I've just run my first session of WHFRP 3e and it went pretty well.

I melded A Day Late, a Shilling Short to An Eye for An Eye - except that the first mob attacking the carriage weren't beastmen, they were members of Casualties United - one of the Orcland Raiders football fan groups. Our Brettonian Knight Errant was not happy to be toilet papered by the snotlings (the player on the other hand was amused). The second group were the first group from Eye.

The only downside was I got through the material a lot faster than I thought I would (being used to 4e combats might have had something to do with that). Well, that and the only serious fighter collapsing with exhaustion (a critical wound doubling the fatigue he took) with the Wargor still standing. (There's also going to be a trollslayer at most sessions). Although that was entertaining.

I don't think Eye will last more than another session, especially as the Barber Surgeon is already drugged (rolled both chaos stars and a lot of observation successes in the kitchen so he found things out the hard way). And I'm not yet comfortable writing my own adventures or even converting them yet - not after a total of one session with the system. (I know where I'm going however - the whole thing should end up in Bretonnia and plots by all four Ruinous Powers and some thoroughly well meaning pawns).

But what should I get in the meantime? I'm wondering which modules are political/investigative rather than excessively combatty. I think there are only three published (Witch's Song, Edge of Night, Gathering Storm) - what type of play do they each focus on? And how long are they? (They appear to be reasonably written from what I can tell). Finally how much is in the box but not in the books/DriveThruRPG PDFs?

Also the other sets seem to be a mess. Creature Guide and Creature Vault? Both needed? Or what's the difference? The GMGuide? The GM Toolkit? I'm pretty sure I have the contents of the GM's Vault? And the GM Guide claims rules for mutations (I'm pretty sure I don't want to do too much with either the Changer of the Ways or PC magic users).

The system's great but the packaging's a mess. Help?

Edit: I have seen the flowchart but it doesn't tell me things like the differences between modules, whether I can get the Creature Guide as a PDF and miss nothing if I have the Vault (I think so?) and quite a few other things.

Go right to The Gathering Storm. Your players may want the Player's Guide for the other classes, but honestly all other supplements besides the core and the players guide are essentially optional. Since you're not making up your own scenarios, you don't really need to buy the creature guide.

jh

Why the gathering storm rather than the other two adventures? And I'm going to be making up my own and converting them eventually - just not yet.

Hey! I suspect Emirikol suggested Gathering Storm because Eye moves seamlessly into its storyline. On the other hand, I'm not sure it's the one you're looking for. As I remember (I haven't read it in awhile and haven't run it) Edge of Night is far more about political intrigue than TGS (which I did run.) TGS is a SUPER adventure and lots of fun, but it focuses on PCs doing tasks/investigation to put a Macguffin back together rather than on intrigue. EoN, on the other hand, has lots of "behind the scenes" storylines to uncover and is more of a sandbox-style game.

Honestly, you can't much go wrong; all of FFG's published adventures are quite good. It's just a matter of finding the one that suits your party's taste. You might also check out the one-page scenarios on The Daily Empire , since they'll give you a good chance to practice statting encounters without the pressure of writing your own material just yet.

I hope that helps! I'm not so good at pointing you in the direction of "what to buy," as I have a bad tendency just to buy everything.

Thanks all And Gathering Storm looks like it might work well for what I've seen of my (new) group so far.