[ZeFRS] Old-School Sword and Sorcery, inspired by Four Color/FASERIP

[The Grey Elf]

Originally Posted by mkrawec

In the mid-1980s, TSR published a number of games that made use of a color-coded chart to resolve character actions. The best known of these is of course Marvel Superheroes, but the chart also turned up in the third edition of Gamma World among others. One of those others was Conan, a game that many consider an underappreciated gem: compact, fast-moving, easy and fun. In the spirit of the d20 SRD, these pages were created to make the Conan rules, stripped of their franchise-related elements (ownership of which has long since passed to Mongoose Publishing) available for play once again.

The rules were written by Dave "Zeb" Cook, so these rules are collectively referred to in this document as Zeb's Fantasy Roleplaying System, or ZeFRS.

Thus runs the introduction to ZeFRS, the generic fantasy swords-and-sorcery rules set that originally appeared in the old TSR Conan boxed game. A number of us have been working on this project for several months now, with Mark Krawec taking on the hardcore bulk of the work paraphrasing and posting the rules here. Work is also being done on a PDF version of the rules, which will go up when the final document is up in HTML format.

This thread will contain updates and developments. We also have a ZeFRS-specific message board community here, which discusses the project in more detail, and includes discussion about the fanzine, Scrolls of the Red Brotherhood.

The original discussion and developments up to this point can be found in this monster of a thread.

[blizack]

Thanks for starting a new thread!

I'm very interested in seeing how ZeFRS works out, because I'm considering adapting a D&D-ish setting that I cooked up a while back to this ruleset.

I'd written it up for C&C originally. I was already in the process of modifying (or dumping) all the things I had originally included in my setting simply because D&D assumed their existence - non-human characters, magic everywhere, etc. and was looking for something simultaneously more gritty and more streamlined.

I used to own TSR's Conan RPG and felt that it might be a better fit, but foolishly sold it a while back. Luckily for me, it looks like ZeFRS might be just the ticket.

So here's me wishing you all well, and hoping that I might eventually have something to contribute to the Scrolls. Thanks again!

[E.T.Smith]

And now, I stake my claim.

I'd like to point out that the ZeFRS project would never have come about without RPG.Net. Back in 2005, Drake2000 started the original thread about the fun of playing a oneshot of the old Conan game. Enough people were interested to spark discussion of the merits of the old game, and it started a small community of enthusiasts. Speaking for myself, though I had been intriqued of the game since I saw it mentioned in Heroic Worlds away back in 1990, that old thread gave me the information I needed to finally get a copy myself and see firsthand what a lost gaming treasure it was and do what I can to turn it back into an active system. Ultimately, I think that RPG.Net exists exactly to facilitate this sort of thing, and hope many other such projects are fostered by this community.

[Akrasia]

Originally Posted by E.T.Smith

... I'd like to point out that the ZeFRS project would never have come about without RPG.Net....

Things like this are what make this such a cool community.

Although I haven't been able to contribute to the ZeFRS project, I've enjoyed following its progress, and look forward to seeing a final version of the game!

[Ashikaider]

Where can this ZeFRS be found or even acquired? Intrigued mnds wish to know...

[Jackleg]

I have been to the site and it looks good.

Questions:

1. Have you contacted Zeb Cook about your project? He may have some info that could be of benefit that he could share, or just threaten you with legal action.

2. Have you possibly contacted any of the fans of either Star Frontiers or Gamma World editions that used the chart? Who knows maybe this could be made into a system that could be used for fantasy, sci-fi, or anything else.

3. What is your possible date of completion?

Thanks and good luck!

[Mark Krawec]

Originally Posted by Ashikaider

Where can this ZeFRS be found or even acquired? Intrigued mnds wish to know...

The main page is here.

Originally Posted by Jackleg

1. Have you contacted Zeb Cook about your project? He may have some info that could be of benefit that he could share, or just threaten you with legal action.

2. Have you possibly contacted any of the fans of either Star Frontiers or Gamma World editions that used the chart? Who knows maybe this could be made into a system that could be used for fantasy, sci-fi, or anything else.

3. What is your possible date of completion?

Thanks and good luck!

1. Nope. I figure he's got to have better things to do than talk about a 22-year-old project.

2. Bill "CleanCutRogue" Logan of Star Frontiers fame has joined in the discussions on the ZeFRS boards. No talks yet about a totally generic chart system, but who knows?

3. Inshallah, the online base rules should be done before the end of June. The Grey Elf is turning out PDF compilations of the online pages as fast as I can churn them out, so the online & printable versions could be ready almost simultaneously.

[Bartles]Thank you for your support.[/Bartles]

[Harmast]

Originally Posted by Ashikaider

Where can this ZeFRS be found or even acquired? Intrigued mnds wish to know...

See my sig...

Originally Posted by Jackleg

1. Have you contacted Zeb Cook about your project? He may have some info that could be of benefit that he could share, or just threaten you with legal action.

2. Have you possibly contacted any of the fans of either Star Frontiers or Gamma World editions that used the chart? Who knows maybe this could be made into a system that could be used for fantasy, sci-fi, or anything else.

At the risk of speaking for the whole group:

1. I don't know that anyone has contacted Zeb although I think it has been brought up.

2. That also has been brought up. The current line of thought is get the original up intact and then start discussing a 2nd edition. Clearly, working to unify the related but different systems in Star Frontiers and Marvel would be a huge change. I'm not familiar enough with Gamma World or the Indiana Jones game (which also used a variant) to comment. I suspect SF/GW would be the easiest of the combos.

However, as editor of Scrolls of the Red Brotherhood if you have such material see me after class

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

(Just staking my claim in the new thread while I work on my location submission for the Scrolls and pretend to work).

[Jackleg]

As to my question about contacting Zeb Cook, he might be delighted that someone is trying to revive some of his previous work.

His Amazing Engine system has got to be the most unplayed system in history. Hell, there are NO websites devoted to AE. NONE.

But we have a system generating a a two year discussion and a possible revival.

He might be interested. Better to let him know than find out from some sweaty fan boy out of the blue.