WFRP is a bit difficult to get into initially because it's a fairly crunchy and complex system, but it's absolutely worth it. One of the most fun roleplaying games I've ever played for sure. The career system alone makes for pretty unique characters.
WFRP is pretty easy and fun, definitely a great system. I think the Secrets for the Pregen Characters from the Starter Set are a great idea, they've really added a lot of fun at my table. I don't think Ive ever had a single player not take every secret available so they get the most money possible. As far as playing goes, the game gives you the option of totally randomizing your character at generation. Everything from your stats and class down to your name, eye color, and star sign. Take that option, randomize everything, its in the spirit of the game since 1st edition, and 4th edition actually incentivizes it by giving more XP to players who go all random instead of choosing their character. As far as gameplay goes, the Winds of Magic splatbook is vital if you have wizards in your party, and Sea of Claws is great for naval/exploration focused campaigns. Nice video, and have a blast playing it!
It surprises me it's not more talked about to be honest, but there's a really brilliant dedicated community for it, and options like this really demystify it too. I'll check out those books you've mentioned too, thanks for the recommendation, and for commenting! 😄
WFRP is a great fantasy renaissance RPG that's been lurking about for a long time. It may be "grimdark", and start with a more down to earth grittiness than others, but it's also not afraid to include some humor about it. 'The Enemy Within' campaign is legendary amongst those familiar, has a wide variety of encounter types, things afoot in the background, and entertaining easter eggs throughout. Often known for the brutality of it's combat and injury system, it's always had some "get out of jail free" facet, and the 4th Edition rules have even more. Although I'd argue they went overboard with the amount of varying types compared to earlier editions. Since getting dropped to below zero, and some lucky critical hits, can result in scars, loss of appendages or serious internal injury, each combat becomes serious business so don't forget those points/tokens when in a bad spot. I like the latest 4e Core book, but it had a sizable amount of errata. Some just incorrect key words, but others being incorrect values. It's also a bit crunchier in some aspects than earlier ones, so making notes and test running some fights is ideal to piece it together and get familiar. My favorite edition to read and get a feel for the interesting themes was 1st edition. That thing is so loaded with info and dripping with theme, nearly every page of it's large volume provides inspiration and the enthusiasm of the creators is readily apparent.
Agreed - the humour surprised me in the first instance, turned out I had preconceived ideas of what the more crunchy style would result in, but it's nice to be wrong. We took a look at some of the Enemy Within stuff in previous years, it's understandable why it's so popular!
I very much agree, this is one of the main roleplay games I run for my group and it’s certainly a setting and a system we all love. I did find that the fight system is crunchy so doing some ‘mock fights’ before the proper campaign either just by yourself or with your party makes it very easy going forward.
The original WFRP was produced by Games Workshop but its not been made by them for a long time. The current edition of WFRP is made by Cubicle 7. It does tend to annoy them if you go into a Games Workshop store and ask them about WFRP 😉
Haha, this is absolutely a fair comment and a poor explanation of mine in the video 😂 I can safely say I have never asked GW about WFRP, but mean Warhammer in general, the impression of which spills over to Warhammer RPG!
This edition of WFRP has been a less crunchy version of the system. They streamlined the system and I’d recommend rolling the d100 with an extra “hit location d10.” 0: head, 1-2: left arm, 2-5: torso, 6-7: right arm, 8: left leg, and 9: right leg. Use the Quick SL option where the tens d10 is the SL of the roll (10 = 1, 40 = 4). This way you only have to add a second roll to your turn for a Critical Wound.
I played Warhammer RPG as a kid, we where so impressed after doing the American... fast-food games. The enemy WIthin campaign :) Hopefully this modern version also has the darkness, humor and sheer wackyness. The starter set does look nice.
Good content. It would be interesting to see a follow-up. This was essentially an unboxing/first impressions. I think a second video revisiting the Starter Box after having played one or two sessions, particularly if you are coming from a D&D 5E background would be fascinating. Was the game you ran just D&D with different dice, or did the rules change the flavour and game experience into something new? Thanks.
