Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
Thanks for the review, but it could have used a bit more detail. I know ZoZ is a very brief product (I've flicked through a copy myself, though I didn't buy it) but really, the one thing that we really could use knowing about is the one thing you didn't give any information on: how does magic work? This is a game about fairytales after all, and if it doesn't handle magic well then it's not going to be a lot of use.
On a tangential note, from the description you gave in the review I was strongly reminded of Risus in the fact that it sounds extremely minimalist, almost to a fault.
Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Destriarch
On a tangential note, from the description you gave in the review I was strongly reminded of Risus in the fact that it sounds extremely minimalist, almost to a fault.
It is indeed in the Risus and Over The Edge family of games. (IIRC, I think these may even quoted as inspirations.) ZoZ and the other PDQ-based game have a little bit more structure (not crunch), and make starting characters more effective than basic Risus.
For my part, although I enjoy Risus, I like ZoZ (and other PDQ-based games) even more. I would certainly say it does not take the minimalism "to a fault", but that's personal preference too. If ZoZ is too light an engine for you, you might enjoy Truth & Justice, which has more fiddly bits.
Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
I would like to also offer my vote on prefering to be told how the magic system works and maybe a more concrete example of how 'damage' helps to create the story.
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Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
I am not a PDQ expert; I have only read the system and never gotten to play it. This, of course, makes me the perfect person to answer your question on how damage directs the story.
In a lot of games, after you take some amount of damage you start taking determents to your skill use. Ex, “You have lost half of your hit points so all of your skill checks are at -2”. In PDQ you apply damage directly to your ‘qualities’ but you apply the damage individually and not globally.
So, say you have qualities like “Master of the Blade (+6) Expert”, “My Man Godfrey (+2) Good”, and “Socialite (+2) Good” as qualities and you get into a sword fight. When you take a level of damage you have to apply it to one of these qualities. Because you are in a sword fight you probably don’t want to reduce your Master of the Blade quality so you choose to have either your butler Godfrey take a hit (reduce the Quality for Godfrey actually) OR reduce your Socialite quality. The choice is up to you but whichever you choose to take the first hit signals the GM that that is what your next scene/encounter/adventure should hook on to. So if poor Godfrey takes the first hit then the next adventure should have something to do with him.
That is how I believe that ‘damage helps create the story’. It more guides than creates.
Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
Mitchw describes the 'hook' system well. One of the interesting things this does is ensure that no Quality ever goes to waste. I'm sure you've all played games where you had a neat character concept in mind, and invested some valuable skill points in skills that aren't entirely pertinent to dungeon-crawling/wizarding/espionage/whatever, but which lent a touch of individual style and tied in to your character's background. Unfortunately, in the course of the actual gameplay (if your experience is anything like mine) you never had an opportunity to use this background material, and lamented the effort, finding that you'd be better served by more focused skill spread.
Well, in PDQ, it's assumed that whatever Quality you find the least useful (whether it's Beautician or Accountant or Former Cook's Assistant) is the first one you're going to reduce, since it's not doing you any good anyway. But that makes this Quality the central hook for your next adventure/session/episode - next time you might be challenged to give the Wicked Stepmother a makeover, or the local dragon needs his taxes done, or the ogres will spare you if you can make a stew that's even tastier than people are (or for that matter, they want you to compete against their cook, Iron Chef style). Suddenly a Quality that you took just to be interesting, and which looked like it was going to be disappointingly useless, becomes an important focus of the story.
As far as magic goes, there are two ways it's done. First is normal Qualities that happen to be magical - suppose you wanted a Peter Pan-type character and gave him Flying: Good (+2). That's no different from giving your reformed pirate Good Sailing or giving your woodsman Good Hunting. In most ZoZ campaigns, there'd be no need to even test the quality unless you were attempting special aerial stunts or were trying to out-fly a hungry gryphon or something.
The second is the Magic Star Qualities - these are the ones that are marked with an asterisk, and they're so special that adding the magic star to a quality counts as using up a rank of quality during character creation. (If that's confusing at all, just understand that the broader magic mojo accounts for more of your character's focus, and leave it at that.) As for how it works: fabulously, in every sense of the word. You see, when you use a Magic Star Quality, whether it's Kindly Witch* (Good) or Davy Jones' Nephew* (Expert) or even Toymaker* (Good), you can attempt darn near anything. The player and GM briefly negotiate the intended effect - does it make sense in the context of the Quality and does it suit the mood of the campaign?
The interesting bit is the second half of the process, where they determine the Cost and/or the Catch. These are defined in the game, albeit pretty loosely, but essentially the magic will either use up some kind of resource (such as time, equipment, favors, etc) or will have some kind of loophole or consequence. Every fairy tale where the princess is put into a magical sleep until she is awakened by her true love's kiss? That's a Catch. The more dramatic the magic's effect, the more cost, catch, or both will be involved. And notably: Magic Always Works. If the die roll fails, the magic still takes effect - it just doesn't do what the player wanted.
Here's an example: Our heroes are locked in the wicked king's dungeon and must try to escape. Nobody happens to have a quality like Thief or Escape Artist, so they've got to get creative. If someone is a Toymaker*, he might be able to craft a wind-up tin-soldier who can retrieve a key for them, with a Cost requiring him to scrounge enough material and take the time to build it - so by the time they escape, they may no longer have time to call for reinforcements, but must deal with the wicked king's plans alone. If instead one of the heroes has a Bag of Tricks*, perhaps one of his tricks is a similar tin soldier that will actually pick the lock, but with a Catch: if he gets them out of this, he demands his freedom, so the character won't be able to repeat the trick until he acquires a new gimmick to keep in his bag.
It's an elegant freeform magic system. The book goes into it a bit more, certainly giving more examples both in the rules section and in the campaign journal showing how it worked in actual play. This is one of the few games where magic feels truly magical, but the Cost and Catch approach also helps to ensure that a character with Magic Star Qualities can't outshine the other players. My compliments to Mr. Underkoffler for this creation!
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Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
If one already has (and quite likes) Truth & Justice, would one really want ZoZ? Other than the setting material, which is fairly brief, I believe, and the Catch/Consequence stuff posted above, is there anything else different?
I'm tempted by ZoZ, but on my very limited gaming budget, I'm not sure I can justify.
Re: [RPG]: The Zorcerer of Zo, reviewed by Christopher V. Brady (4/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Fiendish Dr. Samsara
If one already has (and quite likes) Truth & Justice, would one really want ZoZ? Other than the setting material, which is fairly brief, I believe, and the Catch/Consequence stuff posted above, is there anything else different?
I'm tempted by ZoZ, but on my very limited gaming budget, I'm not sure I can justify.
ZoZ is very much a back-to-basics work, system-wise. If your budget is limited, it may not be a priority; but frankly, I have both and I find both very useful. Many things are far easier to conceptualize in ZoZ than in T&J, like the simpler stunt system. The ZoZ incarnation is perfect to introduce new people to gaming, and I really enjoyed seeing "behind the scenes" of Chad's short campaign. Maybe the PDF version would suffice for you? Though in truth, having the cute little ZoZ game in hand is a good way to get people interested in playing.
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