The Return of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

The announcement…

Back in May, Cubicle 7 announced that they had acquired the license to produce the 4^th edition of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game (WFRP). I was immediately excited by the news, as I’ve been a fan of WFRP since I bought the 1^st edition big hardcover book back in 1988.

I’m also very impressed by the other games published by Cubicle 7, such as the Lone Wolf Adventure Game, The One Ring rpg, and the Doctor Who rpg.

So, needless to say, I have high expectations for this new edition. Especially since I still own, in print, a host of first edition WFRP books, and every book published for the second edition.

What’s also great is that Cubicle 7 has brought back the entire 2^nd edition line in PDF, and has now just released the original 1^st edition core rulebook as a PDF.

…and a small but vicious dog

WFRP was quite a change from other fantasy rpgs back when it was first published. Probably the best quote I’ve heard about the original game is this:

“You think you’re playing a game of heroic fantasy, but actually you’re playing a game of Call of Cthulhu.”

I remember when my best friend Dan created his apprentice wizard, whose one and only spell was Produce Snake. Note that this wasn’t a poisonous snake, or a giant snake, or a magical snake. It was just a common snake. Over the long campaign that followed, Dan’s apprentice wizard grew into his power until he was quite a force to be reckoned with. But for a good chunk of that campaign, he was forced to rely on his wits more than his magic, and he still talks about how much fun he had in that campaign.

The characters in a WFRP campaign were an eclectic mix and were rarely people who could stand up to evil humanoids in a straight-on fight. It was a different kind of game, one that dripped with flavour and that encouraged creative solutions to problems.

The Enemy Within

This campaign is still considered by many to be one of the best campaigns ever published. I ran my players through it back in the late 1980’s, and they had an absolute blast.

Cubicle 7 has announced that they will also be publishing a revised version of The Enemy Within for their 4^th edition WFRP. I can’t wait to get a look at what they’ve done with it—while the original was great, there were areas where it could be improved. I expect the team at Cubicle 7 will do a great job smoothing out the rough spots and making it a memorable experience for a new generation of gamers.

But When?

The only unfortunate news related to this new edition of WFRP is that it won’t be released until mid-2018. But I’m glad they are taking the needed time to make the game the best it can be. I have a lot of faith in Cubicle 7 to produce something that captures the feeling of the early editions while improving the system where necessary to facilitate the type of play that fans of WFRP most enjoy.

When did you first discover WFRP? What poor victim was your first character? What was your favourite part of the WFRP game (any edition)? Tell us about it in the comments.