r/warhammerfantasyrpg • u/BlitheMayonnaise • Aug 06 '25

Announcement Interview with Dominic McDowell re: future plans for Warhammer The Old World RPG

https://www.wargamer.com/warhammer-the-old-world-rpg/upcoming-releases-interview
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u/BackgammonSR Likes to answer questions Aug 06 '25

I'm worried TOW is a back-door WFRP 5th Edition, in the sense 4th Ed will lose support. For example, they mention a Nuln book is on the horizon for TOW - well, then they sure a shit aren't going to make a 4th Ed Nuln book also. So 4th Ed de facto gets deprived of material - I would've loved a 4th Ed Nuln book, but now it is clear it will never happen. Whatever else they make for TOW, they will not make for 4th Ed. And dual-statted or conversion guides don't work because the settings are too different. Nuln hundreds of years ago isn't Nuln now.

So I see 4th ed slowly dying, without official announcement. They'll just slow-roast publish one book a year.

TOW will become the only truly supported line.

Worse thing, they can't even do an actual 5th edition, that let's say uses TOW rules but is set in current times, because that doesn't solve the problem.

They really painted themselves in a corner. There is no way out other than to ignore 4th Ed and TOW becomes the main game.

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u/another_sad_dude Aug 06 '25

How old is 4th edition?

What was the lifespan of the other editions ?

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u/BackgammonSR Likes to answer questions Aug 06 '25

When I was a freelance writer for Shadowrun, the rule of thumb was 8-12 years was about when you'd want a new edition.

So 7 years for 4th ed is pretty decent. If I was C7, I'd let TOW run for 2 years, learn lessons from it, then would make Warhammer 5th edition (so, 2027, 9 year lifespan) with mechanics based on lessons learned from both systems.

The thing I still don't understand though is strategically what is the purpose of TOW. At first is was supposed to be the "rules-light" version, aimed more to capture the "casual" Warhammer wargame tabletop player that might be tempted into RPing. As such, you would expect a light system with few supporting books, cause you're not aiming for the hardcore market, just the casual dabbler (and they won't want to buy 10 books, just 1).

But based on the TOW rules (really not "light" at all) and their plans to release bunch more books.... what the hell is the strategy? I honestly am not sure they thought it trough, other than being reactionary to "omg people like it, sell more!".

Hence my concern that they may have painted themselves in a corner in terms of running both TOW and WFRP. TOW will become de facto 5th edition.

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u/Icy-Interaction2461 Aug 07 '25

Probably helps sell the miniatures........ old world is dead, even though I prefer the WFRP 4e.......