Quote from: Gabriel2;397304What I understand is that there are three hardcover rulebooks: a PHB, a DMG, and a MM.  These have the info from the cards in a traditional RPG format.

If you want the cards and bits, there are three more new bit box sets, one for each hardcover book.  These have the cards and counters and stuff.

Will the game be playable with only the hardcover "core" books alone?

Quote from: ggroy;397305Will the game be playable with only the hardcover "core" books alone?

You'd still need the special dice.  Presently there's no good way to get them separately.  You could buy two of the offerred packs of spare dice and still not get as many as there are in the base set.

But the game can be played without many of the bits.  Instead of grabbing an action card, you'd simply have to reference or write down the action description in the book.  Instead of tracking things with counters, you'd make tick marks on paper.  In many ways, it's a very conventional RPG.

Wounds are a problem, because critical wounds are dependent on the wound deck.  Insanity is another little problem to playing the game with no bits, as that is managed by a card deck too.

I don't think these new products are introductory routes.  They strike me as products for people who are already into the game and want the info in one place and/or their own copies of the bits.    

Personally, I'm interested in the Monster book.

what are the special dice, anyway?  i'm sure you could substitute normal dice and just consult a table or somesuch instead, yes?

Quote from: beeber;397420what are the special dice, anyway?  i'm sure you could substitute normal dice and just consult a table or somesuch instead, yes?

Yep you could.
Red D10
Green D10
Blue D8
Purple D8
Yellow D6
White D6
Black D6
Every type of colour die has different markings on them and a typical roll would be: 3 Blue, 2 green, 1 Yellow, 1 white, 1 purple and 1 black.

I would imagine referencing a chart would be really annoying.

that many unique/special dice?  waaay too fiddly for me :eek:

Quote from: beeber;397430that many unique/special dice?  waaay too fiddly for me :eek:

If you count the extra percentile d10 that comes with most dice sets, it's the same number of unique dice types as D&D.

Quote from: hexgrid;397436If you count the extra percentile d10 that comes with most dice sets, it's the same number of unique dice types as D&D.

but they're not straight numbered dice, so that doesn't make sense.  you can't just use your regular gaming dice to play without major adjustments it seems.

regardless, with all i've heard of 3e, and with no group, i have no interest in actually purchasing it.

Basically they're just making two different versions of the exact same game.

1.) The original, card and token based game that turned off many due to its fiddliness.

2.) Traditional rules compendium based game.  Books+dice=off you go.

They're banking on pulling in new people with the book-based design and having some people get both.

For all the people saying WFRP3 is really quite traditional, just keep in mind...

1.) Time is highly abstract, there's Story-mode and Combat-mode.  Basically cards and powers are meant to be used in Combat-mode.  It brings up weird situations like a Shallya priestess either being able to heal the party completely after combat, using her "healing spell" card an unlimited number of times in Story Mode, or either not being able to cast spells at all outside of combat.

2.) Range is abstracted, which is ok if you're in 3:16, where the good guys are on one side and the bad guys on the other, but not too great if you have say a wagon traveling through the Drakwald Forest under attack by 8 bandits with missile weapons surrounding the wagon.

3.) WFRP 1 and 2 were known for good adventure maps.  WFRP3 basically has none, mere sketches.  

4.) The adventure structure is strongly narrative.  We're talking literal Acts and Scenes here with "Rally Phases" signifying either time-based or dramatic breaks in the action.

It's traditional in the sense that there's no shared narrative control mechanics or Conflict Resolution going on, but it's not as traditional as WFRP1 or 2 by any means.

Seems to me that so far it's standing on the shoulders of previous editions.

Where's the world-building or are FFG content to rake in money partly based on the content of previous editions?

Quote from: One Horse Town;397522Seems to me that so far it's standing on the shoulders of previous editions.

Where's the world-building or are FFG content to rake in money partly based on the content of previous editions?

World Building in what regard?  They've got a campaign set out, another on the way soon and a 3rd announced as well as an adventure to boot.  They are forging new stories into the Warhammer world and not just putting out rules.

But as far as the world overall is concerned it's still Warhammer so it's still set in the Empire with all the regular places you'd like to visit and more often avoid.

With world-building OHT is talking about filling in the Warhammer World.  Darklands, Arabia, Tilea, Albion.  None of them have been really addressed in a WFRPG.

To answer the question, this edition seems to be for one purpose really.  To play in the time leading up to the Storm of Chaos.  In other words, this game is a prequel to WFRP2 chronologically.  

As a result, IMO, you're not going to see anything new.  

My prediction - 2011-2012 will have several modules, fill in the other three Chaos gods, add in new classes to possibly reach the amount of classes available in WFRP2.  At some point, the battle rules will be updated enough to let the players actually run through the Storm of Chaos.

Unfortunately, any GW licensed RPG, either Fantasy or 40k, is going to have serious wold-building issues.  The only world-building allowed must operate within the umbrella of the GW wargame fluff, so they're always shackled to the wargaming fluff, which is written to sell minis, not create a coherent setting.

That being said, FFG could fill in the Old World under contraints of the timeline just like they are filling in the Imperium and beyond under constraints of the timeline, but with this type of game, I doubt they will.   Setting verisimilitude/simulationism, whatever you want to call it, just isn't a focus of this edition of the game.

This game is dark, gritty fantasy seen almost through the lens of a pulp or supers type format, very episodic and focused on the action and individual story as opposed to seen from the point of the setting as a whole.

Quote from: CRKrueger;397526This game is dark, gritty fantasy seen almost through the lens of a pulp or supers type format, very episodic and focused on the action and individual story as opposed to seen from the point of the setting as a whole.

Which is why it stands partly on earlier editions. This is fine if A) As an existing player you have the earlier material or B) you don't mind paying for shiny bits and system when the stuff that is useful has already been published.

Quote from: One Horse Town;397528Which is why it stands partly on earlier editions. This is fine if A) As an existing player you have the earlier material or B) you don't mind paying for shiny bits and system when the stuff that is useful has already been published.

Yeah, they're busting out the money rake.  If you're interested in running the type of game you ran with WFRP1 or WFRP2, all WFRP3 brings to the table is a new system and some pre-Storm of Chaos modules.  That's it.  There's not enough detail on any of the cities you visit to hang a traditional campaign on without tons of fill-in work.

In FFG's defense, they're not even trying to make a game that you could run a WFRP1 or WFRP2 campaign on, they're going for a different type of campaign.

Glad to hear this...thinking seriously about the hardbacks now.
Thanks for the heads-up!