L’Avantage représente votre vitesse en combat, et vous l’acquérez lorsque vous vous montrez plus malin que vos adversaires, que vous les dominez ou les battez. On les note avec des jetons, des compteurs, ou des jetons Avantages spécialement conçus à ceteffet - ou simplement sur une feuille.
\nCertains M] préfèrent un environnement de combat plus contrôlé et moins influencé par les caprices des dés et de la chance. Comme un Avantage peut renverser brusquement le cours d’une bataille et avoir un impact significatif, envisagez d’.utiliser l’une des règles optionnelles suivantes si vous voulez les limiter :
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Chaque Avantage ajoute +10 à un Test de Combat ou de Psychologie (voir Psychologie à la page 190). De ce fait, si vous disposez de 5 pions Avantage, vous obtenez un impressionnant +50 à tous les Tests de Combat et de Psychologie.
\nSi vous échouez à un Test opposé au cours d’un combat, ou perdez une Blessure, vous perdez automatiquement tous vos Avantages. Vous perdez également vos avantages lorsque le combat s’arrête. Un Avantage peut également être utilisé pour se désengager d’un combat, en sacrifiant votre supériorité pour vous enfuir (voir Se désengager à la page 165). Il y a également des Compétences et des Talents qui peuvenvous faire perdre un Avantage, ou encore le transférer à un autre Personnage. Pour en savoir plus, référez-vous au Chapitre 4 Compétences et Talents.
" }, { "id": "Advantage", "name": "Advantage", "description": "The Advantage system works well when there are only a handful of combatants, but it quickly becomes unmanageable when there are ten or more Characters and Creatures all fighting together. In such situations, here are two approaches that work well:
\n\n\nExample: The Characters are fighting six Goblins, and the GM decides to use Group Advantage. The Goblins have an Initiative Bonus of 2, so can generate a maximum of 2 Advantage as a group per Round. On the first Round, three of the Goblins charge the Characters. Normally, each would generate 1 Advantage, but instead, they generate 3 Advantage for the group, which drops down to 2 given their Initiative Bonus. Any additional Advantage gained this Round by any of the Goblins won’t be counted, but now they all benefit from a +20 to all relevant Tests. On the following Round, after gaining +2 more Advantage as a group, one of the Goblins is defeated in an Opposed Melee Test. Normally that Goblin would lose all of their Advantage, but because they are in a group, the group merely loses 2 Advantage, and retains the rest.
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Whilst it’s great when you have Advantage on your side, the tables can turn very quickly in WFRP, and before you know it, your opponents have built up deadly momentum. When overwhelming Advantage is accrued, it can seem impossible to overcome it. Here are three broad tips for removing Advantage.
\nRanged attacks cannot be Opposed unless performed at Point Blank Range or the target wields a shield, which means that no amount of Advantage will help a Character avoid losing Wounds! Make sure to place a few Creatures with ranged attacks in Combat scenes, and have them target the Characters who are building momentum the most. However, keep in mind that because ranged attacks aren’t Opposed, successfully hitting an opponent with a ranged attack doesn’t generate Advantage.
\nPassive Damage is any source of Wound loss that isn’t defended against, such as from the Ablaze, Bleeding, or Poisoned Conditions. Whilst some of these Conditions would involve Tests where Advantage would be relevant (such as dodging a thrown Incendiary, or parrying a poisoned blade) there are other ways to inflict these Conditions: employ the terrain, use Long Range, or target a Character’s non-combat Skills, such as Endurance.
\nRemember that a combatant loses 1 Advantage per Round if they failed to accrue any extra Advantage during that Round, or they end the Round outnumbered. Which means, if things are going badly for a combatant, they should try to put distance between themselves and their potential killer. Fleeing is one option, but it’s not the only one. Consider the location where the Combat is taking place, and see if there are any ways to create barriers between combatants — throwing tables and chairs in the way, setting the ground on fire, and cutting the ropes suspending a bridge, are just a few examples.
\nWith a bit of creativity, and by thinking about the Scene where the Combat takes place, you and your Players can use Advantage as an inspiring feature of the system, rather than a snowballing problem to overcome. Remember that, whilst the Characters in the story wouldn’t call it Advantage, they would be aware of momentum in a fight, and would try to be creative on the battlefield themselves to mitigate bad odds.
\nSome Creatures such as the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.bestiary.FmEDHnfAe2iIugpt]{Bog Octopus} in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or the Young Stirpike in Ubersreik Adventures: If Looks Could Kill lack a Weapon Creature Trait, but have in its place the Bite, Tail, Tentacles, Vomit, and other such Traits that use Advantage as a cost. These Traits, without the Weapon Trait, mean that the Creature can’t perform normal attacks, and must use their special attacks if they want to defeat an opponent.
\nThis is entirely intentional, and allows these Creatures to be played in truly unorthodox ways, which encourages more dynamic Combat. You should consider the full range of methods for gaining @JournalEntry[Advantage] to aid in these situations. Charging, for example, is a good tactic to use when immediately followed by a Bite. Also remember that larger Creatures do not need to Disengage, so they may Charge, Bite, and move away freely.
" }, { "id": "Altdorf", "name": "Altdorf", "description": "L’Empereur Karl-Franz I siège à Altdorf, la capitale du Reikland et de l’Empire dans son ensemble. Elle se dresse fièrement au confluent du puissant @JournalEntry[The Reik]{Reik} et du Talabec, là où aboutissent beaucoup de routes commerciales majeures, et c’est sans conteste la cité la plus riche de l’Empire, ce qui lui permet de s’agrandir et de se renouveler en permanence. De nouveaux aspirants ébahis arrivent quotidiennement, et plus de commandes de nouveaux ponts, bâtiments et merveilles d’ingénierie présentées chaque semaine aux bourgmestres que la plupart des villes ne peuvent en étudier en un an.
\nAujourd’hui, Altdorf est une cité de ponts à vapeur, d’îles très diverses, d’énormes immeubles et d’un fourmillement infini de personnes : on ne peut traverser ses rues tortueuses sans devenir familier avec de parfaits étrangers. Comme elle attire des marchands et diplomates issus de tout le Monde Connu, elle est aussi étonnamment cosmopolite ; non seulement des personnes de tous rangs, de toutes races, de toutes croyances et de toutes origines se côtoient librement, mais même les magiciens sont monnaie courante, avec pour tout signe d’hostilité, rien de plus qu’un regard méfiant ou une bénédiction murmurée.
\nUn quartier elfe très peuplé et prospère, à l’étonnement des étrangers, se trouvent près du Reiksport - le port en eau profonde et le chantier naval d’Altdorf- fondé par des princemarchands hauts elfes remontant le Reik, il y a plus d’un siècle depuis Marienburg. L’ancienne alliance entre l’Empire et lenains s’est maintenue depuis 1ère de Sigmar et permet à dnombreux clans nains d’y résider également en communautésoudées. Certains ont travaillé dur à la maçonnerie de la citdurant d’innombrables générations, bien que leur naturobstinée les empêche de considérer Altdorf comme leur foyerPas mal d’halflings gagnent leur vie en servant de la nourriturraffinée et des cervoises de qualité dans les auberges d’Altdorfdont beaucoup sont protégées par l’importante population d’ogres de la cité. Mêmes des créatures des plus étranges se trouvent aussi dans la cité, mais aucune n’est plus fantastiquque celles du Zoo Impérial, qui détient une myriade dmonstres et d’animaux, y compris l’Abomination du Stirland et l’Engeance de la Drakwald, mises en cage et exposées pour le divertissement de tous.
\nCette population dense et variée contribue à entretenir l’une des plus célèbres caractéristiques d’Altdorf : elle est, hélas,malodorante, affectueusement, et à juste titre, appelée « La Grande Puanteur ». Pendant les mois chauds de l’été, l’odeur qui émane des @JournalEntry[Altdorf Flats]{Plateaux d’Altdorf} devient si forte que beaucoup des citoyens les plus riches de la cité fuient vers des domaines ruraux ou les somptueux palais baignés de soleil de Grenstadt en Averland du Sud.
\nL’odeur fétide omniprésente ne contribue guère à calmer la population d’Altdorf, une foule particulièrement bruyante et encline à l’émeute à la moindre petite offense, en particulier si cela implique de nouvelles taxes. Mêmes les actions apparemment anodines des bourgmestres et des nobles peuvent s’attirer sa colère ; mais même si beaucoup de leurs protestations sont parfaitement justifiées, cela n’atténue pas la ferveur que la Couronne emploie à réprimer la rébellion de la populace qui peut descendre dans la rue.
\nAltdorf est aussi un centre renommé pour l’apprentissage. Les fils et filles des foyers fortunés s’inscrivent à l’Université d’Altdorf, avec souvent peu d’égard pour les capacités académiques ; ceux qui possèdent un potentiel intellectuel, mais sans le poids financier nécessaire, trouvent souvent leur voie au Grand Temple de Verena, car la déesse de la Sagesse a toujours de la place pour ceux qui ont le don de l’intelligence. La célèbre École des Ingénieurs Impériaux - fondée par le génie tiléen Leonardo da Miragliano - se trouve également dans les murs d’Altdorf. Ici, certaines des âmes les plus courageuses et les plus téméraires de l’Empire conçoivent avec créativité des méthodes nouvelles pour faire pleuvoir une mort ardente sur les ennemis de l’humanité. Comme on pouvait sans doute s’y attendre, l’école a été reconstruite plus d’une douzaine de fois depuis sa fondation.
\nLes Collèges de Magie représentent de toute évidence l’institution éducative la plus importante d’Altdorf et, sans doute, la plus mystérieuse. Fondés il y a plus de deux cents ans à l’initiative de l’Empereur Magnus le Pieux, les Collèges reposent sur les préceptes du Maître du savoir elfe.Teclis. Les Collèges sont chargés d’entraîner les citoyens doués de magie à canaliser leurs dangereux talents pour la défense de l’Empire. Des rumeurs sur l’influence déformante des importantes énergies magiques, rassemblées par tant de magiciens vivants dans une telle promiscuité, persistent ; les rues de la capitale elles-mêmes auraient été déformées, et certains édifices des collèges seraient dissimulés aux yeux de tous sauf de quelques élus - ou devrait-on dire maudits - possédant la vision de sorcière, mais peu croient en tels ragots.
\nContrastant nettement avec les mystères arcaniques des Collèges de Magie, rempart contre les sorcières errantes et es Magisters malfaisants, Altdorf est aussi le cœur battant du Culte de Sigmar. Il y a plus de deux mille cinq cents ans, Sigmar est né, a grandi et a finalement été couronné Premier empereur à l’intérieur des frontières de l’actuelle Altdorf, et la cité compte désormais plus de temples et sites sacrés Sigmarites que toutes les autres cités de l’Empire réunies. En effet, on dit souvent qu’on ne peut pas y lancer un hérétique sans toucher un temple de Sigmar.
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Le @JournalEntry[The Reik]{Reik} et le Talabec se séparent autour de la cité d’Altdorf en centaines de chenaux changeants, de vasières noires et de marais qui s’étendent du nord au sud de la grande cité. Connus sous le nom de Plateaux d’Altdorf, ces immenses marécages, envahis par les joncs et les roseaux, sont réputés pour leur odeur nauséabonde et leurs tourbières infestées de trolls des rivières. A une vingtaine de kilomètres d’@JournalEntry[Altdorf], les chenaux sinueux convergent de nouveau avec le large fleuve Reik, dont les eaux coulent plus à l’est, jusqu’aux Principautés de Carroburg.
\nLes plateaux sont traversés par six chaussées principales qui partent des terres fertiles qui entourent immédiatement Altdorf. Chaque chaussée est ponctuée de plusieurs ponts de pierre, dont certains sont de fabrication naine et datent de l’Ere de Sigmar. Leurs routes sont toujours fréquentées par des diligences ou des convois marchands en provenance et à destination de la capitale, et sont donc activement surveillées par les Patrouilleurs routiers. De même, les voies navigables marécageuses constituent un paradis pour les contrebandiers cherchant à contourner les péages et les lourdes taxes d’Altdorf. Les Patrouilleurs fluviaux et abordeurs sont donc très souvent aperçus navigant sur les eaux peu sûres à la recherche de criminels et repoussant les plus grands monstres des marais.
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Activités répandues
\nVous passez du temps à entraîner l’un de vos animaux. Effectuez un Test de Dressage Moyen (+20) . En cas de réussite, ajoutez une Compétence à votre animal, choisie parmi les Traits de créature @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.V0naR1YbYCl0KIxp]{Entraîné} (voir page 339).
" }, { "id": "Assistance", "name": "Soutien", "description": "Dans certaines situations, il est évident que plusieurs Personnages œuvrant de concert à une même tâche ont plus de chance d’y parvenir qu’un Personnage isolé. Avec l’accord du MJ, un Personnage peut apporter son soutien à un autre sur le point d’effectuer un Test. Lorsque c’est le cas, le Personnage qui possède la plus forte chance de réussite lance les dés. Chaque Personnage qui apporte son soutien octroie un bonus de +10 au Test. Ceci mis à part, le Test est effectué normalement.
\nLes Joueurs peuvent se soutenir dans la plupart des cas, mais il existe certaines limites.
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\n" }, { "id": "Attacking", "name": "Attacking", "description": "Exemple: Exemple :Adhémar; Perdita et Valentyn sont en train de fouiller une pièce en toute hâte pendant que le propriétaire des lieux, un marchand âgé, est sorti pour récupérer des papiers. Le MJ décide qu'im Test de Perception Complexe (-10) doit être effectué. Comme Perdita et Valentyn possèdent tous deux la Compétence Perception et ont envie d’aider, Adhémar (dont le score de Perception est le plus élevé avec 59), obtient un bonus de +20 à son Test de Perception, pour un total de 69 (59-10+20=69). Cependant, il obtient un 74 et échoue, ce qui signifie que les Personnages ne sont pas parvenus à trouver quoi que ce soit d’intéressant avant le retour du marchand. nbsp;
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OL’une des Actions les plus fréquente consiste à attaquer un adversaire. Pour effectuer une attaque à distance, votre arme doit être à la bonne portée (voir Chapitre 11 : Guide de l’équipement pour la portée des armes) et votre cible doit être dans votre Ligne de Vue. Pour les attaques de Corps à corps, vous devez pouvoir charger ou être déjà Engagé avec votre cible avec une arme prête (voir Engagé).
\nCors à Corps: pour attaquer, effectuez un Test opposé de Corps à corps avec votre adversaire (vous et votre adversaire utilisez tous les deux votre Compétence Corps à corps, voir page 121). Celui qui obtient le DR le plus élevé l’emporte. Si vous remportez le Test, vous touchez votre adversaire et gagnez +1 Avantage. Si vous perdez le Test opposé, votre adversaire gagne +1 Avantage et votre Action est terminée.
\nDistance: Distance : effectuez un Test de Projectiles pour l’arme que vous utilisez. Sur un succès, vous touchez votre adversaire et gagnez +1 Avantage. Sur un échec, votre Action prend fin. Le défenseur ne gagne aucun Avantage pendant un Combat à Distance.
\nDans les deux types de Combat (Corps à corps et Distance), il est possible de réaliser un coup impressionnant qu’on appelle Critique, ou au contraire une Maladresse. Voir Critiques et Maladresses dans la section ci-après.
\nEn résumé: En résumé : effectuez un Test pour voir si vous touchez votre adversaire avec votre arme. Il s’agit d’un Test opposé au Corps à corps. Le vainqueur gagne +1 Avantage.
\nSi votre attaque porte, définissez la Localisation - inversez le lancer obtenu et comparez ce nombre sur le Tableau deLocalisation. Ainsi, un résultat de 23 au toucher devient un 32 sur le tableau, et le coup est porté au Bras Droit.
\nLes créatures dont la forme du corps est différente, ou les adversaires sur une monture utilisent d autres Tableaux de Localisation. Référez-vous au Chapitre 12 : Bestiaire pour ensavoir plus sur les différents Tableaux de Localisation.
\n\n\nNote FoundryVTT: La localisation n'est pas inverséedans Foundry. A la place, un jet indépendant est effectué pour déterminer la localisation. Vous pouvez de plus attribuer une table spéciale de localisation dans le menu de configuration, accessible via le menu 'Configure' en haut de la fiche.
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Résumé: En résumé : Dégâts = Dégâts d’Arme + DR
\nUne fois la Localisation et les Dégâts déterminés, vous savez maintenant combien de Points de Blessure votre adversaire va perdre suite à votre attaque. Soustrayez de vos Dégâts le Bonus d’Endurance de votre adversaire ainsi que tout PA protégeant la Localisation. Les Dégâts restants sont transformés en Points de Blessure par votre adversaire. Si le résultat est de 0 ou moins, votre adversaire a évité le pire de l’attaque et ne perd qu’un seul Point de Blessure.nbsp; Si le nombre de Points de Blessure perdus est supérieur au total de Points de Blessure de votre adversaire, ce dernier reçoit une Blessure critique (voir page 172) et obtient l’État À Terre (voir page 168).
\nEn résumé: Points de Blessure subis = Dégâts — (Bonus d’Endurance + PA) de l'adversaire.
\n\n\nOpposition à une attaque au Corps à Corps
\nPour vous Opposer à une Attaque de Corps à corps, vous disposez de bien plus d’options que votre simple Compétence Corps à corps. Le choix le plus évident est l’Esquive, qui vous permet d’éviter les coups, mais le Chapitre 4 : Compétences et Talents indique beaucoup d’autres Compétences qui peuvent être utiles en combat, telles qu’Intimidation, Charme, Commandement, et beaucoup d’autres. Si votre M] pense que c’est approprié et que vous êtes disposé à ne pas porter de Coups Critiques contre votre adversaire, pourquoi ne pas tenter votre chance ?
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Quand vous attaquez un adversaire, ou que vous êtes attaqué, en combat au Corps à corps, vous êtes Engagé. Cela signifie que vous vous battez l’un contre l’autre en combat, et que les autres règles (découlant des Talents, des Sorts, etc.) pour être Engagé peuvent s’appliquer. Si vous n attaquez pas 1 autre pendant un round complet, vous n’êtes plus Engagé.
" }, { "id": "Auerswald", "name": "Auerswald", "description": "La ville animée d’Auerswald s’élève au confluent du @JournalEntry[The Teufel]{Teufel}, du Tranig et de l’Ober, donc l’une des plus commerciales, les plus fréquentées - et donc les mieux surveillées. Les habitants d’Auerswald sont souvent résolus et déterminés, mais leur charme facile et leur célèbre sagesse garantissent que leurs décisions, aussi inflexibles soient-elles, causent rarement d’offense.
\nLe grafdirigeant, Ferdinand von Wallenstein, laisse la gestion d’Auerswald à un conseil de bourgmestres, préférant de loin séjourner dans les luxueux palais d’Altdorf et de Nuln, que de se salir les mains avec l’autorité directe. Son oncle, le Seigneur Adelbert von Wallenstein, est un grisonnant mais robuste vétéran qui passe la plus grande partie de son temps à éradiquer des gobelins et des bandits dans le @JournalEntry[The Reikwald]{Reikwald}, à l’est de la ville. La plus grande partie d’Auerswald est construite sur de solides pilotis, au-dessus de la plaine inondable de la rivière Taufel, souvent en crue. Dans ce labyrinthe déroutant de rampes, de ponts et d’échelles de cordes, les étrangers peuvent facilement se perdre. Plus d’un noctambule imprudent a trouvé la mort dans la boue après avoir un peu exagéré dans les tavernes locales.
\nCes dernières années, des rumeurs ont circulé au sujede gangs organisés de maîtres-chanteurs et d’arnaqueurs opérant depuis la ville, bien qu’aucun témoin n’ait vécu assez longtemps pour attester de leur existence.
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Activité répandue
\nCette Activité vous permet de placer des fonds pour une utilisation future. Comme indiqué dans Argent à gaspiller, toutes les pièces restantes à la fin de votre phase « Entre deux Aventures » sont perdues avant la prochaine aventure sauf si elles sont épargnées avec cette Activité. Alors si vous avez beaucoup d’argent, cela peut valoir le coup de se rendre à la banque. Si vous utilisez une Activité Opérations bancaires pour conserver votre argent, vous devez d’abord décider si vous sécurisez votre argent en l’investissant dans une institution bancaire renommée ou si vous le cachez dans un endroit moins sécurisé.
\nInvestir: Investir : vous devez être des échelons sociaux Or et Argent pour épargner dans une banque. Votre argent sera relativement en sécurité et devrait générer des intérêts. Quand vous entreprenez une Activité Opérations bancaires pour déposer de l’argent dans une banque, déterminez l’indice d’intérêts de votre compte en choisissant un chiffre en 1 et 10 (ou vous pouvez simplement lancer ldlO). C’est l’indice d’intérêts que vous générerez, et aussi à quel point l’investissement est risqué. Retirer des fonds nécessite une autre Activité Opérations bancaires. Elle peut être entreprise immédiatement après l’Activité initiale, ou après que des aventures successives ont eu lieu. Lancez ldlOO : si le résultat est inférieur ou égal à votre indice d’intérêts, l’entreprise à fait faillite et vous avez perdu tout votre argent. Si le résultat est supérieur à l’indice, vous recevez les fonds de départ, plus les intérêts générés.
\nPlanque: Planque : tous les Personnages peuvent choisir de planquer leur butin. C’est une stratégie risquée, impliquant de le cacher sur vous, dans votre matelas ou bien de l’enterrer quelque part. Planquer de l’argent ne rapporte jamais d’intérêts. Les PJ peuvent retirer leur argent d’une planque avant le début d’une aventure sans entreprendre d’Activité. Lancez ldlOO : si le résultat est de 10 ou inférieur, votre planque a été découverte et vous avez perdu tout votre argent, autrement vous recevez votre somme de départ. nbsp;
\nSi vous retirez avec succès vos fonds, ils seront disponibles pour vous quand vous commencerez votre prochaine aventure, en plus de tous les fonds gagnés grâce à une Activité Revenus.
\nExemple: Exemple : Le courage de Gerhard et Ulliface à une horde de peaux-vertes (sans parler de quelques pillages judicieux) leur a valu une récompense de 10 couronnes d’or chacun. Le toujours prudent Gerhard décide de placer son argent dans la prestigieuse banque privée Bent, Crooke & Scarper.Le MJ lance ldlO avec un résultat de 6. Gerhardgagnera 6 % d'intérêts sur son placement (12 pistoles d’argent, voirpage 288), et la banqueferafaillite s'il fait 6 ou moins en lançant le dlOO quand il tentera d'effectuer un retrait.
\nUlli - un parieur dans l’âme - enterre son argent près d’une borne kilométrique sur la route d'Ubersreik. Il n’a pas besoin de dépenser d’Activité pour accéder à son butin, mais obtient hélas un 7 à son lancer quand il essaie de le retrouver, et ne trouve rien d’autre que de la terre fraîchement retournée, un coffre vide etpas mal de regrets.
" }, { "id": "Barony of Böhrn", "name": "Baronnie de Böhrn", "description": "La Baronnie de Bôhrn est un Domaine du @JournalEntry[The Reikland Estates]{Reikland} du @JournalEntry[The Vorbergland]{Vorbergland} dirigé par la Maison Bôhrn depuis plus de quatre siècles. La baronne Agetta siège dans la ville de Siedlung et dirige actuellement six vassaux : trois avec des titres héréditaires - le baron Markham de Siebbach, la comtesse Osterhild de Kaltenwald et le baron Baltzer d’Ettlindal - et trois sans titres héréditaires, qui ont tous été nommés par Agetta en personne - le préfet Fabian d’Ort, le préfet Luethold de Koff et la châtelaine Fronika de Neumarkt. Les trois vassaux héréditaires ont, à leur tour, un total de sept vassaux.
\nLa Baronne n’assiste pas à la @JournalEntry[The Reikland Diet]{Diète du Reikland} ; au lieu de cela, elle compte sur sa jeune sœur influente, la Lectrice Agatha von Bôhrn, pour y veiller à sa place. Agatha réside à Altdorf en tant que membre du Conseil Impérial d’Etat et du @JournalEntry[Reikland Council]{Conseil du Reikland}, tout en s’occupant de ses devoirs de Lectrice de Verena.
" }, { "id": "Blackstone Tower", "name": "La Tour Noire", "description": "Bien que les passes du Défilé de la Hache et de la Dame Grise soient les routes les plus connues des @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains]{Montagnes Grises}, elles ne sont pas les seules. Le Couloir tordu est une gorge étroite traversant les montagnes, non loin de la frontière avec le Wasteland. Il est impraticable pour la plupart des marchands, bien trop étroit pour les chariots ou les chevaux, d’autant plus dangereux que le chemin longe étroitement le bord de la falaise, ce qui fait que le moindre faux-pas peut mener à une mort bien peu glorieuse.
\nParfaitement infranchissable l’hiver et dangereux le reste de l’année, le Couloir tordu était connu seulement des bergers et des contrebandiers, jusqu’à ce qu’une vague d’attaques de peaux-vertes attire l’attention des autorités sur la passe.
\nIl y a plusieurs décennies, l’Empereur Mattheus II ordonna la construction d’une forteresse pour surveiller le Couloir tordu après une nouvelle invasion. Neuf ans plus tard, la Tour noire était achevée, tirant son nom de la pierre sombre, extraite localement, qui constitue ses murs, et de l’ardoise qui recouvre les toits de ses tours.
\nSa position élevée au-dessus du Couloir tordu offrait aux tireurs d’élitede l’Empereur un perchoir parfait pour exercer leurs compétences létales ; cependant, son statut de bastion reiklander fut de courte durée. Une négligence lors de la phase d’élaboration eut pour conséquence la construction de la tour sur des terres revendiquées par les nains de Karak Ziflin. Pour ne pas contrarier les nains, l’Empereur céda la tour, au grand dam du Margrave de Geetburg qui avait aidé à la financer.
\nAujourd’hui, les nains permettent « généreusement » à une garnison restreinte d’établir sa caserne aux côtés de leurs propres troupes à la Tour noire, une structure bien reconstruite. Alors que les Reiklanders souffrent sous le commandement des nains, et que ces derniers dénigrent constamment la piètre architecture humaine qu’ils ont toujours supplantée, la Tour est une poudrière de griefs et de ressentiments, à l’atmosphère tendue - et parfois même insupportable.
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Au sud d’ @JournalEntry[Altdorf]{Altdorf}, un affleurement de pins s’étend le long des faces sud des collines d’Ambre et se répand dans les profondeurs de la forêt de Reikwald. Appelé pin sanglant à cause de sa couleur d’un bordeaux profond, le bois d’œuvre est ici très recherché par les artisans d’Altdorf, le plus souvent utilisé pour produire du mobilier raffiné pour les marchés haut de gamme de Marienburg et Nuln. Récemment, le pin sanglant est devenu difficile à trouver, car les bois sont infestés de gobelins des forêts de la tribu des Griffes d’Araignées qui ont réussi à apprivoiser une poignée d’Araignées géantes rapides. Peu osent y travailler à présent, car ceux qui tentent de couper des arbres disparaissent tout simplement, leurs cris résonnant dans les brumes au haut des arbres avant de retomber soudain dans le silence. Bien entendu, cela n’a fait qu’augmenter la valeur du pin sanglant, ce qui a provoqué la colère des acheteurs. Plusieurs d’entre eux ont engagé des mercenaires et des groupes privés pour débarrasser la forêt des gobelins, imaginant qu’il serait moins coûteux de sacrifier quelques têtes pour régler le problème plutôt que de payer plus cher leur nouvelle armoire.
\n\n
\n
Bôgenhafen Bôgenhafen, la plus grande et la plus populaire de toutes les villes marchandes du @JournalEntry[The Vorbergland]{Vorbergland}, s’étend au cœur même du Reikland et sert de carrefour à la Grande Province. A égale distance de la capitale @JournalEntry[Altdorf] et de Monfort, elle constitue une étape cruciale sur la route principale entre l’Empire et la Bretonnie. Les marchandises provenant de la Bretonnie et des quatre coins de l’Empire sont échangées ici pour du bois de construction, de la laine et des métaux extraits des Montagnes Grises.
\nBôgenhafen est située dans le duché du @Actor[Wilhelm von Saponatheim]{Graf Wilhelm von Saponatheim}, mais ce dernier est tout à fait satisfait de laisser la ville être dirigée par un conseil local- dont les membres appartiennent majoritairement à la Guilde des Marchands de la cité, ainsi qu’aux Guildes de Débardeurs et de Charretiers - tant qu’il continue à avoir la main sur l’argent qui circule. Comme les marchandises venant du nord sont transférées de chariot à barque à Bôgenhafen, la cité est toujours bien approvisionnée et ses entrepôts pleins à craquer de bons vins et de fromages chers et odorants.
\n\n\nSales Affaires
\nLes citoyens de Bôgenhafen sont, à juste titre, fiers de leur ville animée pour de nombreuses raisons, dont le vaste réseau d’assainissement parfaitement entretenu par la Guilde des Maçons. Parfaite pour les gangs de criminels locaux, la protection offerte par le système d’assainissement s’est avérée être une aubaine pour les contrebandiers cherchant à éviter les taxes, et les frais prélevés par les guildes et les nobles de la cité inconsciente de ces activités, juste au-dessus. Sous Bögenhafen…
\n
Semblables à des serres tordues et déformées, les sept tours du Château Drachenfels s’agrippent au ciel en un geste malveillant et rancunier. Chacune de ces tourelles déformées est ajourée de fenêtres, comme autant d’innombrables yeux, alertant de l’arrivée de tout voyageur assez malchanceux - ou insensé -, pour tomber par hasard sur le repaire du Grand Enchanteur, Constant Drachenfels. Drachenfels - sorcier, nécromancien et démonologue puissant et mythique-, a tourmenté l’humanité depuis bien avant 1ère de l’Empire ; il était déjà ancien lorsqu’il a subi sa première grande défaite des mains de Sigmar Heldenhammer. Il est retourné maintes et maintes fois dans son antre des Montagnes Grises, comme une plaie purulente qui refuse de guérir. Des rumeurs courent selon lesquelles les ruines apparemment calmes, pour la plupart réduites à l’état de gravats et abandonnées depuis longtemps, sont moins abandonnées quelles n’y paraissent...
\n\n
Activité répandue
\nDans une société aussi fortement hiérarchisée que l’Empire, un changement de Carrière nécessite une bonne dose d’endurance et de persévérance. Prendre le temps d établir les bonnes relations, et apprendre ce que l’on attend de vous peut aider, en particulier si un Personnage semble clairement savoir de quoi il s’agit.En supposant que votre MJ soit d’accord, et que vous avez achevé votre Carrière actuelle, vous pouvez changer gratuitement, pour n’importe quel Niveau de Carrière qui correspond à l’histoire de votre Personnage. Si vous navez pas achevé votre Carrière actuelle, le changement coûte 100 PX. Le temps passé à cette Activité illustre les présentations appropriées, la distribution de pots-de-vin, l’acquisition de permis et licences, de publicité, et autres choses similaires.
" }, { "id": "Character Death", "name": "Character Death", "description": "Campaigns are supposed to be an entire story, from beginning to end, featuring the Characters, right? Well, sometimes that end is a gruesome death… This is the Old World, and death is an old friend, around every corner, always ready to take you into Morr’s Realm.
\nBut the concept of Character death can be more complex than it first appears. For starters, a death can disrupt an ongoing story, or it can be disappointing to the Player whose Character has just carked it. In this section, we’re going to help you avoid these pitfalls.
\nWhilst death should remain a real and present threat to Characters in WFRP, it is so unfortunately final. A Character’s death is the end of their story, and as such, is a source of drama only for those who survive. This is fine, but not as effective as the alternative: survival at a cost.
\nGMs and Players alike should consider all of the tools available to prevent death whilst steering the story into new and challenging directions. Scars, permanent injuries and amputations, changing and traumatic @JournalEntry[Psychology]{Psychologies}, and @JournalEntry[Corruption]{Dark Deals} are all examples of evocative, Character-changing, and story-enhancing experiences. A Duellist who loses their primary arm to a stray cannonball and must now find a new way in the world is infinitely more interesting than a Duellist buried in the ground.
\nThere are a few instances where Character death is the most interesting thing that could happen to them. These moments should come with buy-in from the Player controlling that Character. In this case, a Player should feel empowered, if they so wish, to ignore their Fate Points, and accept that their Character’s story has come to an end. The three most obvious examples are: self-sacrifice, prophetic, and no-way-out deaths.
\nWhen a Character has the chance to save the life of a friend by sacrificing their own, it is a pivotal moment in a Campaign. This is particularly effective if the bond between the Characters has been given emotional weight throughout the Campaign, as it represents an act that cannot be taken back. However, this is not recommended if the controlling Player still has stories they wish to tell with their Character.
\nProphecies are everywhere in Warhammer, from the Doomings every Imperial child has delivered to them, to those whispered by seers and wizards the Old World over. If a Character is presented with a perfect moment to fulfill a prophecy which would result in them dying, it could be more thematically impactful if the Player accepts this fate. However, prophecies that prove to be wrong right at the last moment can also be sources of dramatic tension, so this can really go either way.
\nSometimes the situation is so dire that you can’t imagine a way out. Whether your neck is on the chopping block, or a Slaaneshi cultist has a wicked blade to your throat, sometimes it’s better to accept that a Character made some wrong turns along the road of life. Often these sorts of deaths serve to tell a moral — don’t fight the law because the law will win, or don’t get into bed with the servants of She Who Thirsts. However, sometimes those morals need to be flipped on their heads to hammer home the theme — the law is corrupt and deserves to be fought! Don’t use this if you feel backed into a corner, but rather if you feel the death would be satisfying to the story. Even if there seems to be no way out, a spent Fate Point demands unusual and even impossible circumstances arising to save a Character.
\nNone of these methods work unless a Player wants them to, and ultimately, the decision is in their hands. There is a good reason why Characters have Fate Points to spend!
\n\n\nOptions: Heroic Death
\nCharacters who witness a heroic death, such as through self-sacrifice, are changed forever and that memory works to embolden their spirits in times of greater peril. When a Character encounters a situation similar to the heroic death, they gain a +20 bonus to Psychology Tests as they recall the heroic deed.
\nExample: Daenar, seeing the inevitability of the on-coming Greenskin charge, and the perilous situation her companions are in, decides to hold them back long enough for the rest of her party to cross a rope bridge, cut it loose, and escape. Daenar stands her ground, draws her bow, and shouts at her companions to run. Months later, surrounded by Greenskins once more, Nils, Ezra, and Adelheidi recall the bravery of their fallen comrade, and are encouraged to press on because of it.
\n
When a Character dies, either heroically or hilariously, introducing the Player’s new Character to the existing party can be difficult, especially in the middle of an adventure. Here are a few tactics you can use:
\n\n" }, { "id": "Class Endeavors", "name": "Activités de Classe", "description": "Doomings With 0 Fate
\nThe Doomed Talent really takes centre stage when a Character falls to 0 Fate Points, because it’s no longer merely a string of words, but a prophecy which should terrify every Imperial soul. When this happens, you are encouraged to take that Character’s Dooming and attempt to manifest it in the world as much as possible, through both poetic and literal means. Not only does this increase the chances of a Character dying in a manner that matches their Dooming, and therefore increasing thematic cohesion in the story, but it also serves to spotlight that Character, and drive home the dread that is ever present in the Old World.
\nExample: Nils has the Dooming ‘A kiss shall end thy days,’ and has recently fallen to 0 Fate Points after a nasty encounter with a hook-handed pirate. The GM takes this opportunity to have Marina, a revolutionary that Nils has been spending a lot of time with, grow increasingly emboldened. When the two of them light the fuse on a bomb set to blow up a shrine to the Chaos God Nurgle, Marina — fearing her life is about to be cut short — kisses Nils on the lips. Nils is now terrified even more so than he was already, and has to deal with this new awkwardness… if he doesn’t explode into little gobbets first.
\nInterpreting A Dooming
\nPerhaps the greatest thing about a @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.fn8QNQQ1S2rh12Us]{Dooming} is how very vague they’re worded despite how very important they are. These simple fragments of ‘wisdom’ are intended to guide a person’s whole life, as they spell out the moment of one’s death! Furthermore, there exists a great taboo in sharing one’s Dooming with another, so what may seem natural to one person would be inexplicably odd to another.
\nPlayers and Characters should feel free to interpret their Dooming in whatever way they see fit, and should be encouraged to express that interpretation in hilarious ways. For example a Character with the Dooming ‘Trust not the innocence of children, for their plans are far from sound,’ may have an inherent aversion to children, or may feel a strong need to ignore and counteract anything a child says to them. They may take the Dooming literally, and believe that if their plans are ‘far from sound’, then plans involving sounds and noises are inherently trustworthy. Or potentially, if they can’t trust innocent children, maybe they can only trust guilty children, so they encourage the children they know to commit crimes!
\nRemember that the majority of people in the Old World are both superstitious and very very skeptical, which makes for some ridiculous interpretations. Make sure to breathe some truth into their interpretations, but also to exploit other curious (and equally ridiculous) twists of your own.
\n
Les Activités de Classes ont tendance à être plus simples que les Activités générales et offrent souvent des Avantages plus adaptés aux Personnages d’une Classe particulière. N’importe quel Personnage peut entreprendre n’importe quelle Activité de Classe, mais si vous n’appartenez pas à la Classe spécifiée sous l’Activité, tous les Tests que vous faites sont plus durs d’un Niveau de Difficulté - Difficile (-20) au lieu de Complexe (-10), par exemple.
\n@JournalEntry[Combat Training]{Entraînement au Combat}
\n@JournalEntry[Foment Dissent]{Semer la dissension}
\n@JournalEntry[The Latest News]{Dernières nouvelles}
\n@JournalEntry[Reputation]{Réputation}
\n@JournalEntry[Research Lore]{Recherche de savoir}
\n@JournalEntry[Study a Mark]{Observer une Cible}
" }, { "id": "Combat", "name": "Combat", "description": "Tôt ou tard, vous devrez empêcher quelqu’un de taire quelque chose, ou quelqu’un tentera de vous arrêter. Lorsque la diplomatie n’a rien donné, ou n’a pas été tentée, ou ha pas été, le Combat débute !
