The I always intended to come back and write a follow up to the review I did around a month ago. Since that time I have run a character generation session and two games with Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play. So here are my thoughts of the system now.
Character Generation
I covered this in my previous review but I wanted to add here how the players responded to Warhammer. They enjoyed it a lot and of the players that participated (there were a couple ill on the night so their characters got generated by others) they wholeheartedly took advantage of the random generation and experience available for it. Of course, they are my regular players and they are probably inclined to run random because of my enthusiasm for it.
That said, I really took a back seat and just explained how things worked. I made it clear that the random generation was there, if there was a reward attached, and the steps involved if not choosing random. Dangling that experience carrot had most go full on for the random choice. Only one of all the players even went with a choice that allowed them some room for a decision and slightly less experience. now it is after a couple of games I have heard comments from some of them that they wish they had picked their career.
The games
The first game was a well presented and encapsulated mini adventure. One of the players had made an off the cuff remark about making the game about a beastman and his chicken. I took the idea, turned it inside out and upside down and had the players on a river barge come to terms with a beastman who was hell bent on making a countess pay for eating his chicken. It was well received and the game flowed nicely. I really enjoyed it.
At the end of the game though I wondered if it was the nostalgia that made it fun for me though. Soon after it was played I realised that the players wanted it to be more than a one off. I thought I would give it a go, especially as one of the players who wanted to give it a run was sick on the night. I wanted a contingent game so we did not have to run through the “between adventures” section. Running out of time I generated an idea just before the game doing a bit of planning around it.
Second Game Hurdle
Having played Cypher for so long now I had forgotten about this phenomenon. You know the one, where you play a second game of a new system and the rules close in on you. I have read the rules, but they are new and maybe I am imagining some of them? I got in a panic in the second game and lost a bit of focus. The rules were closing in and I went straight home and started reading the rules chapter again.
I realised that I was over complicating things and that my gut instinct was often right at the table. I need to breathe as we play the game. But we also worked out that some of the rules I had told the players were wrong at the time. It restricted the players a bit more than I had thought. The players had a good time and by the end of the night had not progressed through much of the adventure. I found time to do some preparation earlier this week and I asked the players what they wanted me to prepare for and they said Warhammer.
Tomorrow Night the Adventure Continues
So, tomorrow night the Warhammer game continues. I am nervous about it as my last game was not the greatest show of skill ever. Mind you, that is the theme of my second games. I feel excited about a game and then I run it. The second time I run it I feel like I am missing the point of some rules and get flustered. Generally I get more confident in the third and fourth game. I do want to get better with Warhammer too! I found that Cubicle Seven have released some great, free resources too that can be found at the Warhammer page at drive Thru! Scroll to the bottom to find the free stuff, but even the cheap bits and pieces are great.
For that reason, I am still apprehensive about Warhammer Fantasy Role Play after a couple of games. But that is normal for me. We will give it another one or two and perhaps revisit it. One of the players (used to play first edition a lot) even bought a copy of the rules. I had better run it for a little bit more to make that purchase worthwhile! Maybe the Cypher Sci-Fi horror game may be cut, just when I was building something interesting from it. But you have to go where the players want. Keep rolling!