Customer Reviews

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Set

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm a fan of the Warhammer universe and though I own the 2nd edition of WHFRP, I haven't played it much. My mainstay game lately is D&D 4E, though I've played or run most of the major RPG systems from the last two decades.

I find WHFRP 3rd edition to be a splendid mix of some of my favorite aspects from other RPGs combined with a few new mechanics and unique game concepts. This game pushes the bar up for quality and design thinking and I hope it influences future RPGs.

I know the MSRP is a little high, but at Amazon prices, this is a steal! This box is HUGE and beautiful. Of course everything inside is high quality material and full color, as you'd expect from a company like Fantasy-Flight. The books are not hardcover, but they are full color with thick, glossy pages.

Certainly the books could have used another run at editing, there are lots of typos, but none so far that make the rules confusing. That's the only quality issue I've noticed so far.

The rules are simple but powerful. They offer a wealth of options for players and plenty of flexibility for the GM. I feel the rules sit somewhere between Savage Worlds and D&D 4E in complexity. The core of the rules is easy to remember: you create dice pools and roll them to determine results, the specifics and exceptions are noted on cards in front of the players. You rarely reference the books during play. Cards are used to great effect throughout the system.

Though there's a boardgame feel to the components, this is very much a true RPG. It's a nice mix between the freedom and danger offered in older RPGs and the tactical options and balance that a system like D&D 4e presents.

The system and components are tightly integrated. Everything fits together really well. The feel of the Warhammer world is definitely stitched into the rules but the GM can easily run any type of campaign he wants, not just dark and dangerous. There's plenty of room to take the system and suit it to your group's style of play.

For those of you who dislike grid combat, you're in luck. For those prefer D&D 4E style combat, it's not difficult to adjust the rules to accomodate a grid.

There's very little math involved in the game. You're not constantly rolling numbers and adding modifiers and comparing to other numbers. This is all accounted for in the construction of dice pools. The options players and GMs have in building dice pools really make the system shine.

I could say so much more. I could go on about the party system, the stance system, the way the game supports narrative play, or how fast it plays, but I'll stop here. The game does a much better job of explaining itself, and you owe it to yourself to at least check it out at your FLGS if you're on the fence.

I apologize in advance for the rather lengthy review. I will try to avoid retreading what has been mentioned in previous reviews and instead wanted to expand upon several of the interesting designs of the new game.

The dice system is as good a place to start as any, as it forms the foundation of the game. WFRP3E uses a unique dice pool mechanic where a player gathers a number of both "positive" and "negative" dice which derive from various sources. The beneficial dice come from things like your character's attributes, skills, current stance (whether your character is acting aggressively or cautiously) and any situational advantages they may have. The "harmful" dice stem from the innate difficulty of a task (the more difficult the action, the more "bad" dice are rolled) and any disadvantageous circumstances.

All of this might sound intimidating or complicated to a new player but the dice pool becomes very intuitive and flexible in play, thanks in part to the fact that the dice are cleverly color-coded which tells you at a glance what each is for. Also, because the results are so easy to visualize, players and GMs are given a clear sense of the factors that lead them to victory or defeat and thus how their decisions have impacted the end results.

WFRP3E's dice mechanic is a "one roll" system, which is to say that once you assemble and roll the appropriate dice pool, that single roll resolves everything you need for an action or test. The results of the die pool tell you not only whether the action succeeds or fails but also how well or poorly your character performed, any potential positive or negative side effects, and even possible critcal successes or fumbles. This is all done at a glance in a way that is very easy to read. It is also worth noting that these additional levels of detail are available but not required for every roll. If a GM only needs to quickly determine whether something succeeds or fails, the rest of the information can be easily ignored.

There are almost no "true" contested rolls in the system (where two players both make a roll and compare results). Instead, when two or more forces compete, one side influences the others' die pool by adding "negative" dice, which will reduce the chances for success. In a combat example, a character who attempts to dodge, parry or block an attack adds penalty dice to the attacker's pool. This might seem a bit odd to a GM or player not used to it but it is done in a very intuitive way that is quickly picked up.