Au cours d’un Combat, de nombreux individus vont entreprendre des actions au cours d’une courte période de temps, la plupart d’entre elles en opposition directe les unes avec les autres. Vous aurez toujours à effectuer des Tests pour résoudre ces actions, mais le timing, ainsi qu’une foule d’autres facteurs, deviennent tout aussi importants, et donc nous avons établi des règles afin que tout fonctionne au mieux. \n\nEn Combat, la mesure du temps des actions revêt une énorme importance, et le temps est donc divisé en :
\nUn combat se déroule en suivant les étapes suivantes, jusqu’à ce que l’un des groupes fuit ou soit vaincu ::
\nLes combattants agissent dans un ordre d’initiative bien précis au cours d’un round, où celui ayant la valeur la plus forte agit en premier, et ainsi de suite jusqu’à ce que tous ceux impliqués dans le combat aient effectué leur tour. Le repérage de l’Initiative peut être facilité si les Joueurs prennent place autour de la table dans l’ordre d’initiative. Si plusieurs combattants ont la même Initiative, c’est celui qui a la valeur d’Agilité la plus haute qui joue en premier, et ainsi de suite. S’il y a encore égalité, demandez un Test opposé d’Agilité. Certains Talents ont un impact sur l’ordre de combat (voir Chapitre 4 : Compétences et Talents). Exemple : Tollich, quipossède une Initiative de 38, agit toujours avant sa camarade, Perdita, dont le score d’initiative n’est que de 33. S'ils attaquent un groupe de cultistes, dont chacun possède une Initiative de 35, l'ordre de combat sera : Tollich (38), les cultistes (35), Perdita (33)..
\n\n\nDéterminez l'Initiative!
\nSome groups prefer to randomise Initiative. There are several ways to do this, choose your favourite:
\n\n
\n- Chaque Personnage effectue un Test d Initiative afin d’obtenir le meilleur DR.
\n- Chaque personnage Joueur lance 1d10 et l'ajoute à son Initiative.
\n- Chaque joueur lance 1d1à et l'ajoute à son Bonus d'Agilité + Bonus d'Initiative.
\nLe M] note ces résultats dans l’ordre décroissant et les utilise pour définir l’ordre d’initiative. Vous pouvez alors utiliser cet ordre pour chaque round (option la plus rapide),ou effectuer un lancer pour chaque round (ce qui apporte plus de diversité ; les Personnages les plus lents ont alors la possibilité de ne pas être toujours les derniers).
\n
Note FoundryvTT: Vous pouvez trouver ces options d'initiative dans les réglage du système.Rounds en dehors d'un Combat
\nEn dehors d’un Combat, la mesure du temps de ces actions est bien plus flexible. Mais il est quelquefois utile d’utiliser les rounds même en dehors d’un Combat pour organiser la contribution de chacun. Par exemple, les Tests étendus se déroulent sur plusieurs rounds, avec un Test effectué à chaque round. Voir Tests étendus à la page 154.
\n
Le fait de prendre votre ennemi par surprise vous confère un énorme avantage. Si un des deux camps prépare une attaque, il peut tenter d’exploiter les éléments de surprise comme ceci :
\nS’il y a une chance que ceux qui tendent l’embuscade soient repérés, le MJ demandera que soit effectué un Test opposé Discrétion/Perception, le plus souvent entre le Personnage ayant la Discrétion la plus faible et tous les guetteurs potentiels. Si c’est le groupe en embuscade qui remporte le Test, chaque Personnage vaincu subit alors l’État @Condition[Surprised]{Surpris} (voir page 169).Si personne n’est surpris, le Combat se déroule normalement.
\nISi un Personnage est surpris, il peut utiliser un Point de Détermination temporaire pour se débarrasser de l'État @Condition[Surprised]Surpris (voir page 169)..
\n@JournalEntry[Taking Your Turn]{Effectuer votre Tour}
\n@JournalEntry[Attacking]{Attaquer}
\n@JournalEntry[Criticals and Fumbles]{Critiques et Maladresses}
\n@JournalEntry[Combat Difficulty]{Difficulté de combat}
\n@JournalEntry[Ranged Combat]{Combat à distance}
\n@JournalEntry[Two-Weapon Fighting][Armes à 2 mains}
\n@JournalEntry[Unarmed Combat]{Combat désarmé}
\n@JournalEntry[Mounted Combat]{Combat monté}
\n@JournalEntry[Advantage]{Avantages}
\n\n
\n
" }, { "id": "Combat Difficulty", "name": "Difficulté de combat", "description": "
Les Tests de Combat peuvent être modifiés de la même façon que les autres Tests. Ces modificateurs sont utilisés pour refléter les effets dus au terrain, aux conditions météorologiques et à tout un tas d autres facteurs. Les modificateurs ci-après sont parmi les plus courants rencontrés en combat. Si vous vous retrouvez dans une situation qui n’apparaît pas ici, servez-vous de ces exemples comme guide. Souvenez-vous que cest le 1V1J qui décide en dernier lieu de la Difficulté d’un Test.
\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Les Tests de Capacité de Tir effectués pour toucher un groupe de cibles sont Accessibles (+20) si le groupe comporte entre 3 et 6 personnes, Faciles (+40) s’ils sont entre 7 et 12, et Très Faciles (+60) s’ils sont 13 ou plus. Tout succès est appliqué au hasard parmi les cibles éligibles, à la discrétion du MJ. Si ce modificateur vous permet de toucher alors que le Test aurait sinon échoué, vous réussissez avec +0 DR.
\nSi vous êtes en supériorité numérique sur un adversaire à 2 contre 1, vous gagnez un bonus de +20 pour le toucher en combat au Corps à corps. Si vous êtes à 3 contre 1, vous obtenez un bonus encore plus grand de +40 pour toucher. De plus, à la fin de chaque round, tous les adversaires surpassés en nombre perdent 1 Avantage. La supériorité numérique est en générale déterminée par le nombre de Personnages Engagés avec d’autres ; s il y a le moindre doute, le MJ décide qui des deux camps est en supériorité numérique.
\nLa taille est un facteur important lorsqu’on tire sur une cible : il est bien plus facile d’atteindre la porte d’une grange qu’une pomme. Si ce modificateur vous permet de toucher, alors que le Test aurait du être un échec, vous obtenez un succès avec +0 DR. Pour en apprendre plus sur les tailles, référez-vous au Chapitre 12 : Bestiaire.
\n\n
\n" }, { "id": "Combat Training", "name": "Entraînement au Combat", "description": "Combiner les Difficultés
\nIl y aura des cas ou de multiples facteurs vont rendre une action bien plus difficile que la normale. Il est plus difficile de tirer sur un adversaire lorsque vous vous trouvez dans une forêt lugubre et que votre adversaire est loin que de tirer sur ce même adversaire en plein jour et à découvert. Pour combiner les difficultés, suivez les recommandations suivantes :
\n\n
\n- Si la situation nécessite l’ajout de deux pénalités ou plus, contentez-vous de faire la somme des différents modificateurs sans dépasser Très Difficile -30. Par exemple, le brouillard ajouté au fait de vouloir toucher une Localisation précise donne un Test de CC Difficile (-20). Lorsqu’il est combiné, le Test devient simplement Très Difficile (-30) au lieu de recevoir une pénalité de -40. De la même façon, si la situation implique 1 addition de deux bonus, faites la somme des modificateurs jusqu à un maximum de +60 ou Très Facile.
\n- Si la situation demande à la fois une pénalité et un bonus, faites-en la somme pour obtenir la nouvelle difficulté. Attaquer un adversaire alors qu’on se trouve dans la neige jusqu’à la taille nécessite normalement un Test Très Difficile (-30). Mais attaquer un adversaire qui est À Terre ne nécessite qu’un Test Facile (+20). Dans une situation ou les deux paramètres s’applique, le Test sera Difficile (-10) parce que -30 plus +20 font -10
\n\n
Option: Tirer dans un combat au corps à corps
\nPour la plupart d’entre nous, le fait de choisir une cible et de lancer les dés pour tenter de la toucher est suffisant. Cependant, certains vont préférer des règles plus précises lorsqu’il s’agit de tirer sur une cible déjà Engagée. Si c est votre cas, utilisez les règles suivantes :
\n\n
11 peut arriver que vous souhaitiez tirer sur une cible qui est déjà Engagée avec une ou plusieurs cibles alliées. Les Tests de Capacité de Tir contre ces adversaires sont résolus comme d’habitude, mais vous subissez une pénalité de -20 parce que vous faites de votre mieux pour toucher la cible désirée (si vous n’avez cure de savoir sur qui vous tirez, vous gagnez un bonus allant de +20 à +60, voir Tirer dans le tas). Si vous deviez toucher la cible sans la pénalité, vous touchez à la place un des adversaires de la cible, déterminé au hasard par le M].
\n
@JournalEntry[Class Endeavors]{Activités de Classe}: Guerriers, Itinérants
\nDes Guerriers trop longtemps éloignés du champ de bataille peuvent voir leurs Compétences de combat perdre en efficacité. Un entraînement rigoureux et régulier atténue non seulement ce souci, mais peut apporter un avantage supplémentaire au moment opportun. Si vous entreprenez cette Activité, vous assez vos journées à vous entraîner avec les armes que vous connaissez, perfectionnant vos Compétences pour le jour où cela sera crucial. Après avoir entrepris cette Activité, tentez un test de Compétence Intermédiaire (+0) en utilisant une Compétence de Corps à corps ou Projectiles. Sur un succès, vous pouvez inverser un test de la Compétence associée une fois pendant votre prochaine aventure. Notez-le sur votre Feuille de Personnage. Vous pouvez entreprendre cette Activité lusieurs fois si vous le souhaitez.
" }, { "id": "Commission", "name": "Passer commande", "description": "Activité répandue
\nAlors, vous souhaitez posséder l’un des légendaires pistolets à répétition de Von Meinkopt ? Ou un heaume sur mesure, avec un blason représentant vos épiques victoires ? L’Activité Passer commande vous permet d’acquérir des objets peu communs ou hautement spécialisés qui ne sont jamais simplement « en stock » dans les boutiques de l’Empire. Cela leur permet également de procéder à la création d’objets uniques. Bien que de telles choses prennent du temps...
\nSi vous cherchez un objet avec une rareté Exotique et que vous connaissez un fournisseur capable de l’acquérir ou de le fabriquer, alors entreprenez cette Activité, dépensez les fonds nécessaires et passez votre commande. L’objet sera achevé après votre prochaine aventure. Un Personnage peut passer commande d’un seul objet Exotique par Activité ; l’acquisition d’autres objets nécessitera d’autres Activités Passer commande. Si vous ne connaissez pas de fournisseur approprié pour ce type d’objet, vous devrez d’abord entreprendre l’Activité @JournalEntry[Consult an Expert]{Consulter un expert} à la page 197 afin de trouver quelqu’un pour vous aider.
" }, { "id": "Consult an Expert", "name": "Consulter un Expert", "description": "Activité répandue
\nLe Vieux Monde regorge de connaissances anciennes et ésotériques, même si ces informations ne sont pas facilement accessibles par une boîte magique rangée dans votre poche. Si vous recherchez une pièce ésotérique obscure, vous devez d’abord faire appel à un expert. Vous pouvez entreprendre l’Activité Consulter un expert soit pour faciliter une autre Activité (voir les Activités @JournalEntry[Commission]{Passer commande}, @JournalEntry[Training]{Entrainement} ou @JournalEntry[Unusual Learning]{Apprentissage particulier}), ou pour obtenir quelques connaissances spécifiques.
\nCette Activité se déroule en deux étapes : localiser l’expert, puis le consulter.
\nD’abord, vous devez localiser votre expert (cette étape peut être ignorée avec l’accord du MJ si vous avez déjà identifié un expert approprié pendant vos aventures). Tentez un test de Ragot Intermédiaire (+0) (la Difficulté de ce test peut varier en fonction de la taille du village où vit actuellement votre Personnage). Sur un succès, vous avez localisé votre expert. Si vous échouez, vous avez localisé le spécialiste autoproclamé le plus bruyant de votre région, et le MJ a carte blanche pour modifier la qualité ou l’exactitude des conseils donnés. Vous n’avez pas à suivre le processus ci-dessous ; le MJ joue juste la rencontre avec vous dans une scène. Le Personnage peut bien sûr refuser de traiter avec une source aussi douteuse, mais vous ne saurez jamais si vous avez trouvé la perle rare. Les MJ peuvent parfois se montrer taquins.
\nSi vous avez localisé avec succès un expert, vous devrez d’abord le convaincre de s’entretenir avec vous. En fonction de ce que vous souhaitez savoir, cela peut nécessiter plus qu un test de Charme Élémentaire ou un modeste don au Temple de Verena du coin. Dans des cas plus extrêmes, vous pouvez vous engager à faire une Faveur ou plus (voir Faites-moi une faveur !) qui peuvent être demandées pendant une future aventure, ou « rachetées » en dépensant des Activités entre de futures aventures. Le niveau de la Faveur due dépend de la complexité - ou du danger - de l’information que vous cherchez, telle que déterminée par le MJ.
\nLa nature précise de l’information recueillie dépend de l’expert consulté et de ce que le demandeur cherche à savoir. Les Lettrés connaîtront les origines et l’histoire complète d’un sujet auquel ils sont accoutumés ; les Magisters des Collèges de Magie d’Altdorf sont familiers avec l’histoire de la magie et les différents objets mystiques, en particulier les aspects liés à leur propre ordre ; un Apothicaire généraliste peut identifier même les poisons les plus rares ; un Érudit de Vénéra peut avoir des informations relatives à de nombreux incidents historiques. En bref, le passé de l’expert influencera la façon dont la connaissance est présentée, et par quel biais.
\nEn plus de toutes les informations spécifiques que le MJ partage avec son Joueur, une Activité Consulter un expert réussie utilisée pour rechercher des connaissances (et non pour faciliter une autre Activité) vous donne une Relance experte (inscrivez-la dans les notes sur votre feuille de Personnage). Cette relance ne peut être utilisée que pour un test lié directement au savoir révélé et doit être utilisée avant la fin de votre prochaine aventure. Une fois que vous avez établi une relation avec un expert, vous pouvez le consulter entre les aventures sans dépenser d’Activité. ;
" }, { "id": "Corruption", "name": "Corruption", "description": "Chaque Festag, les prêtres de Sigmar, perchés sur leurs chaires surélevées, enchaînent les sermons sur les risques que représentent les Puissances de la Ruine et comment les fidèles doivent éviter toute tentation chuchotée par les démons dans les ombres. Ils clament que chaque âme est en danger, à quelques pas de basculer dans la corruption et la mutation. Il se peut qu’ils aient raison.
\nLes Points de Corruption sont utilisés pour représenter la lente dérive de votre âme vers les Sombres dieux du Chaos. Chaque fois que vous êtes exposé à une potentielle source de Corruption, vous risquez d’accumuler des Points. Plus ce total est important, plus vous vous rapprochez du Chaos et plus votre âme s assombrit, jusqu’à ce qu’éventuellement, vous changiez...
\nLa Corruption peut être acquise principalement de deux façons différentes au cours deSombres Pactes : les Sombres Pactes et les Influences corruptrices.
\nSombres Pactes Quelquefois, vous devez l’emporter. La plupart du temps, cela signifie réussir un Test important. Si ce Test aboutit à un échec, vous pouvez utiliser un Point de Destin temporaire pour le relancer, en espérant que la seconde tentative sera couronnée de succès. Mais qu’en sera-t-il si ce second Test se solde lui aussi par un échec ? Ou qu’il ne vous reste plus de Points de Destin temporaires à utiliser ? Il est temps de conclure un Sombre Pacte.
\nVous pouvez décider de recevoir volontairement un Point de Corruption pour pouvoir relancer un Test, même si un deuxième jet a déjà été effectué. C’est toujours un choix qui vous appartient - jamais le MJ ne peut prendre cette décision à votre place - même s’il n’y à rien d’anormal à ce que le MJ vous rappelle gentiment qu’il existe un moyen de pouvoir relancer une fois de plus. Après tout, c’est quoi, le pire ?
\n\n\nOption: Embrasser les ombres...
\nCertains Joueurs, inventifs, vont vouloir enjoliver leurs Sombres Pactes par des événements qui vont se produire en cours de partie. Dans ce cas, c’est à vous de décider de la façon dont ces événements vont se manifester, mais les adapter à l’histoire du Personnage impliqué est toujours une bonne idée. Peut-être que la zone où se trouve le Personnage va subir une influence un peu dérangeante, qui fera fuir les animaux ou pourrir les plantes ?
\nPeut-être pouvez-vous effectuer un jet de dé sur le Tableau des Incantations Imparfaites du Chapitre 9 : Magie pour créer un événement aléatoire (ce qui convient parfaitement aux magiciens et sorcières) ? Pensez au Test lié au Sombre pacte puis considérez les événements susceptibles de souiller votre âme qui pourraient survenir afin de vous assurer de réussir.
\n
Les Points de Corruption sont généralement acquis lorsqu’on se trouve en présence d’une personne, d’un endroit ou d’un objet contaminé par le Chaos, ou dans une situation qui sied particulièrement aux Sombres dieux.
\nSi vous tombez sur une Influence corruptrice, tentez un Test de Résistance Intermédiaire (+0) ou un Test de Calme Intermédiaire (+0), comme déterminé par le MJ - généralement, les Influences physiques sont repoussées avec Résistance, et la Corruption spirituelle avec Calme.
\nPlus l’Influence corruptrice est forte, plus le DR nécessaire pour l’éviter devra être élevé. Vous trouverez ci-après des exemples d’influence corruptrice pour lesquels la valeur de DR nécessaire afin d’éviter le gain de Points de Corruption est précisée
\n\n\nNote FoundryVTT: Cliquez sur les liens ci-dessous pour demander aux joueurs d'effectuer un Test de Corruption ou utilisez la commande `/corruption`. e.g. /corruption moderate
\n
@Corruption[minor]{Exposition Mineure}
\nCes Influences corruptrices, même si elles s’avèrent assez insignifiantes, peuvent tout de même mettre en danger une âme fragile. Sur un échec à un Test pour résister à une exposition mineure, gagnez 1 Point de Corruption.
\n\n
@Corruption[moderate]{Exposition Modérée}
\nLes Influences corruptives modérées représentent un danger pour n’importe quelle âme et devraient être évitées en toutes circonstances. Si un Test se conclut par un échec, vous gagnez 2 Points de Corruption. Sur un Succès Minime (0-1 DR), gagnez 1 Point de Corruption. Sur un Succès (2+ DR), vous ne gagnez aucun Point de Corruption.
\n\n
@Corruption[major]{Exposition Majeure}
\nSi vous vous retrouvez en présence d’une influence corruptrice majeure, fuyez. Si vous restez trop longtemps, vous risquez de ne plus jamais être le même. Sur chaque échez à un Test pour résister à une exposition majeure, gagnez 3 Points de Corruption. Sur un Succès Minime (0-1 DR), gagnez 2 Points de Corruption. Sur un Succès (2-3), gagnez 1 Point de Corruption. Sur un Succès Impressionnant (4+ DR), vous ne gagnez aucun Point de Corruption.
\n\n
Personne ne sort indemne d’une exposition aux Puissances de la Ruine. Au bout du compte, même les plus forts finiront par s’effondrer, leurs esprits et leurs corps se tordant pour se transformer en autre chose, d’innommable.
\nSi vous gagnez plus de Points de Corruption que votre Bonus de Force Mentale + votre Bonus d’Endurance, effectuez immédiatement un Test de Résistance Intermédiaire (+0). Sur un succès,vous êtes parvenu à contenir, pour cette fois,votre Corruption, mais vous devrez effectuer un nouveau Test la prochaine fois que vous gagnerez des Points de Corruption. Sur un échec, votre corps, ou votre esprit, se trouve sur le Point de muter.
\nDissolution du Corps et de l'Esprit
\nAlors que la corruption ravage votre âme, vous sentez le souffle distordant du Chaos qui façonne votre chair pour lui donner une nouvelle apparence ou brise votre psychisme en lui apportant d’extraordinaires connaissances qu il ne pourra plus jamais oublier.
\nD’abord, vous perdez autant de Points de Corruption que la valeur de votre Bonus de Force Mentale alors que vous subissez une mutation. Ensuite, effectuez un lancer de pourcentage et reportez-vous au tableau qui suit pour définir si c’est votre corps ou votre esprit qui va renaître.
\n| \n | Elf | \nHalfling | \nHumain | \nNain | \n
| Corps | \n- | \n\n 01-10 \n | \n01-50 | \n01-05 | \n
| Esprit | \n01-100 | \n11-100 | \n51-100 | \n06-10 | \n
Ensuite, effectuez un lancer sur le @Table[mutatephys]{Tableau de Corruption physique} (page 184) ou le @Table[mutatemental]{Tableau de Corruption mentale} (page 185) afin de découvrir ce qu’il vous arrive.
\n\n\nNote FoundryVTT: Si vous avez Enemy In Shadows installé, vous pouvez également utiliser @Table[expandedmutatephys]{Mutations Physiques Etendues} ou @Table[expandedmutatemental]{Mutations Mentales Etendues}
\n
Une âme ne peut supporter qu’une certaine dose de Corruption avant de s’effondrer et d’être remplacée par une chose informe, mutante et bredouillante. Si vous survivez assez longtemps pour recevoir plus de mutations que la valeur de votre Bonus d’Endurance ou plus de mutations mentales que votre Bonus de Force Mentale, vous avez basculé dans le Chaos, et votre âme devient alors propriété des impitoyables dieux du Chaos. Si vous en arrivez là, il est temps de vous créer un nouveau Personnage. Le votre est dorénavant damné, et devient un PNJ contrôlé par le MJ, ce qui signifie qu’il n’est pas impossible que vous rencontriez un peu plus tard cette misérable créature...
\nUne fois que les griffes des Sombres dieux se sont plantées dans votre âme, il est très difficile de se débarrasser de leur ignoble souillure, mais ce n’est pas impossible. Au-delà du fait qu il est possible de perdre des Points de Corruption en gagnant des mutations, déplorable pis-aller, il existe deux façons de perdre des Points de Corruption : Sombres murmures et Absolution.
\nLe simple fait de considérer les plans insondables des Sombres dieux suffit à briser la santé mentale d un homme pieux, alors chercher à percer leurs intentions, et comprendre pourquoi ils choisissent de pervertir une âme humaine plutôt qu une autre, n’est pas seulement inconscient, c’est extrêmement dangereux. Mais certains y concèdent.
\nLe MJ peut demander à ce que vous dépensiez un de vos Points de Corruption afin de vous servir de la noirceur qui consume lentement votre âme et de pervertir vos actes. Ce choix n'est pas toujours le vôtre, mais si vous acceptez, vous perdrez 1 Point de Corruption. Voici certains exemples :
\nBien évidemment, si vous n’acceptez pas la suggestion du MJ afin de ne pas accomplir ces actes répréhensibles, vous gardez votre Point de Corruption, et les Puissances de la Ruine conserve votre emprise sur vous.
\nAu fur et à mesure que les Points de Corruption s’accumulent, vous ressentez la poigne oppressante des Sombres dieux se refermer sur votre âme, la cernant de toutes parts, et cette crainte peut vous amener à chercher l’absolution. Mais demander pardon auprès d’un simple prédicateur ne sera pas suffisant. L’empreinte laissée par les Sombres dieux ne peut pas s’effacer aussi facilement.
\nLes limites précises de ce qui peut être nécessaire pour perdre de la Corruption est laissé à l’appréciation du MJ, mais, quoi qu’il en soit, ce n’est que très rarement simple. Certaines aventures officielles peuvent inclure quelques situations permettant de perdre de la Corruption, mais si vous voulez trouver votre propre chemin quant à l’absolution, gardez ceci en tête :
\n\n" }, { "id": "Crafting", "name": "Crafting", "description": "Option: Manifestations lentes
\nLa manifestation d’une mutation du corps ou de l’esprit peut survenir rapidement, mais il s agit en principe d un processus assez lent, commençant peut-être comme une démangeaison, une plaque de peau squameuse, une marque, ou un tout nouvel état d’esprit. Si vous préférez retirer le processus de mutation, pour peut-être jouer sur l’horreur des inévitables mutations à venir, nous vous encourageons à le faire. Le soin de le détailler en fonction des goûts et préférences individuelles est laissée à l’appréciation du MJ.
\n
General Endeavor
\nRather than browse shops or commissioning someone else to do the hard work, you can fashion your own trappings. Crafting allows you to make any trapping from Chapter 11: Consumers’ Guide (or anything else the GM allows) if you have the correct Trade Skills. To do this, you require appropriate Trade Tools, raw materials, and access to an appropriate workshop. In general, the raw materials to create the trapping of your choice will cost a quarter of the trapping’s list price, and must be purchased before Crafting begins (with an Availability as determined by the GM); the GM may rule the raw materials are cheaper or more expensive according to the trapping to be created, and the nature of the raw materials required.
\nTo craft the trapping, attempt an Extended Trade Test, with a Difficulty set by the GM, typically using the Trapping’s Availability as a loose guide.
\n| Availability | \nDifficulty | \n
| Common | \nAverage (+20) | \n
| Scare | \nChallenging (+0) | \n
| Rare | \nDifficult (-10) | \n
| Exotic | \nVery Hard (-30) | \n
The number of SL required to succeed at the Test is also set by the GM, using the listed price for the trapping in the Consumers’ Guide as a reference.
\nThe SL required is further modified by the Qualities or Flaws you work into the trapping. Each Flaw halves the SL required, and each Quality adds +5 (worked out after halving for Flaws).
\nEach Endeavour you spend Crafting allows you to make one roll towards your Extended Test. Unfinished work can be kept in whatever you have that amounts to lodgings, or carried around with you as you adventure, should that be possible.
\n| List Price | \nSL | \n
| Brass | \n5 | \n
| Silver | \n10 | \n
| Gold | \n15+ | \n
\n" }, { "id": "Criminal Coinage", "name": "Criminal Coinage", "description": "Custom Gear
\nWith a GM’s permission, a character may undertake two (or more) consecutive Commission Endeavours to acquire even more unusual items: personal commissions from the Engineering Guild, a rare and virulent poison, or a magically ensorcelled item. The prices for such things generally range from ‘very high’ to ‘staggering’ and may well involve a Favour or two (see Do Me a Favour! ) or even an entire adventure to acquire raw materials.
\n
Of course, if there is money involved there will be folk looking to take any advantage they can, including criminal options. For the Rogues in your party, two schemes concerning coins are worth knowing.
\nThe diversity of coinage circulating the Empire means counterfeiting is rife. Reiklanders may be accustomed to seeing coins from other provinces, but are always wary of being scammed. A successful Evaluate Test will detect counterfeit coins, typically by inspecting coins for weight and hardness.
\nActually producing counterfeit coins is much harder. It requires an Art (Engraving) Test to carve a convincing stamping die, then a Trade (Blacksmith) Test to strike the coins, usually with the aid of an assistant. Including a higher precious metal content makes Evaluate Tests to detect counterfeits more difficult; using less than a fifth makes it much easier to spot the fake coins.
\nEmbezzlers can trim slivers of precious metal away from the edges of coins. This scam is called ‘clipping’ or ‘shaving’ and is practised mainly by shopkeepers or tollkeepers who have access to large quantities of other peoples’ money. Gold and silver filings are then melted down and sold to jewellers, counterfeiters, or fences. Clipped coins can be detected with the Evaluate Skill; the more of the coin that’s clipped, the easier the Test.
\n\n" }, { "id": "Criticals and Fumbles", "name": "Criticals and Fumbles", "description": "The Nuln Standard
\nAltdorf may be the current capital of Reikland and the Empire, but coinage standards are established in the city-state of Nuln to the south. Historically, Nuln was the Empire’s capital until House Holswig-Schliestein restored the throne to Altdorf a century ago, and many imperial institutions still call that city home. The Nuln Standard only governs coin weight and metallurgy, not stamp imagery, which varies significantly across the provinces.
\n
During the cut and thrust of combat, accidents, mistakes, and moments of extraordinary skill can happen in quick succession. To represent the unpredictable extremes of a life-or-death skirmish, there are Criticals — extraordinarily good hits — and Fumbles — egregious errors.
\nAny successful Melee or Ranged Test that also rolls a double causes a Critical. This means you have dealt a significant blow, and it even happens when you are the defender in an opposed Test.
\nIf you score a Critical, your opponent receives an immediate Critical Wound as your weapon strikes true. Beyond that, SL is calculated as normal, as is who wins any Opposed Tests.
\nThe converse of Criticals, any failed combat Test that also rolls a double is a Fumble, which means something very unfortunate has occurred. To determine what happens, roll on the @Table[oops]{Oops! Table}.
\n\n" }, { "id": "Diesdorf", "name": "Diesdorf", "description": "Options: Deathblow
\nSome players like a heroic approach to combat, with characters able to wade through lesser foes. If this suits your style of play, use the following rule:
\nIf you kill a melee opponent in a single blow, you may move into the space the character occupied and attack another opponent if there is one available. You may keep doing this a number of times equal to your Weapon Skill Bonus, and may not attack the same Character more than once on the same Turn. Some creatures are so big they can activate this rule without killing any opponents.
\n\n
Opposed Tests and Fumbles
\nDuring an Opposed Test, it is possible to Fumble and still win if you score a higher SL than your opponent. This is fine, and not a little hilarious, as you ineffectually tussle with your even worse opponent, potentially injuring yourself in the process.
\nExample: Molli swipes her dagger at her opponent and rolls 66 for a fumble with -3 SL, but her opponent rolls 92 for -5 SL. So, Molli wins with +2 SL over her opponent, gaining +1 Advantage, which she may quickly lose as she also has to roll on the Oops! Table to see what unfortunate accident will befall her.
\n\n
Misfires!
\nIf you are using a Blackpowder, Engineering, or Explosive weapon, and roll a Fumble that is also an even number — 00, 88, and so on — your weapon Misfires, exploding in your hand. You take full Damage to your Primary Arm location using the units die as an effective SL for the hit, and your weapon is destroyed.
\n
One of many towns lying on the @JournalEntry[The Reik]{River Reik} between @JournalEntry[Altdorf] and Nuln, Diesdorf and its surrounding villages are dedicated to the production of corn, which is mostly traded downriver to the capital. The town’s reliance on a single crop does mean that should a blight cause the corn to die off, the town itself may follow. However, those who visit Diesdorf may conclude that its chief export is, in truth, religious fervor. Magnus the Pious once gave a legendarily powerful speech in the town after folk travelled far and wide to hear him.
\nEver since, Diesdorf became a major pilgrimage site for devout Sigmarites, and on holy days the town’s population is frequently doubled. Despite its relatively small size, Diesdorf has numerous temples and shrines to Sigmar, and most families in the town have at least one member serving in the Sigmarite clergy.
\n\n
A Favour is a future burden you take on in return for immediate assistance of some sort. In the Old World, breaking one’s sworn word is considered bad form and carries significant social ramifications. no-one trusts oath breakers, meaning your Status is reduced by 1 (see page 49). Powerful and dangerous folks tend to take it very, very poorly if someone refuses a Favour owed them, so bloody consequences may follow.
\nThe powerful often find it is far more useful to have various individuals owing them Favours than merely soliciting money in return for their help. What’s more, it can be an investment: help a student today, call in a favour from a successful Lawyer years later. Favours may be referred to as ‘boons’, ‘services’, or ‘obligations’ by different folk, but in the end, they all amount to the same.
\nFavours come in three levels: Minor, Major, and Significant. Regardless of a Favour’s level, in almost all cases, the person owed the Favour will take into account the capabilities and sensibilities of the person they’re asking. There’s no point in demanding that a Priestess of Shallya assassinate a merchant, for example, even if she does owe you a Significant Favour. That being said, Favours are ripe for NPCs to exploit in order to put pressure on your moral compass.
\n\n
• A Minor Favour represents a simple task that can be completed in no more than a few hours. Perhaps you need volunteer at a Shallyan mercy-house or put in a good word for someone. With the GM’s permission, you may undertake an Endeavour to pay off this favour.
\n• A Major Favour is a more time-consuming or risky undertaking. It could take up to several weeks to achieve and may involve travel. Perhaps you are needed to act as lookout on a string of burglaries, to convince the Stevedores’ and Teamsters’ Guild to back down from a guild war, or to transport a package to a different city. With the GM’s permission, you may undertake two or more consecutive Endeavours to pay off this favour.
\n• A Significant Favour is relatively rare and will almost certainly involve risking life and limb. Months of travel may be involved, and major violence is likely. Perhaps you will be asked to eliminate a rival gang boss, wipe out a Goblin encampment, or instigate a riot. Significant Favours cannot be paid off via Endeavours; they are roleplayed out as full adventures.
" }, { "id": "Drachenberg", "name": "Drachenberg", "description": "Soaring high above central Vorbergland, its base wrapped by the shimmering @JournalEntry[The Bögen]{River Bögen}, the twisting peak known as the Drachenberg can be seen for miles around. Whenever trouble arises, the nearby townsfolk of Wheburg cast an eye towards the mountain and make the comet sign of Sigmar to ward evil, for Drachenberg has a fell reputation. Its name roughly translates to ‘Dragon Peak’ and, true to its name, the mountain has long been a favoured haunt of the great beasts, as well as to other monstrous creatures such as Basilisks, Wyverns, and Manticores.
\nThe immense Red Dragon, Caledair — the ‘Scythe of Fire’ — once made her lair in caves near the peak of the mountain, and hunted across the fields of the Vorbergland for uncounted generations. While she has not been seen for more than a century, none can say for certain if she is truly gone or if she sleeps in the mountain still.
\nThe Drachenberg is treacherous, with steep sides that thwart climbers, and no easy routes to its sheer summit. Tough trees clog its foothills, they are sparse along its upper slopes and the top soil is very loose, which has caused more than one imprudent climber to slide free to a broken death. Even so, the brave and the foolish still attempt to climb the Drachenberg, for who knows what treasures may lie hidden within its unknown heights?
\n\n
Southernmost of the Reikland’s major trade centers, the market town of Dunkelberg stretches across several hills along the banks of the River Grissen. The older, richer portions of the town sit high on the hills, giving the nobles, and the rising merchant class wealthy enough to afford the oldest townhouses, a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. Despite its ever-increasing size, travelers note Dunkelberg’s ‘rustic’ feel, with regular markets clogging its winding streets. There shoppers can purchase livestock; local produce; several excellent, fruity wines produced by the surrounding villages; and hand-crafted goods from across the Suden Vorbergland. Wide-ranging ‘bleachfelds’ extend from the town, where local linen is dyed white by the sun around crops.
\nDunkelberg’s position near the looming @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains]{Grey Mountains} and the wild Graugrissen forest leads to regular raids by Goblin tribes. While the richer portions of the town are well fortified and protected by a high, stone wall, the rest lack any significant defenses. As such, the poorer citizenry have learned not to grow too attached to their homes, belongings, or loved ones
\n\n\n\n\nOrphan White
\nDunkelberg has an excess of orphans, the result of frequent goblin raids, diseases, and other unpleasant occurrences. rather than leave them underfoot, the local duke has established a number of orphanages to provide shelter and sustenance for the children; however, to earn their keep, he puts the orphans, clad in their distinctive white uniforms, to work in the bleachfelds. Visitors to Dunkelberg may be shocked to see so many urchins deployed as a labour force, though the callous disregard many of the wealthy of the town have developed toward orphan children is perhaps worse. Sister Alella, a local Shallyan priestess, has recently expressed concern over the wellbeing of these urchins, even claiming that a number of the children have vanished under suspicious circumstances, and is looking for help to uncover the truth of what’s really happening.
\n
Known and celebrated by wine drinkers throughout the Old World, the vineyards around Eilhart produce the succulent grapes, and thus the wine, that shares its name. Eilhart is widely considered one of the Reikland’s best white wines, valued not just for its crisp, light flavor, but also for its famously mild hangovers that grow no worse no matter how much of it was quaffed the night before, or so Eilharters claim. Recently, Eilhart has recently also become famed in the Reikland, and as far afield as Marienburg, for its sharp, acidic beers making use of fragrant hops and local grain.
\nGiven the excellent quality of its alcoholic beverages, Eilhart has become a popular destination for riverboat cruises, wherein epicures travel to the town to sample its wares from the many drinking houses, breweries, and vineyards on offer. Some claim the high number of visiting Bretonnians — drawn by the excellent wine — may account for the locals’ recent enthusiasm for beer.
\n\n
In-between adventures, you have a selection of activities you can undertake — these are known as Endeavours. You may undertake a maximum of one Endeavour per week you are not adventuring, and you may attempt a maximum of three Endeavours in total, regardless of how long the gap between adventures may be. The rest of your time, whether it be weeks, months, or years, is taken up with living your life in relative peace — whatever that may to look like to your character.
\nWhile most of these Endeavours can be attempted by anyone, some are better suited to a particular Class or Career.
\n\n\nYear In, Year Out
\nIf the period between adventures is particularly long, you can discuss with the GM how to lengthen the narrative scope of your Endeavours. For instance, if you want to commission a new sword with the Commission Endeavour, you may first have to find a skilled smith, then the correct materials, then wait for other commissions to be completed, then maybe your sword is stolen, and so it goes on.
\n
After you’ve rolled on the @Table[event], you can spend the money earned during your last adventures using the normal rules. Then, after completing your Endeavours, all money held by your character is considered spent. All of it. The silver lifted from a Burgher’s purse? Gone. The booty liberated from pirates? Also gone. That Troll hoard you raided? Gone, too. All of it.
\nWhat happened to it? It was spent, stolen, drunk, gambled, used for repairs, to pay off debts or taxes, given as a charitable donations or votive offerings, spent on bribes, or used in whatever other way you prefer. You should concoct the best story for what happens to those funds, as it explains a lot about your character.
\nIf you want to keep some of your hard-won coin to use in the future, you should undertake the @JournalEntry[Banking] Endeavour. If you want money at the beginning of the next adventure —honestly, or otherwise, depending on your Career — you should undertake the @JournalEntry[Income] Endeavour.
\n\n
You may lose one or more of your Endeavours due to your Career or Species.
\n‘The common folk will never understand my burdens. The sheer weight of the duties I bear. The guilty will not judge themselves and there are always so many villages to cleanse, for our enemies are legion.’
\n– Lothar Metzger, Witch Hunter
\nAs you climb the ranks of your career, you accrue expectations and responsibilities that cannot be avoided. Noble Lords must see to the affairs of their estates, Guildmasters must oversee their guild’s work, and Watch Captains must watch their watchmen. If you neglect your responsibilities, you will soon lose status amongst your peers.
\nIf you have attained one of the top two tiers of your Career Path and do not undertake the Income Endeavour, which reflects taking care of your obligations, you drop one level within your Career; reverting from the fourth level to the third, or the third to the second. This costs no Experience Points, acting as a free Career change, albeit downwards.
\nWith this step backwards in your Career Path, you will now have a lower Status, and will earn less money should you perform future @JournalEntry[Income] Endeavours. See @JournalEntry[Status] for more information. The loss in status does not remove any Advances acquired while you were in your previous Career.
\nIf you wish to reclaim your lost Career level, you must once again pay the XP cost to re-enter the higher level of your Career and retake your ‘proper’ place in society.
