Here's another tool that might be helpful to GMs. Dropping a token on the 2-page monster layout works fine for A/C/E and Action cooldowns. But, there may be times when you need to flip between two or more 2-page layouts. In this case, dropping tokens on the page might be cumbersome. So, I made a sheet that contains enough space on it to track A/C/E, Wounds, and Card cooldown for two different 2-page layouts. Print out as many as you need if two aren't enough. Drop the tokens strait on them, or put them in a slip cover and write on them with a wet erase. I have a quad-fold blank screen (from Savage Worlds) that has transparent pockets on it. I just printed them up and slipped them in, along with prints of my GM Quick Reference sheet. Not everyone will need this tool, but I made one for myself so I thought I'd share it. Use it if you need it. Monster Tracking Sheet

CaffeineBoy said: Compare that to the 1st edition book (which I have in all its B&W pencil-and-line-art tiny print majesty) LOL! Yeah, I love that stuff. I own like... 6 or 7 copies of the v1 book. I bought some, some got dumped at my house, some I don't even know where they came from. Some of them are original print hard backs (still in solid condition). I love the smell of the musty old things and the look of the line art on their yellow pages They have aged gracefully. My library is a dumping place for people that get too many books and need some place to 'store' them - consequently, it also has a very lax 'lending' policy, but I still end up with more and more books every year. I've spent as much money on shelves as I have books.

Addendum: If you fail to generate a success during an action card resolution roll, and so have NULL or no damage, any crits generated have no effect and are ignored.Short Answer: Question: If you fail to hit, can you still spend boons on crits and do damage anyway. Answer: Technically, you can buy them, but they have no effect. You can only ‘convert crits to damage’ on a successful hit in which the total damage is zero or less. Disclaimer: This is my interpretation of the rules and not an official errata. Mods: If this any of this or the last two posts are incorrect, please delete them to avoid confusion.

Emirikol said: For example: The beastman has a ST 5 (4): Does that mean he has a total DR of 9? Toughness: 5 (4) Is that a total soak of 9? Agility 5 (4) is that a total defense of 9? The beastman has a ST 5 (4): means he has a total damage potential of 9 (plus any other additions like from success lines) Toughness: 5 (4) Is a total damage reduction of 9 (plus any other effects that add damage reduction like boon/bane results) Agility 5 (4) is a total defense of 4

Strength: X (X) - the number in parenthesis is Damage - it's like a normal weapon's DR. So, Strength is added to Damage as part of Damage Potential. Toughness: X (X) - the number in parenthesis is Soak - it's like normal armor's Soak rating. So, Toughness is added to Soak as part of Damage Mitigation. Agility: X (X) - the number in parenthesis is Defense - It's like normal armor's defense. So, it's the number of misfortune dice added to the difficulty of a character's attack roll against this creature. Agility is not used to add misfortune to attack rolls, only Defense.

I would recommend 'Troll Slayer'. It's an anthology of short stories based around Felix and Gotrek. I've created several games around these stories. I've also created two campaigns. One based on the story "Dark Beneath the World", which ran for 2 years, and one from "Wolf Riders" which is centered in the Borderlands and it ran for nearly 3 years. In fact, any of the early anthologies are packed with inspirational source material that embodies the spirit of (because they helped shape) the Warhammer world. Some of the best ones are: Ignorant Armies Wolf Riders Red Thirst

