I can see why you'd say that, but I adore so many of the fantasy RPG's out there, and each has it's own merits. Earthdawn has a lot going for it too, but in a totally different way to Warhammer, which is much more down to earth and grungy, which is why I adore it.
It's a game with a lot of mood and atmosphere, and the careers system reinforces that a lot, with characters as likely to start as a rat catcher or a tax collector as a soldier or a wizard's apprentice. Having the starting career be randomly rolled reinforces that, although at the cost of some imbalance - of course the races are already extremely different in power levels.
The 1st Edition rules do feel their age, but for tone and setting, I completely agree, there's nothing to beat WFRP. I've got a copy of 2nd Edition I intend to cover sometime soonish.
I just recently got a copy of Warhammer 2nd Edition, so I'll be covering that sometime soon (once I've had time to peruse the rules). I played it a couple of times back in the day, and I seem to remember it being a cool system.
@7:12 Clem's character sheet is a Misprunt .. Advance scheme should read: ** WS +10, BS +10, S +1, W +2, I +10, Int +10, Cl +10** ... +10 Wounds is far too much .. Check the Outrider career for reference WFRP 1
This was the first RPG I owned as a young child! I've ran a few sessions over the years, but this month I'll be running Castle Drachenfels! Very exciting stuff. A great game indeed!!
Good luck, I did a review of Drachenfels recently, as it's one of my favourite RPG/Novel combinations out there, but I've never actually ran it. Love Warhammer, such a lovely gritty setting and game.
It's definitely in my top three Fantasy settings (Earthdawn and Dark Sun being the other two), the way it beats down on the players is just so much fun to GM.
lol hard to die in Warhammer. I have played Warhammer since the mid 90's. Its one of the easiest RPG's to die in. Almost no careers can heal you and magic is rare. But love this game so much I do have some home brew rules for it.
While it's not as hard to kill a player as 5e, Warhammer is still fairly biased against killing players. As a dead player can't be tortured with all the fun of the system. I think in my time GM'ing Warhammer I only ever had one character die, but so many picked up insanties, crippling wounds, and curses, that it was clear these weren't fantasy heroes, they were just the ones who'd survived.
I do feel that you are overstating the complexity of the skill system and the modifiers in combat. Most skills do work the same way and just give a +10 bonus to Tests. The fact that some tests are performed differently is probably a more significant issue (personally I prefer having differences in some as it gives a more mimetic quality to your actions but completely unified mechanics tend to be preferred these days). Players and GMs will usually pick up how their skills work and what are the exceptions to the standard pretty quickly. They're usually going to have less than 10 skills to start with anyway so it's not as if there's a huge amount to learn. Modifiers for weapons are relatively rare. Most that have them require a specialist weapon skill that are mostly only available to advanced characters. Most weapons are classed as Hand Weapons (sword, axe etc.) and have no mods. The chart you're looking at does not reflect 'most weapons' but rather those that are exceptions to the default. Conditions are also reltively rare and obvious when needed. Charging can generally only happen once in a combat. If you're fighting on a staircase it's obvious a mod is needed. They're all +10s so it's not at all complex. Personally I would agree that the rules and mods for 'winning' are a bit fiddly and require the GM to remember who did what in the previous round. In my experience most people just ignore them.
It's just my preference for how I like to run a game. Basically I don't like to open a rulebook when Gamesmastering, as stopping the game to look up a rule or modifier slows the game down, and that's just not my style. So while I'm critical of games where you need to do this, it's just my style as I just prefer a unified mechanic I can apply anywhere and just keep the game moving (and yes that means I hate the magic system in most RPG's, where they each spell has it's own specific rules you need to look up. That said, I am a big fan of Critical Hit tables, and they always need you to look them up.
It was the first RPG book I bought; I was going in for AD&D 2nd ed (the one with the horse riders coming toward the reader) they did not have it but they had that; and when your,e 13-1, that cover was a million times more cooler and bad ass than just some guy with a winged helmet on a horse....but te system is rather clonky for my taste, I way more prefered 2nd ed, even if you coudn't play as a beggar or have a fire breathning skill
I know the exact D&D rulebook you mean, and yes I totally agree the WFRP cover is way cooler, it's a lovely piece of art. I played a bit of 2nd Ed, and it felt very different to this version, but I can see why they did it, since the rules definitely needed updating.
You can tell a pro-DM by the way they flip pages ;) Great vid, just what some of the newer players need. Check out Goblin Ink Inc if you're after a copy at not-stupid-ebay prices as we carry the mian book and supplements of 1st and 2nd edition all the time. The BEST RPG of all time in my humble opinion.
I've done a Retro RPG on 40k, ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2DqoAiqtcRI.html ), but if you want a Rules Breakdown, then I might cover it sometime, but as a Wargame, that might be a while off.
