I have a copy of the First Edition of Runebound, which I sadly bought only a few months before second edition became available. I am curious, do the second edition expansions work with the first edition core game, or is the differences in the game too great?

I was in the same boat when it first came out. I say just bite the bullet and buy second ed

phoenixember said:

I'm not familiar with 1st ed (I have 2nd), but it seems to me that most of the changes are in the rulebook, not so much the cards. You could probably play one of the expansions with a 1st ed core, you'd just have slightly different stats on some allies and heroes, for example. Also I suppose the card backs for heroes and market cards are different - challenge cards it doesn't matter since the (big) expansions do a full replace anyway. Sleeve your cards with opaque-backed card condoms and you should be good to go.

Having said that, again, I haven't played or even really taken a close look at 1st ed myself since I didn't get into RB until after 2e was out. I'd suggest borrowing one of the expansions from a friend or something (if possible) to see how well the two merge before investing money you can't afford. At least take a look at the 2e rules online and see if anything jumps out at you as a problem.

If you have Descent you can even use the plastic heroes from there to upgrade your cardboard standees from 1e RB. =)

Two big changes from 1st to 2nd, in 2nd, you use two ten-sided die instead of a twenty sider and stats were adjusted on most things. I can't find a copy of 1st ed rules, so I can't do a comprehensive list of changes, but there is enough that to play with the expansions, you really should get the 2nd ed. Check on the support page for Runebound and you can read the 2nd ed rules for yourself.