Warhammer RPG SITREP: Seeing Double
Plus, the Cubicle 7 gang takes to Reddit!
I had a big box waiting for me in the house the other day after getting home from work.
In most cases, unexpected deliveries are things for the kids from my mother, and with the end of school fast approaching it seemed like gramma was up to her usual generosity. Instead, to my surprise I found the box was to me, from Cubicle 7 Games.
If there was an email letting me know that my preorder for the new Warhammer: The Old World RPG had been dispatched I never saw it, and discovering some unexpected goodies was the first of two big surprises.
The second was that everything in the box had been doubled.
Two copies of the Player’s Guide. Two Gamemaster’s Guides. Two pads of character sheets. Each pair was packaged in their own shipping box, then like some RPG pinata all three boxes were stuffed inside of a larger box. Little surprise with that much care that everything arrived in immaculate shape.
My first assumption was that I had perhaps derped when I preordered everything way back when, but a look at my order confirmation showed that no, I had been fiscally responsible and only ordered a single set. That meant the error was on Cubicle 7’s end, so I shot off a quick message to let them know what had happened. I noted that it was hard to imagine shipping the duplicates back to Dublin would be cost-effective, but that I was more than happy to use the extras in a giveaway for the SITREP.
Win-win, right?
They responded quickly, acknowledging the error and noting they’ll be following up with an answer as to resolution, so keep an eye on next week’s SITREP and you might find yourself in the running for a set!
Ask Me (Almost) Anything
The fellas at Cubicle 7 are continuing their publicity whistle-stop tour this week, gamely participating in an AMA on Reddit yesterday. Big thanks first of all to Dom, Pádraig, and Michael for participating, and to moderator u/YoungsterMcPuppy of r/WarhammerOldWorldRPG for putting it together.
They spent an hour there and typed responses at a respectable clip. While I’d certainly recommend enjoying the whole thing, here’s a Cliff’s Notes summary.
TOW Physical Release Info
The Player's Guide, Gamemaster's Guide, card decks, dice, and character sheets will be released in game stores from 27th May 2026.
The card decks and characters sheets are being delivered to our preorder customers as we speak, and are available to order from our website. The maps are being shipped separately in tubes to avoid damaging them alongside other items - if you've had any issues, please contact our customer support team.
Tone of the game
Getting the tone of the game right is a constant conversation for us at every stage of a book’s development. In this case, the “glory” of the World of Legend is very much a relative descriptor - no-one in this time period would consider themselves fortunate, it’s only in comparison to the truly apocalyptic stakes of the End Times era that we realise how good the Empire had it before the Great War Against Chaos.
The flip side to that relative peace is a sense of complacency - without a greater foe to unite against, the Imperial claimants have turned on each other, and pay little regard to the warnings of the player characters about horrors lurking in the woods. Rising to “glory” means that the characters can’t expect anyone else to support or protect them. Any chance of survival is dependant on their own strength and guile. Making a stand in the dark, knowing that your sacrifice will be unmourned and unremembered and might not even make a difference... that’s the kind of choice that defines a hero.
We see our role to shine a spotlight on the parts of the World of Legend that the tabletop wargame can't - the more civilian dimension, the average life of the lowest pegs on the totem pole. But that's a constant conversation with Games Workshop. Where we overlap, we want to do it in a mutually supportive way, that enriches both games simultaneously.
We wanted combat to feel dangerous, and give players meaningful choices and actions. We've wanted to do a totally hit-point free combat system for ages, and this seemed like the perfect game for it.
With the Old World Roleplaying Game, we really wanted players to feel invested in their local community - to have Careers to work, Endeavours to attend between adventures, local Contacts and Assets they have cultivated. That felt like the best way to bring the setting to life in a way that engaged the players, as well as depicting the life of the typical Empire citizen with authenticity. That said, we share your enthusiasm to explore the rest of the Old World, with all the trials and tribulations that implies. Watch this space!
We all know what’s coming up for the World of Legend: the Great War Against Chaos breaks something fundamental in the fabric of the Warhammer World, setting in motion a long decline that paves the way for the End Times. Our game isn’t about averting that fate - it’s about characters who are powerless in the face of vast unstoppable horrors, but resolve to fight anyway, if only for their own survival. The reasons people choose to make a stand - even if it might not ultimately make a difference - are what great characters are made of. And we think it can make for a fantastic roleplaying game.
