ZeFRS Wrap Up

I finished reading ZeFRS this afternoon. Essentially the rules finish up with fairly standard chapters on Hazards (such as falling, fire, and poison) and Life in an S&S World (largely an economy and equipment chapter). These final pages were fairly predictable. They are virtually the same in every game because that's just the way it is. There is very little innovation to be eeked out of an economics chapter (The Riddle of Steel was the last I've seen with its unique and quirky way of handling specific countries' currency based on weight of precious metals contained). That's not a knock against ZeFRS, just a fact of game design. One of this type of coin equals this many of that type. It hasn't changed much. Likewise, hazards. Basically, the hazards chapter for any game simply shows how to plug said hazards into the damage system.

ZeFRS attacks its subject with all the gusto of a northern barbarian. It very exuberantly dives in, seeking to take its new ideas and forge a new type of gaming experience. Unfortunately, it ends up being like a bad teacher. We've all had somebody try to teach us something they are very passionate about and knowledgeable in. They'll explain it in a very quick and cursory fashion, and not understand how we didn't "get it". It is so obvious to them, they can't conceive of it being less so to someone else. That's how these rules struck me. I love how dangerous and risky the magic system is intended to be. But, other than the excellent Obsession rule, how do I translate those ideas into a playable system?

By the end of the book I realized something. The rules are chock full of fresh, innovative, and new ideas. Ideas that were indeed ahead of their time. Now, 27 years after the release of the rules ZeFRS is based on, their time has passed. There are a lot of systems that have taken a lot of those ideas (but not Obsession, for some reason) and refined them. All these ideas need is a well-explained system to plug them into and they will shine like the jewels of Atlantis. A system where damage is realistic, combat is gritty and dangerous, and magic poses a very real threat to the very soul of anyone who even dares to learn how to do it, let alone actually casts spells.

It makes me want to bolt these fantastic ideas onto Alternity. Don't groan, I've not made any bones about liking the system. I think it could pull it off. In fact, it seems there are certain ancestral ties between Alternity's resolution mechanic and the ZeFRS color chart. They both feature degrees of success based on the resolution roll. I know they aren't the only two rules systems to have that sort of feature, but I recall reading somewhere that there are design ties between the two. There are a few Alternity-to-Fantasy things floating around. I need to look at some, I think . . .

ZeFRS Magic

So, magic. The magic in ZeFRS is covered in three pages. Yes, that's right, three pages. There are no predefined spell lists. In fact, there aren't even guidelines for inventing spells. It is suggested that the player and referee should have a meeting of the minds to determine the risk:reward ratio. Frankly, it left me a little flat. I'm not afraid to whip this shit up on the fly, but some sort of guidelines are needed. Without them it becomes very easy to create spells that are completely out of balance and unfair to all concerned. Especially with a magic system that is so dangerous for casters.

All is not lost, however. There are some really cool ideas for imparting the mood of S&S magic. My favorite, bar none, is Obsession. Once a character learns his first magical Talent, he gains a rating in a new Talent, Obsession. It represents the uncontrollable desire for magical power. From then on, every time the character grows in magical power his Obsession rating increases by one. Any time the character is faced with the opportunity to increase his magical power and the player wants to resist it, a roll must be made. If the roll is failed, the character succumbs. Here is a quote from the Obsession section:

if it possible to sate the character's lust for magic without harming his friends, he will do so. But if injuring or betraying them can't be avoided ... well, sometimes a magician just has to do what he has to do...

I think that is an awesome mechanic to model the absolute danger to a magician's soul. It is one thing to foist certain penalties or limitations on them. If they have the choice of when to risk the dangers, then they aren't nearly as dangerous. When they are being compelled to face the dangers, it changes things.

All in all, there are some excellent ideas here for S&S-style magic, they just aren't very well developed. Something along the lines of Barbarians of Lemuria's magic system would be a good fit. Magic in BoL is a somewhat a la cart affair, but with clear advice on how to judge the power of spells.

It is one thing to embrace the rulings-not-rules, DIY spirit. It is quite another to be left without any direction whatsoever. I just wish there had been a little more in the way of guidance.