The dice are interesting by themselves but there are several other innovative ideas at work within the game. The game introduces a "henchmen" mechanic (inspired by similar mechanics from Spirit of the Century) which allows for a simple way to throw large groups of enemies against the PCs and make them easy to manage by the GM. Groups of minions have a "shared" pool of wound points, attack as a group (using a single roll) and work better in numbers (adding to their combined dice pool based on how many are working together). This is balanced by the fact that the individual minions have lower wound thresholds, have to share "special actions" and attacks made against them can (and often will) affect more than a single henchmen (by way of attacks reducing the total "wound pool" rather than an individual's wound total).

There is also a very clever initiative mechanic in which players can switch their positions in the turn order from round to round based upon the changing needs of the scene. When a player rolls initiative, they can either have their character act on that result or they can give it to another player instead. So, even if the Troll Slayer rolled poorly on his initiative, if the party needs him to go first to draw a big nasty orc's attention, someone can swap their turn for his and let him go to town. This is a very fun idea and eliminates the need for a bunch of complicated "delay", "hold" and "refocus" tactics. Each round, the group can re-analyze and change their initiative order accordingly. Of course, this also means that the bad guys can do this as well.

The Advancement system is great and offers a lot of options for character improvement. The most exciting part for players is that they essentially gain something new after every session. Whether they purchase new actions or talents, increase their wounds or change careers (classes), they have the option to bring something new to the table on a regular basis. They can (and may want to) save up some of their points to purchase certain other kinds of abilities, but there are always several options available to a character for even a single Advancement Point, regardless of what kind of character they are playing.

There is also the "Party" system in which the players all share a sheet which represents the dynamics of their group. It not only helps define why the characters are working together, what their attitudes are and what the GM can do to motivate them but it also introduces a very simple way for characters to share some of their special talents with each other and teach the group how to perform certain feats.

With all that is good about the game, there are a few things which the game desperately needs. For one, there are 8 schools of magic within the Warhammer setting and the Core Set only provides rules to play 3 of them. Rumor has it that the other colleges will gain support later on, but it does mean that magic is slightly limited at present. To be fair, the 3 colleges provided cover a broad sampling of the different types of wizards (Bright Wizards= fire and destruction, Grey Wizards= shadows and deceit, and Celestial Wizards= prophesy and storms).

Likewise, only 3 of the 8 churches of the Empire are fully playable (being priest of Sigmar, Morr and Shallya). Again, at least they cover a decently broad range of options.

The available bestiary is solid and very workable but begs to be expanded. There is enough here to provide for most of your "baddie" needs but there are some omissions which players will be iching for. There are also a few sample "regular" NPC types provided, but this really, really needs more support (NPC wizards and priests are prime examples). If there was one thing the game would really benefit from (besides more mages and priests as noted above) it is a really thorough bestiary supplement.

On the whole, this is an excellent game and has climbed into the #1 spot as my "go-to" game when it comes to the fantasy genre. The grim and perilous setting of Warhammer's Old World shines as much in this edition as it has in the past and the innovative, solid, intuitive and often clever mechanics really make for a visceral, engaging and fun experience. My only hope is that the game will live long enough to see the development of the extra support that it deserves to turn it into a real gem of an RPG.

Due to some of its shortcomings and its rather steep MSRP (though the Amazon price is more than reasonable), I would have rated this game a "4.5". Since there is no "inbetween" scoring system, I bumped it up to a "5" based on the fact that it is really something bold and unique in the RPG industry and deserves the benefit of the doubt if you are even half curious about the Warhammer setting or about new and progressive game design.

Like many US gamers, I was not familiar with the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Game (FRPG). The boxed set by Fantasy Flight Games is fantastic. It captures the essence of role-playing without trying to fit into the massively multi-player on-line universe. I was able to get a group of players (who had never played a table-top RPG before) into the game within 30 minutes.

The box is full of useful items from the punch-out to the reference cards. You literally get everything that you need to run a campaign in the boxed set. You are definitely getting your money's worth on this purchase.

The system is intuitive and is set at the right level of abstraction. Distance is divided into commonsense bands. Movement is not measured in squares per round. You do NOT have to buy new battle mats and card sets for every new encounter or adventure. The core mechanic is simple; you succeed if you have at least one more success result than challenge result. The Game Master (GM) increases the difficulty by adding challenge dice.