Totally new, but still trying to learn all the terms and learn the factions amd what not, how many different warhammers are there, I know of 40k and the one with the guys name
Warhammer fantasy is the OG and warhammer old world is the re release of this game. It’s what most of us grew up with. Warhammer AoS or age of sigmar is the one with the guys name that you’re talking about and has a different set of rules and is a lot more fast paced. You got mordhiem and that’s dope, it’s more scaled down and doesn’t have vast armies like Warhammer fantasy or AoS but it focuses on smaller groups navigating the warp stone twisted remains of mordhiem in search of gold and glory. Then you got 40k and that’s a whole worm hole to get lost down. I like the lore but was never into the table top but you got Horus heresy, necromunda, kill team and once you had something called battle fleet gothic and that was awesome because it was space naval battles with fleets of ships rather than troops. You also had something called Warhammer epic and it was teeny tiny models of vast armies. I’m talking really small so you could have literally 100s of units. I’m 33 years old and so this was discontinued before my time but I’m a bit of a nerd when I’m not busy trying to look cool in front of my wife.
Great review. That game master screen is beautiful. If you find Warhammer people being standoffish, I can recommend some UA-cam channels at least that are new person, non typical warhammer player friendly. For mostly the Science Fiction stuff, also the novels. www.youtube.com/@ArbitorIan ua-cam.com/users/miramanga The painting side of things www.youtube.com/@roguehobbies The roleplay game specifically www.youtube.com/@LAWhammer
It is interesting that you faced perceived (‘inpenetrable’) barriers with Warhammer gaming, but I think that Warhammer is quite an old game/brand and when it first came out in the 1980s was pretty much dominated by a near exclusive male audience. These days, there is a much greater female presence in roleplaying especially, so older games and their established communities have had to adapt accordingly. The main appeal of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was that is was a 'Call of Cthulhu style’ horror game masquerading as a 'D&D style’ fantasy game. That is, it superficially looks like a typical power fantasy, till your players realize they aren’t that powerful in the face of some pretty horrifying foes and overwhelming odds. The Enemy Within campaign, which is truly epic, is a good example of this as you continue to play it. It is right to say that the tone remains sardonically humorous rather than ‘grim-dark’ like its 40K cousin, and there are a lot of well rounded characters in the game world I also like the magic system, which was actually a relatively late development in the game’s history, but is now very colorful (literally, in terms of its Colleges) and sporadically dangerous. Again, it is a mechanism for seeming like traditional fantasy power, but the reality being something that can challenge sanity.
The demographic is certainly shifting, and I think aspects like this that remove any barrier to entry are great at inviting everybody in. We had a look at the Enemy Within Campaign last year, I really enjoyed the humour within. I think it's easy to hear that it's a crunchy system and assume that means an overly serious campaign (and a further assumption that that could mean it's not fun too). Describing it as Cthulhu but D&D is actually a tidy explanation, I'll use that in future!
Firstly you're dealing with socially awkward dorks who likely can't speak to girls. Warhammer is not difficult to understand, as long as you understand English dark humour I guess :)
The GM Screen is... not brilliant... Most GM Screens are sort of challenging to use for nonsensical reasons. Your impression of Games Workshop stores is pretty universal; people in wargaming are often surprised, confused or intimidated by women trying to access the hobby... 😬 The culture is changing... slowly...
Slowly but surely! It feels like over the last few years more opportunities are cropping up that feel like being let in on the secret, but I know more players now who are happy to share the experience, which is making a huge difference. I'm hoping to head to Warhammer World at some point, I imagine that'll be brill! I quite like a GM screen I have to say, but after a while I almost always customise my own one.
Would love to see more reviews of WFRP content in the future from your perspective!
I haven't been able to keep up with it as I've been off on maternity leave, but will try to head back to it and keep you posted! Thanks for this! 😄
WFRP is a bit difficult to get into initially because it's a fairly crunchy and complex system, but it's absolutely worth it. One of the most fun roleplaying games I've ever played for sure. The career system alone makes for pretty unique characters.
