First off, let me say that the event was very successful. Everyone had a great time and the system ran very smoothly. I had done my research pretty well (though I forgot a few things and had to look them up), so I had to go to the books very little. The players didn't touch a book or a pencil at all other than to check them out. There were no accidents, no lost or damage pieces (that I'm aware of), even though everyone in the store handled the pieces at one time or another. At the end of the session the players had a clear idea of how the game operates, were excited about playing again, and were asking how soon they could get a copy.

--ARRIVAL and SETUP:--

I scheduled the first game for 11:30. I arrived at 11:00 to prepare the play area and lay everything out. It took me about 10 minutes to clean off the Mountain Dew stained table, set everything up, and take a picture. I ended up with time to spare so I sat around and let people handle the materials and answered questions.

I set the Gray Wizard and the Troll Slayer closest to me. I figured if anyone would need help, it would be them. Turns out, they didn't need much help at all. It doesn't look very space consuming here because I had the cards stacked, the counters and dice in the box lid, and the GM stuff neatly stacked. We spread out a bit more once things got going, but there was still plenty of room for play.

People started coming in and sitting down in front of characters. I took the first four seated and away we went!

--DEMO (GM and 4 Players):--

I explained the basic concepts of the system to the players but didn't give them a lot of mechanics information. I prefered to do that as we played. I expounded a bit on the opening scene to get my players in the mood. By the time we entered the first combat I had their full attention.

I set the scene and walked them through the first round of combat. I suggested some action cards, told them their options, and explained the dice. By the second round, players were picking their own actions, building their own pools, and interpreting the results.

The party devastated their oposition in the first round. No one took any damage and there was very little fatigue or stress to be seen. They entered the second act confident and prepared.

--** MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD **--
'The Wargor made his entrance to a clap of thunder as the storm grew near. I added a bit of cinematic detail to him. He snorted as he stepped from the trees. Steam billowed from his flared nostrils. His nose ring clinked against the one jagged tooth that protruded crookedly from his snout. The Troll Slayer saw this and vowed to wear it as a bracelet (the players words, not mine). The ground shook as the hulking beast advanced.'
--** END SPOILERS **--

The second round was a lot tougher. I put the players on the ropes in the first turn, and in the end actually killed one of them. I allowed that player to take the reigns of one of the NPCs and we continued. There were wound and crit cards flying all over the table!

[i was sitting on the far right during the game]

In the end, they vanquished the primary antagonist. A thunder strike signaled the end of the final act and the demoralized minions fled into the forest.

We began the final act of the scenario and I soon had the players rolling on the floor with lines like:

Envoy: Listen Heir Rothstein...
Klaus (interupting): Ah, I see you've heard of me. Now be a good lad and pick up my packages. Be quick about it and there's a shiny shilling in it for you.
-and-
Grey Wizard: You will let us have the package now (Intimidate)
Klaus: You filthy begger! Do you have any idea who I am!?! I could buy and sell your hide a hundred times over. I've fired piss boys with more clout than you! Why I 'outta...

... and on and on.

We had to cut the session short soon after. One of the players received an emergency phone call (much to his dismay) and we decided it was a good place to stop. I accelerated things a bit and wrapped up the session.

The session, from the opening line to the last, took 2:10.

--CLEAN UP:--

It took a bit longer to pack things up than it did to lay it out as there was some sorting to be done (and I wanted the characters back in their proper boxes for another game). In the end, after I got all the loose pieces gathered up, I spread out some of the more impressive parts to let people get a closer look. I set the books out, fanned out the career cards, and set the decks where everyone could reach them.

When that was over, I folded everything neatly into the box and handed out some of the cool advertisement post cards that came with the demo set.

--CONCLUSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS--

Playability
The players where quick to catch on to the system. They seemed a little bewildered at first and one of them even got a little glassy eyed during a run down of the dice pools, but after the first turn our rules lawyer had it mastered (with the help of the printed dice reference). He helped one player that seemed to be having trouble, and the other two had it mastered by the end of round two. By then they were interpreting dice rolls themselves and studying their cards to see what options they had by flipping them over to explore the other stance.

