Secrets of the Anvil

Extended rules for Runesmithing

A word on the aim and purpose of this work
The rules for crafting runic items are nicely covered in
Book of Grudges: a guide to Dwarfs & the Everlasting
Realm chapter six. What I intended to do here is to
translate to the WFRPG 3rd edition the runes
appearing in WFRPG 1st and 2nd editions, and those
of the three different Dwarf Army books editions of
WFB. Particularly, I covered the runes named in page
38 of the Book of Grudges, plus I added a few more
appearing in WFRPG 1sr edition.
I rather choose an approach where fidelity in
translation is favoured instead of playability. This
means that some runes, especially master runes, can be
very powerful and not suitable for player characters;
but indeed, I think that this is how it must be. It is
not because WFRPG is a low fantasy RPG that Ghal
Maraz, a runic hammer, does not exist. I think it is
the Game Masters job to bring balance to game (if
needed) through other mechanisms than just limiting
the power of runes, magic items, spells etc... If a
certain spell, rune or item is too powerful, I would
rather do not make it available for PCs, than nerf it
to suit PCs. That is of course, a matter of taste.

How the new rune card looks like

them must be inscribed on an object capable of

drawing some attention. Examples might be a crown,
a battle standard, a ceremonial staff...
Flavour Text: A brief description of the role of the
Set Icon. Each card is marked with a set icon to
quickly identify which product the card is from.
Rune Rank: This determines the rank of the rune.
Much like to the rank of action cards, this is a
limitation to the rank the player character needs to
have in order to be able to learn a particular rune.
Runes can be of rank 1 (R1), 2 (R2), 3 (R3), or
Master Runes (MR).
Effect

Runic Symbol

Title

Flavour text

Trait

Rank

The anatomy of the rune cards I created is very similar

to the official ones.
Title: The name of the rune.
Runic Symbol: The shape of the rune as it appears
on the runic item.
Effect: Details the special rules and effects of the
rune in play.
Trait: Either weapon, armour, talisman, or talisman
/protection rune in play. To account for the wearing
limitation of runes (see The Rule of Form In-Game in
pg. 39 of the Book of Grudges), talisman /protection
runes count as talismanic runes. Additionally,
talisman /protection runes, in order to be able to use

Master runes, can only be inscribed by a Master

Runesmith or a Runelord (see career card). While a
Master Runesmith can inscribe items with one master
rune or with up to three runes; only Runelords can
combine runes and a master runes in a single item,
although they still must restrict to the Rule of Three
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(see The Rule of Three In-Game in pg. 39 of the Book

of Grudges), and the rule of Jealous Runes (see Jealous
Runes in pg. 41 of the Book of Grudges).
Obtaining a Master Rune
The Book of Grudges already provides an idea of how
difficult and important on the life of the Runesmith is
to learn a Master Rune. I think is up to each GM to
decide the exact degree.
In the case of that a PC has access to a Master Rune,
he can learn it by using experience points. A master
rune costs, though, 2 talent advances instead of one. If
acquired as non-career advances, master runes cost 4
advances to learn.
Inscribing a Master Rune
The Book of Grudges already cover the rules on how
to inscribe an item with runes. The rules there
describe how to create runic magic items with one,
two or three runes.
A Master Runesmith can inscribe items with a single
Master Rune. Only to obtain the required materials
can be a challenge by itself, and each GM can do it as

relevant as for the party as he desires . If one prefers

simplicity, the guidelines appearing in the Book of
Grudges for the time and gold costs can be applied.
The materials to inscribe a single Master Rune, should
not cost less than 10g, while the time a runesmith
must spend in privacy to strike it should not be less
than a week of uninterrupted work.
Additionally, runesmiths are so jealous of their
knowledge of master runes that no runesmith will ever
inscribe a master rune in an item he has not created
himself.
A Runelord, the pinnacle of runecrafting, is the only
character capable of striking a combination of runes
and master runes in a single item. The process is
extremely challenging and although the runes are
known by the runesmith, the process is never sure.
Each time a runelord crafts a runic item with a
combination of runes and master rune he has to
expend 1 experience point do so. Additionally, the
master rune is always the first rune to be stroke into
the item. The second rune can be then a normal rune
which can be inscribed following the guidelines of the
Book of Grudges; the materials will cost 2g and the
amount of time needed for inscription will be 2 days.
A third rune can be inscribed, following the same
rules (10g and 3 days).

