Wednesday 27 July 2016

Kickstarter: ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG

Two of my all-time favorite rpgs are the first two editions of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - the first edition for the setting, the second for the rules. I remember how excited I was when Fantasy Flight Games announced the third edition. Unfortunately my enthusiasm didn't last long... Instead of a percentile based low fantasy game FFG released a boardless boardgame with needless chits, unique dice, shitton of cards, vivid illustrations, and an even more watered down version of the Old World than the one seen in WFRP2e. I wouldn't have any issues with the game if it was called Warhammer Collectible Adventures, or Warhammer Quest on Steroids, but calling it Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was a heresy punishable by burning. Strangely FFG haven't felt any need to fuck up the WH40K RPG branch which still used the good old percentile system.

While the WH40KRPGs thrived and saw a shitton of releases, WFRP3e was slowly killed, and WFRP1e/2e endured thanks to the community, whose strongest bastion were probably the Strike-to-Stun forums. Here, Daniel Fox (aka Moniker) started to gather his house rules under the Corehammer title, but his game slowly started to evolve, and transformed into something different. Thus Zweihänder was born. Despite all the differences it still had something FFG's fantasy rpg lacked: the heart and core of WFRP. I've found the playtest docs interesting, and admired the effort, but as time passed I considered it a vaporware and forgot about it.

This spring I had to realise I was wrong. After five years and 240 sessions Zweihänder, the true heir to WFRP is virtually finished. The authors started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing, which was funded in five hours. If you live in US, CA, or EU, the gloriously gorgeous black & white hardcover book will cost you $50 with shipping and nice little extras. That's a steal! If you were looking for a dark fantasy rpg then go and pledge! It's even system neutral, so you can use it for your Witcher, Game of Thrones, Dark Souls, or edgy homebrew campaign.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the plug, and glad we can count on your support as a backer!

    Cheers,
    Daniel
    Lead designer
    grimandperilous.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Tamas,

    I've been receiving a number of questions regarding how to adjudicate ZWEIHÄNDER at the gaming table, information on our next supplement and general questions about shipping. In order to address them all in greater detail, I am going to host a live AMA on Kickstarter Live tomorrow.

    The AMA will be hosted at Kickstarter Live, February 28th from 2PM - 3PM Central Time. You only need to tune into the main ZWEIHÄNDER page to find the link for Kickstarter Live. As Kickstarter Live is still a beta tool (and is fresh to likely many backers and project creators, including myself), we'll be sure to carve out an hour or so to address any technical challenges, while giving everyone enough time to ask questions.

    Be sure when posting questions you'd like for me to answer to put them into the ? Q&A tab, and not the Comment tab.

    I look forward to our conversation!

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grimandperilous/zweihander-grim-and-perilous-rpg/posts/1817942

    ReplyDelete