Warhammer 3rd or D&D Next?

[icemaster109]

So late this summer I've promised to run an RPG for a two separate groups of people. I will have one group of 7, light to medium experience players, and another group of 3 that are completely new to the hobby. Since my schedule will be hectic I've decided to run a classic medieval fantasy game, one with a good amount of supplements and setting material to play off of. I've whittled my selection down to two games, but I can't decide which one to run. I don't have much experience with either game.

Now typically I'd never do this, but I just can't see it through this round. I need to get a second opinion. I've done quite a bit of research and have whittled it down to these two, so please humor me with the options I've got here.

Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition
Pros:
-The Core Set is sitting in my closet waiting to be opened.
-I love the Warhammer Fantasy Setting, I think it will be appealing to most of my players as well.
-It looks good. Amazing art, player cards, and doodads will really draw in my players and make the world feel more immersive.
-The the more narrative mechanics will resonate with the experienced players more.

Cons:
-The Core set only supports up to 3 players. I'd have to purchase an expansion.
-Expanding will be pricey. The modules, toolkits, and other goodies were already price heavy. Now that production has ceased, prices for components are more expensive and harder to find.
-All the fiddly bits may be intimidating to some of the players.
-Some camps say that combat mechanics and other mechanics can be slow, others say it's fast an easy to get. I've yet to read into so I dunno.

D&D Next
Pros:
-Support is​ a given. Although initially I'll have to start from the basic set and work with what I've got until the supplements come out, eventually support will be widely available.
-D&D looks like it's going to push some online support. That would be very popular with my players. Especially an online character builder.
-Reports from playtests indicate that mechanics are fairly smooth and fast - good for the large groups.
-May end up cheaper than Warhammer at this rate.

Cons:
-Settings in D&D are a bit icky to me. Most are intimidatingly large to grasp. From what I've read, they range conceptually from "corny" to "bland and uninteresting". I would prefer not to spend to much time writing worlds and tapping into published support.
-I'll have to fudge it together for awhile as things are gradually released.
-The game hasn't been released yet. It could be awful.

 

[innerdude]

Call me crazy, but the most important factor for you is: What kind of game do you want to run?

The reason to run a WFRP 3e game is because you believe that the overall system, with its narrative dice mechanics, will produce the kind of game you want to be involved in. If it's going to produce the kind of game you want, then run with it.

As far as expansions, I doubt you NEED an expansion. Maybe pick up an extra set of dice, or whatever. But I'm willing to bet the core set you have has enough "game" in it for 4-5 players. They're not all going to be running the same character type / class. They won't all be fighting over the same tokens. To me, this is the "selling point" of choosing Warhammer---you're going to get a more unique experience than with D&D 5e. Whether that uniqueness is a positive or negative, only you and your group will really know.

In D&D's favor, it's a known quantity. It's . . . D&D. For good or ill, with all of its positive traits and flaws.

But as far as settings and support goes? You have NOTHING to worry about. For $50, you could probably buy enough professionally-written setting / adventure / plot material on PDF than you'll use in a year. Take a setting from another system and convert it. Most people seem to be saying that converting stuff to D&D 5e is easy, because if the way the "basic" core is set up. The entire run of 3.x and Pathfinder material would be easily convertible to 5e.

(To be honest, I think you should choose Savage Worlds over either of them, but that's neither here nor there. But if you are interested, you can find out more about it there and here.)

 

[Azgulor]

I too, suggest Savage Worlds over either of the two systems. It's incredibly quick for newbies to pick up.

You can likely find some Savage World conversions of the Warhammer setting but honestly, I'd pull the setting info from your current books and just use Savage Worlds. To expand beyond what's in the core rulebook, you could pick up the Fantasy & Horror companions to expand the fantasy elements and bring that dark magic/horror side of Warhammer. All of the SW books are relatively inexpensive, especially in comparison to supplement heavy lines like Warhammer & D&D.

 

[Scorpio616]

Unless you can sell the game off, might as well try WFRP3E. You sure you can't play more than 3 people with some judicious photocopying? Photocopy basic action cards and stick the paper into a card condom with some playing card for backing.

BTW expect rebellion if you have superstitious gamers who dislike shared dice.

 

[pogre]

Run a one shot with both systems and see which is more satisfying. For the reasons you mentioned I would go with D&D 5e. WFRP 3e is a dead game at this point - I am biased - I tried WFRP 3e and did not care for it. Nothing wrong with the game per se, but did not capture the WFRP atmosphere for my group.

 

[Emirikol]

You don't need any expansions for WFRP3. Start with your CORE SET and you can look at other stuff later. I've been playing this game since it was released and have worked on lots of fan stuff for it.

The only things you need for more than 3 players is this: BASIC ACTION SUMMARY SHEET http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/wfrp/support/players-guide/wfrp-basic-action-reference.pdf

Run the Day Late, Shilling Short demo adventure with the pre-generated characters and you'll get a feel for the game very quickly: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=93&esem=4


There is a TON of stuff out for it, and even now that it's out of print, it's fairly easy and cheap to pick up\ through various suppliers.

If you do decide to play, I highly recommend that you download LIBER FANATICA 7 and take a good look at all of the Pre-Generated characters i there (google Liber Fanatica 7).

Here is another tip: http://rpggeek.com/thread/915289/tutorial-how-to-learn-it-how-to-teach-wfrp3


Lastly, here's an online dice roller that you can mess around with: https://googledrive.com/host/0B27SCDR38xFuNE96TGV4S1Jjdlk/rollers/wfrp3e/#

jh







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[Gundark]

D&D 5 with a setting that looks like the war hammer world. You really do need to have another set to run more people with the warhammer rpg.

 

[Emirikol]

I tried 4e in the Warhammer world, but it really didn't work out (for numerous reasons). I toyed with playing in the Melnibone world as well because that's really bizarre. In the end, we simply started in 2nd edition WFRP and now play 3rd edition WFRP (oh, the pretty colors

Here's my house rulebook (always in beta):https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/167876/WFRP%20STUFF/WFRP3%20HAFNER%20Houserules%20v11c%20The%20Enemy%20Within%20beta.doc

The benefit of 5e is that it will be in print. The benefit of WFRP3 is that, when it was released, all of those components that you could use were really novel..and the non-binary dice approach was a big hit with people. It is a lot more involved game though and players can't really "sleep" through sessions. There is always interpretation of the dice going on.

If you'd like to chat more about it, you can PM me or contact me on the FFG forums (I"m the same handle there).

jh