Mordheim Base Rules

Hi everyone!

So about a year ago, I was leading a Mordheim campaign, and realised just how difficult it was with all the separated rules across multiple publications and the amount of unclarified rules that were out there. Being a graphic designer, I thought I would have a go at fixing this. So here I am, a year later and after at least six months of reading, compiling, re-writing and checking, I've created a revised edition of the Mordheim Base Rules.

It is a compiled rulebook consisting of the main Mordheim rules with additions (and some subtractions) from other publications, with a complete graphical redesign (all using the already available Mordheim images). Lots of typos have been fixed!

This is and was always intended as a full rulebook for my gaming group (as we use heaps of the additional rules and a few house rules) which I've printed and passed onto them. However, it is also a great resource for anyone who wants all the most relevant rules (in my opinion) in one document!

Here's what it looked like after it was printed:


You can download the whole rulebook here

You can also download a version that you could hand to a printer to be properly printed and bound here

(Be aware, these files are around 28Mb each!)

Of course, as always, none of the content within the document belongs to me. Zero. Zip. Nada. It all belongs to the respective authors and owners, who were too many to name. If you were an author or owner of a particular section, and would like to have your name put in, please let me know! I'll add it in and re-upload any and all files.

Also, if you happen to be reading through it and find a mistake/typo/grammatical error or a rule that needs revising, please let me know! Keep in mind though that this is a custom version with rules that my group likes to use, and may contain rules that might seem OP, weak, or just damn crazy.

Enjoy!

Wow. That's a huge undertaking

Von Kurst wrote:

Wow.  That's a huge undertaking

Thanks Von Kurst, it did take quite a while. But it's the kind of thing I really like doing, bit of a perfectionist like that.

Kitsunae wrote:

It is a compiled rulebook consisting of the main Mordheim rules with additions (and some subtractions) from other publications, with a complete graphical redesign (all using the already available Mordheim images). Lots of typos have been fixed!

I like your idea, but you have mentioned, that you add and subtract some rules. What did you change? There are some Mordheim-Rulebooks out there with lots of houserules and you dont know that these include houserules. It makes it difficult for new players to find the original rule.

The german "Almanach" has every rule from the books and houserules, erratas and additional rules are marked as those with different colours.

Saranor wrote:

I like your idea, but you have mentioned, that you add and subtract some rules. What did you change?

That's actually a good point Saranor, probably something I should have put in the first post! I've kept it as true to the original as I can, with most changes made being the result of things we've noticed in games, like trends or predominant warband builds that are the result of rules only being strong in one way.

• Fighting with Two Weapons (page 21): I've added in a set of rules for any warrior that uses two weapons, resulting in a -1 to hit on both hands, representing the difficulty involved in managing two weapons. This can be negated by taking a new special rule 'Maniac Warrior' (page 126) or by taking 'paired' weapons (see Skaven weapons).
  
  
• Armour (page 17, 36 & 37): Shield values have been altered to have a basic +6 save and an additional +1 to the armour save in Hand to Hand combat if using a single handed weapon. Shields now cost 10gc across all warbands and in the market. Buckler's also have the +1 bonus to the armour save in close combat.
  
  (Note: The two changes above have been received very positively by my group, who felt that the best way to design a warband before was almost entirely including only two one-handed weapons. Now, it's a bit harder to run with two one-handed weapons, and shields are more valuable)
  
  
• Critical Hits (page 16): No longer 'optional' but now considered a compulsory part of the rules. No real changes here.
  
  
• Blackpowder Mishaps (page 35): Also no longer 'optional'. No further changes here.
  
  
• Escaping from Combat (page 23): No longer 'optional'. Proved very helpful in some scenarios.
  
  
• Items (page 28 - 44): Various items added from different publications. Intended more as a dictionary for items and related rules, campaigns should have a separate market availability list and related prices.
  
  
• Warbands (page 58 - 117): Included most official and unofficial warbands. Again, warbands should be included based upon suitability for a campaign at the GM's discretion.
  
  
• Skill Lists (page 126 - 128): New skills added, mostly from other campaign supplements. Adds more variety to what you can do with a character.
  
  
• Lesser Artefacts (page 150): Added a customised set of Lesser Artefacts. These are designed to be slightly easier for people to get their hands on over the Magical Artefacts, and can have multiple examples of each item in a single campaign, rather than just the one only of each of the Magical Artefacts. Again, this is at the GM's discretion for the campaign. We, as a group, quite liked having this though.
  
  
• General Market Price Chart (page 154, 155): Updated the market list to have all the items included from this rulebook. Some slight pricing changes here and there, but nothing major. Intended as a general list, really shouldn't be used as a whole unless in a campaign with rich and varied markets.
  
  
• Hired Swords (page 158 - 207): Heaps of new additions here. Mostly from the Miracle Workers and Swords of the Empire available at Liber Malefic and designed by Werekin (as far as I know!) with a few clarifications to the Blood Pacts section.
  
