http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/client/client_pages/sale2012.cfm?catid=22

HUGE discounts on the WHFRP line at the FFG store sale.

oh man is right….

store.fantasyflightgames.com/client/client_pages/sale2012.cfm

jh

My main speculations:

• They're going to reproduce the dice packs , but needed some quick cash to fund them
• Speculation of dumping the line as not profitable enough
• Speculation of Reprint edition of the same fluff with corny rules tweaks
• Selling it at a reasonable rate maybe to snag players
• Dumping all the warehouse stock that didn't sell to make space
• Didn't want to reprint the dice, but didn't want to discount just one product…
• Realized their production values were too high to reach profitable sales goals so they could be taking a loss
• Merry Xmas
• They've put out what they feel is "enough" and just want to ride the remainder of the line
• If this isn't profitable, they hope people will maybe buy other things from their other stocklines
• 'Macy's discount'
• License issues for other lines
• License issue for this line dredging up cash in the sale to pay for license issue
• They're just feeling darned generous after a night of terrific dreams with three ghosts, tiny tim and…
• They're terrified Zweihander will steal all of their clientele who don't play this game anyways because they play 2e but they're terrified anyways because a 2e insider fan has been feeding them false information about the army of 2e players who are outside the FFG stockade…
• Maybe there really are only 5 people who play this game
• They're going to release the next edition in Chinese
• A reward to those of us who didn't buy all the stuff initially can pick it up on the cheap
• ???

jh

Pretty bummed. I love this game and have only been able to play a few times. I could just never find players. Such a massive sale, especially when the sale is next to lines such as wings of war and 2e does not bode well. Seems like WFRP3e just did not perform to their expectations.

What saddens me is that I sent an email to FFG after Gen Con this year stating my concern for the 3rd edition Fantasy RPG line. I told them that I feel in love with 3rd edition because I was new to roleplaying and hated not having cards with information on them. I don't want to flip through a book or write rulings in a small space or memorize a tome. And I loved that I didn't have to make these cards myself, like I was doing for another rpg, that I don't have anymore because of this game. I was given a response back within 24hrs saying that there is no need to worry, The Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay line is here to stay and that they have big plans for the future. I hope I wasn't lied too or that they twisted my concern because they are letting 3rd edition die and coming up with a new version.

Being a fan of FFG, for almost 10 years now, I can tell you that if your on the Holiday(black friday) sale you are on the way out. The only hope I see that this might not be true is that all of their novels are also on sale. Their new line of paperbacks is only 6 months old. So that seems odd and surprising to me.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that we get some type of news in the near future. We already know that the Enemy Within is on the boat, but what about past that. Are we going to see more POD's? Especially the rest of the Orders and Blessings.

I'm sadden that FFG cannot handle more than one line at a time. It seems like the Star Wars RPG is getting all the love, right now. I know its new and everyone is excited ( I'm looking forward to it because it is similar to Warhammer Fantasy) but this would be the perfect time to also bring Warhammer fantasy into the mix. Both of these RPG's are very similar. Which means maybe they could bleed fans into both.

*On another note i'm disappointed that they did not make cards for the Star wars RPG. I would have preordered it, if that was the case. now I'll just take my time getting that one.
** and when I say cards, I mean cards. not the tokens. The cards with talents, actions, wounds, insanities, etc. These all have rules on them. No need to memorize or keep checking a book, its right there.

I would like to also point out that they did not discount the Core Set. So maybe there is hope and this is just something to jolt interest.

I have to restrain myself a lot not to spent a 110$. As I have startet only a year before with the german version I'm trying to buy only german products, but have already broken that with Blackfire Pass and Hero's Call. These prices are just too good to miss.

And Money wise I think that they want to clear their storeroom. With the german and oher languages coming there will be reprint intervalls for them to produce most of these products a second time along with the other language versions. So no need in storing these boxes in their warehouses.

A Gathering Storm has hit shelves in german this november, so a reprint of these is already made. Signs of Faith and Winds of Magic is next. So if they want they know they can replentish their stock soon.

