If you have been following our long-term Warhammer FRP campaign, the Enemy Within, then you will know that quite a while ago we converted the combat system over to Rolemaster mechanics, in attempt to add more detail, granularity and grittiness to the game. We have now made the decision to reverse that direction and have adopted a far more Warhammer-core ruleset.
Read more: Warmaster is dead, back to WarhammerRolemaster itself lends very well to the base Warhammer mechanics – both use percentile dice, so conversion was straightforward. The biggest question was how to adapt Wounds to Hit Points (we simply added a x5 multiplier), and how various Talents translated (we ad-hocked them as needed). It really was going well for a while, until we ran into Magic and Explosives. In these cases, there is no good conversion. Magic in Rolemaster is far harder to cast, but not nearly as limited, where Warhammer is more risky but flashier. They didn’t really blend well. We initially used Rolemaster mechanics, but this made magic far too powerful, then reverted back to “just use Warhammer” for all spells. Explosives ended up similar, the initial thought had been fireball-equivalents, but the conversion was less than clean and rather disappointing in the effects.
In the end, rather than using a mixed bag of mechanics, we decided to revert back entirely to Warhammer. The real complaint I have had with 4th edition is really just the Advantage implementation – I find it clunky, difficult to track, and challenging to implement. I fully understand the intent, but as a GM it is very difficult to track multiple foes with Advantage constantly increasing and dropping. Since this is a fairly core rule though, any changes would require their own adjustments.
My solution was to alter the fundamental Advantage – instead of a resource pool that ebbs and flows, it is instead a “state of being” – you either have Advantage (or Disadvantage), or you do not. This is mechanically the same as 4th edition D&D, which is where I think I first saw the concept, and it works generally well. Easy to track, easy to apply, no bookkeeping. If you have Advantage, you roll twice and choose which result you want. If you have Disadvantage, you roll twice, and the opponent chooses.
From there, this led to a re-write of a number of the talents, which specifically reference Advantage, and needed to be adapted to the change in concept. Fairly straight forward.
With Advantage sorted out, we then turned to general combat mechanics, to commonize them. My first thought was that ranged vs melee should use the same core process – attacker rolls attack, defender rolls a defense, damage is applied. Base Warhammer drops the defender part of that mix for any ranged attacks. With some rewrites, we adapted the core attack modifier table for the attacker/defender mentality (same numbers, perhaps with a bit more clarity). I then clarified the three core defense options – Parry, Shield Block, and Dodge. Parry and Shield Block in Warhammer are functionally the same (both considered Parries), this really just clarified the side effects. Dodge was functionally the same but is an available option for everyone. We defined each defense as Melee, Ranged, or Both, with the concept of consistency. In theory, a solid base, as we went into our first game session this week.
If you are curious about the details of our house rules, our full details are available here, https://www.halfling13.com/house-rules/warhammer-frp-4e-house-rules/
