WFRP General - Villain Appreciation Edition

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I've been looking for a way to work Sigvald into a game. That sort of self-centered perfectionism and skill is begging for a bunch of PCs to ruin his hair.

>>44486159
So far I have a list, in approximate order of anticipated appearance and severity:
A beastman warlord
A mischievous goblin tribe
Ignorant yokels
Bandits
Corrupt burghers
Chaos cultists
Skaven
Religious zealots
Republican agitators
Vampires

But I don't have a particular "BBEG" in mind for my campaign. The idea is that in Warhammer, there is no "Big Bad" - just a lot of petty, greedy and/or ignorant people all getting in each other's way for various terrible reasons.

>>44486512
But how many of them are actual villains? As in, significant individuals, preferably with some style? There's a ton of those in Warhammer.

>>44486599
I mean, most of the groups have at least one "leader". Not sure if i'd go so far as to call some of them stylish though.

>>44486686
That doesn't really count as villains; they're opponents. A pack of vampires are antagonists, a Von Carstein gloating from the ramparts as his swish cape billows in the unearthly wind is a villain.

>>44486773
Do you need to gloat melodramatically to be a villain?

>>44487144
You need some personality, some spark that shifts the players from 'wanting to defeat your goals' to 'wanting to defeat you.' Stopping bad people because they're bad is the most basic motivation; killing someone because they are smug bastard who ripped out your father's throat as a display to the town, because they have dogged your every step and turned your victories bittersweet, and because you hate them, on a deeply personal level, is what gives someone enthusiasm for stopping their enemy.

>>44487207
And what kind of thing would you suggest?

Can you give examples?

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>>44488326
Why not. Using some examples from >>44486512

>Cultists
Known as Khaine's Red Hand, this man delights in showing his face during his holy murders and daring people to pursue him. If someone asks around about a swarthy, thin-mustached traveler with a pair of ornate daggers, tragedy strikes them. First their informant dies, stabbed through the eyes; then a vocal supporter of the investigator, with their tongue cut out; then their closest confidante, with a blade pushed through their ear. For more than a decade, men and women have tried to catch this murderer, then stop his deadly cycle, then pursued him in grief-stricken rage, never to be heard from again.

>Religious zealots
Friar Bailen seems to walk the line between fanaticism and charlatanism. He leads his band of Sigmarite followers around the countryside, forcing their way into towns so that they may loudly scourge themselves in the street. These public displays, inflamed by the charismatic friar's preaching, leads to an outbreak of zealotry among the populace, with once-sober individuals tearing off their clothes to receive the lash and confess their sins. As the power of Bailen grows, he will inevitably commandeer an inn, break open the casks, and lead the people in debauched nighttime orgies of self-gratification and self-mutilation. In the day, however, he returns to the pulpit, delivering thundering sermon after sermon. He rarely leaves a town without organizing a few trials for the heretics and witches he uncovered in town (usually young women who didn't join his fanatics, who are stripped naked before being burned).

>Corrupt Burghers
Jakob Fugger von der Lilie Großbürger zu Altdorf doesn't ask for much. He just wants his shipping company to dominate the Reik, for his daughters to make good matches, and to be elevated to Elector Count. It's not so much to ask, and if he has to have his thugs in the Fish work gang murder rivals and blackmail bureaucrats, well, that's the price of business.

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Bumping with the objectively best challenge that all Champions should strive to overcome.

>>44490303
Not sure what's dragonny about dragon-ogres. No wings, doesn't look like they have breath weapons unless you count violent halitosis. Sure, some slightly-scaly legs, but apart from that? Don't get it.

On that note, are Warhammer Dragons the classical cunning conversationalists, or just vicious beasts? They could make climactic villains either way.

>>44492004

The hindquarters is what is dragon about them, just as the fore are ogre, doesn't matter if either are really related to their namesake.

Dragons in Warhammer are the former, they're said to be intelligent and cunning and capable of interacting with others, whether they choose to do so is dependent on their disposition and upbringing. There is a story in Monstrous Arcanum of a Warpfire Dragon acting on behalf of a Tilean city, either has a mercenary or something else.

>>44492004
Their upper bodies aren't very ogre-like either.

So my GM is gonna try and have my character fall to Chaos. I'm thinking of taking the offer but having a business relationship with them. You know, Faustian pact and all.

How smart of an idea does that seem?

>>44486159
>who do your PCs square off against

Usually our GM throws us against older characters who have been retired for one reason or another. We have one recurring villain group which has proved pretty fun.

>Ever included a canon figure?

Archaon, once. Otherwise it's usually people who have some sort of interaction with canon figures. Like Karl Franz's fencing instructor.

>>44493115

Sounds like it could play out fun. Don't expect to get the better end of the deal, but go nuts man. See what fun you can have.

>>44486159

Other bits:

Anon's work on a story about a skaven befriending a blind man - shows promise, feel free to offer comments or suggestions:

http://m.uploadedit.com/ba3n/1451548273992.rtf

A Primer on Warhammer:
http://www.snotling.org/data/_uploaded/media/WFRP_Information_Booklet.pdf

>>44480630
>a campaign that takes place during the Time of the Three Emperors

Check this out - http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Age_of_Three_Emperors

Also, look at the Romance of Three Kingdoms for potential inspiration.

I'd enjoy seeing an Imperial Lu Bu kicking ass and taking names.

>>44493115
If take the offer, be sure to RP the fact that you have absolutely no choice afterwards. I imagine there's more than a few million people who have thought they could keep Chaos at arms length while reaping the benefits, but all throughout the fluff from the perspective of the tainted you see that once it gets in they realise it's a terrible mistake.

