A Life Full of Adventure

I'm going to have to go with Tempus on this one. This is for one reason: my half-orc cleric of Tempus who achieved Paladin-hood. Normally, for my personality, I'd expect to say Torm the True or Helm the Vigilant (protector) or even Sune who likes to keep people looking good :wink:. However, my experience with my half-orc Ke'lan tips the scales...merely due to the fun I had playing him. As as side note, I love my Faiths & Avatars book.

Favorite set of dice/individual dice I don't ever remember having a favorite set of dice. I do remember my first green 20 sided die (probably a mud die from a box set). It wore more and more as the years went by. I remember finally buying a bunch of matching, translucent, blue 8 siders for casting my clerical healing spells. I have a d20 now called the Garry Kasperov because a friend gave some dice out as prizes and made up a back-story for each die. I carry this die around in my pocket at almost all times.

Wow. I just finished queuing up my last April A-Z post (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay themed). It has been an extremely fun experience. I really should have participated before this. I fully realize that my posts were about as basic as possible, but I understood that would be the case going in. I consider it a warm-up year. This whole A-Z thing may be "so 5 years ago," but it was a new experience for me to participate. I found some blogs that I will continue to follow (see below). It was a worthwhile event for me, if for no other reason than that. Next time it is my intention to delve a little deeper. Unfortunately, I will still be in college during the next two A-Z challenges, so I may not be able to designate as much time as I currently intend. I'm not sure if I want to use the theme of Advanced Careers, Dwarf Terms, or Notable Personalities. The latter two would take a little more time and energy. We'll see. There are 11 months to come up with other themes. He...

The Warhammer world has a few defining creatures, like the beastman , the skaven, and the warriors of chaos. They also have unique creatures, or at least creatures I had not seen in my gaming experience. Some of these include the fimir , amphisbaena, and the zoat. A zoat is a reptilian centaurish creature with the upper body of lizardman (but with more of a turtle-shaped head) and the lower body of what can probably be best described as an ankylosaurus. The rule book describes them as rare, even more so than elves, creatures mostly of legend. They are quite, reclusive, yet powerful, forest-dwelling magicians. I have no idea what the basis is for this creature, but they are incredibly tough. They can move silently through dense undergrowth, they use magic, and they are stronger and tougher than an ogre. They cause fear in goblinoids and lizardmen. Their weapons alone sound like items of adventure: Their characteristic weapon is a long wooden staff tipped with a metal-bound cyl...

Zoomorphic familiars, elementals and plants Wizards are always looking for way to increase their power or reduce the logistic of running a laboratory. Some solutions involve dark magic or apprentices, but the most common one is to have a familiar. These can be an animal bound to the wizard’s psyche. Or constructs and homunculi replicating a living form. Experts in the domain explain that constructs replicating shape and partial functions of an animal are the best choice. They don’t age, don’t eat, don’t sleep and are robust given that they can be partially repaired. The process is complex but can be eased by observing and even dissecting specimen of the targeted animal. Such zoomorphic familiars are usually owned by members of the College of the Golden Order or of the College of Amethyst Order. When wizards grow in power, they have the option to enhance their familiar. Rumors tell that the mechanical monkey of the master of the golden college is now completely made of gold and even m...

Yellow mold is a projectile weapon used by the smallest form of goblinoid, the Snotling.  Much like Tucker's Kobolds, Snotlings have to use deceit, trickery, traps, and cunning to overcome foes. This cunning includes throwing dangerous items at the enemy. Since Snotlings are so small, about the most dangerous thing they can throw is Yellow Mold. Yellow mold is found on decaying matter, and is a fungi that releases spores on contact. The spores fill a 10 yard diameter sphere and last for d6 rounds. Any creature caught in the sphere must make a toughness check or fall unconscious. Also, any creature caught in the sphere takes d3 points of damage per round, whether unconscious or not. And the best part is? Snotlings are immune to the effects of mold. Unfortunately there were appropriate careers to write about for the letter S, or you would have heard much more about the Snotling and it's ingenious ways.

Yaks, chamois and alpine cows - domesticated mountain animals  The Empire is mainly about rivers crossing large forests. Hence most of the entries were related to that. This time we concentrate on the mountain ranges defining eastern and southern borders. These areas are the ancestral home of the dwarfs and lately of the greenskin tribes and clans. How do humans, dwarves and orcs interact with the chamois, mountain goats and mountain cows living at different altitudes? Mountains can sustain a lot of life, more than what you can see and imagine. But this environment enforces survival strategies. We can define two main ones: mountainsides and cold winter. Living on mountain slopes, Yaks and mountain cows need to have a strong balance, low gravity point and strong legs. They also need to survive the winter by storing a lot of excess energy during the summer, grow protective fur, hibernate during the cold seasons, have feet allowing safe movement on the snow or migrate to lower alt...

