When WFRP 2e came out, naturally there was some interest in converting characters back into WFRP 1e, both PCs and NPCs, into appropriate 2e forms. But I don't think there has ever been much on how to convert the other way - now that both editions are very old, then playing either is a conscious retro choice, and each edition has its separate version and appeal, not so different from OD&D and BECMI D&D and AD&D 1st edition.
The skill system interacts with a lot of the changes that were made from 1e to 2e. Apart from a general cleaning up, 2e differentiated between Skills and Talents formally; in practice, the main things were that skills were core, and were stackable bonuses to attributes; talents were non-stackable further bonuses to attributes and tests. Talents were also used as part of the new Magic system, to bound what each character could learn and cast.
In experimenting with converting 2e characters back into 1e, one is left with a few decisions to make. Most things are straightforward, so I will concentrate on areas where this might not be the case.
Skills
Academic Knowledge is a skill which is divided up into lots of independent sub-skills, which groups somewhat similar 1e skills together. For example, 1e History and Theology become Academic Knowledge (History) and Academic Knowledge (Theology) respectively. Of the examples, only Academic Knowledge (Arts), Academic Knowledge (Magic), Academic Knowledge (Philosophy) and Academic Knowledge (Strategy/Tactics) don't have a straightforward fit. I think that Academic Knowledge (Arts) can best be covered simply by the Art skill, but testing against Intelligence, and modified by History and Theology as appropriate. Academic Knowledge (Philosophy) can be thought of as simply a combination of History and Theology (and perhaps Chemistry, depending upon your game world). There is no very obvious fit for Academic Knowledge (Strategy/Tactics), so one could insert a new skill here. The 2e careers which have it are:
Admiral
Cadet
Captain
Crusader
Faceless
Grail Knight
Grandmaster
Horse Archer
Knight
Knight of the Blazing Sun
Knight of the Inner Circle
Knight of the Raven
Knight of the Realm
Knight of the Verdant Field
Knight Panther
Noble Lord
Outlaw Chief
Questing Knight
Sea Captain
Sergeant
Wall Warden
Warrior Priest
Winged Lancer
I see a mostly common thread through this, although I am a bit unsure about including Horse Archer in there. I haven't converted a lot of these into 1e terms, but I think that the following are the closest fits:
Free Lance, Mercenary Captain, Outlaw Chief, Sea Captain, Templar. A new skill could easily be added into these careers. Alternatively, one could say that Battle Tongue is actually the qualifying skill - a bit of a stretch, but plausible. It then makes Strategy/Tactics a much wider skill - all battle combatants are likely to have it. Adding the new skill (or just ignoring it) are probably the more conservative options here.
Academic Knowledge (Magic) is a bit more of a puzzle, and also a setting challenge: do we want non-magical characters to be able to fundamentally 'know' about Magic? There is a bit of me, which thinks no, and this is one of the things which gives clerics their social and political power, as the 'establishment' magic users, even though their magic works on slightly different principles. It makes the 'truth/power-seeking' element of becoming a Magic-user more pronounced. If not, I suggest using 'Magical Sense' as a proxy. Now, the skill description says that it is unique for magic-using characters. However, it is also a skill available to the Scholar career. So what we might say is that acquiring 'Magical Sense' makes any character somewhat 'magic-using/magic aware' and knowledgeable of the background lore of Magic in the world.
Command isn't an issue. Just use advances to Leadership instead.
Common Knowledge is a great skill and I wish it had been in 1e, as a way of incorporating different types of Lore skill. On the other hand, you can almost infer Common Knowledge skills by a mixture of background and career choices.
Gossip is actually a really useful skill in 2e and it is a pity that it wasn't in 1e. I think there are two options here - incorporate the skill, or ignore it entirely. Gossip is quite common as a skill but if you can be bothered, I think it is probably worth it.
Intimidate is also a great skill, because it allows a mechanism for 'social interaction' by mean characters, without a high Fellowship or Leadership rating. Even more than gossip, I would suggest including it; at least include it as a test which is based on Strength or something, even if you don't include it as a skill.
Navigation is an interesting one. In 1e, 'Orientation' was a very powerful skill, which basically meant auto-Navigation. In 2e, 'Orientation' is a talent which is basically an additional bonus to 'Navigation'. I think the simplest solution is replacing all instances of Navigation or Orientation in 2e with Orientation, in the 1e sense. Otherwise, you will need to include Navigation as a new skill; not too hard, but there are a lot of careers which have Navigation as a skill, or at least an option. Or, one potential variation, would be to make 'Orientation' the land-based skill, and 'Navigation' the sea-based skill. I think a lot will depend on how much you want to make navigating a meaningful part of your game.
Outdoor survival is a great skill. On the other hand, in 1e terms, one could make it a property of the 'Ranger' class (plus Explorer, plus Scout) rather than a skill per se.
Perception and Search are conceptually quite similar, explicitly overlapping in certain areas. They work as a bonus to Intelligence in 2e, whereas in 1e this kind of thing would be based on Initiative. I think 2e is entirely superior in this respect. I am quite inclined to include these in a 1e adaptation as a single 'Perception' skill.
Performer is similar to Academic Knowledge, as it is a bucket of separate sub skills rather than one single skill. Performer is for all the individual entertainer skills, and they all map onto an existing 1e skill.
Sleight of Hand is Palm Object renamed.
Trade works in the same way as Academic Knowledge and Performer. Many of the trade skills map quite straightforwardly onto 1e equivalents, but by no means at all. However, the Artisan career in 1e gives us some clues as to how we might approach this conversion, but with the minimum of new skills:
Armourer: Metallurgy, Smithing
Bowyer: Bowyer (I don't see a way round of having this as a separate and new skill - unless Carpentry plus Specialist Weapon (Longbow, Repeating Crossbow, Crossbow Pistol, Sling)
Calligrapher: Art
Cooper: Carpentry
Embalmer: Embalming (likewise, I don't think there is an alternative)
Farmer: Animal Care, Haggle, plus either Agriculture as a separate skill, or have it represented by Herb Lore, if necessary limiting it to agriculture, or even specific types of agriculture.
