Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide by Cubicle 7

Seth Stauffer

Grim and perilous; Two perfect words to describe adventuring, and synonymous with Warhammer. Now, Cubicle 7 has offered a different take on the iconic fantasy adventure game with their Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game Player’s Guide. This is set at an earlier point in Warhammer’s timeline, allowing players to explore some history in a familiar world. The real question is, what’s new for the players?  

From cover to cover, I had the impression that pains were taken to create something that felt both comprehensive and not overbearing. The chapter titled ‘Rules’ is less than 30 pages long. Taking the time to work through this one small section isn’t a big ask, and much of the game works with abstract mechanisms to address complex ideas. Distance works on ‘zones’, not precise measurements; guidelines for investigation make it clear that information should simply be given freely, rather than as a test players could fail, and so on. All this, plus numerous notes, sidebars, and real-play examples clarifying what the rules-as-written should look like in gameplay, make this game a ‘rulings, not rules’ approach without any glaring holes. 

One thing I liked was that character creation could be incentivised with random tables by awarding an experience point each time a person let the dice decide. In this way, risk-taking is rewarded, rather than character optimisation for a PC.

Also, the idea of a passive income based on a PC’s social class is nice. I got the impression that the game was trying to avoid resource management. It’s far easier to be able for a GM to say, “Your character has enough for their place in society.”

It’s a little too bad it’s just a player’s guide, and not a complete game. It wouldn’t be impossible to get a game going using only this text, but it would be more work. This goes along with the book’s overall sense of restraint.

It’s 192 pages long, but packs in a lot of information without being overwhelming. Considering how deep Warhammer’s lore is, this is quite a feat. For example, when the book reached the section on the different regions, I felt like the editors probably struggled to include only the most essential information. Yet, it’s clear that there’s more than enough material available to easily publish content for this game for years to come. If someone were to purchase this, the product line would likely be supported for quite some time. Yet, there was a question that was never addressed.

It was unclear who the intended audience for this game is. Warhammer isn’t a new or unsupported game that’s being resurrected. It’s a quality book, and there are passing references to the larger Warhammer ecosystem. However, a clearer explanation of why this game was created would have been appreciated, especially since it appears to be a competitor to the current 4th edition of Warhammer. 

Overall, this is a nice product. It doesn’t break the mould, but it doesn’t need to. The book accomplishes its goal of providing a new iteration of the classic Warhammer roleplaying game. It’s a bit odd that this exists parallel to the larger Warhammer universe, rather than as a new edition replacing an earlier version of the game. However, that isn’t a sign of any actual problem. This is instead a fresh take on the classic game. The Warhammer: Old World Player’s Guide is probably well-suited to anyone new to Warhammer, as well as grizzled veterans looking for something a little different. None of Warhammer’s unique flavour is lost, and this is still as grim and perilous as it ever was.