There were so many highs and lows in this demo, the players were perpetually excited. They were elated and haughty after the first Act. They felt powerful. Everyone got a solid hit in during the first Act. After I killed one of them in Act 2 though, the mood changed dramatically. The ferocity of the Wargor came unexpected after their previous success and they were put on the defensive. They were scared and worried and working together to try and survive the fight by discussing strategies, comparing actions, and using defensive options.

The tension breaker involving the social encounter at the end gave everyone a break from the chaos (no pun), and things ended on a very upbeat note.

Rules Layout
I didn't have a lot of problems accessing needed rules, but then I wrote up a cheat sheet and tabbed the books before running the session. The system could certainly benefit from an Index. The two page layouts in the Bestiary are pretty slick. I ended up just laying the books on the table and tossing tokens as needed onto the page. There was a moment of OMG as I bumped the book, but other than that, it worked out great.

I would recommend printing the Dice Reference sheet from the web page, my, or another cheat sheet (posted in forums), and perhaps some type of explanation sheet for player manoeuvring (there were lots of questions about that). It would have been nice if the Manoeuvre list had been printed on the back of the ToA like the dice reference was printed on the back of the main rule book. Hindsight...

Story Telling Dice
I used the cinematic interpretations of the dice sparingly, but to good effect. I didn't use them as often as I intended, but reserved them for important moments, like particularly telling blows. It wasn't long befor the players were doing it as well. One of my players commented that the abstract symbols invoked a 'symbol recognition' response, that after you used to the system, it was easier to comprehend than numbers because... I became lost here in psychological theory that I do not understand. I don't know what he said, but he sounded very sure of it. I will take his word for it. Symbols = Good.

Larger than recommended group
We had 5 players instead of the recommended 4. Sharing the basic cards between the players was no problem at all. After I explained to them what was going on, they quickly devised a swap system and I didn't have to get involved in it again. No one complained about this, but the Adventure's Kit will be most welcome. I could run as many players with this game as I could any other. Sharing didn't seem that big a deal.

Tokens
The tokens were a bit of a mess at first. It wasn't long before they stopped distinguishing between the markers and the counters (which I heard someone refer to in another review as 'Emo Tears') and just used the first token at hand. There were some tense moments when one of the players looked down and realized he had used his Fortune markers to track a crit condition. We talked a bit about using paper instead, after the game, but no one could come up with a better system than the tokens. The final verdict was that the tokens weren't a problem and that the players would, after a few games, learn to manage them better.

Combat
I found the combat to be quick and painless. The players spent the time before their turns deciding what to do and planning their actions. They quickly caught on to the fact that the different stances had a significant impact on the characters performance. Once they did, there were tactical shifts in stance nearly every turn and (some) players intentionally stayed closer to neutral in case they wanted to flip.

Building the pools and interpreting the rolls wasn't an issue after the first turn. By act two the players were building their pools before their turn began, and asking for multiple dice at a time. The rolls themselves caused shouts of excitement and groans of dispair. The dice really enhanced the game.

One of biggest problems we had were all of the modifiers. Actions like Guarded Position, combined with parry, and stacked with modifiers from critical wounds, conditions, and talents made for big adjustments in dice pools. We quickly decided that any card that caused a modifier like that should be put in one place of the players play area. We also stacked the modifier dice on the cards in some cases as a reminder that they would affect upcoming rolls. After we worked out a system for it, it wasn't so bad. It was actually fun.

There were some concerns from the players at first that the damage wasn't dynamic enough. The bulk of each roll was a fixed number with a little variation depending on the results of the roll. But, once I informed them of the 'minimum one wound' rule, and demonstrated how crits could be converted to wounds in some cases, no one was too worried about it. There actually seemed to be quite a bit of variation in the damage rolls, but it mostly came in the form of many small fixed modifiers added to the rolls. This actually made our digit head of the group very happy. He was counting up mods with a sparkle in his eye – lol.

Over all the combats seemed exciting and engaging, easy to run, and fun to interpret. There were some parts that were faster, and some that were slower, but the net result was about the same length in player turn as previous editions. It just seemed the emphasis had shifted from going through charts to building a scene. Sort of, visualizing the action as you built the pool for the roll.

