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The first thing "GW" game I ever played was WFRP 1st edition, back in... 1986!

I'd love to get back into WFRP, but need some help in deciding between 1st edition and 2nd edition.

So... what is the difference?

Are 2nd edition products compatible with 1st edition?

I liked 1st edition a lot, but 2nd edition seems to be a bit cheaper on the secondary market...

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated - thanks!

1st and 2nd edition are very different from each other. I'm sure you could port over 1st edition adventures into 2nd just like I could make 1st ed. D&D now fit with 4th. It's a lot of work but you could do it.

Our group really likes 2nd ed. WFRP. It is very different than some of the other RPGs out there and you need a DM who is able to make very open ended interpretations of the dice rolls. There is a basic "get X and you succeed" factor but it's really up to the DM to decide how well they succeed (or fail). If you like a rigid structure to your RPG where you can rule monger your way into/out of a situation (I'm looking at you 4th ed. D&D) then this is probably not the best game for you.

For example - our heroes were ambushed by a pair of squig hoppers on patrol. The dice come up with a successful hit for the squig which should have turned one of the party into a chew toy. However, one die comes up with a chaos star. While it could have just been considered a roll of a bane (which could have a negative effect if enough of them are rolled) it was decided the squig instead would go out of control (and with the gobbo's poor stat line it never regained control). It cut the party a break and gave the encounter a true gobbo moment.

Are you sure you're not talking about 3rd edition there?

He's talking about 3rd Ed.

The 2nd Ed WFRPG is what led to Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/etc., so the rules won't be the same, but they'll have a similar base.

I would love to get the 2nd Edition books, but not at OOP prices. Some are reasonable, but many are not. This is taking into account no one around here plays it so it would just be to read.

I'm still waffling between 1st edition and 2nd edition.

And I feel your pain Ahtman - I'll be getting them to read and reminisce, and possibly start an online play-by-post game?

I think I'm going to go with a mostly 2E approach to collecting these books, with the occasional 1E book for flavor/variety/etc.

It should work out to be a bit less expensive this way... I hope!

Update!

Via eBay and other book discounters I've been able to collect a lot of the 2E WFRP books!

Some seemingly will forever remain out of reach due to ridiculous prices - Children of the Horned Rat, Night's Dark Masters and Knights of the Grail: A Guide to Bretonnia are all REALLY expensive on the second hand market.

BUT, luckily they're all still available as PDFs legally from DriveThruRPG!

Now... I just need to find a gaming group willing to play it!

Alpharius wrote:Update!

Via eBay and other book discounters I've been able to collect a lot of the 2E WFRP books!

Some seemingly will forever remain out of reach due to ridiculous prices - Children of the Horned Rat, Night's Dark Masters and Knights of the Grail: A Guide to Bretonnia are all REALLY expensive on the second hand market.

BUT, luckily they're all still available as PDFs legally from DriveThruRPG!

Now... I just need to find a gaming group willing to play it!

Good luck. 2nd ed was the first WHFRP products I picked up, and I enjoyed reading them, but couldn't find anyone to get a game going.

If you decide to do the PB email thing, drop me a pm.

How do the rules match up with Dark Heresy?

The 2nd edition rulebook seems way more organised to me. I picked up a 1st ed rulebook just to read, and it seems there have been huge advances in design and layout since back then.

The Karak Azgal sourcebook is great. Lots more there than just dungeon crawling.

Second edition was by far the best for WFRP.

Third was a disaster...

Another update - treasure discovered!

I was searching through the storage area and I came across a box labeled "RPG".

Could it be...?

Was this the box I thought got thrown out long ago?

I opened it up and....YES!

All my old 1E WFRP stuff is in there!

Most of the "Emeny Within" campaign, and the two Doomstones volumes, along with The Restless Dead and core rule book.

I'm still going to go 2E, but it sure is nice to have all this old 1E stuff still!

Nice!

Congrats on the find. Its always cool to find hidden treasure chests

2nd edition WFRP is more streamlined than 1st.. also IMHO it's more balanced.. stat increases were lowered to +5% as opposed to +10%.. also a LOT of changes were made to careers as a whole... as a fighter/ranger you could map out your careers to give you (1st edition) +40% to agility AND +3 attacks.. that changed with 2nd edition.. again the game became more balanced.. also, and pardon the "DUH" moment but there are substantially MORE books in 2nd edition.. especially Realms of Magic.. this was the "most" awaited book for 1st edition... but it never offically was released until 2nd edition...

SO... you can port 1st edition to 2nd.. but it's pretty easy to get the 2nd edition stuff online so I would go that way... I have ALL the 2nd edition stuff released on .pdf. Granted it's SEVERAL gigs but it's fine with me... my only beef is I HATE trying to read the crap on my computer screen... so I am working on getting either a tablet of some kind.. or a Kindle Fire... haven't figured out which yet... Best of Luck... I LOVE WFRP... We started when the game first came out in 1985.. The Enemy Within is an amazing campaign... same with the Doomstones.. It was way cool putting them each together!!