[WFRP 1st Edn] CSI Altdorf
Gregor Hutton:
So I sat down with 6 players to create characters for a WFRP campaign at GEAS (the University of Edinburgh role-playing society) in Edinburgh on Sunday.
We basically rolled up characters as you would in rules BUT we had a few things in there to allow the players more control.
1. They could swap rolls between stats if this was needed to do it to get a certain career, but you couldn't re-roll any rolls at all.
2. They could pick a starting career and then look at what they needed for that career, so someone wanting a Bounty Hunter would need to be a Ranger. On seeing that they had a BS of 27 they could swap that 27 with the 31 they had in WP to have a valid Ranger and Bounty Hunter.
Apart from that they had to roll stuff up as in the rule-book and the Character Pack that I had for it. All things like height, starting skills and so on were rolled for on charts. I didn't allow anyone to pick Very Strong or Ambidextrous. If you got them it was down to the dice. And as we also used the "distinguishing characteristics" in the Character Pack, it meant that we have two bald characters, which has fitted into the story very nicely!
At the end of it all we constructed a Relationship map for all the characters and we built in some NPCs before play began. This isn't in the rule-book but it's a must for having a game built around these characters rather than any plot I want to impose (and I don't want to impose one, and in fact I simply don't have one to impose).
Anyway, we have 6 characters and WFRP has great colour:
Dirk Averheim, a male, human Bounty Hunter (Ranger). He's 18 and 5'5" in height.
M:4 WS:26 BS:30 S:4 T:2 W:7 I:30 A:1 Dex:31 Ld:27 Int:33 Cl:38 WP:32 Fel:34
Dirk has the skills: Follow Trail, Silent Move Rural, Silent Move Urban, Specialist Weapon: Lasso, SW: Net, Strike Mighty Blow, Marksmanship, Astronomy, Ride, Night Vision (3 yds), Lightning Reflexes
He has a slate and chalk, and a set of Brass Knuckles, which is about all he could afford as he started with 5 GPs (on his 3d6 roll).
Religion: Sigmar Heldenhammer (right wing, anti-Goblin state religion)
Alignment: Neutral
Kurt Autler, a male, human Initiate (Academic). He's 15 and 5'7" in height.
M:5 WS:34 BS:26 S:2 T:3 W:7 I:34 A:1 Dex:27 Ld:28 Int:33 Cl:33 WP:34 Fel:32
Kurt has the skills: Lightning Reflexes, Dance, Supernumerate, Astronomy, Read/Write, Scroll Lore, Secret Language - Classic, Theology
He has a set of playing cards and fancies himself as a gambler…
He started with a decent amount of Gold but has ended the first session with only 2 GPs left (he got raffled for 4 GPs in-game gambling and then 1 GP when brow-beaten by the City Watch breaking up the gambling den)
Religion: Ranald the God of Thieves and Tricksters
Alignment: Neutral
Johan(nes) Brandysnap, a male, halfling Agitator (Rogue). He's 36 and 3'5" in height.
M:4 WS:27 BS:32 S:2 T:3 W:4 I:49 A:1 Dex:44 Ld:25 Int:29 Cl:22 WP:41 Fel:43
Johan has the skills: Night Vision (20 yds), Cook, SW: Sling, Blather, Public Speaking, Read/Write.
He has a decent hat, some posters/leaflets and graffiti equipment (whitewash, brush, bucket)
Religion: Shallya (a bleeding heart liberal…)
Alignment: Neutral
Werner Averheim, a male, human, Entertainer - Troubadour (Rogue). He's 23 and 5'5" in height.
M:3 WS:27 BS:26 S:3 T:2 W:5 I:35 A:1 Dex:29 Ld:32 Int:35 Cl:35 WP:30 Fel:37
Werner has the skills: Musicianship: String (Lute), Sing, Bribery, Lightning Reflexes, Dance
He has a cloak, a decent wide-brimmed hat and a Lute.
Religion: Ranald the God of Thieves and Tricksters
Alignment: Neutral
More characters to follow and what we got up to in the first session. The colour of the Warhammer World is fantastic and I think the careers really give great characters to start off the game with. (And the career progression in game is something I'm hoping will reinforce the colour along the way.)
Gregor Hutton:
Calandiril, a male, elven, Bounty Hunter (Ranger). He's 57 and 6'3" in height.
M:3 WS:32 BS:30 S:4 T:3 W:5 I:59 A:1 Dex:36 Ld:47 Int:53 Cl:54 WP:39 Fel:49
Cal has the skills: Night Vision (30 ids), Excellent Vision, Musician (Stringed), Luck, Silent Move: Rural, Silent Move: Urban, Acute Hearing, Marksmanship, Follow Trail, Shadowing, Strike Mighty Blow, SW: Lasso, SW: Net
He has just some basic gear and is saving his money.
Religion: Taal
Alignment: Good
A yet to be named female, human, Alchemists' Apprentice (Academic) as the player had to leave the session quite early.
M:4 WS:34 BS:38 S:5 T:4 W:7 I:28 A:1 Dex:32 Ld:38 Int:30 Cl:39 WP:32 Fel:31
She'll have some starting skills plus her career ones: Brewing, Evaluate, Read/Write, 50% chance of Chemistry.
That's as far as we got with this one.
