WFRP: The Enemy Within returns

Today FFG dropped a bomb of epic proportion! This was unexpected.

Mr. Davis did drop a hint about this a long while ago, but I didn't think he was working on something of this magnitude!

More as it develops!

/Magnus

WFRP: Embrace change, or seek solace in familiarity?

Now that WFRPv3 has been going for well over a year, I have come to the time and place to figure out how to take this edition into account when writing for The Altdorf Correspondent. Embrace the new edition whole-heartedly or put on the grognard cape and grouse about the good old times?

Traditionally, I embrace change. I try new things, I look at them to see the old things in a different light. I look to the new to help me avoid a sense of "I've been doing this same thing for 30 years now" and to keep things fresh. I also have had the ambition of supporting the current edition of all the games I write for, be it D&D, WFRP, Kult, Cyberpunk or any other game I feel strongly about.

But I'm not as young as I used to be. I've played so many games, tried so many rules, seen so many plots, that I've grown confused. Rules have never been my forte, and with WFRPv3, I've hit a brick wall. The rules are clearly written, the components are beautiful, everything is top notch. But I can't connect to the rules. When reading them, I don't see stories in my head. I see rules, cards, components. I lose track of what WFRP is to me.

And as you can imagine, that is not where I want to be when sitting down to write about Altdorf and WFRP!

It's not that I think the rules are horrible, it's not that I think FFG are insulting WFRP gamers all over the world, it's not the prices or the boxes or the bits. It's simply the fact that this is very different from what I am used to, and that is enough to throw me.

So what to do? There are two basic aspects I need to consider; rules and setting. And here's the lowdown ...

For rules, I'm staying with WFRPv2. As I look more into WFRPv3, I might start to dual-stat things,if I feel I can get comfortable with the rules. But for the foreseeable future, WFRPv2 is my edition of choice for rules. I will bring in things I like from WFRPv3, and mine WFRPv1 as well. And fan material of course.

As for the setting, it's more difficult. Or maybe more simple ... I don't really know for sure. I will go with WFRPv3 and mix in elements from WFRPv1, WFRPv2 and Warpstone. It seems to me that WFRPv1 and WFRPv3 are closer to each other in tone and atmosphere than they are with WFRPv2. And Warpstone is superb, and has a lot of the grittiness that I enjoy in the setting material published. So I'll roll back to before the Storm of Chaos, and go from there.

This is not a big change for me. As many have noticed I am fairly loose with canon anyways, and the things I don't like are simply toned down (the Emperor riding a griffon, for example). It's easy to just discard a piece of setting I don't agree with, and so the WFRP world I present is a curious mix of canon and heresy. Which is what I'm aiming for; my own take on the Old World, my own interpretation informed by my own tastes and sensibilities.

This is influenced greatly by the writings of others, primarily the official WFRP lines, but to an almost greater extent the writings found in Warpstone and historical records.

So there you have it. I will continue much as I have done so far, which will delight quite a few of my readers, I suspect. But there will still be a place for WFRPv3, mostly in commentaries on the products, and reviews. I want to embrace WFRP as a whole, not get bogged down with fruitless internal debates on the merits of one edition over the other.

Hope you'll stay on and thanks for readin!

/Magnus

WFRP: Signs of Faith is in the shelf

Yesterday I picked up Signs of Faith. It looks great, as do all FFG:s WFRP boxes, and I've started browsing it. The first thing that jumped at me was the mention of several places and people in Altdorf, so I'd better get cracking on updating the map.

The piecemeal approach of WFRPv3 have drawn its share of criticism, and initially I also found it frustrating that the information published was so scant. But after looking through Signs of Faith, I realise that this is actually something I could have the time to digest, as opposed to thick books with dense text. So there might be an advantage to this format that I have previously overlooked: it fits better with the time I have to read RPG material these days.

The lack of nice and cool maps is still a problem with all official WFRP stuff, though.

/Magnus

WFRP: Graeme Davis is back with WFRP

Just a short note to ... erm ... note that the author for the upcoming WFRP adventure The Edge of Night is none other than Graeme Davis! 

Read more about it here!

It will be very interesting to see what he will make out of the current WFRP rules and setting, and I have high hopes that it will harken back to the early WFRP pieces penned by the esteemed mr Davis.

/Magnus

WFRP: A Small But Vicious App - iPhone app for WFRPv3 released

In a surprise announcement a couple of days ago Fantasy Flight Games released an iPhone app for WFRPv3. More info can be found here.

It's only a couple of dollars, and I'm downloading it as I write this. I'll be back with a review shortly.

/Magnus

WFRP: The Gathering Storm review at RPG.net

Recently I laid my hands on The Gathering Storm for WFRPv3. It looks fabulous, but I haven't had the time to look at it thoroughly yet. Some chap at RPG.net has written an interesting review, though.

Read the review here!

/Magnus

WFRP: The Winds of Magic

As I'm getting up to speed with what's happening in the WFRP sphere, I noticed that FFG has announced the supplement on magic for WFRPv3.

Read a little bit more about it here.

Sounds cool and all, but the info is still a bit sparse. I'm a bit curious as to how they're going to cram everything hinted at into one of those slim books they use for the rules. The other components will be top notch of course, and it will all look fabulous.

A certainly seems as if FFG has adopted an agressive release schedule, now that they've gotten WFRPv3 on track. We have the core rules, the game master toolkit, the adventurer's tookit, a campaign and extra dice. Quite an achievement, I say.