ZeFRS Chapters 2-4

Fellow OSRers rejoice! If for no other reason, brothers and sisters, than the casual ambiguity laced throughout these rules. I love this stuff. So much of it is left open to interpretation, and at the same time leaves the prospective referee feeling comfortable enough to deliver that interpretation. Some rules sets have had passages that left me scratching my head and flipping back and forth until I became disenchanted and moved on. Not so, here. Several times I found myself slightly confounded, and just said to myself "I'll worry about it when it comes up" and kept right on reading. Also, in these chapters, I spied certain passages that I felt needed modification. When I've finished my reading I'll collect my house rule ideas and post them for critical review.

For now, though, Chapter Two: Talents . . .

I fully expected this to be a standard listing of this type of thing, and for the most part it is. There are magical talents listed, which, I assume, are fully detailed in the Magic chapter. There's a fair description of them in this chapter, though, and they are quite flavorful and moody. One thing that struck me while reading these is the cost of magic, in the toll on the caster's body. In many cases the caster acquires a weakness each time he casts a spell, successful or not. At first I chaffed at this a bit, thinking it was very restrictive. It may yet turn out to be, once I've read the Magic chapter. Another thought occurred to me, however. Casters of magic in this game are threatening, simply in the fact that they are able to command these terrible powers. Sure, a necromancer may develop a cloven left foot for even attempting to raise my character's dead grandmother and animate her corpse, but, would my guy want to risk pissing him off? I like that thought. Of course, the spells have to be powerful enough to warrant the gamble, and that remains to be seen. As I noted above, house ruling is a simple matter, and scaling risk/reward should prove to be no problem, if I perceive an imbalance.

Chapter Three covers the Resolution Chart. It's very straight-forward. I'm sure at the time it may have seemed a little gimmicky, but the bottom line is, it works. It is in these two short pages that we run upon our first Ambiguity. Some modifiers result in "column shifts". If you're interested, and without the rules, you can refer to my previous post for a look at the Chart. Anyway, these column shifts seem to have been ill-defined from the outset. There are the individual columns, and these are also bound by heavier column lines in groups of 4 or 5. So, the question arises, What constitutes a column shift? Is it counted by individual columns, i.e. a -1 shift takes column 8 down to column 7? Or, is it counted by the larger, grouped, columns? It gets even fuzzier from there, so I'll stop. Sounds like a muddy mess, right? Here's the thing: All it takes is one simple decision from the referee, and the problem is solved. Make a ruling, before play even begins, let everyone know what it is, and get to it.

Chapter Four is Combat. This combat features some things I traditionally desire in a combat system. Armor reduces damage, the chance to hit is based on attacker's skill, modified by defender's skill, a "damage point" system which models a character's ability to prosecute the fight, backed up by a specific wound system which allows a sense of uncertainty.

Let me expand on that damage point thing. Characters have Damage Points, bought up at character generation, and I'm assuming, improved through play. These damage points seem to represent most of what hit points do: luck, favor of the gods, endurance, ability to shrug off a blow, etc. Damage Points are fewer, and not automatically improved as the character advances. Once all the damage points are gone, further injury invites the possibility of unconsciousness or death.

Then, there's the whole Specific Wound thing. If a hit is truly grievous, it causes a Specific Wound, regardless of armor or other factors. This wound, based on location and damage type, can result in anything from losing the use of a limb, to death. A character so abused is allowed to roll to avoid the effect.

There's a section on Mass Combat, which I haven't read yet (I wanted to get this post in). I know I'm probably forgetting some things I wanted to mention. If I remember them I'll pass them along. For now, it is time to read that Magic chapter . . .

ZeFRS Resolution Chart

Here is my version of the ZeFRS Resolution Chart. I made it to be somewhat printer-friendly, though I did splurg a little with the heavy title text and sword. Either should be easily deleted, should you desire. I wanted something easier on the printer than all those heavy blocks of color. I made this one from scratch, using Libre Office Calc for the "table" part of it, then imported it into GIMP for the title text, "key" text, and sword. The key text is left open so that it can be color-coded to the appropriate section of the chart.