\n\n
‘There are times when I can barely stand Altdorf. It is not the stench — though that is abhorrent — it is not the noise, either — it is just that you are all so very ugly to look upon, I feel that I must gaze at something beautiful for a time or I know that I shall start screaming, and never stop.’
\n– Irlianmaris Ellarel, Asur Envoy
\nElves, even those resident within the borders of Empire, do not consider themselves citizens of the Empire. There are High Elves with diplomatic positions in Karl-Franz I’s court, as well as traders and merchant princes in many of the great cities of the Empire, but the majority of the Asur avoid entanglements with Humans (not to mention Dwarfs) and few would call a Reiklander ‘friend’.
\nThe Wood Elves are even more removed; nearly mythical, rarely seen, and when they do appear they always have their own concerns that they rarely share with others.
\nBetween adventures, all Elven characters must undertake one Endeavour maintaining contact with their own kind, seeing to their responsibilities to their people. High Elves commonly give reports on interesting things they’ve learned to agents of Ulthuan in either Altdorf or Marienburg, whereas Asrai do the same with the spies from their arboreal homes. This Endeavour offers no advantage beyond the inherent advantage of being an Elf. Note: Elves only lose an Endeavour if the Between Adventures section is at least 3 weeks long, thus the Elves have at least 3 Endeavours to complete.
\n\n" }, { "id": "Fate and Resilience", "name": "Fate and Resilience", "description": "Elf Esteem
\nYou will note high-ranking Elven characters who do not wish to lose Career status will only be able to undertake a single ‘free’ Endeavour. This is intentional, designed to offset some of the innate advantages Elven Characters receive, as well as reflecting the prolonged time it takes the long-lived Elves to adapt to change. Of course, if you feel this is unfairly penalising an Elf character, or making the game less fun, ignore one or both restrictions.
\n
Whether it’s guts, luck or the favour of the gods, there is something special about you. Fate and Resilience represent the different ways you stand out from the masses.
\nCharacters gain their starting Fate and Resilience in Character Generation (see page 34). Both are related to pools of points: Fate to Fortune, Resilience to Resolve. You may spend your points to achieve small benefits, and these pools will refill over the course of play. You spend your Fate or Resilience points for a significant benefit during play but this permanently reduces them and also reduces the associated pool of Fortune or Resolve points. While Fate and Resilience points may be regained, this occurs only rarely, so spend them carefully.
\nAlthough they are very rare and normally reserved for PCs, the GM may also want to apply Fate and Resilience to noteworthy NPCs, like a necromantic nemesis, a local luminary of significance, or a recurring cult leader.
\nPlayer characters have destiny. While their ultimate future is a mystery and there is no guarantee it will be glorious, heroic, or even pleasant, they are seemingly fated for something important.
\nTo represent this, you begin play with a number of Fate Points. Fate points mark you out from the rest of the denizens of the Old World. They allow you to survive against impossible odds and prevail where ordinary folk fail.
\nFate is directly related to your Fortune points. Fortune points are spent to receive minor bonuses, including the ability to reroll failed Tests or gain an edge as luck favours you, and the number you have will likely fluctuate wildly during play. Fate determines how many Fortune points you can have, and be permanently spent in the direst of circumstances to avoid death.
\n\n
You may spend a Fortune point from your pool to turn luck to your advantage: hitting with that difficult crossbow shot when you would have otherwise missed; or perhaps an opponent slips, granting you a chance to land a blow. Your three options are:
\n\n
You may spend a permanent Fate point to avoid death and survive even the most unlikely situations. When you do this, choose one of the following two options:
\n\n
The first option takes you out of play, but allows you to fight another day, for all your character may be battered, bloody, bruised, and perhaps even captured in the process! The second option allows you to continue fighting side-by-side with your companions, but leaves you in significant danger, meaning you may need to spend more Fate points in later Rounds to ensure survival. Each option has advantages and disadvantages, depending upon the context of the situation, and it is up to you to decide which is the best choice to take.
\nThe GM describes how you survive a given situation after spending a Fate rating point.
\nYou regain all Fortune points at the start of every gaming session, up to the maximum of your current Fate. In addition, certain in-game encounters may also replenish (or remove!) Fortune points.
\nYour GM may grant you a Fate point for an act of extreme heroism, bravery, or significance. Normally this only happens at the successful end of an important adventure, so make sure to spend them carefully as they rarely replenish.
\nWhile Fate points represent your destiny, perhaps chosen by some distant, uncaring deity, Resilience is an indication of your personal drive and determination to endure, and overcome, no matter the obstacles you face.
\nLike Fate, Resilience is directly linked to a pool of points, this time called Resolve. Resolve points are spent to push through minor obstacles, such as ignoring the negative effects of critical wounds for a Round or removing Conditions. Resilience determines your upper limit of Resolve points and can be permanently spent to push yourself through seemingly impossible situations.
\n\n
You may spend a Resolve point to draw upon your inner reserves: maybe confronting a terrifying Ogre without flinching; or ignoring the effects of even the most powerful of blows. Your choices are:
\n\n
You may also choose to spend Resilience point to defy the corruption curling within, or to succeed where it would seem certain you should fail. Here, you have the following two options:
\n\n
Saving permanent Resilience to rebuff the influence of Chaos is wise, but it does not remove your Corruption points, meaning mutation is still perilously close. By comparison, using permanent Resilience to succeed in any Test can allow you to land a blow on an otherwise impossible-to-hit target, create an artefact that astounds all who see it with a Trade skill, or even perfectly manifest a spell you would normally find impossible to cast.
\nWhen you spend a Resilience point, take time to describe the enormous feat of will your character has undertaken, and how this manifests in play.
\nResolve is regained whenever you act according to your Motivation. During play, whenever you feel you have done this, you may ask the GM if you can recover one or more Resolve points.
\n\n\nExample: Griselda is a nun with the Motivation ‘Sigmar’. While her allies gossip in a tavern seeking clues, she elects to visit the local temple to make a donation and offer prayers to her deity. As this fits her Motivation, her GM decides to replenish one of her Resolve points but tells Griselda’s player that she will need to pray and donate in a different temple to receive that benefit again this week.
\n
The GM may grant a Resilience point for an act of extreme importance to your Motivation, permanently nourishing your soul, but such an event will be very rare.
\nExample: After many adventures, Griselda finally finances a new temple to Sigmar in her home village of Velten not far from Nuln. The GM recognises the importance of this to Griselda’s faith and grants her a permanent Resilience point.
\n\n" }, { "id": "Foment Dissent", "name": "Foment Dissent", "description": "Example: A bandit leader is on the rampage, having built up 10 Advantage while evading the party’s blows. Things are about to get messy! Salundra decides to attack the bandit, but loses the Opposed Test by 7 SL, which is going to hurt a lot. So, she spends a permanent Resilience point to invoke ‘I Will Not Fail’. This means she automatically wins the Opposed Test by +1 SL. She also chooses the result of the roll to be 11, causing a Critical. The bandit leader will take some Wounds and a Critical Wound. More importantly, his rampage comes to an end as he also loses all 10 Advantage as the fight turns in the heroes favour.
\n
@JournalEntry[Class Endeavors]: Burghers, Peasants
\nIf you are looking to sow civil unrest, undertake the Foment Dissent Endeavour. By talking with local citizens, leading meetings, and involving yourself, you can direct conversations to slowly feed anger and resentment towards a specific individual, group, or institution. But this takes time, so Fomenting Dissent takes two Endeavours to attempt (and will also count as an Income Endeavour if you are in the Agitator career).
\nTo undertake the Endeavour, you must first attempt an Average (+20) Gossip Test to understand the local movers and shakers. If you succeed, attempt a Charm Test with the Difficulty determined by how unpopular the target may be. Rousing anger against an oppressive noble may be an Easy (+40) test, while raising a mob to protest the good work of a Shallyan hospice may be Hard (–20). If you fail either of these tests, the Endeavour fails.
\nIf successful, you will find it easier to invoke the wrath of crowds upon your chosen target. During your next adventure, you can attempt a Charm Test to gather a rioting mob to accost the target, with the difficulty determined by the GM according to how well-planned the mob-to-be is.
\nA single success means you gather enough angered townsfolk to confront the target, shouting insults, demanding justice, throwing rotting vegetables, and generally accosting the focus of their ire. An Impressive or Astounding Success may lead to uncontrollable lynch mobs, or even attempted burnings!
\nFailure means folk have no stomach for wrath; failing by several SL may mean the target, or their sympathisers, become aware of your actions…
\nOnce you have the ear of a mob (successfully undertaking this Endeavour), you can attempt to rally the mob against a different target during an adventure, although this is more difficult, and the Difficulty of the Charm Test is two levels higher.
" }, { "id": "GM's Guide: Between Adventures", "name": "GM's Guide: Between Adventures", "description": "These rules — whilst entirely optional — present a streamlined and semi-abstracted method of handling everything else the Characters get up to between adventures. Whilst this certainly isn’t the case for every campaign, one of the main themes of Warhammer is that the Characters are normal people and that adventuring is the exception, rather than the rule, of their normal lives.
\nIf this theme is present in your campaign, and that the Characters are normal people except in the rare occasions that they’re adventuring, the rules for Between Adventures should definitely be a focus for your reading as the GM. Think of the Between Adventures rules as an alternate phase of play — we have the Adventuring Phase and the Between Adventures Phase. When not engaged in one, we’re engaged in the other!
\nWith this phase mentality, as the GM you may choose to run Between Adventures as a handful of dice rolls, quick decisions, and then move on to the next adventure. Alternately, you may have a ‘break’ session between adventures, where you employ these rules, and allow the Characters to explore their normal lives and pursue their own goals. These downtime sessions act almost more like mini adventures, which grant a lot of agency to your Players to express what they want to do and want to get out of future sessions.
\nThe Between Adventures Phase is the perfect time to consider and adjust a Character’s Career, because it’s the best time to determine if it’s actually their Career at all! Are you actually a Rat Catcher if you never catch rats? Are you actually an Artisan if you don’t follow a trade? If all you do is hunch through sewers and stab mutants, exactly how much of a Scholar are you really?
\nBoth GMs and Players should be vigilant during this phase, to determine just how much a Character is actually like their Career. But make sure that this isn’t prohibitive: a Merchant doesn’t have to act like a Merchant, but maybe if she’s acting more like a Duellist, a Career change is in order? Use these shifts in attitude to help build a Character’s story, rather than direct it, and you’ll find a far more three-dimensional Character comes of it.
" }, { "id": "Going To Market", "name": "Going To Market", "description": "Once you start play, the availability of rarer goods is restricted. After all, it’s hard to find a harpsichord in a five-house hamlet, but not so hard in the shops and markets of imperial capital, Altdorf.
\nThe following rules for buying and selling are all optional. The GM may prefer to roleplay every visit to each market, hawker, or shop, meaning Tests for Availability are unrequired as the GM simply states what is or isn’t purchasable. Equally, the GM may prefer you to simply check the trapping lists, roll for Availability and, if the Test succeeds, spend the coin on whatever you want. Possibly without even Haggling!
\n\n\nOptions: Tracking Money
\nWhere some groups like to track every penny closely, perhaps even using chits or fantasy coins to represent in-game coins, others prefer to ignore all fiscal book-keeping. The game rules assume you are counting every coin, but if you wish to simplify money, you can do so using your Status. If an item costs less than your Status level — so if you have a Status of Silver 2, any item costing 2 silver shillings or less — you are assumed to be able to buy as much as needed of that item. Beyond that, you can buy a maximum of one item a day that costs more with a Haggle Test, with the difficulty set by the GM according to the cost of the item and the local markets.
\n
All Trappings have an Availability, either Common, Scarce, Rare, or Exotic.
\nCommon items are found in almost every corner of the Empire and are always assumed to be readily available.
\nScarce and Rare items are less common, and you need to pass an Availability Test to find any locally in stock; the chance of passing the Test depends upon the settlement size.
\nExotic items are super rare, and only available if the GM says so, or if you commission the item from an appropriate artisan (perhaps with a @JournalEntry[Commission] Endeavour), or make it yourself (perhaps with a @JournalEntry[Crafting] Endeavour.
\n\n\nFoundry Note: Once you know an item's availability, you can use the `/avail` command to test if it's in stock. For example, `/avail Village Rare`. Otherwise, the item's availability can be tested by posting the item to chat.
\n
If you fail an Availability Test for Scarce or Rare items, you can either reroll when you arrive at a new settlement or you can try again next week if the settlement is Town-size or larger.
\nIf an item is in stock, it’s up to the GM to determine how many are available. As a general rule-of-thumb, villages have a single item in stock, towns have [[/r 1d10]] items, and cities have as many as the GM deems appropriate. These quantities are generally doubled for Common items, and halved for Rare ones (rounding up).
\nPeople of the Empire love a good bargain, and crowds of eager shoppers fill town squares every day looking for the best deals. When buying goods, there are two primary Skills to Test: Evaluate and Haggle.
\nEvaluate is used by consumers to identify the quality of an item. Similarly, the vendor can use Evaluate to appraise coins for their exchange value, or spot counterfeits. Anyone can also use Evaluate to estimate the prices of Rare or Exotic items to within +/-10%.
\nHaggle is used routinely by consumers and vendors alike, typically with Opposed Tests. Haggling is expected and most prices are marked up slightly to account for this. Winning a Haggle Test reduces the price by 10% (or possibly up to 20% with an Astounding Success (6+) or with the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.epPBu7x6BRWp2PHG]{Dealmaker} Talent). Failing a Haggle contest badly usually means the vendor distrusts your coinage.
\nTrips to the market for routine purchases don’t need to be roleplayed in detail. The GM might prefer you browse the equipment lists and check for Availability yourself. Major purchases that involve item Craftsmanship, or require extra Haggling, can be fun to roleplay in-character. In certain scenarios, shopkeepers are important NPCs with distinct personalities or story roles, so it’s always worth interacting with them. Consider the following when roleplaying shopping:
\nSelling your trappings during desperate times, or simply offloading loot, is handled in exactly the same fashion as Buying, but this time you’ll be making money, not spending it. So, you first check for Availability of a buyer in the same fashion as checking for stock. You then bargain and trade, with Evaluate Tests and Haggle Tests as the GM prefers, and finally you set a price. Typically, the base cost when selling is half the item’s listed price, meaning, when selling second-hand, you usually make between a quarter to half an item’s worth after Haggling.
\nIf you have a Career like fence or merchant, and you put time into Gossip Tests and wandering the local town, you might find someone willing to pay up to 80% of the item’s listed value, though that is left in the hands of the GM.
\nIf you can’t find a buyer, you can try lowering the price. Each time you half the money you are willing to accept, the Availability of a buyer increases by one step.
\n\n\nExample: Corporal Mauser has fled his State Army regiment with a Hochland Longrifle he stole, and is keen to sell. As it’s an Exotic item, there are no immediate buyers he can find on the street. The GM determines the base price Mauser can expect is half the weapon’s value (so 50GC, half of the 100GC it’s worth), so Mauser decides to drop the price by half two times, saying he will accept 12GC 10/–, which increases the Availability of a Buyer two steps from Exotic to Scarce.
\n
Rural and mercantile commerce often involves trading one commodity for another without exchanging money. To resolve bartering of this type, compare the Availability of the items being traded against those being acquired. The barter ratio indicates how many ‘units’ must be traded, and how many ‘units’ of the other commodity are acquired. ‘Units’ are defined by checking the equipment list prices of both items and grouping them into packages of roughly equivalent value.
\n| Traded Items | \nCommon | \nScare | \nRare | \nExotic | \n
| Common | \n1:1 | \n2:1 | \n4:1 | \n8:1 | \n
| Scarce | \n1:2 | \n1:1 | \n2:1 | \n4:1 | \n
| Rare | \n1:4 | \n1:2 | \n1:1 | \n2:1 | \n
| Exotic | \n1:8 | \n1:4 | \n1:2 | \n1:1 | \n
The largest wetland of the Reikland, the Grootscher Marsh spreads out on both banks of the Reik. It extends some fifty miles into the Reikland and Middenland from the border with the Wasteland, and is considered by many to be a cursed place, for it is the site of one of the Empire’s most famous military defeats of the last century: The Battle of Grootscher Marsh, where the Wasteland secured its independence from imperial rule.
\nIn modern times, the Grootscher Marsh remains the foul smelling fenland it always was, filled with ill-sounding birds and infested with River Trolls. In leaner years, when meat cannot be found for their rotting larders, the Trolls grow hungry and rumor holds they slip into the Reik to pluck the unwary from passing ships. Being sent to clear out the Grootscher Marsh is considered one of the worst punishment details imaginable by the State Armies of the Reikland; even the hardiest soldiers hesitate when ordered there.
\nTravellers on the Reik occasionally report the sounds of strange, ominous horns echoing through the thick fogs that frequently coalesce across the marsh, and wise locals note Trolls don’t make use of such. Old hands on the Reik agree, and then swiftly change the subject…
\n\n
Downriver from several major trading towns, Grünburg is no stranger to trade goods bound for the Reik, but it is in riverboat manufacture that Grünburg truly excels. The town’s boatyards are in constant operation, churning out the barges that keep the Reikland’s trade afloat.
\nThe open fields to the south-east of Grünburg appear verdant and peaceful, but are known locally as the Battle Plains. It was here, long ago, the ruthless advance of the fearsome Orc Warlord Gorbad Ironclaw was finally stalled. Uniquely in Imperial military history, the Battle of Grünburg was almost entirely contested by mounted troops on both sides. This quirk of history has made the Battle Plains a site of interest for archaeologists, antiquarians, and grave robbers, all keen to excavate debris from beneath the blood-soaked earth.
\n\n
In time, most injuries heal. But some are worse than others. The following explains how to heal Wounds and Critical Wounds.
\nYou are considered wounded if you have lost any of your Wounds.
\nWithout medical attention, you can attempt an Average (+20) Endurance Test after a good sleep once a day. You Heal Wounds equal to the SL + your Toughness Bonus. For each day you spend taking it easy, you also heal an extra number of Wounds equal to your Toughness Bonus.
\n\n\nFoundry Note: This can be done automatically in the main tab of the character sheet.
\n
If you wish to Heal more Wounds than this, then you need to be attended by someone with the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.skills.HXZaV1CJhmTvcAz4]{Heal} skill or you’ll need bandages, a healing poultice, or similar.
\nThere is no penalty for being wounded. Lost Wounds are considered to be small cuts, bruises, and other easily ignored injuries.
\nIf you have received any Critical Wounds, you are said to be Critically Wounded. Critical Wounds can be very serious. Refer to the appropriate Critical Table to see exactly what penalties you suffer for any Critical Wounds sustained. Critical Wounds do not count as healed until all conditions they inflict are removed, and all non-permanent negative modifiers are resolved. When you are Critically Wounded, you may still heal your Wounds using the normal rules.
\nSeveral Critical Wound results and conditions cannot be resolved until you receive medical attention. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
\nSome wounds are beyond simple stitching and foul-smelling poultices. If you suffer a Critical Wound where surgery is required to attend to it (it will be marked: Surgery), you suffer the marked penalties until you visit an appropriately trained doctor or barber-surgeon, or somehow source a magical or divine surgery equivalent.
\nFurther, if you suffer an amputated body part, you cannot heal 1 of the suffered Wounds until a surgeon successfully treats it with a Heal Test. For more information on surgery, refer to the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.NP4EHyyh1yOLbsPU]{Surgery} talent.
" }, { "id": "Helmgart", "name": "Helmgart", "description": "Set high in @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains], the fortress town of Helmgart guards the border with Bretonnia from the eastern side of Axe Bite Pass. The Empire’s relations with Bretonnia have not always been civil, and while the ramparts of Helmgart are no longer lined with aging skulls in elaborate helms, they most likely remain in the castle’s cellars. These days, the soldiers of Helmgart are more often called upon to patrol the pass, protecting travelers and merchants from Greenskins, bandits, and other menaces.
\nHelmgart’s keep was carved directly out of the mountainside by Dwarfs long ago. Three tiers of stout stone walls buttress a great granite mountain, dominating the surrounding terrain and offering an excellent view of the road below. Adjoining Helmgart proper, is a huge, imposing wall broken only by a single, long tunnel standing between the two, sheer mountainsides: the only route through to Bretonnia. Amongst the troops garrisoning the fortress are a number of storied regiments. Most famously, the gunners of Mackensen’s Marauders – a Reiklander State Regiment – are well known for their deadly accuracy, a fearsome reputation perhaps aided by the lack of cover on the road below the high walls. The fortress sits at one end of the great road that leads directly to Bögenhafen, and from there onto Altdorf.
\nAs guardian of the principle trade route into the Empire from Bretonnia, Helmgart is equal parts imposing citadel and bustling trade town. Here, Bretonnian merchants barter brandy, wine, fine fabrics, arms, and armor, while their Reiklander counterparts in turn funnel their province’s goods south. The local Dwarf clans, too, trade ingots of silver, lead, and iron, along with precious pieces of Dwarf-smithed metalwork. With so many merchants and traders, the Marketplatz of Helmgart is a bustling place, rife with endless opportunities and uncounted thieves.
\n\n
\n
Looming perilously in the peaks overlooking Axe-Bite Pass, the Helspire is a grim fortress, carved directly out of the living rock of @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains] and inlaid with the bones of countless fallen. It appears long abandoned and as still as the grave; yet, on rare nights of occult significance, eldritch lights can be seen blazing along its battlements, casting eerie shadows across the pass, even in the blackest of nights. On such nights, the Helspire reveals itself as a citadel of the unquiet dead, and skeletal knights charge forth, scouring the mountainside, terrorizing both Reiklanders and Bretonnian alike. Little is known about the castle, and none living claim to have pierced its bleak walls or know who commands the legions of the undead that lurk therein. Some say a cabal of necromancers call it home, others whisper it is the vault of a vampire, and a few even murmur the fortress is commanded by a powerful Liche, in life a powerful sorcerer, clinging to undeath in the pursuit of bloody vengeance for some centuries old slight. Perhaps because of this uncertainty, the Helspire is said to be filled with riches looted from across the Old World, but none know the truth, as those who seek such treasures never return or never talk.
\n\n
Nestled along the River Schilder, Holthusen is a major point on the trade route between @JournalEntry[Eilhart] and Marienburg. The town primarily deals in wine and beer, and the barrels in which they are stored. The coopers of Holthusen are rightly renowned for their sturdy barrels, most famously the Holthusen Hogshead, allegedly stout enough to withstand direct cannon fire, while leaving the precious drink within unscathed. The majority of the vintners and brewers of the western Vorbergland use Holthusen barrels; indeed, many age their stock here in specialized warehouses sunk deep into the ground to keep them cool.
\nHolthusen is enclosed in several rings of tall palisades and the folk of the town are frequently on edge, for while few bandits would dare to menace the town, wild Beastmen living deep in the nearby @JournalEntry[The Reikwald]{Reikwald} regularly attack without warning before melting back into the forest. Many citizens believe that the creatures have an insatiable thirst for wine, though some fear blood is their tipple of choice. Whatever the case, the town has taken to leaving barrels of cheap wine at the outskirts of the surrounding forest in the hopes the beasts will take their offerings and leave in peace. Of course, should any Witch Hunters hear of this appeasement, there will likely be a reckoning…
\n\n
in a clearing a few miles to the northeast of holthusen stands a tree unique in all the Reikwald: a magnificent pine locked in ice all year round. the rime tree, as it is called, never melts, and sends constant flurries of ice and snow cascading down onto the frosty undergrowth below. the tree is freezing to the touch and even the mightiest axe blows barely crack the thick ice coating its bark.
\n\n
The site has been claimed by the Cult of Ulric, and is the major terminus for devout Ulricans on pilgrimages south of the Reik. For those of an arcane bent, the perpetually icy bark of the tree has certain useful – and therefore valuable – magical properties. But Ulricans are rarely happy to have wizards poking about their sacred sites, so obtaining some of the bark safely is something of a risky endeavour. Therefore, Lord Magister Schlotter of the Bright Order is willing to pay good coin for brave men to secure what he cannot.
\n\n
General Endeavor
\nThis Endeavour covers the many ways you can make money between your bouts of adventuring. The majority will most likely work in a recognized profession — bounty hunters hunt bounties, riverwardens ward rivers, troll slayers slay Trolls — others may rely on a lucrative skill. Wealthier characters, such as Nobles and Merchants, might collect a stipend by (briefly) indulging their family, or collecting interest on their investments and business ventures. Roguish types have any number of means to acquire funds, though it’s best not to ask for any details.
\nYou should briefly narrate exactly how your character makes money. This is intended more for fun background detail than to have any direct consequences, though GMs may well gather useful or sinister ideas for future use depending on what you describe. You then acquire the income you’ll start your next adventure with, which is your standard income determined by your @JournalEntry[Status]. Certain results on the @Table[event]{Events Table} may directly affect your income. The money you get from an Income Endeavour is given to you after your money from the last adventure is spent (see Money to Burn ).
\nIn addition to acquiring funds for later use, if you are in the third or fourth level of a Career and undertake this Endeavour, you automatically maintain your standing in your career. See @JournalEntry[Endeavours]{With Great Power}
" }, { "id": "Injury", "name": "Injury", "description": "2Almost all characters will suffer injuries during the course of play. The injury rules show you how to deal with them and how to heal them, when possible.
\nWound loss represents minor cuts and abrasions, bruises and bashes, and even the depletion of spiritual and mental energy reserves. By comparison, Critical Wounds are much more severe, expressing serious injuries, broken bones, torn muscles, and ripped flesh. Gain too many Critical Wounds, and you risk death.
\nWounds are lost by sustaining Damage. Each time you suffer a point of Damage, you lose 1 Wound. So, if you suffer 8 points of Damage, you lose 8 Wounds. Often, especially in combat, your Toughness Bonus or Armour Points may reduce suffered Damage.
\nSo, if you were hit in the arm for 10 Damage and your Toughness Bonus was 3, and you had leather armour on that arm for 1 Armour Point, you would suffer 6 Wounds (10–3–1=6). The rules will tell you when you can or cannot reduce Damage with Toughness and Armour Points.
\nIf you lose all of your Wounds, your collected injuries overwhelm you, and you gain the Prone Condition. Until you heal at least 1 Wound, you cannot lose the Prone Condition; worse, if you’re not healed within a number of Rounds equal to your Toughness Bonus, you will pass out, gaining the Unconscious Condition. You will not regain consciousness until you heal back at least 1 Wound (see @JournalEntry[Healing]).
\nIf you take enough Damage that you would be taken to negative Wounds — say you suffered 5 Damage when you only had 2 Wounds left — you suffer a Critical Wound. If you suffer fewer negative Wounds than your Toughness Bonus (so, fewer than –4 Wounds if your Toughness Bonus is 4), you subtract –20 from your Critical Table result, with a minimum result of 01 (see page 174). Note: You never actually go into negative Wounds. The lowest number of Wounds you can ever have is 0.
\nCritical Wounds are most commonly suffered in combat when something really wants to hurt you. The two most frequent sources of Critical Wounds are when a Critical Hit is scored, or when you lose more Wounds than you have (see @JournalEntry[Combat] for more on how Critical Hits happens).
\nEach Critical Wound you receive will impact your ability to function in a different way. To determine what effects a Critical Wound has, refer to the Critical Tables (see page 174).
\nIf you take the @Condition[Unconscious] Condition and have 0 Wounds, compare the total number of Critical Wounds you currently suffer with your Toughness Bonus. If you have more Critical Wounds than your Toughness Bonus, you succumb to your horrific wounds and will die at the end of the round unless, by some miracle, someone heals one of your Critical Wounds.
\nAlso, if you have the Unconscious Condition, anyone attacking you with suitable weapons can kill you, should they wish.
\nThough, in the thick of combat, those lying apparently dead on the floor are almost always ignored in favour of combatants still standing.
\nLastly, a few results sourced from the Critical Tables can result in death. Should any of these occur, it is time to permanently spend a @JournalEntry[Fate and Resilience]{Fate point} if you have one.
\n\n
\n\nPulling Your Blows
\nThe rules assume you wish to inflict every possible Critical Wound you can. However, it’s also possible you may just want to subdue, not kill, your opponents. Or you may be sparring. With that in mind, you may ignore any Critical Hit you should inflict upon your opponents if you declare you are ‘pulling your blow’ before you roll to hit. If you do this, make sure you describe the situation appropriately, making it clear you’re using the flat of your blade or otherwise doing what you can to avoid properly hurting your opponent.
\nOptions: Sudden Death
\nRather than worrying about Critical Wounds and protracted deaths, you may simply wish to know if someone is dead or not. The GM can do this by using the Sudden Death rules, which significantly accelerates play. When your targets suffer more damage than they have Wounds, they simply die in a suitably dramatic fashion or immediately gain the Unconscious Condition. Your choice.
\nSudden Death is especially useful for quickly dealing with minor foes such as Brigands, Cultists, or Wild Animals, although it should not be used for PCs or important NPCs.
\n
" }, { "id": "Invent!", "name": "Invent!", "description": "
General Endeavor
\nInvent allows you to invent new trappings. This is done in two stages: Plan and Build. To Plan your new trapping, you first decide the trappings you wish to combine to create your invention. As examples, Pistols have been combined with other Pistols to create Repeating Pistols, and Pigeons and been combined with Bombs to create Pigeon Bombs. Let your imagination go wild. Once you have your plan, it’s time to make the blueprints, which costs 1 Endeavour to attempt. Take a Trade (Engineer) Test, with a Difficulty set by how outlandish your proposed trapping combination is as determined by the GM. If you succeed, you are ready to start Building. Each SL scored adds +1 SL to the attempt to build your invention, as the plans are well laid out and easy to follow.
\nTo Build the invention, you must either undertake a @JournalEntry[Crafting] or @JournalEntry[Commission] Endeavour. If it’s Crafting , you are building the item yourself, and you must have the appropriate Skills to do so for the trappings being combined; so, if you were combining Pigeons with Bombs, you would need Animal Training and Trade (Explosives). The Difficulty to craft the invention is always Very Hard (–30), and the SL is set as normal. The raw materials needed to build the invention cost twice the listed price for the trappings being combined, and have an Availability rating equal to the most scarce of the trappings used in your invention. If you Commission the invention, you will likely need to undertake a Consult an Expert Endeavour first to find someone with the required Skills. That done, follow the Commission Endeavour as normal; it costs six times the listed price for the trappings to be combined to commission the work. The exact rules for your new invention are left to your GM to finalise.
" }, { "id": "Kemperbad", "name": "Kemperbad", "description": "An ancient town with a long and convoluted history, the Grand Freistadt of Kemperbad is known and celebrated for producing the finest brandy in the Reikland. Though part of the Reikland, Kemperbad lies on the eastern bank of the Reik; historically the town has been fought over, and ruled by, nobles from Talabecland, Stirland, and the Reikland, changing hands time and again through a series of marriages, treaties, and wars. Since gaining a charter affording it the right to self-rule in 1066IC from Boris Goldgather, Kemberbad has been a Freistadt led by a local council.
\nIts prime location on the river, coupled with the ability to impose and retain its own taxes, has made the town very rich indeed. Because of this, the merchants of Kemperbad are legendarily ostentatious, dressing in outfits so gaudy as to shame a peacock, and costly enough to beggar folk of more modest means. Unsurprisingly, the neighboring nobility regard Kemperbad’s coffers with envious eyes, and some send agents to destabilize the town.
\n\n
Jumping to reach high ledges, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, or failing both and plummeting to your death are all essential parts of the WFRP experience.
\nSimple Athletics Tests, or perhaps a Perform (Acrobatics) Test, will be enough to determine the outcome on most occasions, but sometimes knowing exactly how high you jump, how far you leap, or what happens when you fall is useful.
\nYou can leap your Movement in feet without having to make a Test. If you want to jump farther, this takes an Average (+20) Athletics Test if you have a run up of at least your Movement in yards; if you do not, the Test is Challenging (+0). On a success, each SL adds an extra foot to the leap. If you succeeded with +0 SL, you manage an extra 6 inches with your jump.
\nWhen falling, you suffer [[/r 1d10]] Damage, plus 3 Damage for every yard you fall. Any suffered Damage is reduced by your Toughness Bonus, but not any Armour Points you may be wearing.
\nIf you are purposefully falling — or, if you prefer, jumping downwards — you can attempt an Average (+20) Athletics Test to lessen the damage you may sustain. If successful, you count as having fallen 1 less yard, plus an extra yard less per SL scored.
\nIf you reduce the distance you count as having fallen to 0 or less, you will suffer no Damage from the fall.
\nIf more Wounds are suffered from a fall than your Toughness Bonus, you also gain the @Condition[Prone] Condition.
\n" }, { "id": "Magic Rules", "name": "Magic Rules", "description": "
The @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.OEjUvJKi0xmBwbS2]{Second Sight} Talent allows you to perceive the Winds of Magic, and how magic influences the world around you. Second Sight affects all your senses, and how it manifests is dependent on individual experience and training: So, where Aqshy may have a hot, cinnamon odour to one pyromancer, it could feel like searing ear itches to another.
\nIf you have Second Sight, you may use any appropriate Skills with your aethyric senses, most commonly your Intuition, Perception, and Track Skills. For example, a wizard following the trail of a fleeing witch could make a Track test, following the faint traces of Dhar in the witch’s path, rather than their literal footsteps. Or a Witch looking to see what kind of magic had gathered locally could use Perception to examine the Winds more closely. Like the mundane senses, Second Sight does not simply switch off, which is a source of great discomfort to those who would rather have no truck with the Winds of Magic but cannot help what they perceive. This means the GM may request Tests, or take Tests on your behalf, to see if you spot subtle magical details in your surrounding environment, even if you’re not looking for them.
\nSpells
\nThere are four types of spell: Petty, Arcane, Lore, and Chaos spells. Petty spells are simple tricks that use negligible amounts of magic. Arcane Spells are generic spells open to those studying any Lore of Magic or Chaos Magic. Lore spells are those you can only learn if you know that Lore; i.e. to learn spells from the Lore of Fire, you need the Arcane Magic (Fire) Talent. Chaos spells are those practiced by those who’ve lost their souls to Chaos.
\nHolding the complex linguistic structures of Language (Magick) in mind is a challenging task, so simply transcribing a spell into your grimoire does not allow you learn a spell.
\nTo memorise a spell — and therefore be able to cast it without access to your grimoire — you typically need to spend the amount of XP noted in your spellcasting Talent. Once a spell has been memorised, a spellcaster knows it permanently, barring special circumstances.
\nTo cast a spell, make a Language (Magick) Test. If you succeed, match your SL to the Casting Number (CN) of the spell (listed in the individual spell description). If your SL is equal to or higher than the CN of the spell, it is cast as explained in the spell’s description. If failed, the spell attempt fails, and nothing else happens.
\nIf the casting roll is a Critical, the Winds of Magic have flared dangerously high, granting you extra power, but at a cost. Unless you have the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.BYChSVfMG004eflQ]{Instinctive Diction} Talent, you roll on the @Table[minormis]{Minor Miscast Table} as the power moves beyond your control, but you may also choose one of the following effects:
\nIf you lose control of the magical energy you are channelling, things invariably go awry. If you Fumble your Casting Test, you suffer a Miscast. Roll 1d100 and consult the @Table[minormis]{Minor Miscast Table}.
\n\nMalignant Influence
\nCasting close to sources of Corruption makes controlling the Winds of Magic much more difficult. When attempting a Language (Magick) or Channelling Test in the vicinity of a @JournalEntry[Corruption]{Corrupting Influence}, any roll of an 8 (representing the eight-pointed symbol of Chaos) on the units die results in a @Table[minormis]{Minor Miscast} as the Magic goes wild. If you already have a Minor Miscast on the Test for another reason, the Miscast escalates to a @Table[majormis]{Major Miscast}.
\nFoundry Note: This is available through a checkbox in the roll dialog
\n
If a spell is successfully cast, it remains in effect for its Duration unless it is dispelled. You may not simply end your spells already in play, but you may attempt to Dispel them.
\nSome spellcasters own a spellbook, or grimoire, in which they transcribe their spells. Apprentices copy spells from their master, while experienced wizards will actively seek out new spells from other wizards, often trading spells for favours. A spellcaster may cast a spell directly from a grimoire if the spell belongs to a Lore they possess. Doing so doubles the Casting Number.
\nSome spells are marked as magic missiles ; these are damage-causing spells that all follow the same rules. When a magic missile is successfully cast and targets another character, the Hit Location struck is determined by reversing the dice rolled on the Language (Magick) Test and referring to the Hit Location Table (see page 159). The SL of the Language (Magick) Test is added to the spell’s listed Damage and your Willpower Bonus to determine the total inflicted Damage. This Damage is reduced by the target’s Toughness and Armour Points as normal.
\nCertain spells require you to touch the target. If in combat, or if the target is unwilling to be touched, you must make an Opposed Melee (Brawling) Test (generally opposed by the Melee or Dodge Skill) after completing the Casting Test. If you do this and your spell was a magic missile , the Melee (Brawling) Test is used to determine Hit Location struck, not the Language (Magick) Test.
\nSpellcasters may channel their magic through an appropriate ingredient before unleashing their spells. Doing this offers protection against Miscasts as the attuned ingredient absorbs the worst of any magical backlash.
\nIf you use an ingredient when casting, any suffered Major Miscast becomes a Minor Miscast, and any Minor Miscast has no effect. If used in this way, the ingredient is consumed or destroyed by the process, even if no Miscast was rolled.
\nIngredients cost the CN in silver shillings for Arcane and Lore spells. Whenever you purchase a new ingredient, mark on your character sheet which spell it supports; ingredients only work for specific spells, not for all spells in your Lore. For those looking to add character to their ingredients, sample ingredients for each of the primary Lores of Magic are provided by the individual spell lists.
\nAs spells are spoken, you must be able to speak — not gagged, strangled, or underwater — to cast. If your voice is inhibited, the Difficulty of your Language (Magick) Test to cast a spell should be increased by the GM. Further, the Language of Magick needs to be spoken (or sung, for those using the Lore of Light) clearly, and often loudly, to ensure spells work; magic is anything but subtle. As a loose guide, the higher the CN of a spell, the louder the spell is chanted.
\nEach of your spells can only be in effect once, meaning you have to wait for a cast spell to come to an end, or be dispelled, before using the same spell again. Further, spells providing bonuses or penalties do not stack. Instead, the best bonus and worst penalty is applied from every spell cast upon you. So, if you had a spell providing a bonus of +20 Willpower, and another providing +10 Willpower, you gain a bonus of +20 Willpower, not +30.
\nLastly, unless otherwise specified, you always need to be able to see — i.e. have Line of Sight — to your target.
