Today I introduce a character created using Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1986 edition) for my own solo experiments.
British solo - all solo | aff-2e | english eerie | dragon warriors | warlock | troika | dungeoneer | wfrp-1e
Rolling solo with wfrp 1e - intro | partway | finish
Rolling Solo British Style
I've been playing and learning alot about solo games in the last 18 months, from my own initial experiments when knowing nothing to lots of podcast listening and more recently playing with Savage Worlds, Warlock! and my own homebrew game.
And now it's time to play lots of solo games using British rpgs old and new. Partly because I'm switching to System Neutral for writing gens and tools, and partly because I'm exploring British RPGs and resources for my own game writing and interest.
So I'm starting a solo game with the most important British RPG... Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition.
The Glorious Mess of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition
The 366 pages of my edition of WFRP (pronounced 'wuf-rup') contains character generation, 100 + basic, advanced and magical careers, GM advice, combat, a clunky magic system, religion and the gods, a full bestiary, a world guide and a solid starting adventure.
Its starts with one of the most distinctive RPG covers, has a real sense of the world and atmosphere and is a complete RPG (rules, gm guide, monsters, adventure, world) in one rpg.
On the rules side it was always an inspiring mix. The careers system is excellent and providing a context for adventurers to immerse in the world. The careers are evocative but also a varies alot in starting skills from one for the Roadwarden to 10 (+5 more possibles) for the Outlaw. Or the social powerhouse of the Noble.
The skills are more like talents, some being attribute bonuses, others with bonuses on checks and others unique abilities. The magic system is tacked over from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle system and it shows in the spells, with few being particularly useful, although the Elementalist, Illusionist, Necromancer and Demonologist are flavourful.
The rules are varied, with subsystems for many things and lots of supporting tables. For solo this means there are lots of rules to retain or lookup on the fly. On the plus side there's lots to work with in one book.
Introducing Trasci of Altdorf. Human Footpad
I rolled up the stats for my character randomising race (1d10 1-5 Human, 6-7 Dwarf, 8 Elf, 9-10 Halfling). Then went through the process without rerolls.
(Stats are Move, Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Wounds, Initiative, Attacks, Dexterity, Leadership, Intelligence, Cool, Willpower and Fellowship).
Trasci of Altdorf, Human Footpad (Rogue), Fate 3, 6'0", 34 yr-old
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Dex | Ld | Int | Cl | WP | Fel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 35 | 30 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 41* | 1 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 37 | 27 | 26 |
| +10 | +10 | +1(i) | +2 | +10 | |||||||||
| 5 |
Skills - Acute Hearing (r), Ambidextrous (r), Bribery (r), Dance (r), Lightning Reflexes* (r), Ride (r), Silent Move Rural, Silent Move Urban, Speak Language (Old Worlder), Strike to Stun
Gear - sturdy worn clothes, sling bag, boots, knife, bow and ammo, club, hood, leather jack, shield, 11 gold crowns.
Introduction. Trasci grew up an urchin on the streets of Altdorf and has had many jobs, from dancer to lookout to courier, bar tough and cutthroat. He's of Tilean ancestry and has now made his way to Nuln to make a new life as an adventurer...
He's got a limp from his past and now he's now seeking to prove himself and relieve his boredom.
Gen Notes for Trasci
Trasci got lucky on random starting skills ('r' in the skills list) with the max of 6 for a human (4 on d4, +2 for age). As it was solo I let him reroll duplicate skill of Silent Move Urban which he got from Footpad (to get Bribery). He didn't qualify fo the Acadamic group of careers due to Willpower. Stats are solid with great strength and weapon skill, but poor Willpower and Fellowship. I went with the move of 3 being from a limp after a tangle with something from his past (something to find out)
WFRP 1E has very little in the way of character personality or motivations so I grabbed a couple from the 4th ed gen WFRP Character Motivation and went with 'Prove Self' and 'Relieve Boredom' which fit with the idea of many different jobs and ways of making a living in the past. Now going to turn a new leaf and maybe go back to Altdorf as a 'person of significance'.
For the name I randomised one from the credits and came up with 'Tracy' (which can also be a male name in UK, one of my first bosses had the name). Looking for something more germanic there is an Italian variant of Trasci, which is appropriate for a Rogue in the Empire!
Starting Out
I'm going to use the Oldenhaller Contract from the WFRP 1E book as the setting, but where it goes I don't know. I very much doubt Trasci will be hunting down a cult on his own but I'll let the dice decide.
It's more about having Nuln as a backdrop and somewhere to start (I think the first encounter is with fellow Footpads!).
I don't plan on doing a session on session account. I'll probably do a midpoint summary and wrap up depending on how it goes!
Finishing Up
A promising start for using one of my first RPGs. WFRP was one of my main RPGs after first encountering Fighting Fantasy, Dungeoneer and Dragon Warriors (and well before D&D) and Advanced Heroquest.
If you liked these join the Rand Roll Discord or find other Solo Articles. For tools and tables there are Generators at Chaos Gen, a monthly random tools Newsletter and an instagram of Random Tables.