>>44494614
>>44493115

Oh - and be careful how the GM plays it.

If he only gives you a tiny snippet of power for a very small cost, it could be a sign he's trying to play a long game and get you addicted to power. Giving you a little bit to get used to the idea before making you want more.

>>44494722
Nonsense, I'm a Wizard, I'm far too clever to be tricked by Slaanesh.

>>44494929
Yeah, you'll do just fine.

>>44492510
And a butterfly doesn't look much like butter.

>>44486159

I've been toying with the idea of a cross-campaign Daemon antagonist. Something I can bring up in Only War, WFRP, DH - anything I can rationally insert him in, across multiple campaigns.

Could this work? How do I balance such a character without players getting annoyed at being unable to just kill/get rid of it permanently?

>>44489449

How do we get a decent Dracula/Alucard/Simon relationship into Warhammer?

>>44496445
What do you mean? We already have a vampiric aristocrat parallel to Tepes, and he's even called Vlad.

>>44486159
Humans mostly, a few Chaos cultist types.

One time I ran a Tilean campaign that died out due to various rl issues - involved a bunch of Remans travelling to Miragliano and running smack bang into the Skaven invasion, There was one massive battle where they sneaked around and shanked a Grey Seer in the arse before running off to warn Ebino

>This was before the End Times so the humans survived and would ultimately (several years) have led to the unification of Tilea by Remas thanks to the break of the status quo

>>44495763
Well, you can't kill a Daemon anyways, you can just banish it back to the Warp by sticking your sword in it's goolies. If the PCs can figure out how to get it out of the real world, it's probably not going to come back within their lifetime, so that counts as a win.

Bonus points if your Daemon uses the same scheme the PCs used to beat him in one campaign against the PCs of the next one. "A very clever trap, with the weighted buckets of oil and the self-lighting candles, if I do say so myself; I learned it from some pathetic mortals, and I've been dying to use it."

Can a chaos god like Tzeench speak in some way to the PCs?

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>>44500719
Directly, God to mortal, sitting down for a chat?

Personally, I'd say no, just because the Gods don't really do that as a rule, and getting a human mind anywhere close to a god should make your brains run out your nose. Nothing stopping you from having crazy dreams sent by a god as a communication (gain 1d10/2 Insanity Points) or a materialized daemon/prophet passing on a message they received. It's all pretty much the same effect.

Strangest non-cannon stuff you've done with this settings?
My friend once DMed a couple of sessions what was essentially assassin's creed in the Empire, using scraps of lore available on Araby and the such.

>>44500781
Thx

>>44500814
My buddy has revealed a plan for a one-shot where the party gets a very special job. Turns out that Sigmar, upon going West, had taken Ghal Maraz with him (the Emperor has a replica), and the warhammer had been left with an Ogre chief for helping Sigmar out of a sticky situation. Now, the descendant of that chief wants to press his claim and become the rightful Emperor. The party has to escort this Ogre to Altdorf, preventing his assassination or the theft of Ghal Maraz, and convince Franz to step down.

No idea if it will ever pan out, but I really hope it does.

>>44501054
I can see Sigmar giving away his hammer to seal an alliance, because that's how it came to him in the first place, but I can't believe he'd be stupid enough to do it without an audience of all his vassals to witness him saying these ogres are alright.

>>44500781
I think it's relatively common for the chosen champions of Chaos to hear their god's voice in their head. Receiving a god's mark does after all mean they've taken a personal interest in you and deliberately touched you with their power.

Of course I wouldn't attribute a singular will or voice to any entity as vast as one of the powers of Chaos, so there's no need to stay consistent with what one champion or another might be hearing from their shared patron.

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>>44501777
He didn't give me the details of why the hammer was given away (I doubt we're going to hear the completely true story anyways, only whatever the Ogre legend is), but I think that it was a personal thing. That chief did Siggy a solid, so Sigmar gave him the only thing of value he had left. He'd already forfeited the Empire to his Elector Counts, it's not like he could have made a real alliance anyways.

There's also the possibility that the 'gift' was pulled out of the stewpot where they were cooking the rest of old Sigmar

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>>44501834
I always interpreted that 'personal interest' in the abstract way. I don't think they can communicate with mortal species, or even understand our minds as such (as they are manifestations of singular emotions and ideals personified, not an entire multifaceted mind); they just like what they see so they put their stamp on it.

>>44501054
>>44501896
Did you know recovering the hammer of Sigmar was the climactic installment of the first big WFRP campaign? It's what turned Karl Franz from gutless inbred idiot into Champion of Man.

>>44502024
I knew about the Enemy Within but I haven't read it. Not sure if there's any connection; who has the hammer?

>>44501926
Archaon and Aenarion had conversations with the Chaos Gods. They can communicate just fine. Heck, there were mortals who actually visited the thrones of the Chaos Gods in the Realm of Chaos to have an audience with them.

Also they understand what makes mortals tick. They have an eternity to perfect craft of manipulating the human condition

>>44502111
>Also they understand what makes mortals tick. They have an eternity to perfect craft of manipulating the human condition

They understand what makes some mortals tick. But I don't know if, for instance, Khorne could really understand a placid pacifist, someone who literally has no urge to seek retribution when wronged. Someone without wrath is completely outside his bailiwick. He's great at manipulating feelings of rage and anger, but if someone doesn't have that lever he can't grab hold of them to manipulate. Between the Gods, they can find a way to everyone (even the people who reject Chaos, all praise Malal), but each god on their own is limited by their perspective.

>>44502024
What was it called?