WFRP 3E For Forum-Based Gaming
This article is a work in progress.
Dice Notation
This article describes the use of various polyhedral dice. Rather than writing out the full description of these dice each time they come up, I employ the following system of notation:
- [] stands for six-sided dice.
- <> stands for eight-sided dice.
- () stands for ten-sided dice.
WFRP 3E uses different colors to distinguish between types of dice, which I adopt as part of my notation system (yielding <>, [], (), etc, symbols). The article is therefore best viewed with the Dakka 2012 - Dark/Orange theme. To adjust the theme in which you are viewing DakkaDakka.com, access the drop down menu labeled "Switch Theme" in the upper left side of this screen.
Contents
Introduction
The third edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP 3E) by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) has drawn both praise and ire for incorporating board game-like elements and proprietary dice. Generally speaking, "rules lite" roleplaying games (RPGs), such as Dungeons & Dragons Basic Edition and its "clones" (Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, etc), are more given to forum-based, or play by post (PBP), gaming simply because there are less mechanics to keep track of. This article is an attempt to convey the basics of WFRP 3E, which is by no means a rules lite system, specifically for PBP gaming. It is NOT an attempt to exhaustively cover the intricacies of the system or describe the table top experience. My aim is to introduce prospective players who may not own any of FFG's WFRP 3E products to the system so that they can participate in WFRP 3E PBP games as Player Characters (PCs). Whosoever dares to take up the awesome responsibilities of the Game Master (GM) must have FFG's rules to hand.
Finally, this article is NOT a review of WFRP 3E. This is obviously a labor of love that I would not undertake regarding a system I despise. Readers may develop a sense for whether they might like to try a PBP game of WFRP 3E by perusing the article but it should not be construed as advising the purchase or avoidance of FFG products. I do not own and did not originate nor do I claim ownership or authorship regarding any of the concepts described herein unless otherwise noted. Comment and criticism are welcome via PM
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The Core Mechanic
One of the most distinctive (some might say notorious) features of WFRP 3E is its proprietary dice-driven core mechanic. As such, a description of the dice and how they are used is our first order of business. Understanding the core mechanic is the key to playing WFRP 3E so this section is very detailed. Readers may wish to initially skip it in favor of information on Character Creation.
Whenever the outcome of an action attempted by a PC is in doubt, the player rolls dice to determine what happens. WFRP 3E uses a dice pool system: the player rolls a number of dice based on the ability and/or skill of the player, the difficulty of the task (as decided by the GM), plus any circumstantial advantages or disadvantages and counts the resulting "successes" s/he rolled against any "failures." If there are more successes than failures, the PC has succeeded in whatever s/he attempted. WFRP 3E does not use the standard numbered polyhedral dice employed by most RPGs. FFG created propriety dice with faces showing various icons representing various results instead of numbers.
Numbered dice are often employed to deliver a binary result. If the question is "did my character succeed at X?" then the answer numbered dice usually give is either "yes" or "no." To be fair, systems that use numbered dice will sometimes also qualify the success or failure (the so-called "magnitude") but that still only covers a binary result. When players ask whether their character is able to achieve something in WFRP 3E, the answer will likely be more complicated:
Yes, you managed to stridently jam the pointy end of the fire poker into the thief's eye. BUT, while flailing about in considerable agony, he dropped the Burgomeister's signet ring. You hear the tinkling of gold on iron as the ring bounces off the sewer grate and a distinct plop as it plunges into the stream of effluent below.
In WFRP 3E, it is important to keep in mind the difference between what a PC is attempting to do and the side effects. The core mechanic does not only resolve what a PC intends to do (like attacking the thief) but also helps generate incidental consequences (the thief dropping the Burgomeister's ring) that make the story more complicated and hopefully more interesting.
Dice
Unpacking that narrative example of play requires a description of the various proprietary dice:
- Characteristic Dice (<>): These blue eight-sided dice represent the ability of the PC relevant to the attempted action. Two sides are blank; four sides are Successes; two sides are Boons.
- Challenge Dice (<>): These purple eight-sided dice represent how difficult an attempted action will be for the PC. One side is blank; two sides are Challenges; two sides are double Challenges; one side is a Bane; one side is a double Bane; one side is a Chaos Star.
- Expertise Dice ([]): These yellow six-sided dice represent the particular skill of the PC. One side is blank; one side is a Success; one side is a Righteous Success; two sides are Boons; one side is Sigmar's Comet.