I was particularly pleased that the Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games designers resisted the urge to make the Warhammer FRPG into a table-top version of a massively multi-player on-line game. There are no Manga looking characters. There are no damage per second effects.

If you are looking at getting back into FRPGs after a break or looking for a new system that has the feel of a gritty fantasy novel then you owe it to yourself and your gaming group to purchase the Warhammer FRPG boxed set.

I started playing D&D when I was ten, and I've been playing ever since. I started playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay with the first edition, back in the early 90s (one of the longest campaigns I've ever been in, and the highlight of my tabletop gaming). With such fond memories of WFRP, I was a bit surprised to see the enormous box sitting on the self at my local retailer.

Cracking it open, the approach was very clear: break out the rules onto cards, to help make the system more accessible for new players. Once the designers did that, the rest falls out - you can add complexity in certain areas (because you have cards, not charts) while still keeping things moving.

The dice system brings a really nice set of complexity (for people who like to crunch probabilistic models) while keeping things simple and intuitive for the rest of the players.

It's still Warhammer IMHO - the career system is still there (vastly more interesting than the D&D classes system). Insanity rules (with crazy cards), to help keep the flavor. Magic misfires can still mess you up pretty bad. Yes, magic is more common nowadays, but still causes trouble. The tone and mood are very much up to the DM and players - you could play it harder and grittier (with rules to match) or you can keep it lighter (silly goblin voices) - that's style, not substance.

If you are still clinging to your AD&D 2nd edition books, you probably won't be interested. If you are looking for an innovative new look at RPGs, take a look.

I'll try and make this as short as I can. I have been playing RPG's regularly since the early D&D days. As the years have passed I've tried about everything that's been put out. Rifts, GURPS, all editions of D&D as well as the earlier edition of Warhammer.

I literally freaked out when I heard FFG's was planning on a new system of rules for one of my groups fav games. I spit, cursed and raised an angry fist to the gaming Gods for once again taking something and screwing with it to make more money. All of my friends felt the same and we turned out backs on the new edition before it even came out.

At some point, I picked the basic box up on a bored whim. I got it at half off and was curious after reading some of the better reviews on Amazon. I received the box and although impressed with all of the components, I essentially blew it off as a boardgame RPG with funny dice. The game sat on my shelf for some time. My group had just jumped on the D&D 4th wagon and so I probably blew 400.00 on books for this system to run. Needless to say, I will be placing those books on E-bay soon as we once again hear rumors of a possible 5th edition, LOL.

While playing 4th, many problems and complaints arose that eventually led me to pick that clunky box back up and actually give it a honest read. The more I read, the more I couldn't stop reading. The more I understood the rules, the more I became blown away by it's innovation. Every rules gripe we had with every other system we often discussed over our weekly burger session was totally fixed with the new WHFPRG rules. I'm really not kidding folks. It was like the clouds parted and I saw the light that FFG's had so carefully and lovingly created.

After several months of reading and rereading the rules my challenge was to take my group and convince them what an amazing system this was. In all honesty, the first session was bland. Rules questions and movement rules caused things to lag a bit. I heard "2nd was better" and seriously went upstairs to grab my old hardbacks to revert to the old rules after the gang left. I posted this on the Fantasy Flight Games forums (A WONDERFUL gathering of folks by the way!) and was told to hold my course and give it some time. Reluctantly I did and since the first session we have had three more. To put it bluntly, the group absolutely loves this game now. I cannot stress to you the brilliance of the rules. They run fluidly, and are simple, but have the depth to cover any situation on the fly without having to look up this rule or find that table. It's mindnblowing how smooth this game runs once you "Get it".

Now, with the wonderful things I have said about this game I want to warn you. If you need a chart and rule for everything you can imagine, such as how far a goblin can throw a squig against a strong wind, this might not be for you. My days of growing up as a DM was with a style that focused more on the story and descriptive combat. I didn't count hexes and let my players know what the stats of the creatures were. I want a sense of wonder in my games. I want every monster to be a threat that makes the players "Worry" that they could lose their lives. The Warhammer system lends gracefully to this method of play. The dice make telling the story of combat amazingly easy. The action literally unfolds in your mind once you see the dice results. All of my players have at least ten years each under their belts and I can't tell you enough how much they praise this game.

