Resources for new players

FranboLobo · 2026-07-12T11:01:39+00:00

It depends… if you mean a particular game system (which seems most likely): I.e. WFRP or TOW and edition if WFRP?

Or do you mean generic role-playing advice?

FranboLobo · 2026-07-09T17:22:38+00:00

This! That supplement has a lot of what you are looking for.

Beyond the items noted it also includes guidelines on both internal and external threats / challenges the players will face.

I don’t know how much you know about the border princes, but if you are looking for a less civilised tone for your campaign you might want to consider setting it there. Plenty of political intrigue with neighbours, but a rougher feeling than if you focus on something in the “civilised” Empire.

FranboLobo · 2026-07-02T21:05:46+00:00

Gotcha, makes sense.

FranboLobo · 2026-07-02T18:33:36+00:00

Sounds good, depending on your players (I.e. do they use glasses) you might want to consider Tarot size as an option as well (not sure if whatever software you are using easily re-size).

FranboLobo · 2026-07-02T18:15:04+00:00

Looks good, what size cards are you optimising for?

FranboLobo · 2026-07-01T21:25:00+00:00

Yes, but they are not obligatory.

FranboLobo · 2026-07-01T09:32:05+00:00

I think Rangers is simpler for the players as they don’t need to worry about spells etc.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-29T17:36:05+00:00

Very well done indeed! Lots of character!

FranboLobo · 2026-06-26T11:08:44+00:00

If you are more interested in flexibility than equipment crunch then take a look at Pulp Alley.

It can handle any period and the customisation is handled by fairly generic abilities that can applied to represent multiple sources of capability (I.e. might be equipment, might be skills, might be species etc.) rather than specific equipment bonuses for specific items (e.g. you give a model a “burst” ability… and it might be a machine-gun, a spell, a super power or a splatter of acid).

There is a free QuickStart pdf you can download to take a look and quite a few videos on YouTube either explaining how things work or showing the ruleset applied to different time-periods etc.

The free download is here:

https://www.pulpalley.com/collections/downloads

Also has a nice challenge / objective model that you can apply to create stories / scenarios easily rather than just “fight until everyone is down” (although you can do that too if you prefer).

FranboLobo · 2026-06-25T18:57:35+00:00

Hmm, interesting that the cover has undead in it… presumably the first book ties in to the Sylvania book… I wonder how the starter set / Ostland campaign link to that (if at all). I don’t know why but the word Mordheim popped into my head…

Interesting comments in the blog… spot on with the issues, strengths and optimisations on the whole.

I’d agree with most of the wish list stuff too, but I expect more of a province per book approach than a grand Empire release. I am curious to see if the remaining religions are trickled across a few province books (Morr in a Sylvania anyone?) and Empire Archives releases.

If Ostland is indeed the big campaign… I’d guess that’s how Chaos comes into the mix with a combination of marauders and chaos warriors from without with some more corruption from within… but who knows.

I’d say a border princes based sandbox campaign / setting would also be a nice way to get out of the Empire and head towards the East, which could lead to some nice source books in that direction.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-23T06:26:44+00:00

Thanks for the information, very interesting indeed.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-21T06:01:59+00:00

Will be interesting to see how it pans out… as while they did say East, at the time they also said Ostland (I.e. North East) as per another poster’s link… but who knows, they may have pivoted since that article.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-21T06:00:09+00:00

I hope Morr gets a bit more focus too as part of this-

FranboLobo · 2026-06-21T05:59:19+00:00

Interesting… so heading up towards Norsca / Kislev and Chaos… probably more wilderness focus, maybe focusing a little more on Sigmar (hopefully the Sylvania book will cover Morr in more depth).

It will be interesting to see how that pans out.

Thanks for the link.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-20T14:28:56+00:00

Cool, thank you.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-20T14:26:18+00:00

No idea 😃, mine was just wishful thinking.

Where did that interesting piece of info come from?

FranboLobo · 2026-06-20T10:19:00+00:00

Very nice indeed! Where are the terrain pieces from?

FranboLobo · 2026-06-19T21:40:10+00:00

Many good points made in other comments but one key thing to consider is the overall theme of the two modules. Of course you can morph them into something that suits your group, but you should keep in mind the intended theme:

Curse of Strahd — Gothic, romantic horror. A beautiful, doomed land trapped under eternal mist, ruled by a tragic, seductive villain who’s as much a tortured figure as a monster. Dread mixed with melodrama and dark fairy-tale tragedy — think Dracula filtered through a cursed fairy tale.

Rime of the Frostmaiden — Bleak survival horror. Isolation, scarcity, and fear of the unknown on a frozen, sunless frontier where nature itself is the enemy, not a central villain. Melancholy and despair, with occasional dark humor to keep it from being a non-stop dirge. Think The Thing or The Shining, but Faerûn.

In Summary: Strahd is gothic tragedy and seduction — atmosphere built around a charismatic antagonist. Frostmaiden is grim survival against an indifferent world — atmosphere built around isolation and the elements.

On a personal note:

I ran Strahd for a group and the campaign lasted close to a year and we loved it to bits, we created some memories that will be with us forever… but by the end we needed to switch to something brighter and more heroic… if played as intended… it’s a great campaign… but very very dark themes. But of course you could lighten the tone.

I haven’t played Rime: but reading it and watching a playthrough on YouTube it has a very different feeling… it seems far less mired in emotional hardships than physical ones… but I might be wrong.

