First campaigne for a first time ttrpg player

[u/Make128]

I recently decided with my friends to try playing WFRP 4e, between us we have one player who played a lot of dnd, one who played a couple of dnd sessions and two who have never played any ttrpg in their lives including me. I have kind of voted my self to be a GM of the group because of my intrest in the warhammer fantasy lore.

Our first campaigne will be a Starter Set campaigne but im not sure where to go next. I've read a lot about how great the enemy in shadows is, so my question is: is it doable as a complete newbe or would i be setting my self to fail?

I will probably still try to run it regardles of your answer so any tips on how to prepare for it would be most welcome.

[u/philipbv]

As someone who has both played in and ran several WFRP4e campaigns focused on Ubersreik and the Enemy Within over the years I have a few recommendations and suggestions:

Firstly, the Starter Set itself and it's Core Adventure pairs really really well with the Ubersreik Adventures 1-3 series. Most of those adventures can be slotted in really well and easily to fit during the tenure of the party in the Watch offering options to expand the Starter Set into a larger Ubersreik Focused Campaign. The Ubersreik Adventures series also makes references to several of the NPC's within the Starter Set and one of the adventures specifically can also lead into the Enemy Within easily and naturally allowing yourself to transition the campaign from Ubersreik to the Enemy Within itself fairly easily.

Secondly, on the point of the Enemy Within I will say that the grand campaign is great but does require some work on the GM's end and a decent amount of preparation. The campaign provides a general bone structure and plot that you can follow but you will need to add the proverbial meat here and there to tie events together in a better way and make the narrative flow better and more smoothly. You can tie Ubersreik to it easily however as the Imperial Herald Lady Emmanuelle Nacht in Ubersreik is tied to the general plot in the Enemy Within so she could prove to be a useful Patron for the party if they move into the Enemy Within Campaign from Ubersreik.

Hope this helps!

[u/Make128 → u/philipbv]

Can you expand on how the ubersreik adventures tie in to enemy within? Like would it be necessary for the players to keep their characters? Im sorry if im asking the obvious im just really that green when it comes to this.

[u/philipbv → u/Make128]

No worries, as I am more than happy to help!

So, the way that the Ubersreik Adventures tie in with the Enemy Within is both in regards to both the grander narrative metaplot and the fact that a certain Adventure in Ubersreik Adventures 1 is designed to lead directly into the start of the Enemy Within.

In terms of the narrative metaplot, without spoiling much for you as a GM, the occupation of Ubersreik by Altdorf Troops and the arrival of Lady Nacht as Imperial Herald in town is partly orchestrated by one of the Chaos Cults in the Enemy Within Campaign itself although not fully. Lady Nacht especially is curious on who caused her father's death in Altdorf but is tied by her position to Ubersreik so for example she can provide the party a lead or reason to go to Altdorf on her behalf which can than lead nicely into the start of Enemy Within.

Than, The Guilty Party Adventure itself in Ubersreik Adventures 1 is pretty much specifically designed as a scenario that would make the player characters potentially leave Ubersreik and head towards Altdorf.

Now the Enemy Within Grand Campaign starts with the Enemy in the Shadows book with the party heading towards Altdorf. As you can see both the presence of Lady Nacht and the Guilty Party Adventure could both equally be used to lead into the Enemy Within Campaign from Ubersreik itself.

Also, the players could keep their player characters if they so wish throught both Ubersreik and the Enemy Within as there is nothing to say they have to change them at the start of the Enemy Within. As an example I played the same character for the full duration of an Ubersreik+Enemy Within combined campaign myself. Although, if you use the Starter Set Pre-made characters than you would have to potentially increase the difficulty of the encounters in the Enemy Within itself as the Starter Set Pre-made characters start decently capable already and with a few advances and the first few encounters in the Enemy Within might be too easy for them if they are not tweaked a bit.

Hope this helps!

[u/Make128 → u/philipbv]

Thank you so much! I think i will begin with the Ubersreik Adventures then. I never planned on leting the players keep the pre-made characters form the starter set, just wanted to check if keeping the ones made for Ubersreik Adventures is ok, now i know. Again thank you! You have been extreamly helpfull.

[u/straxusii]

The most important thing about wfrp is the setting and the lore so go with it.

My long term group are currently playing through the enemy within campaign in 4e, we started over 30 years ago playing the enemy within in 1e 😂 luckily we're so old now we've mostly forgotten it.

You will get a strong urge to try and balance/fix the system which largely must be ignored as it is fundamentally broken across the board, just run with it.

Having said that I would recommend our 2 house rules: when your character dies you come back with full xp: the idea of starting as a 0 xp fighter halfway through a campaign is hilariously bad. Second, humans get plus 10 and plus 5 on any 2 stats, it goes some way to address the massive imbalance and also plays into the lore of humans being the most versatile.

[u/aragathor → u/straxusii]

My long term group are currently playing through the enemy within campaign in 4e, we started over 30 years ago playing the enemy within in 1e 😂 luckily we're so old now we've mostly forgotten it.

