What is Roleplaying?
In a Roleplaying Game (RPG) you create an alter ego, a fictional character like one of the heroes (or anti-heroes) you’ve read about or seen in films. You and a group of friends take your characters and describe or play through their adventures. Rather than read or watch a story you tell it.

How is the story told? How do you decide what happens? What do you do if you and your friend disagree? That’s where rules come in. Roleplaying is only half of the story; the other half is the game. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP) presents you with the rules of play; how to make your character, how to resolve actions and how to have fun doing so. During a typical game rolling dice is used to determine the outcome of fights or other risky actions. Dice rolling adds the gameplaying elements to RPGs, and helps prevent the outcome of actions from becoming too predictable.

Before a group of roleplayers begin a game they must decide which of them will be the Games Master (GM). The GM is the referee and the lead storyteller, the person in charge of running the game. The GM presents the stories and situations, describes the Warhammer World and its denizens, and adjudicates the rules.

The other players take on the roles of the characters around which the action primarily revolves. These characters are known as the Player Characters (PCs). They describe their intentions and actions to the GM, who then decides how their actions affect the plot.

What is the Warhammer World?
Men call the lands they inhabit the Old World. These lands are home to Men, Dwarfs, Elves and the diminutive race of Halflings, as well as numerous evil creatures which infest the mountains and forests.

The largest and most important of the realms of Man are the Empire and Bretonnia. The Empire lies at the centre of the Old World, bounded by tall mountains and dark forests. It is the most populous by far of the Human nations and probably the most powerful too. To the south of the Empire is the Kingdom of Bretonnia, whose main strength of arms lies in its gallant knights whose tradition of chivalric virtue is held in high regard throughout the Old World.

Between the Empire and the Dark Lands is a towering mountain range whose peaks are so tall and so black that for years beyond remembering Men held the view that this must be the very edge of the world. In consequence these are called the Worlds Edge Mountains and, in truth, they form the natural eastern boundary of the Old World. These ancient peaks have been tunnelled, mined and inhabited for many centuries by the Dwarfs, a strong-minded and equally strong-armed folk whose endless wars against the Goblins of the mountains are well known even amongst Men.

There are many learned men who could make a shrewd guess as to the further nature of the world and its perils. Perhaps they would speak of the subterranean race of Skaven and their gnawing and scheming beneath the world. Maybe they would hint darkly at the threat from the Land of the Dead and the ancient realm of its master Nagash. Then there are the deeper and more sinister secrets of Chaos and the hidden power of the north.

If you want to know more read this introductory article on the BI site.
Or have a browse about this section of the GW Warhammer website.
We’d particularly recommend you get to know this Brief Guide to the Old World.

Have a go!
Gather together a few friends and have a go at this introductory scenario which gives a few quick and easy examples of combats and other types of tests common to games of WFRP.

Don’t worry if you haven’t played before, the scenario talks you through the areas in which you’ll be required to make tests and roll dice.

	A WALK IN THE DRAKWALD
			Scenario by Owen Barnes A quick and easy introduction to WFRP, showing new players what it's like to run a combat and make some common skill tests.
			Download the Scenario - 434 KB PDF Download

The Core Rulebook
Having played the introductory adventure your next step is to buy the WFRP rulebook. This book gives all the rules and background you need to run games of wfrp.

• How to generate characters for each of the PC races (humans, elves, dwarfs and halflings)
• The career system (the most common way by which WFRP characters become more experienced and gain skills and characteristic advances)
• Combat (using a variety of ranged and hand-to-hand weaponry)
• Spell casting (giving details of the magic practised by both wizards and priests)
• The use of skills and talents
• A bestiary of the more commonly encountered creatures in the Old World
• Some background information on religion and belief in the Old World
• A guide to the Empire, the Old World nation in which most WFRP adventures are set
• A scenario is included in the core rulebook, and once you are familiar with the rules make sure you give Through the Drakwald a run through

Get to Know the Gaming Aids Section
On the website we have a Gaming Aids section to help provide support for GMs and players. You can download character sheets from here; get spell templates and Old World coins to print out; use a name generator to make up a list of monikers to give to characters; and many other handy applications and downloads to make your games of WFRP easier.

