Poprawki do Warhammera [eng]

Warhammer Plumbing



(Fixing a Few Leaks)



by Anthony Ragan





For a first edition game, Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy

Roleplay is remarkably free of errors. It plays cleanly and simply,

and the basic rules/concepts are clear and easy to understand. As

with anything as complex as a role-playing game, however, there are

always dumb rules, poorly explained rules, rules that just don't work,

and even rules that don't exist, but should. In other words, there

are leaks in the system.

This article proposes to fix a few of those leaks, such as the

ill-designed parrying rules or the pitiful weakness of firearms. When

needed, I suggest new rules to fill gaps in the system, such as a

method for handling multiple attacks and a way to encourage players to

take a broad range of skills. Most of these changes represent simple

quick fixes that have been tried and tested in my home campaign.



Character Development and Skills



The system given in the rulebook for changing careers (WFRP,

p. 92) specifies that the player spends 100 experience points (EPs)

when taking a listed career exit, 100 points when taking a basic

career in the same general class as the current career, and 200 points

for choosing a basic career in another class. This method is simple,

but leaves several questions unanswered.

First, the point costs themselves are not well designed. As

written, it costs as much to take any basic career that is in one's

general career class as it does to take a listed exit. Yet it should

be easier to take a listed exit, which can be considered a natural

relative of the current career. Moving to a career not specified as

an exit, yet in the same general class, ought to be more difficult; we

can reflect this difficulty in a moderate increase in the EPs required

to switch. With this in mind, I suggest the following revised point

schedule:



Take a listed career exit 100 points



Take a basic career not listed

as an exit but in the same

general class 150 points



Take a basic career not listed

as an exit and not in the same

general class 200 points





There is also no mention of the general character classes into

which the advanced careers fall. When a player wishes to move from

Forger to Grave Robber, for example, is the Forger considered to be a

Rogue (because of his shady duties), or is he an Academic (because of

the rather intellectual nature of his work and the many advances

granted to intelligence)? The following lists assign each of the

advanced careers to a general character class. In some cases, one

career has been assigned to more than one class because of its

multifaceted nature.



Academic: Alchemist; Artisan; Cleric - Cults of Morr,

Shallya, Sigmar, and Verena; Counterfeiter; Druidic

Priest; Explorer; Forger; Lawyer; Merchant;

Navigator; Physician; Scholar; Sea Captain; Wizard



Ranger: Cleric - Cult of Taal/Rhya; Druidic Priest; Explorer;

Outlaw Chief; Scout



Rogue: Assassin; Charlatan; Cleric - Cult of Ranald;

Counterfeiter; Demagogue; Fence; Forger; Highwayman;

Spy



Warrior: Artillerist; Assassin; Cleric - Cults of Khaine,

Myrmidia, Sigmar, and Ulric; Duelist; Free Lance;

Giant Slayer; Gunner; Highwayman; Judicial Champion;

Mercenary Captain; Outlaw Chief; Racketeer; Sapper;

Sea Captain; Slaver; Targeteer; Templar; Torturer;

Witch Hunter



Using these lists, a GM can now assess the proper number of

EPs when a player wishes to switch from an advanced career to a basic

one that is not on his exit list. To enter an advanced career

requires that the character has the advanced career as a listed exit.

Using the rules above, a PC wishing to move from Artillerist

to Seaman would have to spend 150 EPs, not 100, because Seaman is a

Warrior career not listed as an exit for the Artillerist. Finally, if

a character wishes to re-enter a career previously followed, whether

it is a listed exit or not, he need merely spend 100 EPs.

Skills are a nother problematic area for the player and the

GM. One of WFRP's strengths is the wealth of skills available. The

idea is to make it worthwhile for players to acquire a broad range of

skills so that they have the tools necessary to deal handily with any

situation. The rulebook, though, gives few guidelines for handling

characters who attempt tasks without having the necessary skills,

except for those who use specialist weapons while unskilled. To

simply say that the character can't do it is too arbitrary: If the

logic of the situation calls for the player to attempt the task, he

should be allowed to try. He shouldn't have a good chance of success,

though, lest the value of the skills themselves be cheapened. To make

it worthwhile to have lots of skills, and yet allow characters to

attempt whatever they think necessary, let me recommend a new rule.

