there and I was just so tired of GMing I couldn't come up with anything else LMAO.

the scenarios just write themselves. Better than the Kislev and Bretonnia books IMHO.

I liked some of the careers from the Bretonnia and Kislev books, but don't remember caring about the adventures in them.

 

[Manly_Brony]

Me and Karak Azgal are enemies ... not really at all. It's just I tied several adventures together with the party working for a dwarf trader going to Karak Azgal and it took a long time getting there. Then we got there and I was just so tired of GMing I couldn't come up with anything else LMAO.

It's 2nd edition's megadungeon like Castle Drachenfels was for 1st. But a lazy one where you have to fill in the blanks except for the lived in monster lairs which can be tiring. I understand why many GMs dislike campaigns that require more work from them.

I liked some of the careers from the Bretonnia and Kislev books, but don't remember caring about the adventures in them.

I don't remember them either so they're probably nothing to write home about. The books are nice to have, read and occasionally use for a scenario or two but my guess is that no one runs campaigns in these countries except French, King Arthur fanatics and Slavs. WFRP has a dedicated Polish community and Kislev is half Polish.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Sorry if a repeat. Not sure if I asked.

Is running OSE or DCC content with Stars Without Number a good idea?

Is it bad if I use modern stat scaling in old school modules?

Is it me, or are OSR schizophrenic about balance?

Spoiler: Waffle

A while ago, I saw some reviews/shill videos for Everyday Heroes. A 5e compatible modern day action hero game. I joked about running Curse of Sthard with John Wick, John McClaine, and John Matrix.

Been watching reviews of old DCC and OSE adventures. Some of which are considered classics according to the reviews. Once again, I had the idea of running these with modern day heroes using Stars Without Number. It's a sci-fi game, but since it's similar to OSE/BX, I figured it would work as a straight port.

The game is unlikely to happen, but if it does it will likely be a small player count, and I figured I'd buff the PCs. Using one-hit-kill protection, and 5e/PF attribute scaling. In addition to modern gear should give the PCs the edge. Not sure how compatible that is however, and if those changes would completely break the game.

What I find strange is that, the OSR types like to go on and on about "combat as war" and how balance should never be a factor in game design, they don't seem to like it when that approach goes in the players favour. Rocking into Barovia with M16s, Colt 45s, and maybe an Abrhams sounds like it would make a fun one shot. Supposedly Those That Hunt Elves already did this modern-army-in-DnD-land concept, but I never read it and still like the idea.

101% of Warhammer YouTube seems to be just lore content so sadly no. You might get lucky with grognards flexing their collections on their channels.

That's the thing. I keep hearing on the internet how much better wfrp is, but never see any content about as to why. I don't even know if the modules are widely available any more.

(Cubicle7 has released a pdf about converting old WFRP content to 4e, it's on their website I believe).

I didn't know the game was still around.

An arbitrary tier system that makes every character essentially equal, which is completely contrary to the original spirit of wildly varied standings, not to mention the often insane and circuitous routes you could take through the careers, lost completely by turning it into some linear bullshit.

There was some 40k game, I forget which, which had a life path tree. The fun part is any time players had the same box, that was when they met. eg. If both had the "doomed voyage" even, where the PC was on a ship that was attacked and they escaped, both PCs were on the ship. It seemed like a fantastic idea, and rife with expansion possibilities, but I don't know of any other game that did it.

 

[Konigsberg]

I didn't know the game was still around.

They release 2 or 3 books a year for WFRP4e, and they're usually pretty good quality. Recently Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 5th edition was announced to be in the works but it's apparently going to just be 4e with the later errata and fixes from expansion books like Up In Arms and Winds of Magic worked into the core rules. Games Workshop apparently got a bug up their ass last year or so about expanding the Warhammer Universe of products and "heavily encouraged" C7 that they need to put out a new edition of WFRP, but there's no major changes they want to make to the game so we get bugfixed 4e.

Yeah, reminding me why I hate that so much. An arbitrary tier system that makes every character essentially equal, which is completely contrary to the original spirit of wildly varied standings, not to mention the often insane and circuitous routes you could take through the careers, lost completely by turning it into some linear bullshit.

To each their own but I feel like WFRP4e does a much better job at making character progression make a lot more sense to the actual world the game takes place in. Also I feel like you might be getting Tiers confused with something else, Tiers definitely don't make characters equal by any means nor is that their purpose, they're just a guide for what someone with varying amount of experience invested in their current careers should be like or have access to. A Tier 1 Knight is still going to beat the pants off a T4 Villager while also having more power, wealth, and influence.