Clarification and summary: The Question is: Can you trigger boon and bane effects on an action card, even if you fail to succeed during the action roll? dvang said: Quote: "Conversely, a character might fail to accomplish his action, but still trigger some beneficial side effect from boons." This says exactly that, if you miss (fail the attack action) you can still trigger boons from the side effect lines. This is where I had problems; ‘beneficial side effect’ could mean the reduction of stress or fatigue available at all times (and not on a card at all), or effects from talents or conditions. Thus, it could be saying, “Conversely, a character might fail to accomplish his action, but still trigger some beneficial side effect from boons such as the regeneration of fatigue or stress.” However, I think it is saying, “Conversely, a character might fail to accomplish his action, but still trigger some beneficial side effect from boon results on the action card or elsewhere.” dvang said: There is no "minimum of 1 wound to use a critical". No, there’s not, but it’s an incidental effect of the process. If you hit and do zero or less wounds, the ‘1 wound minimum’ kicks in. Consequently, this same ‘condition’ causes crits to be converted to wounds. So, if you hit and you do zero or less wounds, there is a minimum of 1 wound. If, during this resolution, you generate crits from card effects or from weapon CR ratings, those crits would be converted to normal wounds and added to the total. So, ‘A successful attack that generates zero or few wounds = Minimum 1 wound, +1 wound per critical generated’. Summary: If you fail to achieve at least one ‘success’ during an action card resolution roll, negative or beneficial boon and bane side effects on the card, or from other sources, may still be activated. ‘Effects’ are defined as lines that are not ‘Success Lines’, or simply Boon, Bane, Comet, or Chaos Star effects as well as standard effects like fatigue and stress reclamation, or boon and bane effects from talents, conditions, and other sources. Damage is defined as any amount of damage (damage potential minus damage mitigation), positive, negative, or zero in value. Failure to do damage, due to a failed action card roll for example, would be considered NULL damage, or no damage. If the damage of a successful attack is zero or less than zero, the attack still generates a minimum of 1 wound. If the damage is not NULL, but is equal to zero or less, and critical effects are generated, those crits are converted to standard wounds and added to the minimum 1 wound for a total damage done to the target. Note: This is post damage mitigation calculation so toughness and soak have already been considered. I hope I didn’t muddy things up trying to logic this problem into submission (yeah, I used logic as a verb). Short Answer: Question: Can you trigger boon and bane effects on an action card, even if you fail to succeed during the action roll? Answer: Yes. This would also apply to other effects listed on the action card such as a Comet or a Chaos Star.

This makes me very happy

dvang said: ...it says if you do any criticals and damage inflicted is zero or less, then any criticals caused are converted into normal wounds. ... Now, my personal opinon is that the intent is that no success on an action does not equal "0" Wounds damage potential. No success equals "NULL" wounds (engineer speak), ie. there is no damage potential at all. Thus, since damage potential is not 0 wounds or less, the criticals don't convert and are ignored. The same with +1 damage. There is no damage potential, since the attack action did not succeed, so you can't add +1 to it. Yes, the NULL concept is what I was trying to get across. If you do not hit, you are not doing damage, zero or otherwise, and so the critical triggers have no effect. If you hit and get zero or less wounds (a non-NULL result), and you can generate a crit, then it’s a minimum 1 wound, plus 1 more for each crit generated.

After reading a bit, I think the answer is, ‘Yes, may trigger boon or bane effects on the card, even if you do not succeed with the attack.’ This bothered me because I was seeing situations where you might miss, but still do damage. After reading a bit more, I no longer think this is the case. It never really states in the rules, “Even if you miss, you may trigger boon and bane effects on the card.” Nor can I find where it says, “If you miss, you may not use any line entries on a power card.” It implies that you can, but I can’t seem to find a direct statement. I dug into the wording of it a bit more and this is the conclusion I’ve come to: You must hit and do damage (even negative or zero damage) for a critical to have any effect. In other words, you must have a 'damage potential', even if it's zero or less after the mitigation calculation. Criticals only trigger when it is able to convert an existing wound into a critical. In the case of the Minimum Wound, it doesn’t actually convert the wound, it adds additional wounds, but the whole process is trigged by the ‘assumed success’ mentioned in the ‘damage calculation’ section. You could still use a bane to fuel a critical if you miss, from a CR rating on a weapon, or from an action card, but it will have no effect unless you do at least the ‘minimum 1 wound’. With that solution, there are no other issues with using boons to trigger action card entries should the action roll fail. For example, Rapid Fire: For *BB* you can “Perform a free manoeuvre after this action is complete.” Even if the shot misses, using this action card would allow you to disengage after it was resolved (assuming you could fuel it). Consequently on the same card, {BB} would allow a nearby (close ranged) opponent to engage you. It’s an inherent situation created by the actions necessary to complete the attack.

