home

Author Topic: Warhammer World as campaign setting  (Read 3167 times)

Offline lady avalon

  • Members
  • Posts: 212
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« on: December 11, 2004, 02:39:27 PM »
Like most of us, in addition to toy soldiers and wee spacemen, I like to roleplay on a regular basis. Work, real-life and what have you has conspired to keep me away from my regular RPG group for to long now, but now that I'm heading back, I'm going to be GMing our new DnD campaign. I've decided to set it in the Warhammer world, for all the standard reasons: I know it in detail; Its got a nice blend of plausible history, high fantasy, and just the right amount of cosmic horror (add to taste). I also have the advantage that none of my regular RPG gang plays WHFB (and certainly never WFRP) although one has dabbled in 40K in the past.

(This means mentions of things like "Slanneesh" or "The Warp" will get the right amount og fear/curiosity from him. He _always_ plays spellcasters, and he just adored his Dark Eldar... Normally a hard guy to scare, it'll be fun to spring a band of Witch Elves on him :lol: )

I've compiled a heavy pile of esstential fluff: geography, history, timeline, short essays on the Dwarves, Elves and Old Worlder humans. A few pages on the Old World pantheon, and will soon be comiting my House Rules to paper. I've previewed what I've compiled to the group's resident "Old-Cyncical-Gamer" and he's pretty enthusied with it... although that might just be because the Warhamemr world has real firearms and real pirates.

All this is well and good, but I've run into a few nagging questions:

1) Does the Known World have a name? In all my years, I've never found one. Plausible suggestions are welcomed.  

2) Araby is very religous, and has launched crusades agianst the Old World in the name of that religion... Anybody got a clue as to what it is?

3) Is travel to other planes of existance/dimensions possible in the Warhammer universe? (You WFRP veterans and Blck Library novel hounds might know) Is there, for example, an Plane of Fire? Or is everything beyond the world the voids of chaos? (This has little plot effect: if I need them in a plane of fire, I just create a pocket realm in the void, but it can have effects on various spells)

4) Do Halflings live (in numbers) outside of the Mootland? Do Half-Elves exist at all?
Rules B*tch.

"I nominate that this become Lady Avalon's permanent "rank". It just has a melodic ring to it..." -The Village Idiot

Offline Calvin

  • The Old Ones
  • Members
  • Posts: 4152
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2004, 04:14:39 PM »
1) Not that I know of, the average person in the warhammer world doesn't know much about the land other than that he lives in, and so doesn't have much use for naming places. You could just call it the old world maybe.

4) Yes, there are also other things living in the Moot than just halflings. The Moot just has the most of them.

Half-Elves, I don't think so. However I get the impression that our "full" Elves are closer to DnD half elves than full. However my DnD knowledge is based on a playing only three games ever.
Quote from: Rufas the Eccentric
Remember this every one, when in trouble just screem, CALVIN!
Quote from: Eight
I'd pay an extra 15 points or so to be able to take the engineer out back and shoot him.

Offline Clarkarias

  • Members
  • Posts: 3576
  • Halton Hills, Ontario
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2004, 07:39:08 PM »
1)  If I were you, I'd make up a name for it.  I haven't been able to find the names.  I just know there are two moons (which both have names) and I believe one of them is called Morsleib.  Might want to wait for more people to answer for this one...

2)  Not a clue as to what it's called...

3)  Yes there are other planes of existence.  The existance of Daemons proves this.  There was also a 4th ed spell from the Celestial College called the "Saphire Arch" which allowed troops to pass through it into another realm, and reappear somewhere else on the board when it was cast again.  As for a plane of fire, you could always say something like each of the winds of magic has their own plane

4)  Halflings do exist outside the Moot, but they are mostly cooks.  And there are Lumpin Croops Fighting Cocks the Regiment of Reknown.  As for Half-Elves, I have to say no.  Elves are Humans are too isolated from each other.
Actually, forget Karl-Franz. I want rules for Thyrus Gorman on a dragon. - Rufus Sparkfire

Offline Hal

  • Members
  • Posts: 412
  • I am Hal, of Karak Kaldor
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2004, 10:34:06 AM »
Someone else to which the idea of a Warhammer world Campaign has occurred! Haha, my campaign, "Blight of the Skaven" is...interesting...


Aaaaanyway...

1)I am pretty sure it's known as "The Old World" or, "The Olde Worlde"

2)Make up a name...Halljah anyone? (No, this is not meant to be an evil plot by george Bush)

3)The "other Planes" are, pretty much, the realms of the Warp. Infinite Dimensions, Infinite planes

4)Halflings live pretty much anywhere were they can get food

And as to Half Elves, I am fairly sure that Morginia le Fay was a half elf...and anyway, it is rather a likely thing to happen...an Elven woman seducing a human male..

