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Fantasy games have, as a general rule, focused mostly on the tried and true tenets set down by Tolkein's example. The number of fantasy games that have taken the generic western fantasy setting and simply tweaked it here and there while remaining in a medieval state of mind are numerous.
So when someone decides to come along and shake things up a bit, it's worthwhile taking notice. Drawing inspiration from such eastern fantasy elements as Final Fantasy and animes like Escaflowne, Last Exile and El Hazard, The Secret of Zir'An ends up being a uniquely western game that shares more with pulp action serials such as Flash Gordon and even Star Wars. Quite a hybrid. But does it work?
Overview - Using some Finesse
The Secret of Zir'An Core Gamebook really acts as a combination player's guide and introduction to the game. It aims to give all the vital rules and give enough of the setting to get a group interested. Primarily focused on character creation and system elements, it manages to reveal a considerable amount of the setting.The world of Zir'An is a big place that has a history that is in excess of three thousand years of development. While an uneasy peace exists between most of the nations presented in this book, it is clear that there is much more going on than initially meets the eye.
Looking at the system, Paragon Games are aiming to present a new way of thinking about handling combat, by drawing on a number of mechanics that combine to make a very unusual system that looks complex, but in actual play is remarkably straight forward.
Layout - Learning when enough is enough...
But before we delve any further into the game itself, let's talk about the bad stuff. The layout. No doubt you have probably read somewhere else about the illegibility of the book. This isn't that accurate. No page in the book is so bad as to prevent you from being able to read it. But the layout is bad enough to warrant consideration when purchasing.To put it simply, using any form of text - even a fictious language - as backdrop to foreground text is a bad design idea. I find it amazing that when the mockup was done that the publishers were still able to say "yes, this is a good idea."
The ink contrast is out of whack, and causes the background text to sometimes overwhelm the foreground text. Nothing so bad as to make the book worthless, but enough to be annoying. Like I said, no page is so bad that you can't read it, but it doesn't help.
The use of Silver ink for highlighting and contrast elements also fails to work - creating an annoying element, especially when the silver ink leeches through the black, causing some text to be faded to look at.
Also, there are a number of errors throughout the book. Partway through production it was obviously decided to move some of the content to the upcoming Hand of Fate Guidebook (The GMs guide) but not all changes were referenced in the final manuscript. Also, a number of terms and points were changed to improve the game flow, but these haven't been all altered to their newer titles and values.
On the plus side, despite the number of errors, they are not as numerous as it may sound, and they certainly don't hinder the use of the book. Also, Paragon have moved very quickly to resolve the problem - two of the worst case chapters have been provided as free PDFs to download, and a regular errata is compiled to keep track of all errors that have been spotted. Yes, the game would have benefited from a little longer in development - but at the same time, eventually you need to release something to start earning money. Over all, these faults are what end up dragging a 5/5 game down to a 3/4. Yes, there is a lot of good stuff to come...
Setting - Pulp Fantasy
Zir'An shares a lot more with the setting of Eberron than it does with Final Fantasy. This primarily comes from both games drawing from similar sources of inspiration. While the Final Fantasy elements are particularly obvious in SoZ - Chocobos, Air ships, Magical technology - there are more pulp elements too - Zepplins, Guns, Adventurers versus evil cultists. The cover also has more of a pulp adventure feel than a final fantasy feel, with the biggles look alike standing with a sexy female sorceress and a dapper man in a white suit casting shadowy flames.Essentially the world of Zir'An is in a state akin to pre WWII. A few millennia ago, after the gods left the world, powerful beings began to appear. These beings were known as Fanes - they were almost as gods themselves. After much conflict the Fanes have been pushed back. A peace treaty exists between a number of nations (Allies) who work together to keep the Fane dominated Tilerian Hegemony at bay (Axis). Then you have the southern empires who are essentially independant nations and mercenary states who owe allegience to no-one, or the Forsaken Lands such as The Periphery (a collection of islands in the far south.)
While the setting chapter only begins to introduce all the factions involved, it becomes quickly apparent how in depth the world is. Each nation has a number of factions and internal issues, and some are shrouded in even more mystery. Consider the Zhalanti homeland of Thallysia - realm of the First Born. No one other than Zhalanti are allowed on the continent, which vanished for several centuries, and the Zhalanti do not even speak of it when they are out of their homeland.
Races
Zir'An has five primary races presented in the core book. Taking the idea that Zir'An is a fantasy world logically progressed into a more contemporary future, the races are mostly standard races altered to suit the setting.Dolonorri: Essentially dwarves. The Dolonorri are a race in decline, who have been driven from their underground kingdoms by war and a lack of resources. They spend much of their time pining for a past that few remember.
Gogachi: Basically half-giants/ogres, the Gogachi are seen as a primitive people who are not as refined as the other species. However their apparent naivete is due to their alien mindset. The Gogachi are genius mathematicians and logicians - and because their brains operate so differently they find it hard to interact with other sentient species.
Ianer: The humans of Zir'An. Depending on where they originate, Ianer have a variety of different "types." While they are the baseline race, they are most likely to be chosen by players for their versatility as a character concept.
Neolli: Similar in some ways to Eberrons shifters, but without the shapeshifting element. Neolli are beastmen, in the standard pulp story concept of beastmen. They are primitive hunters who have only recently become "civilised." Related to the Fane created Shadekin, the Neolli have risen to become a truly sentient race.
