Liber Fanatica II.pdf

Liber Fanatica - Volume II : The Perilous Arts

Disclaimer

Table of Contents

This compendium is

completely unofficial

and in no way

endorsed by Games

Workshop Limited.

Chapter 1 : Way of the Warrior

Narrative Combat ................................................................................3

by Wim van Gruisen

Alternative Combat Rules....................................................................5

by James Walkerdine

Damage and Healing ............................................................................11

By James Walkerdine

Chaos, the Chaos

device, the Chaos logo,

Citadel, Citadel Device,

Darkblade, the

Double-

Headed/Imperial Eagle

device, 'Eavy Metal,

Forge World, Games

Workshop, Games

Workshop logo, Golden

Demon, Great Unclean

One, GW, the Hammer

of Sigmar logo, Horned

Rat logo, Keeper of

Secrets, Khemri,

Khorne, the Khorne

logo, Lord of Change,

Nurgle, the Nurgle

logo, Skaven, the

Skaven symbol

devices, Slaanesh, the

Slaanesh logo, Tomb

Kings, Trio of Warriors,

Twin Tailed Comet

Logo, Tzeentch, the

Tzeentch logo,

Warhammer,

Warhammer Online,

Warhammer World

logo, White Dwarf, the

White Dwarf logo, and

all associated marks,

names, races, race

insignia, characters,

vehicles, locations,

units, illustrations and

images from the

Warhammer world are

either ®, TM and/or ©

Workshop Ltd 2000-

2005, variably

registered in the UK

and other countries

around the world.

Used without

permission. No

challenge to their

status intended. All

Rights Reserved to

their respective

owners.

Chapter 2 : Way of the Mage

Corruption............................................................................................14

by Wim van Gruisen

Alternative Magic Rules ......................................................................15

by Wim van Gruisen

Using WFRP1 Spells within WFRP2 ...................................................17

by James Walkerdine

Introduction

Welcome to Liber Fanatica - Volume II : The Perilous Arts . This volume collects

together a selection of articles that tackle two of the more dangerous arts within the

Warhammer world – combat and magic.

Within Way of the Warrior you will find two articles that provide advice and

mechanics for running more freeform combat within your WFRP2 games. A third

article also presents options for those who prefer damage and healing to possess a

more realistic (some may say deadlier!) element.

Within Way of the Mage you will find optional mechanics for representing

corruption within your game. Additional rules are also provided for the magic

system, including the incorporation of corruption, as well as rules for spell

learning. Finally the chapter ends with a conversion of the bulk of WFRP1 spells for

use within WFRP2.

Throughout, the intent has been to make these articles as compatible with the

official rules as possible and they are in no way official. Hopefully, however, some of

you will find the additional ideas presented here to be useful to your games.

James Walkerdine

Editor

Credits

Editors/Layout : James Walkerdine, Wim van Gruisen

Feedback and Proofreading : Håkan Cervin, James Flinders, John Foody, Henrik

Grönberg, Wim van Gruisen, Robin Low, Dave Keville, Adrian Maddocks, Martin

Oliver, Dorothy Rachovides, Jay Wrobel.

The Liber Fanatica is a compendium of articles dedicated to the Warhammer

Fantasy Role-Playing Game. Published March 2005.

The work is offered free of charge to all interested parties and is not to be sold in

any form. It may be printed or offered for download if distributed free of charge. All

the documents comprising the Liber Fanatica, including the cover and contents

page, belong together and are to be kept that way. Individual articles from this

compendium cannot be published or distributed separate from the other parts of

Liber Fanatica without the explicit permission of the article’s author.

All original material is copyright to the respective author.

Email the Liber Fanatica guild at Liber.Fanatica@gmail.com

Liber Fanatica - Volume II : The Perilous Arts

Chapter 1

Way of the Warrior

Liber Fanatica - Volume II : The Perilous Arts

Narrative Combat

by Wim van Gruisen

in RPGs. The WFRP rules describe a combat

that is very tactical, with mechanics telling the

players what they can do, when they can do it

and which precise effect their choices have. This

style of combat is suited to the use of miniatures,

which can be moved around like chess-pieces.

