This is part of a series on unpublished Warhammer supplements. The first post in the series can be read here.

Among Ken Rolston’s marginalia in his draft of Realms of Divine Magic is the following intriguing comment:

Mike [Brunton], Graeme [Davis], and Assorted Playtesters: I think this rules concept is sound, and ought to be extended to the [Realms of] Sorcery volume and WFRP Revised. – Ken Rolston, Realms of Divine Magic draft

The reference to “WFRP Revised” seems to imply plans for a new edition of the WFRP rules. I believe this comment dates from 1990 and the initial establishment of Flame Publications. I am aware of plans around that time for Flame Publications to publish a second edition of the Judge Dredd role-playing game, but I have never come across a suggestion anywhere else that a new edition of WFRP was under consideration.

It is not clear whether this was a project of Rolston’s or whether it had wider sponsorship at GW. It raises the intriguing possibility that Flame Publications at one point had greater ambitions than were subsequently realised.

Given GW’s waning enthusiasm at the time for WFRP and the pressure on Flame to produce material rapidly, it is surprising such a project was considered. It may be the case that WFRP Revised was intended just to be a minor update of the WFRP1 rulebook or an expansion volume, rather than a fully fledged new edition. Perhaps it was an idea that flourished only briefly before the commercial realities at Flame became clear.

Utimately Flame never produced a new edition and it would be another 15 years before the second edition of WFRP would appear. But it’s another tantalising case of what might have been.

The ‘Lost Warhammer‘ series continues here.

Title art by Peter Andrew Jones. Used without permission. No challenge intended to the rights holders.