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Running a warhammer themed dnd adventure


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Just for a bit of disscussion:

im running a dnd campaign for 5e which is set in the mortal realms. The players aren’t from any factions but are just adventurers with the events happening around them acting as a backdrop for their story to take place

i was wondering of anything interesting we could do with such an interesting world the campaign is set in: e.g story ideas

monster Manual conversions 

magic items 

etc

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Sounds like a cool campaign idea.
Rumour has it that there is going to be a full Age of Sigmar Roleplaying game at some point in the coming months, along with a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I don't think they've announced when that is going to be though.

Some of my suggestions will be drawn from my experience with the previous Warhammer RPGs, These were set in the Old World, so may not be entirely applicable to AoS, however if you are focusing on typical adventuring folk, rather than massed armies or legendary heroes then they should be a good starting point. 
Converting D&D should be fairly straightforward, and 5e is probably the best recent version to use for such a campaign. I think that the main thing to consider is how much grimmer a warhammer setting is, compared to a typical forgotten realms style campaign (I'm not saying D&D settings can't be grim, Dark Sun easily gives 40k a run for its money, just that the default often isn't.)
I would draft some tables of critical injuries, so that your players get some sort of consequence whenever they are bloodied. This shouldn't be something that will prevent them from having fun. But should be characterful ideas, like a broken bone, or a wound that never fully heals. Maybe give a disadvantage until they rest up or use magical healing, and then a "flavour" type effect for a few days, or weeks thereafter. It should obviously depend on the severity of the injury, and should make them consider their options wisely before a fight. 
I'd also make some tables of random mutations. These are a staple of past WFRP editions, and are always amusing. They can be useful for when spellcasting goes wrong, or the players are exposed to the forces of Chaos.
Spellcasting is the big difference between the two settings. A wizard in warhammer typically has power which would make a D&D wizard weep. They can alter the tides of fate across an entire battlefield. However the RPGs have always made if clear that battle wizards of this sort are not typical representatives of their orders. Most wizards actually have a lower power level, which is more comparable to a mid level D&D caster. The main difference between the two settings however, is that when spells go wrong in Warhammer, they really go wrong. A miscast spell can horribly mutate the caster, or attract the attention of Tzeentch. I wouldn't recommend adding a casting check to D&D, as this will mess up the balance of the game somewhat. You could have consequences happen when a spell attack misses, or an opponent succeeds on a save, or when a critical is rolled in association with either of those rolls.
However, what I would do is leave things as they are, but allow players to make a check to cast additional spells, beyond their usual allocation. Doing so is risky, as each additional "stolen" spell has a higher chance of attracting the gaze of Tzeentch in all its mutation granting horror. That way your players will be weighing the costs and benefits of stealing another spell, and will have to decide when the situation calls for pushing their luck.
The other place in which you can potentially hack the spellcasting rules is the effect of the mortal realms themselves. Each realm is fundamentally tied to a different type of magical energy so this should have an effect on the abilities of spellcasters. Maybe have spells cast at a higher spell level when in their associated realm. So fire spells would be more powerful in Aqshay, Necromancy spells in Shyish, and Illusion Spells in Ulgu etc.
Maybe there is also less risk of suffering Tzeentch's curse when casting a spell associated with the realm as well.

As to story ideas and potential threats the possibilities are endless, the Mortal Realms are so vast that almost any story can happen somewhere in there. I would start by creating a free city to be a home base for the players, and a city of adventure where interesting things can happen to them. Warhammer community put out some great tables for rolling up random free cities a few months back, so those might be a good starting point.
I would consider what factions are at work within a city, and how they are likely to interact with the PCs. Ideally every choice which a player makes at character creation should put them into conflict or association with one or another faction. If they choose to play an Aelf then they have natural allies among their own kin, but might also be embroiled in a long running grudge with any dwarves in the area. If a character plays a rogue then they could have links to the thieves guild, but might have to keep their activities secret from the authorities of the free city.

Consider things which Warhammer armies can do easily (-ish), and how much harder they will be for a band of sell swords. Moving between realms is the obvious one that comes to mind. Every realm gate will be controlled by someone, or something. Even if a friendly faction is in control of it, they might not want a random bunch of adventurers going through. The PCs might have to pay a toll, or do some sort of task before they are able to transit the gate.
I would also not shy away from including Chaos in your games. Remember that the marauding armies of raging barbarians are not the only examples of their creed. They are at the end of their journey to corruption, whereas the PCs are most likely to encounter people near the beginning.