Whenever a character attempts a task for which he does not

have the relevant skill, roll a d100 against 20% of the appropriate

statistic, rounding all percentages down. (Stats that are rated on a

1-10 scale are first multiplied by 10 to arrive at a percentile

number.) For example, Curinir the Wood Elf Necromancer is desperately

attempting to pick a lock. As an Elf, he has a relatively high

dexterity of 50. Since he lacks the pick locks skill, though, he has

only a 10% chance of opening the lock. He has a small chance of

success, but an even greater chance of failure. If he wishes to open

locks in the future, he has a strong incentive to learn the necessary

skill.

The only exception to this is spellcasting. Only a character

that has been trained at some point may cast a spell. A character

without the skill has no chance to succeed, unless he ahs a magical

item that itself casts the spell.



New Skills



While WFRP contains a wealth of skills, there are some lacking

that one would think belong in an RPG filled with action and intrigue.

This section proposes a few needed additions.

Lightning Draw: The rules on "Actions" (WFRP, p. 116) allow

the GM the choice of either allowing "instant take-up", thus having

weapons or other items ready at a moment's notice, or assessing each

character a round's worth of action for drawing a weapon or getting an

item. I prefer the latter, since it increases the tension in

dangerous situations and forces the adventurers to think about their

preparations.

Still, routinely charging an action for drawing a weapon makes

combat too mechanical. A bit of the excitement is taken away from the

start of the combat. To allow for some variety at the start of a

combat and to let the hero stand out more from the rabble, I suggest a

compromise between the instant take-up and the charged-action-for-all

options: the Lightning Draw skill.

Upon learning this skill, the character may attempt to draw

his weapon and strike in one fell swoop, while others must suffer

through a take-up action. The test is made against the character's

Initiative score. If the character is successful, he may draw and

strike without being assessed a take-up. This attack (or the first

attack, if the character has an A score greater than one) occurs

before any other attacks, outside of initiative order. If the

character has been surprised, he may attempt a lightning draw to draw

his weapon and parry, but not to attack.

Failing his Initiative roll means that the character has drawn

his weapon, but strikes in normal Initiative order, and he is assessed

a take-up. Should the character roll a fumble, or if he fails by 30

points or more, then he has completely botched it and tossed his

weapon d4 yards away in a direction determined by rolling a d12. GMs

should bear in mind that a character making a lightning draw may well

catch his opponent by surprise, particularly if the opponent thinks he

has the character at a disadvantage.

Shield-bashing: This is a new specialist weapon skill,

designed to allow the character to tuse his shield offensively,

usually to plow his way past the opposition. To be effective, the

attacking character must run at least his M score in yards. The

attacker then tests against his Weapon Skill. If he fails, he is face

to face with his opponent and is locked in melee.

If he succeeds, however, a test is then made of the attacker's

Strength against the defender's Toughness (convert both stats to

percentages, as above). If both succeed, the winner is he who

succeeded by the greater percentage. Should the attacker win he has

knocked his opponent aside and may continue his movement. Lastly, if

the defender failed his Toughness test by 30 or more, he has been

knocked flat on his back and is stunned and prone for the next round.

If the defender wins, he has withstood the charge and the two are

locked in melee. If the attacker fails his Strength roll by 30 or

more, then he has himself been knocked to the ground and is stunned

and prone for the next round.

Only one shield bash is allowed each round; a character may

not knock one opponent aside and immediately bash the next one in his

path. Finally, shield-bashing uses up all the character's attacks for

that round. He may not bash on opponent and then attack another.

