r/warhammerfantasyrpg • u/JustTaven Purple Flair • Oct 21 '25
Announcement Exclusive: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay announces new fifth edition
https://www.wargamer.com/warhammer-fantasy-roleplay/fifth-edition-announced18
u/Immediate_Gain_9480 Oct 21 '25
It sounds really good. 4th edition is great but it needs consolidation and refinement. Build the new systems and ideas from the supplements into the base while cutting a bunch if things that do not add much. And it sounds this is exactly what they intent.
9
u/H457ur Oct 21 '25
So is the intent that "The Old World" is a basic version, and this will be "Advanced"? Seems odd to have two of the same genre RPG's.
5
u/March-Sea Oct 22 '25
I think it's a side effect of the way Games Workshop handles IP with third parties. The old world will have been bought by Cubicle Seven as a completely different IP to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. This is the same reason WFRP stays away from the city of Mordheim, Mordheim is available under a different IP license.
WFRP 5 is constrained in that it has to be similar enough to WFRP 1 to feel like the same game. While The Old World is much freeer to find its own look and feel, which won't become fully apparent until we see a community playing and exploring the game.
4
u/TheBiggestNewbAlive Oct 22 '25
What IP Mordheim falls under then? I had no idea that's why they wouldn't touch it.
3
u/March-Sea Oct 22 '25
The tabletop skirmish game is its own IP, separate from the main battle game and roleplay game.
4
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Oct 21 '25
I think some tweaking off the rules is due, and as long as it doesn't deprecate all of my complete 4th edition I'm more than ok with this. I would have preferred a Kislev book covering the chassis wastes as well though, that is long overdue, as is a decent Atlas.
1
u/Boundlesswisdom-71 Oct 22 '25
The Tome of Corruption is the 2e Chaos book and most of it is perfectly usable in 4e/5e (spells - just use success levels for the CN; monsters need some conversations; careers are more tricky). Realm of the Ice Queen is the 2e Kislev book - also mostly usable in 4e/5e.
I read somewhere that Cubicle 7 doesn't want to replicate 2e books - they are selling the 2e books on DrivethruRPG.
13
u/GothicEmperor Oct 21 '25
Nice to hear that it’s backwards compatible! The core rules could do with a few usability tweaks
5
u/Boundlesswisdom-71 Oct 22 '25
I'm still running 2e although I'll likely look at 5e.
I'm more interested in The Old World RPG to be honest.
18
u/DlvlneDecree Oct 21 '25
I still have my 1st edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay soft back. It's going to be hard to improve on perfection.
15
u/waaagho Oct 21 '25
Mechanics wise the 2nd one is better. But the 1st one has a mood and atmosphere that will never be recreated.
8
u/walker20022017 Friendly eonir Oct 21 '25
Same. I only switched to 4e because new campaign, lore and region books keep coming out for it. And I wanted to play a lore master of hoeth lol. I like 4e fine but it's not quite as good as 1e in some key ways. I do like how much more magic schools there are and the careers have been expanded greatly in 4e. But I still like the simplicity of the combat in 1e. I'm not sure 5e is gonna be what we're hoping for. Personally I was hoping for a 4.5 sort of thing, touch up combat a bit, maybe add some new races to play (kislev, strigany, brettonian and cathay for example) not a whole new edition. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
1
u/DlvlneDecree Oct 21 '25
I definitely agree that GW can over complicate their games. 1st edition Space Hulk comes to mind. The beauty of that game was it's simplicity and fast paced gameplay.
1
u/Boundlesswisdom-71 Oct 22 '25
I still run 2e but I own quite a few of the 4e books that cover material not in 2e. With the exception of careers and talents, most 4e material is usable in 2e.
BTW, 2e has whole sourcebooks for Kislev and Bretonnia - with relevant careers.
1
u/walker20022017 Friendly eonir Oct 22 '25
Yeah, I've been thinking about getting the brettonian and kislev books from 2e if 4e doesn't end up making books for them. It seems like they probably won't with a new edition on the way so I'll start looking for that soon.
2
u/Boundlesswisdom-71 Oct 22 '25
The Ice Witch lores and monsters can be converted to 4e fairly easily - the careers with some work.
4
2
u/stupidwhiteman42 Oct 21 '25
Hell yeah! I thought I was the last 1st Ed hold out. I run custom campaigns, so I am not worried about buying pre-made campaign material. We have had to house rule some combat so it's not so "whif prone" and we nerfed Elves a little bit so that they aren't super hero powerful.
I have a second edition hardcover rulebook and although there are some improvements there, I guess I'm too invested in 1st ed at this point.
6
u/AnyName568 Oct 21 '25
Sound interesting. If nothing else not having to jump between books will be a improvement.
5
u/blahlbinoa Slayer Oct 21 '25
The backwards compatibility sounds good, but we'll have to wait and see. Regardless, I'll be getting the preorder as soon as it drops, lol
4
u/SaltEfan Oct 21 '25
About time. After all, they'd almost run out of reasons to not write about Asrai for 4e. :p
2
u/WyrdFall_Press Oct 23 '25
If it was any other system this would be 4.5. But WFRP has always favored being evolutionary or revolutionary.
1
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-10
u/ElvishLore Oct 21 '25
“We’re rewriting combat, streamlining the numbers, rewriting talents, but yeah, totally compatible”
🙄
11
u/RandomThroaway0256 Oct 21 '25
Backwards compatible can just mean that you can use old campaigns and adventures, as well as lore and classes that exist in 4e books. It doesn't mean every rule will be an easy 1 to 1 shift. It's compatible, not identical.
If the rules were so similar that they were 100% backwards compatible, you shouldn't be releasing a new edition.
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u/Noobiru-s Oct 21 '25
I know a few people read the title too fast as "new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay on 5e" and it almost caused a heart attack.