In a grim and perilous world, there is only...
For those who aren't aware of this well-established game: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is set in the Old World, in an Empire sort of like a more cartoonish version of the Holy Roman Empire. Religious fanaticism is everywhere, enemies abound on all sides, and you're a bunch of ordinary people just trying to get by and catch a break! I love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and I've got an ongoing game (currently on hiatus) working through the epic Enemy Within campaign - we paused after finishing Death on the Reik. The mix of dark horror fantasy and British working-class comedy is absolutely perfect to me. I love how it doesn't matter if you succeed or fail at a role, as long as you don't mess up as badly as the other guy. I love how you're constantly scrambling to make a living and get by from day to day. I love how combat feels so incredibly dangerous that your best bet is to just avoid it at all costs. The extreme randomness that I can't stand in Dungeons & Dragons here feels like it's part of the world - yes, you're a hopeless schmuck and luck is more important than skill. Our Warhammer game has made me burst into laughter more than any other game I've run. It's just fantastic.
Character Creation: WFRP character creation rewards you if you rely on chance rather than choice, so I let the dice create my character for me! I wound up with a Human Flagellant - an itinerant religious fanatic with a flail who begs for alms and beats himself with a whip to promote holiness. He's got very good Ballistic Skill and Fellowship. I guess zealots need to be likeable if they want followers. He's got very poor Toughness and Initiative. Low Toughness could be a problem! I can add +5 to one of the career-relevant Characteristics, so I decided to put that in my Toughness to get it back to average human levels.
Everyone also gets random starting Talents, based on their species. I have Doomed - I get bonus experience if I die in a way that was foretold to me! There are websites which can provide random Dooms, and I got "a howling in the night"... guess I'm getting eaten by wolves? I'm also Suave, Very Resilient and Coolheaded, which improve my basic characteristics. I now have good Willpower and very good Fellowship, and my toughness goes up a bit more. Finally I'm ambidextrous. My Career gives me another talent of my choice. There's lots of fun options for hitting people with flails, but I found the other option funnier: I can read and write. Someone's got to write the placards for all the other flagellants saying that the end is nigh after all!
I get skills based on my Species and my Career. I put a +5 in all the Career skills, which is a prerequisite for advancing in my career from being just a Zealot to a fully-fledged Flagellant. The skill choices from being Human I put in things I think a Flagellant might like, or in my social skills, since apparently I'm quite a personable chap.
From here it's just filling in some details. I get some starting Trappings: rags and a big flail. I also get the generic starting equipment, which includes clothes and a cloak. I'm starting to feel that my Flagellantism might be a bit performative - putting on a good show for the crowd! I put points into the two meta-currencies of Fate and Resilience, which I spread evenly. I come up with my short-term and long-term goals. I think my character would like to visit the great Temple of Sigmar in Altdorf, and that I'd like to settle down as a priest one day. Changing careers is very possible in Warhammer, but it will take a lot of experience points. I also rolled for my personal details and wound up a tiny 5 foot 1. 'Wee' Weither Lang sounds like a good name!
Because I randomly rolled for my character, I have 120 experience to spend as well. I used 100 xp to get +4 to my Strength, and save the last 20. This pushes Weither closer to advancing in his career.
Closing Thoughts: A really fun, evocative and hilarious game. I wonder if Wee Weither Lang will make an appearance in my Warhammer game when we start up again.
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