WFRP'd: What the @*&% is WFRP'd? The History of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Hello all. You may have noticed me waffling on a great deal about Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay recently and if you didn't know, the game is now in it's thirtieth anniversary. With such an august event looming large in my mind, I thought it appropriate to get blogging about this marvelleous game as quite frankly, no-one else seems to be! 

Now, we shall be continuing through the history of the game in much the same way as I have been doing with the Acceptable in the '80s series with Warhammer Fantasy Battle Third Edition. Only, I have blogged about several parts of the WFRP canon in the past under the title WFRP'd. As you have no doubt gathered, I am going to be continuing with this series in the coming days and I thought it apt to make reference to some of the other articles I have published relating to the game. 

And there are three. 

The first concerns the first supplement for WFRP, namely the Enemy Within Box and the starting adventure 'Mistaken Identity'. This is one of my favourite ever supplements that GW released. 

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wfrpd-enemy-within.html

Out of the garden deals with the background of the Warhammer world's gnome population and provides details to allow players to roleplay these diminutive characters. Phil Gallagher's article if bustling with detail that many of you may not know about Gnomes in Warhammer. 

Well worth a read!

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/wfrpd-out-of-garden-or-roleplaying.html

And finally, Graeme Davis launches the game in morbid style with 'On the Road' - the first two scenarios (if you can call them that) published for WFRP. 

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/wfrpd-on-road-warhammer-fantasy.html

Enjoy! 

Orlygg

WFRP'd: Out of the Garden or Roleplaying Gnomes

Writing about Little Ron, my unfortunate Gnome crossbowman, recently reminded me of the part the more unusual races once played in Warhammer. Gnomes, pygmies, fimir, zoats... Sure, they had no armies as such, but they added a flavour to the game that later editions lacked, and a wild unpredictablilty of what you actually might have to face if you play a properly GMed game of Third Edition. 

Delving into the past background of the game reminded me of my WFRP'd project. It has a similar mission statement to Acceptable in the '80s, as it is essentially a history of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, with added thoughts about how the huge source of material produced for the game might be applied to Oldhammer. 

So dusting off the WFRP rulebook I delved deep into the next article, one that concerns the previously mentioned Gnomes. Its called 'Out of the Garden' (a quip perhaps to the greenfingered?) and was written by Phil Gallagher and originally published in WD 86.

You may be aware that Citadel produced a number of figures at that time and Graeme Davis has gone on the record to state that he attempted to include all the races that had figures available in the WRFP rulebook. Background material was slight, as I found when I painted a gnome for my Warhammer Bestiary painting challenge- which I must get back to one day! So this article gives us much more information about the Gnomes. 

Reading the first page gives us the usual excuse of variation within the Warhammer World for the player to create their own background,using what is provided as a template. What is interesting to a scenario writer (like me) are the references to gnome pedlars and engineers, with the latter being the perfect way of slipping a gnome into a game. Give him cannon to command or a bridge to destroy!

The second page continues with the in-jokes that made Warhammer so different to Dungeons and Dragons in the 1980s, with mention of the gnomes' love of fishing, and of course the dreadful 'metro-gnome' joke. Humour aside, it does provide us with some useful information about where gnomes live, so if you do have a handful of minis kicking about in your collection its fairly easy to create a setting in which to use them. 

The article goes on to describe the then new Gnome Jester career option. And provides yet more scope to include them in your Oldhammer games, perhaps part of some 'gnobleman's' (get it?) retinue, or as a character within a village or remote inn. 

The third page chronicles the the gnome deity, Ringil, the god of smithying and practical jokes. My eye was immediately drawn to the note about the trials that members of the religion must undergo if they offend the teaching of Ringil, namely the application of some bizarre practical joke! What a fascinating secret mission for a player in a larger game who has a gnome character, eh? 

Now that's an idea I will most definitely develop in the near future!

If you want to know more about Gnomes in Warhammer then perhaps you should pop over to Where the Sea Pours Out and have a read of Richard Irvine's academic piece about them. Graeme Davis also wrote a short piece on their history here.

It was nice 'gnoming' you!

Orlygg

A Warhammer Bestiary: Gnome

More Bank Holiday painting. This time, a gnome. I really do like this strange, little range from the mid '80s sculpted by Trish Morrison. Amusing, characterful and collectible. Gnomes are another one of the missing races that make early versions of Warhammer so interesting and varied. 

This example even has an official name! Norris Sureshot. And deadly he looks too with that crossbow at the ready. He is easy to find amongst the C11 Gnomes. 

The miniature gave me an opportunity to work on faces again. And I continued to work with the new red/chestnut ink wash that I have been developing for faces and skin. The hair was more of a challenge as the sculpting is rather rough and ready really. Still, brown inks and white paint have produced a rather grizzled appearance which I feel suits this old campaigner. 

There were some other lovely touches to work with too. The hat is the classic felt job that alludes ever so slightly to Robin Hood ( the boy who never grew up, rather than Tim Pollard) and so I painted it a suitably foresty green, complete with a red feather! As he is an archer, or sorts, I had a quick look on-line for the outfits that medieval crossbowmen wore and copied the quilted jacket accordingly. The red leather belt contrasted nicely with the colour I ended up with, but as painting for me is more of an exploration, this was more due to luck than judgement! 

The crossbow was painted in my usual way for wood now, chestnut ink mixed in with a chosen brown and highlighted slowly with beige. I wasn't quite sure what exactly was tied onto the Gnome's trousers, but considering that they are tied on I painted them as old armour. The shoes were rather simple orange leather jobs, again highlighted with beige being added to the mix. 

So a quick evening's leisure has helped by produce a funny little character perfect for odd scenarios and battles. 

Goblins next!

Orlygg