Day 9 & we’re going full grunge with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP), 2nd edition (Black Industries, 2005). Originally conceived & produced in the UK, WFRP brings a slightly more grounded tone to fantasy adventuring with all the filth, deprivation, disease, & mundane horror of life in the mid 17th century dusted with a coating of Chaos gods, mutants, & monsters from Beyond The Pale.

Chargen is quick & easy & boy is that a good thing, because life is Netflix period adventure series cheap in WFRP. Players can pick one of four races; I settle on halfling. The “character profile” has a main profile with eight rolled stats & a secondary profile with eight others derived from main values or rolled on charts.

Main:
Weapon Skill (WS): 43
Ballistic Skill (BS): 35
Strength (S): 29
Toughness (T): 35
Agility (Ag): 16
Intelligence (Int): 35
Willpower (WP): 36
Fellowship (Fel): 16

Secondary:
Attacks (A): 1
Wounds (W): 8 (rolled on a chart of Starting Wounds/Race)
Strength Bonus (SB): 2 (the 2 from S 29)
Toughness Bonus (TB): 3 (the 3 from T 35)
Movement (M): 4
Magic (Mag): 0
Insanity Points (IP): 0
Fate Points (FP): 2 (rolled on a chart of Starting Fate Points/Race)

We’ve got the world’s least charismatic halfling on our hands here.

Each race gets a package of skills & talents (a bit like feats). The halfling gets:

Skills:
Academic Knowledge (Genealogy/Heraldry, I pick Genealogy), Common Knowledge (Halflings), Gossip, Speak Language (Halfling), Speak Language (Reikspiel), Trade (Cook or Farmer, I pick Farmer)

Talents:
Night Vision, Resistance to Chaos, Specialist Weapon Group (sling), & one random; a roll of 97 yields Warrior Born (!)

Certain Talents change your character profile. Such is the case with Warrior Born, which gives a permanent +5 to WS, making our lethal halfling’s an impressive 48.

The next step is to roll for a career. This determines what additional skills, talents, & trappings (equipment) the PC gets, as well as how their advancement scheme works. Each career has a different scheme whose individual elements the PC buys with XP over time. It also provides a lot of WFRP’s flavor. By the rules you’re allowed to roll a second time if you don’t like the first result, but on the first try we strike grimy, pungent gold. No way am I not going with this one.

Charcoal Burner

Skills: Common Knowledge (The Empire), Drive, Haggle, Outdoor Survival, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface, Search, Secret Signs (ranger)

Talents: Flee!, Very Strong

Trappings: torches, tinderbox, hatchet

Our halfling has developed a pair of seeming contradictory talents on the job. Flee! grants bursts of speed when running away from combat, +1M for d10 rounds; Very Strong, on the other hand, permanently increases S by 5. But then perhaps they go together better than it first appears, considering the nature of charcoal burning. You’re in the woods alone or with maybe one co-worker, awake for literal dozens of hours at a stretch making sure the burning goes right, hauling & chopping heavy logs & every so often random robbers show up & try to steal whatever you’ve got on you.

Every starting PC gets one free advance on their career’s advancement profile. I pick the Ag advance (to compensate for that lackluster original score) & make a mark next to it to show that it’s been used. When, assuming we survive to that distant future day, we’ve taken all the advancements for this career, it’ll be time to exit this career & enter another one. But that day’s not today.

Each PC is rounded out with some personal details. It’s only at this point that gender is of any interest – it determines which of the height columns you roll on – so odd/even comes out even & our halfling is a woman.

Height: 38 + d10 = 42″ = 3’6″
Weight: 115
Hair Color: corn
Eye Color: light brown
Distinguishing Mark: tattoo
Number of Siblings: 2
Star Sign: Gnuthus the Ox
Age: 40
Birthplace: The Moor (the halfling homeland)

Now all she needs is a name, so we consult a handy random WFRP Halfling name generator & learn that marvelously, she’s called Robrose Winchgirdle. Once we invent a few background details she’ll be all set to venture into the grim world & seek out perilous adventure.

Name: Robrose Winchgirdle

Main:
Weapon Skill (WS): 48
Ballistic Skill (BS): 35
Strength (S): 34
Toughness (T): 35
Agility (Ag): 21
Intelligence (Int): 35
Willpower (WP): 36
Fellowship (Fel): 16

Secondary:
Attacks (A): 1
Wounds (W): 8
Strength Bonus (SB): 3
Toughness Bonus (TB): 3
Movement (M): 4
Magic (Mag): 0
Insanity Points (IP): 0
Fate Points (FP): 2 (rolled on a chart of Starting Fate Points/Race)

Advancement:
WS+5, BS -, S+5, T+5, *Ag+5*, Int+5, WP+5, Fel+5
A -, W+2, SB -, TB -, M -, Mag -, FP –

Skills:
Academic Knowledge (Genealogy), Common Knowledge (The Empire), Common Knowledge (Halflings), Drive, Gossip, Haggle, Outdoor Survival, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface, Search, Secret Signs (ranger), Speak Language (Halfling), Speak Language (Reikspiel), Trade (Farmer)

Talents:
Flee!, Night Vision, Resistance to Chaos, Specialist Weapon Group (sling), Very Strong, Warrior Born

Height: 3’6″
Weight: 115
Hair Color: corn
Eye Color: light brown
Distinguishing Mark: tattoo (a dark red pile of burning coals above crossed langmesser & hatchet, with four hash marks beneath)
Number of Siblings: 2
Star Sign: Gnuthus the Ox
Age: 40
Birthplace: The Moor

Equipment:
suit of clothes, ragged cloak, dagger tucked in belt, backpack (contains blanket, wooden tankard, wooden cutlery), hand axe, langmesser, sling, 9 GC

“I thought halflings were supposed to be jolly …” has been the despairing last utterance of at least four bandits that we know of. Robrose Winchgirdle is the third daughter of a farming homestead on the edge of the Moor. Her immense strength, stamina & determination made her the ideal choice to operate the family’s charcoal burning works. She was strong enough to stand the toil & long hours – & unsociable enough that the isolation suited her well.

Along about the second bandit, the family began to suspect that it wasn’t Robrose’s true calling in life. She had shown a clean pair of hairy heels when there was a hired man on the scene she must think of when robbers came calling. But then, to their great misfortune, they caught her alone. Robrose had no choice but to fight – & discovered that not only was she good at it, she loved it. The biggest, most horrifying smile her parents & siblings had ever seen on her face was put there by the bloody mash she made of a man’s head with her one-legged stool.

Returning to the tedium of her assigned part of farm life wasn’t going to cut it for Mistress Winchgirdle. Besides, her unnerving talent for violence made the rest of her small community more than a little nervous. The family pulled together some ready money to equip her, wished her well, & watched with a mixture of concern & relief as Robrose set off toward the heart of The Empire to seek her fortune.

I have to say, this is the first character this month that I would gleefully look forward to playing.