\nSome magical spells require far more magic than can normally be found ambiently flowing through the world. To power such spells, it is possible to draw the Winds of Magic and concentrate them into a more powerful form by using the Channelling Skill. Channelling the Winds of Magic can be a dangerous procedure, but it is the only sure way to cast some powerful spells. To channel magic for a spell, make an Extended Channelling Test.
\nWhen your SL reaches the CN of your selected spell, you have channelled enough magic to cast it. On the next Round, you can cast your spell using the normal Casting rules, but count the chosen spell’s Casting Number as 0. If the casting Test fails, you also lose all your channelled magical energy, and suffer a Minor Miscast as it all writhes free from your Aethyric grasp.
\nIf you roll a Critical when Channelling, you have channelled a mighty flow of magic and can cast your spell next Round regardless of the SL you’ve scored in the Extended Test so far; however, so much magic so quickly concentrated in one place results in some magical backlash: roll 1d100 on the Minor Miscast Table unless you have the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.1IZWRr7BYOIcqPlQ]{Aethyric Attunement} Talent.
\nChannelling the Winds of Magic in a large flow is dangerous. You count any double or any roll ending in a 0 over your Skill as a Fumble, so, 00, 99, 90, 88, and so on. If you fumble a Channelling Test, you suffer a Miscast. Roll 1d100 and consult the Major Miscast Table.
\nConcentration is vital when channelling. If you are distracted by anything — loud noises, suffering damage, flashing lights, or similar — you must pass a Hard (–20) Cool Test, or suffer a @Table[minormis]{Minor Miscast} and lose all SL you have accrued in the Extended Channelling Test so far.
\nWearing colours appropriate to the Wind of Magic you are manipulating helps attract the magic to you. This is the reason most wizards choose to dress in the traditional garb of their order.
\nAll Casting and Channelling Tests suffer a –1 SL penalty if you are dressed inappropriately for the Wind of Magic you are trying to attract, as determined by the GM. Specifically, metal and leather armour repel most of the Winds: metal is laden with the golden wind Chamon , while leather retains traces of the amber Ghur . As such, spellcasters wearing armour suffer –1 SL penalty to all Casting and Channelling Tests for every Armour Point on the location with the most armour. Casters with the Arcane Magic (Metal) Talent may wear metal armour without penalty; those with Arcane Magic (Beasts) Talent may ignore penalties from leather armour.
\nIf a spell targets you, or a point you can see within Willpower yards, you may oppose the Casting Test with Language (Magick) as you chant a counterspell. Make an Opposed Language (Magick) Test. If you win the Opposed Test, you dispel the incoming spell; if you lose, the spell uses the SL of the Opposed Test to determine whether the casting was successful as normal. You may only attempt to dispel a single spell every Round.
\nIf a spell has a lasting effect, you may attempt to dispel that spell for your Action. This is done by making an Extended Language (Magick) Test. When your SL reaches the CN of the ongoing spell, you successfully dispel it.
\nMultiple spellcasters attempting to dispel the same spell each roll separately. If they cast using the same Lore, they may decide to make an Assisted Test instead.
\n\n\nOfficially the use of warpstone is precluded by the powers that be. Unofficially, I can say that it is officially never used within this college. Officially, I cannot say what unofficial uses it might have. But unofficially, I might be able to say it has certain unofficial uses. But certainly it is officially unofficial.
\n–Wilhelm Holswig-Schliestein, Grey Guardian, Raconteur, and Liar
\n
Warpstone is such a rich source of power that even a small fragment of the stuff will offer enough magic to power any spell in short order. Of course, the wisdom of powering any spell with Warpstone, and the wisdom of carrying Warpstone upon your person, is debateable.
\nA wizard using Warpstone when Casting and Channelling doubles their SL for the appropriate tests. In addition, Casting or Channelling with Warpstone is a @JournalEntry[Corruption]{corrupting influence}.
" }, { "id": "Monastery of the Holy Word", "name": "Monastery of the Holy Word", "description": "Deep in @JournalEntry[The Reikwald] west of @JournalEntry[Altdorf], far from any easily traversed road, lies the Monastery of the Holy Word. This hallowed site is tended by the Sigmarite Order of the Anvil. The Order of the Anvil is responsible for keeping the laws that govern the Cult of Sigmar and maintaining all details of the cult’s practices.
\nThe Monastery of the Holy Word houses the order’s greatest treasure: the Testaments of Sigmar. Collected not long after Sigmar abdicated, the Testaments are a gathering of the written memories of warriors and citizens who knew Sigmar Heldenhammer before he ascended to godhood. Considered to be the most accurate collection of the things Sigmar actually said and the practices he maintained in life, the Testaments are some of the holiest works in the Reikland.
\nIt is not normally the practice of the Order of the Anvil to accept visitors, but the Monastery of the Holy Word is no normal monastery. Penitents seeking obscure details about the foundations of Sigmar’s Law will travel from across the Empire to query the black and green robed monks on doctrine.
\nNobles and exceedingly wealthy merchants who have repeatedly shown their devotion to the Cult of Sigmar will occasionally be granted leave to take a pilgrimage to the Monastery of the Holy Word. While none are allowed to read the original Testaments, or even to touch them, leave to gaze upon one or two of the original pages is deemed to be a sacred honor beyond price.
\n\n
A Character’s Motivation represents — in a word or short phrase — what they care about most in the world, and what drives them to achieve their Ambitions. In a sense, it’s one of the most important things about a Character, because it tells us why they do what they do! In light of that monumental importance, we’ve compiled a few tools to help GMs and Players alike in choosing and managing their Motivations.
\nChoosing Motivations can seem tricky — after all, they’re so important! But it doesn’t have to be a difficult process, especially if you follow these tips, and review the example Motivations presentated below.
\nIt’s worth stressing that the most interesting Characters are those whose Motivations run contrary to what you would normally expect. Everyone expects a mercenary to care about ‘Wealth’, but what if they actually care about ‘Duty’ to their family, and are sending all their money back home? Everyone expects a Scholar to care about ‘Knowledge’, but what if they are motivated more by ‘Romance’ than anything else? A good rule of thumb when it comes to writing is to throw out your first idea because it’s the obvious one, and the same often applies to a Character’s Motivation.
\nAlso, keep in mind that your Motivation isn’t locked in stone, it can change whenever you need it to.
\nA Character’s Motivations are sure to change throughout the course of their adventuring life, and Players and GMs should always be vigilant for when this occurs. Whilst Motivation can be changed at the beginning of every session, it’s a good idea to save these changes for the following moments:
\nPlayers should use these events to express how their Character has changed, and are encouraged to show off their new Motivation in the coming session. You should award an additional Resolve Point if this change is roleplayed in a believable and dramatic fashion!
\nSometimes, in the heat of the moment, during an intense scene or Combat, it’s difficult to keep track of Motivations, and whether or not they trigger @JournalEntry[Fate and Resilience]{Resolve}. If you’re finding your group forgets about Motivation often, or if you’d rather not worry about it during a session, try using a Check-In instead.
\nA Check-In occurs at the same time as handing out XP, and involves everyone going around the table and announcing their Motivation. Next, everyone considers the session they’ve just played, and decides if that Character expressed their Motivation ‘not at all’, ‘a bit’ or ‘a lot’. Everyone should get a say, and should take this opportunity to point out interesting and humorous moments during the session, but ultimately the Player and the GM together have the final say over how much the Motivation was expressed. This is purely subjective, so go more along how it felt, rather than a point-for-point retelling of the session.
\nIf a Character expressed their Motivation ‘not at all’, they regain no Resolve. If they expressed it ‘a bit’, they regain 1 Resolve Point, or 2 Resolve for ‘a lot’.
\n\n\nOptions: Ruinous Motivations
\nSome Motivations are, themselves, the pathways of the damned. Whilst some are clearly corrupting like ‘Debauchery’ or ‘Violence’, even seemingly innocent Motivations can and do stoke the fire of Chaos within a Character. ‘Change’ and ‘Hope’ are admirable Motivations, though they do undeniably play into the machinations of Tzeentch and Nurgle respectively.
\nYou may offer a Player an additional Resolve Point for following the Character’s Motivation in exchange for a Corruption Point if the action appears to aid one or more of the Ruinous Powers. This choice is always the Player’s to make.
\n
The following is a list of example Motivations accompanied by situations which might earn them Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a clear chain of command, and thrive when there are orders to be followed — whether you’re giving them, or taking them. Most people who favour such structure either long for the day when they themselves are able to pass commands down the chain to their lessers, or believe themselves to be merely a cog in a greater machine. Following orders or listening to, and assisting, the authorities garners Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a need for change, for a better or brighter future. You are discontent with the status quo, and any action you take that shifts this — whether positively or negatively — is better than what we have now, at least. Anything you do that is counter to the norm feeds into this Motivation.
\nYou are motivated by a need to help people. Whilst many give to charity in pursuit of power, status, or out of boredom, you do it for its own sake. Charity, in your eyes, is its own reward. Helping the less fortunate, and giving what you can, regenerates your Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a desire to control the world around you. Perhaps you suffer from anxiety, or were raised in a situation where you were the centre of attention — whatever the reason, you thrive when there are no surprises. You regain Resolve when you seek to bend the world around you to your will.
\nYou are motivated by forbidden delights. Either the fact that they are forbidden is tantilising to you, or you’ve lost sight of healthy appetites long ago, you regain Resolve when you give into your obscene desires.
\nYou are motivated by a need to possess that which others have. It could be anything — wealth, romance, land, power — but you desire these things because someone else has them, not for their own merit. When you covet and take from others, you are sure to regenerate Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a deep faith in your patron God of choice, and allow the strictures of such to dictate your life. Choose a God to go along with this Motivation, and regain Resolve whenever you go out of your way to follow that God’s strictures, or protect the honour and sanctity of their worship. A list of Gods and their strictures can be found in @JournalEntry[The Gods] Fame
\nYou are motivated by being known. You want your name to be on everyone’s lips, to be well regarded, and to be remembered. When you perform actions in public, or work to spread word of your deeds (real or imaginary), you recover Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by being untethered and allowed to go where you please. Often freed bondsmen, enslaved individuals, or the children of overly oppressive parents burn with this Motivation. You recover Resolve when you choose your own path in the face of authority.
\nYou are motivated by a need to achieve great things. You likely have one burning desire — perhaps your Long Term Ambition — which, whenever you work towards it, you recover Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by an unnatural appetite for something specific, and wish to indulge that vice at all times. When you pursue or partake of your vice, you feed your Motivation and regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a hope that things can get better. In the Old World, this is a futile Motivation, but it doesn’t stop thousands of souls trudging towards it every day. When you perform actions that seem doomed to fail, but you do them anyway because you believe it might work out, you regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a desire to be remembered and feared. Like fame, infamy is about developing a personal story that will always be bigger than the person you were, but it differs in that you don’t want to be remembered kindly. You want to forever serve as a lesson to someone or against something, and whenever you strike fear, or encourage rumours about yourself, you regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a need to see justice done. Whether it’s a belief that justice holds together society, or a perverse fascination with punishment, you see enacting the law of the Gods — though not necessarily the law of the land — as paramount. Whenever you aid or enact your own justice, regenerate Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by the search for knowledge itself. You don’t necessarily want to do anything with that knowledge, but the pursuit is what’s important to you. When you learn something new, or encourage the spread of knowledge, you regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a strong bond of love with someone. Love is often irrational, and causes people to act in ways which deprioritise their own safety or happiness, and doing so is a sure way of earning Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by an obligation you hold — to family, friends, an organisation, and so on. You likely have a role to play in relation to this obligation, and fulfilling that role is of paramount importance to you. Whenever you perform actions that fulfill that role, you regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by structure and order. You thrive when there is a set framework to operate inside of, and rules to follow. You regain Resolve when you follow the rules — especially to your detriment — and help enforce them.
\nYou are motivated by love of country. This pride can become toxic — used as a pathetic crutch to cover for your own failings — or could stem from true pride in the history of your people — whether deserved or doctored. You recover Resolve by putting your nation first, and by following the dictates of your rulers — rational or otherwise.
\nYou are motivated by a need to be perfect. Regardless of what the focus is, you need to be the perfect example of it, a painter, a poet, a cook, whatever. This Motivation exists beyond any tangible benefits of that perfection or profession, and often strays into a truly unhealthy mindset, for perfection is ultimately impossible. Whenever you work towards that perfection, regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by the pursuit of pleasure, fine food, fine wine, fine friends, and so forth. You seek to get the most out of life, and feel fulfilled when in good, comfortable, pleasurable company. You regain Resolve whenever you take a little extra effort to bring a little extra pleasure into your life.
\nYou are motivated by a quest for power. It doesn’t matter what power, and over whom, but you feel safer and more whole when the power of any situation is in your hands. This may translate into literal power — the search for arcane potency or martial excellence — but not necessarily. You just have to exert and extend your reach to recover Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by the respect of your peers. It’s not necessarily about being the best — the best swordsman, the best incantor, the best alchemist — but you need your peers to heed what you say, and admire your works. You may see yourself as
\nfirst among equals, or merely rising to the level of your heroes, but either way, when you increase or maintain your standing, you regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by a need for revenge. Perhaps someone killed your father and they must prepare to die, or someone ruined your family’s business and now you seek to destroy theirs. Whatever the source of your ire, you seek to reenact it on those who hurt you. Whenever you work towards or fulfill your revenge, recover Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by the ruination of the world around you. You may have a target in mind, a specific nation, family, or organisation, or merely existence itself. Whenever you work to bring your foes to their knees and have them crushed under your boot, you regenerate Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by your service to another. Servitude is a rare Motivation, because it relies on the mind placing the needs of another above one’s own, and trusting in the benevolence of that master. When you act at the behest of those you serve, you recover Resolve.
\nYou are motivated first and foremost by your own survival, and will do what you can to protect yourself. This Motivation extends to protecting your livelihood, if it comes under existential threat — a hunter defending their hunting grounds from poachers, or an urchin protecting their streets from invading troops. In any situation where you take an active hand to maintain your survival, you regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by uniting others towards a common goal. Whether this stems from dreams of Empire, Shallyan pacifism, or a desire to mend an old feud, you regain Resolve when you act to bring others together.
\nYou are motivated by the clink of coins. Whilst almost everyone is motivated in some way by money in the Old World, you desire money for its own sake. You may even be loath to spend it once it is yours. Wealth, for you, doesn’t necessarily mean power or privilege, but it represents a dependable source of strength for yourself. Whenever you seek out wealth and hoard it, regain Resolve.
\nYou are motivated by violence, and love the thrill of battle. You might be addicted to the adrenaline, or you’re fascinated by the craft of battle. Whatever the case, whenever you engage in violent acts for their own purpose, regenerate Resolve.
" }, { "id": "Mounted Combat", "name": "Mounted Combat", "description": "Riding into Combat, sword swinging, guns blazing, is not only terrifying for those on the receiving end, it also brings bonuses to the rider. Mounted Combat uses the same rules as any other Combat, with the following additions:
\nNote: Most mounts are bigger than Characters, meaning they may cause Fear or Terror, and gain other combat advantages (see @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.8slW8CJ2oVTxeQ6q]{Size}).
" }, { "id": "Moving During Combat", "name": "Moving During Combat", "description": "The Movement Table shows how many yards you can normally move in a single Turn, either Walking or Running, without having to make an Athletics Test to sprint. Doing this will use your Move for your Turn.
\n| Movement | \nWalk (yards) | \nRun (yards) | \n
| 0 | \n0 | \n0 | \n
| 1 | \n2 | \n4 | \n
| 2 | \n4 | \n8 | \n
| 3 | \n6 | \n12 | \n
| 4 | \n8 | \n16 | \n
| 5 | \n10 | \n20 | \n
| 6 | \n12 | \n24 | \n
| 7 | \n14 | \n28 | \n
| 8 | \n16 | \n32 | \n
| 9 | \n18 | \n36 | \n
| 10 | \n20 | \n40 | \n
\n
If you are not Engaged in combat already, you can use your Move to Charge. If you Charge, your Action must be a Melee Test to attack an opponent. If your opponent is at least your Move characteristic in yards away before you Charge, but within your Run range (see the Run entry in the Movement Table for how far you can move when Charging), you will also gain +1 Advantage as you barrel into your opponent.
\nIf you are @JournalEntry[Attacking]{Engaged} in combat, and no longer wish to be trading blows with your opponent, you have the following two options for leaving combat safely.
\nUse Advantage: If you have more Advantage than your opponents, you are in a superior position and can easily
\nmanoeuvre yourself beyond reach. If you choose to drop your Advantage to 0, you can move away from your opponents without penalty, perhaps choosing to Charge a new target, run away as fast as possible, or backstep a little and fire a pistol in an opponent’s face!
\nUse Dodge: If you have lower or equal Advantage to your opponents or do not wish to spend your Advantage, you are pinned in place. If you wish to escape, you will need to use your Action to make an Opposed Dodge/Melee Test. If you succeed, you gain +1 Advantage, and can use your Move to go anywhere you wish using the normal rules. If you fail, each opponent defeating you gains +1 Advantage and makes it impossible for you to escape without a blow to your back.
\nIf you cannot escape otherwise, you can turn your back and flee as your Move. Often, Fleeing is involuntary, caused by @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.kJNAY1YRaCy9IgmT]{Terror} or magic.
\nIf you flee, your opponent immediately gains 1 Advantage and may attempt 1 free attack. The free attack is an unopposed Melee Test using whatever weapon is currently held, using the SL scored to Damage you as normal. As you are throwing caution to the wind, your opponent gains +20 to hit you. If you are hit, your opponent gains +1 Advantage, and you must enact a Challenging (+0) Cool Test: if failed, gain a Broken Condition, and a further +1 @Condition[Broken] condition per SL below 0. Once the free attack is concluded, you may move up to your Run Movement (see the Movement Table) directly away from your opponent, assuming you still can.
\nOn your turn, you can use your Action to sprint. This requires an Average (+20) Athletics Test, and the distance covered is in addition to your Move this round. You sprint your Run movement + SL in yards (see the Movement Table for your Run movement). So, a character with Move 4 who rolled –2 SL would sprint an additional 14 yards (16–2=14).
\nMost climb moves won’t need Tests. Climbing rules are only required when the Climb is difficult or if knowing exactly how long you take to ascend is important.
\nClimbing a ladder or similarly easy-to-climb surface does not require a Test but does slow you down. You move at half rate up or down ladders or other easily climbed surfaces. So, it would cost 4 yards of your Movement to climb a 2-yard ladder. If you want to climb more quickly, spend your Action to make an Average (+20) Climb Test. You will Climb an extra Movement + SL yards. So, a character with Movement 4 who rolled +2 SL will climb an additional 6 yards (4+2=6).
\nIf both hands are free, you can climb a surface with suitable handholds with a Climb Test using your Action for the turn. You ascend or descend at a rate of ½ Movement + SL in yards.
\nClimbing difficulty is set by the GM and varies with the nature of the climbed surface. Some climbs will be beyond the ability of most characters without the @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.MGEPI4jNhymNIRVz]{Scale Sheer Surface} Talent.
" }, { "id": "NPCs With Character", "name": "NPCs With Character", "description": "More than any other aspect of WFRP, your creation and enacting of memorable NPCs is what will bring the Old World to life. Unforgettable NPCs help create the impetus to roleplay and cause Players to become invested in what happens to them, and by extension, their own Characters. Not every NPC needs to be a tour de force of personality, but a few ‘shining stars’ go a long way towards filling the firmament with light – or darkness, as the case may be.
\nEvery NPC you introduce into an adventure should be there for a purpose, which can vary wildly from ‘background scenery’ to ‘biggest bad-guy’ and everything in-between. Some you may place specifically because they can assist the characters or spur them onward by offering something valuable, e.g. knowledge, training, equipment – in exchange for something the Characters can offer them, e.g. investigative skill, money, directed violence. Others serve as potential antagonists or definite enemies, and consider having a few just because they’re fun for you to play and your Players to enjoy.
\nThe following are the building blocks of an unforgettable NPC. You don’t have to put as much detail into an NPC destined to be a ‘prop’, but that said, remain flexible. With practice, you may find that you create even minor NPCs memorable enough that your Players will occasionally promptly latch onto one, and even though you originally intended them to be nothing more than a bit of background flavour, they’ll soon be dragged into the Characters’ adventures. Fortunately, WFRP has a designator for such folks – they make excellent Henchmen.
\nA Name – A decent name will do, but a really good name will stick in the mind. It will likely help you to create a small list of names in advance, checking them off as they get used. That way, if you have to come up with a name ‘on the fly’ when the Characters insist on learning all about the innocuous barkeep, you won’t have to fumble for one. Keep in mind that other points from later in this list may well be referred to in an NPC’s name, especially if they are rare. There are a lot of forgettable ‘Karls’ in the Empire, but ‘Crimson Karl’ the gent that’s eternally bright beet-red in the face from yelling? He’ll stick out.
\n\n\nFoundry Note: Use the `/name` command to generate a name!
\n
e.g. `/name human male` `/name welf male` `/name helf female`
Appearance – What does the NPC look like? Some folks think they need to put a lot of detail into this, but really, too many details and your Players will just lose track, especially if you have a lot of NPCs. Always note species, but then, try to stick to, at the very most, two or three solid details that stand out.
\nHeight, weight, eye colour, and so forth, only need to be noted if they are unusual. Scars, odd tattoos, eccentric clothing choices, weird trappings, the fact they always carry a bedraggled cat with a tiny peg leg – these are the things people notice and Players remember.
\nMannerisms – This is a big category, for it covers style of speech, personality traits, unusual quirks of behaviour, and how the NPC regularly deals with other folk. When determining how an NPC regularly acts, be wary of regularly using stereotypes – not every Dwarf is grumpy and short-tempered, but that said, there is a reason for that stereotype. A general note for an NPCs outward behaviour will often suffice. Are they friendly, taciturn, impatient, hostile?
\nThink about what the NPC’s voice sounds like. Especially if their voice sounds nothing like yours, it is okay to tell your Players what the NPCs voice may remind them of. If you want to do a different accent for a specific NPC and feel comfortable doing so, awesome, but be wary of giving strange voices to many NPCs, especially if they hurt your throat to do them. Instead, try playing with your vocabulary, speak in short sentences, using small words for a slow-witted Ogre; speak swiftly, on the edge of breathlessness, for a flighty Halfling.
\nA quick search of the internet will yield more lists of example personality traits and quirks of behaviour than you can sic a small but vicious dog on. There are, in fact, whole websites dedicated to such and they can serve as inspiration, but be sure to consider how your Players, and their Characters, will react to certain traits – they are unlikely to want to deal a lot with someone really annoying (which, honestly, might be fun for you if they have to, for a time).
\nCareer – What the NPC ostensibly does for a living. Most folk in the Old World are completely tied to their Class and Career and can generally afford to do very little outside of them, unless they are of a higher status with enough wealth to let them ‘indulge’ in different pastimes. Many NPCs may well have had a different Career at one point, but only a few rare ones will have ever jumped between different Classes.
\nUnusual Qualities – This is a catch-all for traits others wouldn’t suspect in the NPC. Particularly high levels of skill, Talents from outside their Career, strange knowledge, Traits from the Bestiary, and so on. Most NPCs should only have one or two Unusual Qualities at most, if any. Note that ‘mutations’ generally fall under ‘Problems’.
\nDrives - Whole plots are driven by these most basic questions: What does the NPC want? What are they prepared to do to get it? Like Characters, important NPCs should have ambitions, though not every ambition has to be realistic. A low-born NPC may aspire to be a Baron one day. This is naught but a weirdroot dream for most folk, but society is changing in the Empire, and a driven merchant, or perhaps a crime lord, with the right connections might just achieve such a lofty goal. Your Characters will certainly have wanted to help such an individual along their way, or perhaps, did everything they could to stop them…
\nProblems – Finally, any NPC you know will interact with the Characters should have a problem or two that the Characters might be able to help them with, or take advantage of, which may, or may not, tie into their ambitions. Try to think of problems with multiple potential solutions, e.g. an NPC that has something the Characters desperately want, desires to advance in their Trade Guild, but feels trapped and doesn’t know how to. Depending on the Characters’ skill sets, they could spread gossip about the superior nature of the NPC’s wares, sabotage or kill their competition, bribe their superiors, etc. Some problems should actually be ‘secrets’ which may, or may not, have an actual solution, e.g. hidden mutations, holding to a forbidden faith, an unrequited love, etc. Most such problems can’t be ‘solved’, but they’re ripe for blackmail.
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.bestiary.ePPk15Vxu9RxPtYV]{Dieter Käsegeier, Cheesemonger Extraordinaire}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.bestiary.Rs3lMA5UavTlTiJW]{Kastor Erichson, Jumpy Hunter}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.bestiary.nRJxtciIhTHKqAvY]{Stellemar, Loyal Hound}
" }, { "id": "Options: Little Prayers", "name": "Options: Little Prayers", "description": "Prayers to the gods are rarely answered by those not Blessed, but the gods do listen sometimes. Prayers offered in holy sites have a chance of receiving divine attention. If the offering, circumstances, and motivation are appropriate, the GM may secretly roll d100 to see if your prayers are heeded. On a roll of 01, they are. If you have the Pray Skill, the GM may increase that chance. When such prayers are answered, the results may not be exactly what you expect — the gods of the Old World do not simply grant wishes — but it will almost always be something that will help you achieve a goal that is important to the deity. This might be a bonus to a dice roll, or a one-shot use of a Skill or Prayer that is otherwise unavailable, or some other advantage.
" }, { "id": "Other Damage", "name": "Other Damage", "description": "The Old World is a dangerous place, hiding countless ways to die. The following covers some of the more common other ways you can receive Damage during play.
\nIf prepared, you can hold your breath for Toughness Bonus x 10 seconds without a Test. After that, you may start to suffocate or drown. If you are unprepared and suddenly deprived of air, you will start to suffocate immediately.
\nEach Round you are being suffocated you lose 1 Wound. Should you reach 0 Wounds, you immediately receive the @Condition[Unconscious] Condition. After that, you will die of suffocation or drowning in Toughness Bonus Rounds.
\nEvery 4 hours spent in a difficult environment — such as sub-zero temperatures, a hot desert, or a howling storm — requires you take an Endurance Test. Extreme environments require a Test every 2 hours.
\nCold: Your first failure causes a penalty of –10 Ballistic Skill, Agility and Dexterity. The second failure reduces all other Characteristics by –10. Third and subsequent failures cause [[/r 1d10]] Damage not modified by Armour Points, with a minimum of 1 Wound lost. If you reach zero Wounds, you immediately take an @Condition[Unconscious] condition. Certain Trappings provide bonuses and penalties to these Tests. See pages @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.trappings.Ieyr3r0Skl57DkAJ]{Coat} and @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.trappings.IFtoI87gZ4phMHy9]{Bedroll }.
\nHeat: Your first failure causes a penalty of –10 to Intelligence and Willpower, and adds a @Condition[Fatigued] Condition. The second failure reduces all other Characteristics by –10%, and adds another Fatigued Condition. Third and subsequent failures cause [[/r 1d10]] Damage not modified by Armour Points, with a minimum of 1 Wound lost. Stripping off heavy Trappings cancels 1 failed test.
\nRunning out of provisions can be bad. Running out of water is worse. Endurance Tests to withstand thirst and hunger become increasingly difficult (cumulative –10 for every test). Characters without food and water cannot heal Wounds or recover Fatigue naturally.
\nWater: Every day without water requires you make an Endurance test. The first failed Test causes a penalty of –10 Intelligence, Willpower, and Fellowship. Second and subsequent failures reduce all Characteristics by –10 and cause 1d10 Damage not modified by Armour Points, with a minimum of 1 Wound lost.
\nFood: Every 2 days without food require an Endurance Test. The first failed Tests causes a penalty of –10 Strength and Toughness. Second and subsequent failures reduce all other Characteristics by –10 and cause [[/r 1d10]] Damage not modified by Armour Points, with a minimum of 1 Wound lost.
" }, { "id": "Politics", "name": "Politics", "description": "The Reikland perceives itself as a progressive, civilised realm, standing apart from the backward barbarity of the other provinces. It is ruled by an Elector Count bearing the title ‘Grand Prince of the Reikland’ — the ‘grand’ appellation indicating the prince is an elector for the next emperor when the current one dies. The grand prince’s land is divided into a patchwork of individual fiefs governed by dukes, counts, margraves, high priests, abbots and other rulers. These provinces, whose lords swear directly to the grand prince, are collectively titled the ‘Reikland Estates’, most of which have been ruled by the same families or institutions for uncounted generations, affording them significant influence. The grand prince’s decrees are ratified by the ‘Reikland Diet’, an assembly comprised of the lords of the Reikland Estates. However, certain powers were reserved for the crown during Magnus the Pious’s Imperial Reforms two centuries ago, including: the right to summon and command the State Army of the Reikland, the raising of emergency taxes in times of crisis, the right to authorise new coinage, and the right to call a High Lord Steward’s Court should a powerful noble be charged with a crime.
\n@JournalEntry[Reikland Council]
\n@JournalEntry[The Reikland Diet]
\n@JournalEntry[The Reikland Estates]
" }, { "id": "Prayers", "name": "Prayers", "description": "A small number of the faithful stand apart from their peers, seemingly able to appeal for their deity’s direct intervention in the form of miracles. Those who perform such feats are known by many names in different parts of the Old World — including: Living Saints, Gods’ Servants, The Hallowed, Divine Wills, Anointed Ones — but, in the Empire, they are most commonly referred to as ‘Blessed’, which is often used as a title. So, if Sister Anna where to be Blessed by Sigmar — i.e. granted Sigmar’s grace, able to have her prayers answered — she would become ‘Blessed Anna’, or, in full, ‘Blessed Anna, Sister of Sigmar’.
\nThere are two Talents that specifically mark out those Blessed by the gods: @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.QyjWtSdnVMT04l5Y]{Bless} and @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.voV0C2ar1bKpcpnH]{Invoke}. Characters with the Bless Talent may enact Blessings, which are minor manifestations of divine will, while the Invoke Talent allows the Blessed to call on their gods for more powerful Miracles.
\nBlessing and Miracles are prayers spoken by one of the Blessed, and then empowered by a god. To enact a Blessing or Miracle, make a Challenging (+0) Pray Test. If you score a Success, your Blessing or Miracle manifests according to its rules, and a high SL will give you bonus effects. If you score a Failure, your words are spoken, but your god, for whatever reason, refuses to listen. If you Fumble the Pray Test, you have offended your god and must roll on the Wrath of the Gods table.
\nYou must be able to speak to intone the required prayer, rite, chant, or song to enact a Blessing or Miracle. Each of your Blessings or Miracles can only be in effect once, meaning you have to wait for an existing one to come to an end before using the same prayer again.
\nMultiple invocations of the same prayer by different individuals do not offer cumulative bonuses. Thus, intoning two Blessings of Finesse will only provide a bonus of +10 to Dexterity.
\nThe Blessed are watched closely by the gods, and risk gaining the disfavour of their deities if they should act contrary to their gods’ will. In game, this is represented with Sin points.
\nIf you violate any of the Cult Strictures listed under your god, the GM will award one or more Sin Points. Every time you receive a Sin point, it is added it to your running total. There is no maximum to the number of Sin points you can earn. The more points you have, the more upset your god is likely to be should you call upon divine aid.
\n\n\nIt's a Sin!
\nThere are many different ways Blessed Priests can break their strictures; GMs should consider the scale of the infraction when awarding Sin Points, and allocate them proportionately, normally scoring 1 to 3. For instance, one of the strictures of the cult of Myrmidia is to respect prisoners of war. If a Myrmidian priest were to deny a thirsty prisoner of war a drink of water, this may earn a single Sin point. Beating a prisoner would be a great infraction, securing maybe 2 Sin points. Torturing or killing a helpless prisoner is unacceptable to Myrmidia, easily earning 3 or maybe more Sin points.
\nKind GMs may wish to warn players before they commit infractions, especially if they are new to WFRP.
\n
Appealing to your deity when you have been acting contrary to the god’s wishes is risky. Whenever you make a Pray Test, if the units die of the result is equal to or less than your current Sin point total, then you will suffer the Wrath of the Gods, even if the Pray Test is successful.
\n\n\nOptions: Preach It, Sister!
\nEach of the gods have different styles of prayers, designed to be intoned in different ways. Whether these are the warcries of Ulric, the shanties of Manaan, or the threnodies of Morr, each requires the words be spoken (or sung) firmly, and with conviction.
\nTo represent this, the GM may require that any Pray Tests that are intoned quietly or without confidence have a higher Difficulty.
\n\n
You've Got To Pray!
\nIf a character behaves in a particularly pious manner, such as completing an arduous pilgrimage, or making a significant donation to their cult, the GM may wish to remove one or more Sin Points with a successful Pray Test, used to show you are begging for absolution. This, of course, also risks the chance of Wrath of the Gods. Otherwise, the only way to remove Sin Points is by rolling on the Wrath of the Gods table.
\n
The Wrath of Gods table is referenced whenever you Fumble a Pray Test, or when the units die of a Pray Test is equal or lower than your current Sin points. The GM may also use it, or pluck results from it, whenever you foolishly insult any of the gods. When rolling on the @Table[wrath], add +10 to the roll for each Sin Point you have accrued. After rolling and applying the result, reduce your Sin points by 1, to a minimum of 0.
\n\n\nFoundry Note: You can add a modifier to a table by right clicking the table link
\n
Some Wrath of the Gods results require penance. The GM can decide upon a suitable penance depending on your misdeed, or they may prefer you to choose your own penance, with further punishment awaiting if you are insufficiently penitent. Examples of typical penances are listed in each cult description. Penances may come in the form of a vision, divine inspiration or, very rarely, by direct communication from your deity. If you are not worthy of such contact, a penance may be conveyed through another member of your cult. Alternatively, a Divine Servant of the cult could manifest — this could be a dead teacher, a figure of legend, or an appropriate animal — and inform you what is required. The GM should consider the sins involved, and how the god in question would likely react to these.
" }, { "id": "Psychology", "name": "Psychology", "description": "Our emotions and instincts have a powerful impact on how we react in certain circumstances. These rules bring another level of drama to your game and help bring the Old World’s inhabitants to life.
\nIf you are exposed to one of the following Psychological traits, you may resist its effects by passing a Cool Test at the beginning of the Round, with the Difficulty set by the GM. A successful Test lasts until the end of the current encounter, although additional Tests may be required if circumstances change.
\nExample: Brokk has Animosity (Elves). When the Dwarf encounters some haughty Elves quaffing wine and laughing loudly in a tavern, he Tests his Cool to control himself; he passes, so is not subject to Animosity, though he does choose to spit on the ground as he passes the sneering things. Later, when one of the Elves jostles his arm, spilling his ale, his GM asks Brokk to Test again. This time he fails. So, setting down his tankard, he turns around to ‘have a word’ with the offending Elf, unable to stop himself from launching into a tirade about exactly what he thinks of their so-called nimbleness!
\nThe following are the most common Psychology traits in WFRP.
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.Q2MCUrG2HppMcvN0]{Animosity (Target)}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.Ib2YQYChktDFN93y]{Fear (Rating)}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.DrNUTPeodEgpWTnT]{Frenzy}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.5hH73j2NgPdsLCZN]{Hatred (Target)}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.klCJX0mNpXYH5AIx]{Prejudice}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.meMkLEwdJIDLxM0B]{Terror (Rating)}
\n\n
You can create your own psychological traits to reflect the events of your game. This is something that will vary depending on your group, and the style of game you choose to play. It is also an area that should be treated sensitively, and if in any doubt avoid anything that could upset a member of the group.
\nIn addition to the mechanical effects of these custom traits, they are a wonderful opportunity for roleplaying; taking on custom psychological traits allows you to show off or practice your roleplaying skills, and maybe earn some extra XP. See Advances in Chapter 2: Character for more about this.
\nWhen making custom traits, you should consider both what provokes the trait to manifest, and what the effect will be. Will it make the character immune to some, or all other psychology traits? Will it offer a bonus in some situations? A penalty in others? As always, your GM is the ultimate arbiter in this situation. Sample bonuses or penalties a Psychological trait may offer include:
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.EBmSCscpk4vEDCD3]{Camaraderie (Group)}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.Mu5dU4IcP58LBQwi]{Phobia (Target)}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.psychologies.1y6Hv22y9C3UD8gX]{Trauma}
" }, { "id": "Pursuit", "name": "Pursuit", "description": "Desperate chase scenes through busy markets and high-speed pursuits hanging from the back of careening coaches are the centrepiece of many exciting adventures. Here’s how to run a pursuit:
\nAs each Round passes, it’s important to describe what just happened in a fun and exciting fashion. If you score a large SL, describe people getting out of the way, giving you an opportunity to make ground. If you score a negative SL, describe tripping over crates, running into people, or slamming your coach against a wall, slowing you down.
\nExample: Eichengard and Sigrid are chasing three cultists through the streets of Altdorf. The cultists got a decent head start, so the GM gives him a lead of Distance 2. Each character rolls an Athletics Test to start the pursuit. Sigrid scores +3 SL; the cultists score +0, +2, and +2 SL; and Eichengard scores +2 SL.
\nSo, after the first round, the difference between the slowest cultist (0) and the fastest pursuing character (Sigrid with 3) is 3, meaning that the characters catch up with the cultists. The cowardly cultists abandon their slowest member in the hope of saving their hides, and Sigrid stops to subdue the abandoned aberrant.
\nNext round the cultists start at a Distance of 1 (the difference between the next slowest cultist and Sigrid last round) so Eichengard just needs to beat them by +1 SL to catch up again.
\nIf some of the characters in the pursuit have a higher Movement, they gain a bonus SL equal to the difference in Movement. So, if you had Move 5 and you were chasing a Move 4 character, you would gain +1 SL on your pursuit roll.
\nExample: Perdita is urging her horse forwards, trying to chase down two Bandits. Her horse has Movement 8, where the Bandits are on Movement 7 and Movement 9 horses. Thus, the first Bandit has an unmodified Test, Perdita gains a bonus of +1 SL, and the second Bandit gains a bonus of +2 SL when they all roll their Ride (Horse) Tests.
" }, { "id": "Ranged Combat", "name": "Ranged Combat", "description": "There are some extra considerations that apply to ranged attacks:
\nLying between the Reiker Heights and the Hohesesienen Hills at the sluggish confluence of the @JournalEntry[The Reik]{River Reik} and the @JournalEntry[The Teufel]{River Teufel}, the Reiker Marshes are notoriously treacherous, and inexperienced captains frequently run aground in its deceptively shallow waters. Tattered flags and corroded signposts mark the most perilous sections, but these are woefully insufficient. River guides locally known as ‘huffers’ are available to guide boats through the waters for a reasonable price, most of whom gather in the towns of Prieze and Babenborn on the Reik, and in significantly fewer numbers in Buxhead on the Teufel. The waters are at their most dangerous in the five-mile stretch at the end of the Teufel where it meets the Reik. Locally called ‘Leopold’s Folly’ after the emperor who tried, and failed, many times to dredge the red-silted waters in order to make it safe for deep-drafted ships, wise barge captains avoid it completely, preferring to pay tolls to pass through @JournalEntry[The Grünberg Canal] rather than risk their crew and cargo.
