Thoughts on the Warhammer world
June 28, 2008
My take on the Warhammer world has been weak.
One PC in my campaign just made his third career. The others are on their second. And all of the players have grand plans for the characters.
In reading The Thousand Thrones, it has dawned on me that the Empire is a dangerous place. Very dangerous. Nurgle cultists alone are dangerous sonuvbitches. Death lies around every corner in TTT. Yet, none of my players have felt in peril. And the one that was pulled a lucky charm. At least I know buying those is going to set the player back quite a bit, keeping him in the poor house; and then I'm not even sure that I played the rule for lucky charms correctly anyway. Reading some house rules on the internets, it looks like I'll be adopting the "maybe it wasn't lucky after all" approach with a die roll when he pulls it out.
Adventures in the Old World don't last long. But at the same time a GM needs to carefully balance the danger with playability, lest the game become a "one-shot."
PC longevity is important, but the world should feel "grim and perilous." Every die roll behind the screen should strike worry in the eyes of the players. For instance... and a game story follows, so tread carefully:
The Sigmar priest is earning money by taking offerings for prayers and purity seals. In his travels during the current campaign, he has been hearing of an outbreak of the Weevil Cough in the garrison of Helmgart. Random peasants are approaching him with fears of contracting the disease, or beseeching prayers for loved ones with the disease. I rolled his Toughness during the course of one of these random pleas to see if he contracted the cough. Sigmar shined upon him and he skirted the contagion. By the way, play like this is an opportunity for older GMs to share classic literature with younger players. This behavior by the priest player is almost straight out of history and literature, recall The Canterbury Tales anyone?
To my cyberstalker... beware... your PC might be next. Tread carefully in the OCIC waters. You have been forewarned. Maybe it is time to investigate spiking the mortality rates of PCs me thinks. What say you? 
July 2, 2008 at 16:46 EDT
Hi! Found your blog today, great reading!
Re. WFRP mortality rates. Myself, I think that the lethality of the game is overemphasised in interner chatter. Sure, WFRP can be loads of fun and deadly as hell when we play one night gigs, or short adventures. But when we go for our Altdorf campaign, we like continuity for the PCs.
The trick is to hit everything else they care about. Make their life a living hell, instead of just killing them. Kill their dog. Steal their money. Have them make powerful enemies. Have them run over by a coach, but survive with a broken arm. Have them loose things they love.
That'll keep them on their toes and will make them fear the world around them. Not because you can kill them. But because killing them is the easy way out. For the PCs.
Cheers!
/Magnus