With a complete dearth of Xs in the career, skills, bestiary, or locales section of the first edition book, I deviate to a term that is very appropriate for the WarHammer world. Xenophobia is ubiquitous in the Empire...and beyond. Chaos is rampant in the Warhammer world. The forces of chaos are responsible for war, mutations, and cults. The person next door to you, the one you've lived beside your entire life, could be a cultist or a mutant. It's difficult enough to trust your neighbors...there's no way you can trust people you don't know. And there are plenty of people in the wide world you don't know. For the most part town and cities are insular. Expansive travel is only for the rich and/or the daring. Those you don't know are considered 'other'. Others can be hiding any number of secrets, most likely ones that will get you killed. And that's just other humans. Surely the other races are out to get you, too. Dwarves are about as violent a ra...

Xylophage - the beaver case The old world is covered by dark and huge forests. These places are dangerous but they are the main source of heating to survive long winters. They also contribute to the food and furs supply required during the cold season. Any animal disrupting or helping collecting these resources from the forests is to be considered with great caution and care. Beavers and coypus are a very special case as they are both destructor and benefactor to Imperial woodmen. Beavers are very common in the Empire. Abundance of rivers and forests supports a very large population. They are a great source of troubles but also of wealth. Their furs used for winter clothes, their meat even if not tasty is better than nothing. They can deforest or lighten large area, making them easier for forestry or to convert in farming land. On the other hand they are aggressive, sometime deadly and their huge structures change rivers flow or flood fields. The timbers they produce can escape into ...

(Remember, I'm trying to keep to starting careers this time through, which means I can't just on W for Witch Hunter like I really want to.) A watchman is almost like a beat cop, patrolling the cities of the Old World and keeping the peace. Theoretically. Realistically, watchmen can be drafted from the seedier citizen of the city in order to keep the peace against other seedy citizens. While it may work to recruit the Hatfields to protect against the McCoys, innocents may also be caught in the cross fire. Watchmen are also perfect racketeers (which is actually one of their career exits). As they patrol the city, they could stop shop-to-shop demanding protection money to "guarantee nothing happens to the place." The violence, brutality, and crookedness of these types of watchmen drive honest ones from the job and into a life of adventure. To an honest watchman character, I'd probably throw in the Law skill, too, or at least a percent chance of the character k...

Were garous - diverge from the cliché Warhammer and the Old World setting uses werewolves and other wolf based shapeshifters a lot. As already mentioned this is related to the overrepresented wolf in the Empire. So let’s focus on more various and rare were animals, beast garous and shapeshifters. The moot have a very old legend about an halfling farmer. He cared so much about his giant rabbits that during an orc raid he gave his life to protect them. Or that’s what neighbours say as his body was never found. The field was filled with the eviscerated bodies of two orc bands. Since that day, when the area is attacked by orcs or bandits, an hooded halfling always warns the invaders to leave or die. All laugh at him before being killed by a giant were rabbit of doom laughing back. The imperial regions bordering Kislev have tales of bear based shapeshifters. They are sometimes good or evil beings. Either as Ursun blessed or cursed. They are omens from the father of bears and a reminder of...

Technically the rule book lists them as a Swarm, but I'm going to use the term vermin*. The vermin in today's post are small, swarming creatures such as ants, bats, beetles, frogs, lizards, rats, scorpions, snakes, spiders, or ticks. Of these, I have only really used a swarm of rats, and then only when called for by The Oldenhaller Contract, an adventure from the 1e rule book. Really, though, a swarm is something that should scare the crap out of most characters. When hundreds of scorpions rush at you, things can look pretty grim. You know you can stomp a handful or two at a time, but many are going to get past your defenses, through your armor like it's not even there, and into your unprotected skin. A large group of bats can distract a party who is trying to track or trying to fight. A swarm of spiders is even more uncanny, because the creatures don't usually behave with such a hive-mind. There must be something controlling them. And, you never know which ones a...

Vulture, black cat and other animal omens The Old World is grim, perilous and highly superstitious. Omens, signs are everywhere for people skilled in divination crafts. They are everywhere for people living in fear. They are everywhere for the fanatics looking for justification to burn someone. Animals are much represented in these omens or sayings. True and wrong, here are some example to set a tone of darkness and ignorance. Vulture, crow and raptors are typical sign of bad omens. Usually death is near or incoming. This is obviously right as these birds can be seen from far away circling above dead bodies. Their presence is always sign that somebody is going to die. If not that death magic or evil eye was watching and someone will die sooner or later. Later being always true, given enough time. Magic practitioners have familiars like black cat or anything else. Anyway the relation between animals acting unnatural and use of magic is a fact for common folk. Given how much hate and f...

In a game as deadly, grim, and perilous as WarHammer Fantasy Roleplay, why is the world is there a unicorn in the rule book? Specifically, a creature that "may permit itself to be ridden by a character who is absolutely pure in thought and deed?" That describes few, if any, characters I have ever encountered in the WarHammer world. The creature is definitely very powerful, being almost completely immune to magical spells and having the ability to destroy an undead within 20 yards. However, I can't say I've ever had the opportunity to use a unicorn in any game I've ever played or run. It seems like a creature that would be at home in the nearby country of Brettonia, likely somewhere in an elven forest.  I'd really be interested to hear how anyone else has ever used a unicorn in their game.

