I've recently gotten my hands on several (many!) 1st and 2nd edition WFRP sourcebooks from an old buddy who is getting rid of alot of old collections. Which ones would be good background/history and which ones would just muddle things (due to retcons, etc).

I know I want to read Steel and Stone (the dwarf book) because it's the first time I've seen a copy.

Are all the 1st edition sourcebooks pretty much worth reading?

Karl Franz in the 1st ed stuff is a very different personality to that in 2nd/3rd ed. Bretonnia is also completely different (I actually prefer 1st ed version but there you go)

1st ed is based some years previously compared to 3rd.

I'd stay away from Empire in Flames for 1st ed if you got a copy of it, as that probably has most info not relevant to a 3rd ed campaign

Also 1st ed descriptions of magic, and especially how it uber controlled by the colleges in 2nd/3rd, is somewhat more fuzzy than the later editions

2nd ed is based just after Storm of chaos, whereas 3rd is based "just" before, so although 2nd ed material doesn't such from retcon as much as 1st to 3rd it is "the future" as far as 3rd ed is concerned, but a lot of the stuff would be mostly relevant, except for things like 2nd Middenheim, which looks very different post SoC! In that instance 1st Ed middenheim is much more relevant.

Sigmar's heirs would be in general a great resource for 3rd ed, as would Stone and Steel, and the majority of the non-adventure source books from 2nd ed (nights dark masters, children of horned rat, etc)

I'm sure people will have other reccomendations, but that should get the conversations started, at least!

Actually, if you got a copy of Empire in Flames, I'd sell it, they are pretty rare!

I don't think Stone and Steel is a commonly owned book either, at least in the hard copy sense

I did't see Empire in Flames in there, that's the final part of TEW campaign isn't it?

Stone and Steel I'm keeping, I don't want to end up in the Book of Grudges for selling it for paltry gold.

And thanks for the info

I find that in most older sourcebooks there are a lot of useful things. 2nd covered a lot of ground outside the Empire. And with Middenheim and Marienburg 1st ed had two terrific and almost unequaled city sourcebooks. I find the city chapters in 2nd ed campaigns like Path of the Damned boring in comparison (bust still useful and not bad at all). I Think that most of 1st ed scenarios should go very well with the feeling and the rules of 3rd ed.

bigity said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_Warhammer_Fantasy_Roleplay_publications

Best WFRP1 stuff:

• TEW (entire campaign). But best parts are Vol 2: Death on the Reik and Middenheim: City of Chaos (or older edition Warhamer City of Chaos)
• Marienburg: Sold Down the River
• Dwarfs: Stone and Steel (best Dwarf sourcebook for Warhammer RPG ever. I would have hoped the WFRP3 source would been similar...)

Other books are very much worth reading and provide good background information. Altough WFRP1 didn't actually expand the world information that much, there still was interesting places presented (for example Drachenfels). And also some WFRP1 fluff maybe little different where we are now - Warhammer World has changed since 80's. And I'm not speaking just about the Storm of Chaos - Warhammer Fantasy Battle is the core product (for the GW) and it's many editions have changed and expanded the world eventually. As has huge number of novels and other stuff.

Best WFRP2 stuff:

• Sigmar's Heirs
• Tome of Corruption
• Children of the Horned Rat
• Realms of the Ice Queen

WFRP2 on the other hand did expand the world very much, even some of the sourcebooks are - Well, not the best of the line... Yet, they all have good amounts of background information, that WFRP3 sourcebooks been little lacking. These provide good background info for WFRP3. Also there were some interesting adventures. The Thousand Thrones is HUGE campaing - And people are still expanding it!

One of the most fantastic sourcebooks, for the contents and the exquisit edition, are the

Realms of Chaos Slaves to Darkness

Realms of Chaos The Lost and the Damned

They have everything you want to know regarding chaos, daemons, profane magic items...

It's easy to overlook, but the 1st Edition Core Rule Book is still useful in bits and patches (moreso for hybrid dingbats like me that have held on to certain setting aspects through all the editions). It set the tone and style of WFRP that ensorcelled so many of us, and some of the ancillary bits are still good. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've used the building floor-plans in the back of the book for all sorts of games beyond just WFRP. The art, whilst being very "80's", is still useful in conveying the style of the game to new players.

Some stuff I haven't seen mentioned yet (the above recommendations are solid):

The Warhammer Fantasy Rolelay Companion (2nd Ed): Is a really cool hodge-podge of juicy bits that never really found a home in any of the other Green Ronin books. A solid GM resource.

The Game Master's Tool Kit (2nd Ed): It rules for those times when you have to come up with things like an Inn, plot hook or NPC on the fly. I carry it with me in my game book bag no matter what.

Plundered Vaults (2nd Ed): Some really solid scenarios in here, and while the stats can't be ported, the stories can. I can't remember who, but I know someone around here did A Rough Night at the Three Feathers in 3rd edition.