Xathrodox86 reviews: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition, part 1: the overall look

Well, here it is - the 4th edition of WFRP has arrived and already people are divided about its quality. I'm going to take a look at this newest iteration of a classic RPG and give you my honest opinion on it.

First of all - this will be a multi part review, with each part covering the different part of the rulebook. These will be written once a week, since there will be about 4 to 5 parts. I hate reading PDF's, as it makes my eyes really tired, so reading a whole rulebook on my PC's screen was a major no-no for me, sorry guys.

When the starter set eventually arrives, I'll review it as well.

In this first part of my review of WFRP 4th edition, I will concentrate on the overall look of the book, the graphics, artworks and lore, all of which can be found within its pages. I can already say - I like it a lot!

What a fantastic bunch of colorful characters!

First of all, the art is very consistent in 4th edition. It's a nice mix of a dirty, down-to-earth style, mixed with appropriately heroic themes, although not too much. Which is good! One of my biggest qualms with the 2nd and 3rd editions (not the 1st, mind you), was the fact that almost everyone portrayed in these books had a face, like they've just suffered a major constipation. It's really nice to see smiling and happy humans, dwarfs, elves and halflings in the newest rulebook. It simply makes the world more believable and approachable.

The art depicting monsters is also very solid. No complaints here. There are suitable creepy ones (the mutant and Fimir are fantastic!), as well as terrifying (the dragon!). I just hope that in the inevitable enemy sourcebook, the quality will be, at the very least, on the same level. 

I liked the artworks portraying the Old World (well, mainly Reikland, since it's the only province featured in the rulebook), albeit a few of the pieces were less than detailed for my liking. The cities and towns were fantastic to behold, while the countryside was a little drab and pale, if that makes any sense. It wasn't bad per se, but for me it might be a bit too dark in style, like the artworks from the 3rd edition.

Secondly - the layout of the text. I'm a person who gets tried really fast, when reading a tiny, cluttered text. That's why I dislike 1st editions books so much, they are simply too inconvinient for me to read. Yeah, being a short-sighted person can suck sometime. Anyway, the 4th edition has a great layout, very clear, very easy to use. The text is not too small and the spaces between the phrases are just about right. Reading this book, even on a PC, wasn't an ardous torture, and I've actually really enjoyed it. It's nice that Cubicle 7 thought about peeps with bad eyesight.

The lore portions of the book are very solid. From the letters, describing the Reikland province to various descriptions of player classes to flavor text, found next to each of said classes. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition delivers the goods, when it comes to creating the atmospheric, funny, tounge-in-cheek, but also suitably dark mood of this wonderful world. I especially like the quotes found in the player classes section. The Billy Idol/Morr reference is simply pure gold.

I'd also like to address the elephant in the room. You know - the "overly politically correct" elephant in the room. There are already cries that this edition of WFRP panders to SJW's, and that it's overly politically correct. There are lots of women presented on the artworks, as well as people of color, apparently living in the Empire. There's the "species" keyword, used instead of "race". That kind of stuff.

I couldn't care less. I have a very simple life philosophy, when it comes to these games: as long as they're good, enjoyable and well written, both lore and rules-wise, they can be as politically correct and SJW-friendly, as they wish. If anything, the wider cultural and racial diversity will help to break the, unfortunately all too common, notion of "there's only the Empire, I don't need anything else". To me, it's one of the biggest downsides of WFRP's overall community. It's really time to stop with this childish and archaic attitude.

I can already say that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition is an objectively good game, if a little clunky when it comes to combat rules. However I will be discussing that particular part, later this year.

I can safely say that, when it comes to art, lore and overall presentation, the rulebook for the 4th edition of WFRP delivers the goods. So far so good.

Until next time, when I'll be discussing the available character classes and their pre-game creation.

Xathrodox86