Hellebore said: Says the warhammer setting. There is rather a lot of information about it. I can't recall the last time Felix Jaeger did a patented special move. Abilities in warhammer that are one use are generally temporary enchantments that lose power once used. Is that right… Felix brought his blade to the guarded position. [Guarded Position] Gotrek chopped into the chest of his foe. Mail exploded outward from the Goblin’s chest where the huge axe impacted. [Thunderous Blow] Aldred charged within the sweep of the Ogre’s huge wrecking ball and stabbed upward through the creature’s stomach. [Nimble Strike] Johaan Zauberlich produced a scroll and chanted a spell. A ball of fire appeared in his left hand. [Great Fires of U’Zhul (fireball)] At the last moment Felix rolled to the side and the club hit rock with a loud crack. [Dodge] Felix twisted and lashed out with one boot, sending the Goblin flying. [beat Back] …He dived forward impaling the Goblin before it could rise. [setup Strike] There are also examples of assisting, support manoeuvres, and defending others. I could go on. And this is all from two pages in one story. The story is “The Dark Beneath the World”. It is the third Felix and Gotrek story every written (and I believe the first published – in White Dwarf). This story, and in particular, this combat, was the inspiration for the painting on the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay v1 cover. So… I’m going to have to go ahead and disagree with you here.

monkeylite said: The rules seem pretty clear to me that you can inflict any boon or bane effect you like regardless of whether the Action succeeds or fails. Can you point me to this? I'm having a little trouble finding that statement. Thx.

Necrozius said: I'm probably going to have to bribe one or two of my players with an extra Fortune Point or two in order to get them to be as descriptive as yours, though. Yes, do that. Reward it. But, that was a pretty natural conversations. The guy had been roleplaying grinding his axes together the whole game, but things like 'get the best of me' was just him mumbling under his breath.

This is a cross post from Strike to Stun. It's in reply to a posters comments about game quality varying with GM skill and the length of individual combats. ...and I think this is a very important concept. Like all roleplaying games, it's only going to be as good as it's presented. Once you are past that, then you look at the mechanics and see if they are helpful or detrimental to the process. The combats in this version are more involved, but again perception plays a part. If you put your head down and trudge through them, then they aren't going to be as fun. I think the mechanics are engaging, but if you want that 'quick resolution' then it might get in the way. However, if you roleplay your actions out and use the mechanics to support what you are doing then the system starts to shine. Combine that with the ability to look at the dice and see exactly what happened and things start looking pretty swank. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about from our demo: Troll Slayer: "I grind my axes together and [move] engage the beastman. I attack with both axes." [the player closes with the beastman, plays double-strike and builds his pool] GM: "The beastman ignores the wounded Road Warden and focuses on you. You can see he hates you. He brings his full might and cunning to bear." [GM plays Parry and adds a misfortune to the players pool along with 1 more for defense] Troll Slayer: "I'm not letting this thing get the best of me this early on." [player spends 2 fortune to add [WW] to his pool to counteract parry] The dice are rolled. The result was an exact wash. There were very few blanks and every success was countered by a challenge. Every boon was countered by a bane. We noticed this as we were tallying the dice (about 4 seconds). The net result is a miss. I thought this was a rare and very cool roll, so I took a few seconds and narrated it. "You pull together everything you've got. Years of bitterness and shame, tempered by training and expertise. You attack in a whirl wind. However, the beastman has spent his life fighting for position in the herd. He musters up all that strength and cunning and counters your blow. The two of you struggle against each other, weapons locked." Of course I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea. This took way longer than a standard roll-and-a-miss, but I think the net result was worth the effort. It was a cool scene So, like I said. Perception. If you go in jazzed about it, you'll have fun no matter what system you use. It's all about the players, not the game. Enthusiasm is infectious.

superklaus said: As far as I know "narrativism" is not tapping cards and is not placing counters on cards in order to recharge. In fact its something totally different. Possibly you should update your knowledge about those things by reading some literature. No, you're right. 'narrativism' is imagining a reason for doing those things and putting it in words. Hold on and I'll dig you up some good resources on how to roleplay. Oh, wait. The new Warhammer has some great material on that. You should check it out

Neither, more like Descent soft cover (but thicker).