Agreed, I'm a fan of the humour of it as well - it's nice to see it might be crunchy, but that doesn't have to mean too serious!
WFRP is pretty easy and fun, definitely a great system. I think the Secrets for the Pregen Characters from the Starter Set are a great idea, they've really added a lot of fun at my table. I don't think Ive ever had a single player not take every secret available so they get the most money possible.
As far as playing goes, the game gives you the option of totally randomizing your character at generation. Everything from your stats and class down to your name, eye color, and star sign. Take that option, randomize everything, its in the spirit of the game since 1st edition, and 4th edition actually incentivizes it by giving more XP to players who go all random instead of choosing their character. As far as gameplay goes, the Winds of Magic splatbook is vital if you have wizards in your party, and Sea of Claws is great for naval/exploration focused campaigns.
Nice video, and have a blast playing it!
It surprises me it's not more talked about to be honest, but there's a really brilliant dedicated community for it, and options like this really demystify it too. I'll check out those books you've mentioned too, thanks for the recommendation, and for commenting! 😄
WFRP is a great fantasy renaissance RPG that's been lurking about for a long time. It may be "grimdark", and start with a more down to earth grittiness than others, but it's also not afraid to include some humor about it. 'The Enemy Within' campaign is legendary amongst those familiar, has a wide variety of encounter types, things afoot in the background, and entertaining easter eggs throughout.
Often known for the brutality of it's combat and injury system, it's always had some "get out of jail free" facet, and the 4th Edition rules have even more. Although I'd argue they went overboard with the amount of varying types compared to earlier editions. Since getting dropped to below zero, and some lucky critical hits, can result in scars, loss of appendages or serious internal injury, each combat becomes serious business so don't forget those points/tokens when in a bad spot. I like the latest 4e Core book, but it had a sizable amount of errata. Some just incorrect key words, but others being incorrect values. It's also a bit crunchier in some aspects than earlier ones, so making notes and test running some fights is ideal to piece it together and get familiar. My favorite edition to read and get a feel for the interesting themes was 1st edition. That thing is so loaded with info and dripping with theme, nearly every page of it's large volume provides inspiration and the enthusiasm of the creators is readily apparent.
Agreed - the humour surprised me in the first instance, turned out I had preconceived ideas of what the more crunchy style would result in, but it's nice to be wrong. We took a look at some of the Enemy Within stuff in previous years, it's understandable why it's so popular!
I very much agree, this is one of the main roleplay games I run for my group and it’s certainly a setting and a system we all love.
I did find that the fight system is crunchy so doing some ‘mock fights’ before the proper campaign either just by yourself or with your party makes it very easy going forward.
The original WFRP was produced by Games Workshop but its not been made by them for a long time. The current edition of WFRP is made by Cubicle 7. It does tend to annoy them if you go into a Games Workshop store and ask them about WFRP 😉
Haha, this is absolutely a fair comment and a poor explanation of mine in the video 😂 I can safely say I have never asked GW about WFRP, but mean Warhammer in general, the impression of which spills over to Warhammer RPG!
This edition of WFRP has been a less crunchy version of the system. They streamlined the system and I’d recommend rolling the d100 with an extra “hit location d10.” 0: head, 1-2: left arm, 2-5: torso, 6-7: right arm, 8: left leg, and 9: right leg. Use the Quick SL option where the tens d10 is the SL of the roll (10 = 1, 40 = 4). This way you only have to add a second roll to your turn for a Critical Wound.
Also, check out the Advantage rules (which is what the tokens are used to keep track of). They make success easier to achieve round to round.
Thanks for this! 😄
I played Warhammer RPG as a kid, we where so impressed after doing the American... fast-food games. The enemy WIthin campaign :)
Hopefully this modern version also has the darkness, humor and sheer wackyness. The starter set does look nice.
Good content. It would be interesting to see a follow-up. This was essentially an unboxing/first impressions. I think a second video revisiting the Starter Box after having played one or two sessions, particularly if you are coming from a D&D 5E background would be fascinating. Was the game you ran just D&D with different dice, or did the rules change the flavour and game experience into something new?