However, when playing combat in such a way,

roleplaying takes a step backwards as you play

the game-in-a-game. This is not always wanted,

or necessary. This article examines a way to keep

the focus on roleplaying, even in combat.

and kick a candle toward my opponent” makes

for a vibrant action scene.

Don’t be repetitive. If you’ve just kicked a candle

in opponent’s face, then, on your next turn, don’t

kick another candle. Try to think of something

else instead.

The RPG Over the Edge mentions that if the

player says: “I hit”, it shows that the character

has no clear idea of what he’s going to do. Such

actions fail, usually – so the GM should give a

penalty to the roll. If a character repeats an

action he took the previous round, his opponent

will see it coming and be prepared– again a

reason to apply a penalty. The main idea here is

that not describing your action or repeating a

previous one is boring, and boring actions get a

penalty on the die roll. This line of thought works

well in Warhammer too.

Roleplaying combat

The rules for a more roleplaying style of combat

are quite simple: when it is your turn, say what

you want to do, then roll the dice to see if you

succeed. The base mechanics are not much

different from the standard combat mechanism

in WFRP – it is just that the focus has shifted. In

the rulebook there are some twenty actions that

you can perform, and everything you want to do

has to fit one of those actions. When the focus is

on roleplaying, however, you do not consider how

your actions fit in the given ones, but how they

contribute to the story. In order to do so, you

must do a few things:

The GM is excused from making thrilling

descriptions each round for every NPC he

controls, by the way. The man has enough on his

mind already, so he is allowed to make rather

boring calls. The stars of the story are the PCs,

after all, so they should shine in the narrative –

their opponents don’t have to stand in the

limelight.

Imagine the environment

Take the initiative, fill in some of the scenery

yourself instead of asking the GM. You know the

general setting in which you fight; use your

imagination to think of what can be found there.

If the combat is in an inn, you don’t have to ask

the GM if you can see a mug of beer. Just

assume that there is one, and state: “I grab a

mug of ale from the table and throw the drink in

my opponent’s face – then try to crack his skull

with the mug.” This keeps the action going, and

your GM, who has his hands full thinking of

what every NPC is doing, will be glad that you’re

not bothering him with more questions.

Don’t bother with too many rolls, penalties

and bonuses

The idea is to keep the story going, and that

won’t work if you have to stop the narrative every

time to roll in order to see if you can do what you

want to do. If you jump over the table, grab a tin

plate and parry your opponent’s blow, then don’t

test against Ag to see if you can make the jump,

roll again to see if you can take the plate and

finally make a WS test to see if the parry

succeeds. Generally, one roll per action is enough

(multiple attacks are the exception), and the

whole jumping over the table, grabbing the plate

and parrying should be seen as one action.

If the GM says that you cannot do something, or

that an object you want to use isn’t available, his

word is law.

Likewise, it isn’t very interesting to stop every

round to go over the whole situation to see what

bonuses and penalties to the roll you get. It

mainly slows down the narrative, and that’s what

we’re trying to avoid in this narrative style of

combat. Giving both players a -20 to hit because

it’s dark just lengthens combat, as the characters

are much more likely to miss each other all the

time. And that’s boring.

Describe your actions

If, in a non-combat situation, your character

wants to seduce a serving girl, you play it out;

you don’t just say “I attempt to seduce the

serving girl” and roll against your Fel. That would

be no fun. Likewise, in combat you’re expected to

say more explicitly what you do. “I hit.” “I dodge.”

