I frequent my local game store inconsistently, and when it was mentioned off-handedly that this event would take place today, a day I coincidentally had off. So I sat down for a game that I have absolutely no background knowledge of. For some background, the store I played at has a pretty small player base, as it's only been in business for about a year or so now, so there were only two of us playing.

I quickly looked over the characters provided there, and decided, "Oh, yeah, dwarf, that's for me." We had some time while waiting for players to hopefully arrive, so I looked over the background of the dwarf and the Slayer in general. Fortunately, the other player was the Roadwarden, so our backgrounds meshed nicely.

Anyway, when the cards were laid out and the rules explained, my mind boggled. I was certain I had no idea what was going on. I looked across the table at the other player (who was quite familiar with WHFRP) and began to apologize in advance. However, once the first battle began, it flowed naturally as a quick tactical and roleplayed skirmish. By my second turn, I had the mechanics down and was even reminding the GM that my character was trained in Weapon Skills to get that extra misfortune die for Parry.

It was exciting! With just the two of us, the GM pulled a few punches, but it was still an edge of your seat adventure. Between my troll slayer going full reckless and surviving the onslaught of gors, ungors, and wargors alike, and the Roadwarden getting knocked unconscious by a massive strike from the wargor, I couldn't get enough. Also made for a great roleplaying moment as my troll slayer shouted, "I've a heroic death here today, but I can't fall with a debt unpaid!" and the took out the wargor with a well placed strike (I've forgotten the name already!).

As well, from someone who comes from years of D&D, I loved the "social combat." I never felt more involved with a conversation as I shouted for the merchant to get out of the way so I could just get my package from his wagon, while the roadwarden wearily tried to sweet-talk the man into moving aside.

I may seem like I'm missing so many of the game elements here, but I feel like after today I must toss in my two cents. I loved the game, and was surprised with how easy it was. Despite the steep price tag, and chance that my players won't be too keen on it, I'm going to pick it up on the off-chance I can get some interested friends to sit down every now and then.

I think this review speaks volumes.

It comes from someone with no background knowledge of what has gone before, oblivious to the "edition wars", oblivious of all of the chat and conjecture that has gone on with the designer diaries and the rules snippets that have been released and discussed so far.

And the main comments are that the system was picked up easily and most importantly, it was fun; that is good enough for me.

Good enough for me, too!

Makes me want to play again right now!

Wow... Thanks Azzur. I'd have to say that this is the most important review I've read so far. It's nice to hear these comments from someone with your perspective.

Best testimonial a game system could ask for. From zero experience to excited fan in a single demo session.

Also, kudos to his GM. Sounds like he was able to adapt the scenario and encounters to adjust for having just two players; keep it tense, yet not overwhelming. I wish my GM had been half as good. I had fun because of the other players and liked what I saw, but if I hadn't already been sold on the game before going into it, the demo alone wouldn't necessarily have gotten me interested in picking this up. As it was, I was able to enjoy myself and glean useful info about the game despite my GM.

I have to agree with the previous posts. It's good to hear opinions and the experience from someone who isn't familiar with WFRP. It's nice to hear that it felt good to you, and that you were able to get into the game quickly and are excited about it. Thanks for sharing!

(and yes, kudos to the GM for making a 2-player game fun and balanced)