Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay vs Warhammer Age of Sigmar Roleplay

[MGibster]

Cool mini. Did you paint it? It's a lovely paint job.

I did. I purchased the recently released Dominion boxed set and I had a great time painting the Stormcast figures. I don't particularly care for the ork figures though. They're well sculpted but I prefer the goofy malevolence of old school orks.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I love the detail on that guy's face.

That's some excellent work. You need to start an "MGibsters Minis thread" like a couple of other posters here.

 

[Emirikol]

AoS is simply one of MANY alternate timelineS for Old World future.
As for the rules, I prefer them TO WFRP2/4 but for the unkillable character in an over the top fantasy experience, we just play dnd5 in the FR campaigns.
Most of my group is older so there's not really much we haven't tried, but we seem to have settled more into character story driven campaigns rather than character POWER campaigns.
Cheers to those of you who love fantasy warhammer, no matter what timeline you play.

 

[macd21]

Sorry, English isn't my native language, sometimes I had difficulties to write correctly my ideas.

As I had understood it initially, AoS was a total rebranding of Warhammer, that way they had better controls over IP, naming, etc. I wasn't expecting they would ALSO redo the Old World as well? Or maybe they noticed that old fans were more fans of the old setting than the new.

It feels like if Paizo decided to restart doing Pathfinder 1E stuff.

When they first released the AoS war game, they ‘killed’ Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB). They’re now releasing a new war game set in the Old World, but set a few hundred years before the time frame of WFB (or Total Warhammer). This gives them a lot more flexibility in terms of setting.

And the amount of time that has passed in the real world gives them more flexibility in game design. They can ditch elements of previous editions without facing as much of a backlash from existing fans (many of whom will have moved on).

WFRP 4 is set about 10 years before the WFB/TW time frame - so there aren’t massive armies ravaging the Empire (yet).

 

[turnip_farmer]

Old-School Warhammer Fantasy, both the miniatures game and the RPG, are very grimdark . . . pretty sure Warhammer is where the term "grimdark" comes from.

Technically, it would be from 40k. "In the grim, dark future of the 41st millennium, there is only war" it says on the side of my 2nd edition box set.

Interesting that you do like 40k but not fantasy if you're put off by the grimness. I don't know if the presentation evolved later, but when I was big into Warhammer as a kid, the fantasy stuff was usually much more light-hearted than 40k. 40k is nothing but unrelenting horror, misery and suffering for everyone, all the time. There are no heroes. The Imperium is a monstrous regime based on extremist, unreasoning religious fundamentalism, and the brutal suppression of all dissent with no concern for collateral damage. And most of their opponents are worse.

Don't get me wrong, I love 40k. I'm just a bit baffled that someone turned off by grimdark likes the game in which there is no time for peace, no respite, no forgiveness. There is only war.

 

[Dire Bare]

Technically, it would be from 40k. "In the grim, dark future of the 41st millennium, there is only war" it says on the side of my 2nd edition box set.

Interesting that you do like 40k but not fantasy if you're put off by the grimness. I don't know if the presentation evolved later, but when I was big into Warhammer as a kid, the fantasy stuff was usually much more light-hearted than 40k. 40k is nothing but unrelenting horror, misery and suffering for everyone, all the time. There are no heroes. The Imperium is a monstrous regime based on extremist, unreasoning religious fundamentalism, and the brutal suppression of all dissent with no concern for collateral damage. And most of their opponents are worse.

Don't get me wrong, I love 40k. I'm just a bit baffled that someone turned off by grimdark likes the game in which there is no time for peace, no respite, no forgiveness. There is only war.

I think I dig 40K because . . . . I don't read the novels, comics, and not even most of the lore in various rulebooks anymore. I just play the game and look at the various factions at a surface level, without diving deep into their lore.

If you don't look too closely at 40k . . . . the Space Marines, the Eldar, and the Tau come across as "good" while Orks, Necrons, and Chaos come across as cartoonishly "evil".

Of course, I'm aware that a more closer look at any 40K faction . . . . there are no "good guys" and everyone in the universe is pretty terrible, in different ways. The Imperium of Man is dystopian to the extreme.