Pit fighters might secretly be a church to Khorne or Khaine, recruiting soldiers for their respective blood gods through increasingly dangerous fights. The friendly wizard that mentors the party's spellcasters might get more and more paranoid and insane as he digs deeper into Tzeentchian lore. He might start out a benevolent dumbledore like figure, but ultimately end up as a major villain of the campaign.
See how far you can lead the PCs down the path to Chaos before they realise what is going on, and that the things their erstwhile allies are asking of them are going too far. Let them decide whether the risks of associating with Chaos are worth taking for the greater good, or whether they are best turning on their associates, before they themselves are corrupted.

As to monster manual creatures, I think that the big ones are Skaven and Beastmen. I don't believe that 5e has a ratman race, but Wererats are probably the closest. Another option might be to reskin the kenku, who fit a lot of the skaven archetypes (apart from the Chaos stuff obviously). For beastmen; minotaurs are the obvious option, but remember you can use any stat block that you like the look of, and just change things around to turn a bugbear into a gor, or an oni into a tzaangor.
As far as daemons go, most of the Demon and Devil entries are a reasonable fit, but don't discount aberrations. Something like an intellect devourer or a grell might make an excellent Chaos Daemon, many of which have a somewhat lovecraftian aspect.
Half orcs probably shouldn't be a player option, since greenskins and humans don't really interbreed. However you could potentially replace them will full orcs or goblins, albeit only for a more destruction orientated party.
Story ideas:
Someone is working to undermine the free city in which the PCs make their home, but is it vampires, chaos or both?
The PCs are sent to recover something from an allies friend, but find his homestead trashed and he and his family slaughtered. They must then negotiate passage into Shyish and find the man in the realm of the dead in order to get the information they need...
Beastmen or greenskins are raiding the local area, and the PCs are sent out as scouts ahead of the local militia. However it turns out that the raids are fabricated, and a Chaos cult led by the local watch commander is behind the attacks. The commander is secretly committing sacrifices for a dark summoning, but due to his connections, stopping him will be easier said than done...

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I think you have lots of flexibility and could really fit whatever campaign ideas you have into the Warhammer setting.  The Firestorm supplement has lots of interesting tidbits about ancient civilizations in Aqshy.  The Shadows Over Hammerhall game is a great adventure and has lots of great information if you plan to adventure in Hammerhall or visit it, including a generic map of the city and specific places adventurers may want to visit.  Your adventurers could have many trips in, below, and out of the city.  The books City of Secrets and Spear of Shadows have lots of great information about Exelsis - City of Secrets and travelling around the Realms.  You could even use the old Eberron pulp noir feel to travel to get your adventurers through realm gates or on airships to destinations.  But you can have them out retrieving artifacts, hired to fight threats, agents of a city to deal with special concerns.....lots of options! 

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4 hours ago, buffs for the buff god said:

Those Are some great ideas thank you !

You're quite welcome. I'm almost tempted to run an Age of Sigmar game myself after writing that post, but will probably wait for the RPG, rather than using D&D. Not because there's anything wrong with using D&D for it mind, just because i've got enough games planned that there's no rush...

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Both the Warhammer Fantasy RPG license and AOS one were taken by Cubicle 7, who did an adaptation of 5e dnd for LOTR. I am holding out hope, as a fan of 5e, that they do a similar indepth reskin for us. Personally planning on introducing my group to the world by doing a short campaign as moonclan grots hunting an elusive squig.

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Given the size and complexity of the mortal realms, it's worth picking up the pdfs of tbe old 2e setting, Planescape. That helps give ideas on how to run adventures spanning wildly different locales without losing the same common thread

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On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 6:49 PM, Sharkbelly said:

One of the big challenges would be creating stats for the monsters that don't already have D&D versions. I've been thinking about what Tzeentch daemons would look like in D&D...

Yeah, I've run into that before too, as I've inserted the Alchemists of Dirz from the Confrontation miniature game into my D&D campaign.  I typically end up using stats from another equivalent monster and then just describing the effects differently and/or adding a unique trait.  For example, for a Tiger of Dirz encounter for a mid-level party, I used an adult green dragon template and tweaked it a little.

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