Gromril Armour
2nd

Following the idea of WFRPG

edition,
the Gromril armour is considered a runic
item with the rune of Stone and the rune of
Health. This also implies it is a superior
quality item.

The 3rd edition official runes

To avoid copyright problems I have not included the
cards of the official runes released with the
supplement Black Fire Pass. According to this set of
rules their ranks are as follow:
Weapon Runes
Rune of Cleaving: Rank 2
Rune of Fury: Rank 1
Rune of Might: Rank 2
Rune of Striking: Rank 1
Armour Runes
Rune of Stone: Rank 1
Rune of Iron: Rank 2
Rune of Fortitude: Rank 2
Rune of Shielding: Rank 2
Talisman Runes
Rune of Luck: Rank 1
Rune of Warding: Rank 1
Rune of Guarding: Rank 1
Rune of Courage: Rank 1
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Bane runes
There are two different types of runes of Bane, Minor
Bane and Lesser Bane. The runesmith must only learn
each rune once. Upon inscribing the rune into a
weapon, the runesmith must decide against which
group of creatures it will be effective e.g. monstrous,
demons, humanoids, beast...

an armour. Following the 2nd edition of the game, it is

advisable not to allow to increase the soak of a
character above 7 or 8 (taking into account the shield)
or his defence above 5 or 6 (included shield). If you
want to create epic items skip this rule, but make sure
you also use the High Lethality optional rule presented
in the Game Masters Toolkit.

Contrary, corresponding master runes, known as

Slaying runes, are so complex and different, that they
must be learned separately. A few examples have been
included (Dragon Slaying, Demon Slaying and
Banishment master runes).

The Master Runesmith and Runelord careers

I have designed these careers having in mind the
Dwarf Runesmiths of the first Dwarf Army book of
WFB. If they do not suit you, just change the primary
characteristic advancement scheme, read Intelligence
where it states Strength and Willpower where it states
Toughness.

Armour runes
Some armour runes boost the defence or the soak of

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New and Old Dwarf Careers

The Ironbreaker path
For the sake of game balance, I suggest the
Ironbreaker and the Ironbeard career abilities to be
swapped.
The Slayer path
Due to the lack of an elite career I introduced the
Daemon Slayer career for those lucky enough to
survive so long and able to slay a Dragon!. While the
career ability may look a bit bland or unsavoury, bear
in mind that having a further career in the slayer path
means also an increase benefit of the Troll Slayer and
Dragon Slayer career abilities.
The Dwarf Champion and the Longbeard
These are two similar but excluding careers. While
both represent the pinnacle of Dwarf warriors, the
Champion represents an elite fighter who stands by
his one, while the Longbeard is a leader of Dwarfs and
a Dwarf which strong bounds and respect for the
Ancestors.
The Dwarf Lord and the Dwarf Prince
These two careers have been introduced to give a bit
of continuity to the Thane career. Much in the same
line as the Elf careers with the noble trait I introduced
in The Book of the Asur. They give the opportunity to
expand the experience of playing the role of a Dwarf
Noble in the foreign lands of men.
Two give credit of the more warrior like Dwarf
culture, where nobles are typically also the best
warriors, Dwarf Lord and Prince career abilities are
those of the Human Noble Lord and Magistrate just
transferred to the combat environment. Note that for
parties and GMs running a campaign heavily combat
oriented, these abilities are very powerful. Just in the
same way as those of the Human (and elf) Noble Lord
and the Magistrate are very powerful career abilities in
a campaign where the stress sits in social interaction
and investigation rather than on combat.