\n\n
The day-to-day business of ruling the province is handled by the Reikland Council, which comprises ten ‘High Lords’. The council meets weekly in the Wilhelm Chamber of the Volkshalle in Altdorf to discuss matters of import. It is rare for more than six of the high lords to attend simultaneously, and almost unheard of for the prince to attend in person.
\nThe Ten High Lords of the Council of the Reikland, are appointed by the grand prince. Whilst most commoners could never hope to encounter such luminaries, their agents and representatives can be found everywhere.
\nA close advisor to the grand prince, the High Lord of the Chair officially leads the Reikland Council in the elector count’s stead.
\nThe current High Lord of the Chair, the stoic Graf Archibold von Lilahalle, was granted the influential position after being gravely wounded whilst saving the life of Emperor Luitpold III from an assassin’s blade. Lingering, painful injuries confine him to a steam-driven wheelchair; an irony only the unwise note aloud.
\nThe High Lord Steward is the only man legally allowed to judge a crime committed by the lord of a Reikland Estate. As a High Lord Stewart’s Court is rarely called — most lords being simply too powerful to call to task — the position is largely ceremonial. Nevertheless, the High Lord Steward is arguably the most senior High Lord, and often stands in for the Grand Prince when he is unable — or unwilling — to attend court.
\nThe current High Lord Steward is Archduke Adelbert von Bögenberg, a quiet man with little experience of the law, but a shrewd understanding of people. As much of the grand prince’s time is taken up with imperial matters, he is arguably the de facto ruler of the Reikland, much to the High Lord of the Chair’s chagrin.
\nThe High Lord Treasurer is responsible for the Reikland’s treasury and for raising revenues. The position is extraordinarily important and is almost always held by a close ally of the crown.
\nThe current High Lord Treasurer is the aging genius Grafina Elena von Midwald, a dear friend of the previous grand prince, well known for her outspoken appreciation of fine wine and fine men.
\nThe High Lord Ambassador organises the Reikland’s foreign relations and runs the Altdorf Black Chamber: the infamous spies of the Reikland.
\nGraf Liepmund Holzkrug, the current High Lord Ambassador, is an intense, fiercely ambitious man, whose family are strong rivals to House Holswig-Schliestein in Altdorf. He is known for his vindictive nature, his ruthless politics, and his love of hunting rare and exotic game.
\nThe High Lord Judge is the ultimate voice on all Reiklander Law, which is quite different from Imperial Law.
\nThe current High Lord Judge of the Reikland also serves as Supreme Law Lord of the Empire: Lector Agatha von Böhrn of Verena. She is experienced in all legal matters, and widely regarded as one of the most intelligent people in the Empire, especially by those who have bribed her.
\nThe High Lord Chancellor is the crown’s spiritual advisor, and oversees the Reikland Chancery and the Silver Seal.
\nThe current High Lord Chancellor is High Priestess Halma Habermann of Sigmar, a robust woman with a pale complexion, rosy cheeks, and thick limbs. Though generally charming and approachable, she is zealously out-spoken in her opposition to the Colleges of Magic, and rumours abound regarding the atrocities she witnessed during her service in the Order of the Silver Hammer.
\nThe High Lord Chamberlain runs the Palace of Altdorf and the adjoining Volkshall. The position is arguably one of the most influential in the Reikland, as most high-level imperial politics take place within the chamberlain’s domain.
\nThe current High Lord Chamberlain is rake-thin Duchess Elze von Skaag, an astute negotiator and careful planner who publicly supports Emperor Karl-Franz in all matters. Elze’s husband, Duke Alardus von Skaag, is said to be deeply frustrated at his wife residing in Altdorf and not in Skaggerdorf with him; by comparison, it seems to suit her perfectly as most evenings she can be found carousing through the city with her bodyguards.
\nThe High Lord Reiksmarshal is responsible for leading the armies of the Reikland, and ensuring each of the Reikland State Regiments is raised, financed, and made available to the crown as required.
\nThe current Reiksmarshal is the veteran general Duke Kurt Helborg, close friend and tutor to the current grand prince — Emperor Karl-Franz — and said to be the finest swordsman in the Empire. Helborg’s military commitments ensure that he rarely takes his seat on the council, a circumstance that suits his natural inclination.
\nThe High Lord Constable is the ultimate authority on the genealogy and heraldry of the Reikland.
\nThe current High Lord Constable is smiling Grafina Matrella von Achern, a woman with no interest in genealogy, but a voracious appetite for political intrigue. She has made the most of this relatively inconsequential position, by chairing several private councils on the Grand Prince’s behalf. It is hard to reconcile the bubbly, maternal demeanour she projects, and her reputation amongst her peers as the most ruthless woman in the Reikland.
\nThe High Lord Admiral is responsible for the Admiralty of the Reik, and thus the entire Reikland navy.
\nThe current High Lord Admiral is the venerable Sea Lord Adalmann von Hopfberg. The Sea Lord — who is now quite senile — took residency in the Great Hospice some fifteen years ago, and the Admiralty has governed the navy without his influence — or interference — since then.
" }, { "id": "Reputation", "name": "Reputation", "description": "@JournalEntry[Class Endeavors] Academics, Burghers, Courtiers
\nMoney talks, as they say. If you are looking to exert your influence and elevate your Status, you had best be willing to spread your wealth around. Any boost to your reputation will fade once the coins stop flowing, so you should exploit this advantage while it lasts.
\nCharacters can spend money to increase their Standing by +1 for the next adventure, after which the bonus fades. This costs your maximum Earning income — so, if you would normally earn 4d10 pennies, it costs 40d — and requires a Challenging (+0) Career Skill Test. If you succeed, your Standing increases by +1. If you score an Astounding Success (+6), it increases by +2. If you fail, you have just wasted your money. If you score an Astounding Failure (–6), your toadying has so infuriated your peers, your standing decreases by -1 (to a minimum of 0) for the entire duration of your next adventure.
" }, { "id": "Research Lore", "name": "Research Lore", "description": "@JournalEntry[Class Endeavors]: Academics
\nThis Endeavour allows you to seek greater knowledge concerning a specific subject, such as the site of a battle, a famed historical event, or an individual. The character must have access to an appropriate storehouse of lore, such as a library, the annals of a Dwarf Hold, the records of a Guild, or a Temple of Verena.
\nAttempt an Average (+20) Lore Test, using the appropriate Lore Specialisation for the knowledge you seek. If you do not have the correct Lore Specialisation and are literate, you can still attempt to learn something, but it will take a Difficult (–10) Intelligence Test. If you succeed, you learn one piece of interesting, useful, or hidden knowledge about the subject researched; each SL adds another piece of relevant information. If you fail particularly badly (an Impressive or Astounding Failure)) you learn something false that you are convinced is true; to facilitate this, the GM may want to make this role in secret on your behalf.
" }, { "id": "Rottfurt", "name": "Rottfurt", "description": "Scores of settlements line the @JournalEntry[The Teufel]{River Teufel}, most easily forgettable, even interchangeable. Not so Rottfurt, whose name is spoken of in hushed, reverential tones by scholars and wizards throughout the Empire. Though primarily a village of shepherds, producing wool and mutton, Rottfurt also produces a famous — and famously pricy — sheepskin parchment: Rottfurt Silver. The parchment possesses a faint sheen, takes ink well, and resists fading far longer than other, lesser parchments.
\nBecause of this, the thick-wooled, pale sheep of Rottfurt are the village’s pride and afforded every comfort. They feed on the luscious grass of the nearby Hammastrat Heights and are generally allowed to wander as they will during the day. The shepherds contribute to a rotating militia, tasked with protecting their precious flocks at all costs.
\nHowever, of late the livestock have been going missing; intriguingly, those on guard have always found themselves falling asleep, despite their best efforts. On waking, another sheep has vanished. What began as a minor frustration has grown to a full-blown obsession for the locals, with as many wild and spectacular theories flying around as there are stars in the heavens.
\n\n
Sitting near the @JournalEntry[Grootscher Marsh] at the confluence of the River Mos with @JournalEntry[The Reik], Schädelheim makes the most it can of its lucrative position on the trade route between Marienburg and the Altdorf, boasting a high number of inns and berths for passing ships and barges. Ferries here regularly run travelers back and forth over both rivers, and it is a hub for the disparate communities of the nearby marshlands.
\nJust south of the center of the town lies an ancient temple dedicated to Morr, the God of Death. The grand, crumbling building has presided over Schädelheim since its infancy, possibly even predating the town’s founding. Because of this, many of the locals have an especially strong afinity with Morr, a situation rarely seen in the Empire outside Ostland, and highly unusual for the strongly Sigmarite Reikland. This is something local Sigmarites are keen to rectify.
\n\n
The rules regarding @JournalEntry[Status] are an incredible tool for building context and theme in your Campaigns. A Character’s Status often says more about their world than Class or Career, as it shapes their likely peers, living arrangements, and the logistics of their everyday lives. The following pages are set aside to expand those rules and give advice on how to use them.
\n@JournalEntry[The Cost of Living] states that a Character is expected to spend approximately half their Status and Standing every day to maintain appearances, and that even this exorbitant amount is considered ‘frugal living.’
\nWhilst this number seems potentially prohibitive for Brass and Silver Statuses, when it comes to Gold Status, it is outright extortionate! And yet, these numbers reflect a very real situation for transient people, such as Warhammer Characters.
\nFirstly, it’s worth remembering that a Character doesn’t begin to lose Standing until they’ve spent a week living beneath their expected expenses. However, recovering Standing requires this spending every single day for a week to regain one point. It’s easier to maintain a facade than to build one.
\nThese systems are in place to create an urgency to adventure. The Characters are not typical examples of their Careers, but rather desperate and extraordinary. Their lives exist in a state of constant change that few in the Empire enjoy (or suffer) by virtue of being the focus of our attention at the table. This need to spend money constantly results in a need to earn money — a lot of money — frequently as well, meaning Characters are more likely to take risks, bet on the wrong Middenball team, involve themselves in shady business, and meet dramatic fates. That is one of the central tensions built into the Warhammer world, and one of your greatest tools to exploit when building adventures.
\nA Character’s Standing is often in flux, and the folk of the Old World change their Standing often — by the whims of the Gods, the seasons, and through hard work. But changing one’s Status is rather perilous. It is a fundamental threat to the social order of the Empire. The growing middle class directly threatens the existence of the nobility, and in turn the place in the pecking order of favoured peasants. As such, few people look kindly on social climbers, and there is often a host of issues that comes along with increasing or decreasing one’s Status.
\nAs the GM, it’s your job to reinforce the central conflicts in the Warhammer world, and one of the starkest is the class struggle that underpins everything in the Empire. To reinforce this, consider not just how NPCs not of a Character’s current Status perceive them, but also those of their new and old Statuses after changing Careers. Old friends may now regard the Characters as out of touch or snobby, whilst new peers may see them as uppity or possibly admirable — having ‘pulled themselves up by their bootstraps’. Characters who drop Status may find themselves surrounded by people who consider the Character ‘too big for their britches’, and other such derogatory phrases.
\nIt’s also worth noting that the Empire, despite how it might seem, is steadfastly not a meritocracy — that is, the best person for the job isn’t always, or even often, the one who fills it. Privilege is everywhere in the Empire, and no one gets to high places alone. Consider who around the Characters may resent them for their rise (small as it may be), or who see them as their own ticket up the social ladder. Use these class struggles as an opportunity for the world to change around the Characters, and in turn for the Character to change their world.
\n\n\nOptions: Transitional Status
\nChanging Status and Standing in the Old World is more difficult than merely finding a new job. To reflect this, you might have achieving new Status and Standing be a gradual process, counting a Career’s stated Status and Standing as its upper limit, rather than its new default.
\nWhen a Character changes Careers, the Status and Standing of their new Career is their upper limit, rather than their new default, with their current Status and Standing remaining where it was. Characters must act according to the rules laid out in @JournalEntry[Status]{Keeping Up Appearances} to raise their Status to its new maximum.
\n
A Character’s peers are often the first place they’ll want to go to find out information about their current Adventures, future opportunities, or just general gossip. As such, it’s a good idea to create a small cast of NPCs in any locale that the Characters will spend their time in who reflect the attitude and temperaments of the three Statuses. These NPCs can act as the mouth-pieces of their communities, as well as key contacts for the Characters as they inhabit those spaces.
\nFurthermore, if a locale includes members of certain restricted classes — represented through the Etiquette Talent — they should have their own NPC. Consider how these NPCs may overlap: perhaps a village has three NPCs of each Status, and two Criminal NPCs, one Brass and one Gold. What does this say about the nature of crime in the community? What does this mean for the Characters moving through it?
\nEncourage your Players to have their Characters consort primarily with their own communities, and then come together to share that knowledge. Each community will have different things they know about, care about, and can act on. Gold NPCs may be able to manipulate the courts or local State Army, whilst Servant communities likely have more personal noble gossip — because they spend so much time with nobles, who barely notice that they exist.
\n\n
\n\n‘We Don’t Serve Your Kind’
\nWhilst upper class types might think they rule the Old World, the realities of the Empire’s cities and towns is far different. It’s certainly true that a Brass Status individual would have a hard time getting into a palace, a Gold Status patron might find themselves uncomfortable in a seedy docker’s pub.
\nIn this way, places and situations can have a Status as well, and even have an @Compendium[wfrp4e-core.talents.sYbgpSnRqSZWgwFP]{Etiquette} Social Group attached to them, though these are only reserved for special scenes. When present, any NPCs who match the location’s Status count as being subject to a @JournalEntry[Psychology] against non-members.
\nIf the space includes an Etiquette that the Character lacks, count their Status as one step removed, in either direction, for the purposes of the above. If this would make a Status three steps removed (e.g. a Gold Status Character moving into a Brass Status space with the Criminal Etiquette), then the occupants of that space gain Hatred instead.
\nCharacters who comport themselves well, and strive to fit into the new crowd, may eventually develop a reputation with a specific space, and forgo these penalties, but this is rare and unlikely. Additionally, if members of the Character’s Status discover these transgressions, there may be negative effects within one’s own community.
\nAlso note that people of lower Status are unlikely to publicly attack people of higher Status, as this brings with it a lot of dangerous complications. So whilst a Gold Status Character moving into a Brass Status space with the Criminal Etiquette might find themselves getting murderous glances, they’re unlikely to get hurt when eyes are on them… however, as soon as they step outside into the alley, things might be very different, indeed.
\n
| \n | Brass | \nSilver | \nGold | \n
| Brass | \n- | \n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.GwjvDLZz3PvK6xgs]{Prejudice} | \n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.0VpT5yubw4UL7j6f]{Animosity} | \n
| Silver | \n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.GwjvDLZz3PvK6xgs]{Prejudice} | \n- | \n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.GwjvDLZz3PvK6xgs]{Prejudice} | \n
| Gold | \n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.0VpT5yubw4UL7j6f]{Animosity} | \n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.traits.GwjvDLZz3PvK6xgs]{Prejudice} | \n- | \n
Old World society is highly stratified — common folk are in little doubt as to their place in the society whilst the elite enjoy power and prestige that is brutally enforced and therefore largely unchallenged. Most people in between are acutely aware of their standing, and preoccupied with improving it. This is represented by Status, which can modify the interactions between people of different social classes.
\nStatus is expressed as a Tier — from lowest to highest: Brass, Silver, or Gold — and a Standing — which is a number, generally from 1–5, showing how respected the character is within their Tier.
\nIf you have a higher Tier than another character, you have higher Status. If you are in the same Tier as another character, then you are higher Status if you have a higher Standing.
\nThe most important distinctions in Status are the three Tiers:
\nThe Gold Tier: Reserved for the rulers of society; those who directly serve them as advisors, protectors, and maintainers of the law; and the independently wealthy. To reach this position requires hard work, success, and not a little luck. All in the Gold tier are rich, respected, and of higher Status than those in the Silver and Brass tiers.
\nThe Silver Tier: Populated by well-to-do townsfolk and those following professions requiring skill and expertise. Tradesmen, craftsmen, and merchants make up most of the upper ranks of the tier, whilst the bottom is filled by those providing services. These folk lead relatively humble lives, but they are still respectable. People of the Silver Tier are of higher Status than those of the Brass Tier.
\nThe Brass Tier: Occupied by peasants and those in the poorest professions which often require no particular skills. The Brass Tier also contains many criminals, ne’er-do-wells, and those who don’t make any living at all.
\nYour Status is determined by your Career level. Beside the name of your Career level is your Status, marked as ‘Brass 3’, ‘Silver 1’, or similar. This is the Tier and Standing. Should you change Career, check the new Status by the name of your new Career Level, and mark it on your Character Sheet.
\nStatus changes for the following reasons:
\nWhatever causes a change in Status, you should take time to explain what exactly occurred, and the impact this has on your character. If you have changed to a different Career Level, say from a Student to a Scholar, what precipitated this? What subject did you study? And how does your character now feel after graduating? Taking time to explain your changing circumstances makes your character more rounded and believable.
\nStatus influences a number of situations that impact your Character. Often these involve making Tests easier or more difficult. The GM may expand or limit these influences as they wish.
\nStatus impacts Charm significantly, with those of higher Status more easily able to get what they want, and those of lower status finding it harder to secure influence. In most circumstances, those of a higher Tier gain a bonus of +10 to Charm Tests influencing those with a lower tier. Similarly, those of lower Tier suffer a penalty of –10 to influence those of a higher Tier. The GM may also apply these modifiers to those of different Standing in the same Tier, but this is rarer.
\nIf the target of the Charm attempt is atypical, this might not work as usual however. An individual who ‘Defies Status’ would mean no modifiers apply, and one with ‘Extreme Views’ might mean that the opposite modifiers apply (–10 rather than +10, for example).
\nStatus does not normally influence Entertain tests. However, a GM ought to consider that some entertainments are thought fitting to particular venues. A peasant playing a hurdy-gurdy is not likely to go down well at an opera house, whilst even a mediocre orchestra is likely to draw a significant audience if it starts performing on the village green.
\nAs such the GM might like to consider the sort of audience a performance is normally aimed at, and the audience that is actually available, and apply suitable modifiers.
\nIf you have a higher Status than the target of your Intimidate, you typically gain a bonus of +10.
\nGossip tends to be stilted between people of different classes. Any Gossip Test between individuals of different Tiers suffers a penalty of –10.
\nStatus plays a very important role in Leadership. Indeed, the State Army normally only grants higher ranks to those of noble birth.
\nIf you are a higher tier than the target of your Leadership Test, you gain a bonus of +10. If you are two tiers higher, the bonus increases to +20.
\nIn order to benefit (or suffer) from Status, you have to act in accordance with your role in society.
\nIt may be that you wish to pass incognito, presenting yourself anonymously. Typically, you will be counted as having a Status of Brass 3 if you do this.
\n\n\nExample: Hans the noble wears the latest fashions and always buys the best trappings. He rides his lovingly groomed horse into a village, pausing only to let his herald announce his presence to all. He fully benefits from his Gold 2 Status. His brother Heinrich dresses in old clothes, hides all his courtly garb under the bed, and acts like a nameless wanderer. He is treated as having a Status of Brass 3.
\n
Characters need to spend a certain amount of money to maintain their lifestyle. As explained in @JournalEntry[The Cost of Living] there are minimum expectations of expenditure for each Tier.
\nShould a character fail to live up to these levels of expenditure they will begin to be perceived as being of lower Status, losing 1 point of Standing per week.
\nTo stop this decline, the character must resume spending the money expected of them, whereupon they regain 1 point of Standing a week until they recover the lost points.
\nShould Standing reach 0, your tier drops by one and your Standing is set to 5. If you are already at the lowest tier, then your Status sticks at Brass 0.
\n\n" }, { "id": "Steirlich Manor", "name": "Steirlich Manor", "description": "Example: Pietr is a Noble and has been slumming it in the East End of Altdorf for the last two weeks, letting his Standing of Gold 3 drop to Gold 1 as he eats poor food, drinks cheap beer, and hostels in flop houses. Should another week pass and Pietr does not change his ways, his Standing will drop to Gold 0, which immediately becomes Silver 5. Should this occur, Pietr’s father will almost certainly step in to curtail the family shame…
\n
On the southern slopes of the Hägercrybs, in the @JournalEntry[Duchy of Grauwerk], sits a heavily fortified manor atop a windswept ridge. The manor is ancient, a holding of the von Bruner family, and currently ruled by Graf Steirlich: both the Graf and his imposing manor were named for a famous ancestor who was gifted the land by Emperor Mandred Ratslayer in 1138IC.
\nThe Graf is steely eyed and ambitious, with a ruthless streak as wide as the Reik. He is well thought of amidst the local smallfolk for his determination to root out bandits and hunt down other menaces that would dare impinge upon his property. Indeed, there are whisperings that he may be a little too willing to investigate unnatural occurrences, for dark rumors of corruption swirl around the scions of the von Bruner line.
\nCertainly, the darkly handsome Graf is always on the lookout for stout hearts, stern wills, and strong sword-arms to help him maintain the peace, so few air their fears aloud.
\n\n
The major bridge over the River Ober, coupled with access to @JournalEntry[The Vorbergland] canal system, ensures a great deal of trade passes through Stimmigen on its way to Ubersreik, making it one of the busiest market towns in the Suden Vorbergland. It is widely famed for its lush orchards, and is the source of the Reikland’s best known apple, the sweet, yet tart, Ernwald. The Ernwald only flourishes in Stimmigen’s environs, proving resistant to attempts to cultivate it elsewhere in the Empire. In addition to curious horticulturists and jealous farmers, the Ernwald has attracted a significant Halfling population to the area, whose delicious apple pies, pastries and crumbles — not to mention crisp cider — can be found in most local hostelries all year round, and especially during Pie Week at the start of autumn. This Halfling festival is celebrated by all in Stimmigen, an opportunity for rich and poor alike to enjoy tastings and eating competitions, and generally gorge themselves on all manner of sweet, baked goods.
\n\n
@JournalEntry[Class Endeavors]: Rogues
\nYou use this Endeavour to observe a potential target and gain advantages during future criminal enterprises. A Charlatan may study a merchant in order to better impersonate them during a future scam, or a Grave Robber may linger about a Temple of Morr, watching the coming and going of the priests to get an idea of their practices and their Garden of Morr’s layout.
\nAttempt a Challenging (+0) Perception Test, though the difficulty may be modified for especially easy or difficult marks. If you succeed, you may reverse a Test concerning your mark once during your next adventure. Note this on your character sheet. You can enact this Endeavour multiple times if you wish. Further, the GM should provide information (or disinformation!) concerning your mark according to the SL you scored.
" }, { "id": "Taking Your Turn", "name": "Taking Your Turn", "description": "Combat is a dynamic, disorientating experience, with friend and foe desperately weaving around each other, blades flashing as thrust follows parry follows gunshot.
\nThe GM describes the situation — where everyone is, what your surroundings are like — and you can ask for more details to flesh things out and help plan your action. ‘How thick is the chandelier rope? Could an arrow cut it?’, for example. When it’s your Turn, you’ll make your Move and take Action!
\nOn your Turn you have a Move and an Action, you can take these in any order — it’s presumed you are probably doing both at the same time, and you can freely describe them as one combined manoeuvre. You can also skip taking an Action or Move, though you won’t get another opportunity until the next Round!
\nVivid descriptions of what you do will bring the Combat to life. Rather than declare your action is, ‘hit the Goblin’, it’s much more fun to say, ‘I Kick the chair in front of me towards the Goblins and lunge with my sword at the closest one’s throat’. You never know, the GM might reward you with the odd bonus for great roleplaying. This goes for the resolution of your Action too — the GM will describe the outcome, but you can certainly embellish it!
\nIn most circumstances, exact distances don’t matter too much. Use your Movement Characteristic as a guide to the ground you can cover, and the GM will let you know if the move will take more than one Turn. Reaching difficult places, perhaps by climbing or jumping, will also use your Action if you need to Test a Skill to get there (perhaps with a Climb or Athletics Test).
\nIf you are not already fighting someone, you can also use your Move to Charge into close combat, gaining +1 Advantage. For more on this, and for a detailed breakdown of movement speeds, leaping distances, and more, see @JournalEntry[Moving During Combat].
\nIn combat, your Action is used to do something. Whether that’s swing a sword at a Mutant, jump from rooftop to rooftop, or take a moment to gauge the situation, that’s up to you. Your Action is only limited by your imagination, the physical constraints of the fight location and the capabilities of your Character.
\nDescribe what you want your Character to do. The GM will then tell you if you need to make a Test to succeed at your planned Action. The results will then be narrated by you and the GM, ending your Action.
\n\n\nExample: Molli looks on nervously from behind a barrel as Salundra is beset by the flying fists of three pub brawlers keen to put the young captain in her place. On her Turn, Molli’s player asks if the pub has an upper floor. The GM confirms it does, and that it has a balcony overlooking the fight. Smiling, the player declares Molli will sprint upstairs and push a table down on the fight to help break it up using both her Move and Action. Given the upper floor isn’t far away, the GM decides Molli can get there in a single Round but pushing the small table there will take a little effort.
\nThe GM calls for an Average (+20) Athletics Test to heft the table over the balcony. Molli’s Athletics is 34, so she needs to roll 54 or under. She rolls 21, for +3 SL, and the table flies! Molli shouts out as the table tips: ‘Stop fighting!’ The GM states all combatants below must perform an Opposed Dodge Test against the +3 SL or be hit by the table. Unfortunately, only Salundra fails this, and the table lands squarely on her head…
\n
Some things you’ll want your Character to do won’t count as your Action for the round — such as shouting a warning, drawing your weapon, or drinking a potion. It’s the GM’s decision on what takes up your Action, and what you can do in a Round. A good general guide is that if an act requires you to make a Test, it is an Action rather than a Free Action.
\n\n\nOptions: On The Defense
\nWhat if you want to prepare to dodge or parry incoming blows, to hold a defensive position in a doorway, or use Language (Magick) to deploy an array of dispels? As your Action, choose a Skill to use defensively and you will get +20 to defensive Tests using the Skill until the start of your next Turn.
\n
" }, { "id": "The Aethyr", "name": "The Aethyr", "description": "
Magical abilities mark you as a figure of terror and awe in the Empire. Prior to the establishment of the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf, those able to wield magic were reviled outlaws. Nowadays being a witch is not illegal, but casting magic without a licence is. Spellcasters within the Empire must either study at the Colleges of Magic, refrain from casting spells, or hope no-one notices their illicit activity. Even licenced wizards are generally feared and avoided — legal status has done nothing to reduce the superstitious dread of the common folk.
\nMagic is seen as unnatural and is notorious for its darker elements: the crippling hexes of witchcraft, the raising of the dead, and the summoning of Daemonic entities. Even when practiced according to the teaching of the Colleges, magic can be the cause of trouble. The very source of magic is unstable, and even the most experienced spellcaster can lose focus, resulting in dangerous accidents and unexpected side-effects.
\nthat far to the north of the Empire, a great ragged wound was torn through the fabric of the world to the Aethyr, and it bleeds raw magic. These roiling energies — known as the Winds of Magic — blow throughout the world, gathering and eddying in great heavenly whorls, only to rain down and permeate the land and the creatures dwelling upon it. It is these powerful winds that wizards and witches use to fuel their spells.
\nAs magical power bursts into the mortal realm and sweeps down from the north, it splinters and separates, like light splitting through a prism. The Colleges of Magic state this creates eight discrete Winds referred to by colour, each with its own character and strengths. The Elves support this, teaching the same eight winds to their apprentices before moving on to more powerful magics.
\nOnly a small minority of Humans can perceive the Winds, and even fewer can bend them to their will. Most Elves are sensitive to them, and many possess the ability to see the Winds clearly — commonly known as Second Sight, or just the Sight — with many also able to learn how to cast magic. Dwarfs disdain magic, perhaps because they are partially immune to it, and no Dwarf wizards are known. Halflings are largely indifferent towards magic: except when it delivers impressive or entertaining spectacles.
\nThe Elves directed (as a condition of their tuition) that Human spellcasters should each only use a single Wind of Magic. They argued that while it is possible to cast spells by drawing from multiple winds, doing so is a risky proposition for the feeble, corruptible Human mind. This wisdom has been adopted by the Colleges, and each specialises in a single colour.
\nSome witches outside the College system consider these restrictions ludicrous, an attempt by the Elves to keep the most powerful magics to themselves. Drawing on multiple winds is a quick route to power, but also to damnation. Many an unlicensed witch has proved unable to resist this temptation, a practice usually called Dark Magic, only to be brought low by Witch Hunters.
\nOthers believe magical energies are not so easily categorised. Many different types of ‘wizard’ and ‘witch’ can be found throughout the Old World, with some practicing magic that seems to lie outside colour magic, such as the cold-hearted Ice Witches of Kislev, or the shamans and sorcerers found amongst some of the other species besetting the Empire, such as the Greenskins.
\n\n\nWhat Is The Aethyr?
\nThere is much heated debate between ‘experts’ on the nature of magic. The lecture halls of the Empire’s most learned institutions often see ambitious scholars expound on their latest theories. Some liken magic to the backstage of a theatre, a mass of mechanisms, props, and hidden pulleys responsible for the drama viewed by the audience. Others resort to mathematical metaphors, complete with incomprehensible esoteric diagrams. Although such may end with an air of confident finality, it will only be met with polite coughs, raised hands, and a litany of objections and exceptions.
\n
The Winds of Magic may blow through all things incessantly, but they are relatively harmless until harnessed by the Language of Magick. For reasons not fully understood, when certain sounds are uttered by those attuned to magic, the Winds answer. The Colleges of Magic teach a complex language called the lingua praestantia which form the basis of their spells, originally taught to Humanity by the Elves. Although extraordinarily difficult to correctly annunciate, it is a significant simplification of the Elven tongue Anoqeyån , the language used by the Elves to shape their own, more powerful magics. Wizards of the Colleges and the Elves are not alone in their knowledge of the Language of Magick. Its complex forms are also spoken by many magical creatures found across the Old World, including Spirits and Daemons. Many witches seem to instinctively understand the language, almost as if it somehow wormed inside them, begging to be spoken as a spell.
\nEach of the eight Winds of Magic has an associated Lore, a body of spells and knowledge its adepts use. Each of the eight Colleges of Magic is dedicated to the study of a single Lore, and their buildings are constructed to focus their Wind to facilitate relatively safe tuition.
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Light]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Metal]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Life]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Heavens]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Shadows]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Death]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Fire]
\n@JournalEntry[The Lore of Beasts]
\nElves are long lived beings whose minds are more attuned to the workings of magic than those of humanity. High Elven mages usually train in several, sometimes all, of the eight winds as part of their apprenticeships, before the most promising move on to study High Magic: Qhaysh . This is the blending of multiple winds of magic together into a blinding, coruscating energy. This magic is impressive and difficult, and Elves claim it is beyond the capacity of humankind.
\nThe Wood Elves, too, make use of the eight Winds of Magic, though their Spellsingers usually focus upon the Jade and Amber Winds. The most powerful usually go on to study either High Magic like High Elves, or dread Dark Magic – a foul mixing of the eight winds that can create tremendously destructive effects.
\nWhile difficult to master Qhaysh is the safe blending of multiple Winds of Magic, Dhar , known commonly as Dark Magic, is much more dangerous method of casting spells using multiple winds. It is usually only practiced by evil sorcerers, Necromancers, and powerful witches, offering them a seductive source of raw power, yet one laced with terrible side-effects. Few can channel Dhar for long, without succumbing to the corrupting influence of the malevolent wind, their bodies and minds being warped into unnatural states.
\nDhar resembles a stagnant mire to those with the Sight, pooling in places saturated with evil, or corruption: the herdstones of Beastmen, the dark idols of chaos cultists, and places where great workings of several of the Winds of Magic took place. Dhar is so dense and potent that it can independently coalesce or crystalize into physical matter, eventually forming the widely feared substance called warpstone.
\nWarpstone is a lump of pure magic in the material plane. Its unnatural provenance is immediately obvious to all who see it, as it hurts the eyes and mutates anything drawing close for too long. Although its form varies, it often holds hard facets like flint, and radiates a queasy green glow.
\nClose examination of the substance is not to be undertaken lightly. Warpstone is the stuff of Chaos made manifest and its presence is deeply corrupting. Those who have direct contact with warpstone risk illness, madness and mutation, and anyone who ingests so much as a pinch of the stuff dooms themselves to catastrophic warping of body and mind. Nonetheless, the world is full of reckless, ambitious fools who know that the volatile and dangerous substance is a tremendous source of energy for spells and rituals.
\nThe followers of Chaos and the Skaven do not hesitate to use it. To them, warpstone is a literal gift from the gods to be valued above gold and jewels, and to be used against their enemies.
\nIn less frequented corners of the Empire, in villages and rural communities far from the influence of the Colleges of Magic, older forms of magic are still practiced even though they are outlawed and punishable by death. There are uncounted varieties of these, but two of the more common Lores still practised by Humans are Hedgecraft and Witchcraft.
\nPractitioners of Hedgecraft generally live quiet lives on the fringes of smaller human settlements, in service to local communities. Just as they live their lives in the ‘hedge’ between civilisation and the wilds of nature, so much of their magic concerns itself with the liminal space between the material world and the realm of the spirits. Their magic tends to focus on folklore, spirits and the natural world, as well as means to aid the rural communities which shelter them. Once a relatively common sight in the Empire, over two centuries of persecution since the founding of the Colleges of Magic has all but wiped them out.
\nWhile the Lore of Witchcraft is not inherently malicious, or tied to the gods of Chaos, it has a justly earned reputation for evil and unpleasantness. Often self-taught and using multiple Winds of Magic, those practising the Lore of Witchcraft lack the discipline or knowledge of College wizards and are at a significant risk of corruption. The combination of the corrosive effects of Dhar and being shunned by right-minded folk of the Empire often makes these Witches bitter, spiteful souls, their hearts hard and flinty, their gaze baleful and ill-omened.
\n" }, { "id": "The Bögen", "name": "The Bögen", "description": "
The people of @JournalEntry[Bögenhafen] claim Bögenauer, their town’s patron deity, is responsible for the commerce-blessed state of the Bögen. A relatively placid river with a clear, smooth, but not overly swift flow, the Bögen readily allows traffic to sail upriver nearly as easily as down. Its great depth allows larger river going vessels to navigate safely from @JournalEntry[The Reik] all the way to Bögenhafen. Though its source lies deep in the freezing peaks of @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains], the Bögen turns warm as it flows through the hilly Vorbergland, which frequently causes heavy mists to gather along its banks. Most evenings, fingers of roiling fog rise from the Bögen, wrapping tendrils about nearby settlements and the surrounding @JournalEntry[The Reikwald]{Reikwald}. This is frequently thick enough to obscure vision, so thieves, smugglers, and worse use it to conceal their nocturnal activities.
\n\n
As they wander the Empire, adventurers likely fill their purses with coins of all three denominations, perhaps poor one day, unexpectedly rich the next. However, outside adventuring, most lives centre on a single coin type as determined by @JournalEntry[Status]{Social Status}.
\nThose seeking to maintain their Status must also keep up appearances. After all, if you repeatedly appear as poorer than you are, others will unsurprisingly think you’re poor. In practice, dressing and eating as expected, and using trappings that are fitting for your station, is enough for most folks to simply accept you at face value. What this requires in practice is left up to the GM to determine, using the following as a guide:
\nFor GMs preferring hard numbers, spending around half your Status every day is usually enough to maintain appearances, though you may be living a little frugally. So, if you have a Status of Silver 4, spending at least 2 shillings per day will do for food and board, where if you have Brass 2 Status, you need only spend a pfennig a day.
\n\n" }, { "id": "The Cult of Manann, God of the Sea", "name": "The Cult of Manann, God of the Sea", "description": "Money Slang
\nVarious slang terms are used for coins across the Empire. Here are some of the more common terms.
\n\n
\n- Gold Crowns: Marks, Karls, Gelt
\n- Silver Shillings: Bob, Shimmies, Mucks
\n- Brass Pennies: Pfennigs, Clanks, Shrapnel
\n
Seat of Power: Marienburg, the Wasteland
\nHead of the Cult: Matriarch of the Sea
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Albatross, Order of the Mariner Major Festivals: Spring Equinox, Autumn Equinox
\nPopular Holy Books: The 1000 Shanties, Tales of the Albatross, Liber Manaan
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Five-tined Crown, Waves, Anchors
\nVolatile Manann, the son of Taal and Rhya, is the capricious King of the Sea, Master of the Maelstroms, and Summoner of Storms. Known for his black moods and erratic temper, folk claim his cult is needed more than any other, for if ever there is a god that must be appeased, it’s Manaan. He’s depicted as an enormous, black-bearded man with seaweed in his hair and a great, five-pointed crown of black iron upon his troubled brow. He’s said to dwell at the bottom of the ocean, the rise and fall of his massive chest forming the waves and tides as the greatest monsters of the deep gather in his court.
\nManann is worshipped along coasts throughout the Old World, wherever people make their living from the sea or live close enough for storms and floods to threaten their homes. Even those who know little of Manann will throw a coin or other small treasure into the water before beginning a sea voyage in the hope of a smooth crossing.
\nThe cult has a significant number of orders, mostly monastic, tasked to guard isolated, sacred islands. The Order of the Albatross is largest, comprised of priests who maintain temples across the Old World and bless merchant or naval vessels with their presence. Often accompanying them, the Order of the Mariner is the military arm of Manann, the cult’s templar-marines, sworn protectors of Marienburg.
\nManann’s clerics usually wear robes of dark greenish-blue or blue-grey, trimmed with a white wave-pattern.
\nManann’s temples are found in all coastal towns and cities, and in most river ports where seagoing vessels berth. The high temple is in the great port-city of Marienburg: a huge, lavishly decorated complex open to the tides. The Matriarch of the Sea, head of the Order of the Albatross, is based there, a woman who ostensibly leads the entire cult of Manann, although in practice the sea-god’s clerics are as mercurial as their god, and as likely to be stubborn as to serve. The cult also maintains many monasteries and abbeys on small isolated islands, most dedicated to one of Manann’s many saints.
\nPenances from Manann often involve hazardous, maritime pilgrimages, tests of sailing skills, or expeditions against the sea-god’s enemies, especially followers of the heretical cult of Stromfels, God of Pirates, Wreckers, and Sharks.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- No whistling or swearing when at sea or on holy ground.
