WFRP: State of the Game (1)

It's been an exhilarating few weeks for the WFRP fan community. First Games Workshop closed down Black Industries and cancelled WFRP and WH40kRP, creating a buzz among the fans trying to get to grips with what this meant for WFRP and the fan support the game is known and loved for. Would people continue with the second edition or would first edition prove to be the choice of those who continued producing fan material? Or had the second edition fractured fandom into two opposing factions, where the editions would branch out from each other and never again be the one true game? Did the cancellation of BI herald a new dark age for the game and for the fans?

As discussions raged back and forth, GW dropped another bomb. Fantasy Flight Games had licensed the boardgames of GW, and also the roleplaying games of BI. Confusion reigned. What did this mean to the game? How much would it be supported? Who were FFG? And what were their plans? Was the dark age averted? Now some time has passed. We have recieved a little more info, but lots of questions remain. Also given the history of the game and its handling by GW, nothing can be said for sure regarding the future of WFRP.

My own speculation, based on nothing more than gut feeling at the moment, is that FFG will begin by focusing on WH40kRP. It is, after all the King of New Games at the moment, and the momentum it enjoys must be harnessed into profitability for FFG. WFRP will therefore receive less attention, and we're probably looking more to a consolidation of the game line, with a rerelease of the core rules and selected supplements to keep the line active.

I believe that FFG will keep much the same policy regarding fan material that BI did, mostly because it's easier to maintain a status quo, and partly because it really is GW who will be interested in fan usage of their IP. I don't think FFG really cares, unless it directly hurts their releases but then again I think it will be GW who handles the axe, should any matter arise.

So basically, the state of the game is that WFRP is one of the strongest roleplaying brands out there at the moment, with a solid reputation for high quality, award-winning supplements. It is often described as fast and fun and second to none when it comes to online support. Given the strategy of Wizards of the Coast in regards to Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, it is possible that WFRP will be able to pick up some of those who feel that D&D is becoming way to focused on minis and battlemats and who are looking for a more rules light roleplaying experience. Make no mistake, D&D will still be the juggernaut, but WFRP is often mentioned as an alternative on various message boards, so some new recruits are bound to show up from there.

Within a month or two we will hear about who's going to be the WFRP developer. His or her first priority will be to get The Thousand Thrones out the door, and then look into a publishing strategy, which will involve a reprinting of the core rules. Expect FFG to keep their plans regarding WFRP secret for another month or two, with the possible exception of a release of The Thousand Thrones. By GenCon 2008, I'm sure we will be told more about what's going to happen.

Online support for the game will come from fans rather than from the publisher, as I believe that FFG as a company is not ready to embrace the same strategy as BI when it comes to the Internet. This will make fan support even more important for the game line, and hopefully FFG can make some provision for this on their official WFRP web site. Among fandom, not much will change. The lines have been drawn in the sand, and with continued support from FFG most attention will be given to second edition material. The large body of existing first edition fan writings will remain relevant to the game, but I see little movement to add significantly to it from any party, with a few notable exceptions.

/Magnus

WFRP: Mannfred Hilfer

WFRP: FFG to the resuce?

Breaking news! Things are confusing and exciting now. Fantasy Flight Games, one of my favourite game publishers and the publisher of the master piece Midnight campaign setting, have reached an agreement with Games Workshop to create games based on GW IP.

Read more here!

And even more here!

Interesting. I still don't have high hopes for WFRP, but at least there's some measure of hope at the moment!

/Magnus

WFRP: Black Industries put down

In an incredibly disappointing move, Black Library today announced that Black Industries, the publisher of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay and Talisman will cease publication of games. In a spectauclar display of corporate lingo, Black Library claims they will take this opportunity to focus on the core business of publishing novels.

Well, it was a good run while it lasted, and WFRP have emerged from this stronger than ever. It's going to be interesting to see how WFRP fans deal with this. If the past is anything to go by, there will be much gnashing of teeth and boasting of prophetic prowess as people fire up their "I told you so"-engines.

The fact remains; BI put out a great game and some great supplements, and their efforts will be sorely missed.

EDIT: here's the link to the announcement:

The terrible news!

/Magnus

WFRP: iAltdorf updated to version 1.10

As a celebration of my first year of writing The Altdorf Correspondent, I hereby release version 1.10 of the iAltdorf map. This time, I have done some major restructuring which most of you won't notice, but also added a completely new sewer layer! So check out the new version of the map!

Go here for the download page!

Magnus

FAL Review: The Giant's Skull

Publisher Fiery Dragon. Released 2001. Format Softcover. Game system d20. Pages 40. Price $9.95.



Designer James Bell.

In this installment of Fanboy At Large, I cast my net back through the years, searching for the hidden gems of the vibrant and exciting beginnings of what will go down in history as the d20 era. After trawling a bit I hauled in my catch of the day; The Giant's Skull, an adventure that clocks in at 40 pages, published in 2001 by Fiery Dragon. The flaming draconian was one of the first pioneers of the d20 market and brought to market several interesting and innovative adventures, but today they are mostly known for their counter collections. Although they do offer adventures as well through their web site, now that I took the time to check it out.



The Giant's Skull is a remarkable adventure for one single reason: you get to play both sides of the story. Apart from that, not much stands out. Between the covers you find 40 pages of adventure material, split into two sections concerning The Giant's Skull, a fairly powerful magic item. The text is reasonably well organised, but suffers from a confusing and somewhat back to front approach to explaining the plot. Apart from a very good cover, the art and maps are clear but nothing evocative. They do their thing, nothing more and nothing less.



The first thing that marks this adventure as something other than a run of the mill offering is that colour counters are included. The counters show pictures of the monsters and heroes of the adventure, and they can be cut out and used instead of regular minis for resolving combat. A great idea, and something Fiery Dragon later developed into a product line of its own.



The duality of the plot is of course the star of the show. The first time the players play the part of a gang of ogres bent on reclaiming The Giant's Skull from the evil and nasty humans. The second round casts the players as their regular PCs tasked with retrieving the artifact from the evil and nasty ogres. Unfortunately the adventure in itself falls short of its true potential, and is basically an average dungeon romp. I feel that it is a wasted opportunity, but a GM who works with the format can spin the ogre versus humans conflict into something truly memorable.



Worth checking out, but expect to work with the story to bring out the adventure's full potential!



Magnus

WFRP: Fumbling the scenario competition

Well, to make it official: I couldn't get my manuscript done in time to enter the BI scenario competition. The scenario is still mostly bare bones and after the playtest on tuesday last week, I realised that some stuff had to be added and other stuff changed, but alas ... I couldn't find the time. Well, such is life, I guess.

But to all who did manage to get their entries in ... I'm impressed!

And good luck to all of you. My scenario might show up some other time, when I've assembled the pieces. One such piece is Uriah Hepp, which was posted yesterday, and most likely more pieces will show up in due time. In the meantime, look forward to an update to the iAltdorf project in a few weeks.

Magnus