I think what turned me off from Old School Warhammer Fantasy is the artwork mostly, and I already had a decent fantasy game to play, D&D.

 

[Retreater]

I think what turned me off from Old School Warhammer Fantasy is the artwork mostly, and I already had a decent fantasy game to play, D&D.

I like the setting, how it is (somewhat) tied to historical analogues and has a sense of verisimilitude I haven't found in any D&D setting. It also has some great, unique adventures that focus on intrigue, exploration, and story (beyond what D&D has ever done, IMO). But, yeah, I kind of wish all of that was done with the D&D rules. (Coming from a guy who is currently prepping a 4E WFRP campaign.)

 

[overgeeked]

I like the setting, how it is (somewhat) tied to historical analogues and has a sense of verisimilitude I haven't found in any D&D setting. It also has some great, unique adventures that focus on intrigue, exploration, and story (beyond what D&D has ever done, IMO). But, yeah, I kind of wish all of that was done with the D&D rules. (Coming from a guy who is currently prepping a 4E WFRP campaign.)

Same. I vastly prefer the Old World to almost every setting TSR/WotC has put out for D&D. It's a rich, textured world with interesting races and factions. That it doesn't take itself too seriously is a great perk.

There's only a few bits you'd need to make a serviceable WFRP game with D&D5E. Death and dying, critical hits, and magic as far as the rules go. You don't go unconscious at zero hp and failed death saves clear like exhaustion levels. Use the lingering wounds optional rules from the DMG and drastically expand the list and you're basically at critical hits. Include some kind of roll to cast, the chance to fumble, and the possibility of being sucked into the warp. Then just make custom backgrounds for the careers and have each level of each class have a different career title, or just slap one on that makes sense in the moment.

 

[Retreater]

Same. I vastly prefer the Old World to almost every setting TSR/WotC has put out for D&D. It's a rich, textured world with interesting races and factions. That it doesn't take itself too seriously is a great perk.

There's only a few bits you'd need to make a serviceable WFRP game with D&D5E. Death and dying, critical hits, and magic as far as the rules go. You don't go unconscious at zero hp and failed death saves clear like exhaustion levels. Use the lingering wounds optional rules from the DMG and drastically expand the list and you're basically at critical hits. Include some kind of roll to cast, the chance to fumble, and the possibility of being sucked into the warp. Then just make custom backgrounds for the careers and have each level of each class have a different career title, or just slap one on that makes sense in the moment.

Well, and cap it at 2nd or 3rd level and don't advance it. :/

 

[Neonchameleon]

As I expected, more than a few jabs at the newer setting, Age of Sigmar, from some old-school players. I think it's important to note that Age of Sigmar exists for a reason, and has more than just a few fans. Even a few fans who've been around for a while!

However the reason is partly due to GW messing up their trademarks in their fiasco lawsuit against Chapterhouse and partly due to Warhammer Fantasy Battle wanting more minis in rank and file on the tabletop than anyone wanted to paint.

None of this has to do with the RPG. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay came out in 1986, three years after Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The original release was the 1983 (or 1982) "Warhammer the mass combat fantasy role-playing game" with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay created by some of the same people.

Meanwhile Age of Sigmar was a mess to the point of not having a points system when it came out. It's better now than it was. As for the RPG, it was published five years later by an entirely different company. It's a tie-in rather than core to the setting and in places it shows.

Old-School Warhammer Fantasy, both the miniatures game and the RPG, are very grimdark . . . pretty sure Warhammer is where the term "grimdark" comes from.

"In the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium there is only war". It was a 40k not a fantasy tagline. Meanwhile the WFRP tagline was "A grim world of perilous adventure".

New-school Warhammer, Age of Sigmar, has a lot in common with it's predecessor, but has a very different tone and feel. It doesn't totally leave grimdark behind, but is much more high fantasy. It's REALLY high fantasy, the "highest" I've come across. It's also pretty heavy metal, but more high-brow, almost surrealistic, maybe more prog-rock than heavy metal . . .

It's also got a number of things going for it including Drycha's version of wood elves that appeal to groups that WFB didn't. And I'm sure the Sigmarines have fans.

The part I find really weird is the lack of heavily armoured dwarves.