- Fortune and Misfortune Dice: These white and black six-sided dice represent advantageous ([]) and disadvantageous ([]) circumstances that may not only help to determine whether the PC succeeds or fails but also whether separate but related achievements or complications arise. For the Fortune Die: three sides are blank; two sides are Successes; one side is a Boon. For the Misfortune Die: three sides are blank; two sides are Challenges; one side is a Bane.
- Stance Dice: These green and red ten-sided dice represent the effect of the approach to the situation adopted by the PC. The player can adopt a low-risk, low-reward "conservative" stance (()) or a high-risk, high-reward "reckless" stance (()). For the Conservative Die: one side is blank; four sides are Successes; two sides are Boons; one side is a Boon and a Success; two sides are a Success and a Delay. For the Reckless Die: two sides are blank; two sides are double Successes; one side is a double Boon; one side is a Boon and a Success; two sides are Banes; two sides are a Success and an Exertion.
Each result on a die contributes to reading the result of the dice pool as follows:
- Success: Exactly what it says; the more of these you roll, the more likely the PC is to succeed at what s/he is attempting.
- Righteous Success: An "exploding" result: it counts as a Success and the player further rolls another die of the same type that granted the Righteous Success.
- Challenge: Each Challenge cancels out a success. If there are no Successes left, the PC's attempted action fails.
- Boon: A positive side effect. A PC can fail at the action s/he attempted and still generate positive side effects. Cancels out Banes.
- Bane: A negative side effect. A PC can succeed at the action s/he attempted and still generate negative side effects. Cancels out Boons.
- Delay: The action takes longer than expected. It also has more rules-specific effects in combat (see below).
- Exertion: Causes the PC to suffer stress or fatigue (see below).
- Sigmar's Comet: The player can choose for this to count as a Success or a Boon. It can also trigger certain of the PCs' special abilities (like critical damage).
- Chaos Star: This is very bad. It can trigger significantly negative side effects and otherwise counts as a Bane. Rolling more than one can give the GM nasty ideas ...
Building Dice Pools
The basis of any dice pool is formed by Characteristic and Challenge dice. A PC's relevant characteristic score (generally between 1 and 8) determines how many Characteristic dice go into the pool. A PC with a Fellowship score of 2 would add 2 Characteristic dice to the dice pool when attempting to not make a fool of her- or himself at the Baron's Midwinter Ball. The number of Challenge dice that go into the pool is determined by the Challenge Level. There are five Challenge Levels: the least challenging tasks add no Challenge dice to the pool while the most difficult ones add five. Challenge Level is often relative to the circumstances: if the PC is a noble, behaving properly at the Ball will be easy enough -- but it could be positively daunting for a backward Stirlander hayseed. The GM ultimately determines the relevant Challenge Rating.
The GM is also in most cases the ultimate arbitrator of adding Fortune and Misfortune dice. The Old World is a rough place. Anything from poor weather to poor tactics can motivate the GM to add Misfortune dice. Conversely, the PCs are the appointed champions of Fate ... probably. Players should not hesitate to nominate favorable circumstances that might convince the GM to add Fortune dice to the pool and GM's should be reasonably receptive to such appeals. Generally, the best way for players to obtain Fortune dice is to be thoughtful, creative, and resourceful when sizing up a task. Additionally, players start each session with three Fortune Points which they can spend by adding Fortune dice to the dice pool. A player can only have three Fortune Points at a time and may earn more over the course of a session so there is some incentive to spend them. (The Fortune Point mechanics are described in greater detail in the section on the Party below.) A player may also add up to two Fortune dice to another player's dice pool by having her or his PC assist the other player's PC with the attempted action. One Fortune die can be added this way merely by virtue of the assistance; the second one can be added only if the assisting PC has a relevant Skill. The GM can provide narrative-appropriate limitations on such assistance.
Unlike the other dice, Stance Dice represent the player's ability to manage risk in the dice pool. Players can have their PCs adopt either a conservative or reckless approach to the action they are attempting with the Stance Meter. The Stance Meter is described in greater detail below. Suffice it to say here that by adopting one or the other stance, players can convert some of their Characteristic dice (<>) in the dice pool to either Conservative (()) or Reckless (()) Stance dice.
