Reviews

Since this is a rather lengthy review, I thought I’d start at the end. If you just want the highlights, you’ll find them here, and then those brave souls who crave more detail can continue into the rest of the review.

Production Values: 5 of 5. FFG has been doing high-quality games for many years now, and it shows. Art on the components, cards and books is excellent, and everything is in full color. The layout fades into the background, as it should, and makes things easy to read.

Game System: 4 of 5. They took a real chance in changing the system so drastically from the 2nd edition, and it really paid off. The dice pool mechanic becomes transparent very quickly and allows both the GM and players to really concentrate on telling the story. However, while completely playable out of the box, it feels like some sections, such as the bestiary and spell lists, are incomplete.

Organization: 3 of 5. The books lack an index, and while they do some cross-referencing, it’s not enough to make up for the lack. In the beginning you’ll find yourself going to the Table of Contents many times and wishing it was more exhaustive. On the positive side, the system is simple enough that after just a few sessions, you don’t need to reference them much. That’s scant comfort when you’re combong through the books for “that rule.”

Game Play: 5 of 5. Despite some reservations, our game group picked it up quickly and had fun playing. As a GM inclined towards storytelling, I found it really delivered in fostering the story without adding complexity. Player turns roll around the table much more quickly than in many other systems, which keeps the players more engaged in the adventure.

Value: 4 of 5. This is a tough call, and could well have been a “3.” It’s an expensive box designed for use by the entire group rather than for one player or GM. There are lots of quality components, but the $99 price tag will be a barrier for entry to some groups, especially “pick ups.” As mentioned above, it’s completely playable out of the box, but those changing over from previous editions will have a nagging feeling that it will be much better after a supplement or two.

Overall: 4 of 5. While not perfect, this is a solid game based on a simple, elegant system that encourages roleplaying and storytelling in your games. If you’ve been sitting on the fence, this game will win you over after you play it a few times.

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On December 4th, 2009 an era comes to an end: the era of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition (WFRP2). With WFRP 3rd edition (WFRP3) shipping soon, the current licensee of the WFRP, Fantasy Flight Games stops the support of the second edition. This means not only that they (FFG) will no longer advertise the 2nd edition game, it’s also the end of their forums for WFRP2.

It might feel like a fist in the faces of all fans of WFRP2 who supported the game after FFG took over the game from Black Industries. Sure, we all knew something like this would happen sooner or later. But not now, ey?

To be honest, everybody who believed that FFG will continue to support WFRP2 was a dreamer. It was clear that they will stop their support for the old game as soon as possible. It was the same with Black Industries when they first released WFRP2: they didn’t like posts about the original version of WFRP in their forum. If I remember correctly, some people even got banned because of posting v1 stuff.

So one could say that FFG was more than humane that they left the WFRP2-forums online that long. And it’s mostly the forums that are important this time. FFG did not provide so much material for download that one could regret the diminishing of their support site.

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Graeme Davis pointed me to this trailer for  ‘I sell the Dead’ which could be used as a great inspiration for WFRP-grave robber adventure/campaign.

Written by Eric Cagle, David Chart, Steve Darlington, Andrew Law, Jody MacGregor, and Chris Pramas.

Like it says on the tin, Shades of Empire is a collection of articles detailing nine different organizations in the Old World. Some of these can be used anywhere but the emphasis is undoubtedly upon the Empire, which should not be a great surprise. Each article follows a similar format with a general description being followed by a GM’s section containing a number of secrets; there are also sample NPC ‘mentors’, locations and some plot hooks. Also included are several Hedgefolk careers as well as the Pamphleteer, Cadet, and Admiral options. All of the articles have been designed so that PCs can actually join the groups should the GM deem it appropriate. The book does contain a considerable number of typos and printing errors but the text remains easily comprehensible. The ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ approach to supplements can easily be a recipe for inconsistency and as each of these articles deals with a separate topic they deserve attention in their own right.

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When I relaunched Strike to Stun a few months ago I planned the first review published on the new site would be ‘The Thousand Thrones’ (TTT). From the previews it sounded very promising and I expected another great epic campaign for WFRP. When I finally got it and quickly browsed through it I was left with a strange feeling. A feeling that left me expecting the worst… But anyway I always try to stay positive and so I tried to read the book. And I tell you what: after more than two months I wasn’t able to finish reading through. And not because of lack of time, no, because it is so bad. The first thing that came in mind was ‘Dying of the Light’. Like this old WFRP1-campaign TTT was not written by one author but a group of different authors. This means that you have just a collection of separate adventures that are following a red thread. Sometimes you get the feeling that some of the adventures have absolutely nothing to do with the major campaign. And as every adventure was written by diffent authors the quality is also varying greatly between average and utter crap (sorry for this word). I stopped seriously reading the book in the chapter where the adventurers got  arrested and while not staying in jail they have to search for a chicken (!) instead. I cannot deny the feeling that Black Industries wanted to quickly throw a last adventure at the market before they closed down as I cannot imagine that they had a serious quality control running on that stuff. So I decided not to write a “real” review about that supplement. I can only give you this advice: if you haven’t bought it yet, don’t waste your money. There are a lot of good fanmade campaigns out there that are far better and for free. I  hope that TTT was not the first in a series of bad publications for WFRP. Hopefully FFGs forthcoming material will be of better quality than TTT.

Mythic Entertainment recently released the MMORPG Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR), the online roleplaying game placed in Games Workshops world of Warhammer.  I thought long if I should give it a try and I nearly resisted two weeks after its initial release. But finally I got me a copy of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning yesterday. I will give you my first impressions of the game here. (more…)

Soon you will find here reviews of WFRP-stuff.