\n- Never harm an albatross.
\n- First catch to Manann.
\n- A silver and fish to every Manannite temple and shrine approached.
\n- Hunt down the servants of Stromfels wherever they may hide.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ElmLfnrXliStS9CP]{Blessing of Battle}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.TKHvOsihelBStO6i]{Blessing of Breath}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Cg2Q3TV66cpmheHS]{Blessing of Courage}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.0r3moMIHXsBrcOyh]{Blessing of Hardiness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.eBRjKAF6U0yR0KK8]{Blessing of Savagery}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.GvaOlWY8iD5CO1WB]{Blessing of Tenacity}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Geo6EAR39JzaP9P2]{Becalm}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.i5DW3xX2lGu6Pps6]{Drowned Man's Face}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.nQ9Fydtqshroi11E]{Fair Winds}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.IKW03JiqXVdDoPA6]{Manann's Bounty}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.VUyCJ5LRPkuC5iZx]{Sea Legs}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.iWVQRVDVDCx1SyPA]{Waterwalk}
\n" }, { "id": "The Cult of Morr, God of Death", "name": "The Cult of Morr, God of Death", "description": "
Seat of Power: Luccini, Tilea
\nHead of the Cult: Custode del Portale
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Shroud, Order of the Black Guard, Order of the Augurs
\nMajor Festivals: Hexensnacht, Geheimisnacht
\nPopular Holy Books: The Book of Doorways, Libro Dei Morti, Thernodies of the Raven
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Portals, Ravens, Black Roses
\nUrbane Morr, God of Death and King of the Underworld, is husband to Verena, brother to murderous Khaine, and father of Myrmidia and Shallya. He sends divine ravens to guide dead souls to the Portal, the pillared gateway between the mortal realms and the realm of the gods. He then leads each soul from there to its final resting place: either Morr’s Underworld, or the afterlife of another god. He is commonly portrayed as a tall, dark-haired man of aristocratic bearing, with a brooding, intense air.
\nOutside Ostermark, where Morr has special importance, few wish to attract the God of Death’s attention, so normally only the bereaved pray to him. However, those desperate or brave enough may pray for dreams of what the future may bring, though it is said he rarely divulges anything not associated with dying.
\nThe Order of the Shroud dominates the cult, directly controlling all other orders and the Mourners’ Guild, those responsible for overseeing burials and burial grounds. Supporting them, the Black Guard are the cult’s largest templar order, tasked to guard temples and hunt down the Undead. The Order of Augurs may be small, but it guides the leadership
\nwith its foretellings, and organises the Order of Doomsayers: these wandering priests of Morr tour the land performing Doomings for all Human children on their tenth year. Bringing them all together, every decade a grand convocation of the priesthood of Morr is held at Luccini in Tilea, where the future for the cult is discussed around city-wide festivities.
\nAll Morr’s clerics wear plain, black, hooded robes without adornment or trimming.
\nTemples of Morr are within Gardens of Morr: great graveyards wrapped with black roses that bloom all year, and are rarely used for anything other than funeral services. Most are plain structures of dark stone, distinguished by a broad doorway with a heavy lintel-stone — representing Morr’s Portal. The doors are always open, like the doors to the Kingdom of Death. Inside, the temples are bare. Any necessary furniture and other equipment is kept in storage until it is needed for a funeral service. Shrines to Morr also take the form of a gateway, usually consisting of two plain pillars and a lintel. In some cases, one pillar is white marble and the other black basalt.
\nMorr’s penances typically involve hunting Necromancers and destroying Undead, or finding and restoring burial places and holy sites fallen to disuse and disrepair. He also occasionally requires servants of Khaine be stopped from fulfilling their dark deeds.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Respect and protect the dead.
\n- Hunt down Necromancers and the Undead wherever they may gather.
\n- Pay heed to your dreams.
\n- Never refuse to conduct a funeral service.
\n- At no time be a party to raising the dead, unless allowed by Morr.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.TKHvOsihelBStO6i]{Blessing of Breath}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Cg2Q3TV66cpmheHS]{Blessing of Courage}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.iIfYOlNrLb0uiV8c]{Blessing of Fortune}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.2WN0muIB2BFd4kBO]{Blessing of Righteousness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.GvaOlWY8iD5CO1WB]{Blessing of Tenacity}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.FRkIz2sR7ZC92W2G]{Blessing of Wisdom}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.0AQheUiRtffqfKNg]{Death Mask}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.sdSy4k7ygDhAjSSX]{Destroy Undead}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.itARFNqBAbwNDAAy]{Dooming}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.rbdxcYoj8N2eMaqV]{Last Rites}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.uE6AXjMjYvtvXQvy]{Portal's Threshold}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.SjKFVBXgLC51dnQz]{Stay Morr's Hand}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Myrmidia, Goddes of Strategy", "name": "The Cult of Myrmidia, Goddes of Strategy", "description": "Seat of Power: Magritta, Estalia
\nHead of the Cult: La Aguila Ultima
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Eagle, Order of the Righteous Spear, Order of the Blazing Sun
\nMajor Festivals: None in the Empire
\nPopular Holy Books: Bellona Myrmidia, Bellum Strategia, The Book of War
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Spear behind a shield, eagles, suns
\nIn the Empire, bronzed Myrmidia, daughter of Verena and Morr, sister of Shallya, is the Goddess of Strategy and Scientific Warfare. However, in the sun-drenched south, Myrmidia is much more than this: she acts as the patron deity of both the Estalian Kingdoms and the Tilean City States, and is fanatically worshipped in both realms. Because of this, her cult is the largest in the Old World, for all it has a limited presence in the Empire. She is commonly portrayed as a tall, muscular, young woman armed and equipped in archaic, southern stylings. She is known for her calm, honourable approach to all matters, and her clerics do what they can to emulate this.
\nMyrmidia grants generals the insight to win battles with minimal losses, and soldiers the skill-at-arms to defeat enemies quickly and without significant losses. Because of this, her cult is steadily growing among the armies and garrisons of the Empire, especially in the Reikland, Averland, and Wissenland. In the Empire, the cult has three orders of significance. The Order of the Eagle tends to the temples and their surrounding communities, and is led from Nuln by the ‘Eagle of the North’, the most powerful Myrmidian north of the Vaults. The templar Order of the Righteous Spear has a chapterhouse attached to each of these temples, each commanded by the local high priest. A second templar order, the Order of the Blazing Sun, is the oldest Myrmidian order in the Empire, and works independently of the Order of the Eagle.
\nMyrmidia’s clerics in the Empire normally wear blue cowls over white robes with red edging, with her symbol either sewn onto the left breast or worn as a cloak-clasp.
\nMost of Myrmidia’s holy sites are found in Estalia and Tilea, and are associated with the goddess’s campaigns across those realms when she manifested as a mortal over two-thousand years ago. In the Empire, the goddess has much less of a presence, with temples only in major towns and cities, and only a single monastic order cloistered in the Monastery of the Black Maiden in Wissenland. Temples to Myrmidia tend to follow the architectural styles of Tilea and Estalia, with domed roofs covering square or rectangular halls. Their exteriors are often carved with low reliefs showing battle scenes or tableaux of weapons and shields. Shrines may take the form of miniature temples, statues of the goddess, or free-standing sculptures of stacked weapons, shields, and armour. Myrmidia’s holy sites are also known for their scandalous depictions of the goddess and her saints, who are often presented wearing little more than scarves about their waists, which many Sigmarites find completely unacceptable.
\nPenances from Myrmidia are usually military in nature. A cultist may be ordered to defeat an enemy champion in single combat, or to train a group of peasants and lead them in the defence of their village. Protecting pilgrimage routes to sites of importance to Myrmidia are also not uncommon.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Act with honour and dignity in all matters.
\n- Respect prisoners of war, and never kill an enemy who surrenders
\n- Show no mercy to the unrepentant enemies of Humanity.
\n- Obey all honourable orders.
\n- Preserve the weak from the horrors of war.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ElmLfnrXliStS9CP]{Blessing of Battle}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tEMwdlHM8A40h6HE]{Blessing of Conscience}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Cg2Q3TV66cpmheHS]{Blessing of Courage}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.iIfYOlNrLb0uiV8c]{Blessing of Fortune}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.K5DE9cceinUTIrem]{Blessing of Protection}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.2WN0muIB2BFd4kBO]{Blessing of Righteousness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Q91bWCEn0gt33fGT]{Blazing Sun}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.7KUKKbXBv8MbyEHt]{Eagle's Eye}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.nyZNUwJ54MTLKQ7Y]{Fury's Call}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ezVl3vFWTwHfNXL3]{Inspiring}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.V8GCeqgk1FNGFg76]{Shield of Myrmidia}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.BVZWihaal1zq3aJs]{Spear of Myrmidia}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Ranald, God of Trickery", "name": "The Cult of Ranald, God of Trickery", "description": "Seat of Power: None officially
\nHead of the Cult: None officially, though rumours persist of a cult leader marked with ten crosses
\nPrimary Orders: The Crosses, the Brotherhood, the Crooked Fingers
\nMajor Festivals: The Day of Folly
\nPopular Holy Books: The Riddles Ten, Midnight and the Black Cat, The Great Joke
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Crossed fingers, Cats, Magpies
\nAccording to myth, Ranald was once mortal, a gentle bandit who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. This so charmed Shallya that the goddess fell in love. One fateful day, she found Ranald dying, fatally touched by the plagues of the Fly Lord. Unable to accept this, she let Ranald drink from her holy chalice, granting the rogue eternal life. But it was all a trick — Ranald had faked it all — and, laughing, the new god gleefully danced into the heavens. While generally portrayed as a dapper Human wearing a perpetual smile, there is little consistency to the height, weight, skin colour, or even gender of Ranald, though the god is more commonly portrayed as male in the Empire. More a cheerful trickster than outright criminal, Ranald is said to have a love of deflating pride with clever tricks and ruses.
\nRanald most commonly stands as a patron to thieves and rogues, but the cult also attracts gamblers, liars, merchants, tricksters, and the poor and downtrodden.
\nThe cult of Ranald is, by general perception, a disorganised rabble of charlatans, thieves, and ne’er-do-wells. However, it is more co-ordinated than it appears, and split into three primary orders. The Crosses are the most accepted — a priesthood overseeing the cult’s gambling-dens, typically using the proceeds to administer to the poor. The Brotherhood is less open, and is somewhat akin to a secret society of merchants — they use business to bring the pompous and greedy to their knees. Lastly, and most widespread, is the publicly disavowed Crooked Fingers, the thieves, rogues, and liars of Ranald, a group that is roundly distrusted.
\nCultists of Ranald have no conventional garb to identify them, but always work cross symbols into their clothing somewhere, perhaps as a repeating pattern.
\nRanald has no formal temple organisation, although the cult maintains seemingly unconnected gambling dens in most towns and cities. Small shrines are found in the headquarters of many criminal gangs and merchant houses, and the poorer quarters of many cities have street-corner shrines dedicated to the God of Luck. The latter are often maintained by local ‘shrine clubs’ which operate as both social and religious bodies, and are usually led by one of the Crooked Fingers. Shrines are almost never elaborate, often just a simple, smiling statue with crossed fingers behind the back, or a crudely depicted cat or magpie, often fashioned as if smiling.
\nRanald’s penances usually involve stealing into locked and guarded locations to recover precious items or leave a token of their presence. Humiliating oppressors of the poor is also common — perhaps by framing a brutal Watch captain for a ludicrous crime, for example, or locking him in his own cells. Ranald often sends favoured and disfavoured cultists alike on a ‘Pilgrimage of Fingers’, a set of tasks proving capability and loyalty.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- One coin in ten belongs to Ranald.
\n- Never betray another to the authorities; there is no greater sin than informing.
\n- Violence is prohibited except in self-defence.
\n- It is better to live free and die than live under oppression.
\n- There is no honour among thieves, but there is amongst Ranaldans.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.FElNQGNiPzaOwwKT]{Blessing of Charisma}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tEMwdlHM8A40h6HE]{Blessing of Conscience}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.OkKWAfnMiHfxhTnB]{Blessing of Finesse}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.iIfYOlNrLb0uiV8c]{Blessing of Fortune}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.K5DE9cceinUTIrem]{Blessing of Protection}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tMocig1z9dHKNiCT]{Blessing of Wit}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.cTZVEgAyT9l4vx3i]{An Invitation }
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Bo3ukcaipFNb7Ljl]{Cat's Eyes}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.hL7B3d7A0sYYjHXn]{Ranald's Grace}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.QSwJNH8sotKjtdi4]{Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.FfGboPdR54WHtkAE]{Stay Lucky}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.fABd17NZvg2uUReL]{You Ain’t Seen Me, Right?}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Rhya, Goddess of Fertility", "name": "The Cult of Rhya, Goddess of Fertility", "description": "Seat of Power: None officially
\nHead of the Cult: None
\nPrimary Orders: None
\nMajor Festivals: Summer Solstice, with equinoxes also celebrated
\nPopular Holy Books: None, though many oral traditions exist Common Holy Symbols: Sheaf of wheat, fruit, spirals
\nBountiful Rhya is the Goddess of Fertility and Summer, widely known as the Earth Mother and She Who Sustains Life. Though typically depicted as the wife of Taal, myths connect her to many gods, and she has children from many of those relationships. Most commonly portrayed as a tall, beautiful women wreathed in leaves and bedecked in fruit, Rhya’s statues are normally nude, pregnant, and surrounded by her children. Many theologians tie Rhya to the Old Faith, a prehistoric cult comprised of ancient farmers and hunters who wrested a living from the land before the Empire was born, and one still found in secluded communities to this day.
\nRural folk across the Old World venerate Rhya, relying on her to provide the crops upon which their lives depends. Womanfolk comprise the main body of the cult, and most midwives pay at least lip-service to Rhya’s Wisdom, a set of oral traditions surrounding childbirth. Although she is not openly worshipped in the towns and cities — townsfolk often turning to Shallya in her stead — her name is frequently tied with Taal’s, so she is still well known amongst such people.
\nBecause the cult has no great temples and protects no holy books or relics of significance, many scholars believe her worship to be declining, and possibly already dead. Her many cultists do nothing to contradict such talk.
\nRhya’s cultists have no fixed vestment or preferred garb, though greens are very common, as is using plants, flowers, or herbs to accessorise any clothing. They often dress in a fashion considered far too revealing by Sigmarite doctrine, which can cause friction as the Rhyans believe giving in to such prudishness is tantamount to encouraging the Prince of Excess into your lives, as it builds forbidden desires. Devotees of Sigmar invariably disagree, believing abstinence and restricting temptation is a better response to such dangers than indulgence.
\nRhya has no large temples, though many ancient sites constructed from oghams (standing stones) are centres of worship for her cult, and some still echo each equinox with the cries of fevered celebrants.
\nShrines to Rhya are usually simple statues of the goddess, often piled high with offerings of food and drink. Older shrines are often made of small standing stones marked with worn, spiralled patterns.
\nRhyan penances may involve replanting devastated areas, helping broken households, and maintaining sacred groves. It is also common to find Rhyans tasked to protect helpless families, which can often put them at odds with local bailiffs and law enforcement.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Defend families, children, and crops from all harm.
\n- Never feel shame for the flesh Rhya gave you.
\n- Life is sacred, do no harm lest another life is in danger.
\n- Never judge whom another loves.
\n- Interrupt the work of the Prince of Excess wherever it may thirst
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.TKHvOsihelBStO6i]{Blessing of Breath}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tEMwdlHM8A40h6HE]{Blessing of Conscience}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.maUl7MoLvuvTOhM0]{Blessing of Grace}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.C92dpJPRYpkZFsGu]{Blessing of Healing}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.K5DE9cceinUTIrem]{Blessing of Protection}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Jkt465WPdRcejLwl]{Blessing of Recuperation}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.qB1T6ii29jreZBRP]{Rhya's Children}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.OiMiQmsv1mut24jD]{Rhya's Harvest}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.25trttu8NxFQQCo9]{Rhya's Shelter}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.pBWXlJDOE7tfl8hP]{Rhya's Succour}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.0uT3mzx8v4H3gVQj]{Rhya's Touch}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.dDxhGgBBM9CugxsH]{Rhya's Union}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Shallya, Goddess of Mercy", "name": "The Cult of Shallya, Goddess of Mercy", "description": "Seat of Power: Couronne, Bretonnia
\nHead of the Cult: Grande Matriarch
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Bleeding Heart, Order of the Chalice
\nMajor Festivals: None
\nPopular Holy Books: The Book of Suffering, Livre des Larmes, The Testament of Pergunda
\nCommon Holy Symbols: White doves, keys, heart with a drop of blood
\nShallya is the Goddess of Healing, Mercy, and Compassion. She is the daughter of Verena and Morr, and the sister of Myrmidia. Shallya is normally portrayed as a young, beautiful maiden whose eyes are perpetually welling with tears as she weeps for the world’s pain. It is said Shallya’s compassion knows no bounds, and in some myths — such as the stories of Ranald tricking her into granting him immortality, or Manaan trapping her at the bottom of the sea — she seems trusting to the point of foolishness. However, her cultists maintain her mercy is available to all, without judgment. True foolishness consists of presuming to judge who is worthy of Shallya’s grace and who is not.
\nMost Old Worlders think of Shallya’s cult as composed of healers and physicians, but her worshippers also include many who work to help alleviate suffering of other kinds: charitable souls who help the poor; workers in orphanages, asylums, and refuges; and even brave folk who go in search of lost and missing people on behalf of their loved ones. The cult is ruled by the far-reaching Order of the Bleeding Heart, which maintains all the temples, hospices, mercyhouses, and other holy sites. The significantly smaller Order of the Chalice tasks its mendicants to cleanse the Fly Lord’s influence, tackling the worst diseases and plagues wherever they may fester.
\nShallya’s cultists all wear white robes, often hooded, with a bleeding heart symbol embroidered on the left breast.
\nThe high temple of all Shallya’s cult is in Couronne, Bretonnia, built over a famous healing spring. Locals claim the magical waters were once poured there from the same chalice Shallya used to grant Ranald immortality, which they claim is the holy grail of the Lady, the patron Goddess of Bretonnia. Whatever the truth, it is a popular destination for pilgrims, many of whom travel there to be healed from intractable disease. Elsewhere, every town or city of any size has a temple to Shallya, and most smaller settlements have at least a shrine dedicated to her. Temples of Shallya normally consist of a courtyard with a temple on one side and an infirmary on the other, all constructed in southern styles. Larger temples have smaller subsidiary chapels, commonly endowed by local families, and are often connected to hospitals. Shrines are usually simple, often with the dove or heart of Shallya carved into stone, or with small fountains gushing eternal tears from simple statues.
\nPenances set by Shallya always involve helping the sick, poor, or downtrodden. A cultist might be sent to a village struck by a plague to tend the sick until the disease has passed. Shallya often tasks her servants to help the wounded at war, or patrol popular pilgrimage routes for those unable to complete their journeys due to ill health.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Always render assistance without judgement, based only on a person’s need.
\n- Never kill except in self-defence or when facing followers of the Fly Lord.
\n- Hunt down servants of the Fly Lord wherever they may fester.
\n- Shallya’s work is never done, so turn not to self-indulgence.
\n- Never take up arms; a walking stick and courage will suffice.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.TKHvOsihelBStO6i]{Blessing of Breath}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tEMwdlHM8A40h6HE]{Blessing of Conscience}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.C92dpJPRYpkZFsGu]{Blessing of Healing}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.K5DE9cceinUTIrem]{Blessing of Protection}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Jkt465WPdRcejLwl]{Blessing of Recuperation}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.GvaOlWY8iD5CO1WB]{Blessing of Tenacity}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.uMECZBuDnb3qkc7k]{Anchorite's Endurance}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.8LcAFB6W37LDN70K]{Balm to a Wounded Mind}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.UtgGJK46K08TZpP5]{Bitter Catharsis}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.YCjWyU567vb4Rs11]{Martyr}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.YAauxOwJJa3JahxQ]{Shallya's Tears}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.SItGUVYokyOo7csk]{Unblemished Innocence}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Sigmar, God of the Empire", "name": "The Cult of Sigmar, God of the Empire", "description": "Seat of Power: Altdorf, Reikland
\nHead of the Cult: The Grand Theogonist
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Anvil, Order of the Cleansing Flame, Order of the Silver Hammer, Order of the Torch Major Festivals: Sigmarday (28th Sigmarzeit)
\nPopular Holy Books: The Book of Sigmar, Deus Sigmar, The Geistbuch
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Ghal-maraz (Sigmar’s Warhammer), twin-tailed comets, griffons
\nSigmar is the Empire’s patron, and his cult dominates the realm. Because Sigmar was once the emperor, his worship is inextricably interwoven with politics, and three of the cult’s highest-ranking members are directly involved with electing new emperors. According to legend, 2,500 years ago Sigmar’s birth was heralded by a twin-tailed comet, and he was born the first son of the chief of the Unberogen tribe. When older, he received the magical warhammer Ghal-maraz (‘Skull-splitter’) as a gift from the Dwarf king Kurgan Ironbeard for saving his life from Greenskins. Sigmar later allied with the Dwarfs and their combined forces defeated the Greenskins. He was then crowned as the first emperor of the Human tribes he’d united. After fifty years of extraordinary rule, Sigmar mysteriously vanished, only to later ascend to divinity, crowned as a god by Ulric, Sigmar’s patron in life.
\nMost folk of the Empire pay at least lip-service to their patron deity. In the most devout provinces, like Reikland, Sigmar worship is an unquestioned part of daily life. Folk attend weekly ‘throngs’ where the lessons of Sigmar are preached. Many also attend temple to train as local militia, confess sins and purify the soul, or receive advice on how to be more like the God-King of old. Sigmar’s cult is comprised of an uncounted number of different orders. The largest is the Order of the Torch: Sigmar’s priests who lead their local communities. Other orders of importance include: the Order of the Cleansing Flame, comprised of inquisitors and witch hunters; the Order of the Silver Hammer, which includes warrior priests and yet more witch hunters; and the Order of the Anvil, a monastic order concerned with preserving Sigmar’s deeds and laws. The cult also has many templar orders. The most famous are the proud Knights of Sigmar’s Blood, the fanatical Knights of the Fiery Heart, and the militaristic Knights Griffon. Given the cult is so large, there are many different uniforms, vestments, and robes worn, all of which have different colours, cuts, and accessories according to local tradition and requirement.
\nEvery city, town, and village in the Empire has at least one temple to Sigmar. The Grand Cathedral in Altdorf is staffed by hundreds of priests and lay workers, and guarded by at least two orders of templars; at the other end of the scale, a village chapel may be visited just once every week by a travelling priest, who serves the needs of several small settlements. Shrines can be found in most homes, and wayshrines dot every major highway, mostly marked with hammers or comets.
\nSigmarite cultists may be ordered to destroy a cell of Chaos-worshippers, or expose a corrupt official who is secretly in league with the Ruinous Powers or a foreign power. It is also common to be tasked with building, or rebuilding, local communities to better promote unity and strength in the Empire.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Obey your orders.
\n- Aid Dwarf-folk, never do them harm.
\n- Promote the unity of the Empire.
\n- Bear true allegiance to the imperial throne.
\n- Root out Greenskins, Chaos worshippers, and foul witches without mercy.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ElmLfnrXliStS9CP]{Blessing of Battle}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Cg2Q3TV66cpmheHS]{Blessing of Courage}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.0r3moMIHXsBrcOyh]{Blessing of Hardiness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.KSDrXcieyRc37YI7]{Blessing of Might}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.K5DE9cceinUTIrem]{Blessing of Protection}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.2WN0muIB2BFd4kBO]{Blessing of Righteousness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Dk0zjtcANtahntHx]{Beacon of Righteous Virtue}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Ffm7xIlRUWyacvKU]{Heed Not the Witch}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.WgZx3xma6vYGz17e]{Sigmar's Fiery Hammer}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.5fVTY8TSua3trOW8]{Soulfire}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.rjkMzFwN1trbSLL8]{Twin-tailed Comet}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.I8YPP2uRmUKyHEq2]{Vanquish the Unrighteous}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Taal, God of the Wild", "name": "The Cult of Taal, God of the Wild", "description": "Seat of Power: Talabheim, Talabecland
\nHead of the Cult: The Hierarch
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Antler, The Longshanks
\nMajor Festivals: Spring Equinox, with other equinoxes also celebrated
\nPopular Holy Books: The Book of Green, Rites of the Ancient Grove, Tome of Summer’s Path
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Antlers, oaks, stone axes
\nTaal is the God of Wild Places and Animals, and the King of Nature. He is the husband to Rhya, and father to Manaan, and is perceived by Taalites to be the king of the gods, though other cults dispute this. All nature is under his purview, from the snaking rivers to the tallest mountains, from the smallest insect to the greatest beast. He is normally portrayed as a powerfully built, virile man with long, wild hair and great spreading antlers, and is known for his volatile moods and his need to hunt.
\nRural folk across the Old World venerate Taal, and any who make their living in wild places take care not to offend him. Taal is the patron deity of Talabecland in the Empire, where his cult holds significant sway, influencing all levels of society.
\nTaal’s cult has a variety of smaller orders dedicated to holy sites and groves throughout the Old World, but two orders drive the cult forwards. The Order of the Antler are the priests of the cult, who are tasked to teach Taal’s ways and protect the wild places from intrusion.
\nThese Taalites are particularly widespread in Talabecland, and their forest temples are hubs of activity for rural folk. The Longshanks are a mix of warrior-priest and templar who typically wander as individuals, cleansing Taal’s wild places of corruption and ensuring rural communities do nothing to upset Father Taal.
\nNormally, temples to Taal are small, rustic affairs, built of wood and rough stone in a manner unchanged for countless centuries. They are usually sited close to natural features of wonder such as waterfalls, swirling pools, and mountains, and often have small sweat lodges attached. The high temple of Taal in Talabheim is something of an anomaly when compared to this. It appears more a well-maintained, albeit wild, noble garden than a temple, and huge services are held there under the spreading rowan trees weekly.
\nOfficially, the Hierarch leads the cult from there, though he spends most of his time in the wild groves of the nearby Taalgrunhaar Forest. Shrines to Taal are barely structures at all. Some old trees are regarded as sacred, and offerings pile up at their bases. Caves, forest groves, and other natural places are also used as shrines, and usually only a local or a devout follower of Taal can find them.
\nTaal’s penances usually involve clearing diseased or mutated monsters from wild areas, replanting sacred trees, and maintaining groves important to the cult. A cultist might also be ordered to climb a high mountain and leave a stone on a cairn at the top, or clear an obstruction at the top of a waterfall. Whatever the specific task that must be undertaken, Taal’s penances almost always challenge the cultist to survive in the wild.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Offer a prayer of thanks for every animal taken.
\n- Spend a week alone communing with the wilderness every year.
\n- Eschew metal armour; clad yourself in the hides of Taal.
\n- Rely on your own skill, not the advances of gunpowder or cold technology.
\n- Never harm an animal except in self-defence or for food or sacrifice.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ElmLfnrXliStS9CP]{Blessing of Battle}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.TKHvOsihelBStO6i]{Blessing of Breath}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tEMwdlHM8A40h6HE]{Blessing of Conscience}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.0r3moMIHXsBrcOyh]{Blessing of Hardiness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.eBRjKAF6U0yR0KK8]{Blessing of Savagery}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.By5dc8Q7ZAGpr177]{Blessing of The Hunt}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.SZ88OXYo6F2q3vWb]{Animal Instincts}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.n8MfaJhczROmscCR]{King of the Wild}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.mXKrxO8WRZ9QLHA6]{Leaping Stag}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.JxmIQjVuoPcQnyPF]{Lord of the Hunt}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ONz21FviMRk3AyvE]{Tanglefoot}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.PcKMAEF6UoaPSK6d]{Tooth and Claw}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Ulric, God of War", "name": "The Cult of Ulric, God of War", "description": "Seat of Power: Middenheim, Middenland
\nHead of the Cult: Ar-Ulric
\nPrimary Orders: Order of the Howling Wolf, Order of the Knights of the White Wolf
\nMajor Festivals: Campaign Start, Hochwinter, Campaign End Popular Holy Books: Liber Lupus, Teutognengeschichte, The Ulric Creed
\nPopular Holy Books: Liber Lupus, Teutognengeschichte, The Ulric Creed
\nCommon Holy Symbols: White Wolves, stylised ‘U’s, claws
\nUlric is the ferocious God of Wolves, Winter, and Warfare. He is the brother of Taal and, according to Ulrican lore, the king of the gods, although other cults dispute this. He is normally portrayed as a massive, heavily bearded barbarian wearing a white wolf-pelt cloak, and bearing a mighty war-axe named Blitzbeil. He’s a distant, harsh, and unforgiving god who expects his cultists to rely on individual strength and prowess. He despises weakness, cowardice, and trickery, and favours the direct approach in all matters.
\nUlric’s cult is strongest in the north of the Empire. The city-state of Middenheim, with its enormous high temple to Ulric, is the heart of his cult, and the god is regarded as the city’s patron. Elsewhere, he is worshipped mainly by warriors and soldiers. Devout Ulricans can usually be spotted by their long hair and beards, for most choose not to cut it, imitating their wild deity. Ulric’s cult is split into just two orders: the priestly Howling Wolves, and the templar White Wolves. The Howling Wolves are not very popular outside Middenland and Nordland, viewed by most folk to be too coarse for this enlightened era. By comparison, the Knights of the White Wolf are enormously popular, easily the largest knightly order in the Empire, and the oldest templar order in the Old World. Ulric’s priests wear black robes with a howling white wolf emblem on the chest. A wolf pelt across the shoulders is also common, as is fur trimmings.
\nUlric’s high temple is in Middenheim, and the cult’s leader, Ar-Ulric (which means the son of Ulric), has enormous temporal and spiritual sway. At the back of the high temple lies the Flame of Ulric, a huge, ever-burning, argent fire granted by the winter god to guide his people. This miracle is the focus of several pilgrimage routes, and all Ulricans of Middenland are expected to bathe in its cold light at least once in their lives. Smaller temples are found in every city and town of any size, but are grander and more numerous in the north than in the south. Chapels and shrines can be found in barracks and forts throughout the Old World.
\nTemples resemble fortified keeps and are normally square. The interior of the main hall is lit by small windows high in the walls, and by an ever-stocked fire in a circular hearth tended by the priesthood. Behind the fire, usually against a rear wall, stands a statue of Ulric enthroned, often flanked by a pair of enormous wolves. Shrines are similar but smaller, with a lamp in place of a fire and small statues just a foot or two tall.
\nPenances set by Ulric are almost always tests of strength, courage, and martial skill. Slaying a powerful monster, or clearing out a nest of Beastmen or outlaws, are typical tasks.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Obey your betters.
\n- Defend your honour in all matters, and never refuse a challenge.
\n- Stand honest and true; outside an ambush, trickery and deception are forbidden.
\n- Only wear pelts from wolves killed by weapons crafted of your own hands.
\n- Blackpowder, helmets, crossbows, and technology are not Ulric’s way.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.ElmLfnrXliStS9CP]{Blessing of Battle}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Cg2Q3TV66cpmheHS]{Blessing of Courage}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.0r3moMIHXsBrcOyh]{Blessing of Hardiness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.KSDrXcieyRc37YI7]{Blessing of Might}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.eBRjKAF6U0yR0KK8]{Blessing of Savagery}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.GvaOlWY8iD5CO1WB]{Blessing of Tenacity}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.v28a5ilgxvDJfBqR]{Hoarfrost's Chill}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.9ALNZLZUZSLrLvkd]{Howl of the Wolf}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.3ONBOTaeWq657MQR]{Pelt of the Winter Wolf}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.GVMPSJwgscMVJzpX]{The Snow King's Judgement}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.F6iJdTrvBvGQ54G3]{Ulric's Fury}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.rrfrmqCpy10u7c9o]{Winter's Bite}
" }, { "id": "The Cult of Verena, Goddess of Wisdom", "name": "The Cult of Verena, Goddess of Wisdom", "description": "Seat of Power: None
\nHead of the Cult: None
\nPrimary Orders: The Order of Scalebearers, the Order of Lorekeepers, the Order of Mysteries, the Order of Everlasting Light
\nMajor Festivals: Year Blessing
\nPopular Holy Books: Canticum Verena, Eulogium Verena, The Book of Swords
\nCommon Holy Symbols: Scales of justice, owls, downward-pointing swords
\nWise Verena, the Goddess of Learning and Justice, is the wife of dark Morr and the mother of Myrmidia and Shallya. She is generally depicted as a tall, classically beautiful woman, and usually carries a sword and a set of scales. As the patron of justice she is concerned with fairness rather than the letter of the law: she opposes tyranny and oppression as much as crime.
\nVerena is worshipped throughout the Old World, especially in the south. Her devout followers include scholars, lawyers, and magistrates, as well as some wizards of the Colleges of Magic, particularly of the Grey and Light orders.
\nThe cult of Verena has no rigid hierarchy: it is said that Verena alone heads the cult, and no mortal intermediary is needed because truth is self-evident and requires no interpretation. Temple priests from the Order of Lorekeepers are tasked to preserve knowledge and communicate it to the community. They keep up a voluminous correspondence with each other, exchanging information and news.
\nPriests from the equally influential Order of Scalebearers are much sought after to act as judges, arbitrators, and go-betweens, because of their famed impartiality and mastery of the law. The Order of Mysteries is much smaller and less well-known, and contains warrior-priests who seek lost and forgotten lore, wherever it may lie. The last major order is the Knights of the Everlasting Light, templars famed for their sword skills, sense of fairness, and legendary bad luck. Verena’s cultists usually wear plain white robes, symbolic of pure truth and impartiality.
\nTemples to Verena can be found in most cities and larger towns, generally situated in the administrative or university quarters. Most libraries and court-houses include a shrine to the goddess, and smaller shrines can be found in the homes of many scholars and lawyers. Temples usually have colonnaded facades, with symbols of the goddess and allegorical figures of learning presented in low relief. Inside is a large statue of Verena, normally seated with a book in her lap, a pair of scales in her left hand, and her right hand resting on the hilt of a sword. Smaller rooms lead off from the main temple, including a library and chambers for the attendant priests. Each temple has at least one meeting room where negotiations can take place under the eyes of the goddess.
\nPenances set by Verena normally involve the recovery or preservation of knowledge, the righting of an injustice, or the resolution of a dispute. Cultists may also be sent to recover a long-forgotten book of lore, or to mediate in a difficult quarrel. This could be anything from a farmers’ boundary dispute to unpicking the complicated politics of two realms on the brink of war.
\n\n\nStrictures
\n\n
\n- Never refuse to arbitrate a dispute when asked.
\n- Always tell the truth without fear or favour.
\n- Protect knowledge at all costs.
\n- Combat must be a last resort when all alternative routes are fruitless.
\n- Never become a tool of injustice or heresy.
\n
@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tEMwdlHM8A40h6HE]{Blessing of Conscience}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.Cg2Q3TV66cpmheHS]{Blessing of Courage}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.iIfYOlNrLb0uiV8c]{Blessing of Fortune}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.2WN0muIB2BFd4kBO]{Blessing of Righteousness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.FRkIz2sR7ZC92W2G]{Blessing of Wisdom}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.tMocig1z9dHKNiCT]{Blessing of Wit}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.jXyyzYWid3nruQmc]{As Verena is My Witness}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.R6Q16WOXcPfaHnOb]{Blind Justice}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.oI3iwxVEXHRLSael]{Shackles of Truth}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.o5soyuEJoUk9HmCC]{Sword of Justice}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.DA4ZB3HkOh51vhuB]{Truth Will Out}
\n@Compendium[wfrp4e-core.prayers.fAlQcNUb6TZtPKqk]{Wisdom of the Owl}
" }, { "id": "The Darkstone Ring", "name": "The Darkstone Ring", "description": "The wise do not venture to the Darkstone Ring. The path to this place of terrible and ancient power lies to the north of Blutroch the Altdorf-Bögenhafen road. When night falls, the six suggestively-carved stones glow green with a wan luminosity, flaring bright as Morrslieb waxes.
\nAt the center of the Darkstone Ring lies a monolithic slab of unidentifiable rock, permanently stained with the blood of the countless innocents sacrificed there down through the millennia.
\nDespite the ring’s fell reputation, travelers seem drawn to its malevolent environs, lured by legends of mystical potential and lost artefacts of terrible arcane power. Not even frequent sightings of beastmen and cultists — especially around Geheimnisnacht — can deter these brave, some may say foolhardy, souls.
\n\n
\n
Whilst it’s one thing to know how to GM the systems of WFRP, it’s another thing entirely to know how to GM the world. To help with this vital part of roleplaying, we’ve outlined goals to follow, and a set of principles to help you choose between multiple courses of action.
\nThe goals and principles are used in similar ways by many roleplaying games to help GMs answer the question ‘What should happen next?’ These tools are designed to help novice-to-experienced GMs align themselves with WFRP, and to think critically about the kind of experience they want their Players to have.
\nThese tools are not prescriptive. If you don’t follow them, you’re not playing the game ‘wrong’. But we encourage you to be open to trying them out — you may find they suit your group well!
\nLastly, this section details the thematic pillars that hold up Warhammer, and give some guidance on how to accentuate and focus on individual themes over the course of your campaigns.
\nThe following list explains your goal as the GM, beyond that laid out in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. These four points should tell you what you’re trying to do, and why. Everything you do as a GM should serve these four goals.
\nYou’re there to make the Old World feel real, filled with believable people and places. But the Old World is a weird and often impossible place — with Beastmen, magic, mutation, and Chaos — so your job is to ground that in reality. What does it mean to have Second Sight? What is it really like to face a horde of ravening Greenskins?
\nAs a GM you’re there to inject drama and conflict into the lives of the Characters. You’re there to place walls between them and their Ambitions, and to tempt their Motivations with rewards. But Warhammer thrives on the mundane, juxtaposed with the epic. You’re there to make injury and illness exciting, to make the quest to afford one more meal, or a roof over one’s head, worthwhile.
\nYou’re there to facilitate group storytelling. You’re there to share the spotlight, as evenly as possible, so everyone at the table has the opportunity to contribute. You’re not there to script the outcome of any action, but to interpret your Adventure, and the actions of your Characters.
\nYou’re there to discover how the Characters are going to get through the challenges you give them. You’re there to be surprised and entertained, just like the other Players are! Don’t bother writing Adventures with balance or solutions in mind — in fact, throw your own solutions out the window. Present problems, and let your Players solve them creatively.
\nThe following principles should be a guide: advice on what to do and not do in general. These aren’t specific instances of ‘when X happens, do Y’, but rather good ways to approach running a game of WFRP.
