Question about character advancement - WHFRP

[Infidel Castro]

In WHFRP 1st ed., the method of advancement in skills and attributes was in jumps generally of +10 for percentile and +1 for those in the 1-10 scale.

I haven\'t played for a while now, but I got to thinking that simply adding +10 to Fellowship (to pick on one example) is a bit silly. I know you spend XP to do it, but surely a bit more variability would have been better? It\'s best to add that the increases are predetermined as per the occupation of the character, but at least within those parameters there should be a little more risk of not hitting full attribute increases all the time. For example, for each time you want to spend XP to increase an attribute, roll a D6 and then add 4. This way you get between 5 and 10. Jumps of 10 each time is just plain silly.

I\'ve no idea why I typed all that

 

[Infidel Castro]

Well that went down like a sack of shit didn\'t it lol

I\'ll post something interesting next time...

 

[supervike]

A very valid suggestion. I\'ve both the old WHFRP and have been making my way through the newest version.

I\'m thinking the skills and attributes are still done the same. It does make more sense to have a bit of risk involved, adding realism to the game, but certainly its done for simplicity sake.
Some of the rules in and of themselves are a bit complicated, but I\'m sure that trying to cover all the variables of the unknown is a bit daunting.

That being said, there is nothing from stopping a GM into doing exactly as you say. Add that variablility in, it may make for more interesting, and realistic characters.

 

[Equus]

My uneducated guess is that it probably has to do with the scale that they wanted in advancing characters. It\'s always an interesting balance in creating a game system.

That being said I haven\'t looked through the new rules yet, and haven\'t really had the chance to sit down with some of my old WHFRP group who would know. I can see if any of them have any ideas as to the rationale behind the 10 point increment jumps, since some of them are game developers. Me...I hadn\'t even really thought of it.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Do it Equus! That would be cool...

Another point is that the system allows you career changes. What if these were sometimes enforced because the PC\'s progress was not enough for that role, much like real life where sometimes you try something and it doesn\'t come off? Know what I mean? Like a wizard who\'s tried his best but keeps on naffing up his spells on the dice rolls. Maybe a bit of understanding that he\'d be better off in a different class wouldn\'t go amiss, especially with the varied advancement that would come from not taking a standard +10 every time. It would make intelligent and leader characters a little rarer and add a touch of realism perhaps. just thoughts like!

 

[supervike]

oi rev, that\'s good!

Especially with more stubborn player/characters, God love them. Just like in real life how I wanted to be a International SuperModel, and full blown Diva. If only a kindly GM would\'ve taken me out of that thong, and gently escorted me to the life of a plumber.....It would have saved me plenty of humilation!!

 

[Itchy]

Originally posted by supervike
Especially... how I wanted to be... full[ly] blown... and gently escorted... It would have saved me plenty of humilation!!

i don\'t think MT reads the RPG boards so somebody had to do it

 

[supervike]

lollol yup thems my words all right!

 

[Itchy]

Didn\'t everybody hear him say that????



:innocent:

 

[Equus]

So managed to talk a little to one of my friends who does writing, but unfortunately it was at a party for his birthday so he was...umm...not quite in the right frame of mind to talk about gaming.

On the other hand, I talked to someone who is running the new WHFRPG rules, and he said that the advancement scheme now goes at 5 points a pop, rather than 10. He also said something about the non-percentile scores and their advancement, but by that time I couldn\'t really hear him. Too much beer in my ears.

The one favorite campaign that I played it had the gamemaster making us roleplay to actually go into the advanced careers. IE, I actually had to find an assassin somewhere to train to go into the career. Made a lot of sense, and allowed the gamemaster to pace things the way he wanted to. Also meant that the character was a little more fleshed out than he might\'ve otherwise have been if I could just go blazing through the careers and cherrypicking for whatever I thought I wanted. Granted, we still had a certain amount of that, but when you\'re stuck waiting in a career so you can go to the next one, you start thinking that you should spend some XP on SOMETHING to make your character better.

 

[Infidel Castro]

It\'s good that they\'ve changed the system slightly in the new one, but I still feel that cut and dry increases are too rigid. A little bit of variation would be good, and the idea of roleplaying your way to advanced careers is much better.

 

[Equus]

Yeah...I think the system, even as it is, doesn\'t really make full advantage of the range that is available. I mean, if you have percentile based scores, why in the world would you go up by only 5 or 10. I think it\'s kinda silly when because then you might as well just use the D20 system. OK...I know that\'s blasphemy to some WHFRPG folks, but it\'s true from a stastical perspective.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Good point fella!

How long do you reckon this thread can run for, considering it\'s an irrelevance lol

 

[RedDawn]

As long as there are people out there who want to pad their posts!

KA-CHING

See - easy as pie!

lollollol

 

[Equus]

Originally posted by reverend
Good point fella!

How long do you reckon this thread can run for, considering it\'s an irrelevance lol

Heh...I have good points occasionally. Actually, I got the idea from a friend who said one of the ex-WotC developers went off on a rant in a published article about WHFRPG and how you can statistically just change it to the D20 system. It apparently caused some fuss amongst the more rabid WHFRPG fans on the net.

And yup...Dawn is quite right. That and I can sit around and chat about geek stuff all day. That\'s why I\'m on these forums after all.

 

[NecroN]

Not sure how I misssed this one.

I have run the old WHFRP for 20 years and the new one for about 2 months.

My rational - warhammer has never been about the numbers. It is a roleplaying system based in the darkest fantasy world out there. There are much more interesting aspects of the game (like insanity) to worry about then randomizing the stats. We always had more fun/spent more time investigating the local cult through interactions and not rolls that the numbers never really mattered that much.

It was commented about the carreer system and having to finish a career that just wasn\'t right. In both the old and new system you can switch to any basic career at any time for 200 XP. Also in both systems you can take a previous career exit from an old job.

On having to \'earn\' your career. This was in the old system covered under Restless Dead. It is now a fundamental part of 2nd ed... where a player must first get all of the trappings for the new career even before entering it as well as get the GMs approval (possibly requiring earning the role).

An interesting addition to the new rules is the ability of a GM to offer carrers outside of their path to a character. For example if hired to kill a heretic and sucessful, the GM has full rights to offer the PCs a chance to enter the Witch hunter career.

One last note: Main profile stats now go up by +5 each 100xp, secondary profile stats go up by +1 per 100xp. There are some odd ones though. S is now out of 100, and its the first digit of that that determines your Strengh Bonus, same for T.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Sounds like they\'ve put some thought into it NecroN. Cheers for updating us!

I may yet be tempted to come out of retirement on this one lol

 

[NecroN]

It worked for me.

I hadn\'t run or played a game in approx 3 years, the 2 years previous were pick up games of Dream Park.

The new edition of Warhammer got myself and most of my old group excited. So exited we started talking about getting a campaign going. We are all profeshionals in the \'real\' world now and figured that we could never find a time to get togher again.

After about two weeks of picking up Warhammer we figured it out, sunday afternoons... noon till 5. We haven\'t missed a Sunday yet and now I am running two campaigns, one in Warhammer and one in Feng Shui.