This week, Cubicle 7 revealed the new cover art for their forthcoming Warhammer: Age of Sigmar roleplaying game. This year, the company lovingly recreated Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, (Look out for some in-depth on the awesomeness of that system, soon!) and how have now released a few details of a brand new system that will take place in Games Workshop’s current Warhammer universe.
That’s right, a brand new system. The high fantasy setting of the Mortal Realms does not suit the grimier, medieval setting of WFRP, with its intricate careers system and varied dice requirements. Much like the wargame it’s based on, the AoS RPG looks to paint its heroes with bold brush strokes.
I’ve struggled a little to feel my way into the new AoS setting, though the release of Soul Wars last year made large strides to create a proper world, where people lived and worked and didn’t just fight enormous battles all the time. To be honest, I didn’t care that much about the original Warhammer Old World setting until I (and lots of other people) started roleplaying there—fleshing it out and taking personal ownership of it. Let us hope that the same is true of the AoS universe.
What does the Age of Sigmar RPG have in store for us?
- Players take on heroes of the Mortal Realms. Beacons of hope in the fight against Death, Chaos, and Destruction.
- The system will use a D6 dice pool system.
- Characters will have 3 attributes: Body, Mind, and Soul. These will be used in conjunction with 24 skills.
- Characters will also have talents. These will include things like spellcasting and aethercraft.
- Players will choose an archetype for their characters that will come with some predetermined talents and skills, but as their characters progress there will be a host of options for them to choose.
- The Archetypes presented in the corebook are drawn from some of the most well-known heroes of the Forces of Order.
- Archetypes confirmed are the Knight-Questor and Knight-Incantor of the Stormcast Eternals, Auric Runesmiter of the Fyreslayers, Aether-Khemist of the Kharadron Overlords, Isharann Tidecaster of the Idoneth Deepkin, Witch Aelf of the Daughters of Khaine, Excelsior Warpriest of the Devoted of Sigmar, Former Soldier of the Free Peoples, Kurnoth Hunter of the Sylvaneth, Skink of the Seraphon, and the mysterious Realmswalker.
- There will be rules for a more free-form approach to character creation, for players who wish to create characters without Archetypes.
- Future products will introduce expanded player options, including Archetypes from outside the Forces of Order.
- The game will present an overview of each of the Mortal Realms and what life is the people who live there. These give players and GMs an idea of what it would be like to adventure in these lands, who they might meet, and the threats they might face. It provides a grounding for you to set your adventure in any Realm you choose.
- As well as giving an overview of each of the Realms, the corebook will have a chapter dedicated to the lands of the Great Parch in Aqshy, the Realm of Fire. This chapter presents all the information a GM will need to run a campaign in The Great Parch.
Reading between the lines, there will be many sourcebooks to follow, detailing life in each of the mortal realms. The scope for this is huge. The Mortal Realms could unfold for many many years to come.
All the above is the nuts and bolts of the first press release I’ve received from Cubicle 7. They’ve promised more information as they build up to the scheduled release later in 2019 and GeekDad will keep you informed as more details of this exciting new game are revealed.
