The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Disclaimer: I apologize for any mistake, convoluted sentence structure and other assorted "bugs" in the following text. English is not my first language, and this is the best I can do...

Introduction

Some months ago Gold Rush Games announced to have obtained the rights to produce a Zorro RPG. Details were scarce, and I confess not having really kept my eye on this, even if the idea of a Zorro RPG did have some appeal for me.
The character (especially the one portrayed in the original TV series) is not exactly unknown here in Italy, so even if I cannot claim to be Zorro expert I hope to share some reasonable opinions on this.

What is it?

My main problem with this product is how to categorize it. Let me explain: the booklet (32 pages, standard size) has the quality and page count you could expect in an adventure module.
But in this space it tries to cram much more: it offers a set of pregenerated characters, a ready-to run adventure, complete of map, semplified rules (6 pages) cardboard counters usable for the aforemention adventure and (very) brief notes on the milieu.
In other words, this is a lite version of the final product, and to me it seems similar to the demo/quick-play stuff which other publishers create to promote a new game line.
As I just said, this is not unusual in the gaming industry. The problem is that this booklet costs 10 dollars, and that, at least for now, it is the only existing Zorro product.
The last page is a promotional blurb of other Gold Rush Games products (like Usagi Yojimbo) but even there there is no trace of the main rulebook, and the only other Zorro book is another booklet titled "The Legacy Continues (Legacy of Zorro expansion book)", costing 1 dollar less and including "Advanced Rules, New Adventures and rules to create your own characters".
I don't know if this second book is already available or not, but the current offering is really not enough to actually roleplay in the world of Zorro, even if there is a site completely dedicated to the RPG and offering some more downloadable fre stuff.

What is in it?

Page 2 and 3 (Introduction) covers the usual "what is a role playing/what does a GM do/how do I roll dice" stuff and is obviously targeted to beginners.
Page 4 and 5 give a brief glimpse of what else will be availabe (citing "The World of Zorro Adventure Game and Resource Book") and devote the rest of the space (one and an half page) to a brief run down of people and laws in california (i.e. what does an Alcalde do, which laws regulate firearms and swords and so on). This part reinforces the idea that the book is aimed at new players, and especially young ones ("In Spanish California there are no cars. People travel by horse or wagon. There are no telephones. Letters are sent by stagecoach or overseas by ship".)
Rules start on page 6 and go on to page 12. I'll describe them in more detail in the following section. The rules are reasonably clear and short but helpful examples are "embedded" in the text, using a darker background to help the reader to locate (or skip) them while reading. The layout is functional if not earth-shattering. Art (all in B/W) is not very good, on average.
The next four pages are actually four character sheet for the pre-generated characters (note that the rules don't explain how to create other PCs). Each sheet has a character portrait and all the relevant stats on the front, while on the back it has a brief history of the character, his/her story, playing tips for the player and half a page listing the most common actions in game terms, including a short rundown of how combat is played.
Again, this part is well organized and clearly useful in play, so newcomers to RPG should find this pretty useful.
Page 21 is a sort of "rules cheat-sheet" including both rules and glossary for the game.
Page 22 to 29 are devoted to the adventure, not counting the two-pages map at the end. I will not discuss this in detail, in order not to spoil it for anyone. I'll just note that even if Zorro appears in it, interaction with the PCs is not the main point, and so you don't even get stats for the masked hero.

Rules overview

The game is based on the Fuzion game system. I suppose that the final version will be more complete; the current one is pretty coarse grained: skills are Arts & Crafts, Athletics, Combat, Education, Reasoning, Shady and Social. That's all. Social, for example, covers everything from diplomacy to ballroom dancing, leadership, etiquette and romance. Combat, again, applies to any kind of armed or unarmed combat, and is used both to attack and to defend.
Rolls are attribute (1-7, 3 is average) plus skill (the range seems similar to the one used for attributes) plus 3d6. You need to either roll higher than the opponent or above a defined difficulty level.
I'm not a Fuzion expert, but it seems pretty straightforward to me. As already said, there is plenty of examples and the fact that you cannot create new character is a sort of "feature", because all examples in the book use one of the four pregen characters, and there is no risk of confusion for novices.
Both the TV series and the movies offer many examples of "cinematic" action. The game offers three mechanics to better cover this. They are basically the same idea (a pool of points which can buy bonuses to rolls) but with slightly different flavours.
Faith Points give 2 to a roll for each point spent. They may be used only to "pump-up" peaceful and altruistic feats (like helping someone else, first aid or trying to hide to avoid confrontation). They can also be traded to reduce damage from an hit, and each point will subtract 1d6 from the damage. They can be used only once per playing session.
Pride points are more or less identical, but are useful for aggressive actions only, like combat or intimidation. They can be used to decrease damage but also to add 1d6 when you attack someone else.
Z points are even more flexible. They add 5 to a roll, and as usual can add/subtract 1d6 to damage. When you can use them is a little more complex. They may be used to fuel "dramatic moments" according to the GM's permission, or whenever you roll at least a 6 for a skill roll.
From the rules and the examples, it seems that all dice types can be used after the roll when used to influence damage, but that Z points are applied after the roll for skill tests, while Pride and Faith points must be spent before rolling.
Each PC starts his/her career with exactly one Z point. You can regain Z points whenever you do something heroic (again, this is decided by the GM) without using a Z point. You gain it even if you fail the roll. Z points go up and down during a session, but if you don't spend them all, only a maximum of 3 will transfer to the next session.

