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Invincible RPG Announced by Free League
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<blockquote data-quote="schneeland" data-source="post: 9747231" data-attributes="member: 6900337"><p>It's one of the more established game engines, but I might be a bit biased here, because I spent too much time looking at RPGs and discussing them <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😅" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f605.png" title="Grinning face with sweat :sweat_smile:" data-shortname=":sweat_smile:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /> </p><p></p><p>Short version: the Year Zero engine is Free League's "house engine" and is used in most of their games. In its most basic form, you have a d6 dice pool, which is assembled based on character capabilities (often attribute + skill). You succeed only on a 6, but you can "push" your roll, which allows you to re-roll some of the dice (sometimes all dice not showing a 6, sometimes only those with 2-5). But pushing can also have adverse consequences, and you might take a condition, temporarily loose a point in an attribute or get your gear damaged (depending on the game). This is the older and more common version of Year Zero (sometimes also called "Year Zero (dice) pool version").</p><p></p><p>To complicate things a bit, there's also a variant of the Year Zero engine that used so-called step dice, meaning you only roll two dice, but these can range from 2d6 to 2d12. This has been introduced with the Free League edition of Twilight 2000, but is also used in Blade Runner.</p><p></p><p>Generally, Year Zero is customized for the specific game, so e.g. Tales from the Loop will play different than Alien.</p><p></p><p>To get a free look at a Year Zero game, you can check out the quickstart for Forbidden Lands (<a href="https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/forbidden-lands/free-quickstart-pdf/" target="_blank">Link</a>). It's fairly comprehensive and should give you a good idea about the general mechanics.</p><p></p><p>Beyond that, Free League has affordable Starter Sets for many of their games. While not covering the full extent of the games, they are a good option if you want to try out something at the table.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="schneeland, post: 9747231, member: 6900337"] It's one of the more established game engines, but I might be a bit biased here, because I spent too much time looking at RPGs and discussing them 😅 Short version: the Year Zero engine is Free League's "house engine" and is used in most of their games. In its most basic form, you have a d6 dice pool, which is assembled based on character capabilities (often attribute + skill). You succeed only on a 6, but you can "push" your roll, which allows you to re-roll some of the dice (sometimes all dice not showing a 6, sometimes only those with 2-5). But pushing can also have adverse consequences, and you might take a condition, temporarily loose a point in an attribute or get your gear damaged (depending on the game). This is the older and more common version of Year Zero (sometimes also called "Year Zero (dice) pool version"). To complicate things a bit, there's also a variant of the Year Zero engine that used so-called step dice, meaning you only roll two dice, but these can range from 2d6 to 2d12. This has been introduced with the Free League edition of Twilight 2000, but is also used in Blade Runner. Generally, Year Zero is customized for the specific game, so e.g. Tales from the Loop will play different than Alien. To get a free look at a Year Zero game, you can check out the quickstart for Forbidden Lands ([URL='https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/forbidden-lands/free-quickstart-pdf/']Link[/URL]). It's fairly comprehensive and should give you a good idea about the general mechanics. Beyond that, Free League has affordable Starter Sets for many of their games. While not covering the full extent of the games, they are a good option if you want to try out something at the table. [/QUOTE]
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