I don't write reviews on things to be honest, but I felt that I actually owed this to Fantasy Flight Games. They knew to have something innovative that they would have to literally go against the grain and tear the rules down to the ground and build them back up.It was a ballsy move and as a result they have lost a lot of the hardcore 2nd edition fans. The end result is this review from a GM who has grown tired of so many attempts at making a new game, or set of rules that in all actuality aren't really all that when you put them to the test. FFG's have truly given our group a breath of fresh air with this system and I truly hope it's around for years to come. So, there you have it. I hated it when it came out and refused to even look at it, but once I did give it a chance it has become my favorite game hands down.......


Sincerely,

David

First of all I have been playing RPG's since AD&D 1st edition in the 80's. I have passed through a lot of game systems, 90% of the time as a GM.

My first impression when opening this monster of a box was pure undiluted joy and glee. Reminded me of the days of 2nd edition AD&D when most stuff came in boxes, with maps, sheets, booklets and many other neat gizmos.

The Box is chock full of stuff, cards, dice, punch-out tokens of all sorts and the booklets. The Art is gorgeous and very in theme with some of the most grim aspects of the Warhammer World.

Everything is of superb quality, except the dice, which seem a bit generic in composition compared to more solid dice out there, but that's nitpicking on my part.

Now, to the core of the issue: How good is the system? Why the bad reviews on it? Is it true is teh suq?

I don't know why but for some odd reason, like the debate between crunchy and chewy, people either hate the add-ons or love them completely. And this is where I have seen the divergence in likes/dislikes of the game.

The Game was meant to be played with visual aids, plain and simple (even though at this stage FFG is planning to release the core books as separate entities for a more classic RPG experience), and this is where you see the game is an awesome mix of a board game + RPG.

The Core Mechanic is simple, you create dice pools, according to your attributes plus a mix of bonification-penalization dice and special dice that give extra results. You end up creating dice pools as big as 7 to 10 dice strong (remember Heroscape?) and then you roll them, cancel the good results with the bad results, keep some of the dice apart as they enhance or detriment the original result despite it being a success or a failure and you end up with this:

A successful action (If the bad symbols on the dice are lower than the good symbols ) or a Failed action (bad results symbols > good results symbols) then to this you add the special dice which further affect the action.

This mechanic leads to a game that relies heavily on interpretation by the GM and this is where I see people complaining or simply enjoying it.

You could have a successful action plus a "bad luck" effect for instance, or failed action that despite failing gives you some bonuses due to "good luck" and on and on on Success/Failure/Bad Luck/Good Luck axis.

Every power/action is centered in a game card that explains what happens when you succeed and the intensity of the success (if you had more than one good symbol left after the calculations) and the effect of good/bad "luck"

The permutation of possible effects is vast and can lead to some dramatic roleplaying simply dictated by the outcome of the dice since some of the rolls will be interesting to describe and players should react accordingly.

The Mechanic if further modified if you are into a Passive Stance (taking things easy, going slow, cautious) or into Aggressive stance (all out whacko!)

This mechanic per se and theoretically is bound for a good session of gaming, in practice it's even better.

Lots of people I have seen on the negative reviews seem to hate the time it takes to form the dice pool and the size of it (specially if they just used to a d20 and several rolls of it per round) whereas in WFRP3rd Edition they have a bunch of d10's and d6's in a pool. Me on the other hand severely enjoy it as I give every player a decent pool of personal dice (just bought 3 extra dice sets for my players and problem solved)

Others seem to hate the amount of hand-outs players use/abuse and the fear of losing stuff. I have played for over 20 years RPG's and never had the bad luck of people stealing my mini's, dice, manuals, pens, tokens or whatnot. Also the basic card set that all players share can be easily printed out as UniversalHead's handouts have proven on many other games
(link provided for ease of reference and to spread the word [...] ) So if you for some reason lose a card or a couple of them you can replace them easily, but should not be the case unless you move around a lot and then you can always do a inventory check at the end of the session.

You don't need to carry around all cards as each player has a limited set of them to start with and the rest are simply for more possible actions they can grab when they level up.

Other people I have seen bash the game's approach to playing and small groups (something you can fix by buying an xpac for extra cards and extra players, omg evil greedy companies, evil evil meh) and seem to hate it on the grounds of it being so different to traditional pen and paper RPG's they simply describe it as something else than an RPG.

