Emirikol said: We still don't have an elf product! Thanks to the 2e fans at StS for getting started on one though! Just speaking for myself, I'm a WFRP fan not a 2e fan. I just use the 2e system to play WFRP because IMO it's the lesser of three evils.

Hey Gallows, when you're finished the conversions could you please email them to jhornborg (at) gmail (dot) com? Thanks!

k7e9 said: You do need a WFRP plugin for the program though, and I can't seem to find it. Anyone with a link for the plugin? http://www.liberfanatica.net/Addenda.html

Pedro Lunaris said: like the Witch Hunter - if I'm not mistaken. but on a second thought, a Witch Hunter is not a basic career, and so a character that becomes one was something else before. if he was a Zealot, I can imagine him not being able to read - it would be the mad Witch Hunter type. if he was a Priest, or an Investigator, or something like that, he would - so I'm fine with that. I don't expect a Witch Hunter to have the utmost training in Education. I would expect that even if not all Witch Hunters can read, as an Advanced career it should provide at least the opportunity for learning, considering the number of scriptures and heretical documents Witch Hunters are expected to understand in order to fulfill their duties as judges, juries and executioners. I suppose you could have a scribe following the Witch Hunter around reading things for him, but I think it would be in every Witch Hunter's interests to become literate eventually.

Gallows said: I know the rules say one thing... but the scenarios and campaigns that is essentially the meat of the setting and the very core of what the game is... shows another image. I have just decided that people in the old world aren't as illiterate as was the case in real world Europe at the time. Unless I want to change a lot of the handouts it just makes the most sense. It's not something that is going to change the setting a lot. The uninformed masses will still be uninformed and a majority of people will not be able to read very well if at all. But everyone everywhere knows someone who can read... that's my general view of the matter. That said, it it always the wizard in our group who reads handouts for the others, since he's the one with education. I just find it most practical for the flow of the game not to worry too much about it. Assuming widespread literacy certainly makes GMing easier in some ways. When designing scenarios, I try to make an effort to limit text-based handouts to NPCs who are actually literate themselves. This covers a fairly large percentage of NPCs, since nobles, burghers, merchants, priests etc. are all literate, and those careers make up a significant proportion of NPCs in investigative-style adventures. Adventuring parties in v1/v2 also tend to contain a higher proportion of literate characters because the career tables aren't distributed according to actual population demographics. In a party of 5, it's fairly common to have at least 2-3 literate PCs in v1/v2.

Gallows said: I am just not sure it's suitable for LF release, since I don't feel it has the required quality. Some chapters have most NPCs on SE sheets, others use the creature vault with some bonuses for some NPCs. But if you want, feel free to use it... I'll create a Related Materials section on the TTT download page. If anyone finds your conversion useful for their games (which I'm sure people will), then it's good enough for LF.

Gallows: are your 3e conversions finished to the end of the campaign? I'm uploading some stuff to LF this afternoon and figured I would add this too if it's ready. You can email me at: jhornborg (at) gmail (dot) com

Gallows said: The world, the campaigns and scenarios would break down if this illiteracy was as widespread as some of you believe. Everything in the 1st/2nd and 3rd edition scenario/campaign material suggests most people have basic reading skills. I think scenario authors are usually more concerned with creating good adventures than accurately portraying the setting's literacy rates. And players do love handouts. Perhaps making more graphical handouts would be the solution, but those are trickier to design and also increase the artwork budget. For a true reflection of literacy rates in v1/v2, I'd look at the number of instances of Read/Write skill in the Career profiles.

Gallows said: True about Marienburg being completely independent, but it still stands for me as an example of a free city that has gained independence from the empire. It's this independence that makes it a free city... free from the obligations (and benefits) of the Empire. I believe free cities like Nuln and Kemperbad are still beholden to the Emperor; they're just considered independent from the province in which they are situated. Kemperbad is ruled by a town council with no obligations to the Reikland, but they still contribute to the Empire and observe Imperial laws. This arrangement is probably confusing at times since Karl-Franz holds the titles of both Reikland Elector Count and also Emperor. Similarly, Nuln is technically independent from Wissenland but still provides artillery and gunners to the Empire. Nuln's situation is also complicated because the current ruler Emmanuelle von Liebwitz also happens to be the Elector Count of Wissenland (although it's noted that she would happily hand Wissenland over to Toppenheimer if Nuln gained its own Electoral vote).

