Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play

Chaos never sleeps

There is Evil, and there is Chaos, the latter epitomizing the darkest and most abyssal form of the former. Unlike in Moorcook's universe(s), where Chaos and Law also form opposing and constantly clashing dualities of the world, but where Good and Evil rather represent the mere mortals', that is, typically humans', perception and interpretation of the events taking place around and within themselves, Warhammer's Chaos sources the very roots of all evil, while the domain of Law is upheld by their counterparts, creatures of purity and righteousness.

The Setting

Warhammer claims to be The Original Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Game, an assertion that might come close to what is commonly considered the truth, for this game was one of the first to focus on the concept of a harsh, thoroughly dark scenario, a Middleearth consisting mostly of Mordor only, leaving the Shire and former Elven kingdoms to whatever muser's sweet dream.

The events take place in the Old World, a continent and conglomerate of nations which outwardly resemble a Europe in the darkest of dark ages, a world where the classical races of good - men, elves, dwarves and halflings - team up to confront the forces of Chaos. Chaos itself not only stands for a single evil tyrant's way of treating the rest of the world, but an universal, never-ending concept of evil that sprawls all over the world, sourced and nurtured by the Chaos gods, spreading throughout the land like an infectious disease by their obedient minions.

Taking this to heart, heroes will sooner or later learn that there won't be a final victory against the all-mighty counterpart of Law, but a partial winning the day at best. Still, the game is about winning and loosing and about what it takes to be a hero, because being a hero, raising the arms against the opponent, makes a difference. And this is what life in the Old World is all about - the struggle for survival.

Playing the game

Warhammer is mostly about conflict in various forms. As a game published by Games Workshop easily stands to reason, physical conflict, combat and battle, does not get a raw deal. A grim world of perilous adventure states the subtitle, promising some sort of unpleasent experiences for the characters, and that's what the players are served, indeed.

The game mechanics are based on random numbers to a great extend. A character's primary attributes are rolled with dice, and everything else, that is, secondary skills and abilities, are, in turn, based on the rolled attributes.

Warhammer employs an original way of having characters select sets of abilities instead of individual skills that pop out of thin air: it features careers, professions so to speak, which, upon acquiring, grant an adventurer access to certain groups of abilities. If a character survives and lives long enough, she is likely to follow several careers throughout her life, based on several of these occupations, one based on the experiences acquired through its predecessor. In fact, most careers pose requirements in regard of what other occupation a character must have taken in before, and, in turn, impose suggestions in what direction to develop oneself after this particular field of agitation has been mastered. Most careers cover conventional, mundane professions, but some of them also feature the path of magick, a lengthily and perilous road to follow.

All in all, Warhammer is a dangerous game to play, with pain and death for characters being extraordinary likely. You should be prepared to face a hostile environment or may inevitably end up frustrated when your Fate points, jokers to spend to escape your character's fate, are exhausted. Yet, caution may help you to survive. Being a hero does not include the necessity to stubbornly stumble from one pitfall to the next, though that's what the Good Guys are likely to do. At least according to novels.