The Design Process
Michael: It’s a collaborative, iterative, hugely fulfilling process - we’re very lucky to do this for a living! Every release we do is the combined effort of so many people, from the team at Cubicle 7, to our amazing team of freelance contributors, to the folks at Games Workshop who are always so passionate and insightful and generous with their time. The most gratifying part is seeing it connect with an audience who are excited to bring the game to their table - that’s the payoff that makes the whole process worthwhile. If you’re an aspiring TTRPG creator and would like to be part of that, please do get in touch! We’re always looked for new, talented freelancers to join our pool.
Dom: Knowing what you’re trying to achieve is important. Have a strong idea of what you want to make, why you want to make it that way, and apply that at each stage of the process. I enjoy the challenge of making things as well as I can, and always looking for ways to develop and improve my craft. Satisfaction comes from making things I’m proud of, and if other people like them too that’s a wonderful source of joy.
We’re really happy with the system. A D10 dice pool worked for a number of reasons - the convenience of having target numbers on the sheet, the satisfaction of rolling extra dice as you level up, even just the fact that rolling 10-sided dice feels right for gaming in the Old World for experienced Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay players.
Every decision is a trade off, but we used our key design goals as a northstar to lead us through: making something that was easy to teach but satisfying to master, minimised book-keeping that would distract from the story, and presented the World of Legend in all its grim glory. The combat system, the improvisational magic system, the narrative systems that tied Careers/Contacts/Grim Portents/Dark Threads together... all of that emerged from having those clear goals to strive for.
What’s most satisfying is seeing all those systems work together as a cohesive whole - and hearing the stories from people’s games that are generated as a result!
We designed the economy rules to give some real game impacts between the different levels of social and financial status without requiring players to track every last coin. If you'd like to track coin more conventionally, take a look at Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay's Consumer's Guide, it sounds like it would work for your group's tastes very well.
An official campaign?
Without saying too much... if you've already played The Hand That Feeds in the Starter Set, you're well prepared for where the adventure is going next, and what you might dig up when you get there...
Future expansions?
The next book for preorder will be Talagaad Adventures, a series of standalone stories set in and around Talagaad that can slot seamlessly into any ongoing campaign in the area. After that, we're looking at a campaign, and other supplements that expand the setting and the character options available to players.
Our focus is on embellishing our core setting of Talabec and areas that have been highlighted in the Warhammer: the Old World tabletop wargame. But if Games Workshop invited us to explore the City of the Damned, we would bite their hand off for the opportunity!
We'd absolutely love to [do Cathay]! We're such fans of the World of Legend that there's no corner of the setting we wouldn't be excited to bring to the RPG eventually - the challenge is working out what order to do it in. We're currently concentrating on supporting our core setting of Talabec with adventures, campaigns, etc before we expand elsewhere. It's important to provide a satisfying depth to game locations - we don't want to risk covering too wide an area shallowly, as that can limit its usefulness. Dom's already gotten overexcited and mentioned Nuln in an interview though, so watch this space for more!
There are options for Bretonnian characters (and a Bretonnian-only Career, the Knight-Exile) in the Player's Guide. We'd love to provide more character options and setting guides for Bretonnia in the future! But enriching our core setting of Talabec is the focus for now.
[Re: more river-based content] I think you're really going to like "Oars in the Water", an upcoming story in Talagaad Adventures!
[Re: Possibility of other pre-college magic systems] That would be great! For the corebook we focussed on the Magic Lores that were relevant to the most Origins, and most commonly practised in the Empire in this era. Not to mention the ones that received beautiful new miniatures in Warhammer: the Old World tabletop wargame...
Yes, we definitely want to expand beyond the core setting of Talagaad and its immediate surrounds eventually. Talagaad is an illustrated example of how to make games in the World of Legend really sing - future setting expansions will be built to that template, and we encourage Gamemasters to emulate that range of Contacts/landmarks/Dark Threads, etc. when exploring new settings in their own games.
We cooperate closely with Games Workshop as the narrative of the Old World tabletop wargame develops. There's loads of great stuff going on even before we get to the Great War, from Settra's invasion of the Border Princes, to Frydaal's invasion of Westerland. We've got a load of narrative threads from the core books and starter set that we will develop too!
We’d love to expand on the range of spells available to Wizard characters at some point! For now, we’d love to hear about the crazy improvised spells that players have been working on.
[Re: which factions will see content] Our focus is where the Warhammer: the Old World tabletop wargame is going - that's where all the new content is coming from, and that's the material we're excited to play around with. That said, there are a few exceptions in the RPG here and there (Vampires, like you said, also Halflings too), so never say never.