“I hit again” doesn’t suffice. Instead, describe

your actions. “I sidestep his thrust, and now that

he’s wide open, I slash at his face” sounds a lot

better. Use your imagination. “I jump on the table

Chuck rules that hinder the storytelling

The most important rule to be chucked is the one

regarding hit locations. Somehow it doesn’t help

the story forward if you say: “I smash the hand

with which opponent supports himself on the

table … [sound of rolling dice] … and I manage to

T here are different ways to approach combat

Liber Fanatica - Volume II : The Perilous Arts

hit him in the left leg.” Let the story determine

where you hit, not the hit location table – and use

basic armour rules too.

of things that can happen during the fight, and

use that list when describing GMing it. For

instance, if combat is breaking out in the

harbour, a GM could make a list like the one

below:

• Someone will be pushed and falls in the

water

• Fishing nets will be lying around – these

could be used to throw over a fighter

• There will be crates – someone could smash

into them, breaking them

It would be interesting if those crates contain

smuggled guns – that would bring another

party of combatants into the fight

• Or the crates could contain fish – when they

spill over the ground, that ground will

become slippery

• A barrel could be rolled toward the PCs

• Another empty barrel could be placed over a

PC, eliminating him from the fight for a

round

These things don’t have to occur. The GM should

not feel obliged to play out every item on his list.

It merely serves as preparation so that the GM

will be better able to use those actions in the

story. It will have an effect on the players too;

they will quickly pick up the habit of describing

their actions in other terms than “I take my

sword and I hit”, instead coming up with more

interesting actions, using all sorts of odds and

ends that one can expect to be lying about.

If you don’t remember right away how much

damage you’d get from being hit on the head with

a stuffed chicken, don’t stop the game to look

things up in the equipment chapter; just make a

decision on the fly and go on with the story.

This article does not give a detailed list of which

rules to disregard and which to keep. There is not

one true way of narrative combat situations; each

group has its own preferences. Decide amongst

yourself what rules help and what rules hinder –

and in which situations they do so.

Preparing for battle

Usually, when preparing a session, the GM has a

good idea when and where fights will take place.

In order to make those fights interesting in a

roleplaying kind of way, there are a few things

that he can do. First, think of interesting

locations. If during the last twelve sessions there

was a fight at the inn, it would be interesting to

move combat somewhere else. A ladies’ boudoir,

perhaps, or on the rooftops of the city. If that

isn’t possible, then the GM should at least try to

make the inn come alive a bit – describe what the

place looks like, the atmosphere, the NPCs in

there… every inn is unique and leaves a different

impression on the players. Likewise, not every

forest combat with goblins does have to be the

same. One time there’s a clearing where the

opponents meet, while another time a brook flows

right through a swampy battleground, and a

third time some large boulders are hindering the

fighters’ view and movement. Descriptions make

all the difference in narrative combat.

Finding your place

Narrative combat is fun. It’s a step away from the

traditional tactical combat of many RPGs, but fits

better with the narrative structure of most other

parts of roleplaying. Mechanically it doesn’t have

to be that different from tactical combat, it’s just

that the stress of the action is less on mechanics

and more about trying to imagine the situation

and responding to it. There is a line with pure

tactical combat at one end and completely

narrative action at the other, and a group can

choose what place on that line works for them.

It’s even possible that there is not one fixed such

place, but that the players sometimes want to get

into a more tactical way of combat, perhaps

complete with miniatures, while another time a

stress on narration fits the situation better. By

allowing this kind of variation you can keep your

combat scenes fresh and interesting.

on the fly and go on with the story.

Something the GM should avoid is to copy a well-

drawn map and put it on the table. Such a map

takes the players out of roleplaying mode and

right into tactical battle mode. A quickly sketched

map, with room to add things on the go, works

better. Still better would be to show pictures of

what the place looks like. That gives the players a

good idea of the setting.

Once a good place is chosen, it’s time to fill in the

details. Are there any people around, and how

will they react to a fight breaking out? What sort

of objects might be lying around, and what can

happen to them or what can characters do with

them during combat? The GM should make a list

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