dark sun/WFRP hybrid??

[yukonhorror]

I don't know much about warhammer (other than what I see here especially from thoth-amon), BUT the jist of it is that it is grittier, more dangerous, and spellcasting is more hazardous to one's health than most fantasy genre games (yes??).

I don't know much about Dark Sun, BUT the jist of it is that it is grittier, more dangerous (especially concerning the environment), and spellcasting is more hazardous to one's health than most fantasy genre games (yes??).


I have two questions for WFRP/Dark Sun fans out there.

Aside from the psionics aspect of things, it seems the Dark Sun setting would be a new/fresh/interesting setting for WFRP that would port easily, no?

If I like the kind of game a Dark Sun campaign entails, I would like WFRP just as much, no?

I ask these questions for two reasons. I am kind of curious about both games/setttings and trying to get a frame of mind for the games. I am thinking if a DM/GM had a good story/campaign set up for one system, it could be altered to the fit the other system with little effort (for whatever reason this would need to happen).

Feel free to chime in (anybody familiar with either setting/system) and let me know.

[Fersboo]

It has been a long time since I last read/played in the Dark Sun setting, but I believe that Dark Sun is oppressive much the way Ravenloft is. WFRP is gritty because of the combination of the sense of realism injected into the setting, the lack of abundant magick and the underlying conflict between Law & Chaos.

[BIGKILLA]

I don't know much about warhammer (other than what I see here especially from thoth-amon), BUT the jist of it is that it is grittier, more dangerous, and spellcasting is more hazardous to one's health than most fantasy genre games (yes??).

I don't know much about Dark Sun, BUT the jist of it is that it is grittier, more dangerous (especially concerning the environment), and spellcasting is more hazardous to one's health than most fantasy genre games (yes??).


I have two questions for WFRP/Dark Sun fans out there.

Aside from the psionics aspect of things, it seems the Dark Sun setting would be a new/fresh/interesting setting for WFRP that would port easily, no?

If I like the kind of game a Dark Sun campaign entails, I would like WFRP just as much, no?

I ask these questions for two reasons. I am kind of curious about both games/setttings and trying to get a frame of mind for the games. I am thinking if a DM/GM had a good story/campaign set up for one system, it could be altered to the fit the other system with little effort (for whatever reason this would need to happen).

Feel free to chime in (anybody familiar with either setting/system) and let me know.

Well it has been many many years since I have played dark sun, and if I remember correctly weren't the characters of dark sun pretty heroic and strong, where in WHFRP the characters are pretty weak and ordinary, people who are just trying to survive day to day life, IMO the 2 settings are drastically different, not just in setting and style but in power levels.

[yukonhorror]

Well it has been many many years since I have played dark sun, and if I remember correctly weren't the characters of dark sun pretty heroic and strong, where in WHFRP the characters are pretty weak and ordinary, people who are just trying to survive day to day life, IMO the 2 settings are drastically different, not just in setting and style but in power levels.

That's quite dissappointing. I like playing a heroic/strong character. I am a weak and ordinary person trying to survive day to day life in the real world, I like games with a sense of fancy and escapism to do something I wouldn't normally do/be able to do. Just because I am a geeky weakling in real life, doesn't mean I want to play one on tv (so to speak).

So you are saying that a WFRP character wouldn't fit in well/survive in a Dark Sun setting, and a Dark Sun character in the world of WFRP would be overpowered/god-like?

[MortonStromgal]

Yes and No, Dark Sun has more than just psionics that doesnt fit immediately into the WFRP system. I would probably just use DS as a reference book for a WFRP area or perhaps add planar travel and make it a whole new world.

[LordNightwinter]

I own both WFRP and the ye olde 2nd edition Dark Sun (with 4e on preorder). And honestly what Fersboo said is the bare bones of it. Dark Sun is unforgiving, harsh, and generally unfriendly but it's a blast to play. I haven't deleved much into WFRP but I can tell you the 4th edition setting is much easier to crunch numbers wise. WFRP still feels a lot like the wargaming version (go figure since it's based on the wargaming version).

[jpatterson]

WFRP is also set in the fantasy analog, geographically, of historical Earth, but the thing that sets WFRP apart to some extent is it has a wit about it, a dark humor in a lot of its plot - not quite Pythonesque, at least not dirrectly, but a subtle gallows-humor, throughout the whole setting, from the Small But Vicious Dog of the Ratcatcher in character creation, to the end of the book (pre 3rd edition anyway), and it can take some time adapting to that and learning to GM and play that aspect - I'm still not really good at it myself, it's too easy to be goofy if you're not careful.

But yes, if you go with starting chars (for 2nd Edition), Weapon and Ballistic skills will be 31 on average, out of 99 or so, which would work out to be, obviously, less than a third of the max normally obtainable.

[kirksmithicus]

How's it going Yukon. I just finished up my 4e Dark Sun campaign. My group was looking for something new to play and so we choose warhammer 2e. If you like high power, or even competent characters then it's probably not a good match. You would pick up on it fairly quickly though. Just imagine playing 4e D&D where all the characters are 1st level and have nothing but a basic attack, and then they pretty much stay that way. However, there is nothing saying you HAVE to follow the random character generation. If you were running the game you could always up the basic starting stats, ditch the career system in favor of a more free form character generation, or start with advanced careers.

Anyway, meshing the two is doable, you either have to alter your expectations for character survivability, or start the game with higher stats. Personally I could run a Dark Sun game with Warhammer rules and be totally okay with PC's sucking and getting killed all the time (and not just because I would be the DM *evil snicker*). Heck I was already contemplating it before I saw your thread. If you want to talk about it further shoot me a PM.

[ittoogami]

Warhammer 3rd and Dark Sun would mesh just fine. All this talk about under powered players goes right out the window in the 3rd ED. Yes its gritty and tough and most characters have some limited to their abilities but most of them fall on the spell casters and even then you can "perform a stunt" by default to get whatever effect you are looking to achieve. A small tweak here or there could make it tougher or easier depending on what kind of game you are looking for. the game is extremely flexible to house rules. I built a whole crafting system built entirely new and not using the weaker dwarven engineering rules. Its been years for me too and Darksun but yall are forgetting that they tried to set the game apart from reg D&D by ramping up the power. This is not even a concern when everyone is at the same power level. You want some psyonics just throw a "perform a stunt" card together to make that work. Right now I am running a home brew high fantasy world with extreme daring doers and epic quality plots and the rules suit it just fine. IMO Warhammer 3rd (fantasy flight) could work with any backstory with just a minor amount of tweakage.