Is it for me?

I don't want to sound harsh, but the truth is that this product, alone, will be of no use to someone who has some RPG experience. Considering that there are no stats for Zorro or other important characters, and that the background takes two pages, any GM can probably adapt his/her favourite game and save the money.
This product may probably work for a one-shot or a convention demo session, but the scope of it is too limited to be of any interest for people who want to go beyond the enclosed adventure. There are rules for experience awards and character advancement (12 lines of text, just at the end of the adventure) but this is too little to launch campaign. Especially considering that in case one of the characters dies or is imprisoned there is no way to create another one.
You could theoretically download the Fusion rules and try to start over, but in this case the booklet becomes pretty useless, because if you drop the rules pages and create your own characters what you actually get from the product is too little to be of any value at all.
When the main rulebook will be available, this booklet will probably become irrelevant: the main rules will cover much more (including an expanded version of the same pregen characters) and the included adventure is nothing to write home about.
So, even if the product si clearly written and well organized (nobody could do much better with just 32 pages to work with) its inherent limitations are just too great. Skip this one, unless you have four Zorro fans who have never played a RPG, but even then, hope that they don't like it too much, or you will have some problems getting ready for the next adventure.

The Legacy of Zorro
The Legacy of Zorro Capsule Review by Paolo Marino on 26/01/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse) Where are the other 100 pages? Product: The Legacy of Zorro Author: Mark Arsenault Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Gold Rush Games Line: Zorro RPG Cost: $9.95 Page count: 32 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-890305-26-X SKU: 3001 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Paolo Marino on 26/01/02 Genre tags: Historical Other	Disclaimer: I apologize for any mistake, convoluted sentence structure and other assorted "bugs" in the following text. English is not my first language, and this is the best I can do... Introduction Some months ago Gold Rush Games announced to have obtained the rights to produce a Zorro RPG. Details were scarce, and I confess not having really kept my eye on this, even if the idea of a Zorro RPG did have some appeal for me. The character (especially the one portrayed in the original TV series) is not exactly unknown here in Italy, so even if I cannot claim to be Zorro expert I hope to share some reasonable opinions on this. What is it? My main problem with this product is how to categorize it. Let me explain: the booklet (32 pages, standard size) has the quality and page count you could expect in an adventure module. But in this space it tries to cram much more: it offers a set of pregenerated characters, a ready-to run adventure, complete of map, semplified rules (6 pages) cardboard counters usable for the aforemention adventure and (very) brief notes on the milieu. In other words, this is a lite version of the final product, and to me it seems similar to the demo/quick-play stuff which other publishers create to promote a new game line. As I just said, this is not unusual in the gaming industry. The problem is that this booklet costs 10 dollars, and that, at least for now, it is the only existing Zorro product. The last page is a promotional blurb of other Gold Rush Games products (like Usagi Yojimbo) but even there there is no trace of the main rulebook, and the only other Zorro book is another booklet titled "The Legacy Continues (Legacy of Zorro expansion book)", costing 1 dollar less and including "Advanced Rules, New Adventures and rules to create your own characters". I don't know if this second book is already available or not, but the current offering is really not enough to actually roleplay in the world of Zorro, even if there is a site completely dedicated to the RPG and offering some more downloadable fre stuff. What is in it? Page 2 and 3 (Introduction) covers the usual "what is a role playing/what does a GM do/how do I roll dice" stuff and is obviously targeted to beginners. Page 4 and 5 give a brief glimpse of what else will be availabe (citing "The World of Zorro Adventure Game and Resource Book") and devote the rest of the space (one and an half page) to a brief run down of people and laws in california (i.e. what does an Alcalde do, which laws regulate firearms and swords and so on). This part reinforces the idea that the book is aimed at new players, and especially young ones ("In Spanish California there are no cars. People travel by horse or wagon. There are no telephones. Letters are sent by stagecoach or overseas by ship".) Rules start on page 6 and go on to page 12. I'll describe them in more detail in the following section. The rules are reasonably clear and short but helpful examples are "embedded" in the text, using a darker background to help the reader to locate (or skip) them while reading. The layout is functional if not earth-shattering. Art (all in B/W) is not very good, on average. The