\nThe Old World isn’t like most fantasy lands. It is full of juxtapositions and conflicts: a middle class rising up from the oppressed peasants under the boot of the tyrannical nobility; the conflicts of doctrine between the preaching, doom-laden churches of the myriad cults; the screaming of babies with empty stomachs, drowned out by the crashing of plate armour, and the beat of drums as the Imperial Army marches by. The Old World is grim, gritty, and largely — but not entirely — without hope. Flickers of life, of happiness, and a gallows-humour peek through, which prove the indomitable spirit of Humanity, and shed light on Sigmar’s Heirs.
\nYou should work to cultivate knowledge, not just of the Old World as described in practical terms — the towns, rivers, forests, and so on — but also the themes and imagery that make it unique. You should consume media that shows off the glory and tragedy of the Renaissance, and then flood it with monsters, and magic at its edges.
\nSpeak directly to the Characters, not the Players. State clearly the information that would be apparent to them. Remember that we, as people, take cues from our world: smells, sounds, the way someone twitches. These cues can be wrong, disguised, or misleading, but we still take them in. The Players should interrogate a scene by using their Character’s Skills, but you should be vigilant to give that information up front — and direct it at the Characters.
\n\n\nExample: ‘Hans, you can tell the woman isn’t saying what she truly feels. You can’t tell why, but she’s holding something back, and her hand keeps slipping to the belt at her waist. She’s on edge, her eyes almost pleading with you not to force her to act rashly.’
\n
This passage tells us a lot more than a clinical description of what’s happening: it breaths context and emotion into the Scene, and Hans’s Player will feel it more. It’s more visceral.
\nLook through the eyes of uncaring Gods! Nothing is sacred in the Old World, when you look at it from on high. Nothing is beyond being killed, burned, maimed, or crushed. Consider always how things could get worse, and put those threats against all of your creations. No NPC is safe, no boon given to a Character is permanent.
\nFurther, consider the malevolence of the Ruinous Powers. Always look for the failings in every Character that crosses your path. How can you tempt them? How can you corrupt them? How can you raise them up, only to bring them low again? Pull no punches.
\nReward evil, punish the good. Crime pays. Chaos runs rampant not through the lack of heroes, but the abundance of villains. The easy way out is almost always unclean. The right thing to do comes without reward, without celebration, and often with a knife in one’s back. Look always to offer easier solutions through compromised means, and stress that the world is unkind to optimists.
\nDespite the Old World being an awful place to be, and our Characters are frequently far from heroes, in the end the story is about them. They may not always be the focal point of the stories unfolding around them, but they are our focus for how the story is told. They are our protagonists. You should be always hoping for the best for your Players’ Characters, whilst setting threats in their path. Every Combat should be one you hope they survive. Every moment your Players are on the edges of their seats, so you should be!
\nBut, like any good story, we can only hope if there is something threatening that hope. You are not focusing on your Characters if you fail to create appropriate challenges for them to tackle. By that same token, you do not focus on your Characters if you never let them celebrate, nor celebrate with them. You are not there to be their enemy, but to present enemies for them to — hopefully — overcome.
\nName everyone — give them a home and a heart. The Old World is made of regular people, not caricatures. Everyone has a name, a history, a home, and a heart. Though evil does truly exist in the Old World, it is almost always a tool to follow one’s ambitions and dreams. No one commits evil for no reason, not even the monsters of the deepest darkest places.
\nYou should strive to give a reason for things, and for the actions of the NPCs. These need not be complex, covering multiple pages of notes, but they should exist. A good rule is to give every NPC a Motivation and at least one Ambition.
\nAsk leading questions, and build on the answers. Don’t just ask, ‘Johann, you’re a soldier, do you have any scars?’ but rather ‘Johann, who gave you your worst scar, and how does that memory haunt you to this day?’ The latter invites creativity far more than the former. It gives agency to a Player to describe their Character in depth. Further, the answers should be used by you at a later point to give weight to a Scene. Perhaps Johann got his scar from a Beastman’s axe? Later, maybe Johann finds a body in the forest, with wounds made by an axe that shares an uncomfortable similarity to his own scar…
\nThese questions can also be used to disclaim decision making, granting the authority to the Players. If they ask, ‘Is there a chandelier in this room that I can swing off of?’ you could answer ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ or better yet, ‘There wouldn’t normally be, but why don’t you tell me why there is?’ These sorts of leading, disclaimed questions allow the Players to share in the world, and make it feel like their own.
\nGive with one hand, and take with the other. Warhammer isn’t about getting what you want. Or rather, it’s about getting what you want at horrendous cost. With every inch of ground the Characters claim, new problems, threats, and scars are sure to arise. They should pay for every victory in blood — often that of their enemies, but their own is very much on the line. Even simple things, like moving one rung up the social ladder, means someone else is displaced, and another enemy joins the fight against the Characters.
\nMove off-screen, in the shadows. Whilst the story is about the Characters, it doesn’t revolve around them. Keep the action flowing in the background. Have your NPCs act without regard for the Characters; living their own lives, pursuing their own Ambitions. Don’t be afraid to ambush the Characters, or to have opportunities pass them by. The Old World isn’t waiting for them to solve its problems, but is driving full steam ahead toward the drop-off. If the Characters don’t get in the road, or try to change tracks, it’s gone — as it should be.
\nThis might mean that the Characters lose sometimes, or that they don’t have time to solve every problem. That’s perfect. In the real world, no one person has time to do everything, and can only act on their priorities. In the Old World, we can call our priorities our Ambitions — everything else has to fend for itself.
\nTrust your Characters to create their own conflict. You rarely have to challenge the Characters directly to create conflict — trust in the Motivations and Ambitions of the Characters. Create situations that threaten those Ambitions, and promise Motivations, and your Players will get themselves into conflict. The best Adventures are ones the Characters choose to undertake themselves, so your job is to let them do that.
\nSpeak truth to Players, speak lies to Characters. Never lie to your Players. Ever. But never tell your Characters the whole truth. This means being frank with your Players: tell them, right at the start, that not everything they’re told will be true. But when your Players ask a question — when they use their Skills to interrogate a scene — be truthful with the information they gain. If they succeed on their Perception Test, tell them truthfully what they find. If they fail on their Intuition Test, tell them what they truthfully believe. Make sure your Players know the difference between their knowledge, and the knowledge of their Characters. Make them understand the difference between those truths.
" }, { "id": "The Gods", "name": "The Gods", "description": "Signs of religion are everywhere in the Old World, from the magnificent temples in the great cities to the humble wayside shrines and household altars. Old Worlders do their best to stay on the right side of their gods.
\nHigh-ranking clerics are wealthy and powerful, wielding as much influence and prestige as the greatest nobles. At the other end of the scale, village priests tend to the spiritual needs of rural communities, preaching the tenets of their faith and interceding with their patron deities on behalf of their flocks. Several faiths also support templar orders: these private armies of priest-soldiers answer to the head of their faith rather than to any noble or elector count, which can cause significant political friction.
\nThe people of the Old World recognise many deities. Some are worshipped across the whole of the Old World; some are restricted to one nation or region; and some are patrons of just a single town or occupation.
\nIn the Empire, the pantheon of gods is split into three broad categories: the Old Gods, the Classical Gods, and the Provincial Gods. Standing apart from these is Sigmar, the first Emperor, and patron deity of the Empire as a whole.
\nThe Old Gods refer to the pantheon of deities worshipped when the Empire was unbroken forest populated by wandering tribes of barbarians. Many Old Gods stood as patrons to one of the tribes, and to this day some are still associated with the old geographical hunting grounds of those ancient peoples. Although few say so out loud, many citizens of the Empire regard the Old Gods as the true deities of the Empire, and the Classical Gods as relative newcomers.
\nAs time passed, five gods rose to prominence amongst the Old Gods, worshipped by dominant cults spread from one end of the Empire to the other: Ulric, Taal, Rhya, Manaan, and Morr, representing the primal spheres of war, nature, fertility, seas, and death.
\nThe Classical Gods spread from the southern lands of Tilea, Estalia, and the Border Princes through trade and diplomatic contact. Today, their worship is popular in the cosmopolitan towns and cities, and some nobles and townsfolk secretly regard them as more sophisticated than the Old Gods — though few would risk voicing such opinions aloud!
\nThe most widespread cults of Classical Gods in the Empire are dedicated to Verena, Myrmidia, Shallya, and Ranald, patrons of wisdom, strategy, mercy, and trickery. Hiding behind these, there is also Khaine, the God of Murder, though his cult is outlawed in most places.
\nThe Empire hosts a wide variety of deities — patrons of provinces, towns, forests, lakes, rivers, crafts, and much more besides. Formed into complicated pantheons by local legends and myths, the Provincial Gods often have small cults dedicated to them, but few have much influence. However, there are exceptions: standing high above other Provincial Gods, worship of Handrich, the God of Trade, has spread significantly with commerce and now boasts a significant cult-presence amongst the Empire’s rising merchant class.
\nSigmar founded the Empire over two-thousand years ago, and his legend recounts how he conquered unthinkable foes and overcame impossible odds. Reigning for fifty years, he eventually abdicated and turned east to return his magical warhammer, Ghal-Maraz, to its forgers: his old allies, the Dwarfs. He was never seen again. Not long after, oracles and prophets claimed Sigmar had ascended to godhood, invested by Ulric before the entire pantheon of old gods and new.
\nToday, many centuries later, the cult of Sigmar, patron of the Empire, has spread to such an extent that its leader, the Grand Theogonist, is arguably more powerful than the emperor himself.
\n\n\nGods of the Reikland
\n\n\n
\n\n \nBögenauer \nRiver Bögen \nBoatmen, Merchants, and Bögenhafeners \nCoins, sheaves of reeds, rolled stones \nA single temple in Bögenhafen with no full-time clerics; shrines line the river. \n\n \nBorchbach \nRhetoric \nAgitators, politicians, lawyers \nWritten speeches, acorns, quills \nSeveral shrines and two temples to Borchbach are found in Altdorf. \n\n \nClio \nHistory \nScholars \nFruit, honey, menses \nA significant temple to the Classical God Clio is attached to Altdorf University. \n\n \nDyrath \nWomen \nWomenfolk \nBeer, eels, silver \nDyrath has no temples; instead, a secretive cult is spread through the villages and hamlets of the Hägercrybs. \n\n \nGrandfather Reik \nRiver Reik \nMerchants, bargees, fishermen \nCoins, jewellery, clothing \nShrines dot the length of the river Reik, but there is no formal cult. \n\n \n\nKatya \nDisarming Beauty \nBawds, lovers, the lonely \n\n Temples to Katya double as brothels in the towns of the Vorbergland. \n
The different countries and species of the Old World all have deities of their own. Some, according to theologians, are aspects of other deities worshipped under different names. Others are particularly revered by a particular species: examples include Grungni, the Dwarfen God of Mining and Dwarf Pride; Isha, a Goddess of Fertility and Nature who is seen as the mother of all Elves; and Esmerelda, the Halfling Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family.
\nThe Daemonic gods of the Realms of Chaos are the greatest threat to the Old World, each determined to bring absolute ruin to the mortal realm. Their worship by lost and damned souls is pervasive and clandestine, with uncounted dark cultists infiltrating all levels of society. Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh: Gods of Rage, Despair, Ambition, and Excess. Few dare whisper their twisting names, for they harbour malevolent power, and leave mutation and horror in their wake.
\nMost Old World cults are split into orders, with each order focussing on different aspects of their god’s concerns. Orders come in many different forms, including monastic orders of monks or nuns, templar orders of knights, priestly orders that attend to holy needs in the community, and mendicant orders of friars that wander the Old World, usually subsisting from alms. Each order is organised differently according to individual cult law and tradition, but in all cases they swear allegiance to the head of their cult, not the local nobility.
\nThe cults maintain holy sites across the Old World, many of them associated with legendary deeds of the gods from mythical times. Most are protected by buildings such as temples, abbeys, chapterhouses, or monasteries. Some older sites, or those not so well known, may only be marked by a shrine or unattended chapel. Cult buildings are usually decorated beautifully inside and out with scenes from the religion’s mythology. They vary widely in size and layout and often follow regional styles of architecture. Some hold extreme wealth, especially in the towns and cities where a more affluent population provides greater tithes. Larger cult buildings support dozens of people, including lay craftspeople, guards, and servants, while smaller sites are run by a handful of staff aided by volunteers from the community. In villages, a single priest is the norm, supported by the faithful.
\nShrines and chapels are more modest affairs, the size of a one-room house or smaller. They do not normally have a full-time priest, although they may come under the charge of a nearby temple or — especially in rural areas — a wandering priest who travels from one village and shrine to another. In a priest’s absence, local villagers pray unsupervised, leave small offerings, and keep the shrine in good repair.
\nAlthough many hundreds of gods are worshipped across the Empire, ten are of particular importance, each worshipped by cults spanning the grand provinces and granted a special position by Magnus the Pious over two-hundred years ago.
\nWhen Emperor Magnus the Pious rebuilt the Empire after the Great War Against Chaos, he realised previous schisms and civil wars besetting his realm were often sourced in religious unrest.
\nTo help prevent this happening again, Magnus created the Grand Conclave, a meeting of the primary cults in the Empire held every five years to air grievances and discuss resolutions, with the emperor sitting as chair.
\nThough enormously controversial at the time, the Grand Conclave is now fully accepted, and is held alongside great celebrations and festivities, with the representatives of the following gods required to attend: Manaan, Morr, Myrmidia, Ranald, Rhya, Shallya, Sigmar, Taal, Ulric, and Verena. Although other influential cults exist — such as the Cult of Handrich, which is currently lobbying for a seat on the Conclave — the ten currently sitting are widely perceived as the most important in the Empire.
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Manann, God of the Sea]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Morr, God of Death]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Myrmidia, Goddes of Strategy]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Ranald, God of Trickery]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Rhya, Goddess of Fertility]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Shallya, Goddess of Mercy]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Sigmar, God of the Empire]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Taal, God of the Wild]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Ulric, God of War]
\n@JournalEntry[The Cult of Verena, Goddess of Wisdom]
\n\n
The Dwarfs venerate their ancient ancestors, valuing tradition above all else. Though the Time of the Ancestor Gods was many thousands of years ago, the Dwarfs still hold records of that time in their oldest Holds. Many names echo from that era, creating a broad, inter-related pantheon, but three Ancestor Gods are of especial importance and are known by all Dwarfs: Grimnir, Grungni, and Valaya, each a progenitor of the species as a whole. In addition to the oldest Ancestor Gods, Dwarfs also revere the founders of local clans as guardian deities.
\nThose dedicating themselves to the cults of the Ancestor Gods do not use the Priest, Nun, or Warrior Priest Careers, as Dwarfs have a very different relationship with their gods, seeking to emulate them rather than worship or appease them.
\nBecause of this, if you wish to play a Dwarf dedicated to one of the Ancestor Gods, simply choose an appropriate career to best act like that god. So, if you wanted to emulate Grimnir, effectively becoming a priest of Grimnir, perhaps play a Slayer and join the Cult of the Slayer, or maybe become a Soldier.
\nThe Elves worshipped their own gods long before Humans and most other species existed in their current forms. Their pantheon is extensive, with different groups of deities being held as important by Wood Elves and High Elves.
\nLoosely, there are two groups of gods, the Cadai and the Cytharai. The Cadai rule the heavens, and have strong connections to their Elven worshippers, directly helping where they can. The selfish Cytharai rule the underworld, and care little for the Elves. Standing apart from both these courts are a loose group of unaligned gods, the most prominent being Morai-Heg the Crone, Goddess of Fate and Death.
\nThe High Elves especially revere the Cadai, and have sophisticated priesthoods dedicated to their teachings. They appease the Cytharai when necessary, but it is unlawful to worship any but Mathlann, whose aid is sought by mariners. According to their myths, Asuryan, the God of Creation, is king of all the gods, able to pronounce judgement upon them all.
\nThe Wood Elves take a much more balanced approach and have temples and shrines to all the gods impacting their lives, be they Cadai or Cytharai. Because of their close association with the woods and forests, they revere Isha the Mother and Kurnous the Hunter above all others, and rumours persist that both gods take a direct hand in Wood Elf affairs.
\nAccording to some theologians — mostly Elven — the deities of this pantheon are the true gods, and those worshipped by other species are simply different aspects of the Elven originals.
\nBoth High Elves and Wood Elves have priesthoods for the gods, but they do not have blessings and miracles. The Elves don’t believe the gods manifest in this fashion, and instead see magic as a gift from the gods. Because of this, if you wish to be an Elven priest, use the Wizard career, and chose from an appropriate Lore to represent the magic your god has gifted. So, a ‘priest’ of Kurnous would use the Lore of Beasts, a worshipper of Isha, the Lore of Life, and devotees of Asuryan use the Lores of Light or Fire.
\nSome say that Halflings are superstitious rather than religious, and the bulk of their deities support this impression. Most Halfling gods and goddesses have to do with hearth and home, cooking, herb lore, earthy matters, and general day-to-day concerns. Halfling gods are practical rather than philosophical: as the saying goes: ‘Deep thoughts butter no parsnips’. Halflings also show respect to certain Human deities — Sigmar, Taal, and Rhya in particular — but this is more from a desire to avoid conflict than from any sincere devotion.
\nHalflings don’t really have priests, and they certainly don’t build temples (though Humans seem happy to do it for them, especially Sigmarites). There are better things to do than warble on about someone else’s business. Of course, they respect the gods, and have shrines on-hand should they need to have a quick natter, but none make a career exclusively talking to just one god — why make yourself so exclusive? Should a particular god need to be appeased, it is usually left up to a local elder to do what’s required on behalf of the community, often after a great deal of talking with relevant experts and peers.
\nThe Ruinous Powers of Chaos are the foremost existential threat to the Old World, but much about them remains a mystery. Merely seeking such knowledge is punishable by death without permission from the Cult of Sigmar. And seeking such permission attracts intense scrutiny of your person and motives, and is seldom granted.
\nThe Ruinous Powers are seen by the common folk as the punishing manifestation of sin, and the reason that all must behave within socially acceptable boundaries as espoused by the cults. Indulging in violence, lust, slovenliness or unseemly curiosity has direct repercussions for the individual (as they are corrupted and come to a sticky end) and for their community, as their deviant behaviour attracts the destructive attention of these evil forces.
\nThe average person will know of the most powerful of these forces through euphemistic names, such as the Blood God, the Plague Lord, the Lord of Change, and the Prince of Pain. Even the most learned scholars of this forbidden lore can only guess at what motivates these obscene powers, or if they even have an agenda beyond their primal impulses.
\nIt seems there are competing factions dedicated to different aspects of ruin, and they are as much enemies to each other as to the rest of the Old World. On the rare occasions when they co-operate, much like they did during the Great War Against Chaos over two-hundred years ago, the world trembles. Some claim cults dedicated to the Chaos Gods have infiltrated the Empire. Most dismiss this as nonsense, for no right-thinking individual would be so foolish as to worship one of the Ruinous Powers.
" }, { "id": "The Grey Mountains", "name": "The Grey Mountains", "description": "The forbidding peaks of the Grey Mountains are riddled with crumbling tunnels and topped with ruined skybridges from the time when Dwarfs ruled the region. But that era has passed, and only a handful of determined clans remain to defend their ancestral holds, with recently reclaimed Karak Azgaraz and towering Karak Ziflin being two of the largest still standing.
\nThe mountains and the tunnels beneath them are now overrun with Orcs and Goblins, Mountain Trolls, Skaven, and worse. While this makes the Grey Mountains especially dangerous, many claim the fallen Dwarf holds hide treasures lost to time, so the foolhardy and desperate are drawn to the ancient halls like moths to a flame. Few survive their greed.
\nClinging precariously to the craggy edge of the Grey Mountains, the southern lords of the Reikland have sunk many mines seeking to extract the significant mineral and metal wealth of the range. These are protected by lone watchtowers and high fortresses that stand guard against attack from the mountains, each surrounded by the rubble of older fortifications that failed.
\nSo high is the glacial spine of the Grey Mountains that it is all but impassable, forming a near impenetrable border between the Reikland and the Bretonnian duchies to the south-east. Only two reliable passes pierce the frozen heights: the welldefended Axe-Bite Pass guarded by the fortresses of Helmgart and Monfort, and the winding Grey Lady Pass leading from @JournalEntry[Ubersreik] to Parravon. Both passes are heavily patrolled and taxed, leading some impoverished merchants and smugglers to hire mountain guides to lead them across lesser passes such as the Crooked Corridor or Durak Way, an undertaking few would recommend.
\n\n
\n
The south-westernmost end of @JournalEntry[The Reikwald] branches southwards along the Stirland border and thins out as it heads upriver towards the City-State of Nuln. This wide section of the forest is known locally as the Grissenwald, a tight woodland packed with distorted trees and twisted undergrowth, the depths of which are said to be swarming with Beastmen, Witches, and tribes of feral Mutants. Because of this, most local woodsmen travel in groups and seldom stay outdoors come nightfall, and its commonplace to find fluttering bills posted on roadside trees offering rewards for the retrieval of lost family and friends from the bowels of the forest.
\n\n
The Grünberg canal is a recent addition to the waterways of the Reikland. Commissioned by Emperor Luitpold III as part of an extensive dowry paid to the previous Baron of Grünburg, it was completed in 2506IC and has seen heavy use ever since. The canal bypasses the treacherous shallows of the @JournalEntry[Reiker Marshes] overlooked by Castle Reikguard, and it now takes much of the @JournalEntry[The Teufel]{river Teufel’s} barge traffic heading for @JournalEntry[Altdorf]. Grunberg’s walls protect the tollhouse on the south end of the canal, and any barge wishing to pass it must pay a tax based on the length of the vessel entering the canal system. Queues are common at first light and dusk, but otherwise the tollhouse sees infrequent business. At the north end there is a lock-keeper’s house on the outskirts of Prieze that doubles as a barracks and stables for the twelve road warden paid to patrol the canal path and help any barges as required. This help typically comes in the form of impromptu protection taxes, which if not paid leave the offending barge open to bandit attacks. Attacks that inevitably follow for any who refuse to pay.
\n\n
Dominating the centre of the Reikland, the mist-shrouded Hägercrybs extend from the Princedom of Altdorf in the north all the way to the Freiburg of @JournalEntry[Ubersreik] in the south, and are so heavily forested that no road pierces through their heights from east to west, resulting in long journeys for those traveling from one side to the other.
\nThe foothills are mostly populated by sheep and their shepherds, but, antiquarians claim, the Hägercrybs were once the sacred burial ground of the Unberogens, the Human tribe of Sigmar Himself. Supporting this, ancient cairns can be seen rising from clearings on many of the highlands, some of which are also marked by looming menhirs. Perhaps because of these, the Hägercrybs have a foul reputation for being haunted, and few are willing to stray too deep into its forests. It is said those who do encounter thick fogs rising from ancient barrows, with moans of the dead echoing from within. Locally, such talk is nervously dismissed as the ravings of shepherds drunk on too much hard cider, for the alternative is to believe tales of ancient kings hungry for the blood of the living.
\nIgnoring such talk, lords of the Hägercrybs repeatedly order mines be sunk into the hills in the search of rare metals and minerals. Most fail, their miners never seen again, but a handful are successful, and have brought considerable wealth to the area.
\n\n
@JournalEntry[Class Endeavors]: Rangers, Riverfolk
\nThis Endeavour allows you to learn the latest news from afar. Attempt a Challenging (+0) Gossip Test. If you succeed, you learn an interesting rumour; each SL adds another rumour, and they may even be connected to your upcoming adventure. If you fail particularly badly (an Impressive Failure) you learn something false you are convinced is true; to allow this, the GM may make this roll in secret on your behalf.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Beasts", "name": "The Lore of Beasts", "description": "The Lore of Beasts relates to Ghur , the amber wind, a cold, primal force associated with the savage wilds and the beasts living there. To those with the Sight Ghur seems to blow weakly in areas where the wilderness has been tamed and settlements constructed. This may explain why the Shamans of the Amber Order often take up a hermitic existence and shun their fellow men.
\nThe spells of the Lore of Beasts allow a Shaman to communicate with animals, request their aid, and even summon them to battle. Shapeshifting magic may also be used by the wizard to adopt animal forms.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Death", "name": "The Lore of Death", "description": "The Lore of Death relates to Shyish , the purple wind. It is attracted to places of death, such as battlefields, Gardens of Morr, and sites of execution. The wind is said to blow strongest during times of transition, so wizards of the Amethyst Order tend to work their greatest rites during the twilight before dawn, or during sunset. While Shyish is related to time and mortality, it is distinct from Necromancy, the illegal practice of raising and binding the dead, which uses the dark magic of Dhar in lieu of Shyish . Indeed, the Amethyst Order, much like the Cult of Morr, works tirelessly to combat the threat of Necromancy.
\nNevertheless, spells from the Lore of Death resemble Necromancy to the untrained eye. They can drain their targets of life force, spread fear among their enemies, and contact the spirits of the departed.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Fire", "name": "The Lore of Fire", "description": "The Lore of Fire relates to Aqshy , the red wind. Aqshy is a hot and searing wind associated with brashness, courage, and zeal and is drawn to empirical heat. The Pyromancers of the Bright Order are bold and hot-tempered and make for impressively destructive Battle Wizards.
\nMany of the spells from the Lore of Fire are offensive in nature, enabling the caster to conjure up great balls of fire, or cause the blades of their allies to burst into flame. Even their non-offensive spells, such as crude healing magics, are still destructive in nature.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Heavens", "name": "The Lore of Heavens", "description": "The Lore of Heavens relates to Azyr , the blue wind. It cascades through the skies over the Old World, crackling through the heavens, like a great charged cloud. Astromancers of the Celestial Order, known for their calm and contemplative manners, use the wind to scry the future, the lens of Azyr influencing what they can see in the stars.
\nSpells from the Lore of Heavens involve the manipulation of fate, throwing up protective barriers, or cursing a foe with an unnatural run of bad luck. On the battlefield, Astromancers also control elemental forces, blasting their enemies with bolts of lightning, or even drawing down shooting stars from the heavens.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Life", "name": "The Lore of Life", "description": "The Lore of Life relates to Ghyran , the jade wind. Free flowing Ghyran is associated with growth, fertility and nourishment. To those with The Sight, Ghyran appears much like a light rain, falling to the ground and pooling in eddying swirls. It sinks into the soil and is drawn up into the roots of plants from where it goes on to nourish all living things. The Druids of the Jade Order often prefer life away from the cities, attuned to the seasons and the natural world.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Light", "name": "The Lore of Light", "description": "The Lore of Light relates to Hysh , the white wind. Hysh is considered the most difficult Wind to perceive and manipulate, appearing diffuse even to those skilled with the Sight. This makes it tricky to manipulate but less unpredictable than other Winds. Hysh is associated with patience, intelligence, and purity. The Hierophants of the Light Order are acclaimed for their discipline, knowledge, and devoted opposition to Chaos.
\nSpells from the Lore of Light are some of the most powerful, including piercing rays of blinding light, and those that banish Daemons and Undead creatures from the mortal plane. There are also more gentle applications of Hysh used to heal comrades or clarify thought.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Metal", "name": "The Lore of Metal", "description": "The Lore of Metal relates to Chamon , the gold wind. Chamon appears dense and heavy to Second Sight, sinking into the earth and coalescing within dense metals such as lead and gold. The Alchemists of the Gold Order have a reputation for being unusually prosaic in their attitudes for wizards, and many are as interested in learning the facts of physics and chemistry as they are in the working of magic.
\nSpells from the Lore of Metal often involve the transmutation or alteration of metal. On the battlefield, alchemists have been known to cause fine steel armour and weaponry to corrode or melt, to weigh their foes down with suddenly dense armour, or to enchant their allies’ weaponry with uncanny power.
" }, { "id": "The Lore of Shadows", "name": "The Lore of Shadows", "description": "The Lore of Shadows relates to Ulgu , the grey wind. To the Sight it appears a thick fog, gathering in pools wherever intrigue and deceit are practiced, rising into great storms and tempests when conflict breaks out. Wizards of the Grey Order, known as Grey Guardians, are secretive in their ways and given to uncertain loyalties. Despite this, the Grey Order is renowned for its wisdom and skill in negotiations, and is often called upon for diplomatic missions.
\nSpells from the Lore of Shadows can be used to mask or obfuscate, confusing and disorienting their foes. In battle, the shadowy, insubstantial tendrils of Ulgu they wield can pierce to the heart of their foes, eviscerating the most well-protected troops, yet leaving armour eerily intact.
" }, { "id": "The Lorlay", "name": "The Lorlay", "description": "Possessing a breathtaking vista, the Lorlay is an imposing rock formation standing proud in the center of the Reik some 40 miles downstream of Grissenwald. The channels on either side of the jutting island flow swift and deep, and despite the relative narrowness of the river at this point, no crossing has been successfully constructed.
\nRomantic legends abound of a beautiful, elven maiden, pale of skin and supple of limb, who swims in the fast-moving waters at dawn and dusk. Because of this, the Lorlay is popular spot for afluent Reiklanders’ to hold Taalite stag parties before marriage, and a surprising number of high-class inns can be found nearby. Tales of the singing water maiden are especially rife amongst the Reikland’s river-bound sailors, and if their stories are to be believed, she has been spotted by half the seamen of the navy.
\n\n
The Reik carries more traffic and trade than all the other rivers in the Old World combined. Indeed, so massive is the river that almost half the fresh water of the Old World flows down its length, for it not only drains all the Reikland with its many tributaries, but most of the Empire beyond. By the time the Reik flows into the Reikland, it is already so wide it frequently appears more lake than river, leaving it impossible to bridge using standard engineering methods. As this immense watercourse approaches @JournalEntry[Altdorf] to meet the dark waters of the Talabec, both rivers split into a complex network of channels that spread outwards to form the foggy @JournalEntry[Altdorf Flats]. Many of the thinner distributaries caused by this are bridgeable, ensuring Altdorf is a natural center for trade as it is the only place where the Reik can be crossed on foot for many hundreds of miles. This single fact has secured Altdorf’s dominance of the area, both militarily and fiscally.
\nBeyond the Altdorf Flats, the boggy channels reconverge and the Reik begins its long journey westwards to the sea. By this point, it is so wide the opposite bank sometimes slips into mist, and is so deep that even the largest sea-faring vessel can navigate without fear. Resultingly, warships of the Imperial Navy, some so large to have crews out-numbering the populations of smaller towns, not only patrol these waters, but are built there, most launching from the Reiksport, a deep-water harbour built on the shores of @JournalEntry[Altdorf]. Rocky islands are common in this last stretch, most of which are secured with ancient fortresses, overridden by river pirates, or abandoned completely, boasting nothing more than a handful of old smugglers’ coves.
\n\n
\n
The Reikland Diet, which meets as required in the Holzkrug Chamber of the Volkshall in Altdorf, is responsible for scrutinising decrees issued by the Grand Prince of Reikland, either passing them or returning them to the crown with suggested amendments.
\nAs most lords of the Reikland Estates don’t have time to attend the diet themselves, they generally send favoured children, spouses, relatives, or minions in their place, although decrees of significant import will often bring worried lords from across the Reikland to attend in person. Given the number of agents the Grand Prince of Reikland tasks to influence the Reikland Diet, most votes are a formality.
" }, { "id": "The Reikland Estates", "name": "The Reikland Estates", "description": "The Reikland Estates are ruled by vassals of the Grand Prince of Reikland. Their rulers can do as they will with their lands, parcelling out fiefs to family and friends as they wish — though the creation of new hereditary titles requires the approval of the Prince of Reikland and the Reikland Diet.
\nEach estate has a range of distinct legal and military obligations to the crown, but all are required to build and maintain at least one regiment for the Reikland State Army, soldiers typically used in peacetime as watchmen, road wardens, or guards. Most Reikland Estates are feudal, comprised of smaller fiefs ruled by vassals, many of whom hold hereditary titles that have existed for centuries.
" }, { "id": "The Reikwald", "name": "The Reikwald", "description": "The Reikwald blankets almost all the Reikland outside @JournalEntry[The Vorbergland], only thinning around the jagged @JournalEntry[The Skaag Hills]{Skaag Hills} or where it is cleared by the towns and villages lining the Reik river and its many tributaries. Most travelers through the region prefer the relative safety of river travel to journeying along uncertain roads, and with good reason; the Reikwald is a favoured haunt of outcasts, cut-throats, and other lawless folk. While all major routes are patrolled by road warden, their numbers are too few and the roads too long, so it’s not uncommon to encounter upturned coaches and other signs of banditry. Te majority of the open clearings and abandoned ruins from past wars are claimed as camps by outlaws or by one of the herds of Beastmen roaming the deeper wood, and forays to clear these isolated places by regiments of the Reikland State Army are not uncommon. In most parts the Reikwald’s canopy is not so overgrown as to block sunlight, but its depths are frequently gloomy and heavy fogs are common, especially along the marshier stretches of the @JournalEntry[The Reik]{river Reik}. Scholars claim before the Empire was founded the Unberogen tribe of Humans ranged across this misty forest alongside older tribes whose names are now lost to memory. Concentric rings of carved standing stones called ‘oghams’ still exist from this era, though many are overgrown and almost impossible to find without a guide. Isolated communities still following ancient ways — old beliefs said to predate the coming of Sigmar — are said to hold such sites sacred. Intellectuals from the Colleges of Magic postulate terrible battles were once fought for these ancient, megalithic sites, and it’s not uncommon to find richer magisters funding explorations into the Reikwald’s depths to learn more about the magical stones.
\n\n
West of @JournalEntry[Schädelheim], deep in a wooded valley, stands an ancient dolmen. Its stones are old beyond reckoning, arrayed in a spiraling pattern around a central arrangement of huge pillars capped with an enormous slab, resembling nothing more than a titanic altar. From the ground it is nigh on impossible to discern the intricate pattern of the stones, especially given the trees and bushes that have grown in amongst the menhirs.
\nWhen a westerly wind blows up the valley, in from the Wasteland, the stones produce an eerie keening that echoes for miles around. While some locals claim listening to the stones’ song can give insight into problems or grant strange wisdom, others declare such nonsense is heresy, knowing nothing but trouble comes from trafficking in such ungodly power, and are more than willing to use violence to save the souls of the foolish.
\n\n
The rocky Skaag Hills lie to the west of the @JournalEntry[The Bögen]{River Bögen} and run along the southern bank of the Reik before falling beneath the trees of the Duchy of Gorland. Near the centre, the Reikwald recedes from the stony crags and layers of stratified rock rise to the scree-laden highlands of the Prie Ridge. A single road crosses the gentler slopes of the Skaag Hills to the south, starting at Trosreut in the shadow of @Scene[Castle Grauenberg] and wending its way through to Holthausen, but many minor tracks and trails also cross the region, most of which started as goat tracks.
\nOnce, the hillsides were bustling with small mines boasting rich veins of silver and iron. Down through the centuries most of these played out, leaving many abandoned settlements, many of which the forest reclaimed. Locals now approach such ruins cautiously, for hunters, outlaws, and far more sinister folk are said to make use of what intact buildings remain.
\n\n
\n
Towering over one of the many islands in @JournalEntry[The Reik] by Essel, the massive promontory known simply as The Stone can be seen for miles around. A winding path coils up the steep, craggy face from the small, seemingly insignificant jetty at its base to the severe walls of the squat citadel crowning the rocky mount. Captains give it a wide berth when they pass, the more superstitious among them making an offering of salt and steel to Grandfather Reik to safeguard their passage. No pennants fly atop the grim battlements, though the occasional gleam from a guard’s helmet attests to the troops patrolling the ramparts.
\nUnknown to most, the Stone is a secure prison containing dangerous criminals that, for various sensitive, political reasons cannot simply be executed. Some have powerful friends and family, or are themselves nobles whose crimes, if publicly acknowledged would cause scandal and shame to the great and good of the Reikland. Others are political hostages, held to ensure the compliance of wayward relatives. And, of course, a few simply know too much, their precious secrets safeguarded in The Stone against their future need. No-one really knows about the conditions within The Stone’s walls; no-one really wants to ask.
\n\n
\n
" }, { "id": "The Teufel", "name": "The Teufel", "description": "
The Teufel flows down from the mountains to @JournalEntry[Duchy of Ubersreik], then northwards to @JournalEntry[The Reik] through @JournalEntry[Auerswald] and @JournalEntry[Grünburg]. Its waters have a distinctly reddish hue caused by iron deposits in the mud and silt, though storytellers suggest it’s the unending wars between the @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains]{Grey Mountain} Dwarfs and Goblins that have permanently stained the river red. A great deal of rain feeds into the Teufel and it regularly overflows, especially in spring, frequently flooding its mud-flled waters deep into the surrounding forest. Inns — often built high to avoid floodwater — are common along the Teufel, as are bandits, since much of the river runs through @JournalEntry[The Reikwald]. Road warden regularly patrol the banks of the Teufel and they are not fond of any that linger without good reason.
" }, { "id": "The Themes of Warhammer", "name": "The Themes of Warhammer", "description": "WFRP focuses on the following five themes. The conflicts created by these five themes can fuel almost any Adventure. And ultimately, these themes coalesce into the main looming peril of the setting: The End Times.
\nClass struggle underpins a lot of the Empire — rich vs poor. Given WFRP is focused on the everyday lives turned grim adventures of Imperial citizens, it is one that is seen everywhere. The poor under classes are constantly being pushed around by the rich upper class. The burgeoning middle class is driving a wedge between the two and making both, in many ways, redundant. Wealth, once clutched in the hands of the elite, is being hoarded by those who were born peasants, or whose parents worked the fields in serfdom. This struggle brings revolutionaries, agitators, criminals, and tyrants on to the centre stage, and helps feed into the conflicts presented in all four other major themes.
\nIdeology is perhaps the main theme of Warhammer, but exists as a backdrop in the Empire — outside the walls is the untamed wilderness, filled with monsters and the hordes of Chaos, whilst inside them is the order of civilisation. This is, at least, how the powers that be in the Empire want it to seem, but everything exists in a liminal space between the two — Order vs Chaos. Mutants and Beastmen exist as clear evidence that it’s not black and white. Wizards represent Chaos-turned-Order. The barbarism of Witch Hunters, nominally agents of Order, is nothing short of Chaotic. The ever-present Chaos cultists — the dreaded Enemy Within — are everywhere in the Empire. This struggle is what eventually breaks the Old World in half, and leads to the End Times.