Social
The social encounter was more roleplay than rollplay. While the mechanics for this were very similar to physical combat in form, they were less intense and seemed to fade into the background during the Player/GM interactions. We spent a lot of time bantering back and forth, and occassionally a roll would pop up to affect the situaion. I was generous in handing out modifier dice as the players roleplayed their positions. I slid them the modifier dice AS we roleplayed, so building the pools was fast and didn't break the mood.

I think the engine does a great job of getting out of the way during these type of engagements so as not to muddy the player interaction with mechanics and dice rolls. There were still action cards, rolls, initiative, modifers, everything that's present in combat, they just seemed (inexplicably) subdued so as to keep the focus on the conversation rather than the mechanics.

Rules questions
We did have a few rules questions. While the books are generally laid out in a very logical and easy to read format, you will find cases where there are important rules buried in odd places. I can't think of an example at the moment, but I think you'll find that you have to read ALL the rules and take some notes here and there. Just skimming through some section isn't enough to properly arbitrate this game. This is actually a good thing, because you might read some section you normally wouldn't. I found the sections for new GMs particularly entertaining, educational, and very efficient at explaining the concept of the games design and feel.

One of the biggest issues we found was manoeuvres for monsters. I found rules in the books that indicated monsters never suffered fatigue or stress. It went further to say that any time they were forced to, it was converted to a wound. Since multiple (fatigue causing) manoeuvres are an important part of movement, that caused some serious issues with monsters being able to quickly close in on the party and performing other important actions. I'll be making a post to clear this up on the FFG forums.

Another minor issue is that monsters seem to have no CR (or Crit Rating) by default. If you arm them manually, and don't just rely on the stats as they are presentated, this won't be an issue. I simply 'assumed' that my monsters were armed with standard hand weapons (DR:5 CR:3) and moved on.

--FINAL THOUGHTS--

[Your intrepid GM]

It is my opinion that this system is written with story tellers firmly in mind. Everything about the rules are designed to promote, and even reward, creativity and flexibility. I think therein lies one of the biggest points of contention for people that are reluctant to take a closer look. They are used to rules heavy systems, systems that have a rule to control everything. Systems that grant and encourage freedoms instead of imposing restrictions are a little difficult to grasp at first if you aren't used to it. I know it was for me. You spend your time looking for things that aren't (and don't need to be) there.

This system reminds me of the old RPGs that didn't rely on gigantic stacks of rule book in which every possible situation was covered, but instead provided a solid framework that allowed the games GM to logically arbitrate situations as they were presented. This actually provides for a much wider array of options for both players and judges.

--SUMMARY--

This game is fun, playable, and has a strength of design capable of long term play value. Moving forward, I will be using this system for WFRP campaigns at my table. If this system enjoys the support of the fans, and in particular, the publisher, it could develop into something very special. I had a blast playing and so did my players. I'm already looking forward to running it again.

I interviewed the players as a group after the game, regarding their thoughts on the demo. I asked them if they enjoyed the game, what their favorite parts were, and what their least favorite parts were. I also asked them if they planned on purchasing the product.

Everyone had a blast. They were still laughing and joking about the game long after we packed up.

The players listed the dice and the double sided cards (and consequently the stance system) as their favorite things. They seemed hard pressed to come up with negative comments, one of the players, a mechanic heavy fan, was sad there weren't more numbers involved. There were also some comments about the confusions listed above, but some of that is probably my fault.

Two of the players (and a couple of the bystanders) stated they would be pre-ordering. One of the players already had it pre-ordered (as did another bystander). Counting mine, that's 7 sales, 4 of which were based on the demo. Edit: The last player opted to let his GM buy it and just use his material.

There were more people that wanted to play, but I was exhausted. I took a raincheck and have two more sessions planned. Everyone that played wants to play again. I love this game.

Note to self: do not argue about modifiers with NezziR.

Thanks for this. Very thorough review, and gives me some good insight into what to expect when I finally get my hands on a copy of the game.

Berc

monkeylite said:

Haha

Oh, by the way. Please excuse the lackluster pictures. I do not have the Photography skill trained and I rolled quite a few Banes while taking pictures. These are the only ones worth posting.

Edit: Oh, and the tiny sign on the table reads, "NO DRINKS ON THE TABLE PLEASE "

Excellent post, NezziR! Thanks for sharing your experience, and I whole heartedly agree with just about everything you posted!