For me it's an RPG, you roll dice, you level up characters, you roleplay encounters and heavily narrate everything, so yes, it's an RPG.

Now to the what I see as possible flaws to some people:

Steep Learning Curve, don't pretend this is FUDGE rpg or a d20 rollplaying game or a d100 one where everything is more or less straightforward, the game is pretty different to most RPG's out there, starting with the fact you need the special game dice of the game and if you have a regular numerical dice collection it's pretty much useless for this system, also the way the system is explained on the core books requires reading comprehension, a skill lost of these days of MASH THE BUTTON FOR LOL, but jokes aside, I must admit the formatting and way info is arrayed is not the most efficient, but everything is there, trust me :D

Portability: Not an issue for me as I can place the core system plus some addons on a PLANO box but some people complain about the sheer amount of stuff and this might not be their cup of tea, some people prefer RPG's where all they need is some pen, blank pages and a book or two. If you buy this remember this is a props/add ons/fluffy stuff game, it has LOTS of pieces and tokens, bear that in mind specially if you a GM.

If you a player all you will need is a dice set, your character sheet and the talents/action/power cards you use on your current char so portability will be different and extremely simple compared to the GM/owner of the game.

Price: Some people complain about the price so much I still don't understand how they can blow over 100$ on 3 core books for D&D yet 70$ for a box this big full of so much stuff is some kind of perverted waste of money <rolls eyes> also considering it has 4 booklets with all basic rules inside and the art is very good.


That's all for my review.

I will be happy to share any info on how to play or even how to store the system on a Plano Box with anyone that asks here :P

Some ways to store the game can be found here in the official forums

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=149&efcid=3&efidt=335729

This can also give you an idea on the ammount of stuff the game has. Love it or Hate it

Thanks for reading and game on.

If the game is not your cup of tea dont trash it out, let other people enjoy it

I love the world of WFRP. It is gritty, bloody, violent, dangerous and filled with black humor and dark fantasy. This setting is different than others like D&D, it is more late Medieval/early Renaissance but still has dwarves, elves, halflings and Orcs. However, WFRP has the encroachments of the Chaos Gods, evil/alien creatures reminiscent of Lovecraftian mythos. The world of Warhammer is a perfect analogue for our own Europe, with places like the Empire (Germany), Estalia (Italy), Bretonia (France), Albion (Saxon England), Kislev (Russia/Eastern Europe), and even the jungles of Lustria (South America). I've been playing it since 1st ed and ran the Enemy Within campaign. When I heard they were re-publishing a new edition I worried. I didn't know if the new system would maintain the unique elements that made WFRP Warhammer. I worried that it was going to be just another rehash of 2nd edition. I worried that it was going to be bulky, unwieldy, difficult to grasp.

My worries were all laid to rest. This system includes *everything* you need to play in *one* big box. It is a huge box filled with 4 game manuals (in full/vivid Warhammer colors and filled with some of the best art yet!!). Also included are the unique dice you need to play which are made specifically for WFRP (some have the hammer of Sigmar). Additionally you get stand up character and monster counters (in case you sold or no longer have your Games Workshop mini's) and combat/action/spell cards (so you dont need to be referencing the game manuals every time). Everything, and I mean everything is in full color. The production values of this new edition are some of the best I have ever seen in a role playing game. I am very happy to see Fantasy Flight be the company to put this new system out (which produces some of the best board games around).
FF has also put out several pdf online supports for the system that can be downloaded/printed from their webpage and they have scheduled several new releases for this game, including an Adventurers Toolkit, a campaign box set (the Gathering Storm) and a Game Master's Toolkit.

I have been playing RPGs for the past 25+ years, have owned and operated a game store and currently design games for a new startup company. D&D has always been the staple of my RPG diet since that is the game people most frequently play in the circles I travel. The groups that I gather to play with tend to prefer character-driven escapades which is a little cumbersome to incorporate as the primary game mechanic when playing a rules set that is designed to be mostly for tactical combat (such as D&D 4th ed). When I started reading the development info from Fantasy Flight about this new edition of WHFRP, I became intrigued and then downright piddle-my-pants-excited.