Oh Bugger! I would spend 90$ on this sale. But Shipping to Germany is 65$ and there surely is a considerable amount of taxes/ duties on that also…

*cries silently into his pillow*

edit: would cost me 119$ on shipping, taxes and duties…

master yoda said:

Would it not be smarterto discount the Core Set if the ultimate goal was to jolt interest? A discounted core set (and set of guides) could generate new players, where discounted expansion products only appeal to those that already own the game.

Even if it is phased out I'm still going to enjoy playing WFRP. I've still got a fair few adventures in the expansions that I haven't run yet and each of those usually take us 3-5 weeks of play (we really like to roleplay!). Also there's loads of areas that I haven't even touched yet.

Something I'm quite keen in trying is making everyone worship one of the Chaos gods and give them one of those cards you get with the expansions and have the adventures basically be the opposite way round. Eye for and eye where the players work in the manor and are trying to complete the ritual while some under cover heroes are trying to stop them.

It looks like "end series" sale especially when it's next to WFRP2ed sale …

Saddly, FFG did the same thing with AT-43 and Confrontation a few years back, Huge holiday sale that streatched out for weeks after the holidays until all of the stock was gone, then so were the games.

To me it looks like they are dumping the license. Why sell 2nd and 3rd ed side by side unless you are liquidating, and why liquidate in the 1st place?

I hope that I am totaly wrong, but it appears the writing is on the wall. You don't discount products you can sell by 30% - 60%. It drives the precieved value of a product down and only makes it harder to sell at full price. This looks more like a desperate attempt to cut losses or a sobering realization that they can not sell this game, so dump it to make room for something else. To many signs to be good. Jay moved to star wars, no release schedule for 2013, TEW took forever to come out, HUGE sale on product, dice are no longer in production. I agree with one of the other posters who said that if they were trying to generate interest they would discount the core box, but they are not. Looks like they are not interested in generating any new interest.

Individually none of this is good. All together is a BAD sign.

master yoda said:

I personally forsee a new run for the WFRP line in the near future. We'll most likely see a reprint/3.5 edition of the Core set (hence it not being on sale, they want people to buy the newer version on the horizon), with a cheaper buy in, and less components, but still compatible with any components that we already own.

gmanjkd said:

I'd have to disagree with you on this point. Warhammer Fantasy AND Warhammer 40k are the same license, and I don't think Fantasy Flight would be stupid enough to dump 40k right now, seeing as how it's one of the best selling RPGs on the market right now.

Well, I just put my order in! Lots of new stuff coming my way!!

Food for thought: If anyone was interested in having some "extra" dice for your group, the "Game Masters Vault" contains additional dice!! AND it is priced at only $10 right now,.. THAT is a DEAL !!

Goblin King, I HOPE you are right,…

Question: Do you think they will credit their dealers with any current WFRP3e inventory they have on hand ??

Yep. The GMs vault is now priced lower than the old dice packs and it is the only remaining way to get dice for less tan $60.

GM's vault also contains:

jh

The price discounts are similar on most of the stuff on sale in other areas. Since they are not dumping core sets - which they do show as "in stock" on regular site that suggets to me it's just "moving stuff we want to move" and not "clearing out everything".

It's clearly not "sale on everything" - there are lots of products across all the lines not being discounted (e.g., no sales of Warhammer 40,000 stuff, Arkham Horror Boardgame, Lord of the Rings or Cthulhu living card game) so there is some "moving surplus" logic likely at work.

If anything, the fact they have core sets but aren't selling them seems odd (why not try to get more people into game with discounted ones) but if they thought about it likely means "they're actually pretty confident on moving the core sets they have without a sale", not regarding themselves to be in surplus position on them.

They have the 2nd edittion licence and I don't begrudge 2nd Ed. fans sale prices on stuff if they want to stick with it, and for that matter I have all that stuff myself and about 2/3 only bought to cannibalize for 3rd edition - being an example of 3rd edition market support for 2nd edition stuff.

Here's the announcement page for the GMs vault: www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp

And I just like this old picture of the Player's Vault:www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp

I may just be an optimist but I am hoping the reason for this big sale is that they are paving the way for an issue of a revised set of boxes. I love this game but I think the release of it has ended up a bit of a mess. You routinely see people on this forum asking 'what do I buy?'. I can't think of many other RPGs where it is not clear what you need.

