WFRP Follow-up Advice

The other day I shared some advice I gave to someone asking me for advice on running Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Other people chimed in on Google+. I thought I'd share what they said:

Timothy Stone from Another Caffeinated Day:

I would add that going into WFRP 1E and 2E the social contract should be set out that your PC may go insane, be humiliated, maimed, or killed. And these thing tell the character's story and most certainly do not ruin the character....
All of this is a balancing act for the GM or the game can become a serial one-shot. Case in point: Morrslieb's Shadows has some great character development with the characters slowly going insane and touching the Aethyer on occasion. The goal nears and a great campaign can be told in the character stories at the end. Maybe grand failure will result, but maybe the world will be spared by the misfit collection of heroes.
Goals. WFRP shouldn't just be about barely skilled schulbs scratching through the veil between worlds and going insane. Play CoC for that.

I prefer helping the players develop the characters as the goal nears. And I like the mechanical friction*—my new favorite noun for "crunch"—of dice. Don't be afraid of the rolls or of failure (which we hear a lot about in our RPG circles). Just last night the dice failed *me and changed the story that developed at the "table."
Dennis Higgins from Gaming All Over the Place:

And maybe because I grew up with 1e, I'd also add in to not forget a healthy chunk of black/gallows humor. It really compliments the grimdark....

The biggest thing are the awful names. Bin Saladh-Bar? LOVE IT.
So I'd say have at least one NPC or location per game with a name that makes you chuckle. Inside jokes are always acceptable.
Rob S. from 6 Iron Spikes:

My advice would be :
Know the Old World. Get a feel for the place. Read a novel set in the world. I like the early Felix and Gotrek stuff but read Drachenfels recently and it was great too.
Know the WFRP tropes. Read some of the Black Library scenario contest winners. They are short, free and give you a great idea of what a warhammer adventure looks like. Take notes on the cool things as you go and steal them for your own game.
Get a feel for what a session is like. Listen to someone elses session to get a feel for how to run warhammer. Everyone runs it differently but you can steal some good ideas. I was inspired last year by this podcast http://warhammer-enemy-within.blogspot.com.au/
Dont be afraid to run a pre-written adventure. Many of them are classics for a reason. I recommend Shadows over Bogenhafen for beginners. Don't shy away from customising the adventure and making it your own.
And one final quote that I really liked, from Kevin Priest:

My advice for WFRP GMs is if the characters don't end up at least a little worse off by the end of the adventure than when they started, you're doing it wrong.

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