I especially agree with the "no drinks on the table". : )

Great job, man! Thanks for sharing and giving us more info and more to salivate over!!!

I'll be running the demo a second time this Tuesday for my (more Warhammer experienced) play group. I'll try and get some observations from Old School vets added to this review as well as some 'second time around' observations from me. It won't be as long as the first review. I'll try not to scald your eyes with another wall of text (though I tend to be quite verbose). I have at least 2 more groups asking me to come run it for them as time allows. I'll try and thread it into the holidays.

Please, take some pictures!!!

NezziR said:

Nah, wall of text away if you feel the need to NezziR! It wasn't boring or bad the first time around.

I'd do the same, but my group is busy playtesting our current GM's scenario entry for the FFG Dark Heresy contest, so WFRP is on the backburner for a week or two (until the end of the month, probably, barring special circumstances). I'm trying to set another pickup demo for this weekend, and just waiting on interest. Sounds like you've been able to spread the word pretty well in your area, excellent!

A wall of text is fine if its broken up well, like you did above.

There's been a lot of talk about how players quickly get better at dice pools and such as they play, that it has a short learning curve to get to the fun part. Well, I'm here to say the same goes for Game Masters. After your first couple of games you get better too as you start grasping some of the games concepts. I had a great game tonight and I can't remember a game so easy to GM and with such great game flow.

Tonight was our normal weekly game night with my regular group. It was a spectacular game. Smiles all around. There were a few hitches with our demo game on the 14th, though it was amazingly fun, but tonights game ran smooth as glass. I spent a little more time going over the basic concepts of the game beforehand and we took our time while playing. My old school players were thoroughly impressed and voted unanimously to switch to the new system (after our Dark Heresy campaign wraps).

My job as GM this time around seemed much more natural - no hitches, no rule look ups (except for a quick peek at first aid), I was able to narrate using the dice, and to use the dice as a reward system for good roleplay. We used the party sheet to good effect. We had some very exciting rolls. There were no misunderstanding and everyone grasped the concepts and hit the ground running.

It was a very exciting game and everyone had a blast. One of my players was dumb-struck at how much he enjoyed it, he couldn't stop gaping at it.

I took some pictures. I'll put them up soon with some additional comments.

The Iron Ring - my regular Tuesday night group. Great guys and amazing roleplayers. They have been challenging me as a GM for well over a decade now. Left to right is Lee, Charlie, Matt, and Dan.

The table is set up and ready for the nights game. Beer has been chilled and snacks abound (healthy ones provided by our resident fitness trainer Dan).

Here is the layout for the High Elf envoy - all neatly stacked and sorted

This is a shot of the GM area. The books, like the ToA, lay perfectly on the plastic box and stay flipped open to the correct page. All of the bits and cards fit comfortably in the plastic box, including the dice. If you remove the cardboard piece in the core box meant to hold the books up high, the plastic box also fits in the core box (with everything else). The box is a standard card holder box. I think I got it at Walmart or some other large chain store, back in the plastics section. It was really cheap, I remember buying a half dozen of them at the same time.

The characters are about to engage the enemy.

The Iron Ring discusses their options.

This is how the table looked at the end of the evening. Things are spread out and ready for next week. Since the table is dedicated to gaming, we chose to leave everything set up instead of folding the character into their storage boxes.

Lee Before Warhammer v3

Lee after Warhammer v3

NezziR said:

I would be the "dumb-struck" player mentioned above.

I just wanted report that I have never seen a system that runs this smoothly and is so easy to learn right out of the box. I even had fun when being briefed before the game on the rules due to their innovative nature and their open attitude towards role playing. This is unlike any system I have ever played, and in a very good way.

A few thoughts, though you probably have read similar thoughts before on the forums:

• Though people seem to fear that all the "bits and pieces" are overwhelming, I did not feel that any of the game pieces were intrusive into the game play and they were all very helpful to streamline the flow of the game and encourage role play. And I can assure you, this game is nothing like a board game, if you feel that it is after playing it, you are doing something wrong in my opinion.

• I really enjoyed seeing the combat and initiative mechanics at work as we played. Every player and monster's turn was peppered nicely with narrative and role play, which I can only see improving as we play more.The system encourages you to be creative, get into your character, and role play even in combat. Whereas most RPG combat systems just become a bout of mechanics, tactics and rules, which are fun in their own right (I run a weekly D&D 4E game and love it), but games like that have nothing like this narrative style of play. The rules, tactics and mechanics are all still there, and wonderful, but role play is enabled to step forward like I have never seen.

