Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 5th Edition Is Coming in 2026

2026 will the 40th anniversary of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the classic British fantasy TTRPG launched in 1986 by Games Workshop. It's also the year of a brand new edition of the game, with WFRP 5E hitting shelves, courtesy of Cubicle 7.

Cubicle 7's CEO Dominic McDowall, in an interview with Wargamer, indicated that the new edition will be backwards compatible with 4th edition, retaining the classic d100 system, and set in a similar time period. There will be a conversion document of sorts, but most older material will be usable with ease.

McDowall said that the goal is to 'standardize' things more, and remove subsystems which don't add enough player satisfaction in relation to their complexity. Existing 4th Edition books will not be re-released, and a new 'mega campaign' is being worked on.

WFRP has been published by various publishers over the decades--Games Workshop, Hogshead Publishing, Green Ronin/Black Industries, Fantasy Flight Games, and--since 2018--Cubicle 7. The game is set in a 'grimdark' fantasy setting called the 'Old World', with various regions very loosely based on countries in the Middle Ages. One of the game's predominant themes is the battle against Chaos, as represented by beastmen, mutated ratmen (Skaven), and dark cults.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Or as discussed earlier and in this thread Adventures in Ubersreik published by Cubicle 7 for WFRP 4e [Spoilers]
The started set for 4e is a brilliant product that is largely edition agnostic.

My only bug with the starter set is that the premade characters have a lots of XP, and it doesn't adequately reflect the power level when starting a new char.

 

[kronovan]

Or as discussed earlier and in this thread Adventures in Ubersreik published by Cubicle 7 for WFRP 4e [Spoilers]
The started set for 4e is a brilliant product that is largely edition agnostic.

Yes well, talk about a product missing from retail. I don't doubt it's a quality product, because it quickly disappeared from store shelves here. I know of only 1 store in my county that has the WHFRP starter set and they charge about double for it. Not to mention there 500 miles away as the eagle flies, so I'd have to pay shipping. With so much uncertainty and high costs ordering it from a another country - yeah, I won't be buying that box.

 

[MNblockhead]

That has the opposite effect on me. They’ve known that 5E is coming for two years, what the changes are, and it’s still an ongoing dev process for the VTT module. That tells me the changes are absolutely massive and that 5E will be dramatically different from 4E. If it were a few minor fixes and streamlining it wouldn’t take two years to update things.

Maybe, but supporting such a crunchy system like WFRP with all the QOL features and automations Mooman has worked into the Foundry WFRP game system is a huge undertaking for what is mostly one developer with some community support. And it is not the only Cubicle7 game system he is developing for in Foundry. Small tweaks to rules in print can lead to a lot of development work given the inter‑dependencies and troubleshooting. Let's be honest, even though the WFRP4e game system for Foundry is among the best available for foundry they are still ironing out bugs and it can feel like a hidden‑rules game at time. I'm not knocking Mooman and it is very impressive what he's done, but it has been a challenge to properly support all the crunch in 4e. Even "simple" changes can lead to non‑trivial development work.

 

[MNblockhead]

Yep, figured that was the case - the WHFRP 3 book I was lent was published by FFG. Even if there was a drivethrurpg WHFRP 2 POD around then, I wouldn't have considered it because I'm in Canada and PODs from them had VERY high shipping costs then - probably would have been just as cheap to buy a preown.

While I feel I missed the boat on WHRRP, I'm still open to WH40k. A local vidogame co. that devs games for the 40k verse is only blocks from me. I met one of their ex-employees who still RPs with some of the staff, but they're playing with FFG Dark Heresy. They mentioned they were considering moving to one of the C7 TTRPGs.