Henchmen are supposed to be grouped, in groups the size of the party are smaller. That's what shares the health pools - those groups. Only one attacks, and the others add support dice. They are good for one or two attacks then get plowed under. They act as one, so yeah, only one stress and carry over only works for that group. I guess if you wanted to split them up, they would each have their own health (equal to their T) and no support (and get plowed under). As far as the mitigation carrying over, no reason you can't do that if you want, but it will make them tougher (and they already hit pretty hard with the support dice), so keep that in mind when designing encounters.

LOL, yeah, I remember in v2 saying, 'A sling does how much?!?'

Loswaith said: Why is it that anytime someone mentions a rule that they dont like in 3red ed, the rebuttle is always is "dont use it" or "you dont have to use it"[?] Does this disturb you? How does it make you feel? Describe in single words, only the good things that come in to your mind when you think about... Warhammer.

monkeylite said: Cool gaming room. My wife won't let me have one. You want to borrow my man-pants? (sadly, I'm not using them)

I've been looking at this, and this is how I see it: Let's use a couple of different effects. *BB* You do +1 critical This converts a wound you do to a critical. You have to hit to make it happen - so, you can't use it if you don't hit. *BB* You do +1 damage If you read this as "+1 to any damage you do" (my interpretation), it's just as above. I would suspect that other cards are like this. Boon results are modifiers to something that happens. If nothing happens, there's nothing to modify. The exception is the Fatigue/Stress thing, that can be used any time. I think. Hey, FFG dev guys! Can we borrow one of you for a day or two and pick your brain?

You have to spend them.

That's probably the case - Boons are 'fuel'. Unlike successes, you 'spend' them, but you can only 'buy' something once - so yeah, probably intentional.

Oh, and an important point on the 'mooks'. There are none. There are no mooks in the bestiary. What does exist is rules to convert standard monsters into mooks, if you so desire, so you can have more epic conflicts without crushing your players into runny Warhammer bits. Again, this is a matter of play style. Use the mook rules if you want more heroic games in which your players take on huge odds and have a (slim) chance. Use the normal monsters if you want that more personal 1v1 feel. In fact, the monster entries are very flexible and it's very easy to modify and customize them. It's very clear (to me) how to adjust them to the proper levels to challenge my party (more so or less so, whatever is called for). Choices. I like choices. That said, mooks are fricken dangerous! Roll up a first level character and bring him to the house. I will kick your butt with a mob of snotlings. Scary... (I know this isn't a snotling, but look at him... LOOK AT HIM! He's awesome.)

heptat said: Sounds like a valid criticism. I'm interested to know more as I don't really know much about this new version...can someone confirm or at least comment on Hellebore's post? Cheers. Well, first let me say that his 'criticisms' are opinion. He's saying, "I don't like this way of doing things, it bugs me." Paraphrased, of course, but the point is, there's nothing wrong with what he said. He doesn't like it. That doesn't mean it's how things are, it just means he perceives things a certain way and that perception doesn't make him happy. I would like to counter-point his observation on balance though. He stated that instead of a cool down, they should have balanced the powers so they aren't so powerful. I completely disagree with that. I'll take a hard hitting power that I can only use every so often over a wienie one that can be used every turn, all day - but that's just me. In fact, there already are low power actions that can be used every turn. There are also big hitters that are limited in use. There are also mechanics that can lower the amount of time those cool downs take to expire. So, with some effort and some sacrifice, you can get multiple big hits in - it's a trade off. You do what your play style dictates. The system doesn't limit your choice, it gives you both, and that's what I want - the option. Don't like the 'big action cards that have lots of cool down'? Don't spend advancement points on them and stick with the basic actions (maybe pour your points into stats instead and make your character act more like a traditional RPG character). In that way, you never have to be bothered with 'cooldowns' (there are lots of cards with 0 cooldown), but other players can if they like. Don't like the names of the action cards? Say, "I poke him with my pointy thing" and be done with it. So, I can't 'confirm' his post, because it's his opinion, but I can disagree with it and say I don't perceive it that way. In the end, it's all how you look at it and how you like to play.