next four pages are actually four character sheet for the pre-generated characters (note that the rules don't explain how to create other PCs). Each sheet has a character portrait and all the relevant stats on the front, while on the back it has a brief history of the character, his/her story, playing tips for the player and half a page listing the most common actions in game terms, including a short rundown of how combat is played. Again, this part is well organized and clearly useful in play, so newcomers to RPG should find this pretty useful. Page 21 is a sort of "rules cheat-sheet" including both rules and glossary for the game. Page 22 to 29 are devoted to the adventure, not counting the two-pages map at the end. I will not discuss this in detail, in order not to spoil it for anyone. I'll just note that even if Zorro appears in it, interaction with the PCs is not the main point, and so you don't even get stats for the masked hero. Rules overview The game is based on the Fuzion game system. I suppose that the final version will be more complete; the current one is pretty coarse grained: skills are Arts & Crafts, Athletics, Combat, Education, Reasoning, Shady and Social. That's all. Social, for example, covers everything from diplomacy to ballroom dancing, leadership, etiquette and romance. Combat, again, applies to any kind of armed or unarmed combat, and is used both to attack and to defend. Rolls are attribute (1-7, 3 is average) plus skill (the range seems similar to the one used for attributes) plus 3d6. You need to either roll higher than the opponent or above a defined difficulty level. I'm not a Fuzion expert, but it seems pretty straightforward to me. As already said, there is plenty of examples and the fact that you cannot create new character is a sort of "feature", because all examples in the book use one of the four pregen characters, and there is no risk of confusion for novices. Both the TV series and the movies offer many examples of "cinematic" action. The game offers three mechanics to better cover this. They are basically the same idea (a pool of points which can buy bonuses to rolls) but with slightly different flavours. Faith Points give 2 to a roll for each point spent. They may be used only to "pump-up" peaceful and altruistic feats (like helping someone else, first aid or trying to hide to avoid confrontation). They can also be traded to reduce damage from an hit, and each point will subtract 1d6 from the damage. They can be used only once per playing session. Pride points are more or less identical, but are useful for aggressive actions only, like combat or intimidation. They can be used to decrease damage but also to add 1d6 when you attack someone else. Z points are even more flexible. They add 5 to a roll, and as usual can add/subtract 1d6 to damage. When you can use them is a little more complex. They may be used to fuel "dramatic moments" according to the GM's permission, or whenever you roll at least a 6 for a skill roll. From the rules and the examples, it seems that all dice types can be used after the roll when used to influence damage, but that Z points are applied after the roll for skill tests, while Pride and Faith points must be spent before rolling. Each PC starts his/her career with exactly one Z point. You can regain Z points whenever you do something heroic (again, this is decided by the GM) without using a Z point. You gain it even if you fail the roll. Z points go up and down during a session, but if you don't spend them all, only a maximum of 3 will transfer to the next session. Is it for me? I don't want to sound harsh, but the truth is that this product, alone, will be of no use to someone who has some RPG experience. Considering that there are no stats for Zorro or other important characters, and that the background takes two pages, any GM can probably adapt his/her favourite game and save the money. This product may probably work for a one-shot or a convention demo session, but the scope of it is too limited to be of any interest for people who want to go beyond the enclosed adventure. There are rules for experience awards and character advancement (12 lines of text, just at the end of the adventure) but this is too little to launch campaign. Especially considering that in case one of the characters dies or is imprisoned there is no way to create another one. You could theoretically download the Fusion rules and try to start over, but in this case the booklet becomes pretty useless, because if you drop the rules pages and create your own characters what you actually get from the product is too little to be of any value at all. When the main rulebook will be available, this booklet will probably become irrelevant: the main rules will cover much more (including an expanded version of the same pregen characters) and the included adventure is nothing to write home about. So, even if the product si clearly written and well organized (nobody could do much better with just 32 pages to work with) its inherent limitations are just too great. Skip this one, unless you have four Zorro fans who have never played a RPG, but even then, hope that they don't like it too much, or you will have some problems getting ready for the next adventure.

The Legacy of Zorro

Introduction

What is it?

What is in it?

Rules overview

Is it for me?