  
• Optional Rules section (page 210 - 236): Includes Terrain Rules, Fire Rules, Blazing Saddles, Mounts & Animals, Chaos on the Streets and Random Happenings. All additional rules we like using in our games. No real changes to this section.
  

I have probably missed something, but that is the general changes that I can remember. A few, but still keeping to the original rules as much as possible, in my opinion.

Can you include this list in the document (as an intro or appendix)? I like most of these changes, but everyone should know that there are differences to the original.

It sounds good and looks good. However, it would not be useful for my gaming group without the house rules being highlighted and easily identified. This is because we may have different house rules to your group. Perhaps you could highlight the house rules in a box or with a slightly different style text within the document.

I do like what you have done though. Very nice!

Saranor wrote:

Can you include this list in the document (as an intro or appendix)? I like most of these changes, but everyone should know that there are differences to the original.

Good idea, I'll look at adding that in really soon!

RationalLemming wrote:

It sounds good and looks good. However, it would not be useful for my gaming group without the house rules being highlighted and easily identified. This is because we may have different house rules to your group. Perhaps you could highlight the house rules in a box or with a slightly different style text within the document.

I'll make an ammended copy really soon, there aren't many 'house rules' as such in there, but I think I'll highlight them with a colour or perhaps in Italics. I'll find a way to make it stand out.

Great. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Fantastic work mate, this will be a huge timesaver when getting new folk up to speed.

Can I ask though; have you not had problems with blackpowder weapons? Most folk I've played with already considered everything except pistols/duelling pistols to be too expensive to bother with, giving them even more disadvantages over bows/crossbows would at first glance make that issue even more pronounced.

Phew! Finally back from holiday and back to work! I'll be making the changes to the book over the next week.

Yodhrin wrote:

Can I ask though; have you not had problems with blackpowder weapons? Most folk I've played with already considered everything except pistols/duelling pistols to be too expensive to bother with, giving them even more disadvantages over bows/crossbows would at first glance make that issue even more pronounced.

We've never had too much issue with blackpowder weapons being too explodey or troublesome, but most of our warbands tend to lean towards arrow based weaponry rather than blackpowder. Those that did want to purchase blackpowder weapons were offered a 20% discount, to offset the Blackpowder Misfire rules. Not sure how helpful that is, but I think the general feeling overall is that blackpowder is a bit risky for what it is.

Having faced a very strong Gunnery School of Nuln list on several occasions, I think blackpowder weapons need the misfires to balance how powerful they can be in the hands of a skilled hero.

davinewrath wrote:

Having faced a very strong Gunnery School of Nuln list on several occasions, I think blackpowder weapons need the misfires to balance how powerful they can be in the hands of a skilled hero.

Agreed. One of the biggest problems was how many blunderbusses people could get their hands on. In certain situations, they became quite devastating. We've never played without the misfires rules, as it helps balance things a little, but also makes the game just a bit more fun.

Pg. 127. Third sentence of Magical Aptitude. Should it say "keen" in stead of "keep"? Love this by the way; Thanks for making it!

The huge amount of extra rules was simultaneously what made and also killed Mordheim for me.

Just sent this bad boy to the printer. Many thanks Kitsune, it must have taken a tremendous amount of effort compiling all this and making it all look so full of mordheim flavour.

Phew! Just got back from my holiday, time to start fixing things! Working on the book now...

Slapdash wrote:

Pg. 127. Third sentence of Magical Aptitude. Should it say "keen" in stead of "keep"? Love this by the way; Thanks for making it!

Thanks Slapdash! I keep finding errors, even after the hours I poured over the book trying to find them! If anyone find errors of any kind, please report them, as I'll keep fixing things as I go.

feelingfine69 wrote:

The huge amount of extra rules was simultaneously what made and also killed Mordheim for me.

Just sent this bad boy to the printer. Many thanks Kitsune, it must have taken a tremendous amount of effort compiling all this and making it all look so full of mordheim flavour.

Yes, agreed. I like the variety that they can bring, but sometimes it's too much to keep up with. Not only that, depending on what warbands are present, it can very quickly make some warbands more powerful than others.

Awesome that you are getting it printed though! Glad it will be of use to you!

Hey, I thought this thread might be worth your attention if you haven't seen it yet. I don't know if the updated Miracle Workers rules match your project.

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t8634-miracle-workers-priest-heroes

Kitsunae,

Any chance you'd be willing to post the InDesign and graphic files somewhere (zipped up or not, I don't have a preference)?  I had started undertaking a very similar task, when I stumbled upon your version.  Thought maybe you'd be willing to help me out (it's a lot of work, three weeks in and I'm just finishing up the shooting section).    

I'd like to be able to add additional war bands in that you haven't included, add in rules we use, and also be able to remove some stuff as well that my players don't use.  Similar to you, I'd like to make our own version of the rules then be able to print out a copy for each player in the campaign.  