\nThe Empire is in a state of industrialisation and innovation. Modernisation stretches out beyond the towns into the country increasing tensions — urban vs rural. The printing press puts reading and writing, once the purview of a select few, into the hands of commoners and pamphleteers. Black powder gives the power of the warrior elite to anyone who can point a metal tube at their neighbour and pull the trigger. Innovations in agriculture and manufacturing are seeing a glut of resources flowing into urban centres, which are becoming increasingly separate from their rural dependants. And the advances made in land and sea travel are making what was once a world of isolated pockets of civilisation into… something else. This, of course, brings resentment, and draws a far starker line between the other conflicts. Two peasants may be of the same status, but one can read, has travelled the world, and has seen the face of the Emperor, whilst the other knows only a pitchfork, immediate family, and the plot of land they are forced to work.
\nWarhammer is filled with factions that operate under an us vs them mentality — the Elves vs the Dwarfs, the Empire vs Bretonnia, Reiklanders vs Middenlanders, Altdorfers vs Ubersreikers… Identity is everything, and unswerving allegiance to such, and the conflicts that that allegiance causes, are integral. As are the juxtapositions, stereotypes, and exceptions to that rule. Consider the stories told through the stubbornness of Dwarfs and Elves attempting to work together, or a Dwarf Slayer’s unlikely growing respect for an inexperienced Manling agitator. Often this theme is set against a backdrop of ridiculousness and farce — the conflicts are there, but if everyone just set aside their differences, things would go much smoother. And yet, there’s always someone ready to stoke those fires once more, and unpick any steps towards progress.
\nThe Cults of the Empire’s religions are beset on all sides — fighting Chaos, monsters, magic, heresy, and each other: cult vs cult. Whether it’s Ulricans vs Sigmarites, Ulricans vs Taalites, Verenans vs Rhyans, or any other combination of conflicts, the Cults of the Empire are at each other's throats. Furthermore, the Cults are as political as any other group, and often more so than most. This leads to constant infighting, schisming, purges, synods, and other falling-outs among the Faithful. This constant squabbling from supposedly enlightened folk is a perfect symbol of the futility of the Warhammer world. The Gods may or may not be watching over us. They may or may not care what’s happening. Sure, they send us Miracles and Chosen to aid us in times of darkness… but they do nothing to keep their own houses in order, and show no signs of steering their own clergy.
\nAgitators, seers, and the insane have been declaring the end of the world for many centuries, without seeming effect, but the recent auguries are the most accurate yet. It seems the long-dreaded End Times may be at hand. What does it mean to adventure in a world seemingly headed for inevitable destruction? Are the Characters’ actions still important, or is the very notion of ‘heroics’ meaningless in the face of a looming apocalypse?
\nQuestions such as these are fundamental to the Warhammer experience, and are one of the main reasons why the focus for WFRP is on everyday people. We tell stories about a group of largely ordinary folks marked out for something extraordinary, and then get to see what happens. Will they learn of the pending doom? Will they stand against it? Will they be brought low and succumb to their baser instincts?
\nWe can’t answer these questions, nor would we, if we could. If each Campaign is built around answering a question, then all WFRP Campaigns together are ultimately about these questions. As the GM, it’s worth presenting these questions and this theme, behind many threats, if the Characters dig deep enough.
\nBut the Old World is not without hope, nor without heroism. It’s up to your Players to decide how their Characters face the coming apocalypse and if, ultimately, they can avert it.
\nBetween the threatening peaks of @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains] and the deep forests of @JournalEntry[The Reikwald] lies the Vorbergland, a hilly region extending the length of the Reikland known for its fertile valleys, rolling grasslands, and windswept plains.
\nThe productive south-eastern provinces around @Scene[Barony of Böhrn]{Böhrn}, @JournalEntry[Ubersreik], @JournalEntry[Stimmigen], and @JournalEntry[Dunkelberg] are known locally as Suden Vorbergland, and are the most heavily cultivated regions of the Reikland. They are peppered with many flourishing towns, villages, farms, and vineyards, and are often referred to as ‘Ranald’s Garden’ for the vast quantities of wine they produce for export.
\nFurther west, the Vorbergland is tormented by frequent Orc and Goblin attacks from the mountains, meaning much of the land is sparsely populated, little more than a hunting ground for wild animals and monsters from the peaks. This makes the local baronies and duchies a popular destination for game hunters and natural historians from the Imperial Zoo seeking to capture rare creatures, though only the unwise travel this region without a heavy guard and knowledgeable guide.
\n\n
\n
The Vorbergland Canals are an engineering marvel. Commissioned by the previous Archduke of Upper Teufel in conjunction with merchant houses from Nuln and Marienburg, the canals are the pride of the south, carrying trade from Wissenland across @JournalEntry[The Vorbergland] and back again. Comprised of five canals connecting five major tributaries of @JournalEntry[The Reik], the system links Nuln through to Carroburg, skipping the high taxes of Altdorf completely. Recently, the Dwarfs of Karak Azgaraz sent delegations to the lords of Suden Vorbergland demanding the canals be shut, claiming old treaties from centuries past were being broken by an unacceptably large display of shoddy workmanship. This has caused an uproar from graduates of the Imperial Engineers’ School who see the steam locks and clever water-pumps as a pinnacle of human engineering.
\n\n
Connecting @JournalEntry[The Bögen] and @JournalEntry[The Reik]{Reik} rivers — bypassing Middenland’s Carroburg taxes in the process — the Weissbruck canal sees steady trafficc year-round as trade flows to and from @JournalEntry[Altdorf]. A toll to use the canal is paid once at whatever end a vessel enters. The canal is 25-feet wide, with frequent berthing points and numerous places to stay along its length.
\nLocal bargees do not readily discuss it with strangers, but there are many unusual stories whispered about the canal. Supposedly, the Dwarf engineers that designed it unearthed pre-Unberogen artefacts when they first dug the waterway, and things have never been right in the area since. Some even swear that should Morrsleib — the smaller of the two moons — be full, one can sail the canal north to somewhere other than the Reik…
\n\n
Being a summary of the major events concerning the history of the Grand Province of Reikland.
\nThe Unberogen tribe of Humans settle the land where Altdorf now lies, and begin fortifying the area. It will be sacked many times by rival tribes, Beastmen, Orcs, Goblins, and other vile creatures. Nevertheless, the site is strategically important at the confluence of the Reik and Talabec, and a mixture of conquest and trade helps the settlement flourish. Soon, scholars claim, the fortified town is known as the ‘rich village’, or Reichsdorf. As centuries pass, this becomes Reikdorf, with the surrounding land called the Reikland.
\nA twin-tailed comet streaks through the sky, heralding the birth of Sigmar to Chief Björn of the Unberogen tribe in Reikdorf. The comet leads a crazed warparty of Orcs to Sigmar’s birthplace, and his mother, Griselda, is killed in the attack, leaving Sigmar with a life-long hatred of Greenskins.
\nA merchant-train from Karaz-a-Karak is ambushed by Orcs, and they capture King Kurgan Ironbeard. Sigmar rescues the king, and in return is named a dawonger, Dwarf-friend, and given the king’s greatest heirloom, the magical warhammer Ghal-Maraz.
\nAfter his father dies, Sigmar becomes chief of the Unberogen tribe.
\nSigmar realises the threat the Greenskins pose is far too much for his tribe to tackle alone, so he starts a campaign to bring all the surrounding Human tribes under his rule.
\nAfter several years of warfare and diplomacy, Sigmar binds twelve of the human tribes under his rule and allies himself with several more.
\nThe First Battle for Black Fire Pass. The largest horde of Orcs and Goblins the world has seen is defeated by Humans and Dwarfs led by High Chief Sigmar and King Kurgan, ending the centuries-long Goblin Wars.
\nSigmar is crowned emperor over the chiefs of the twelve tribes and the Empire is born. The Dwarf Runesmith Alaric the Mad is commissioned to create twelve runeswords, one for each of the tribal chiefs, as a symbol of their office and as thanks for their sacrifices to end the Goblin Wars.
\nThe First War Against Chaos. The newly founded Empire is attacked by the forces of Morkar the Uniter, Everchosen of Chaos. The war is desperate, short, and devastating. Eventually, Morkar is slain by Sigmar in a day-long battle that was said to have split the earth and rent the sky.
\nSigmar names the twelve tribal chiefs his ‘counts’, which modern scholars claim can be sourced in the Classical word comes, meaning ‘companion’, for they were his companions on the battlefield against the Greenskins and against the Chaos tribes from the north.
\nSigmar kills the Necromancer Morath and takes the Crown of Sorcery. Recognising its evil, Sigmar locks it away beneath Reikdorf.
\nBattle of Drakenmoor. The Great Enchanter, Constant Drachenfels, leads an army of Goblins and Daemons against Sigmar’s new capital and suffers the first defeat of his eternal existence. This shocking loss will haunt him long after he reincorporates several centuries later.
\nBattle of the River Reik. Nagash, the Lord of Undeath, gathers a shambling horde of unliving monsters, and attempts to claim the Crown of Sorcery from Sigmar. The Undead almost overwhelm the Reiklanders and their Dwarf allies, but, after an exhausting battle, Sigmar eventually strikes Nagash down, causing the unliving army to crumble to dust.
\nAfter five decades of extraordinary rule, Sigmar vanishes. To avoid destroying Sigmar’s empire, the tribal chiefs eventually agree to vote for a new emperor from their own number, and select Siegrich of the Asoborn tribe. Thus, the counts became ‘elector counts’, and each swears to be a companion and protector of their elected emperor.
\nEmperor Siegrich I dies in a hunting accident. After a fraught month, Prince Hedrich of the Unberogens is elected Emperor Hedrich I, bringing the seat of the Empire back to Reikdorf.
\nJohann Helstrum arrives in Reikdorf and claims to have holy visions concerning Sigmar. He preaches that he witnessed Sigmar’s Ascension to Godhood. Such is the love the Unberogens have for their lost emperor, Helstrum is readily believed.
\nJohann Helstrum builds a temple to Sigmar in Reikdorf. History will forever remember him as the first Grand Theogonist of
\nthe Cult of Sigmar, and the first man to recognise Sigmar’s divinity.
\nEmperor Hedrich I receives the twelve runeblades from Alaric the Mad that were commissioned 100 years earlier. Each of these ‘Runefangs’ is a unique weapon of extraordinary power, and they are passed to the tribal chiefs. In time, the Runefangs will become powerful symbols of the Elector Counts.
\nA High Temple to Sigmar is completed in Reikdorf, and it acts as the centre
\nof worship for a cult that now extends throughout the Empire. This rapid expansion leads to open conflict with the cults of Ulric and Taal.
\nEmperor Ludwig I, commonly called Ludwig the Fat, grants the Grand Theogonist a vote to select the next emperor. Though some Elector Counts cry foul, and the other cults are astounded at the blatant favouritism, Emperor Ludwig appears far more interested in the lavish banquets prepared for him by the Cult of Sigmar in Reikdorf.
\n1000 years after Sigmar was crowned emperor, the Cult of Sigmar completes a new High Temple in Reikdorf. It is the largest temple in all the Empire, and cements Sigmar worship as the primary cult in the Reikland. In celebration, Emperor Ludwig
\nI renames his city Altdorf, demonstrating its age and importance to the Empire as a whole.
\nThe Rule of Boris Goldgather. Emperor Boris I proves to be exceptionally unpopular and corrupt, with his rule known for exorbitant taxes, weak leadership, and a complete neglect of the military.
\nRise of the Drakwald: Beastmen and other vile creatures swarm from beneath the twisted bowers of the Drakwald, sacking villages, towns, and fortifications across the Drakwald province. When the last heir to the Drakwald throne is slain in battle with an enormous Bestigor, Emperor Boris I chooses to place the Drakwald Runefang in his Altdorf palace. Publicly, when a suitable heir is found, the Runefang will be passed on. Privately, Boris has no intention of ever giving up the magical blade.
\nThe Black Plague. Disease sweeps through the Reikland, killing nine in every ten people, and debilitating half of those left alive. Skaven then erupt from their under-Empire and attack. When Emperor Boris I dies of the plague in 1115 IC, no-one replaces him in the ensuing anarchy.
\n1115-1124 IC
\nThe Rat Wars. Skaven move to systematically enslave the remaining population of the Empire, and effectively wipe-out what remains of the Drakwald province. In response, Elector Count Mandred of Middenland rallies a desperate defence, and with the help of Elven allies from the laurelorn Forest, finally drives the Skaven back below ground. At the end of the war, the victorious Mandred is elected emperor by the three surviving elector bloodlines.
\nAge of Wars. Emperor Mandred II is assassinated by the Skaven in 1152 IC. The Elector Counts cannot agree on a successor as they are too concerned about rivals invading their devastated grand provinces, so a fraught interregnum ensues for over two centuries. During this time, the Princes of the Reikland rule their Grand Province unfettered as civil war rages across the Empire.
\nThe Time of Two Emperors. In a desperate bid to end the bloodshed, the Electors meet in Altdorf and eventually agree on a choice for emperor, crowning Elector Count Wilhelm of Stirland as emperor by a majority of one. Elector Countess Ottila of Talabecland is outraged at this, and claims the vote is rigged. When she returns to Talabheim she declares herself Empress without a vote, and is supported in her claim by the Cults of Taal and Ulric. She then outlaws the Cult of Sigmar in Talabecland, a decree that stands for almost a thousand years. The civil wars escalate.
\nShipbuilding rises to prominence in Altdorf’s natural harbour, the Reiksport. Soon, quality vessels built in the Reikland are plying the Reik river system.
\nThe prince of the Reikland formally commissions a navy, worried about the influence of ships sailing from Talabheim, Carroburg, Nuln, and Marienburg. To help limit their influence, Altdorf builds several low bridges across the Reik and Talabec to block larger ships and to control trade.
\nThe Time of Three Emperors. After Sigmarites botch an assassination attempt when Electors refuse to back their choice for the next emperor, the Elector Count of Middenland denounces the imperial elections as a corrupt sham, and declares himself the rightful emperor. He has the support of the cult of Ulric, which had recently fallen out with the Talabecland emperors.
\nThe Empire now has three Emperors: The Electoral Emperor supported by the cult of Sigmar, the Ottilian Emperor supported by the Cult of Taal, and the Wolf Emperor supported by the Cult of Ulric. The civil wars intensify.
\nKnights returning rich from the crusades against Araby found new knightly orders and chapterhouses across the Reikland. They also fund the first temple of Myrmidia in Altdorf, a simple building sponsored by the newly invested Knights of the Blazing Sun.
\nThe Night of the Restless Dead. The dead stir in the Gardens of Morr. Corpses rise, bones rattle, and the dead walk the land, sowing terror and confusion. Entire towns and villages are overrun before dawn brings a reprieve from the rapacious hunger of the deceased.
\nWAAAGH! Gorbad! and the First Siege of Altdorf. Taking advantage of the divided Empire, the Orc Warboss Gorbad Ironclaw invades with a tide of Greenskins at his back, destroying the Grand Province of Solland, sacking Nuln and much of Wissenland, and eventually sweeping through the Reikland razing almost a third of its settlements before his green wave eventually breaks against the walls of Altdorf; but not before the Prince of Altdorf, and Electoral Emperor, Sigismund IV is killed.
\nThe Poisoned Feast. The Great Enchanter, Constant Drachenfels, in one of his most famous treacheries, invites the Electoral Emperor, Carolus II, and the entire imperial court and its families, to a great feast held in his castle. Drachenfels poisons his guests, paralysing them. He then starves them to death in front of the marvellous banquet he prepared. This wipes out several important noble bloodlines of the Reikland, deeply destabilising the grand province and the Electoral Emperors as a whole.
\nThe Dark Ages. Elector Countess Magritta of Westerland is elected empress, but the Cult of Sigmar refuses to crown her, or indeed any other Elector Count or Countess, leaving the Electoral Emperors without a voted emperor. The entire electoral system collapses, and soon most provinces fight only for themselves. Petty warlords claim titles on a whim as new kingdoms, counties, duchies, princedoms and more rise and fall as terror spreads across the former Empire.
\nThe Vampire Wars. The Empire has collapsed into thousands of competing factions, and the Vampire Lords of Sylvania rise to exploit the turmoil. In total, three major wars result as three different vampire counts attempt to eradicate the fractured Empire. Each time, the Vampires are driven back through a mixture of unlikely alliances, desperate gambits, and clever strategy.
\nSecond Siege of Altdorf. The vampire lord Vlad von Carstein is slain. His wife, Isabella von Carstein, commits suicide, unable to continue unlife without him. Their armies soon splinter into feuding factions, ending the First Vampire Wars.
\nAfter the inconclusive Battle of Four Armies ended in multiple assassination attempts by supposed allies on the Empire side, it is decided that it is time to elect an emperor to pull everyone together. Elector Count Helmut is the most popular candidate for this, until its discovered he is actually a zombie in the thrall of Konrad von Carstein, the very vampire lord they are trying to defeat. All plans to elect an emperor are abandoned.
\nThird Siege of Altdorf. The vampire lord Mannfred von Carstein launches a surprise winter attack on the Reikland capital as it recuperated from a summer of civil conflicts but is eventually driven back when the Grand Theogonist of Sigmar uses a forbidden spell to unbind the vampire’s necromancy.
\nA rift into the Realms of Chaos opens at Castle Drachenfels, resulting in the annihilation of almost every living soul from Bögenhafen to Ubersreik. After more than a week of terror, the rift mysteriously closes.
\nThe Great War Against Chaos. Asavar Kul, Everchosen of Chaos, leads a horde of unimaginable size into Kislev, laying waste to everything in his path. In response, Magnus von Bildhofen, a young Nulner noble claiming to be inspired by Sigmar, rallies the fractured and broken Empire into a mighty army to relieve Kislev. He eventually defeats Asavar Kul at the Gates of Kislev alongside Kislevite, Dwarf, and Elven allies.
\nThe Reign of Magnus the Pious. Magnus von Bildhofen is elected Emperor Magnus I, the first elected emperor representing all Sigmar’s Grand Provinces for almost a thousand years. Riding the wave of popularity he secured by winning the Great War Against Chaos, he immediately initiates sweeping reforms to end the corruption that previously brought the Empire to its knees, creating new laws to limit the nobility, cults, guilds and much more. He also oversees the foundation of many new institutions, including the formal creation of the Empire State Armies, Imperial Navy, and, controversially, the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf, making magic legal across all the Empire for the first time.
\nThe Third Parravon War. The Bretonnian duchy of Parravon invades the Reikland across the Grey Lady Pass, claiming the military escalation in Ubersreik caused by the mustering of the new State Army breaks an ancient treaty. They are quickly driven back, and the following year Parravon is besieged. Eventually, after a year of occasional skirmishes outside Parravon’s extraordinarily high walls, and a great deal of standing around shouting insults, the King of Bretonnia treats on behalf of Parravon with Emperor Magnus I, ending the war.
\nThe Fourth Parravon War. The Bretonnian duchy of Parravon again invades the Reikland across the Grey Lady Pass. Ubersreik is besieged twice during the war, but doesn’t fall. Peace is eventually brokered by the intervention of Emperor Dieter IV who agrees to pay the Parravonese an extortionate sum of money to retreat, drawing much criticism at court.
\n2415 IC
\nThe Night of a Thousand Arcane Duels. War erupts between the Eight Colleges of Magic in Altdorf, razing large sections of the city and resulting in the death of six of the eight Patriarchs. The Cult of Sigmar pressures the Prince of Altdorf and Emperor Dieter IV to lock the Colleges down, which they do, resulting in the execution of many wizards, and effectively bringing legal magic use to an end in the Empire. Many of the surviving wizards flee the Colleges, never to return.
\nWAAAGH! Grom! The Goblin Warboss Grom the Paunch leads an enormous horde of Greenskins across the Empire, sacking many Reikland towns and villages, before eventually heading westwards, undefeated, where he then takes to the sea. The lack of wizards from the suspended Colleges of Magic is widely blamed for the repeated military defeats suffered by Reikland’s armies.
\nWesterland buys its independence from the Empire by bribing Emperor Dieter IV, reforming itself as The Wasteland with Marienburg as its capital. Using anti-corruption laws put in place by Magnus the Pious almost a hundred years earlier, the Elector Counts depose Dieter in the ensuing scandal. He is replaced by Grand Prince Wilhelm of House Holswig-Schliestein of the Reikland, who is named Emperor Wilhelm III, starting the imperial dynasty that rules the Empire to this day.
\nThe Battle for Grootscher Marsh. Emperor Wilhelm III, under pressure from the Elector Counts to respond to the Wasteland’s secession from the Empire, gathers the State Armies to invade Marienburg. In late Autumn, the opposing forces meet at the Grootscher Marsh just outside Siert, and the Empire is routed by the advanced Marienburg navy, well-trained mercenaries and militias, and the magics of the Wasteland’s High Elven allies. Begrudgingly, Wilhelm verbally recognises the Wasteland’s independence, but refuses to ratify it with a treaty. Marienburg accepts this and draws their new border at Siert.
\nAppalled at the State Army’s inability to effectively counteract the Elven mages and Marienburg ships, Emperor Wilhelm III reinstates the Colleges of Magic after their 15-year suspension and invests significant resources into shipbuilding at the Reiksport.
\nThe Great Fire of Altdorf. The newly reinstated Bright College accidentally sets Altdorf alight when a spell misfires, burning many buildings to the ground. Many lobby Emperor Wilhelm III hard to suspend the colleges again, but eventually he decides to keep them open, but with greater oversight from the Cult of Sigmar.
\nFourth Siege of Altdorf. The Liche King, Arkhan the Black, invades the Reikland with a seemingly endless swarm of walking corpses that march straight for Altdorf. Once the siege begins, Arkhan slips unnoticed into the High Temple of Sigmar and steals the dreaded Liber Mortis kept within. Minutes after he escapes, his army collapses, leaving thousands of carcasses mouldering outside the city walls as state soldiers look on in confusion and relief.
\nIn Drachenfels Castle, Constant Drachenfels is slain by Crown Prince Oswald von Königswald of Ostland.
\nEmperor Luitpold III signs treaties with the Wasteland to allow warships of the Imperial Navy to pass through the city-port of Marienburg. For the first time since the secession of the Wasteland, the Reiklander navy is sailing the high seas, although the tolls to do so are extortionate.
\nEmperor Luitpold III dies in his sleep. In a close vote, Luitpold’s son is elected to replace him, and is crowned Emperor Karl-Franz I in the High Temple of Sigmar in Altdorf.
\nBy imperial appointment, the playwright Detlef Seirk attempts to stage an ambitious play in Castle Drachenfels for Emperor Karl-Franz and the gathered nobility of the Empire. It goes disastrously wrong.
\nMalathrax the Mighty, an enormous Doomfire Dragon, terrorises the Vorbergland, razing villages and taking livestock, before its driven north across the Hägercrybs. After several months of pursuit, and the eradication of the entire Knightly Order of the Ebon Sword, the Dragon is slain by the Imperial Huntsmarshal, Markus Wulfhart, who places three arrows in its heart.
\n" }, { "id": "Training", "name": "Training", "description": "
General Endeavor
\nThe Training Endeavour allows you to train in a Skill or Characteristic outside of your Career, treating it as if it were in-Career. In addition to the normal XP cost, you must also pay money to the tutor. Training for Basic Skills and all Characteristics costs XP+1d10 brass pennies , where XP is the number of XP it costs to buy the Advance. Tutoring in all Advanced Skills costs double that amount. For more, see Advances, see page 43.
\nYou should be able to find a tutor for most skills, certainly in a city-state like Altdorf, but some particularly unusual skills may require you seek out the right instructor, likely by using the @JournalEntry[Consult an Expert] Endeavour — ‘Professionals’ who can teach you how to properly pick a lock generally don’t advertise, after all. Other skills, especially Lore Skills, often require an institution of learning, and some are flat out forbidden in the Empire. Finding a tutor capable (and willing) to instruct someone in proscribed matters — such as those relating to the Ruinous Powers or Necromancy — may be particularly dangerous, and perhaps an adventure to even source such an individual. Such tutors will also ask for far more than the ‘going rate’ for tutoring and will likely require a Significant Favour (see @JournalEntry[Do Me a Favor!]).
" }, { "id": "Travel", "name": "Travel", "description": "Travelling in the Old World can be dangerous. Brigands, mutants, and beasts lurk in the shadows, an ever-present threat, perhaps joined by those specifically out to thwart the Players’ actions. Some parts of the Empire have been corrupted by magic, Chaos, Necromancy, or worse, and can easily consume the unwary traveller. Even the weather poses a threat!
\nIt’s up to you how you want to represent the dangers of travel in your game. Sometimes you’ll just want to get on with the adventure and deal with journeys with a simple description of how long the journey was, and the key points along the way. Most journeys will either be by road or by river, with road the more dangerous, and cheaper, option.
\nThe roads of the Reikland are often crude but reliable. The routes between major cities are relatively safe and well-maintained. However, far-flung routes can be little more than muddy tracks. Regardless of the quality, all roads need to be maintained, so most are tolled.
\nThere is an extensive network of coach routes throughout the province. The busiest routes have coaches running several times per day. The many Coaching Houses of the Reikland are in fierce competition, so the prices are often reasonable and reliability is good. The Four Seasons is the biggest coach company, and is represented along all the major routes.
\nRoadside inns are often placed at the convenience of the Coaching Houses. Therefore, journeying by foot, especially away from the major routes, runs the risk of not reaching a safe place to rest before nightfall.
\nRiver journeys are often straightforward and perhaps even relaxing. However, this relies on finding a boat going to and from convenient locations. Dedicated passenger barges only travel between the major towns and cities, but can be bribed or persuaded to drop people off along the way. Getting to more obscure locations usually requires hitching a ride with a cargo boat, which can be difficult for large parties.
\nThe prices listed in Travel Costs do not include meals, lodging, or fodder, although coaches and passenger boats usually charge for the whole package for longer journeys. Package prices can be worked out by combining travel with food and boarding prices. On some ferries, lodging is not required, as passengers sleep on the vessel, either on deck or in a private cabin.
\nCargo barge travel-costs should be individually haggled with barge masters. Often, such passage can be secured for a greatly reduced price, or even for free, if the passenger is willing to work and they know what they’re doing.
\nHigh class travel is available and de rigueur among the nobility, and can cost many times the listed price, typically ten times or more. Opulent passenger vessels ply between the great cities of the Empire, like the famous Emperor Luitpold plying the River Talebec between Altdorf and Talabheim.
\n\n\nTravel Costs
\nAll the costs listed here are per mile travelled, and are loose guides only. Faster coaches and barges generally cost twice as much. Slower examples cost as little as half as much. Increase or decrease speed by +/– 1 for faster or slower examples.
\n\n\n
\n\n \n\n \nTransport
\n\n \nMovement
\n\n \nCost
\n\n \nDistance
\n\n \nCOACH \n6 \n\n \n \n \nInside \n\n @Pay[2bp] \nper mile \n\n \nOutside \n\n @Pay[1bp] \nper mile \n\n \nBARGE \n8 \n\n \n \n \nCabin \n\n @Pay[5bp] \nper mile \n\n \nDeck \n\n @Pay[2bp] \nper mile \n\n \nCAB \n6 \n@Pay[3bp] \nper district \n\n \n\nFERRY \n4 \n@Pay[1bp] \nper 20 yards \n
Use Movement to determine travel speed in miles per hour. So, if a party’s slowest Movement was 3, it would travel at approximately 3 miles per hour.
\nTaking into account rests, necessary stops, and a typical topography, a party can travel the equivalent of 6 hours a day without requiring Endurance Tests. If travelling faster or farther, give a @Condition[Fatigued] Condition to those failing this Test, with extra Fatigue if Encumbered.
\nBarge speed can increase or decrease by up to 30% if going downstream or upstream, as you determine is appropriate.
\nWhether detailing daily travel or simply choosing to allow the party to pay an appropriate fee and then arrive at their chosen destination, every now and again it’s good to throw in some travel events. It’s an opportunity to show off a different aspect of the Old World, or to give a change of pace to the adventure.
\nAn intrigue-focused game can sometimes do with a clearly defined ‘goodies vs. baddies’ Beastmen attack. A tense, bleak session can benefit from a night’s entertainment sharing camp with a travelling circus. Further, you can work these encounters into your ongoing narrative if you wish.
\nFinding the burned-out caravans of the circus later in the journey is a poignant way of making the antagonists’ actions personal. Travel events are also great for foreshadowing events to come, or reinforcing the themes of an adventure.
\nIt is up to you how much of an issue you want these travel events to be for your players. Some could simply consist of a brief description, while others could form the basis of an entire session of play. Some GMs prefer to roll [[/gmr 1d10]] per day of travel and have an event occur on the roll of an 8 (signifying the 8-pointed symbol of Chaos — something unexpected and random has occurred), others like a single event for each journey of a day or more. This is left for you to determine, though if you are playing a printed adventure by Cubicle 7 that includes a journey, suggested events and travel times will be included. So, @Table[travel] can be used as you prefer, and presumes a single event for the journey travelled.
\nYou might like to give Players the opportunity to avoid nasty events with a successful Perception Test, or Outdoor Survival, or whatever other Test makes sense at the time. If they are travelling in paid-for transportation, you might decide that gives them help in overcoming any adversities.
" }, { "id": "Two-Weapon Fighting", "name": "Two-Weapon Fighting", "description": "Some warriors prefer to fight with a weapon in each hand — such as using a sword and sword-breaker, or a sword and a shield. The following applies when you are fighting with two weapons.
\nThe town of Ubersreik is situated near Grey Lady Pass, one of only two major passes over @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains] into Bretonnia. Because of this, the town regularly sees traders and travellers from across the Old World. The mighty fortress known as the Black Rock is connected to the walls of the town should any less welcome travellers attempt ingress. Ubersreik has had a long association with the nearby Dwarven clans of the Grey Mountains, and in a situation unique to Ubersreik, representatives of the city’s Dwarf population sit on the town council. One of Ubersreik’s more famous edifices, its spectacular bridge over the River Teufel, was built by Dwarfs during the time of Magnus the Pious. Widely regarded as one of the most impressive feats of engineering to be found in the Reikland, it connects the trade road which runs all the way from Bögenhafen to Dunkelberg then Nuln. Ubersreik deals in trade of all kinds, but is most well-known for ore and the skilled metal-work of the Dwarfs.
\nFor exhaustive details on Ubersreik, see the WFRP Starter Set.
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" }, { "id": "Uhland Bogs", "name": "Uhland Bogs", "description": "
A windswept peatland lying to the south of the County of the West March, the mossy Uhland Bogs are pierced through by the Westerfluss, the river that forms the natural border between the Wasteland and the Reikland. Towers of peat cut from the bog can be found stacked in the small villages near the mire, where dried blocks are used to fuel local fires in winter or shipped downriver to be sold along @JournalEntry[The Reik]. In the south-west depths of the bog a number of ancient, carved stones rise from the sodden land, drawing local cultists of Rhya and older deities to worship during important equinoxes. One group of these stones, called the Crowstones, has a particularly foul reputation, and the surrounding bog is permanently blackened. Locals warn never to travel to the stones near the festival days of Geheimistag or Hexenstag, for they claim crows gather in impossible numbers and unspeakable things rise from the bog to wreak terror upon the living.
\n\n
Not every fight in WFRP involves guns or swords. Many conflicts are settled with good, old-fashioned fisticuffs. A successful Melee (Brawling) Test for unarmed combat is handled in the same way as any other combat Test, but you have one extra option: you may enter a Grapple!
\nInstead of inflicting damage with an unarmed attack, you can attempt to Grapple and immobilise your opponent. You must declare this is your intent before rolling to hit your opponent. If you win the Opposed Test, you and your opponent are Grappling, and your opponent gains the @Condition[Entangled] Condition. If you begin your turn Grappling, you may break the Grapple if you have a higher Advantage than your opponent, and do not count as being Engaged for your Move; otherwise, you must make an Opposed Strength Test for your Action. If you win, you can do one of the following:
\nIf you lose the Opposed Test, you can do nothing but struggle as your opponent gains +1 Advantage.
\nThose outside the Grapple gain a +20 bonus to hit the grapplers with the lowest Advantage, and a +10 bonus to hit to the grappler with the highest Advantage.
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\n" }, { "id": "Unusual Learning", "name": "Unusual Learning", "description": "Options: Grappling With Skills
\nIf you are Grappling, your GM may allow you to perform a Test other than an Opposed Strength Test according to the situation. Perhaps Language (Magick) to cast a spell, or Charm to wheedle your way free, or Leadership to order your grappler to stand down? As long as your GM is happy with this, roll those dice and see what happens. But if you fail, note that you will not be concentrating on the Grapple, so the GM may rule you gain an extra @Condition[Entangled] Condition, which could make things very tricky!
\n
General Endeavor
\nIt is one thing to pick up a Skill that can be readily practised, quite another to learn something for which one may have no aptitude at all. This Endeavour allows you to attempt to learn a Talent outside of your Career. There is no guarantee this attempt will be successful, meaning there is a good chance you will fail to learn the Talent you hope to acquire, expending XP and money to no avail.
\nYou can only learn a Talent if you have an appropriate tutor. In most big cities, this will not be a problem, but if the Talent is particularly obscure, or you are far from a large city, the GM may require you complete a Consult an Expert Endeavour first.
\nOnce you have acquired a tutor, the fee to train the Talent is [[/r 2d10]] shillings per 100 XP it costs to purchase the Talent. If you pay this fee, attempt a Hard (-20) Test using the Characteristic or Skill most relevant to the Talent as determined by the GM. If you succeed, you have learned the Talent. If not, you have failed this time but can try again with a future Endeavour and gain a +10 modifier for each failed attempt.
" }, { "id": "Weissbruck", "name": "Weissbruck", "description": "Originally little more than one of many tiny fishing villages along the @JournalEntry[The Bögen]{River Bögen}, Weissbruck has in the past century grown rapidly into a bustling port for goods and travelers moving between Bögenhafen and Altdorf. Weissbruck’s change in fortune is due to its shrewd rulers, the Grubers, who decided to capitalize on the rich deposits of coal and iron found in @JournalEntry[The Skaag Hills]. This ready supply of much needed resources enabled the Grubers, with the permission and partnership of the Prince of Altdorf, to commission Dwarf engineers to construct a canal in 2462IC, which rapidly accelerated the town’s growth, bringing all manner of citizenry with it.
\nWhile the output of the mines has slowed in recent years, trade has steadily increased. Despite its rulers’ riches, Weissbruck retains something of the character of a typical mining town; burly miners and dockworkers ensure an uneasy peace, and the threat of violence is never far removed. As the mines’ output has diminished, more and more miners have descended from the Skaag hills, a growing, agitated, unemployed workforce with little to do but drink cheap rotgut and scowl at strangers.
\n\n
Wheburg is the first town encountered after leaving @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains] on the road from @JournalEntry[Helmgart] to @JournalEntry[Bögenhafen]. Its proximity to the fortress of Helmgart ensures troops pass through regularly, and the town offers a sizeable barracks for visiting soldiers. Having survived the mountains’ extreme weather — to say nothing of ravaging armies of Orcs and Goblins, and potential monsters roosting on the nearby Drachenberg — most visitors arrive to Wheburg with a powerful desire to celebrate life.
\nTo accommodate that need, Wheburg has become renowned for its hospitality, and its locals are widely regarded as the friendliest in the Reikland — for a price. The streets are lined with taverns, inns, and gambling dens, not to mention some less salubrious establishments where all the pleasures of the flesh are purveyed, and illicit substances may be procured. Tough fist-fights and petty crime are common, things rarely get too out of hand given the significant number of soldiers usually on hand to disperse any rowdy revelers (except, of course, when those revellers are, themselves, off-duty soldiers). Spending time in Wheburg prior to marriage has become something of a rite-of-passage for well-heeled Reiklanders, and it’s common to hear men and women calling out, ‘what happens in Wheburg, stays in Wheburg!’ from many a street corner.
\n\n
\n
\n
The small fishing hamlet of Wörlin is almost impossible to spot from the river. The settlement is surrounded by a number of small, rocky islets and promontories, and sheltered by thousands of bowing trees. These ‘Willows of Worlitz’ line the banks of the Reik for many miles around, and it seems none have any interest in using their lumber. A great deal of trade passes by Wörlin, but very little actually happens in Wörlin as most of the passing goods are bound for more lucrative markets.
\n\n
\n\nThe Root of the Problem
\nOn the festival day of Sonnstill, the ‘hamlet circle’ — a council of the hamlet’s elders — gather to ‘water the willows’. This simple ceremony involves singing, dancing, feasting, and the slicing of a virile stranger’s throat, splashing blood across the thirsty roots of the Queen willow, quenching her sanguinary appetites for one more year. should the ceremony be completed, the Queen is pleased, and will ensure the hamlet’s safety from the children of the forest. should the ceremony be interrupted, the Queen awakes and summons her children, bringing braying Beastmen by the score to slaughter all in their path. But outsiders rarely consider such consequences when they have a knife to their throat.
\n
\n
" }, { "id": "Zahnstadt", "name": "Zahnstadt", "description": "
Isolated Zahnstadt is considered by locals to be the ‘last village of the Vorbergland’, after which the rolling hills turn barren and cold before reaching upwards to the Greenskin-infested @JournalEntry[The Grey Mountains]{Grey Mountains}. In the shadow of those peaks, Zahnstadt skulks along the southern bank of the River Mos, deep in a dark valley with bleak crags rising to all sides. In summer, the sun only shines on the village for an hour or two at midday, hiding behind the surrounding cliffs in the morning, and creeping behind the mountains as the day lengthens.
\nIn the winter, there is no direct sunlight at all, locking the village in a gloomy cycle of twilight and darkness. Despite this, the folk of Zahnstadt are famous for their bright dispositions and perpetual cheerfulness, a trait outsiders often find forced and off-putting. Every house in Zahnstadt is brightly painted in a garish medley of different, often clashing colors. Its homely inn, the Wayward Sun, is famous for its ever-burning hearthfire and for the relentlessly cheerful songs that echo long into the night.
\n\n
\n\nThe Sins of the Past
\nZahnstadt has long been in the grip of something far worse than a lack of enriching sunlight: vampires. near the end of the third vampire wars, Janos von Carstein deserted the vampire lord Mannfred von Carstein’s depleted armies. After weeks of evading pursuit from his master’s vengeful minions, he chanced upon dark Zahnstadt and realized it was the perfect place to go to ground. Almost three-hundred years later, and he hides there still, and time has made him bold. he now sleeps beneath the Wayward Sun in an ostentatious, velvet-lined coffin, rising each evening to hold ‘court’ in the inn, forcing enthralled locals to sing happy songs of his homeland Sylvania. Rumour of this has not only reached the ears of witch hunters, but also the pawns of recently resurrected Mannfred von Carstein, who has ordered his traitorous son be brought before him. it would be unfortunate, indeed, should poor, unsuspecting souls happen to hostel in the Wayward Sun on the same night the witch hunters arrive to investigate, and the same night that Mannfred’s agents choose to extract Janos before the witch hunters uncover his true nature…
\n
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