WHFRP Reboot
Here's my thoughts on the reboot. I'm changing some of the rules because I like what I saw in some other systems.
The bulk of the rules stay the same.
Contents
Characters
Character creation can be done in several ways:
- Points: You get 85 points to distribute to your various attributes.
- Roll Choose: Roll 2d10 8 times and write down the values. You can choose which rolls go to which stats. You get no Shallya's Mercy.
- Roll: Roll for each stat. You get one standard Shallya's Mercy.
Careers can be chosen or rolled for, but in both cases you get only one free advance.
Spiritual Attributes
So, one of my goals is to enhance the narrative aspect of WHFRP. This isn't hard, as Fate and Fortune points put a lot of narrative control in the hands of the players. So, I'm replacing Fate and Fortune points with a cool system I'm stealing from the Riddle of Steel: Spiritual Attributes.
In short, Spiritual Attributes describe your characters beliefs, the reasons they're willing to fight, or what they fight for. They're also the primary mechanism for describing an individual's evolution and progression.
The Basics
A Spiritual Attribute is defined by the player. A character gets any three Spiritual Attributes of their choosing. All Spiritual Attributes are rated on a 0-to-5 point scale, and start at 0.
There are a few basic types of Spiritual Attributes available to a character:
- Passion: A strong attachment to a person that drives you - hate, love, loyalty. When acting on or in defense of the subject of your passion, you are ablaze with an inner fire. When choosing a Passion, the player must specify what the subject is - e.g., "Passion: hates von Teumar", or "Passion: boundless love for Helga".
- Conviction: An unshakable faith that the world should operate in a particular way. When fighting for your Conviction, you are filled with zealous resolve. Religious beliefs often fall under Convictions. When choosing a Conviction, a player must specify the belief, e.g, "Conviction: only the strong survive", or "Conviction: Shallya offers mercy to all".
- Conscience: The desire to do the "right thing". When doing the right thing (as defined by the player) you are possessed of a righteousness that is hard to deter. When choosing a Conscience, the player must specify what the ethic the Conscience embodies: e.g. "Conscience: All men should be free".
- Drive: A consuming desire to accomplish a goal. When working towards the end of your Drive, you are relentless and resourceful. When choosing a Drive, the player must specify what the goal is, e.g "Drive: Own a boat", or "Drive: prove self as the best fighter in the world".
- Fate: A point that you know will be reached, a destiny that will come to pass. When working towards your eventual Fate, events conspire to propel you forward. When choosing a Fate, the player must specify what will happen to the character, e.g., "Fate: will die fighting", or "Fate: will free a people."
- Luck: A tendency to benefit from coincidence in a given situation. When in certain circumstances, Luck may intervene miraculously. When choosing a Luck, a player must select the lucky situation, e.g., "Luck: I thought you were dead", or "Luck: I've never been injured on horseback".
As stated above, a character gets 3 spiritual attributes, and they can be any combination of the above.
Use
Any time a character acts in accordance with a Spiritual Attribute (as determined by the GM), they gain re-rolls equivalent to their Spiritual Attribute's value for the action/scene. At the conclusion of the action/scene, that Spiritual Attribute also increases by one, to a maximum of 5.
Any time a character acts against a Spiritual Attribute (as determined by the GM), they lose a point from the given attribute.
Relation to Experience
Experience won't be earned 100 per session anymore. Instead, you spend your Spiritual Attributes to gain advances, at the rate of 5 points per advance. Bonus advances may be earned at the end of arcs and such.
For example, Mickael has just increased his Drive: Be the Best Athlete to 5 after beating Havlick in fisticuffs. He elects to spend those 5 points in Drive (reducing it to zero) to take the Street Fighting talent on his advance scheme.
Changing a Spiritual Attribute
A Spiritual Attribute may be replaced at any time with a newly selected one - for instance, if Anjou has lost his Faith: in the Lady, he may wish to change that Spiritual Attribute to a Conscience: defend commoners from injustice.
Any new Spiritual Attribute starts at zero, so it's advisable to spend your SA before changing them.
Replacement of Fate Points
This system is intended as a more-specific way for you to direct your character's narrative arc; as such, the old Fate and Fortune system no longer applies. This means that if you get in a fight and die, you're dead, and you make a new character. This also means that getting into lethal situations where you're not backed up by your beliefs is sort of a toss-up for your character to end up dead.
But if you do die, you get to make a new character. Take your old character's SA values (the attributes themselves don't have to be the same) and advances, and apply them to a fresh character. If you tie your new character's entrance in to your old character or their death, add 1 to each SA.
Setting
The setting would remain in my fucked-up Old World remix. If you wanted to play a "Not Elf" or a "Not Dwarf", you could go for it, it'd just be on the down-low like the examples you met were. The characters themselves would be new ones - I'm already thinking of hooks, but if you guys want something specific, like "everyone's a military man" or "we're bone pickers trying to escape Gabe's Mom", then put it on the discussion page. Your old characters would be NPCs - I'd ask you guys for input occasionally on how they'd respond to things, but on the whole I'd use them for my own nefarious ends. The time frame would probably be a few years after we stopped the last game.