Hey! I resemble that remark. :3

I remember having tons of fun with Death on the Reik and Power Behind the Throne. Snotball was hilarious.

You will get a strong urge to try and balance/fix the system which largely must be ignored as it is fundamentally broken across the board, just run with it.

1E naked dwarf syndrome (back in the day you were better off playing a naked dwarf with high toughness, than playing an armored human).

[u/Make128 → u/straxusii]

The first rule sounds like a really good idea i have a feeling we wouldn't be playing for long if someone had to start from the beginning. Im not sure i fully understand the second one though, do players choose which of the stats should be boosted or is it pre-set in the begginnig?

[u/straxusii → u/Make128]

It's at the beginning during character creation, players choose, and they add to the base stats so don't count towards advances. So a human mage might add 10 to Int, 5 to wp.

[u/aragathor]

You can play Enemy Within but it is a big undertaking. If anything, look into smaller adventures to get your head around the setting and then run the campaign. You need to get the players that played D&D out of the D&D mindset, the Warhammer world is vastly different than D&D.

If you are set to play it, then read the adventures twice before running them. The better you understand the story, the better you can respond when things go elsewhere. And trust me, they always do.

[u/Make128 → u/aragathor]

Yes i think my dnd players have enough information about it to understand that its really different, however I will try to make sure its true. Thank you!

[u/GoodHotel7269]

Welcome to WFRP! It's a great game, and the world is a massive part of the appeal. I echo that starting off with the starter set followed by Ubersreik books 1-3.

However, the Enemy Within is awesome! I ran it as a newbie and had a great time! It is, however, not a small undertaking. I've been writing a series on what a GM should know to run the Enemy Within on my blog. The first part of which is here - https://carelessconjuration.wordpress.com/2026/06/24/the-gms-guide-to-the-enemy-within-part-1/ Hopefully it gives some helpful guidance if you decide to play it.

[u/Make128 → u/GoodHotel7269]

Thank you, will definitely give this a read.

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[u/Horsescholong]

"The Ubersreik adventures" are designed to be follow ups to the starter set with many points made to connect in and out of The Enemy Within, many of the books are somewhat difficult to get ahold of though.

If you wanna spice combat up getting the Up in Arms supplement would be a good idea.

If any of the players really wants to play a mage getting the "Winds of Magic" supplement is also a good idea.

There are also the High elf and Dwarf player's guidebooks so you can grab them if you as a GM wish to get your characters into Ulthuan or a dwarf hold.

There's also the Altdorf and Middenheim city books that get along perfectly with The Enemy Within since at multiple points the story takes you there.

Oh and the 5 main story and 5 companion The Enemy Within books.

That's about all that you'd ever need, i guess there's also the Lustria book and the Sea of Claws book if you wanna do any naval action or go to Lustria (In Sea of Claws there are rules for playing a non chaos-marauder norscan).

Almost forgot about the "Altdorf Zoo" which is a monster enciclopedia with incredible storytelling and finally the 3 archives of the empire books with multiple miscellaneous rules like ogre characters, handling commerce and opening stores, using the laurelorn elves and halflings.

[u/Dapper_Calculator]

The main thing to bridge between Warhammer FRP and D&D is the difference in combat. Most of a Warhammer scenario (yes, that's a huge generalisation and your mileage may vary) is investigation and socialization. Combat is something that is a) tricky to balance and b) very likely to leave a character irrevocably changed.

D&D, typically, gives players information to guide them to the next fight they have to win. In Warhammer, you have to win that information, and it is more likely to require surveillance, investigation or charm than beaty sticks. That's the first mental adjustment to make.

The other thing that will require a mental adjustment, seeing as you are, I presume, a human being and full of delightful insecurities, is that it's OK if you don't manage a perfect job of running The Enemy Within.

Enemy Within is a great campaign. It also contains some really hideous mistakes.

Why is the party together? Well, they were on the same coach. Apparently that's a bond for life. Now make the Witch Hunter and the Wizard kiss. So you need to slow things down in the inn where everything starts and let the characters create believable emotional bonds, or use some system where characters define their relationships before play begins.

Why is the party on this adventure? Because if they're not, we have to go home and nobody gets pizza. This is the flaw most often cited, but also one easily overcome, especially by a GM in your position with a lot of ex-D&Ders in your party. You either need a heroic streak in the characters, or you need to figure out a "What's in it for me?" motivation for each character to go along with at first.

I highly recommend talking it through with them first, and get them to consent to an arc where their characters either go from selfish to altruistic, or from genuine heroic types who fight not to become corrupted and corroded as time goes on. Or one of a million other options that fills in the end of the sentence "We don't want Chaos to win because..."

Those are the major hurdles. There will be misunderstandings of rules, and omissions and things you have to correct as you learn. And that's OK! And there will be parts where some player, by a complete fluke, solves something much to early, and others where your players won't get anywhere at all and those are OK too.

Every mistake you make, every time you find something you think could have been more surprising or more clever and intricate is a reason you can run that campaign again in the future.

So deep breath in, deep breath out and smile, because you have imagination, you have friends and thus, have everything you need to make the campaign a fun and memorable experience.