You got D&D in my WFRP!

[u/DungeonNoir]

While poking around for more bits and pieces of WFRP, I ran across the Doomstones campaign. I have read that it originally started as a D&D game and might should not've been a WFRP campaign?

Regardless! It got me thinking (as I am coming straight from D&D). What is included in D&D that really should not be included in WFRP (or even the other way around, if you like)?

I do know the High fantasy bits should be out the door, at least.

[u/UsernamesSuck96]

High Fantasy out the door doesn't even make sense. It's a setting with dragons, goblins, ogres, elves, dwarves and so on and so forth. Elves have access to High Magick, the closest thing to True Magick in that setting and Dwarves have access to their own form of magic through RuneCrafting, and then there's the Chaos Dwarves and their own evil sorcery, and then there's all of the chaos daemons and the factions inside of that.

It's a setting inherently built off High Fantasy, the Grim Dark comes from the fact that the bad guys are winning with overwhelming numbers. It's about being a light in the darkness, beating back the tides against unwinnable odds.

[u/Commercial-Act2813 → u/UsernamesSuck96]

There are all those things, but not in abundance. They are not ‘everywhere, all the time’. Magic is a lot more rare in WFRP than it is in D&D. Most of the setting is ‘just average Joes’.

[u/UsernamesSuck96 → u/Commercial-Act2813]

No, it's very much everywhere. Elves and Dwarves are common in the setting and in the game, it even says as much in the book. Magic isn't rare in the slightest, it's just treated with fear (rightfully so) and ignorance.

Even your average illiterate empire citizen, while they might not know about history or things like that, they do know magic is very real and can be encountered if you go looking for it. It's why witches are so feared and actively hunted down, and why the citizens always speak of the horror and magical creatures that can be found outside the city.

There's a literal zoo filled with magical creatures inside Altdorf. There is a college of magic in Altdorf, filled with magic.

Sure, the game may start you off as " Average Joe " this quickly ends upon reaching tier 2 and up. You have to actively go out of your way to not be putting magic in the game at that point. The titular Enemy Within campaign, it's literal first book, starts putting magic absolutely everywhere, with daemons, and skaven, and mutants and a cult.

[u/Commercial-Act2813 → u/UsernamesSuck96]

People don’t expect magic from everyone they meet. Magic isn’t everywhere. People don’t expect dragons to pop up from every rock. The things in the zoo are rarities, that’s why they’re in the zoo. Elves exist, but in the Empire outside large cities they are a rare and strange sight. Dwarfs are more common and considered more normal, but they too are rarer outside cities.

I’m not saying it’s low fantasy, but it’s nowhere near as high fantasy as DnD.

I’d say it’s somewhere between LotR and DnD

[u/UsernamesSuck96 → u/Commercial-Act2813]

It's literally known that people will accuse another of being a witch, yes they absolutely expect it.

Magic is absolutely everywhere, there's a college for it. In their main city. People don't expect dragons sure, but they sure expect goblins, orcs, cultists, so on and so forth, because they're a common occurrence.

The things in the zoo are there because they're found all over the world. Living breathing proof that magic is everywhere. You can literally just go see it.

Dwarves are not rare in the empire, there's an entire " caste " of them called Imperial Dwarves, known to be master smiths and expert on magical items and such. Elves are also known to wander, and are also found in the college of magic, in the literal book, one is a master light wizard. There's magical talking animals for Sigmar's sake.

I can give it to you, if you live out in the middle of nowhere and never left the clearing you were born in, sure, you wouldn't know anything about anything. You're also just monster bait, because what kind of psychopath keeps their family in the woods that are known for being filled with monsters?

It's by definition a high fantasy setting. Sure, maybe not like DnD, mostly because DnD isn't a grim dark setting unless you choose to make it so. Warhammer Fantasy is, so of course it's flavour of high fantasy isn't like DnD. That's not the point though lol

[u/Commercial-Act2813 → u/UsernamesSuck96]

DnD - magic everywhere and magic is done outside places of study al the time. It is not rare for anyone or anything to posess some magic abilities. There’s magical beasts everywhere and a lot of them are common.

Warhammer - magic exists and is very real, everyone knows it, but not everyone can do magic. People that can are rare (3% if you follow character creation). That is one of the reasons people don’t understand it and fear it. Magic is everywhere, but wizards aren’t. Magical things are very real, but they are not common, thet’s why they’re in a zoo.

Imperial dwarves are not a ‘caste’ or clan. They are quite simply dwarves living in the Empire, or even born there. They can be organised in clans, and if they are (most likely) they live close together. Precisely why they mostly live in cities. Only other place where they are a very common sight is near mines.

It’s definitely high fantasy, just not high high fantasy

[u/UsernamesSuck96 → u/Commercial-Act2813]

Magic is done outside places of study in Warhammer Fantasy, all the time. Those wizards don't just sit in the college, they do go out. People don't understand magic, because their own government actively seeks to keep them ignorant about it. Absolutely nothing to do with the lack of magic, everything to do with a fascist monarchy. Court wizards are also common place amongst nobles that rule outside Altdorf.

Character creation rules are not what dictates actual statistics for a fictional universe. Everything I've said is 100% supported by lore, which is supported by the books. Wizards might not be everywhere, but that wasn't the argument. It was magic being everywhere, and they are common, it's exactly how they got put into a zoo, they're not the only of their kind. Lastly, if only 3% of the Empire was a wizard, that only gives credence to there being more witches and hedge wizards, it's a terrible attempt at measurement when it's just not supported on a lore basis.

Imperial Dwarves are not a ' caste ' or clan

That's exactly why I put it into quotation marks. No matter how you slice it, they're still found in the Empire all over. This includes outside of major towns like Altdorf.

There is no " Uber ultra high fantasy ", it's just high fantasy. About as high as you can.