Year of The Zombie...What do people think?

[Anio]

While I do not get easily offended, I also do not like juvenile titillation or gratuitous misogyny.

I agree with Ralts, Wolvorine and PJMason - Year of the Zombie is a product aimed at a mature audience and does not promote violence to women, discrimination against women nor the denigration of women. As mentioned by others, Year of the Zombie is, in many ways throughout the product, as much a study of human nature as it is an RPG game supplement regarding zombies and post-apocalyptic scenarios. All situations described within the product must be taken in context because arbitrarily analysing any one aspect of the text without reference to the whole does not do the author or the publisher the justice that they deserve.

As mentioned in my review here on ENWorld, the chapters in this product cover grim, terrifying and brutal “realities” of a post-apocalyptic world and are not for the easily offended or faint hearted. Slavery, rape and cannibalism are some of the topics that are handled maturely and in no way glorified or shrugged off by the author. They are simply a fact of the YotZ world.

If these topics are likely to offend you, then I urge you not to buy it, but I also suggest that the author deserves more credit than considering his well thought out work as gratuitously offensive.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Well, Kesh, are there any other questions you would like to ask?

 

[GhostTiger]

OGL or d20 Modern?

The promotional material I've read says YotZ is OGL, but one reviewer said the game makes them want to run/play d20 Modern. I was curious if the game is OGL based on d20 Modern or just OGL. I'm asking because I do not like d20 Modern -- the core classes (Strong character, Smart character, etc.) and the Wound Vitality system. I would be very interested though, if it wasn't.

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks,
GhostTiger

 

[ukgpublishing]

The promotional material I've read says YotZ is OGL, but one reviewer said the game makes them want to run/play d20 Modern. I was curious if the game is OGL based on d20 Modern or just OGL. I'm asking because I do not like d20 Modern -- the core classes (Strong character, Smart character, etc.) and the Wound Vitality system. I would be very interested though, if it wasn't.

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks,
GhostTiger

Year of the Zombie is based on d20 Modern and released under the open gaming license, this is due to the adult langauge and horror portion which would not be acceptable under the d20 license and community standards.

Cid

 

[Roudi]

I'm asking because I do not like d20 Modern -- the core classes (Strong character, Smart character, etc.) and the Wound Vitality system.

Just to clairify: yes, d20 Modern does work on six ability-based core classes. However, d20 Modern works on an HP system, not on a Vitality / Wounds system. The only d20 game that uses VP/WP that I know of is Star Wars d20.

 

[Wolv0rine]

The promotional material I've read says YotZ is OGL, but one reviewer said the game makes them want to run/play d20 Modern. I was curious if the game is OGL based on d20 Modern or just OGL. I'm asking because I do not like d20 Modern -- the core classes (Strong character, Smart character, etc.) and the Wound Vitality system. I would be very interested though, if it wasn't.

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks,
GhostTiger

Yep, it's d20 Modern. On the other hand, I don't know if you've played d20 Modern (or if so, how much), but I can tell you that I had not played d20 Modern before becoming involved in the original IRC playtest the spawned YotZ (and was pretty strongly against it), and I became a convert to the system's strengths during that game. 'd20 Fantasy' as it's been called really doesn't work right for this type of game.

 

[GhostTiger]

Aha

d20 Modern works on an HP system, not on a Vitality / Wounds system.

Well, so it does. Now look what you've done, I'm actually considering giving d20 Modern a chance!

Thank you everyone for your replies; you may well have sold a pdf. As well as d20 Future, d20 Apoc, etc. Sigh.

GhostTiger

 

[PJ-Mason]

I might point out that even though the stats for this book are D20 modern it would still be very useful as just a source book for zombie games in general. I plan on using this book to help me with another game of mine that has nothing to do with D20. The strength of this book isn't in its crunch, its strength is the source and background material.

PS: I say the same for D20 Apocalypse, btw. Fun and useful read whether you are playing D20 modern or not.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

I'll second the vote on d20 Apocalypse. It's an excellent book, don't let the size throw you. If you have the cash, pick it up, as the books wonderfully compliment one another.

For those of you who like the book, I wouldn't mind a list of some resources you might like to see later. I'm already laying down an outline for a book on Modern Ruins and scavenging through the ruins, including finding, fixing, salvaging and modifying vehicles.

Still, I'd really like to see what else you'd like to see expanded, and what "time" you'd like to see some modules set in.

 

[jezter6]

My suggestion would be to try and keep things generic, so that they can be used in as many different timelines as possible.

I would love to do post apoc swashbuckling submarine pirates fighting zombies in the carribean if it gives you any ideas.