(Webmaster Note: These were the rules Thecustodian shared with me when I first started playing Warhammer Quest online with Thecustodian as GM. I have only edited the format for this web page.)
These are my own personal rules, and the vast majority of games I am controlling will be administered along these principles. Because the economies of my games work differently than those of the original game, I would prefer that Warriors who are applying for one of my games have either never played before, or have only played Custodian Rules games. It makes it easier on them and on me, and on any future games or Warrior bands the Warrior might find him or herself in.
My rules basically conform to my own particular thoughts on roleplaying, Warhammer and games in general. They follow some, many or fewer of the following principles:
Gold should be rarer than experience
Magical Items are shockingly rare
Warriors should be more than just ‘the healer’ or ‘the tank’
Planning is vital to survival; good information is as crucial as good equipment.
Magic is a dangerous mistress…
Roleplaying should be the standard: good roleplaying should be rewarded, bad roleplaying should be punished.
There are no good guys or bad guys, only guys (and gals!)
Although I have called these rules, they are not especially binding. The most important, and the ones which are the most obviously different, are the ones relating to economy.
Economy
In line with the ‘fluff’ on things like Gold and Treasure, as well as what I considered to be drawbacks to the original rules (which were of course based on an earlier generation of the Warhammer World) I have altered the value of certain constants. Experience is widely used, and this will be the primary gain of Warriors from killing Monsters. In a combat, I make notes of all Monsters killed, and of who killed them. At the end of the combat, the total is divided between the active Warriors as Experience, each Warrior receiving an equal share. The rational for this is obvious and as old as the game itself: firstly that Experience rather than Gold makes a great deal more sense and secondly that rewarding the Warrior who finishes off a Monster, possibly rather than the one who whittles down the wounds, seems unfair and conducive to arguments. The Wizard has been a traditional offender of ‘stealing kills’.
At the end of the dungeon, the Warriors receive a bounty in Gold for their kills of 10% of the original worth of the Monsters. Theoretically it should be possible to increase this in certain circumstances, but the base reward is 10%, which is payable from the Imperial Treasury to the Warrior who actually made the kill. This might seem to be contradictory, but the Warriors themselves are in charge of what they do with the money and they are welcome to reallocate it accordingly. More likely, however, is that they pool the money raised from liberated treasures.
Because Magical Items are so avowedly rare in Warhammer, certainly not found once per event, and in keeping with the reduction in the availability of hard cash, I have taken to handing out Trade Goods routinely and reserving actual magical treasures important occasions. Trade Goods are items with no value other than their gold value, like the Lustrian Vase or Holy Symbol found in the add-on Treasure Packs. I have made a deck of Trade Goods, all of them with variable prices and most offering a different sale price based on the settlement they are sold in. These are mixed in with mundane or common treasures like healing items or weapons, and one awarded to the Warriors after every battle, sometimes more if the circumstances warrant it.
Treasures of a Magical Nature are available upon the defeat of specific enemies, or the clearing of a dungeon or completion of a mission. Objective Treasures are even rarer, and a dungeon is unlikely to have one at all. Objective Treasures will therefore be items of specific quests, and the Warriors are likely to come by them only through specific searches and researches.
As the Warriors have less of a ‘regular’ income, based on kills, the price of many items has been slashed. On the whole, General Store items are reduced to 10% of their original price. All other equipment is at 25%. Of course, there may be other modifiers to these prices depending on circumstances.
Economic Rules
A Monster is worth 10% of its Gold value in gold to the killer and 100% its Gold value in Experience to the Party
Trade Goods provide a frequent source of currency.
Non-Magical treasures are more usual than Magical Treasures, which are rare prizes
General Items are reduced to 10% of their price
Most other Items cost 25% of their price.
Monster Rules
I am a firm believer in using the Monster Tables and preserving the random element of the game, but designed Quests almost always require at least one or two custom-designed enemies. If necessary, these will be represented by another enemy ‘model’ with the true stats displayed elsewhere.
Some of the rules used in Warhammer Quest are flawed, or do not take full advantage of other game dynamics. In preparation for making alterations, I have altered some of the rules.
Fear, (and I include Terror and Greater Daemon Terror) has always confused me slightly, so the current rules I am going under are that Fear only affects your to hit roll if you are in hand to hand combat, not in ranged combat. Spells are affected in the same way, though I did toy with the idea of simply having a 1 in 6 chance of it failing rather than just hiking the price. Also, I hope eventually to make overcoming Fear an aspect of Willpower, not Battle Level, and as the first step to making the Fear test a Willpower test, I have made it so that you need to roll equal to or over the Fear factor, not just over it.
Because of the current menu system in Webquest, there are a large number of custom made Monsters on every table. Aside from the issues of balance and fluff, these Monsters often have advanced rules added to them. I don’t use any monsters apart from those I have designed myself, or those in the original game or those based directly on Warhammer models.
Fear has no effect on ranged combat
Fear tests are deemed to succeed if they are equal to or over the number given.
Expanded Monster Tables not used
Settlements
For me, settlements are an integral part of the Quest experience, and whether Warriors are going on to another quest with me, or are breaking up, I try to offer them the chance to access a Settlement. The rules on these, and on travelling, are used as a foundation, but not religiously so.
If you’re in a Settlement generally you will get to pick from a number of choices on where to go and what to do each day. I will roll any event dice, but you should do your level best to roll the necessary stock dice etc.
Luck
I think that Luck is not handled terribly well. Basically, if a Warrior uses Luck to affect a dice roll, it works in one of two ways.
If the dice is determining the quantity of something, such as wounds caused, gold found or guards alerted, the die or dice are rerolled. The Warrior can then choose the best set of results.
If the dice roll determines the success of the Warrior at something, like hitting a monster or leaping a gorge, the Luck point ensures automatic success to the highest level possible (essentially a natural roll of 6).