Opposed and Competitive Checks
Attempting to act mannerly at the Baron's Midwinter Ball in an unopposed check. No one and nothing but your PC's own ability and skill, plus the quirks of fate, are conspiring for or against your success. But in many cases, the PCs will meet with active opposition. In this case, the number of Challenge dice added to the dice pool is determined by comparing the relevant characteristic of the PC to the relevant characteristic of her or his opponent. (Note that they need not and often will not be the same characteristic.) The result is summarized as:
- opponent's score < 1/2 PC's, + 0 dice
- opponent's score < PC's, + 1 die
- opponent's score = PC's, +2 dice
- opponent's score > PC's, +3 dice
- opponent's score 2x > PC's, +4 dice
In other cases, the PCs might be attempting to do something faster or better than each other or someone else. In that case, all parties roll the relevant characteristic dice and the party with the most successes wins. There are no Challenge dice at play in such an instance.
Narrating Dice Pool Results
With all that in mind, let's unpack the probable mechanics behind the narrative example from the outset of this section:
Yes, you managed to stridently jam the pointy end of the fire poker into the thief's eye. BUT, while flailing about in considerable agony, he dropped the Burgomeister's signet ring. You hear the tinkling of gold on iron as the ring bounces off the sewer grate and a distinct plop as it plunges into the stream of effluent below.
First, let's contextualize the drama: After a series of harrowing and heroic escapades, the PCs have managed to retrieve the Burgomeiter's signet ring from the nefarious Thieves Guild of Auerswald and are holed up for the evening in a seedy hostel. They are roused from their well-earned rest by a clumsy yet effective footpad who's managed to purloin the ring once again. The cutpurses of Auerswald are clearly not content to lose all face on this misadventure! Without time to properly equip themselves much less dress, the PCs chase the would-be thief into the darkened streets armed only with whatever they could scoop up on the run. In the confusion, the fastest acting PC mistook the fire poker for her trusty mace. Upon catching up with him, she decides the fire poker is better than nothing and takes a vengeful swing.
Her relevant characteristic for a melee strike is Strength, Her Strength score is 3 so she adds <>,<>,<> to the dice pool. The thief's relevant characteristic is Defense, which is unfortunately for him 0. Because his Defense is less than half her Strength, no Challenge dice are added to the pool. The GM can use the thief's Aggression dice to add Misfortune dice to the pool, however (more on that later) so [],[] will be rolled as well. The GM adds a further [] to the dice pool to reflect that the PC is disoriented from being woken up abruptly and is fighting in a dark street with a fire poker. The player decides she wants that ring back at all costs and spends a Fortune Point to add [] to the dice pool. She also goes into the Reckless stance because she's hellbent on making the thief pay, swapping one <> for one ().
The total dice pool is therefore: (),<>,<>,[],[],[],[].
The result of the roll is:
- () = 2 Successes
- <> = Success
- <> = Boon
- [] = Boon
- [] = Bane
- [] = Bane
- [] = Bane
Three Success canceled out by no Challenges means she definitely managed to hit him. (We'll skip damage calculations until later in the article.) Her two Boons also cancel out two of the Banes, leaving only one remaining. Something, although not her attempt to beat the thief with the fire poker, has gone wrong ...
The proprietary dice thusly encourage the GM to narrate the unforeseen twists of fate so characteristic of the Old World. But this tool should not be wielded indiscriminately. In the example above, the players have spent a lot of time trying to wrest the Burgomeister's ring away from the Thieves Guild. It would be hard to justify the ring slipping from their grasp with one uncanceled Bane alone. The GM should narrate any detail that might factor into the players' decision making before they make the decision. (This has the added benefit of possibly fostering the illusion of foreshadowing regarding randomized outcomes.) In this case, the GM should have communicated something to the effect of:
Rushing groggily into the street, you feel chilled cobblestones and the slick, cold metal of sewer grates under your bare feet. The stench of septic water wafts up from the rusted and regularly-spaced cesspool grills as you gain on the cloaked figure.
The GM need not flat-out say "if you do X, Y might happen" although the GM certainly may do so. Making all the possible consequences explicit, however, can detract from the more grim and twisted character of the Old World and the players' sense that they are free to brave its dangers. In either case, if the player responds by saying "I'm going to knock the Sigmar-foresaken Scheiße out of him!" so much the better as long as, in the reasonable judgment of the GM, the possible complication serves to make the story more interesting rather than simply more frustrating. The difference between those two sentiments consists not only in the skill of the GM but also in the openness of the players to confront hardship. Adventures are nasty things. Just because your character is having a rough time doesn't mean you shouldn't be having fun.
