"Has anybody here ever played WFRP before? No? How about Ravenloft, ever played in a Ravenloft game? Hmmm... you could probably run a cool Ravenloft game with this. Anybody wanna roll up characters?"
Once I realized what I'd gotten myself into, I hit Google and looked around to see if anybody had experience with this idea. As far as I can tell, the idea of Ravenhammer isn't new, but there's no evidence that anybody's done it before, and not much discussion about how well it works.
Which brings us to the present day, and this thread. As the campaign goes, I'll note any mechanical issues (good or bad) that come up here. Consider this a tech-support document of sorts.
Going into this, I have no experience running WFRP. Based on the book, though, WFRP feels dumbed down in all the right ways:
- Combat and magic are simplified so much it's a thing of beauty. Guns aren't game-breaking, and wizards don't rule the world.
- "Build" is basically nonexistent. Chargen automatically gives you the skills you need to be able to not die. (This also means that there isn't any "I'm going to suck until I level up at the end of this arc" thinking.)
- PCs aren't heroes. They're explicitly NPCs with Fate Points, no different from anybody else. (One of the players, for the first time ever, got an entire stat line of good-side-of-average rolls, and now has to find the voice of a character who can't be defined around a glaring strength or weakness.)
- PCs are part of the world. We're going into greater detail than I think we've ever done with character development. Stuff like "What was your relationship with your other siblings like?" and "What stands out in your memories about Darkon ca. 750-780?" We aren't wandering martial artists or adult feral children or runaways from an abusive home like we've always been. The PCs have homes, and career plans, and extended families of their own, and stuff like that.
There's also no good curse mechanic, so I'm going to have to figure one out that uses WFRP-style mechanics rather than ripping off d20.
That's pretty much it for now; I'll post when I figure out curse mechanics, or have some actual play experience under my belt.