Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - 2e vs 4e

[Mankcam]

I also have the Zweihander core book and Main Gauche companion, and I actually prefer the Zweihander character sheet. It just seems a little cleaner and much less cluttered to read.
But overall I prefer the WFRP 4E game play with Success Levels and whatnot, and WFRP 4E is what I'll be running, given the content I have for it.

Zweihander is a decent system for a generic grimdark set of mechanics if one doesnt want The Old World setting, but my personal tastes lean towards Mythras for this.

I did recently pick up the Zweihander campaign The Eternal Night of Lochwood, which looks absolutely great as a folk horror gothic grimdark campaign setting.
If I ever run it, then I'll convert it to WFRP 4E and tweak it for The Old World setting. It would be very easy to place the Lochwood region somewhere in the wilderness area of The Empire, perhaps on the outer wild forestland of the Reikwald between Nordland or Kislev, or perhaps near Sylvania and the World's Edge Mountains.

Cubicle 7 has also been such a great company for me to deal with as an international customer, they shall have my sword so to speak.

At this stage I will be happy if I just manage to run most of the WFRP 4E scenarios from the Ubersreik Adventures books and the Rough Nights books.

I suspect any return visits to The Old World later on will be with WFRP 4E The Enemy Within meta-campaign, but that's a distant future.

 

[Skywalker]

I have an 80% complete set of 1e and 99% complete set of 2e. I also have 3e and 4e books for The Enemy Within that aren’t covered by the 1e TEW books.

I have owned Zweihander, 3e and 4e and would happily play them, though I have sold them on due to shelf space. Looking forward to The Old World/5e as I think a tidied up 4e could be something easy to get to the table.

 

[Mankcam]

Looking forward to The Old World/5e as I think a tidied up 4e could be something easy to get to the table.

My wish list for a WFRP 5E is really just a return to a single Fate Pt economy, that's my main gripe.

Perhaps a less cluttered character sheet.
Maybe you just write in the Skills that you have, rather than having the full list printed on the sheet.

Another option is to attach the Skills to a Core Characteristic box for easy reference (like the Zweihander character sheet)

I'm overall pretty happy with WFRP 4E. I quite like Success Levels, and the Fast SL option probably should be the default.

I think if Cubicle 7 brings out a WFRP revised core book, they would be wise to not change too much - keep damage values etc the same and not change NPC/Opponent stat blocks at all

So no need for entirely new edition lines. This means that all the current resource books are valid, they can just focus on expanding the current line with new settings and scenarios books.

MCG have done this with Numenera, and I think it will work equally well with Cubicle 7 WFRP.

 

[Baulderstone]

My wish list for a WFRP 5E is really just a return to a single Fate Pt economy, that's my main gripe.

Perhaps a less cluttered character sheet.
Maybe you just write in the Skills that you have, rather than having the full list printed on the sheet.

Another option is to attach the Skills to a Core Characteristic box for easy reference (like the Zweihander character sheet)

I think everything else works fine with WFRP 4E. I quite like Success Levels, and the Fast SL option probably should be the default.

I think if Cubicle 7 brings out a WFRP revised core book, they would be wise to not change too much - keep damage values etc the same and not change NPC/Opponent stat blocks at all

So no need for entirely new edition lines. This means that all the current resource books are valid, they can just focus on expand the current line with new settings and scenarios books.

MCG have done this with Numenera, and I think it will work equally well with Cubicle 7 WFRP.

If you haven't looked at, Imperium Maledictum is more streamlined version of 4E that only had Fate Points. You might find some ideas in there. Oddly, it still uses Slow SL, despite Fast SL being widely popular among fans, at least from what I have seen. Someone at Cubicle 7 or GW really, really loves Slow SL.

 

[pawsplay]

4e might actually be really good, but 2e is so good I'm not motivated to change over. The bar is high.