Play More Scenarios
On the Black Industries website there are a whole host of scenarios available for groups to play through. Many of these are suitable for new groups wanting to play a few more games, but we would recommend you check out the following as being easy to read and run:

• The Bigger they Are…
• Worse than the Disease
• With a Little Help From My Friends
• The Affair of the Hidden Jewel

The Next Step…
You should now have a good basic grounding in the rules and setting of WFRP, but plenty more information is available in Black Industries’ books.

Many of our books build on the information given in one of the chapters of the Core Rulebook. So if you’d like more information on weapons and equipment, as well as a basic look at the economy of the Old World and setting up a business, then have a look at the Old World Armoury.

If you have a magic user in your party, or plan to use one as an adversary for your PCs to face, then Realms of Sorcery builds on the magic chapter of the core rulebook, giving a wealth of background information on wizards (and witches) in the Old World and also giving numerous new spells for your characters to learn and employ. It also contains an exciting adventure with a deal of magical mischief involved.

The Old World Bestiary carries information on a host of creatures with which to threaten your party with, from hobgoblins to zombies to griffons. The book is split down into two main sections, an in-character section to help you understand how the creature is viewed and understood by other denizens of the Old World, and a rules section explaining the statistics, skills and abilities of the creature.

We’d also recommend any novice GM get their hands on the GM’s Toolkit. Roleplaying games famously involve complex rules systems and the screen in the toolkit summarises the most commonly used of these for easy reference. The screen is also highly useful for hiding notes and handouts that you don’t want players to snoop a look at, and for hiding those all important fudge dice rolls.

Exploring the Old World
Black Industries produce a number of books exploring parts of the Old World, and these vary in scope from taking an overview of an entire nation to having a close look at a particular dwarf hold.

Sigmar’s Heirs is great for newcomers to the setting. The Empire is the most popular setting for WFRP adventures, and is the ‘default’ setting for WFRP in the minds of many. This book talks about its geography, politics, history and people.

Know Your Enemy
Black Industries also publish sourcebooks detailing some of the enemies that WFRP parties are likely to come up against during their adventuring career.

Children of the Horned Rat tells you all you need to know in order to make Skaven a feature of your WFRP games. It tells you a lot about what other denizens of the Old World know and think about Skaven; takes a look at their society and history; explains how their technology and magic works; gives you lots of information on Skaven careers and character creation. It also contains a short scenario with a Skaven theme.

Tome of Corruption is BI’s big book all about Chaos. If you want to use followers or daemons of Chaos as adversaries in your games, or if you are a player who is tempted into the worship of the dark gods, then this is the supplement for you. It gives details of the magical spells and equipment that the Chaos gods reward their followers with; examines some of the cults that exist within the civilised lands of the Old World; provides information on the Chaos Dwarfs and Dark Elves; and, most importantly, gives you a massive list of mutations.

And There’s More…
You could revisit the scenarios page on the BI website to get some short adventures to slot into your larger games or run as one-offs. Have your players tackle Noblesse Oblige if they are travelling by road, or Masquerade of Horrors if they are taking a riverboat somewhere, or Two Knights of Carcassonne if they come across an isolated village. Other short scenarios such as these are also available in Plundered Vaults, including the legendary Rough Night at the Three Feathers.

Another great buy is the WFRP Companion, that provides a number of different articles on various subjects, such as taking a look at some Tilean locations; giving a detailed look at trading, social conflict and medicine in the Old World; giving details on River Life; and much, much more.

Keep visiting the Black Industries website. We regularly feature new material for WFRP, whether it be previews for an upcoming book, submissions to our Fan Materials or Gaming Aids pages, a Career Pamphlet, a downloadable Map or just to catch the latest buzz on the Forum.