The PBP Factor
Whatever else might be said of proprietary dice, they do have one obvious disadvantage compared to numbered polyhedral dice: they are unarguably harder to come by. This was true during the apogee of WFRP 3E and remains true now at its apparent nadir. FFG has in former times sold dice packs for this game, which could be picked up for as low as 7USD via internet retailers. As of the time this sentence is being written, those retailers and even FFG itself lists the dice pack as out of stock. WFRP 3E dice are currently only available in the expensive Core Set and Game Master's Vault. (in all fairness, you can buy a dice-rolling app from FFG if you're really desperate to waste money.) So, to get to the point, even members of a miniatures wargaming discussion forum are unlikely to have the right dice.
This is actually not such a big problem, either in person or for PBP gaming. WFRP 3E is all about building dice pools, which means swapping in and out various numbers of various dice. A big pile in the middle of the table, likely provided by whatever poor sucker is GMing, will do fine for that. Regarding forum-based roleplay, rolling your own dice in strict adherence to the honor system is fine but certainly not crucial. There's also something a little underwhelming about the honor system approach compared to the sheer terror of waiting for the GM to tell you the result on your dice pool roll.
Prospective players may be wondering what is left for them to do if they aren't physically rolling dice. The answer is, quite a lot actually. The more tactile of us gamers tend to focus on the dice a bit more than perhaps we should. After all, there is in reality no magic that we assert over the outcome by touching the dice ... unless we're cheating, that is. (And cheating at roleplaying games is really scraping the bottom of the barrel, folks.) I'm not knocking the tactility of RPGs. WFRP 3E, with all its many bits and bobs, is likely the most tactile RPG ever published. But what I am reminding you of, Gentle Reader, is that whether communicated through the media of spoken words, written text, dice, cards, grid mats, miniatures, table top terrain, etc, RPGs nonetheless abide in the theatre of the mind. Narration is the touchstone.
When one rolls a natural 20 in Edition X of D&D or Sigmar's Comet in WFRP 3E, simply stating "I smacked him real hard" is not what I call putting your back into it, either. Every player in a RPG should contribute to the narrative wealth of the experience. If your PC farts, make sure we can all recoil at the pungent bouquet. Purple prose is welcome here, as you must know if you've read this far. And in that sense, WFRP 3E may offer a few advantages. Building a dice pool is a great opportunity to get into the scene and the WFRP 3E dice pool is a collaborative effort as between the players and the GM. When you add a Fortune dice to the pool, don't be content to do so because the rules allow it. What pray tell is fortuitous about the circumstance that reflects the addition of that die? The same thing goes for swapping Characteristic dice for Stance dice. Why is your PC being so cautious/throwing caution to the wind? And, more importantly, how is s/he feeling and acting to reflect that stance? Again, simply declaring "my character recklessly swings his sword" is a true poverty.
The result of any dice pool in WFRP 3E can be broken down into good results and bad results. This isn't really a matter of success and failure. Any fool can deduce that more Successes than Challenges adds up to success and that the reverse adds up to failure. The players should always feel free to narrate this kind of yes or no result regarding their own actions. A much riskier proposition is letting the players narrate the story effects of uncanceled Boons and Banes. While there are some rather obvious conflicts of interest arising from letting the players qualify the unforeseen complications that befall their own PCs, the potential problems are at least marginally less severe concerning their narration of unforeseen benefits. They should just follow the same simple principles the GM should follow:
- The benefit must be incidental--i.e., having no direct bearing on the outcome of the attempted action.
- The benefit can put the PC who rolled it in a better position but it can never result in an "automatic win" for the PC or Party.
- The benefit should always make the story more interesting for everyone, including both the other players and the GM.
Even if the players conscientiously adhere to these principles, there remains the risk of severely disrupting the GM's plans. So if that's the risk, what is the reward? In my experience, letting the players tell more of the story can keep things fresh and interesting for the GM, who might otherwise find the experience a bit one-sided. (One of the unsung virtues of rolling dice is that the result is sometimes the only thing about the game that the GM doesn't know beforehand.) Perhaps more importantly, it fosters a sense of ownership in the players who can also find the experience a bit one-sided. It's everyone's game, after all, not just the GM's. For those of you who don't think those benefits outweigh the potential cost of storyline disruption, let me paraphrase von Moltke: no GM's plans survive contact with the PCs.