We'd love to do more material for Sigmarite protagonists in the future, but for now we're quite excited to position Witch Hunters as antagonists who cause as many problems as they solve. In the meantime, the right choice of Lores and Assets for the Bounty Hunter Career could make a really excellent Witch Hunter.
Solo Mode?
That would be great! It's one we've been mulling over for a while - the challenge is producing a system that satisfies our expectations for the game.
Maps?
This is something we've been focusing on a lot recently - you might have seen the open call we put out for freelance cartographers (we're still taking submissions!). I think you'll be happier with the presentation in the upcoming Talagaad Adventures, but it's something we'll continue to work on.
Impact on WFRP 5th Edition?
We have different design goals for the two games, so there are some intentional boundaries between them, but that comes from them having different objectives rather than solely to make them different. We'll do what's right for each game, if that makes sense
The Old World shouldn't impact Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay releases, and there's loads in development for that game at the moment, from the new rulebook to Marienburg, a brand new campaign and more. Did you catch the Dwarf and Elf player guides and setting books? On maps, you can get the Old World map right now, and we release poster maps featuring maps from across our lines periodically, so keep an eye on the website and subscribe to our newsletter. On Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay releases - their focus right now is developing a new edition of the game, which should be available to preorder this year to celebrate the game's 40th anniversary!
What they’re proud of
The combat system, the improvisational magic system, the beautiful cover art, the integrated network of Contacts/Dark Threads/Grim Portents to produce emergent stories... ask each of us and you'll get a different answer! We're happiest of all when we can really see those elements connecting with our audience. There are always extra Careers, trappings, antagonists, plot hooks, etc. that we're sad to see end up on the cutting room floor, but it's all in the service of making the core book as accessible to new players as possible. And it'll all end up in a supplement eventually!
Legality of fan supplements
Have a look at Games Workshop's IP guidelines for fan-created content on how to go about this sort of thing. Do keep an eye out for our writer calls, if you'd like to try your hand at submitting something!
Most questions were answered. Notably, they answered all of the ones that were posted well in advance of the actual event… except one.
Mine.
Ahh well, you win some, you lose some. And I can’t say I didn’t greatly enjoy the insights and remarks that they were willing to share, so really it’s a win however you slice it.
Dirty Deeds
Right on schedule the day after discussing upcoming The Old World content, Cubicle 7 officially announced Talagaad Adventures, an upcoming five-adventure supplement.
Each entry in the anthology is a standalone story, from tangling with the criminal underworld to a daring river escape, a savage Beastmen assault to getting caught between squabbling nobles.
No date has been announced yet, but definitely one to keep an eye on!
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the known upcoming releases from Cubicle 7 based on the available preorder information we have. Note that Cubicle 7’s own delivery estimates appear to be just that- estimates- which is why many products have an upcoming delivery listed for Q1 while we’re already into Q2.
This section will be updated weekly in this column, with new or updated info presented in boldface.
To make this section more useful, starting this week I’ll be breaking them out by game.
Shipping Q3
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Temple of Spite
Limited Edition Warhammer Fantasy Map Bundle 1 (July 2026)
Limited Edition Warhammer Fantasy Map Bundle 2 (July 2026)
Undated
Talagaad Adventures
Shipping Q1
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Weapons & Armour Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Spells Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Prayers & Miracles Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Wounds & Conditions Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Grand Duchy of Talabec Dice Set
Shipping Q2
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Grand Duchy of Talabec Map Pack (May 2026)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Allies & Antagonists Card Deck (April 2026)
Shipping Q4
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game Starter Set (Q4)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game GM’s Screen (Q4)
Shipping Q1
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Dark Gifts Card Pack (Q1)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Spells Lore Card Pack (Q1)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Artefacts & Wargear Card Pack (Q1)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Core Rulebook (Standard and Collector’s Edition) (Q11)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Bloodwind Spoil Map (Q1)
Shipping Q3
Limited Edition Age of Sigmar Map Bundle (July 2026)\
Shipping Q1 2027
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound: Champions of Chaos: Carngrad Adventures
Shipping Q2
Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Sons of Russ (Standard and Collector’s Edition)
Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Adventures in Gilead
Shipping Q1
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, Voll Adventures (Q1)
Shipping Q2
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Character Sheet Pad
Shipping Q3
Limited Edition Imperium Maledictum Macharian Sector Map (July 2026)
Shipping Q4
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Collector’s Edition
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Player’s Guide
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus GM’s Guide
Undated
(Nothing at this time)
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
I Have no idea why many of these seem to flip back and forth every week, particularly since Q1 is already over. Last week it was updated to Q3 or Q4, now we’re back to Q1.