I have printed this out, and it looks good, completely legible and clear. The "interior" lines on the graph are thin, but I think they look good that way. I used colored pencils on it and this is how it turned out:

I darked up some of the lines by hand, mostly because I knew I wasn't going to waste ink and print it again, so there was no point doing it digitally. Unless I need to print it again, that is. If I do, I'll upload the update.

ZeFRS: Character Creation

So far, I'm liking this game. I didn't find too much about it online, so I thought I'd offer my thoughts for anyone considering it. I know it is freely available, but there are many, like me, who aren't comfortable with wholesale reading on a computer monitor. I prefer to print things like this when I can, and I like to try to make sure I'm not wasting time, toner, or paper. Without further ado, let's jump right into Chapter One: Creating Your Character . . .


Of the little bit I did find, review/overview-wise, it was said that this system was ahead of its time. I've only read the first chapter, but based on that, I wholeheartedly agree. This game was published in 1985. It did not have a predefined set of stats, which is something I've been wanting in a system for a while. I think things like exceptional strength or mind-numbing idiocy should be advantages/disadvantages (or whatever terms you prefer). Describe your character as you see fit, but if you didn't select Strength, then all those muscles you described are window-dressing.
Another thing I thought was incredibly innovative, and I've not ever seen anywhere else (unless I'm forgetting something) is the way the system handles untrained skills use. First off, skills fall under the heading of Talents. Talents can be anything from weapon proficiency, to actual skills (such as Survival), to stat-like things (Strength). Talents are grouped into Talent Pools which are broad categories of similar Talents. The really innovative thing I mentioned is this: When you attempt something you do not have a Talent for, you apply your General Talent Score. It is derived by adding the ratings of all your Talents in that Talent Pool and dividing by 10.

For example, the Fighting Talent Pool consists of all the combat abilities of your character, including individual weapon skills. If your character has Broadsword-5, Mace-5, Brawling-8, and Spear-4, his General Talent Score would be 4. That would be applied to any rolls he makes that would fall under fighting, such as using a table leg to attack someone. 

I like this because it makes sense. The more well-rounded a character is, within a given Talent Pool, the more capable he is within the boundaries of that pool. Some systems impose a flat penalty to unskilled use, some use a "default" system, and there are yet other ways to handle it. Unskilled use of a skill is one of my real sticking points for systems that include skills. I don't want a skill list to limit my players. This seems to be a reasonable, sensible approach. Oh, and if that seems too much like a math exercise, you only do it at character creation, and if a Talent would push the Pool total over a number divisible by 10. All fractions are rounded down.

One other thing that caught my eye was initial equipment. There are three columns, with the player selecting one item from each column. One column is purely weapons, the other two are combinations of armor and adventuring gear.
The armors listed do not appear in the armor table. Not tragic, but definitely an editing oversight. Also, in column three, one of the items listed is 5 gold coins. Looking at the price lists, It is possible to select that and purchase most of the items on the second and third list, making the "5 gold coins" something of a no-brainer.

Character creation looks like it would go very quickly, if the player is ready with a character concept. With a clear concept, Talent selection should just fall into place. Then, it's just equipment and done. That's something else I want for my game. I love the Burning Wheel lifepath thing, and it is a lot of fun to work through, but I don't really want to spend an entire session on character creation. Especially when there might only be two sessions a month.

So, to sum up, I like what I'm seeing so far. Character generation is fast and simple, no predefined stats, and an innovative unskilled system. I can't wait to see how the system handles combat . . .

How Have I Missed This?

I like to think of myself as somewhat up-to-date. I may not like all of the "newer" stuff, but I'm at least aware of it. So I am at a lose to understand how this one has remained below my radar. Especially considering my love for the S&S side of our little hobby.

I haven't read it yet, I only discovered it, literally, about an hour ago. I can't wait to dig into it. This is like some sort of perfect storm, considering my earlier thoughts on campaign design, my recent discovery of the Welsh Piper's Hex-based Capaign Design, and now these rules. It's a nice little trifecta of design philosophy, tools, and system all synching up. I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, I put a link to the ZeFRS page in the Free Swag. The rules are free, and there is a companion and a whole heap o' stuff on that page. Give it a look.