Hi everyone

I'm a new GM to WFRP, but a long long time DM of D&D through 3.5 and then Pathfinder.

I became disenchanted with the d20 and D&D systems due to the overwhelming power creep and focus on character abilities over flavor, story building, and methods for encouraging storytelling during play. WFRP just has the right balance of characters vs story that I'm looking for with limited munchkining (as far as I can tell).

However, I loved the subscription model that Pathfinder has for releasing new source material as well as adventures which form a story arc. These adventures also hopped around the world to expose players and GMs to a variety of cultural sources in the game.

If FFG is to have some sort of continual success with this line, some sort of guaranteed income model might be good. Does anyone know if this has been explored or do you think you personally would purchase it at a price point of $20/month?

Thanks

I don't know if it has been explored by FFG - they keep their thoughts/plans largely to themselves as the uncertainty about line overall shows. An electronic offering linked to POD's of related content would be one strategy for them.

I would purchase such an offering if the quality was acceptable. I budgeted more than that for monthly D&D etc. costs, I too moved to WFRP and FFG has been "leaving money in my wallet".

If you are new to the WFRP world, there are many fan-created supplements and irregular outputs, Liber Fantatica, Warpstone (wrapping shortly with issue 30, already gone to print I believe) etc. Most of the material is for earlier editions but can be converted.

I think right now I'm planning on converting ad-hoc some of the more story flavored D&D adventures into WFRP 3rd. Seems to convert pretty easily. Just need to get stuff down in a spreadsheet.

But, there again, since it's so easy for me to do, why wouldn't FFG do something like this. There are plenty of tried-and-true adventure stories that just need some art and a writer. I would certainly buy this.

The real problem I've seen with the way they approach this roleplaying game is that gamers who like story, narrative, and flavor don't often like to deal with the "stuff" of gaming. Paper and pen is mostly all they need. As for me, I still like the "stuff" you get with each adventure.

Pathfinder puts out a lot of offerings to be sure. They are 80% of the time severely lacking in plot depth..but there is an advantage to that: they are easy to prep and easy to run. A decent GM can come up with a few red herrings and ideas and turn most of these into something of substance. In a 32 page module, I typically have to rip out about 30 pages of "kill the menagerie of monsters", but sometimes great things can come about.

The difference with WFRP is that the scenarios (well many of them) require a bit more thought than a dungeon crawl.

As for FFG doing something like this, it's not something they could handle. They are a boardgame company who bought some RPG licenses by accident. They can't even handle the material that they do have to produce scenarios. They couldn't even pull off the tradition of the annual scenario-writer-support stuff (and that's as simple as asking people to write scenarios FOR THEM..FOR FREE. They would need to subcontract to an actual RPG company/developer to get any of this done. And that's never going to happen because they don't know how and it's never going to fit into their business plan. They are following the "player products sell and scenarios don't make enough money" business mantra typical of buy-our-stuff-but-we-don't-actually-care-if-you-play segement of game producers. Sorry, this sounds harsh, but its as plain as the nose on the face of their company. Plus, wfrp is dead compared to selling a star wars license (or even all that 40k stuff). WFRP is a labor of love to produce. Look where we are with that.

jh

Really saddens me because WFRP is a system that has made be believe in the potential of RPGs again. I feel I got burned by Pathfinder because it so far has become just ANOTHER D&D 3.5, nothing really new.

I long for a renaissance the same way White Wolf came in with Vampire in the early 90s and redefined RPGs. I feel like WFRP could be that if people really start to appreciate the system and get away from the negative focus on the cards/dice/tokens you (as of now) you really don't have to buy.

People who like to groan, just use the cards/chits as an excuse. Only a complete idiot couldn't play this game without them.

Your fellow fans are the only thing propping up this game right now. That may be for the best

As for FFG doing something like this, it's not something they could handle. They are a boardgame company who bought some RPG licenses by accident. They can't even handle the material that they do have to produce scenarios. They couldn't even pull off the tradition of the annual scenario-writer-support stuff (and that's as simple as asking people to write scenarios FOR THEM..FOR FREE. They would need to subcontract to an actual RPG company/developer to get any of this done. And that's never going to happen because they don't know how and it's never going to fit into their business plan. They are following the "player products sell and scenarios don't make enough money" business mantra typical of buy-our-stuff-but-we-don't-actually-care-if-you-play segement of game producers. Sorry, this sounds harsh, but its as plain as the nose on the face of their company. Plus, wfrp is dead compared to selling a star wars license (or even all that 40k stuff). WFRP is a labor of love to produce. Look where we are with that.

jh

Jay has unfortunately hit the nail on the head. As far as FFG are concerned scenarios do not make enough money, players guides etc do. GW almost certainly do not help, it must be said, but the wealth of settings and adventure arcs available for Pathfinder, are well beyond anything that FFG or GW could conceive of.

Fan scenarios and 1/2e conversions are your best bet. I agree with JH and Ragnar concerning the unfortunate state of content.

Most of the Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription books are 50% content usable for a variety of campaign settings and 50% adventure. There isn't even a chance for subscription based content packs such as location cards, actions, careers, etc?

There isn't a Skaven's chance in sunlight of anything else being released for WFRP3 officially.

Your best hope is sites like Liber Fanatica, Strike to Stun or the Daily Empire

She's dead, Jim.

They are following the "player products sell and scenarios don't make enough money" business mantra typical of buy-our-stuff-but-we-don't-actually-care-if-you-play segement of game producers. Sorry, this sounds harsh, ...

I find that harsh indeed, W3 has got so many excellent scenarios ... for me that's the best part of W3 (with the dice system). Actually, after playing many W3 adventures with my PC, I adapted many of them to my long-running campaign (as a GM) with another rule-system.