Why do I mention all this... because I way eyeing Wrath & Glory Revised for a while, but print copies in my area are in the same state that WHFRP 2 was back in 2010 - not a copy anywhere. Even online stores on the other side of the country are sold out. Meanwhile, buying it directly would fetch me a shipping cost almost equal to the cost of the book - yikes! Anyhow...I was told by a buddy who's a 40k miniatures fan that Dark Heresy players probably wouldn't enjoy W&G anyways. There's a newer WH40k RPG out from C7, but it's already sold out at LGSs. <sigh> I live in a city with a couple of Warhammer stores, but of course being from a 3rd party publisher, they don't carry the TTRPGs. I'm thinking I probably missed the boat on WH40k too.

Yeah, I feel that if you don't buy the physical books soon after they come out, you are going to have to eat some hefty shipping costs ordering from Cubicle7‑‑if they even still have them in stock. I have access to some great FFGS and none care much Cubicle7 stuff and don't restock when they've sold out. I was also disappointed that nobody was selling Cubicle7 books at Gamehold Con this year. Last year there was at least one vendor who had a good selection of books (though almost no WFRP4e), but I could find almost nothing this year. Free League had a great presence, but Cubicle7 was missing. Most WFRP4e material I own is in digital formats.

 

[MNblockhead]

Fun fact. One the players in my online game does coding for the updates for them. He’s very handy to have around - it’s like having a Foundry Grand Master on retainer. Even though I’m the DM.

I am so very jealous of you right now. :‑)

 

[MNblockhead]

Well low & behold, today (Monday) new copies of the WHFRP 4e CRB appeared at 2 online stores in my country that I recently browsed. I'm surprised, because it's listed for the same price at both (not common here) and for the lowest I've ever seen it. One of them has it listed as a limited time offer - hmm. Makes me wonder why now when its end is soon?

Seems curious when they announce a new edition and shortly after a book that's been missing from retail for a while, is suddenly there? I don't want to be skeptical or cynical, but is it possible that distributors are dumping copies into our CDN market, now that it's less attractive in others? For those retailers here who ever ordered such books, feel free to tell me that from the time of the recent announcement to now, that timing would be too tight for that to be true.

Anyhow...it's listed at the equivalent of $45 USD - a good price here, but not sure about elsewhere? I'm eligible for free shipping from one of the stores, so that + taxes would be my final. I was really looking to get a WH40K W&G CRB, but this seems like a good deal. It's been many moons since I read my WHFRP PDF, but I remember thinking it was a bit incomplete in a few areas. Were there errata released for it?

Well...I'm pondering whether I should press the [buy] button for this, or just wait till 5e is released? One thing for sure, there's no way in the darkest depths of the realm of chaos, that the WHFRP 5e CRB will be nearly as cheap here.

If you are looking to jump in, I would wait for 5e for a physical book or buy the starter set. One problem with 4e at this point, and why I welcome 5e if they do it right, is that you almost need to buy multiple books. At least Winds of Magic. If they can combine, streamline, and better organize the rules from 4e Core, Winds of Magic, and Up in Arms I'll happily by the new 5e book.

 

[MNblockhead]

Yes well, talk about a product missing from retail. I don't doubt it's a quality product, because it quickly disappeared from store shelves here. I know of only 1 store in my county that has the WHFRP starter set and they charge about double for it. Not to mention there 500 miles away as the eagle flies, so I'd have to pay shipping. With so much uncertainty and high costs ordering it from a another country - yeah, I won't be buying that box.

I buy nearly all adventure material in digital formats. I personally don't find the cost and bookshelf space worth it to get most adventure books in print. The one exception is The Enemy Within books. Several of them have a lot of additional rules (e.g for road and river travel, trade, etc.) AND some of them are quite complex. I have the PDFs and Foundry modules for all TEW books. But I'm running Power Behind the Throne now and would find it much easier to digest in print. It is a very complex adventure to run.

But Rough Nights & Hard Days and the various Ubersreik Adventures books are very easy to digest and run from PDF. Also, Cubicle 7 has a bunch of small adventures as PDF only on DTRPG that are worth looking at, including a lot of updated classic adventures.