 

[Mankcam]

If you haven't looked at, Imperium Maledictum is more streamlined version of 4E that only had Fate Points. You might find some ideas in there. Oddly, it still uses Slow SL, despite Fast SL being widely popular among fans, at least from what I have seen. Someone at Cubicle 7 or GW really, really loves Slow SL

Imperium Maledictum is on my wish list, I've just had other things to spend my kids inheritiance on, heh heh.

I'm pretty happy that Cubicle 7 has seen the light and streamlined the Fate Pt economy back to what it was, it is the biggest drawback in WFRP 4E as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah I'm not sure why the Fast SL isn't the default option.
I can see an argument for doing it the usual way if Critical Success were a low number (like BRP).
But the way crits/fumbles are in WFRP 4E (being doubles), it doesn't make any difference trying to roll as low as you can down to 01.

Rolling as high as you can without maxing out makes alot of sense, you can see the SL at a glance.
It isn't too arduous to do it the default way by calculating the multiples of 10 under the Skill score.
However why would anyone want to do that when the SL is seen instantly with the Fast SL method?
It really makes no sense to me.

It's the same with Wounds. I don't detract them from a Wound Tally like Hit Points, I just write them down as an accrual. It's quicker at the table, and it sort of makes more sense to 'accrue Wounds'. It's the same thing in the end.

 

[Mankcam]

4e might actually be really good, but 2e is so good I'm not motivated to change over. The bar is high.

You are not wrong saying WFRP 2E has set a high bar, and I can totally see why it's not worth changing over.
I dislike the cumbersome Fate Pt economy in WFRP 4E, and WFRP 2E certainly shines here.
I do prefer having success levels however, so WFRP 4E marginally wins for me.
But I would happily play and run both WFRP 2E and WFRP 4E at a moment's notice, they are up there with my top rpgs.

 

[Baulderstone]

It's the same with Wounds. I don't detract them from a Wound Tally like Hit Points, I just write them down as an accrual. It's quicker at the table, and works just as effectively, and it sort of makes more sense to 'accrue Wounds'. It's the same thing in the end.

I like that idea. I think I'll do that when I run it again.

 

[Baulderstone]

4e might actually be really good, but 2e is so good I'm not motivated to change over. The bar is high.

I'm not going to try and convince you. All the editions have their strengths and weaknesses. 2E is still available for sale in PDF as a bonus. And if your game is working, why mess with things?

 

[Mankcam]

I like that idea. I think I'll do that when I run it again.

It also makes WFRP feel a bit different for the players from BRP/Mythras, which I think is a good thing given the similarities in terms of game mechanics.

 

[AsenRG]

It also makes WFRP feel a bit different for the players from BRP/Mythras, which I think is a good thing given the similarities in terms of game mechanics.

IME, it's not a problem distinguishing them at all!

I like both for different reasons, though, and at the end I'd play whichever of them that someone is running.

 

[Mankcam]

IME, it's not a problem distinguishing them at all!

Both roll under percentile core mechanic, use hit locations, profession based, - these are pretty similar core mechanics in both systems, and sometimes can lead to misidentifying game mechanics.
I'm happy to make the core mechanics feel a little different, hence Wounds accrual and another reason for Fast SL.

I like both for different reasons, though, and at the end I'd play whichever of them that someone is running.

I'm on the same page with you mate!

 

[AsenRG]

Both roll under percentile core mechanic, use hit locations, profession based, - these are pretty similar to both systems, and sometimes can lead to misidentifying game mechanics.
I'm happy to make the core mechanics feel a little different, hence Wounds accrual and another reason for Fast SL.

I guess the fact that in WFRP4 you have different stats and skills that merely modify those is more important to me, then?

Based on that, I see WFRP and Maelstrom as the third big current in d100 mechanics, along with the BRP/Mythras family* and the Rolemaster family.
Also, familiarity isn't a bad thing in my book.


*I actually call them "the Siz stat family", but that's another matter!

I'm on the same page with you mate!

I never doubted you!