Character Judge: A character with this skill is able to

accurately gauge nother's mood as fearful, trusting, deceitful, hidden

anger, etc. The GM makes a secret check against the Fellowship of the

character using the skill. Success means that the character has read

the subject's mood. The degree of success indicates the amount of

information gleaned. (This is not telepathy, however!) Barely

failing means the character gains no special insights, while failing

by 30 or more means that the testing character has gotten it all

wrong. Magic or skills that mask emotions will apply negative

modifiers to the testing character's roll. For example, successful

use of the Acting skill by someone trying to lie convincingly will

subtract 10% from the character's Fellowship test.



Combat Quirks



For all our love of memorable plots and vivid characters,

great stories and intense role-play, it is combat that provides that

rush of adrenaline and cathartic release that we all seek in an RPG.

WFRP combat provides that. It is simple yet dramatic, fillled with

thrusts and parries, furious attacks and desperate defenses, gory

critical hits and the ever-present threat of sudden doom on the roll

of a natural six.

There are still gaps to fill, however. There is no prescribed

method for handling multiple attacks, the parrying rules are badly

written, and firearms are too weak for their low rate of fire and the

danger they pose to the user. This section addresses these problems,

and suggests some new rules.

Gunpowder Weapons: These are too weak to be of real use in

the game. A pistol or a blunderbuss takes several rounds to reload

and the user runs the risk of injuring himself on a misfire. With a

natural strength of three, firearms are distinctly inferior to bows

and crossbows, which fire more often and pose no risk to the user.

There is no reason in the game mechanics for a player to use a firearm

or learn the "specialist weapon-firearms" skill. This is sad, since

the crude firearms are part of the charm of the game.

To fix this, I have increased the strength of firearms in mt

campaign to four. The user gains the benefit of additional strength

to compensate for the lower rate of fire and the risk he faces. I

recommend adding one to the strength of the new guns in the Warhammer

Companion also, to keep them in line with the pistol and the

blunderbuss.

Multiple Attacks: Multiple attacks have been a problem in

combat, as witnessed by Games Workshop's attempt to regulate them by

the "effective initiative" system in the Restless Dead. This is a

poor solution, since it involves multiple clumsy calculations that

slow combat far too much. Yet to use the rules as they are written

oin the book literally is unacceptable, too. If one character with

four attacks has an Initiative just one point higher than his

opponent, then he will make all his attacks before his opponent has a

chance to retaliate. This is potentially devastating and definitely

not satisfying to the player whose character is cut down in such a

fashion.

There is an easier way to fix this. All PCs and NPCs take

their first attacks in Initiative order. Then all take their second

attacks in Intiative order. Third attacks are dealt with in the same

fashion. This process continues until all attacks have been made.

Spells cast in melee take effect during the first attacks, at the

point determined by the casting wizard's Initiative. Combat can then

proceed in an orderly manner, and all participants will usually get at

least one strike.

Parrying: The modifiers given for parrying in the table on p.

120 contain an oddity. The left-handed dagger, which is listed as a

parrying weapon, is actually less effective against an opponent's

attempt to parry it than a normal dagger or knife (-10% to the

opponent's chance to parry as opposed to -20% for the dagger/knife).

These should be reversed to reflect the parrying weapon's supposed

advantage.

More importantly, the attempt in The Restless Dead supplement

to give specialist parring weapons some sort of desirable advantage by

allowing such weapons a free parry in addition to the normal attacks

is poorly designed. To offset the fact that a sword-breaker gains a

free parry under the new rule, I resort to the ugly gimmick of ruling

that the sword-breaker's special ability won't work on the free parry.

This ill-conceived rule should be dropped altogether. The

equivalent of a free attack, though it may only be used to parry, is

too powerful. Rather, simply allow the user of a specialist parrying

weapon a +10% bonus to his weapon skill test when he attempts to to

parry, assuming he has the necessary specialist weapon skill.

