# [Let's Read] Zweihander Player's Handbook



## domesude (Mar 21, 2020)

*THIS READ-THROUGH IS FOR THE ZWEIHANDER PLAYER'S HANDBOOK, FROM ANDREWS MCMEEL UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING. FULL DISCLOSURE: I WAS GIVEN A COPY OF THIS BOOK BY ITS AUTHOR*


Well, hello!. It's been a minute. How y'all been?


So, I have been meaning to get around to this for a while. I've had this book for a few weeks now. But, you know, life and naughty word.


Those of you who have read my previous threads, welcome back. Those who haven't may want to start here, with my read-through of the Zweihander Revised Core Rulebook, and then go here for my read-through of the Main Gauche supplement.


Now, since I know that some of you will be reading this first, and may not be familiar with Zweihander, I'll sum up real quick, so we can all be more or less on the same page. Those of you who have read the previous threads, be patient, this won't take long.


Zweihander Grim & Perilous RPG is d100-based roleplaying in a "grimdark" fantasy world, that first began as a fan update/retro-clone of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition, but has since become very much its own thing. See, that didn't take long. If you need more info, see the threads I linked above.


As returning readers know (and new readers will find out), Zweihander tips the scales at almost 700 pages. And, while Zweihander is satisfyingly complete, around half of those pages are information for GMs. So, the Grim & Perilous gang decided to release a book containing only Player info.


Rather than simply being a reprint of the first half of the Core Rulebook, The Player's Handbook features new art, some new Ancestries, and, according to Zweihander-related social media, improvements to user interface. In addition, there was special attention paid to some of the editorial issues that have thus far been my chief complaint about what I have otherwise found to be a fun, interesting and well-balanced game. So, I'm curious to see what changes and/or improvements have been made.


I wasn't sure how to proceed with this, seeing as I've already read through this material (well, most of it, there is supposed to be some new stuff here). I have thought about this a lot. In the end, I decided that re-writing all of my previous work would be boring to read for anyone who has read my previous thread on this material, as it appeared in the Core Book. However, it seems to me that some refresher is a good idea,  in order to keep everything in context. And, on the off chance anyone is reading this before my read-through of the Zweihander Revised Rulebook,it will keep them from being confused.


So, I have decided to give more concise, yet hopefully informative rules descriptions here, while concentrating on the differences between the Core Rulebook and Player's Handbook. On some level, this feels "lazy" to me, but I just don't see the advantage to myself, or any returning readers, of repeating word-for-word what has been posted in previous threads. If anyone disagrees, feel free to say so. But my approach here is going to be to encapsulate key points of the rules, while highlighting where this book differs from its predecessor.


I say this feels lazy, but my intent is to read each chapter, first in the Corebook, and then in the Player's Handbook, and then post about them. So, it may be a bit more time consuming than my previous read-throughs, where it was read/post, read/post. etc. But, overall, I think this is the approach that will yield the best information for the reader, and for me.


OK, well, it's getting late, I'll start soon with a post about the book's physical presentation. This has been a standout feature of the Zweihander RPG line so far. How will the Player's Handbook measure up? Stay tuned to find out!


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## tommybahama (Mar 22, 2020)

I had an older edition of WFRP but never got a chance to play it so I am very interested in your review.


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## domesude (Mar 22, 2020)

tommybahama said:


> I had an older edition of WFRP but never got a chance to play it so I am very interested in your review.




Thanks for reading! I have two older read-throughs for Zweihander, one for the core Rulebook here:








						Zweihander Revised Core Rulebook- a read-through
					

THIS READ-THROUGH/REVIEW IS FOR THE ZWEIHANDER REVISED CORE RULEBOOK, BY ANDREWS MCMEEL UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING.  FULL DISCLOSURE: I WAS SENT A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK BY ITS AUTHOR.    OK, now that we have that out in the open, let me just say that this Let's Read/Review/Commentary (and it will be...




					www.enworld.org
				




And one for the Main Gauche supplement here:








						Main Gauche supplement for Zweihander- a read-through
					

FULL DISCLOSURE: I WAS GIVEN A COPY OF THIS BOOK BY ITS AUTHOR, TO READ THROUGH AND REVIEW. I WILL DO BOTH IN A FAIR AND EVEN-HANDED MANNER    Hello, all. In another thread, I'm doing a read-through of The Zweihander Grim & Perilous RPG Revised Core Rulebook. It was quite the undertaking...




					www.enworld.org
				




...if you'd like to see more.


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## domesude (Mar 22, 2020)

[/b]TABLE OF CONTENTS, DESIGNER'S NOTES, CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND CHAPTER 2: HOW TO PLAY[/b]


First off, I want to say thank you for your patience. I know it's been a minute.


Upon further reading, it becomes clearer and clearer that the new presentation is, well, clearer. The fonts are bolded in more places, the separations more pronounced, More variations of upper- and lower-case in the table of contents and headers, and the organization and layout is just... better. Now, I really like my Zweihander Revised Core Rulebook. But, and it's buried in my read-through somewhere, I did complain about the print in the tables being hard to read, compared to the rest. With the now-bolder font, this issue has disappeared. The size of the font appears the same, but the bolding makes it pop better against the sepia of the tables and sidebars. It's a much more comfortable read. I can honestly say that with sufficient adventure prep (e.g., making it so I don't need to refer to the GM sections of the corebook mid-game), this might become my everyday carry. It's much easier on the eyes. It isn't a jarringly different presentation, but rather a series of subtle changes that add up to a different, and much improved, reading experience.


As for the content, it isn't really vastly different. I noticed one place where the text had been made more succinct, less verbose. I believe I had mentioned the presence of a couple of typos and /or grammatical errors in these sections of the corebook. I can't remember where they were, but I didn't catch them in either book this time, probably because I'm pretty tired as I write this (I know, you have problems of your own...). But I will re-read these sections before moving on. If any editorial issues have been fixed, that should be noted in the interest of fairness to Zweihander. And if they haven't, that should be noted out of fairness to you, the reader. So, I'll be giving bothe of these chapters the ol' once-over before continuing on.


After that, it's on to Chapter 3: Character Creation. This version of the chargen process folds in some of the ancestries from the GM section of the main rules, so the two books' sections on this will differ at least in that regard.


So far, though, the book is an improvement on its progenitor.


I'll try not to keep you waiting so long next time. Thanks again for reading.


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