Free League Year Zero Engine
- Thread starter GothmogIV
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payn
Glory to Marik
I find its just the right amount of meat for me. By that, I mean there are attributes and skills that lead to a dice pool mechanic. It's that simple, but characters often have enough interesting application in that set up to make playing interesting and quick. It doesn't bog down for GM or player. You get to the heart of things but its got enough grit to feel like a game still.
Cons from some of my players are the system can be too abstract and they are not sure how to do things. These are folks that tend to prefer games like D&D with more crunch and descriptive and/or complicated play loops.
Cons from some of my players are the system can be too abstract and they are not sure how to do things. These are folks that tend to prefer games like D&D with more crunch and descriptive and/or complicated play loops.
GothmogIV
Adventurer
Do the number of skills vary by game, or is the Year zero engine pretty well defined regardless of game? I have gotten away from skill based games (D&D, Dragonbane, Call of Cthulhu) for more attribute-based games. Just curious. I suppose I could simply look at some character sheets...
aramis erak
Legend
The number of skills does vary, tho' not too much; it's 3 or 4 per attribute, 4 attributes, in most of them.
The more important distinction is that YZE has two different core dice mechanics:
- xd6, where x is the sum of attribute and skill, count successes on 6's.
- 1d(attribute) & 1d(skill), count successes on 6-9, double on 10+
Also, extra successes having lists by skill of what bonus effects can be bought. And the critical damage system.
I think the version in MYZ itself is great and very well-suited to that game with its theme of decay – pushing yourself runs a pretty strong risk of inflicting damage on yourself and/or your gear, but it's a gamble and you see the results right away. I think it works less well in Coriolis, where the equivalent of pushing is praying, but the penalty for praying is a deterministic Darkness point for the GM, and the GM tends to be very well supplied with those. Though my experience might be tainted by having run the Last Voyage of the Ghazali adventure where a large portion of the adventure consists of threatening events the GM triggers by spending Darkness points, which then causes a situation where the PCs need to make a lot of rolls to deal with things, and when they roll badly and pray to reroll the GM gets even more Darkness points. As I was running that adventure I felt like I was swimming in Darkness points. Though I'm not sure if that was poor adventure design or the system itself at fault.
Jd Smith1
Hero
I tried T2k4e; the system didn't do well in a long campaign due to the limited number of skills and limited number of possible improvements. The combat system is not terribly intuitive, as the 'fast and slow action are not readily translated into PC actions.
It was OK, but I won't use it again.
It was OK, but I won't use it again.
aramis erak
Legend
I'll note that I've only had one (of about 20) players have any issues with the action economy in YZE... across T2K4, Alien, Vaesen, and Blade Runner... but that one also was in middle school age.
Many grasped it pretty quickly...
Jd Smith1
Hero
Its simple enough, but for a game based on combat (T2k4e), it is mind-numbingly unoriginal, inflexible, and clumsy. I ripped it out and replaced it before we started.
sevenbastard
Legend
I haven't played it but reading it i was a little disappointed. That said its way better than the even more abstract The Walking Dead combat.
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