Character Creation
WFRP 3E allows players to assume the role of Old World heroes: daring citizens of the Empire, stalwart dwarfs, and adventurous elves. Of course, the Old World can be a rather dark place and it is also possible to play dissolute, cowardly anti-heroes. Some players like the "old school" challenge of grappling with a randomly-rolled PC and FFG provides rules to do so. If a player wishes, the GM can provide all the "stats." Conversely, the player can decide on every mechanical or "crunchy" aspect of the PC. In either case, however, it's up to the player to bring the PC to life through roleplaying. The mechanics behind the PC are just a possible inspiration for personality, the so-called "fluffy" dimension of the PC. Personality is the most important facet of any character so players should do their best to think about this and flesh it out both before and during gameplay.
Concept
In table top wargaming, there is a great temptation to prioritize "crunch," or competitiveness, over "fluff," or how a given build fits the setting. Doing so may make some sense in wargaming but it makes very little sense in roleplaying games. The closest anyone can come to "winning" a RPG is having fun and encouraging the other players (including the GM) to have fun, too. A simple principle to keep in mind is that WFRP 3E is a cooperative rather than competitive game. That said, there is nothing wrong with wanting your character to be effective. Just remember that even PCs with high Characteristic stores can fail miserably and often--which is fine, considering that failure is often as interesting or more interesting than success. Perhaps the biggest mistake a player can make is confusing the PC s/he is playing with her/himself. As mentioned above, the PC may be scared, starving, or in terrible pain but none of this should get in the way of the player having a good time.
Although players should consider the prospective PC's personality traits prior to getting into the mechanics of WFRP 3E, they should always bear the setting in mind. The world of Warhammer Fantasy is a weird and gritty one but, in contrast to Warhammer 40,000, it is not utterly without hope. This can be easily surmised from a top-down perspective: While a pseudo-corpse plugged into a vaunted life support system reigns over the Imperium of Man, the Empire is ruled by arguably the most capable statesman to ever live. Indeed, the Empire of WFRP 3E is undergoing something of a renaissance. At the same time, terrible threats from within and without--war, disease, corruption, and the all too frequent incursion of daemonic forces--are an ever-present reality of the Old World. There is no such thing as a happy-go-lucky Space Marine. But a bawdy Roadwarden or a fete-crashing Troll Slayer is entirely appropriate. Warhammer Fantasy retains a quirky sense of gallows humor that has all but slipped from 40k since the advent of that game's Fourth Edition (although it is making a comeback; cf. the Fifth Edition Necron Codex).
Prioritizing character concept over "builds" is especially relevant to the PBP game, where not every player will have access to rulebooks. The GM should work with players to suggest mechanics that fit their concept. Having a vivid, well-developed idea of the character will make that easier on both parties. The WFRP 3E Player's Guide poses ten questions to help generate background and personality:
- Where are you from?
- What is your family like?
- What is your social class?
- What did you do before you became an adventurer?
- Why did you become an adventurer?
- How religious are you?
- Who are your friends and enemies?
- What are your prize possessions?
- Who are you loyal to?
- What do you love/hate?
Once you have a sense of where your character comes from, you can begin to figure out what s/he is like at the outset of the campaign. This can also be done the other way around: say you want to play a handsome charlatan trying to wring a few shillings out of the gawking townsfolk with hoax nostrums and glittery gee-gaws. How'd you get there? Where did you obtain your eclectic wares? Has the Watch Kapitän in the next valley over perhaps issued a warrant for your arrest? What kind of folks might be after you and how have you eluded them thus far?
Characteristics
Six ability scores define player characters in WFRP 3E: Strength, Toughness, Agility, Intelligence, Willpower, and Fellowship. These six form three sets of "twins," with one representing the physical and the other representing the mental aspect of a cluster of traits. To quote from the Player's Guide:
- Strength & Intelligence: Active, forceful, direct, powerful, assertive
- Toughness & Willpower: Defensive, resilient, enduring, and resolute
- Agility and Fellowship: Reactive, adaptive, flexible, and resourceful
Race
Career