I'm a regular Dark Heresy player and GM, but am just getting bit by the WHFRPG bug ... bad timing, huh? I"m caught in between a version upgrade and don't know whether I should bother getting the 2nd ed. or hold out for the 3rd ed. Three dumb questions I'm sure FFG is sick of hearing:

1) What is the expected release date of the 3rd Ed?

2) If it is going to be a while yet, does it make any sense at all to get the 2nd ed, learn rules, start thinking about characters and campaigns? Will this effort be transferrable to 3rd ed?

3) How about all the current cool expansions and adventure books? Will they be convertable / transferrable?

Thanks

BrooklynMike said:

1. Mid-november

2. Yes, if you want to play WFRP2. It's a cheap option. Problem is, unless you want to sit with a laptop at your WFRP2 games, the rulebook is getting really hard to find.

3. Yes, there will be massive conversions I would think just as tehre were from 1 to 2.

jh

..

Well, since the mechanics will change completely it seems to me that learning the v2 rules in preparation for v3 won't really get you more than a grasp of the "theme" of the rules. However, the background info is of course as valid as ever and you can never have too much of that! And since v3 is focusing on a specific part of the Empire (Reikland) you might be interested in picking up sourcebooks like Sigmar's Heirs that in gazeteer form covers the entire Empire.

As for actually converting rules and characters; I usually don't bother with exact correlations but rather make a new character from scratch and give him/her similar abilities to get the same feel as the original. Since WHFRP isn't as reliant on statistics as, for example, D&D it's easy to play fast and loose with stats and abilities.

Bottom line though, it's out in a couple of months so you might be able to hold out...

You will likely find that mechanics for WFRP 2nd ed are very similare to Dark Heresy (it having evolved from 2nd ed).

Though given the mechanics are a complete overhaul for 3rd ed , you will simply have to just learn the mechanics over again.

If you are going to buy the third ed rules anyway, don't bother with v2. However if there is a particular aspect of the Warhammer world you are interested (Kislev, Bretonnia, Skaven, Vampires) it might be worth buying the relevent supplement. The v3 equivalent might not be published for a while (or ever) and the fluff will still apply.

Since you're new to the game I'd go for the 3rd Ed. And if you do, please give us your review of the game experience. It would be nice to hear a totally unbiased GMs view of this

And by BTW - Give us that session video Jay!

BrooklynMike said:

These are not dumb questons.

1) November ish.

2) Buying WFRPv2 is a good idea in as much as WFRPv2 is an excellent game and well worth owning. As others have mentioned Dark Heresy is based on WFRP so the rules would be very easy for you to learn. However, hard copies of WFRPv2 books are not readily available, a few stores still have some but otherwise you'll be searching ebay for the books you want. PDF copies are available from FFG. As WFRPv3 is a totally different game to WFRPv1 or WFRPv2 I think learning the rules to WFRPv2 will not add anything to your WFRPv3 experience.

3) The same with any RPG the basic storylines will be transferable, but all the stats and mechanical information will have to be completely re-written. It remains to be seen if anyone undertakes this task or if fans will write new material.