I also think it'd be cool to try and recruit more players, to be able to hand them a nice bound book full of everything they need to play with our group.

I know it's a big ask, building this stuff isn't easy.

What I can offer in return is a lot of proof reading and help in cleaning up things as I go through it page by page. I've already found a some things, for example on page 17 under shields - shields should only provide +1 to the armor save (it's only when you're using a hand weapon and a shield that you get +2 and that only applies to close combat). This matches with what you've listed on page 37 on shields.

The Mad Hatter wrote:

Kitsunae,

Any chance you'd be willing to post the InDesign and graphic files somewhere (zipped up or not, I don't have a preference)?  I had started undertaking a very similar task, when I stumbled upon your version.  Thought maybe you'd be willing to help me out (it's a lot of work, three weeks in and I'm just finishing up the shooting section).    

I'd like to be able to add additional war bands in that you haven't included, add in rules we use, and also be able to remove some stuff as well that my players don't use.  Similar to you, I'd like to make our own version of the rules then be able to print out a copy for each player in the campaign.  

I also think it'd be cool to try and recruit more players, to be able to hand them a nice bound book full of everything they need to play with our group.

I know it's a big ask, building this stuff isn't easy.  

What I can offer in return is a lot of proof reading and help in cleaning up things as I go through it page by page.  I've already found a some things, for example on page 17 under shields - shields should only provide +1 to the armor save (it's only when you're using a hand weapon and a shield that you get +2 and that only applies to close combat).  This matches with what you've listed on page 37 on shields.

 

Ha ha, I have to admit, that is a mighty cheeky request. As a designer, I can guarantee if you asked that in the industry, you'd get laughed out of whatever office/forum you were in. It's a great resource (in my opinion) and well worth having, so yes you can have it, and any proofing is very welcome. I'll sort files over the next few days, things are quite crazy at the moment, resulting in slow replies. If you do publish or release it to the world, it would be nice to at least credit the original layout work to me, though don't credit anything else, as it's not mine! Hopefully, it will serve you well!

Hey Kitsunae,

Yeah, I know it is definitely asking a lot. Given how much time it is going to save me, it was worth asking. It'll also be a big learning tool for me. I was able to learn a few things just by looking at your printable pdf, but not sure how to actually do the setup in InDesign. Having the files I'll be able to see exactly how you've done things (for example I'd seen color bars on documents before, but never have used them on anything I've made. A few web searches and I learned the how and why behind them, and why you put them on each page). I still don't know how I get InDesign setup to put them into my documents though.....

Unlike you, I'm not a professional graphic designer. I've learned a lot of InDesign through probably three/four hundred hours of working with it on nights and weekends and reading a lot of web articles/watching YouTube videos over the past couple of years. I use it exclusively for working on pet gaming projects like this, I'm far from good enough to be employable in the field.

Thanks again for being willing to share the raw documents, I'm super excited to be able to continue working on getting the rules setup for our next campaign. I'll leave the page with your name (and the mention of countless others) intact as is. I'll probably just change the versioning if it's OK with you so I can keep mine easily identifiable from the original work?

Let me know where you decide to stash the master file and graphics!

Nice Piece of Paper Kitsunae,

working for myself on a new Rulebook that contains all Releases (will be huge, around 400 pages. include all relevant rules like the publications from the TC, EiF, ...).
At the Moment, i translated around 110 pages (it will be in German).
The final book well be an Hardcover Thread stitching, just 5-7 Ex. for my local Gaming group.
Working for a printing company (project management), the conditions are fine ;-)

But anyway, really nice work from you!

Hey Kitsunae,

Wanted to check back in to see if you'd been able to sort out the files at all? I know you'd said you were busy, so if you haven't had time yet, that's cool. Just wanted to check back in with you.

The Mad Hatter wrote:

Hey Kitsunae,

Wanted to check back in  to see if you'd been able to sort out the files at all?  I know you'd said you were busy, so if you haven't had time yet, that's cool.  Just wanted to check back in with you.  

Hey, sorry things have been crazy! Boss was sick, and now on holiday, so basically been running the business for the past two weeks! Phew! Anyway, finally managed to package all the files required, I'll pm you the dropbox link.

WOW!!!

This is TRULY a work of art. Its super interesting to see how a professional graphic artist lays things out versus how I've been doing things. There's a ton of things I want to learn and research just looking at how you've setup the document. Content aside, it's super interesting for me to look at and appreciate the graphic design work in of itself. I feel like my working knowledge of InDesign will increase two or three times over the next few weeks, just being able to see the inner workings of this piece of art.

I know it was a big ask, and I really can't thank you enough. I feel like I've been given an immense gift from you, and I can't reiterate how much I appreciate the ability to learn from your hard work.

Kitsuane,

Had a question, and sent you a bunch of proof reading catches, check your PMs.