For those of you concerned:

I just finished a rigorous reading and re-reading of the main core book. I subjected the book to some moderately rough handling (on purpose - basically I didn't go out of my way to baby it and subjected it to normal use, I dropped it once, accidentally). After all was said and done, there is no visible wear on the book. I know this is a short test, but what I'm trying to say is 'it didn't fall apart'.

The spine appears to be adequately flexible. It lays down on a table open to a page without flipping pages (one side propped on the other books in the set). The cover appears to be resistant to hand oils. I even spilled a few drops of black coffee on one of the pages, it wiped off without stain or wrinkling (I didn't let it sit, the pages are semi-gloss).

There are no visible stresses in the seam. Sometimes, if you favor a page, the book will flip open to that page automatically. That hasn't happened yet.

I have no paper cuts that I am aware of

So far - so good.

My only concern is the lack of smell. There is no 'new book smell'. Something is fishy here...

Hmmm. The lack of smell perturbs me. Something's off.

Is the spine more than just staples? In my mind the books are not much bigger than a typical FFG boardgame rulebook...

No staples, and the books, even the smaller ones for Divine and Arcane, are bigger and sturdier than FFG boardgame rulebooks. Think of them like, hmm.. WFB army codexes maybe? Only the covers aren't as glossy, and the entire book is colored nicely. They have a flat spine, no staples, slightly harder cover front and back (than pages) but not they're not a "hardcover". Gah, I don't think it's quite an accurate description, but it's the best I can come up with right now. The cover and even the pages are definitely sturdier than the thin pages of FFG boardgame rulebooks. The books are fairly hefty (even the smaller ones that only have @50 pages).

I had the same impression that you did, they'd be similar to the FFG rulebooks. I was pleasantly surprised at the heft and durable feel the books have for not being hardcovers. They feel sturdier than my WFRPv1 rulebook (although not nearly as many pages, of course). I haven't actually checked this, but I think stacked together all 4 books are about the same thickness as my v1 rulebook (at least in my head they seem to be). Considering all the stuff that *isn't* in the books and is on cards, I think that's pretty good even if they are only close.

NezziR said:

Nezzir, I see you list Descent as one of your favourite games. Have you seen any of the campaigns? (Road to Legend and Sea of Blood). Are the rulebooks similar to the books of the Descent campaigns? If the quality is similar or better they'll be good enough... although I would love to see them publishing books similar in quality to what they published for WFRP2, DH and Rogue Trader.

A second question. Some time ago, I helped you with the ruleset of WFRP2 for Fantasy Grounds. Are you going to prepare a ruleset for WFRP3?

NezziR said:

So they're not 'new book' smell but 'low tide' aroma?

You know, it's possible FFG let out all the new-book smell at their warehouse. Remember, they had to open the boxes to put in the demo adventure and pre-launch kit stuff. It's possible when they did that, all the "new" smell was released and they never put it back in. A new copy purchased might still come with it.

I suspect you got a faulty copy. I detected a strong "new board game" smell when I opened my box (similar to the wonderful smell when I opened Chaos in the Old World for the first time) and all the books have a pleasing "new book" smell, almost as good as the one my Rogue Trader copy used to exude.

BTW, I made a character for the first time last night and was very impressed. It was super-fast (especially when compared to Rogue Trader!) but still had some very interesting decisions with the talent and action cards.

eihort said:

Hehe, think customer service would have a larf if some people sent their kit back claiming it was faulty because it lacked "new smell"?

cogollo said:

They are very similar to the Descent: Road to Legend campaign book, particularly in finish (both cover and pages), but appear to be a slightly heavier paper weight (both cover and pages). The bindings are also similar, though a side-by-side shows a little thicker glue seam maybe. The extra weight of the pages make the books lay nicely, and I think if they survive to 'cure', which is to say limber up, they will be very flexible. This is a big relief to one of my biggest worries. It's still too early to accurately judge longevity, but initial impressions are positive. Someone mentioned the WFB army books. I had terrible luck with those. I think these are better.

Oh, you helped my with the WFRP2 FG project? Sweet. Thanks man. The initial ruleset for WFRP1 and WFRP2 were intentionally designed so that you would need the books to play. I wanted to play online with friends that had moved away, and I wanted to contribute to the FG community, but I didn't want to hurt sales for a product I really loved. It's the same (and maybe more so) with WFRP3. I won't create a ruleset for this version unless I get 'official permission' from the publishers.

I have asked for permission, but I did not pursue it. Instead, I turned that duty over to the new owner of Fantasy Grounds, Doug Davidson. Doug is in the process of approaching FFG with a proposal of some sort. If he is successful, I'm not sure I will be doing the project. Though I've written 3 rulesets, I am no programmer. I did it with reverse engineering and brute force. There was no finesse

If for some reason the project were assigned to me, I would put together a team to help write it and I would likely slip into a project management/editor/assistant programmer (grunt)/content overseer (to make sure it retains that 'Old World' feel). I would probably approach the guys that wrote the 4E_JPG ruleset first. Now THOSE guys are programmers. Some of the scripts they wrote are simply elegant. I would accept no less than the best quality possible for the product and so I would need help.

The short answer is, I'd like to and we're talking to FFG about it.

Varnias Tybalt said:

Even better, if they released an 'errata' that contained a little spray bottle of 'new book smell' so you could fix the problem!

NezziR said:

I think that would be illegal in some countries. I mean, bottled "new smell"? It would be like heroin for roleplayers.

NezziR said:

my whole box had a new book smell....mmm so gooooooooood

I certainly hope there will be "new book smell"... I don't know what I would do without!

NezziR said:

Why, it must one of those ' Demonice Tome of Corruption ' edtions with the ' Illusion of Neutrality ' gift of the the chaos powers

Have you been possessed by the dice yet?

Oops! Wrong person - you wouldn't know would you !

And after all I think Jay owes us a session demo video