Kryyst said: Edtion wars are the amusement of grognards. A new edition of a game doens't break the old one. People are never forced to buy the newest edition they just get their feelings hurt that their game is no longer being supported. Edition Wars are almost souly the result of the internet. One could also make an argument that edition wars help to raise the collective fanbase's blood pressure and keep them engaged in the community.

Erdrick said: I got games to play, yo. Ain't got time for dat noise. You go gamer hipster! You're 2 legit 2 quit dude.

Gallows said: My first thought is Chapter 2. That chapter is downright goofy and It feels like it's completely detached from the campaign. Like a random scenario inserted. It serves no purpose at all for the storyline or for the general mood of the campaign. Then suddenly a vampire appears. The chapter should have been much more refined with a better investigative plot leaving some valuable clues for later chapters. If I had to run it again I would have changed the entire plot so the player ended up getting a job as guards for the vampire. I would have left the entire vampire fight out of it and instead focused on the murder in the village, while leaving small clues about their employer. I would want the players to get a good (but mysterious) relationship to the vampire, only for him to return later as a villain. Perhaps the players would slowly uncover this throughout the other chapters, before meeting him again at the wedding in chapter 7. I know the blood lines don't fit, but I'd figure something out. Something along those lines anyway We do have some ch 2 expansion material in development, although it focuses more on the Blauesblut (making them part of a larger grand conspiracy) than on Wilhelm Hollenbach. Hollenbach remains mostly a tragic, pathetic figure, although we have some ideas for working him into the Dream Magic metagame as he languishes blood-deprived in the Strigany wagon with a Tzeentchian vampire's blood in his veins. There's also some additional linking material between ch 2 and Mad Orlock and the Drakwald Strigoi.

When you're done, it would be great to hear about any holes in the campaign or ambiguities that you feel could be smoothed out for subsequent expansion material. Active TTT GMs and playtesters are a rare and valuable resource for us at this juncture.

Gallows said: Yeah... I do have both though, but much of my conversion is done as I prepare for the sessions, so it's very little extra work I put into it in terms of other people reading it. Why aren't you using the expansions, incidentally? We're always welcoming feedback both positive and negative as we move forward with the project.

The TTT expansions reference many statblocks in NDM and the WFRP Companion, so converting them to v3 would be a major task, especially for someone who doesn't own those books.

Ghiacciolo said: Oh...thank u very much! Dont know if i would wait so long...i'm still reading the basic campaign and for now i've found quite a few dull spots...dont know if this campaign is worth the effort to be run...what do u think about it? I'm not the best person to ask because I'm biased (having worked on the original book) but I definitely wouldn't wait two years before running it. If it seems too dull, better to run something else that inspires you instead. But even if you run TTT now with just expansions 1 and 2, you'll be able to run it again with a different group eventually (using expansions 3-6) and have it play out very differently.

Expansions #3 and #4 will be released in Dec. 2011, and Expansions #5 and #6 will be Dec. 2012.

Excellent work Gallows! I'd be interested in hearing how the game balance in TTT holds up using v3 mechanics. With your permission, it would be great if we could host these conversions on the LF TTT Expansion page.

