Rettile:
Hi guys, i’d like to start to play WHFR, so if someone plays or used to play this game i’d like to have some feedback and an advice on the best edition :hat off
Zuh-Khinie:
If I were you, I’d go for 2nd edition. Loads of source material abound, you can easily convert 1st to 2nd (adventures like ‘The Enemy Within’) and it features a solid d100 system that’s logical and esay to learn.
3d felt more like a cardgame than what a roleplay should feel like to me.
Anyhow, I’ve been playin WFRP 2nd edition something like a decade now, so if you have any specific questions, fire away!
Rettile:
Thank you, Zuh! Sadly second edition stuff seems to be the hardest to find 
Zuh-Khinie:
Except when you look for it on pdf… I have all the books on computer. All you’d really need is the source book and maybe the ‘Old World Armoury’ for fast and easy reference.
Out of most of the other books, you just need the occasional tabel (expanded miscasttabel etc.)
The thing is, 1st edition was too ponderous (too many stats), 2nd edition was more streamlined end offers the players the freedom to pursue their interests. In 3d edition, you’re stuck with the template you choose at the start.
In 2nd, you buy skills and stats. In 3d you buy better dice and action cards, which makes your character a lot more difficult to manage in the long run, but allows you to do much crazier stuff in one action.
Dînadan:
I second Zuh-Khinie’s suggestion. I don’t have any experience of 1st ed, so can’t comment on that, but I did GM a couple of sessions of 2nd and played as a PC in a short campaign of 3rd and I found 2nd to be far more enjoyable. 3rd ed uses a variety of odd dice (D8s reskinned with symbols in place of the numbers and in a variety of colours, each colour having a different set of symbols and what colours you get to roll and how many depend on what you’re rolling for) and as I recall combat was abstract with combatants being in range bands and positioning not being that precise whereas 2nd uses D10s and uses the D% system for rolling, and combat can either be worked out abstractly (ie players/DMs describing actions) or physically (either using a standard grid mat, or by substituting inches for squares where distances are concerned and using regular WH terrain (which is what I did when I GMed)).
Roark:
I’m playing my first game ever (2nd edition, I think) with some old buddies at the moment and, I have to say, it’s pretty brutal, mechanics-wise! We seem to be on the verge of ruin and death every single session.
Zuh-Khinie:
It’s easy to recognise editions while playing… do you use funky dice and actioncards? If so, you’re playing 3d. Do you have stats like ‘coolness’? If so, you’re playing first.
If none of the above are true, you’re playing second 
And if you’re playing warhammer correctly, you should be on the verge of ruin and death regularly… otherwise you’d be playing herohammer roleplay, and you’d be missing out on most of the flavour and grit of the old world.
Roark:
Yah boss. Confirmed second edition. My compatriots are discussing whether to slit my throat out of mercy or leave me behind because I’m probably too insane to be a functioning member of society, let alone the party.
Rettile:
Long live the second edition, then. I cannot tell the same about the PCs, though 
Dînadan:
. I cannot tell the same about the PCs, though :DAgreed; the first game of 2nd ed I ran had the PCs ambushed by a group of bandits (all of who had just below average stats) and it was brutal (the elf in the party nearly lost his foot) and the PCs really struggled and only managed to survive because the octogenarian NPC with really low stats who was driving their wagon took out about half the bandits with his sling :o
Rettile
Roark:
The characters are awesome! I’m an unassuming student of daemonology with a missing eyebrow. My path has not been a typical, happy D&D-style journey towards wealth and massively-escalating power. Rather, my thirst for knowledge has led to my companions and I being ostracised and imprisoned, and precipitated a general descent into madness and becoming the playthings of evil entities.
Meanwhile, my D&D character found some Gauntlets of Ogre Power…
Yodrin:
I played some WHFR in my younger days, and it was ok i guess. But we played Merp for the most part, we thought that was much cooler;)
Zuh-Khinie:
DSA… do they still make that? Damn I feel old all of the sudden…
The only game I ever encountered where you actually had to recite your entire spell to cast it, which in Dutch (because yes, for some reason it got translated) sounded even more retarded than anything else. Good system though, better than D&D in any of its evolutions if you ask me.
They had their own (in my opinion bad) miniature line to go with their roleplay, or am I thinking about the wrong game?
edriarr blackleaf:
I’d have to say first edition WHFRP, not because I’ve never seen the later american versions, but because I’ve only got the original version. I stopped playing other fantasy games in the end, WHFRP beat everything at the time and still does for me. First edition is a complete game, you dont require supplements to DM or play or access specific characters or more monsters, everything you could ever need is in one book. Which is probably why they dont make rpgs like it anymore. Upon browsing a copy, you can see why it won awards when it was released, its a quality product, and still lives upto the praise it received.
WHFRP is a diseased mix of fantasy with a hidden sub layer of horror scratching away under the surface. Like a dirty D&D with a pinch of Paranoia and a dose Call of Cthulhu strapped to its back whispering in one ear, eroding its grasp of reality.
WHFRP is easy to learn. If you like the game world, then you’ll find it addictive and compelling. Character options are almost unlimited, at the time of its release there was nothing like it on the market, so many options to choose, and career paths to follow. Vocations clearly presented with advance schemes for you to invest your xp on, stat boosts, new skills, better skills, new doors opening as you advance … providing you survive the grim world of perilous adventure, or at least, survive unmaimed - the combat critical hit chart is a doozy. Losing a hand can ruin your employment options. And theres always the concern, madness might take its toll, but thats the gamble you take… like Call of Cthulhu, knowledge and experience comes at a price.
So yeah, I think its a cracking game. Subversive in its own way. Denying the existence of the agents of darkness, brandishing folk heretic for uttering the existence of foul things … yet darkness permeates even the safest corners of society, evil takes root and uses unknowing pawns to further the ambitions of darkness. An rpg of conspiracies, or one of hack an slack heroic deeds against vile monsters, or a game of madness, mutation and hideous perversions, treachery, treason, cults, abominations, and pure evil. All the above and more, like career options, its a game with a deep wealth of game options, styles, directions to explore and layers. Like building and completing an army of WH miniatures, WHFRP is a game that can offer you years after years of entertainment. Decades on, I’m still happy… though that might be the sanity loss.
TheHoodedMan:
@Herby: I played DSA for years and thats long long ago (early 80s) It was my first contact with roleplaying games soon after I played Talisman.<br>Then a guy came to my school and brought WHFRP and from then I played everything: D&D, Rolemaster, MERP, Runequest, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, a.s.o.<br>WHFRP has a really unique feeling, as does Call of Cthulhu and my absolute favorite: Ars Magica.<br><br>We play sometimes Dark Heresy, thats nice, too (WH40k roleplaying from Fantasy Flight Games).
edit:
back to topic: I would try to get the 1st edition of WHFRP, it`s cheap and you need no other rules (campaign and adventure books are great).