Zhalanti: Essentially Elves crossed with Githyanki from D&D. The Zhalanti are the firstborn children of the gods. They are immortal and secretive. All Zhalanti PCs are considered to be wanderers and have been gifted a Szazari, a living blade that helps the Zhalanti train to improve his/her battle arts. They are also superior Rune Mages.
Technology and Magic
The Secret of Zir'An has a much higher level of technology than standard fantasy fare. This isn't a steampunk world, oh no. The peoples of Zir'An have tapped electricity, cinema and radio. They have tanks, airplanes - some that would even be advanced by our own standards. There are even submachine guns!This mixture of high-tech and low-tech creates an unusual mix, but still keeps close to the pulp adventure feel of the game. Nothing is too out of place for genre.
The magic in Zir'An is divided into two very different schools. Rune Magic is the more versatile school. Rune mages learn various runes and depending on the form used, depends on how the rune operates. First of all, there are lesser runes, which are used for quick temporary results. Then there are Greater Runes, which are related to the various gods. Greater Runes can be used in five different ways. The book lists four of these methods. Charms are quick ways of activating a rune, used mostly when in combat. Talismans are used to create magic items, basically, where the rune is empowered into an item of some sort. Wards are similar to Talismans, but they directly transfer the rune's ability to the person who bears the rune. Finally, Glyphs are used to create larger runes for greater effects adn more powerful functions - such as making a weather controlling device, or floating a city.
Shadow Magic on the otherhand, is more personal. It is drawn from the power of ones own shadow/spirit. Shadowmages are much more subtle than rune mages. They can slip in and out of shadows, twist peoples bodies by altering the form of their shadow, use their shadow to rend their opponents being.
Each form of magic is presented with their own consistent set of rules, which manage to capture the different feel of each school.
Lifepaths - Character Creation
But let us get to the nitty-gritty of the game. How does it work. Firstly, you need to create a character. The Secret of Zir'An utilises a lifepath system - where you plot out your character's history, and his skills and stats are worked out through this process.You begin by choosing which level the game is being played at. Tyroic is a beginner level game, where the characters are fairly low-powered; Heroic has characters who are a bit more experienced, and tend to be quite powerful; Legendary has characters who are almost at an Exalted level of power, movers and shakers within the world of Zir'An.
The level of game will dictate how many points you will have to give to your primary and derive attributes, as well as how many points you have to buy your skill packages.
Once you have all agreed on the level of play, players then select their origin. Certain races can only come from certain nations, but this still provides a variety of options. Your Origin dictates your beginning stats, skills and age. You then get to spend a number of points on your attributes based on the level of play.
After choosing origins, it's on to skill packages. This is where the character creation process becomes quite fun. Each nation has a number of packages relating to various factions and activities unique to that nation. Furthermore there are number of generic packages that any character can take. So you can build an Arivonne pilot, who travelled abroad, then returned home to do some military service. Each package can be bought a multiple number of times.
The package provides you with skills, languages and aptitudes - and each package includes how many years it takes to complete that training. So your character ages with each purchase. This can lead to beginning characters fast becoming middle aged before the game starts. I happened to like this element.
After skill packages comes Valdreyr - which are basically Merits and Flaws. These are much like they are in any game system, little extras that can be used to make your character unique.
Additional character points can also be saved to purchase Battle Arts and Martial Arts. These are special maneuvers that you can perform in combat, and are related to your finesse level.
Finally you buy equipment. The interesting element here is that your resources are dictated by your finesse level in various connections. Yes, it's the people you know who decide how much money and resources you have. An interesting twist to the equpping phase of a game.
But what about the system itself?
Okay, so how about the actual game system?All skills in the Finesse System - Paragon's game for the system that SoZ uses - have what is known as a finesse level. Finesse levels are ranked Basic, Advanced, Expert and Elite. Each level relates to a corresponding difficulty level. What this means is that during an unstressed situation if your character has a higher finesse level than the difficulty, she automatically succeeds, and the player can even describe how that success occurs.
Finesse levels also unlock more combat options and magic choices for PCs.
When a roll is called for, which is generally in the case of equal-higher difficulties and combat, the PC rolls 1d10 adds his attribute + aptitude + any extra points in practice for their skill. This is either against a difficulty number or an opposed roll
In combat check out this combat example to see the system in action.
And that is the overall system in a nutshell. Very stylish.
Thoughts and Opinion
I really found Zir'An a highly enjoyable game. The system is crunchy, but without the complexity. While it appears complex on the surface, it reminds me a lot of Fireborn - in actual play the system is smooth and quick. I had initially thought that the armour/damage rules would be a big hold-up in combat, but in actual play this becomes a very simple step that is no different from rolling damage and negating it from HP.What it creates is a nice, detailed combat system that doesn't get bogged down with it's detail. One that has truly sold me on a system that I had been about to give up on too. Not often I make that much of a turn around.
The setting is also very compelling. Again, when I first looked through it I was uncertain, but as I read through the book it was like watching a wonderful detailed world unfold before my eyes. There is plenty of space for all types of genres, and there are a lot of stories in the making there.
I do feel that there does need to be more provided to keep the momentum flowing, and the two month wait on the Hand of Fate Guidebook is probably longer than I would personally like. But I am eager to leap in on this line. It is a shame about the layout issues, as this will work to drive a number of potential buyers away. Hopefully SoZ will manage to draw enough customers anyway to ensure a revised reprint in the future...
Should I buy this game? If Last Exile or Castle Falkenstein appealed to you, YES! If you liked Exalted, YES! If magitech and reasonably crunchy rules scare you... then no.
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