/Magnus

WFRP: A counterpoint review of WFRPv3 at RPG.net

Idle trawling of the web for information and reactions to the latest offering of WFRP from FFG turned up a few reviews. This one is a counterpoint to the largely positive review I posted yesterday.

Dan DeFazio's capsule review of WFRPv3.

I feel that this review is not as well thought out as the previous one, and when it comes to looking at the setting the reviewer compares WFRPv3 to WFRPv1 as if WFRPv2 didn't exist, instead of noting that v3 actually is a step back from the heavier WFB influences that informed the design of v2.

Still, it is an honest review, and the reviewer clearly states that he prefers WFRPv1, and for that no one can fault him.

/Magnus

WFRP: A comprehensive review of WFRPv3 at RPG.net

Yesterday I stumbled upon a very comprehensive review of WFRPv3. The review is particularly interesting since the reviewer preferred WRFPv1 over WRFPv2, due to the sparsity of setting info in the latter. I highly recommend reading it.

E. Long's review of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3.

Here is the same reviewer with his comparison of WFRPv1 and WFRPv2.

/Magnus

FAL News: WFRP Game Master's Toolkit announced

Well, it was only a question of how long we'd have to wait. Just recently FFG announced the future release of the Game Master's Toolkit for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Read more about it!

A GM screen and gobs of new cards are to be expected. No new careers though as far as I read it, which is boring. There's a preview coming in a week or so.

/Magnus

FAL General: Happy New Year!

Well, a new year is approaching and I am starting to find time when I'm not working. This means I'm looking forward to another year of gaming, which I have been most fortunate too get done in spades that last couple of years.

This years it's been mostly the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with mixed success from my part but a hell of a ride for the group. We're picking it up again sometime in January, tackling paragon levels and Revenge of the Giants.

I have also played several games of Citadels over the year. It is a brilliant game, quick to learn and with engaging gameplay. Look forward to an in depth review of this game and Fury of Dracula which I picked up yesterday, sometime soon.

Apart from that the big thing waiting to be tried is of course the third edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. We're planning on giving it a whirl in January, and with the arrival of The Adventurer's Toolkit the option of playing a Rat Catcher is once again open ... but the players have said they'd rather play a career that does not give me extra incentives to have sewer based adventuring, so we'll see what they'll go for in The Ongoing and Spectacular Adventures of the Wilhelms.

And of course, the iAltdorf map will be updated in January.

But until then, have a happy new year!

/Magnus

WFRP: Unboxing WFRPv3

I got the box home a few days ago, but haven't had the time to look more closely at it nor its contents. I did an unboxing with photos, but I guess most of you have already seen other pictures of the game. Still, this might give you some more insights into the package and the components included.

The box is big and thick and a bit intimidating:


There's an external slip cover with a "lid" that opens up to reveal more details about what's inside. The lid is help shut by two pieces of velcro:


A shot of the box from the side, the lid open. I'm not sure what I think of the logo. A bit too metallic for my taste:


First edition, second edition and third edition:


The covers of all three editions in plain view. They are all good in their own ways, but I'm a bit sad that third edition didn't do the spiky hair dwarf motive as well:


The slip cover. As you can see, the box itself is wrapped in protective plastic. Which is good, because the slip cover was scuffed and somewhat defaced:


Top lid of the box removed and placed to the side. First thing I noticed was a catalog for FFG's other games:


The four rulebooks and two plastic bags of cards and counters. You also see the cards in different stacks:


Another view of the cards and a glimpse of the extra ten-sided dice. You might notice that everything is resting on some card stock that's inside the box:


The card stock has now been removed, for your viewing pleasure:


Under the compartments of the card stock I found the character sheets, more cards, dice, plastic stands and the three player boxes:


Here are the three player boxes folded and "assembled". The dice are standard size six-sided, shown for scale:


Here you see the box placed in my bookshelf (showing roughly 10% of my gaming collection). It looks really out of place there, so I might rearrange the whole thing, especially when more boxes are aquired:


Well, that's my first unboxing!

/Magnus

WFRP: First impressions

So I went to my FLGS today. They know me there, so all I had to say was "you've got something for me". The reply was "a big box?". Sure thing, WFRPv3 comes in a big box. It feels massive, it is massive. If this had been released way back when, I would have been totally floored by it. I really like the package.

Unboxing it (pictures to come) revealed a box half packed with stuff. Some padding, but after trying to put it all back, the box was crammed. Well, that's life. The pieces and rulebooks and everything looks really neat. Really, really neat. They've avoided some typographical errors that plagued the BI releases, which is nice. They are reusing a lot of art which is ok in my book, but a bit disappointing.

Initial impression is that it looks cool, that it heaves closer to WFB imagery than earlier editions but that it tries to appease the WFRP fans of yore by introducing some familiar themes. One peculiar thing I haven't seen mentioned is that they stuck in a bag of extra ten-sided dice, since they deemed that the original dice didn't measure up quality-wise. A bit odd, and I'm not sure what to think of it. Nice that they put in the extra dice, a bummer that the original set didn't hold up ... it's one of those things that won't bother the fans, but will be forever used as fodder against WFRPv3 by the most vocal of critics.

Ok, that's the initial impressions. I'll post pictures later.

/Magnus

WFRP: And a new campaign is announced

Popped over to my RSS reader, and saw that FFG has announced a new campaign titled The Gathering Storm. Read more about it here. Bound to be interesting and comparisons to The Enemy Within and Paths of the Damned are inevitable. My guess is it'll be better than PotD but not so good as TEW (without SRiK and EiF).

More thoughts on this as more info is revealed. Or when I had a bit of thought about it, whichever comes first.

/Magnus