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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Some Dude" data-source="post: 7830330" data-attributes="member: 6980080">CHAPTERS 5 & 6 REVISITEDI stated earlier that Chapters 5 & 6 were basically lists, and that's true, but it also omits a lot that begs better explaining on my part.Chapter 5: Skills is more than a "list" of skills. It begins with an explanation of the Skills, and how each one corresponds to one of the Character's Primary Traits. Then it goes on to discuss the  Skill Ranks. Each Rank (Apprentice, Journeyman, Master) confers a cumulative +10% Base Chance of Success, up to a maximum of 30%.The difference between Common Skills and Special Skills is reiterated, basically, that Special Skills must be "Flipped to Fail" if used by a Character with no Skill Ranks. Common Skills carry no such penalty, defaulting instead to a Base Chance equal to that Skill's related Primary Attribute.Special Skills are marked on the Character Sheet with an asterisk. The Zweihander Character Sheet is one of those sheets that has all of the possible Skills listed. They are next to the associated Attribute.Sidebar: Zweihander has a 4-page character sheet. It will track pretty much everything about your Character, including every step of their advancement and step-by-step progression through the Tiers.Then we talk again about Focuses. To recap, Focuses are specialized uses of a Skill, or, as the book deescribes it, a "particular knack". Focuses allow you to ignore any penalities you currently suffer from Peril, as long as you use the Skill on a very particular, narrow, one might even say... focused manner.A character may have a total number of Focuses equal to his Intelligence Bonus.Unlike the complete and cohesive Skill descriptions, the Focuses are given one or two word descriptions, but the are all really self-explanatory, and nothing further is really needed.  For example, the Skill "Eavesdrop" has as its Focuses Lip Reading, Listen In, Sign Language, Ventriloquism, "Leadership" has Incite Rebellion, Military Command, Spiritual Leadership, and Stewardship.And then, we get the actual listed entries for each Skill. Each is listed, with its related Primary Attribute in parentheses. There are detailed explanations of each, and sample Difficulty Ratings, each with an illustration of that Skill's use. For example, the entry for the Skill, "Guile" lists the following Difficulty Ratings:-(Trivial +30%) Bluster and blather your way out of responsibility-(Easy +20%) Use innuendo to imply one thing while saying another-(Routine +10%) Engage in wordplay with another to appear smarter-(Standard +/-0%) Blend into the crowd to look innocuous and harmless-(Challenging -10%) Bluff your way into a garden party hosted by the elite-(Hard -20%) Understand Thieves' Cant without a Skill Rank-(Arduous -30%) Appear innocent in front of a Withch Hunter or InquisitorHere again, the illustrations correspond directly to an adjacent bit of text. A nice bit of detail, in a book filled to the brim with it.The Chapter on Skills is fifteen pages long overall.Chapter 6: Talents starts, as all Chapters of Zweihander, with a full-page illustration that is relevant to the ensuing Chapter. In terms of painting a picture, setting a mood, this is one of the best RPG books I have ever seen. In the early D&D books, the art, by Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Bill Willingham and others (Easley is technically brilliant, better even than the artists I just listed, but not nearly as evocative in my opinion) informed my internal vision of D&D in a way that persists to this day,. Similarly, there is a palpable tone, and a semse of place in Zweihander. No mean feat for a game that has had to dance around the setting (and the IP) of the game that was its admitted inspiration.Talents, it is explained, are different from Skils in the following ways:-Skills are innate, Talents are "knacks" within a Skill that allow you to take particular advantage of that Skill. Talents act as "riders" to the actions a Character takes during play. But what does this all mean during play?Well, each Talent adds some advantage or benefit. For example,APPALLING MIENPeople are disturbed by your presence, as you invoke apprehension and fear in those around you.Effect: When you succeed at an Intimidate Test against one foe, they cannot attack you until they succeed at a Resolve Test. However, if you or one of your allies harm them in any way, they immediately shake off this effect.GANGSTER GRIP"Step off, knave. If you tryin' to plough with me, my blunderbuss go bang!"Effect: When you make an Attack Action with a weapon possessing the Gunpowder Quality, you inflict an additional 1d6 Fury Die to Damage.And so on. As in Chapter 4: Professions, this Chapter is filled with jokes and pop-culture references. This may or may not be to everyone's taste, but I find it amusing. I have read that this was a feature off WFRP as well, although that game's humor was rooted in the Britain of the late 80s, and its socio-political climate. Zweihander's humor seems to be more a product of the internet age, all sly pop-culture references and Easter Eggs. Which is funny, given some of the complaining I've seen about the game's (and its author's) political stances. But the humor on display here is not really topical. I'm not saying that's good or bad, it's just an observation.The Chapter on Talents is around 5 pages or so.Okay, well, 200 or so pages in so far. I'm gonna cut it off here, but I am still reading and writing, and hope to recap Chapter 7 tonight.I'd also like to mention that there is a Quick-Start rules PDF available from drivethrurpg, for anyone wanting to read along at home. I've actually been finding it useful, since flipping through this damn near 700 pager is a beyatch. When I was given my copy, I was also sent 4 bookmarks, which have turned out to be goddamn lifesavers.Alright, I hope that now I've done justice to the last couple of Chapters. Talk to y'all in a few, in the next post, which'll be...CHAPTER 7: TRAPPINGS</blockquote>

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