• The character sheets are streamlined and simple, yet they still hold all the features that the old system had that I loved so much.

• The dice system is easy to use and the dice do a wonderful job of telling a story about events in the game. When I had previously read about this mechanic and the claim that the dice told a story I was very unsure about how well that would actually work when implemented. I was stunned at how well the dice handled not only telling you if you succeed or fail but telling you how and why you succeeded or failed, as well as adding in a large dosage of fate and divine influence into the actions of the characters and their adventures.

• The party tension mechanic is a wonderful device to keep the game on track and gauge the way that events are going. I can see this leading to a lot of very interesting role play.

• The DM never seemed under or overpowered yet the game system is very very deadly and worthy of the Warhammer name.

All in all, I had a far more fun than I expected and can't wait to see more of the system!

A huge thank you to Fantasy Flight for putting out such a wonderfully thought out and innovative game for fans of Warhammer Fantasy Role Play.

And of course, a huge thank you to Nezzir for running this for us so wonderfully. I look forward to playing this system more and as always, it is an honor and a privilege to sit at your game table!

Cool gaming room.

My wife won't let me have one.

Thanks for the pictures!! Great facilities!!! I especiallly like the feature with drinks etc. below the table.

monkeylite said:

Which reminds me of one of my favorite cards in the core set:

"I Know A Guy..."

monkeylite said:

Yup, definitely want to have one like that .

I envy You Nezz

NezziR said:

Necrozius was dumb-struck at what an awesome gaming room Nezzir has. He couldn't stop gaping at the photos of it.

Great pictures!

CHRIST ALMIGHTY I can't wait until I get this game!

Nezzir,

I have decided to join your gaming group. Please send me directions to that awesome gaming room and the time of the next game. Hopefully the weekly commute from Austin, Texas won't be too long.

Seriously, though, those pictures really made me miss my old gaming group. They all moved away years ago. Thanks for posting and hopefully we'll hear/see more of your adventures in 3E.

Thanks,

Cody

Thanks. I built it out of a couple of marine grade 4x8 boards, some 2x4s, and some all weather latex paint. It's very sturdy. It's about 15 years old and you can still see things reflected in the surface.

We're located in Nashville, Tn. If you ever get down this way, contact me through the forums and we'd love to have you as a guest player. The South is known for its hospitality

Nice additional report NezziR! It makes me more secure knowing that your normal non-pickup group found it enjoyable and easy to play. Alas, I must wait a few weeks to introduce my group to all of the 3e goodness. Indeed, we must all bow down to your gaming table mastery. A very nice set-up you've got.

Also much thanks to lastonjones for adding his comments and opinons to the mix. It's expected that some of us (like myself) are going to say nice things about the game. When someone who has played it for the first time gives their opinion, I find that much more exciting and valuable (sorry Nez!), as I'm sure a lot of other people do (people who are tired of me talking, for example). Thanks!

lastonjones said:

When we get an opening at our table, we're careful about who we chose to fill it. We consider the fun factor that person brings and consider how they are going to affect our group dynamic, because Tuesdays are our 'fun' night and we don't want to mess that up. You were an obvious choice to fill the spot way back when and none of us regret it. Thanks for showing up each week and being an awesome player.

eihort said:

I wrote the rulesets for Fantasy Grounds II to support Warhammer v2 and Dark Heresy. They are rules light rulesets so you need the books to play (intentionally so as not to hurt product sales), but they are very feature rich.

The new owner of Fantasy Grounds II is approaching Fantasy Flight with a proposal to make an official ruleset for Warhammer v3. Hopefully they can work something out and you'll be able to play again with your buds that have moved away. Fantasy Grounds is great for that. Lastonjones runs a D&D4th game across it every week for me and some of his buds that have moved away. It works like a charm. We use ventrilo to talk and the program provides a very solid virtual table. It's almost like sitting there with them, except they don't have to look at our ugly mugs. If you can't sit down with your friends, it's the next best thing.

NezziR said:

Get a room!

Oh, yeah, you've got one.