[Fan/Rules] What houserules do you have for attributes and attribute generation?

Animation wrote:... the merry band of investigators / entertainers / rogues will probably end up bitter, mutated, driven insane, and then killed shortly before or after.
...

In warhammer alot of PCs end up here anyway

For those who don't use random rolls or pregens to generate attributes, how do you deal with the point of optimising? In general, a one point difference is not a big deal, but in S and T, it can matter a lot whether your score is 29 (with bonus 2) or 30 (with bonus 3). Allowing players to set their own attributes will encourage them to game the system; set S and T to values just above the treshold of 30 (or 25 or 35). They allocate points then not purely to represent their character, but instead to increase the character's effectiveness in the system.

Is this a problem for you, or do you just not care?

I don't really care that much. WFRP is so dangerous a little min/maxing on the players side isn't too bad. After all, I want them to survive the adventure so we can actually play through it.

Howerver, I decided to go for another system than pool points for my planned adventure, not so much to avoid min/maxing but to give the players a bit more say about their characters. So instead I'll give them eight stats:

20
16
14
10
8
6
4
2

And allow them to place them as they want for the different attributes.

Didz wrote:All my players get pre-generated PC's, as my game is invitational only. At one point I had a waiting list of 21 players hoping to get a game and it was a case of opting for whatever character you thought you might like to play.

I like to play a character I made, so I guess I wouldnt be on the invite list, and wouldn't want to be.

Fair enough, different people want different things from games. Still, I guess if you use the random generation system (I prefer not to) then you might as well run a pre-gen I suppose.

Anyway, I'm not attacking anyone else's play style, I just wouldnt remotely consider pre-gens. I respect that others like it. Best wishes!

Lewis

Animation wrote:I like to play a character I made, so I guess I wouldnt be on the invite list, and wouldn't want to be.

Presumably not, though most of the players who did seemed to warm to their characters quite quickly and one or two were reluctant to give them up, even after their part in the plot was long since over.

I can see the obvious attraction of being able to tailor your character to suite your personal playing style and preferences, but there is a unique challenge in having to cope with the demands of a character who already exists and has a history and part to play in the game.

For example:

Theodosius Forsch, Male Human Ex-Explorer
Professor of History: University of Nuln, Lay Member of The Ancient Order of Illuminated Readers, Owner of The Theodosius Forsch Antiquarian Bookshop and Cartographic Illustrators, University District, Nuln

Background:
Theodosius Forsch is an Elderly Academic with a long history. He came to Nuln as a student and spent many years studying Imperial History at Nuln University, eventually becoming a Historical Scholar and expert in the life of Sigmar. He now lecturers at the University as a Professor of Imperial History on a part time basis. To Facilitate his studies he began to collect historical reference books and over time amassed quite a large personal library.

He soon realised that by selling on his less valuable works he could use the profit he made to make more important purchases and so he opened a second hand bookshop near the University and began buying and selling books. Occasionally sellers would come in with rare books and scrolls, which Theodosius was only too willing to purchase.

Word soon got out that Theodosius would pay handsomely for old books and without really trying he discovered himself in the book trade, buying and selling books in the University District of Nuln. This proved to be the perfect way to gather information on the likely whereabouts of those few rare books and scrolls that Theodosius desperately wanted for his Collection. However, several disastrous attempts to finance expeditions to recover these rare manuscripts proved to Theodosius that 'if you want something done properly, do it yourself' and so Theodosius found himself forced into the role of Explorer wandering the outer edges of the civilised world in search of these rare items.

It was at this time that his growing library of rare books and his reputation as an collector attracted the interest of the Ancient Order of Illuminated Readers who approached him with an offer to join their secret order. Theodosius is now a Lay Member of this esteemed Order, his position being secured by the donation of many valuable books to the Unseen Library.

Initial Career Class: Academic

Career Path: Ex-Student, Ex-Scholar, Ex-Explorer

Current Career: Merchant

Description
Theodosius is an elderly distinguished looking gentleman with white hair, full beard and a weather beaten face. He is a highly accomplished scholar, merchant and explorer but he is getting on in years and his health is beginning to fail. In his youth he was an agile man who could hold his own against most opponents but age has weakened his combat skills and dampened his zeal so that he prefers to use his tongue and wits and no longer carries a sword. He is highly intelligent, and knowledgeable with a natural air of authority and charm. His experiences and knowledge means that little will surprise him and he is not easily intimidated.

Age: 58

Skills: Luck, Etiquette, Arcane Language - Magick, Read & Write, Secret Language - Classical, History, Astronomy, Cartography, Identify - Plant, Numismatics, Speak Additional Language (Bretonnian), Linguistics, Magick Sense, Rune Lore, Evaluate, Haggle, Ride - Horse, Secret Language - Ancient Order of Illuminated Readers, Super Numerate, Law

Personal Trappings: Dagger, Dark Blue Tunic and Breeches, Dark Blue Felt Merchants Hat, Long Black Cloak, Hard Leather Shoes, Belt, Purse with 11GC,

Trappings In Shop in the University District: Maps of the Old World, Maps of Nuln, Dagger,
3 Employees operating small book shop and cartography business, 2000 GC in savings.

Personal Objectives
To recover the stolen books belonging to The Unseen Library. Failure could be fatal.

Bit of a purist here, though I'd consider letting players choose one of the TTT backgrounds (or the Liber Fanatica stuff that inspired them) for their PC.

One of the huge attractions of WFRP (for me) is the horribly random character generation - it sends a clear message to players that fate is fickle and inequality is the norm.