Withdrawal: Surprisingly, the melee rules do not allow a

combatant the option to withdraw without exposing his back and being

subject to a free attack (WFRP, p. 119). It seems that this should be

possible, though. As an addition to the combat rules, I suggest that

a combatant be allowed to withdraw from melee by backpedalling up to

his M score in yards directly backwards. he would still face his

opponent and would not be subject to a free attack. His opponent,

though, would have the option to follow up and continuethe fight. The

character who follows up is assumed to be winning the fight, and thus

gains +10% to this Weapon Skill in the next round.

Surprise: Players have mixed feelings about surprise: They

love to catch the bad guys unawares, but will argue incessantly that

they themselves are always prepared, ready, armed, and armored, even

when they're asleep! Surprise grants a great, almost overwhelming,

advantage to the side that achieves it. That side has almost complete

freedom of action, while the foe can do very little. Surprise is

sharp, sudden, and dangerous. It is one of the most dramatic moments

in the game.

With that in mind, it's surprising (pun intended) that WFRP

handles the subject in such a loose fashion. Aside from some general

guidelines on pp. 116-117, the only specific reference to surprse is

found under the Hide test (p. 69), which says that a successful test

makes surprise automatic. Here are revised guideline to cover other

situations in which surprise occurs, mention of the skills relevant in

each case, and suggested changes to surprise results to make them more

believable in context of a ten second combat round.

Surprise can occur anytime one side, or both, does not expect

the other. Whether rounding a corner in the Duke's dungeons or

wandering through the Forest of Shadows, when one group blithely

stumbles into the other, surprise can result. In this case, each side

tests against Initiative. Success indicates that the character is not

surprised. Rolls should be made for each figure involved. If there

are too many characters involved for this to be convenient, test

against the highest "I" in each group. In any event, be sure to apply

the same method to each party. The GM should bear in mind relevant

skills that will influence the die roll for each side. These include

Luck, Acute Hearing, and the silent move skills.

As stated in the rulebook, a successful Hide test guarantees

automatic surprise. Remember that the various concealment and silent

move skills should be factored in. The GM, in addition, should keep

in mind Luck for both sides, while Sixth Sense, Acute Hearing, and,

posiibly, Excellent Vision weign in the intended victim's favor.

There is a special case of ambush in which a Hide test is not

appropriate. When a scout tries to sneak up on an orc sentry, when an

assassin tries to close with his target, or in any such circumstance,

use Listen instead. Failure on the part of the victim means automatic

surprise. In this case alone the attacker has one free round and his

target is considered prone.

The rulebook states that surprised characters may "do

absolutely nothing for one round, whilst their enemies have a 'free

round' to act in" (WFRP, p. 116). It is unbelievable that surprised

characters would stand around for ten seconds without reacting at all.

If, in addition, the attacker has multiple attacks, the victim has

almost no chance whatsoever.

I suggest instead that, if the victim fails the "I" test by

less than 30% or the ambusher passes his Hide test by less than 30%,

the victim be allowed to only dodge or parry. Characters with the

Lightning Draw skill may attempt to draw a weapon to parry. Should a

victim fail or an ambusher succeed by 30% or more the victim may still

dodge, parry. or attempt a Lightning Draw, but only at 50% of his

normal skill. In no case may the victim attack, fire missiles, or

cast spells.

Continuing Attacks: Finally, there is the question of the

options available to a charcter who has multiple attacks but finishes

off his opponent early: the Judicial Champion with four attacks who

slays the goblin with his first blow, for example. It's frustrating

for a player to stand there and do nothing because he has eleiminated

his enemy quickly.

As an option, allow the character with leftover attacks to

move up to his M score in yards to attack another opponent. His

attack is then made at a -10% penalty to his Weapon Skill. If he has

attacks remaining after slaying this new enemy, he may move up to his

M score to fight another foe, this time at a -20% penalty. He may

move no further in this round, though, even if he has attcks remaining

after slaying thethird vivtim. this allows a mighty warrior to chop

his way through his enemies, rather than just stand around pouting

that he has no one to fight.





No game has ever been perfect in its first edition. While

WFRP is no exception, it is one of the cleanest first editions to come

along in along time. I hope that you find these suggestions useful.