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Relationship Map
Between PCs
Cal <=WORK TOGETHER=> Dirk <=BROTHERS=> Werner <=DRINKING BUDDIES=> Kurt
Kurt <=KNOW AT AN INN=> Johan <=KNOW AT AN INN=> Werner
Cal <=PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP=> Alchemists' Apprentice <=PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP=> Dirk
With NPCs
Terfan (Cal's brother) =HATRED=> <=ENVY= Cal
Watch Chief Viktor Rot =BUSTS HIS BALLS=> <=CHIEF CLIENT= Dirk
Amelie (Elector's grotesque "goat-faced" daughter) =IN LUST WITH=> <=CASUAL DISDAIN= Werner
Cleric Alfred =UNWORTHY=> <=RESPECT= Kurt
Wolfgang (Cultist) =TAKING ADVANTAGE OF=> <=SYMPATHETIC TO HIS CAUSE= Johan
As Sandy (the player of Dirk) said: This is like CSI Altdorf! Awesome.
The basic conceit is that Dirk and Cal are Bounty Hunters in Altdorf. Dirk and Werner share lodgings where the older brother (Werner) looks out for the other, while Dirk thinks his artistic brother is a layabout with a lute. The other side of the group all hand about the cult of Ranald and the inn that they stay at.
The NPCs I focused on using in the first session were Wolfgang and the Watch Chief Viktor.
I figure Alfred and Amelia will appear next if either Kurt or Werner do things that allow them to come in.
I'm keeping Terfan for when they're in the forests outside Altdorf.
Ron Edwards:
No rat-catcher? Sacrilege!
More substantive comments to follow, I hope.
Best, Ron
Gregor Hutton:
Yes, I was hoping for a Rat Catcher or a Bawd (which I think was bowdlerized from the 2nd Edn).
We created the relationship map by me writing down everyone's character names in circles and then drawing arrows between them. What do you think of X was what I would ask. For NPCs I made the decision on how the NPC felt about them (though Sandy specifically asked for the Chief of Police, errr... the Watch, to "bust his balls").
We created strong relationships between the PCs as I explained that there needs to be a foundation for these characters to interact. We're not going dungeoneering or setting up a "party" of patsies to follow my story. Instead, we're creating a group of inter-connected PCs in a "grim world of perilous adventure".
The background of the world is pretty strong in Warhammer. While I was tempted by Nuln, I'm already playing in a Conspiracy of Shadows game set there run by my friend Steve. I was also tempted by Middenheim but it might just be too much of a common enemy in the Skaven. Marienburg was mentioned by one of the players, and I have read and own the source book. But... I'd be happier running Marienburg if I'd been to Hamburg (I've only been to Amsterdam and I'd like my Marienburg/game to be more ... Germanic).
Creating NPCs was pretty easy too. I asked the Elf to name a sibling, parent or close friend. He said Brother and came up with the name. He is envious of him, while I declared that his brother hates him (and I hope in a complicated way). Looking at the Elf's stats you can see he is pretty awesome compared to a human, but he is really quite crap for an Elf. So Cal is a big shot in the human world but is envious of his brother's position and competence in the elven world. He's also envious of Dirk's competence, for a human he is bloody good with a bow.
Anyway, we got through five "scenes" of play. I started them off in ones or twos.
Wolfgang had Johan up a ladder pasting up anti-noble posters. Some nice colour and the resourceful hobbit made sure they avoided the Watch.
Kurt went gambling and lost his money despite his best attempts to win. My gamblers were pretty shit, but Dave just rolled much, much worse than me. On the way back to the Inn he tried to steal the purse of a drunk noble. He failed that too. Was head-butted and then pissed on. Kurt fled from the noble rather than exact revenge, fearful of their difference in social standing.
Werner was truly awful at busking and he completely failed to see any increase in watch activity. As a player he knows there has been, but we all enjoyed Werner the character being blissfully unaware. Here a horse and cart went past with bald hobbits caged in the back. (It's worth noting that Dirk isn't overly tall at 5'5" and might be picked on by the watch at some point...)
Cal and Dirk went to see the City Watch Chief. I played up the abnormal height of Cal here. He has to stoop in human buildings most of the time. The shorter Dirk spotted some papers related to occult/Chaos that the Chief shuffled off into a drawer (Dirk has memorized which drawer) as they just walked into his office. The Chief wants them to find <Johan> and a few others. There's decent gold in it, supposedly as they are anarchists trying to kill the Elector. Dirk and Cal both kept their Cool and didn't let on to the watchful gaze of the Chief that they recognized the painting of Johan. Anyway, they set off for the inn after this to see Johan.
Dirk and Cal burst into the Inn and roughed up Johan in the kitchen. We got some combat done here and a particularly stiff blow from Dirk deadened Johan's arm as Cal lassoed him. It was a nice intro for anyone unfamiliar with combat (and how deadly that Crit chart can be). If Dirk had used a sword rather than a knuckle duster he'd have taken Johan's arm off!
So, I've been introducing provocative NPCs and throwing out some ideas. Where we go from here we will all find out on Sunday.
Gregor Hutton:
Oh, and we have some nice directions that the players want to take their characters in.
Kurt wants to be a Cleric of Ranald, so I expect him to work towards that.
Cal wants to be an Assassin, which is one of the career exits for Bounty Hunter.
Werner is aiming at Minstrel as his next career path.
Dirk is pretty happy just being a bounty hunter, but I can't rule out him finding his way to Witch Hunter at some point. Or even City Watch Chief...
Johan is an agitator, I think he might move towards repalcing Wolfgang (in which case I can allow that NPC to go).
And I definitely want to involve race and religion in the game. We've all got religions there and there was some good table chatter about the perceived "superiority" of Elves in the game, and the animosity that might bring. I'm thinking that Cal's brother might bring that into play whenever he appears!
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