Jump to content

Magic World for Warhammer Fantasy RPG


Marcus Bone

Recommended Posts

Hi All,

Just sitting here and it struck me that Magic World would be a perfect system for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game. I know the original 1st edition rules and MW both come from the same origins, and so they already have a lot in common. What do you think would be needed to create a conversion? IN my mind the list would start with:

  • Horror/Insanity mechanics
  • A more granulated character generation system.
  • Toning down of magic (maybe make casting a little more dangerous?)

What else? Happy to also hear that I'm crazy on this one :P

Marcus

  • Like 2

Stormbringer! - Exploring the worlds of the Eternal Champion at http://www.stormbringerrpg.com

Unbound Publishing - Bringing back the fear - http://www.unboundbook.org

DCtRPG.info - Supporting Dark Conspiracy across the decades - http://www.darkconspiracytherpg.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with adding something to the occupations.  In the 1920s Investigator's Handbook for CoC they gave bonuses to every occupation, be it an attribute bonus, a skill bonus, or immunity to certain types of Sanity loss.  I think this would be a good way to emulate the different advancement schemes in Warhammer. You could also give free equipment for any occupation, like the infamous small but vicious dog.

As for Sanity/Madness, the basic system is in the BGB and is easy to import.

I don't have my copy of Magic World in my hands yet, but from what I understand characters without a POW of 16 or higher can't even cast spells.  If you need magic to be more rare, then you could up that to a 17 or 18, though from my read through of Warhammer magic isn't exceedingly rare, especially if you can career jump to the apprentice for a mere 100XP (if I remember my Warhammer correctly).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think warhammer magic Can be wery powerful as well ( fireball hitting múltiple targets..) Sometimes el Magic world ruleset+ advanced Sorcery is almost perfect as is...( Specially when using the idea that all magic is demonical in orgin.) Or with some tweaking rusing Big golden book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd almost prefer the Legend/RQ6/Mythras or my Eternity Realms form of magic for Warhammer spells. Not that I'm against BRP style magic, I just prefer the way it's done in those systems over Magic World. Then again that ruleset is my pet-project as everyone knows.

What I would do however is make a "progressive" style for the Winds of Magic. The more power you put into it, the more powerful it is. Magic however in a general sense would be more rare and would definitely be a lot more Sword and Sorcery in feel. As well, mutations would come into play most definitely. Those who dabble in Magic would most definitely be at more risk for a Chaos mutation than the normal infantry soldier.

Get all our products at our website: www.devotedpublishing.com

Check Solace Games out on Facebook here!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/15/2016 at 6:12 PM, 1970 said:

though from my read through of Warhammer magic isn't exceedingly rare, especially if you can career jump to the apprentice for a mere 100XP (if I remember my Warhammer correctly).

The XP cost is 100, but you still need a master to become an apprentice. The epic The Enemy Within campaign presented a grand total of one master willing to take on an apprentice in its whole run that I can recall. 

It brings up the issue of setting intent vs. mechanical implications. The setting of WFRP 1E is very low magic, with Wizards widely considered suspicious, meaning even those that exist keep a low profile. Are you trying to model the mechanics or the setting?

Moving onto another topic, I wouldn't worry about trying to emulate the advancement system. The character generation system in WFRP is great, giving flavorful characters, but having run several long campaigns, the advancement system kind of sucks in play. 

It looks nice at first glance. Players get to pick a broad class, then randomly get a career within that class. I meant that most of the players had a clear background and motivation to move towards the actual career they wanted. That provided some fun initial hooks. For example, one guy wanted to be an expert burglar. He took the Rogue class and rolled Escape Artist as a career. He was a guy who was leaving the circus to become a burglar. It was a good setup.

It wasn't too long before he made the career swap. Unfortunately, it also wasn't that long before he hit bought all the Burglar improvements. He now had to switch careers or stop improving as a burglar. The rest of his character progression was a series of swaps based on the numbers he could get that had nothing to do with his vision of the character or what was happening in the game. The career system went from adding a sense of reality to actively hindering it.  It was the same with most of the party. The magical careers provide a long path, but almost any other career maxes out in a few sessions. Ironically, the "slayer" options provide a long stable path considering the whole purpose of the career is to get yourself killed. 

 

My advice is to keep the idea of picking a class that lets you roll a career off a list during character generation. From that point on, stick purely with BRP advancement. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh I wouldn't advise using the advancement scheme system in Warhammer for Magic World at all.  Differentiating between careers is one thing, but that's where I'd stop it.  I think more than the mechanics of Warhammer, the feeling should be carried through.  I think there are Chaos mutations in Stormbringer 4th Edition you could use, or just mess a few things up occasionally, like giving someone an eye on their cheek or a tongue for a middle finger for example.  I don't have a lot of Warhammer, but my Hogshead Shadows Over Bogenhoffen has some nice mutations for mutants and generally a lot of miscellaneous stuff for The Empire.

7 hours ago, Baulderstone said:

The XP cost is 100, but you still need a master to become an apprentice. The epic The Enemy Within campaign presented a grand total of one master willing to take on an apprentice in its whole run that I can recall.

I've never played the Enemy Within, and only have the first part of it in any case.  Aren't there like four levels of mastery for wizards?  My books are elsewhere and I don't want to leave the house to go get them but I am curious.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am playing The Enemy Within at the moment, using the original WFRP rules. I'm finding it quite a lot of fun and haven't yet reached the point where career advancement becomes painful. One fun thing about the system is the random career generation. You broadly specify Academic, Rogue, Warrior or Ranger and then you dice for your actual career, which also gives you skills and starting equipment, making character creation moderately fast. So not quite as random and crazy as the old Stormbringer (which was also pretty fun!) but still an element of chance beyond ability scores. I enjoy being presented with a random character and working out how to play it. I think when we 'build' characters with a point system or some such our characters maybe aren't so different from one another -- your own psychology will seep into all of them. A bit of randomness and fate can help with that.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/18/2016 at 9:34 PM, 1970 said:

I've never played the Enemy Within, and only have the first part of it in any case.  Aren't there like four levels of mastery for wizards?  My books are elsewhere and I don't want to leave the house to go get them but I am curious.

I haven't run it since the '80s, but that sounds right. I think you just need to deal with a master when going becoming an Apprentice or when going from Apprentice to Wizard. I could be wrong, but that's the way we did it.

The multiple Wizard careers really underscored the problem for other players. The Wizard just got to keep going from Wizard career to the next, while other players had to keep bouncing around into arbitrary career choices. 

I will say it wasn't all the game-breaking. We had a lot of fun with the game. It's a minor enough problem that I could deal with it. It's just not worth carrying over, which you aren't planning on doing anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...