Mordjinn said: I'm really not looking for anything super complicated. Just a bigger picture of what's going to happen in the next X years and how to foreshadow these events. I don't need a box or new rules or anything else but a idea of a story. I will write the story with my group, but for that I'd love to have a structures to support the single scenarios. Just a thin booklet, nothing fancy. And preferably written in a way that the people who don't wish to incorporate the bigger plot have a choice not to do so. Maybe there is a big dragon awakening and the adventure to go against it is going to be released 2014. Well, why not foreshadow it now already in an earlier adventure? Maybe the heroes meet a band of adventurers on the road, who are going to those mountains. Or something. One approach might be publishing a booklet of short adventures (interludes and travel encounters) that can be used to connect the freelance-written adventures together (e.g. a whole book of Carrion Up the Reik-style mini-adventures). I don't think a booklet consisting of just campaign background would be very helpful unless firmly woven into the main adventures through recurrent NPCs, McGuffins etc. from outline stage to final edit. Alternatively, one could do something like the Restless Dead campaign for v1 (i.e. unrelated, episodic one-shots plotted along a travel route with a thin metaplot plastered over top).

Mordjinn said: But a flimsy (pdf?) booklet, just describing a big arch, where the published adventures could be placed and in every adventure there would be notes how to foreshadow the upcoming events and advance the overarching storyline. FFG has a lot of talented writers and to come up with something like this shouldn't be too much of an effort. Collaborative mega-campaign design (especially over the internet) is actually trickier than it seems. The more writers involved, the harder it becomes to keep everyone on the same page. You pretty much need a dedicated "plot coordinator" (possibly several) working constantly alongside the writers. For a modular campaign like the one you envision, the plot coordinator would have to be an FFG staffer since freelance contracts don't usually cover extended employment terms, and a coordinator's "productivity" is difficult to quantify. Coordinating a collaborative mega-campaign that's interlinked but also modular could easily tie up half of Jay Little's design time for a year.

HedgeWizard said: I love being told the games I play are childish by anonymous internet people. Don't take it personally, most popular RPGs are childish in their premises and millions of adults play them nevertheless. But returning to the original point, I was only offering one possible option for percentile WFRP to continue as a side project that didn't rely on niche region books (as is often assumed would be the case). Might require producing separate freelancer style guidelines for that line, so maybe not worth the hassle for FFG to hash out with GW (if GW would even consider greenlighting a grognard-horror-WFRP game in the first place).

Bindlespin said: maybe you are right; i will reread your posts... nope, still pointless and confused. Maybe you'll understand when you're a little older.

Bindlespin said: i am not convinced you know what you want. and i don't think you would recognize it if someone handed it to you. so start over, state clearly what you want first. I've stated it quite clearly, you're just having comprehension problems again.

Bindlespin said: Heroic narrative revolves around conflict. How individual groups handle conflict in their games (childishly, violently, subtley, diplomaticaly etc.) depends on the players. But, troll-slayers should appeal to everyone, except your effete friends. Their quest for a redemption that can only come through their death in conflict with a hostile universe is an adult-theme. It asks questions about what the value of a life without honor is. What would we really be willing to sacrifice for redemeption? Would we be able to stay the course in that final moment of choice before death? I would rather not roll dice to have to make these decisions as a character or explore these stories. Deep roleplaying and strong narrative is dice free; consequently, I think the possibilites are there for this in every system around. WFRP 3rd promotes this kind of storytelling in and out of combat. Ironically, we do have an effete Barak-Varr Giant Slayer piloting the barge currently. He wears a cheap fuchsia cape that he picked up in Wurtbad (and nothing underneath). I don't think the player (who's a long-term WH fan) digs the deathwish thing as a roleplay premise these days - it's fairly one-dimensional after all. But originally I was referring to non-WH fans who would enjoy most parts of the WH setting if it wasn't marketed with gratuitous oversized weapons and adolescent machismo most of the time. There's nothing wrong with adults liking Trollslayers, or playing games designed for children. I'm just saying I'd like to see a WFRP game designed for and marketed to adult WH fans, who maybe thought Trollslayers and Swordsmasters were cooler when they were 20 than they do nowadays.

odd said: It looks like some of the earlier stuff is for 2e, is there a way to know which are for which edition? 3rd edition issues will have leather covers; 2nd edition issues have white covers with tiles. When we do the website redesign in the new year, the distinction will be clearer.