Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum and new to this game. I am seriously considering getting into what looks like an amazing game, but I wanted to hear opinions on what I should buy. Do I buy the Core Set, or should I wait for the release of the new hardcover books? Is this the right time to jump in and start, or should I delay (though the desire to purchase is very strong)?

Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Matt

I know that there is a lot of talk about the new hardbacks, and they sound excellent, but the core set is a great buy in my opinion. I have been impressed with the depth of the game, and I like the way that my play area looks during sessions.

I would start with the core set. The hardcovers are really aimed at people who want to play without the cards.

You can still find the core around $60ish from different sources.

Doc, the Weasel said:

Additionally, it will appeal to people that only want to carry around 3 hard cover books instead of 9 softcovers.

Thanks for the replies. Any recommendations on what I should start out with? I wanted to get more than the core so that I could start running something in the next month, for a group of 4 to 6 players.

Matt

Hi I would wait for the guide books to arrive. I myself have 5 players and we bought 4 core sets and 4 of Player`s toolkit. which we still think was not enough. Reason why, we wanted a complete list of talents, actions, career ability card, so we made a card-o-tec using a complete set of cards from one of the core sets and the toolkit. This costed our group a lot of dough.

If we had to do it all over again we would probably only buy like 2 core sets, and 2 toolkit set, and than the guide books. the Guide books seems to be very handy since they will contain a complete list of cards on page. plus its likely to save you some bucks.

That together with the vault series means you can tailor the ammount of gadgets and cards your group would like to have, not bad in my opinion to have that choice.

But on the other hand if you can`t wait go head and shop till you drop for it is a very good game indeed.

I'm a gamer who likes the addition of many of the cards, so I would still recommend the Core set. You won't be referencing every book in every situation (We still haven't had a Priest-type at all, and a Wizard for only three sessions until a Wargor+Insanities took care of that), so the softcovers aren't necessarily a drawback.

I still plan to purchase the hardcovers, but it's mainly because I prefer them as a reference material, and I like to do away with certain cards in order to reduce the tabletop space required.

LeBlanc13 said:

That would be a mean feat, considering they haven't published 9 of them yet...

To the OP, you won't have to lug huge numbers of softcovers around. Most of the books in the core set and expansions like the Tome of Blessings and Magic you only really need for background fluff, character creation, and occasional rules and won't revisit often after the first session. There are some fantastic fan-made resources on these forums that will make your life easier and overcome many of the organisational shortfalls of the FFG books. Frankly I only take the Tome of Adventure to most sessions, usually only for the monster stats, and the Creature Vault will soon dispense for the need for that.

I run a 4 person group comfortably from 1 core set. With the new rulebooks and other options for expanding a group in a more flexible manner coming out soon, I wouldn't rush into buying everything until you've had an opportunity to play the game and see how you like the full system, components and all. If you like the 'full' version of the game you'll be better placed to make a decision about how many sets of cards etc you'll need for your group and weigh up the advantages of the Vaults vs Adventurer's Toolkit etc, if you don't like the components then the hardcovers guides will obviously be a better fit. In my experience the components, action and location cards and all the other supplemental material really add something to the game and I would suggest to anyone that is considering WFRP that they at least give the 'full' version of it a try before passing judgement.

The core set comes with an adventure that will last a few sessions, and I recommend Gathering Storm as an enjoyable campaign that will help introduce you and your group to the workings of the system, and put you in a good position to write your own adventures or adapt material from previous editions. The new vaults may be better value for you than the Adventurer's Toolkit and GM Toolkit depending on the makeup of your group, and you don't really need to have Winds of Magic until you have a Wizard character pushing level 3 or a player who really has to play one of the other colleges of Magic (the core set includes cards for 3 of 9 priest careers and 3 of 8 wizard careers). That's not to say they aren't good sets -WoM is great in my opinion - but I would hold off on buying them until you have a better sense of the makeup and direction of your group.

Anyway, whatever you decide I hope you have fun with the game...

Thanks again for all your input. Since myself and my group are very interested in playing sooner than later, I think I will pick up the Core Set (and another player will get one too, in order t have enough cards, dice, etc.) and the Gathering Storm to start with. A question though, is the Adventurer's Toolkit worth getting or should I wait for the upcoming Vault?

Matt

Okay, the advice is can offer is broken down into two possible options.

If you have room to host a game, and know you have people who are interested in WFRP, then the core is a good way to go. The set up of the game, with components makes it relatively difficult to transport, when compared to most games.