Goldsmith: Art, Metallurgy
Gunsmith: Chemistry, Metallurgy, Smithing, Specialist Weapon (Bomb, Incendiaries, Artillery, Firearms)
Herbalist: Heal Wounds, Herb Lore
Merchant: Evaluate, Haggle
Miller: Miller (I think this has to be a new skill if you want to include it, unless you think of it as an unskilled task).
Prospector: Metallurgy
Shoemaker: Tailor (I think this is best expressed as a special class of Tailor)
Tanner: Chemistry
Weaponsmith: Metallurgy, Smithing, Specialist Weapon ( Polearm, Double-handed weapons, Flail weapons, Fencing sword, Parrying weapons, Lance)
Hopefully the logic of these kind of choices is fairly cleary, trying to cover the space with a combination of skills.
Talents
Most talents work well, can be straightforwardly imported into 1e. In 2e, the 'standard' is for a talent to give a conditional +10 bonus in a couple of situations, or a +5 bonus to an attribute - this makes sense in 2e, when in 2e, advances are in increments of +5, but in 1e they are in increments of +10. When importing to 1e, I have gone for +10 for everything: clearly that makes some talents just better than others (e.g. Warrior Born is just better than 'Grudge-Born Fury', but I find I don't have too many problems with this - it just postpones slightly the point where characters need to choose between wider performance or narrower specialization. Note that I haven't bothered writing down talents when they are just versions of a 1e skill (like 'Lightning Reactions' or 'Excellent Vision').
Aethryic Attunement: +10 to Channelling (i.e. spell casting) and Magical Sense
Alley Cat: +10 to Concealment - Urban and Silent Move - Urban
Armoured Casting: Ignore Restrictions on Armoured Spellcasting
Coolheaded: +10 to starting Cool
Dealmaker: +10 to Evaluate and Haggle
Dwarfcraft: +10 on tests related to brewing beer, cutting gems, making guns, mining and all smithing
Fast Hands: +20 to WS when casting Touch spells (i.e. for Spellcasters trying to touch their targets)
Fearless: Immune to Fear, reduce Fear to Terror
Grudge-born Fury: +10WS against Goblinoids (or potentially other targets, depending on background. I actually dislike this, I would prefer it to be +1 melee damage)
Hardy: +1 starting wounds
Keen Senses: +20 to all Perception tests
Lightning Parry: forego an attack for an extra parry; don't think this works in 1e due to minor differences in the combat system, but we could either make it a free extra parry (powerful) or allow a character another go if a first parry has failed (but using an Attack to do it).
Master Gunner: Reduce firearms reloading time by half an action
Master Orator: Multiply the effect of Public Speaking by 100 times the number of people.
Menacing: +10 to Initimidationa and Torture tests
Mighty Missile: +1 damage to Magic Missile attacks
Mighty Shot: +1 damage to Missile attacks
Quick Draw: instantly draw a single weapon
Rapid reload: reduce missile weapon loading time by half an action. can stack with master gunner
Resistance to Chaos: +10 to WP to resist Magic and other Chaos effects, immune to mutation, cannot be a magic-uer
Resistance to Disease: +10 to T to resist Disease (renamed for 1e Immunity to Disease)
Resistance to Poison: +10 to T to resist Poison (renamed for 1e Immunity to Poison)
Rover: +10 to Concealment - Rural and Silent Move - Rural
Savvy: +10 to Intelligence
Schemer: +10 on tests involving intrigue, or resisting it
Seasoned Traveller: +10 to common knowledge and speak language tests
Sharpshooter: +20 to aimed shots
Stout-hearted: +10 to resist Fear, Terror and Intimidation
Streetwise: +10 to Charm and Gossip tests in the criminal world
Strong-Minded: Change the Insanity Point threshold to 8 points, with no automatic Insanity until 14 points.
Sturdy: No movement penalties due to armour
Suave: +10 to Fellowship
Sure Shot: Ignore 1AP when using ranged weapons
Swashbuckler: Jumps/leaps take only half the time, increase all leaps by 1 yard.
Trapfinder: +10 to finding and disarming traps
Tunnel Rat: +10 to Concealment and Silent Move when underground
Warrior Born: +!0 to Weapon Skill
Magic Talents
These talents are all new, due to the new magic system. They are more-or-less replacements for a combination of 'Arcane Language' and 'Cast Spells'. I won't say too much about them here, since the Magic element of the game needs a longer discussion of the ways of adapting 2e to 1e.
Dark Lore (Chaos, Necromancy, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Tzeentch)
Dark Magic (this is like a risk/reward way of casting spells, increasing the power at increased risk; plus you have to use it for casting spells from 'evil' traditions.
Divine Lore
Hedge Magic (can cast Petty Magic (Hedge) spells without arcane language, at extra risk)
Lesser Magic
Meditation:This is a tricky one, because it is used in a very different way from Meditation in 1e. In 2e, it is a bonus to ritual spell-casting. Here, I suggest renaming it to 'Ritual Magic', with the effect of magic levelx10 bonus to ritual magic casting.
Petty Magic (Arcane, Divine and Hedge)
Characteristics
2e also used Talents as a way of defining and grouping together certain features which creatures/monsters have. This was a great development, since it meant that the DM and the players were 'playing the same game' which is almost always a good thing, rather than having them as independent 'Special Rules'.
Flier
Frightening
Hoverer
Natural Weapons
Terrifying
Undead
Unsettling
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