I would like to see FFG re-release the game in revised packaging to try and encourage new players. The first thing you would need would be a revised set with rules from the ruinous powers quartet included. However they also need to make the core set cheaper so the way I would do it would be:-

Revised Core Set - All the normal rules included disease and mutation but no elves, magic or priests to keep the costs down. Include the human and dwarf careers from Adventurers Toolkit.

Revised Winds of Magic - All the magic rules and careers - including those originally in the core set

Revised Wind so Magic - All the divine rules and careers - including those in the original core set

Ruinous Power Set - All the chaos information from the 4 ruinous powers box sets.

This way it would be clear what you needed to play. However you could only take this approach, which I think is needed (or at least something similar), if the stocks of the existing suppliments are reduced. And yes it may well annoy a few players who are half way through buying the game through the original release system but it gives you a much better chance of getting new players. Sadly I own the lot so the only benefit I can see to this sale is maybe picking up another cheap copy of omen's of war so I can get my hands on more serious injury cards.

I don't disagree that a "pull together" edition would be helpful, but we've already bought this game THREE times. Once with the core boxes. Once with the guides. And, once again with the vaults.

Having a 4th release of this game would be a bit much IMHO and would pretty much hack the remaining player base in half, yet again, and not pick up enough players to bother. I'd rather see more fluff-content-heavy products coming out.

If they hadn't gone the route of the "vaults" and guides", we'd already have six more products in our hands.

jh

Looks like the writing's on the wall, but anyway, my players and I are sick of the cards, the components, the mucking about interpreting dice symbols, the restrictive setting and the lack of support and we've got in the wayback machine to 1978 and old school fun with Labyrinth Lord!

There we will do our best to avoid a single frickin' beastman or chaos-corrupted noble and let our imaginations free again. Just too many fiddly rules and bits and pieces getting in the way of the fun, WFRP3 … it was a grand experiment but it needed a very strong hand on the tiller.

UniversalHead said:

I just wanted to mention, that I have the feeling we have had similar experiences with the game. If I am not wrong, you and your group also started with quite a lot of passion with this 3rd edition, but for what you write here looks like that shortly after you got disappointed with the game, and for similar reasons as we did.

We are also exploring "new" things, so far The One Ring and The Dresden Files. Great games by the way.

Since I still love the setting I keep an eye on the forums. I also think there is people here in this forums doing great things for the fan community, good job!

Cheers,

Yepes

I agree, the fan community, as always, has done heaps of work, and haven't received much support or encouragement at all. I have a comprehensive set of reference materials for WFRP3, but I can't share them as FFG/GW don't want me to show the logo or the dice symbols on anything I make. I know FFG are bound by the draconian GW lawyers in this case, but that seems pretty extreme.

Anyway, we just feel the need to push the rules out of the way and get back to the FUN. We don't need the rules system telling us every little thing a player can do, the modifers are too many, and the handfuls of dice are taking too long to interpret. Also, now I'm starting a remote Google+/Roll20-based game as I've moved away from my group, the simpler the rules the better. And after playing all the incarnations of WFRP since it was first released, we're very tired of the same old plot tropes being trotted out again and again. The setting has just become too restrictive.

My players recently rolled up 3 Labyrinth Lord characters each (some are going to die very quickly!) and came up with a bit of history for each of them, and there were many comments of how fun it was not to worry about 'realism' or the Empire background or any of that stuff.

It's a shame, but I think WFRP3 is just too unwieldy a beast now, and its potential was never quite realised. I think a simpler, cleaner rules foundation would have been better.

And I'm still annoyed about the Creatures Guide.

I don't really agree that the rules in WFRP gets in the way of fun. I still find the mechanics enjoyable, although the storytelling aspect of the game (which is really brilliant in story mode) suffers a fair bit in encounters, just due to the complexity. But that complexity also makes tactical combat a part of the game, which my group likes.

A pity about the reference materials, I have your summary sheet from back when it was downloadable. I has been immensely useful so thanks a lot for the effort!

About other games, I think Dungeon world is one of the most exciting new games out there. It's quite different from most. other fantasy RPGs, and has an even greater focus on story than WFRP ( which is what got me stuck with this game in the first place).

I think I've managed to stick it out this long because of the content available to the GMs. There are a lot of systems less clunky out there, but they don't have a lick of fan support, no "world", no novels, no history, and very few scenarios.

jh