Undead animals - more than flesh and bones Most of the time, undead are humanoids or mighty monsters. There are only few animals presented as undead or as only the skeleton of their former self. Let’s have a look why necromancers must invest more time on animals and why players should be worried to find an animated dog skeleton, a ghoulish cat or zombified goose. Necromancers focus more on the animals rather than humanoids. Because that is what a truly evil and smart one would do, at the beginning. Common animals are, well, common to find. Losing one is not an issue as they are so easy to replace. Few people will look for missing duck. Unless they are low level, so worse case that a proper source of still required humanoid victims. Animal have natural instinct that are easier to control and trigger. Their mind is less likely to resist and kickbacks are less damaging.  When increasing in power, the tasks to unload on apprentices to keep them from plotting too much against self...

(Seriously, what else would T be for, since I'm playing a Troll Slayer in an online game?) Dwarf culture is very...honorable. A dwarf will keep his oath even to the loss of his life. Sometimes something happens to a dwarf, or the dwarf makes a horrible choice in life, that will cause him shame. If the shame is great, the dwarf feels there is no way to redeem himself except a glorious death battling horrible racial enemies.  Enter the Troll Slayer. The Troll Slayer is all about battle, death, and doom. The Slayer is doomed to die an epic death, fighting such creatures as trolls, giants, dragons, or daemons. A Slayer who does not find a death worthy of his shame will live the afterlife in ignominy. Elite fighting units made up of nothing but dwarf slayers can wreak absolute havoc on an invading force. However, this unit of dwarves is about as controllable as a herd of cats. Each is stubborn, with narrow vision, focusing only on whatever they consider their own great ...

Tarasque - a legendary river monster of the Old World Here we will see how one legend of our world history can fit the Old World. Let’s use the tale of the tarasque as an example. Dungeon and dragon used the same legend to create the famous and deadly Tarrasque that appeared already in the first edition in 1977. The real legend describes the tarasque as a river dragon with six short legs like bear, the body of an ox, the carapace of a turtle, the tail like a serpent ending with a scorpion’s sting. The head was like a lion with horse ears and a human face. The animal lair was in a swamp not far away from Avignon, south of France. The monster attacked anyone and anything traveling near to the river. The legend say that Saint Marthe tamed it but villagers slayed it after decades of suffering. Now let’s adapt it to the Old World. I think nothing should be changed about the look and behavior. The first part because it means that plenty of illustration can be used. The second part because ...

All that is certain in the Warhammer world are death (with the possibility of going insane first) and taxes. Toll houses along the road tax you. There is a tax for entering the city. A tax for being allowed to sell in the city, and a tax for the goods you sold in the city.  (I wouldn't be surprised if Marc's T post contains pages upon pages of way he can screw the players over with taxes.) Goods could be had at a much more reasonable cost to the common man if there was a way around the taxes. Enter the smuggler.  The smuggler is the little entrepreneur who is tired of getting taxed out of business. Though a rogue class with some sneaky abilities, the smuggler is not necessarily a thief. He's just working outside the law in this particular venture. The smuggler can skillfully drive across country or row into lesser-patrolled ports with his goods. He has skills to move quietly through the city or through the country. He has contacts to sell his goods to. He's...

Serpent folk - how to include them in the old world Dungeons and Dragons, Legend of the Five Rings, Call of Cthulhu and many other role playing game settings have serpent folk in some way. However Warhammer fantasy setting doesn't  Let’s see how game masters can include them in the background. Given that serpent men aren't part of the official settings we could infer several information: They don’t live in the Old World They aren't related to the lizardmen They aren't related to the chaos coming from the north pole. From this we could create following pieces of an alternative background: Some have the torso of a human, other have the body of a snake with human arms and legs. The serpent trait could also be the one from a cobra, viper, boa and any other snakes. Pick the form and lineage you like and the illustration from previous mentioned sources. Serpent folk are a civilization of serpent-like people. Serpent folk lay eggs, and th...

I write about starting in the lowest, most pathetic careers as a sort of challenge for the experience roleplayer. WarHammer's Ratcatcher seems to epitomize the bottom of the totem pole, the lowest of the working class. I have played into this stereotype myself, but I think I was wrong. It is this character's job to catch rats. This often sees him slinking through filthy sewers and cornering starving vermin. He has nothing to protect himself but a sling and a small but vicious dog (unless you are lucky and have one of JMT's companions, a ferret ).  This character is never out of work, and he is tough! A ratcatcher has immunity to disease and poison (which, oddly enough, doesn't make you immune but give a bonus to save vs). They can hide, move silently, and set traps. Additionally, as mentioned, they come with a companion animal. Very few other careers have that bonus (I actually can't think of any right now besides the noble with his hangers-on :wink:). A ratca...