~Hal
I have good ideas, not functional or balanced rules. When I post a revision idea, comment on the ideas, not the rules.

Offline Hagen_von_Loewenstein

  • Members
  • Posts: 2113
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2004, 10:58:16 AM »
Quote from: Hal

And as to Half Elves, I am fairly sure that Morginia le Fay was a half elf...and anyway, it is rather a likely thing to happen...an Elven woman seducing a human male..

~Hal


I dunno. Old WH-RPG had half-elves, IIRC, but they also had half-orcs and WH-RPG was generally more of a darker kind of D&D than the gothic stuff we have today, at least IMHO. I doubt that "modern" Warhammer-fluff would have it even possible for a human and an elf to have any offspring (not that sexuality would play ANY role anymore). At least I don't know of ANY half-elf who is mentioned by recent fluff.
I don't think that's a loss, though. Normally half-elves are just an excuse for players who want to fight AND have some magic, but don't want to be bothered with role-playing a real alienating creature like a true elf should be, anyway.

As for the other questions:
1) Just call it "the world". Most people of that time (historically compared) didn't even think about the possibility of other "planets" existing or the concept of planets, so why should they bother about making up a name to distinguish their planet from others?
BTW, the two moons are AFAIK called "Morrsleib" and "Mannsleib"

@ hal: "The Old World" only applies for the (rather small) part of land consisting of the Empire, Bretonnia, Tilea, Kislev, the Border Princess, Norsca, Estalia and parts of the Darklands/Badlands.

2) I dunno here also, were it really religious reasons that caused the Arabians to invade Estalia? One could GUESS so by comparing the events to european history with the invasion of spain, but I try really hard to remember where it explicitly says so in Warhammer-fluff... I'll have a look into the books later on.

3) I guess you shouldn't limit your fantasies in regards to the Warp. ;)

4) Halfling shouldn't be too common outside of the Moot, I think. Just like they aren't found often outside of the Shire in LotR. They're a domestic people with strong ties to their own ground and their kin and folk and only the most adventurous of them will go on journeys that take them more than a few miles away from home, I would think. And IF they leave, then mostly in greater numbers (like joining a military expedition or the like). Of course there are almost always exceptions to the rules...

Offline RGB

  • Members
  • Posts: 1379
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2004, 04:58:43 PM »
Case in Point (note: this was an old argument on Portent)

β€œIt has never happened before!
Elves think humans are terrible boors – β€œ
But I disagree:
For, come on, look at me -
Movement Five, Swiftness Six, Toughness Four!


I did have a half-elf captain one a half-zebra pegasus in mind for my future beastman-hunting army, but it wasn't really supposed to be canon.

I don't think there are half-elves in any appreciable quantities any more in WH.

Still elves and humans are fairly alike and were made by the Old Ones at around the same time (were they?) so, maybe there's chance of mutual inter-fertility.
Not that I'd ever let anyone play a half-elf.

Araby's invasion was a land-grab for all I know. It doesn't say specifically otherwise anywhere except if there's a WHFRP book that deals with the subject.

Cheers.
[in the good of life]

Offline lady avalon

  • Members
  • Posts: 212
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2004, 02:16:36 AM »
The Araby wars are specificly refered to as a crusade in the older Bretonnian book.
Rules B*tch.

"I nominate that this become Lady Avalon's permanent "rank". It just has a melodic ring to it..." -The Village Idiot

Offline Hagen_von_Loewenstein

  • Members
  • Posts: 2113
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2004, 02:25:53 AM »
Quote from: lady avalon
The Araby wars are specificly refered to as a crusade in the older Bretonnian book.

As are the wars against the orcs... don't mistake a bretonnian crusade for a historical crusade. If I'm not mistaken, every war that was fought outside of bretonnian soil was declared as a crusade.

Offline RGB

  • Members
  • Posts: 1379
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2004, 05:06:01 AM »
The wars against Araby were called the crusade against Araby as well, but that wasn't because the Empire, Estalia, Tilea and Brettonea worship the same Gods. In fact, the Bret goddess is not the same as everyone else's dieties.

So no, I don't think there's a unifying religious aspect to anything called a Crusade in WH.
[in the good of life]

Offline Imrael

  • Members
  • Posts: 258
Warhammer World as campaign setting
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2004, 01:29:50 PM »
I thought you meant something quite different - an RPG set in the GW Nottingham HQ!
People said "smile - things could get worse"
So I did smile
And things did get worse