Thanks.
Great suggestion, I didn't get the opportunity to follow through too deeply (due to mat leave) but I'm keen to return and revisit - stay tuned!
very nice
Totally new, but still trying to learn all the terms and learn the factions amd what not, how many different warhammers are there, I know of 40k and the one with the guys name
Warhammer fantasy is the OG and warhammer old world is the re release of this game. It’s what most of us grew up with.
Warhammer AoS or age of sigmar is the one with the guys name that you’re talking about and has a different set of rules and is a lot more fast paced.
You got mordhiem and that’s dope, it’s more scaled down and doesn’t have vast armies like Warhammer fantasy or AoS but it focuses on smaller groups navigating the warp stone twisted remains of mordhiem in search of gold and glory.
Then you got 40k and that’s a whole worm hole to get lost down. I like the lore but was never into the table top but you got Horus heresy, necromunda, kill team and once you had something called battle fleet gothic and that was awesome because it was space naval battles with fleets of ships rather than troops. You also had something called Warhammer epic and it was teeny tiny models of vast armies. I’m talking really small so you could have literally 100s of units. I’m 33 years old and so this was discontinued before my time but I’m a bit of a nerd when I’m not busy trying to look cool in front of my wife.
Great review. That game master screen is beautiful.
If you find Warhammer people being standoffish, I can recommend some UA-cam channels at least that are new person, non typical warhammer player friendly.
For mostly the Science Fiction stuff, also the novels.
www.youtube.com/@ArbitorIan
ua-cam.com/users/miramanga
The painting side of things
www.youtube.com/@roguehobbies
The roleplay game specifically
www.youtube.com/@LAWhammer
Super useful, thank you! I've been loving Rogue Hobbies videos!
Awesome!
Glad you liked, thanks for the comment! :)
It is interesting that you faced perceived (‘inpenetrable’) barriers with Warhammer gaming, but I think that Warhammer is quite an old game/brand and when it first came out in the 1980s was pretty much dominated by a near exclusive male audience. These days, there is a much greater female presence in roleplaying especially, so older games and their established communities have had to adapt accordingly.
The main appeal of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was that is was a 'Call of Cthulhu style’ horror game masquerading as a 'D&D style’ fantasy game. That is, it superficially looks like a typical power fantasy, till your players realize they aren’t that powerful in the face of some pretty horrifying foes and overwhelming odds. The Enemy Within campaign, which is truly epic, is a good example of this as you continue to play it. It is right to say that the tone remains sardonically humorous rather than ‘grim-dark’ like its 40K cousin, and there are a lot of well rounded characters in the game world
I also like the magic system, which was actually a relatively late development in the game’s history, but is now very colorful (literally, in terms of its Colleges) and sporadically dangerous. Again, it is a mechanism for seeming like traditional fantasy power, but the reality being something that can challenge sanity.
The demographic is certainly shifting, and I think aspects like this that remove any barrier to entry are great at inviting everybody in.
We had a look at the Enemy Within Campaign last year, I really enjoyed the humour within. I think it's easy to hear that it's a crunchy system and assume that means an overly serious campaign (and a further assumption that that could mean it's not fun too). Describing it as Cthulhu but D&D is actually a tidy explanation, I'll use that in future!
This remind me of Baba Booey.
How so?
Firstly you're dealing with socially awkward dorks who likely can't speak to girls. Warhammer is not difficult to understand, as long as you understand English dark humour I guess :)
I love the humour of WFRP, so winning there!
The GM Screen is... not brilliant...
Most GM Screens are sort of challenging to use for nonsensical reasons.
Your impression of Games Workshop stores is pretty universal; people in wargaming are often surprised, confused or intimidated by women trying to access the hobby... 😬
The culture is changing... slowly...
Slowly but surely! It feels like over the last few years more opportunities are cropping up that feel like being let in on the secret, but I know more players now who are happy to share the experience, which is making a huge difference. I'm hoping to head to Warhammer World at some point, I imagine that'll be brill!
I quite like a GM screen I have to say, but after a while I almost always customise my own one.