However, if one of your friends hosts your games, or your unsure if you can interest others in it, you might well be best of waiting for the player guide, so you can read the rules, and get an idea of how the game works, for a more reasonable rate. It also has the advantage of being a hard copy of all the player related component rules, which means the game is a little less likely to become useless if components are lost or damaged.(Do not play component rich version of the game in the presence of a kitten.)

Thyrkill said:

The Adventurer’s Toolkit has new careers, and I would recommend getting it because of that. Some of the careers are very nice (the Ratcatcher, for example), other seem a bit overpowered for starting characters at least (Ironbreaker and Swordmaster – several people here on the forum have decided to make these careers advanced careers). If I have understood things correctly, the Vault does not contain (these or any other) career cards.

Seems you have had plenty of good advice already so I would concur with the others, if you are ready to start sooner rather than later, if you want to play with all the components (or at least have the option of), and are happy to pay the cost of the full core set (or two) then the core set is the way to go.

There are lots of components etc BUT once you have created characters and got the adventure sorted, quite a few of the components won't be brought to the table, except during levelling up exercises for the players, so don't be too concerned about carrying stuff around. Having some kind of tackle box or the like to sort all the cards into would be useful, but isn't a neccessity, I know other people use trading card A4 sleeves in ring binder, etc, while others just leave them all in the box.

I would reccomend getting something for each player to store their components in (we use an a4 transparent sleeve for each PC), as this helps with packing up and setting up each session.

It could be worthwhile one or two of your players buying a players guide once they come out, for reference, although depending on how your group operates this might not be neccessary.

The adventurer's tool kit is a good purchase and expands thr game nicely, but isn't a neccessity If you don't get it straight away then i will still reccomend getting it once you have played a few sessions and decide you like the game.

Winds of Magic and the forthcoming Signs of Faith are both fantastic purchases and pretty much essential sooner rather than later.

I don't know you previous role playing experience, but V3 is likely to be a bit different to other games you may have played, it's rules are less structured and more open to GM interpretation than previous editions and other games, don't let this put you off though.

The rules can seem a little jumbled on first read through, but the actual rules are quite simple and i think often people are confused by looking for a layer of comlexity that simply isn't there.

If you do have any questions though, just post them on yhe board, there are plenty here who understand the rules pretty well know and who can give you suggestions and opinions and anything you may be struggling with.

Welcome aboard!

Thank you for some really great advice and information. This is certainly one of the friendliest and helpful boards I have posted on. I have decided to pick up the Core Set and The Gathering Storm, that way I can learn the rules and have several adventures to run my group through. Unfortunately, the Adventurer's Toolkit seems to be out of stock at the moment, so that purchase will have to wait.

Very excited and happy to be getting started with this game! Thanks for all the help.

Matt

Thyrkill said:

Matt,

I got my Adventurer's Toolket off Amazon. You might check if they still have some. Welcome on board.

If you're planning a campaign: Get the PDF of "Sigmar's Heirs." It's the complete background for the Empire. Very handy.

jh

I just had my order for the Fantasy Flight Games "The Adventurer's Toolkit (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay)"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589946952 canceled due to availability.

Monkus said:

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Rulebook

Tome of Adventure (Adventure omitted in the hardcovers)

Tome of Mysteries

Tome of Blessings

The Game Master's Toolkit

The Gathering Storm

Winds Of Magic (My understanding is the hardcovers will only include gameplay information and not background from this book)

Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change

Signs of Faith (while not out yet, it's game related information will be included in the rulebooks.)

I did mis-speak because The Gathering Storm info will not be in the new hardcovers, nor will the Chaos information to my understanding. So, in reality you omit having to carry around 7 softcover books in lieu of carrying around 3 hardcover books.

LeBlanc13 said:

You have a valid point in stating that the new hardbacks are useful. The hardbacks will undoubtedly be handy reference tomes for Gms and players and I'm sure plenty of people who already own the core may buy them for that reason. They also offer an alternative for people who don't want to cart around the cards and other components, although from experience of carting my Dark Heresy hardbacks around whether this works out as much lighter than a well-packed core is yet to be seen. But no one needs to carry around all the books to every play session as you suggest, that's simply misleading.

A lot of the books like Tome of Magic, Tome of Blessings, Winds of Magic are 90% fluff and it's not hard to remember the small amount of rules that are in them, if you actually need them past character creation. This is not a game that requires a great deal of diving into miscellaneous rulebooks. This is, after all the entire point of the cards and component system: pretty much everything you need is laid out in front of you.

Monkus said:

Point taken. You don't need to carry all of the books around, but it does make it darned convenient to have those rules handy in a hardback.