Saturday, November 7, 2009

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay


Ok I wanted to share some thoughts on the move by Fantasy Flight Games to completely redo the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay system.  Here is a cool video on third edition BTW ... undeniably cool stuff. Its old news they announced that back on August 9th so that isn't the nature of this post as for the actual release of 3E I don't know ... haven't heard and would speculate sometime next year. I'm just lining up things I want to do this coming year and DMing a WHFB game is on the table for me ... I really want to do it. If I can pull that off I'm going to try a Dark Heresy game as well. But thinking about that got me thinking about why I'm so sad to see such a good game get ground into hamburger at the feet of the almighty alter of the dollar.  While I always applaud new GW related products ... and I generally am a FFG fan. I hate collectible gaming and FFG has pushed board games and Non-CCG games in that direction more and more. Actually look at this product and you'll see it ... what 3E is going to be is a boardgame-RPG hybrid ... where you can't play the game with regular dice ... you need to drop the 100 bucks (or how much ever for a player pack or whatever) just to play the game. No buying the books and OWNING the entertainment ... nope ... FFG doesn't like that ... they want you to have to come to them and give them money more often than just at the initial buy in.
 
My theory is that FFG picked up the GW boardgame license in February of 2008 WHFB was already rolling pretty heavy the core rules already released as of March of 2005, the big surge of purchasing into the system already gone by. Dark Heresy had only just released. So FFG has made alot more money on the Dark Heresy stuff and probably not so much on the WHFB stuff. Not to metion I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Dark Heresy outsells WHFB two to one as there are soooo many other fantasy roleplay systems and D&D is the granddaddy of em all ... so competition for gamer dollars is more stiff on the fantasy side. So there is my conspiracy theory ... I see this move to revamp a system that is amazingly good ... doesn't need an update, etc. as just that. A way to boost sales as they have this under a licensing agreement that I'm sure will expire sometime over the next five or so years ... so I bet they want to grind every nickle out of their license. GW is probably even pushing them to do so.

Unfortunately RPGs are now competing with World of Warcraft and that is undeniably where 4E went and I think WHFB will be going the same direction. Will I buy into the new system ... probably ... but only after I acquire a complete collection of the current WHFB stuff and that will be my WHFB Advanced game forever ... its a beautiful system that is really enjoyable to play and I will be sad to see it go. I really do hope though that new people are brought to GW products and to RPGs because of the new FFG system.

6 comments:

Will said...

It really is sad, WHFRP holds a special place in my heart as the first really, truely great RP campaign I was a part of. It went on for well over a year, the DM was incredible, and it was so different from DnD-the mechanics were fun and realistic and not broken and rules heavy. That said, I hope i get a chance to at least play a little of the new rules set and see what its worth.

Alexander Man said...

The game looked good on the video... but maybe not my kind of game. Looks like its made for youngsters and teenagers who like the collectible card games... and World of Warcraft

I have played the old WH roleplay and loved it. We had some great adventures in the dark world of Warhammer. This doesn´t look like game of dark tales...

Bodlar said...

It's the natural progression of things. These companies exist to make money, and once people have purchased all the books they plan to for a given series they have to "improve" the game and relase a new edition. This doesn't mean the system is dead. It's still there. You can still enjoy it just the same. Years after 3rd edition came out I still hated it and ran one of the biggest most epic 2nd edition D&D campaigns of all time at the LOE's house. At one point we had 12 players around that table and every one of them had a good time. Just because a system isn't in print doesn't mean its dead. From what I have seen of Dark Heresy so far I really want to get into WFRPG since the systems appear somewhat similar.

-Bod

The Lord of Excess said...

I agree Bodlar ... undeniably the inexorable march of time and the profit motive causes the games we know and love to be revised, revamped and even tossed on the scrap heap in some cases. But my point here and really my worry isn't that this is just a simple revision of the game ... not at all. This is taking a traditional pen and paper RPG and making it into some odd board game RPG hybrid. That is not at all similar to what happened from original white box D&D to the present version. 4E is still a pen and paper RPG ... 3E WHFB is a board game with special dice, character cards, tokens, yada yada ... from the looks and sounds of it. The design is clearly intended to maximize FFG's income off of this licensed product. Do I blame them for practicing capitalism? Yes ... but no more than any other company out there. What really worries me is they are reducing "own-able" content ... making it cost people more and making it harder for people to share with each other. That said its still going to be ownable like any board game or RPG ... just the barrier of entry is going to be a lot higher. But your other point I whole wholeheartedly agree with ... I will buy every single WHRP book and supplement for 2E that is in print and not some crazy limited edition 200 buck item ... all the core stuff, modules, supplements, etc. I'm going to grab over the next year or so. Then 2E WHRP will indeed live on in my gaming groups. If FFG is successful with this model I think this might be a paradigm shift in how RPGs are done

Bodlar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bodlar said...

They are compeltely following the trend being set by wizards. 4E is a glorified skirmish pen and paper wannabe MMO. You literally cannot play that game without a map. Ergo FFG is taking it just one small step further and including the map. I think it's disgusting too and I would never buy a product along those lines.

However, one of my favorite games of all time was an all inclusive RPG lite board game. Mutant Chronicles. It was the same formula and that game was made 15 or so years ago. There is potential for fun and greatness still, but calling it a new edition of WHFRPG is bullshit. Call it warhammer fantasy rpg battles edition or some such imo.