Awesome new WFRP blog

Thanks to Strike to Stun* I have stumbled across a fantastic new-ish WFRP blog - Awesome Lies, by Gideon. I have been enjoying his WFRP Manifesto series, which looks at the history and design of WFRP1e, but it is also the home of his excellent The Enemy Within Companion, and a new document that sounds absolutely up my street - a conversion of Night's Dark Terror (original available here) to WFRP1e. 

*Strike to Stun is a forum I ought frequent more often, as I ought spend more time at Arion Games' Advanced Fighting Fantasy forum and BRP Central. But I can't remember any of my log in details!

On AFF2e SKILL and Skills: Collected

I thought I’d collect, for myself as much as anyone, my thoughts on how to use SKILL and Special Skills in AFF2e. But, more than anything, an AFF Director should have this table in their head, which helps them imagine an AFF character in as if they were written up in the most intuitive of skill systems, the percentile system used in BRP-derived games:

 

SKILL	2-	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11+
D100	3	10	15	30	40	60	70	80	90	98

 

These are rough numbers, of course, but rough approximation is all you need to ‘eyeball’ roll-under chances of success. So, beginning PCs in AFF2e typically have a range of Special Skills in the 70-80% range, and a general effectiveness of about 60%. Keeping this in the back of your mind when running a game helps you to judge how and when to call for Skill Tests.

 

Anyway, here are my previous musings:

Skill Rolls in AFF2e

How Would John of Salamonis Do?

Capped Effective Skill 

The Virtues of Assymetry

And generally, on skill rolls in RPGs more generally – Skills as ‘Saving Throws’

Nasir for AFF2e

By popular demand – i.e. one request – here is Nasir, a Saracen and former Assassin who enters Robin's story as an ensorcelled thrall of the black magician, Baron de Belleme.  

Hero: Nasir (Player: Mark Ryan)

SKILL 7

STAMINA 16

LUCK 10

MAGIC 0

Talent: Ambidextrous

Special Skills

Combat

Swords 1, Thrown 2

Movement

Acrobatics 1, Climb 1, Dodge 2

Stealth

Awareness 2, Stealth 3

Knowledge

Arabic 4, English 2, Religion Lore 1, Tracking 1, Secret Signs 1, World Lore 2

Treasure: 2d6 silver pennies

Provisions: 2

Equipment

1 Scimitar (treat as ‘Short Sword’)

2 Scimitar (treat as ‘Short Sword’)

3 Throwing Daggers x3

4 Throwing Daggers x3

5 Long Bow

6 Quiver w. 20 Arrows

7 Leather Cuirass

8

9

10

Nasir’s starting Talent is an obvious choice – his whole shtick is two-weapon fighting. As a former Assassin, I have given him points in Movement and Stealth skills, and given set him up so that his highest ‘effective SKILL’ in combat is with his throwing daggers, not his sword – it seems to me that Will Scarlet and Robin ought be the best out-and-out swordsmen in the Merry Men, though Nasir’s ability to fight with two scimitars makes him very effective in his own right. In addition, rather than giving a point in Forest Lore or City Lore, etc. at character creation, I have given Nasir an extra point of World Lore to represent the fact that he is much better travelled than the rest of Robin’s band. I’ve also created the Special Skill Tracking, as I thought that Hunting didn’t really capture Nasir’s skill at finding and following the trail of humans.   

I considered giving Nasir an extra Talent, in exchange for a point or two at character creation. However, the Talents that I was considering – such as Combat Reactions – I am reserving as the ‘unique’ characteristic of other characters. Plus, I didn’t want to engage in ‘power creep’.

I also considered giving Nasir some MAGIC, to represent the uncanny disciplines and techniques that he may have learned while an Assassin, or even as a result of his service to de Belleme. Cantrips such as Extinguish and Noise would, indeed, be useful powers for an Assassin, but I decided that these would do too much damage to atmosphere of Robin of Sherwood. In a ‘vanilla’ AFF2e game, an Assassin should absolutely have some low powered magic that will help him move unseen and get the drop on his targets.