Warhammer FRPG

[Hand of Evil]

So, when people always said" Warhammer is grim & gritty, you don't start as Fighter or Wizard but as Ratcatcher" it actually meant "Rat Catcher is really powerful in Warhammer"?

From my experience, I think skills like Dodge Blow is no less important than Resist Disease - in fact, it might be more important.

Rat Catcher is a good starting career. As far as skills go, it depends on your game and your GM. I have run games where combat was the last resort, where the players did a good bit to try and NOT get into fights (even the ones they could win)! Stuff, like going for the guard instead of charging into a warehouse.

Maybe it was just my players but I have a house rules "that only stupidity kills PCs" and "heroics are rewarded."

I also have random sickness (bugs) that maybe running about town.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

From my experience, I think skills like Dodge Blow is no less important than Resist Disease - in fact, it might be more important.

Absolutely, but only warrior type careers get dodge blow, thieves and their ilk seldom do. So, perhaps I should have said the rat catcher is an extremely versatile roguish career. In a stand up fight with a pit fighter, he will look very underpowered, and rightly so.

 

[Primal]

Rat Catcher is a good starting career. As far as skills go, it depends on your game and your GM. I have run games where combat was the last resort, where the players did a good bit to try and NOT get into fights (even the ones they could win)! Stuff, like going for the guard instead of charging into a warehouse.

Maybe it was just my players but I have a house rules "that only stupidity kills PCs" and "heroics are rewarded."

I also have random sickness (bugs) that maybe running about town.

I get a vibe that FFG wants to change WFRP's genre from Dark Fantasy to Heroic Fantasy -- maybe 4E's success has something to do with it and maybe not. It's also likely, in my opinion, that they see power cards and even stronger reliance on minis and battlemats as a green light for bringing in more boardgame elements to mainstream RPGs (indie RPGs have done this for years).

The problem is, 4E is generic fantasy, and it's unlikely WFRP can shove it out of its position as the most popular fantasy RPG and the easiest entry-level RPG; especially with that price tag. I won't pay a 100 dollars for another Heroic Fantasy game that tries its best to emulate D&D. A large part of WFRP's charm (at least for the guys I know) has been the grim'n'gritty system and the whole dark atmosphere in the setting (and I didn't like how 2nd Edition got rid of some of it; I certainly don't want to see it taken further). Ergo, I don't necessarily see this going over very will the existing fan base.

It may also be too much for boardgame fans; after all, you get two (or even three) games for the price of WFRP boxed set. And why would they pay that extra to try out "this role-playing thing"? If they want to try a role-playing game, you can get most systems for *half* that price.

Anyway, that's just my take on it...

 

[LostSoul]

Check it out:

WFRP 3rd Edition Seminar by Jay Little

 

[Primal]

Looks like all those different sheets and props and cards and whatnot will take up so much space on the table, that there's no space for minis or books... Power Cards, Status Cards, Rules Cards, Wound Cards, Insanity Cards, Special Action Cards... what else? Oh, tokens, right...

And I have to say that enforced party dynamics ("Tension Meter") plus Quest Cards (or whatever the "motivation card" is called) are a bad idea, IMO.

Oh, well, to me it looks like a glorified boardgame with some role-playing elements to it -- somewhere between HeroQuest and Advanced HeroQuest.

In full color, though. At least that is something.