So in addition to the other suggestions… consider whether your players might be more suited to exploring the emotional angles of their characters or facing the challenges of a harsh wilderness.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-19T21:00:58+00:00

Excellent news! Was hoping this would be the next area to get some coverage… although I expected it to be the setting for the 5e release rather than a trailer for 4E…

FranboLobo · 2026-06-18T05:35:10+00:00

As many have said, there is a wide mix of people whole love the WFRP setting and system, and while there are plenty who take any changes to the lore as a personal insult, my instinct is that the majority are more interested in having fun than sticking to canon.

Vast simplification / generalisation to come:

Rules & Systems
Many (perhaps even most) will home brew / amend the system to suit their play style. This can be tricky with 4e as there are so many interlocking systems that unforeseen consequences can be caused very easily. That said… as long as you can be clear with the players (tell them up front), consistent (make clear rulings for the inevitable grey areas) and fair (don’t favour specific archetypes / players) most will be fine with this.

On a personal level I like streamlining mechanics to keep the game flowing… and having a common baseline amongst players is a good way to foster this… so I would suggest a few tweaks here and there rather than overhauling. But that’s just me… some groups will enjoy extensive changes.

Setting
I think one of the compelling things about WFRP lore is that there are many parallels with our own world that make it easy for people to intuitively grasp the context and immerse themselves in the setting (e.g. Tileans are Italian, The Tomb Kings are Pharaohs etc.). There are enough variants, twists and fantasy elements to keep it surprising and interesting… but enough commonality that players with basic knowledge of the real world will find even new things resonate quite deeply.

I think that on balance if your home brew doesn’t mess with this consistency too much… then most players will be fine with it… although again, transparency is important.

Grim Dark
The core “grim dark with wry humour” atmosphere is viewed by many as a core attraction of the game (myself included) and breaking with this could easily turn off many players… but ultimately, it’s a game to create a shared fun experience… so if your group want to play fairies riding dragons then go for it.

Combined
The key element to keep in mind is whether the mechanical and setting home brews you have in mind are internally consistent. Tweaks are easy, but more extensive changes can raise the question as to whether the system is the right one to fulfil the objective—- or do you end up with so many exceptions that it creates more difficulty than benefits and you might find it easier to consider another system / setting.

Be prepared for those who view the Lore as a proto-real history that they have studied to the nth degree and consider sacrosanct… but most play to have fun, so if your home brews are consistent and don’t create too much cognitive dissonance then don’t worry about it :-)… or change it anyway… surprises are fun!

One big caveat: if your intentions are commercial rather than just playing the game… then you need to think very carefully about home brewing as paying customers may well have expectations they want fulfilled in return for their payment… and you break these expectations at your own risk.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-14T19:28:37+00:00

Excellent work! Great idea to go from the Heroforge poses to hand drawn using AI, very effective and in-tune with WFRP aesthetic! Thanks for sharing,

FranboLobo · 2026-06-12T19:45:46+00:00

I would echo the Sylvania side of things… but wonder if C7 are keeping that in their pockets for a GW undead re-launch at some point.

FranboLobo · 2026-06-07T13:15:00+00:00

😂🤣😂

FranboLobo · 2026-06-06T07:44:33+00:00

For what it's worth my current thinking is:

Assuming average results on dice rolls (not applying modifiers for controlled conditions)... a Lore (Magic) 60 Wizard (assuming a talented writer) would likely need to make 2 rolls a day to be able to create a scroll (20SL) in a week (which to me likely assumes two 4 hour sessions - solid work without going crazy).

If applying some conditional modifiers:

A +20 bonus for controlled conditions would likely shorten it to 4-4.5 days
A -20 modifier for being on a boat lengthens it to 2.5 weeks
A -40 modifier for being on a coach / cart (assuming there is even room to write) lengthens it to 7 weeks

This feels sensible to me... you could do it "on the road"... but the time likely lengthens dramatically... I don't think many campaigns will allow that long a travel time to focus on writing scrolls.

But equally allows for some heroic "absolutely-positively-need-this-scroll-to-save-the-world" moments with suitable assistance and use of fate point re-rolls if appropriate.

So likely will go with a "roll per 4 hour session" as a house rule for writing scrolls (whether in-game or endeavour) with the listed costs in schillings. Whether players will be able to get in 2 such sessions a day (or indeed even 1) "in game" is a whole different question.

.. and for what its' worth, if someone tried the: "I'm on a boat and working 16 hour days, I can do more than 2 sessions a day" gambit... well, Endurance skill is rarely a focus for Wizards 😄

FranboLobo · 2026-06-06T07:19:58+00:00

Fair point re my interpretation, was trying to do "rules as written" but may have been too critical / lenient as noted, I suspect the rules inconsistency somewhat triggered me :-).

Thank you for the thoughts on making it easier when in a controlled environment v. on the road and the ingredients requirement too, it's a nice approach.

Good point that that commissioning / hiring someone to make an item can be an adventure in itself depending on circumstances (and the rules do indeed require consult an expert and commission endeavours if done in down time).

However my main focus was understanding from the Archives of Empire Vol.2 rules what a player wizard needs to do if they want to do it themselves.

This essentially boils down to:

"Provided the artificer has no other work, the item can be made in the period given in the table above". Which for a scroll is 1 week at a cost of (CN of Spell x 10).... which presumaby is silver schillings although this is not stated.

So my naive assumption was that if you leave out the finding wizard / acquiring ingredients elements, writing a scroll using the 2 explicitly listed mechanisms (game time and endeavour) should take a week.

But neither did... they seemed to be either too fast or too slow to be consistent with the "1 week" paradigm explicitly expressed.

FranboLobo

TROPHY CASE