I played a lot of WFRPG back in the days of 1st edition or 2nd edition (the one with the soft cover) in the late eighties. I wanted to introduce RPG to my family and I have already re-read the old rulebooks and we have created the first characters. So for the questions:

1) How well does the 3rd edition play with as few as two players? (As a GM, I will probably frequently use NPC's)

2) Would you recommend playing the old rule-set to measure the interest and then buy the new game if they find it interesting, or is the new game so much better that their interest will probably be triggered by the new fancy schmancy edition?

Personally, I really want the new edition, but if it is placed on the shelf after one measly game, it will only bother me. I really like RPG's, but I can't enforce this upon the family.

zarkzervo said:

All those visuals elements are newbie-friendly and allows a casual gaming since you don't have to learn anything anymore to use your PC capacities. That's great.

Moreover, there's no more numbers or math with the new dice pool, so you may play with your family younglin' as long as you make Warhammer Universe dark & bloody/PG-13.

I run a bunch of initiation games currently for a 2 players party and that's great. If you play with younger padawans, you may add some leader/protective NPC you play in their party.

I have two players in my group (dwarfs both) and it works fine so far. its very easy to scale the difficulties of the combat encounters once you get a feel for what the characters can do and if you're worried about group diversity I think that is something that can be worked around in the story obviously.

remember the core box was only made for three players and GM anyways.

Cheers

My impression is that you may want to give it a shot with what you have first, and then if they like it, bring on the new. If you REALLY REALLY want the new edition, you can buy it, but without knowing their reaction, it may turn out that it's a big waste and you shelve it after one play.

The game is different, but not that radically different. I think it is a little more hostile to the player, or new time players if they want to create their own characters. I was dismayed at trying to go through all the cards and figure out what to pick...would have been A LOT easier and more friendly if they had simply included a table for me to scan over and after figuring what I want, THEN go and the cards.

Otherwise, there are a LOT of similarities, more than some would say, between the old and new version. The stats, if you simply add a zero to them, work out to be like the percentages (hence a strength of 5, which one also now uses for WS, could equal a WS of 50, if one actually had one that high, but more likely to be somewhere in the range of 20-30). They just use different types of dice instead of percentile dice now.

I think it's a great choice for a first time RPGer. The cards make it much easier for people who are not familiar with gaming to grasp the game.

I have run one session with two people and it worked out fine. If you do go with a "helper" NPC, I would recommend that you don't roll dice or keep track of it like its a PC, especially in combat. It keeps the focus on the players and what they are accomplishing.

When I ran with two players, one encounter had an ally helping the party in a fight. Instead of rolling, I just parked him on an enemy, did a point of damage a turn and ran a progress tracker (4 spaces) every time the monster acted instead of rolling. I told the players that the tracker was how many hits the NPC could take before dying. It then came down to how long could they deal with their own fights before they had to go save their friend. I had non-combat characters rushing in to distract the enemy for a turn or two, just so the NPC wouldn't die. Made for some great story moments, and kept the focus of the game on the players and the choices they make.

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will stick with my original plan of playing at least a couple of games using the old system and then buy the new system if they like it.

@willmanx: I found the math in the old system quite... hmmm... well placed. Not that math is the goal here, but it's applied math and kids at 13 (this one is) sometimes need some first hand experience with adding and getting to know how percentages work and figuring out the chance of winning. But of course not a make or break for a game.

@Doc, the Weasel: A good point that the NPC should not roll dice. I just have to figure out a smart way of winning/losing when I want to. And good idea as a narrative. A fight one-on-one is just tossing dice, but if they have to change their target to go "tanking" for their NPC (or other friends for that matter) it gives a more exciting game.

I remember from "the old days" that the fights weren't the reason I liked RP, it was the stories. I rewarded players that used their stats to make a great story. A stupid and thieving hafling is always entertaining.

Thanks again for your views and we'll see how it goes from here.

GreyLord said:

When my players, who were completely new to the system, sat down to choose their actions I told them to not read to much of the rules behind the cards but to just pick those whose titles appealed to them. After first session when they had got a feel for the rules I allowed them make some changes to their choices now that they what all the rules meant. It has worked fine.

By the way I like that use of the tracking device Doc, gotta try that out some time

Lucas Adorn said:

To be fair, I stole it from Day Late, Shilling Short.