The resulting product has proven to be most everything I could have wished for in a wide-release RPG. Gone is the need to constantly refer to charts since this game provides plenty of cards that keep most of the rules issues out in front of the players at all times. The very crafty and original dice mechanic is brilliant once you get used to it (which will take experienced gamers very little time)and allows for a broad scope of story-telling gameplay that encourages the players to play their characters with much more sophistication than other systems might allow.

I agree with other reviews that the rules as laid out in the core 4 books are a bit scattered at times and it does require a thorough reading of both the players book and the adventure book to attempt to grasp how it all works together. Of course, if you are lucky enough to get to sit down and play with a group that can explain things as you go, it is easy to pick up the gist very quickly, as is the case with most any well-designed game.

What I have enjoyed so far is that I can tell a story where the characters' well-being is always at stake, a socially-skilled character can add JUST AS MUCH to the experience as a combat-oriented character, and the gameplay rarely gets bogged down by rules once you are used to the operation of the core mechanics. The rules system that Fantasy Flight designers have come up with seems to strike a beautiful balance between open-endedness and specificity, at least for me and my friends. I must admit that I have come to detest level-based systems and far prefer skill-based systems as the level system seems to always get bogged down in huge number calculations and number of allowable actions per turn once higher levels of PCs are broached.

As with any new system, fans of older versions may rail at the changes and perceived bastardization of the newer version. I own the 1st edition core book, though never really got to play it. This 3rd edition seems to keep all the flavor of the original while making it MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE to players who have never touched an RPG before, unless, of course, you refer to the purchase price. It has certainly been well worth my money and I have since purchased every supplement (including more dice) that has been released in support of this game. I am even tempted to convert the original D&D Dragonlance saga to this system since it lends itself to telling a great story with engaging characters that do not have to continuously add more and more equipment of "+5 this" and "protection from that" just to be statistically competent to face off against increasingly higher levels of adversaries.

I think this RPG is fantastic and I hope sales prove strong enough to keep it as a growing force in a difficult game market.

I am cautiously for the new edition of Warhammer FRP. While the price of the box is extremely high, when you compare it to other Warhammer products (namely WFB), you are really getting your money's worth. I've been a fan of WFRP for quite some time, I still have a copy of the trade paperback version of first edition. I also have a good number of second edition volumes. And as a WFB gamer, mainly the Empire though I do have a number of Chaos figures, I like what I see. So I would have to say that I am coming to this game as someone who has loved the Warhammer world for a long time.

There is only really one problem I have with the game. As noted by many, this game differs from many of the RPGs out there today. I would have liked to see character creation and advancement examples. I'm a bit sketchy on how the advancement works exactly. Just so that I can have something to show a new player what he or she is in for. The books that you get in the box set are well-developed books. The only worry I have about the actual books has to do with the binding. I get the feeling that with a lot of reading and rereading of the various books, the binding might not hold.

What I wish though would be that there would be a connection to WFB. The original WFRP had enough connection to the war gaming part that you could, if you so desire, convert RPG characters to FB characters in order to stage large scale wars. Less so with second edition. Even lesser with this new edition. One would want to hold large scale battles simply because, well, they are enjoyable as a "climax" to a long and well developed campaign (mainly the Enemy Within campaign of the first edition RGP). Still, you aren't really losing anything if you don't care for the FB version of the game.

What does the future hold for the game? I don't know. I am interested in seeing and reading the new supplements to the game. I like what I see in terms of the new Winds of Magic box set. I also like that they've come up with several campaign boxes. The GM box looks good. I've just bought the Adventurer's box set and like the components. I would also like to see, and again, this is the gaming nerd in me speaking, miniatures that can replace the various character classes of WFRP. I mean really, who wouldn't want to have a small but vicious dog nicely painted and placed on the battlefield?

Me and my friends had a blast with this game . One of the aspects that makes it so fun is that the learning curve is small , we found the character creation process to unfold very smoothly and the pregenerated scenario that came with the core set was an absolute blast.

The materials are all very high quality and the art work is really well done.

At was shocked at first to see such negative reviews posted here , until I read them . Most of the people who dislike this product seem to be stuck on the older version of the game a common occurrence by older RPG vets.

If you thinking of investing the $60 the core set is well worth it.