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Secret of Zir’An

The Meat

The SoZ core book presents an interesting approach to fantasy and rpg’ing. With tanks. It is unique in its setting and its game systems and is worth buying on both counts. They will not make everyone happy, but they are a cut above the usual fare. If you like buying game books just to read the background, this is one for you.

The stuff people are saying about the text/layout being a problem is, well a bit anal, in my opinion. Have a look at the book; buy it if you think you can cope. With tanks.

The games mechanics are well thought out. For a more complete overview go here and get the quick play rules. It looks (and appears during play) to have undergone lots of play testing before release.

The crew over at Paragon have given a unique, non-d20 [uses one d10] system for skill resolution and even the core attributes are different from the rest other the current rpg world. Thank Kah! (SoZ joke, see below). All of SoZ skills have a “finesse level”. This forms a ladder, if you will; whose rungs are six units apart. The rungs are named (Basic, Advanced, Expert Elite) and each rung is a corresponding difficulty number (10, 15, 20, 25).

In most situations, if your skill level is equal to or better then the difficulty number/rung then success, no roll and the Player narrates the outcome. If things are “Stressful” (a condition in the game analogous to D&D’s conditions) then roll 1d10 + his Base Level for the skill (sort of a derived rank). This is either against a difficulty number or as an opposed roll. If you get six more then what you needed, you get a superior success and special things happen, but mainly in combat. In play, this is easy and gives a great flow of action.

Combat is surprisingly fast paced. Surprisingly because the system uses an speed based initiative system (different action cost different amounts of speed), which I thought, went out with FASA Star Trek. In this system, you can chose to go first and have fewer actions or chose to have as many actions as possible.

Combat has dodging, shield blocking, martial arts options, battle arts options, and special successes/criticals too. On top of all this Weapons are rated for damage and armour penetration. Armour for protective value and defensive value. Even with all of this - which at first looks complicated – the play is straight forward. If you want to know more about combat, I recommend you go to this excellent combat example by Conan McKegg thanks Conan. The only problem with his example is it doesn’t feature Tanks.

SoZ is not really a “fantasy” rpg in the usual sense. It is “fantasy” but it’s a fantasy with machine guns and airplanes (as in spitfires and mustangs) electricity, cinema and radio. Oh and Tanks. It’s not “steampunk”. Its not really “magi-tech”. It’s rather, an "Urban Fantasy", but set in a world with 1930-40’s technology.

Soz has got a lot in common with the old masterbook rpg Bloodshadows with much better execution. Mind you, people apparently still don armour and the “adventurer” is a staple part of the world. Oh and there are Tanks.

This is the game in which all the crazy things of and old style World of Greyhawk setting get added up and justified. (if you ever played Barrier peaks you know what I’m talking about). It also takes much of the metagame elements of rpging and fits them into the setting. SoZ takes all the “pop” icons of the last decade or so and adds that on too.

The game, for all its armour and traditional fantasy rpg elements, still has some odd setting elements. Like Tanks. Nevertheless, it also has Elves, Dwarves, Fire-Giants and Beastmen all as PC races, though Humans are the most prolific race. It has God’s and Magic (two types actually) and it has a massive cataclysm in the reascent past. It has an evil empire in the North and Undead lurking in the shadows (in deed they are very good at lurking in shadows being called Shadekin) SoZ also has evil cults and super tech and spies and intrigue and politics and war and and and TANKS!!! Well you could do anything you liked in this setting really. In my opinion it should emphasise feudalism and the medieval paradigm a bit more (that may be my bias), and to be frank, the game says to add this (or anything else), if you feel it’s what you want. It would not be hard to emphasise this aspect should you so desire.

The Potatoes

The game gives the GM or “Hand of Fate” (why-o-why do people insist on changeing the name of the GM?) a world where an uneasy peace exists between most of the nations. In the not so distant past Jesus I should say, “Kah” led the good guys to victory in the “Endwar” over the evil god-like Fane which dominated many of the nations. Now only the Hegemony and its Fane Ruler (sort of a Ming the Merciless meets Sauron type) exist in opposition to the good guys, the Treaty Nations. However, not all the good guys want the same things or even value the same things, so they are at each others necks. Underlaying all this are the Shadekin, Rebel separatists, Evil Sorcerer cults and Mad Scientists. I have grossly oversimplified the setting but if it sounds cool, it is. You should buy the book to find out more.

The game gives player’s points to spend, on their PC. It’s pretty standard fare really, but the Paragon guys have made it uniquely theirs. It’s original but not truly innovative. It is good. Players are obliged to pick a nation and a race. Then a Player purchases a life package. The packages represent careers/life choices and do give a good feel of the world, which is a nice way to start getting into the setting. Atypical package provides you with not only your skills but also languages and other important character defining aspects as well, like the years it took to complete all that training. This is a nice illustration of the type of nuance, the Paragon Guys have built into the game and its systems.

From the National packages, life on Zir’An is tough and hard. Lots of fighting, thieving, assassinating, slaving, wheeling, and dealing. It is not all dark mind you. A Player could choose packages that are more generic and have lead a life of meaningless luxury up until the beginning of the game (which would be, no doubt, action packed and death defying).

Players also choose Advantages and Disadvantages for their PC called Valdreyr. These are “divine” gifts, important to the games background. It is explained that Valdreyr are what make Fane…Fane. Some Valdreyr take away the Stress condition from clearly stressful situations. A nice touch. Most all the Valdreyr are flavourful and interesting.

Battle Arts and Martial Arts provide further options for combat minded Player Characters. This is one of the earliest hints at some of the rough-and-tumble-action-packed focus of the game. They are mostly analogous to Feats in D&D. I can’t tell you just how cool these are when you make a PC. Its really is fun crunch.

The two types of magic in SoZ are Rune Magic (more typical fantasy magic like D&D) which uses …hu Runes to manifest arcane energy and produce results. Runes have lots of uses like say holding up flying cities and stuff. Oh and killing, lots of that and in different ways. You can put em on Tanks too. Shadow Magic, is soul related magic (you shadow is your soul. these guys and do stuff with it and to it, like enslave you. Or kill you. A common theme in SoZ). Each form of magic has its own rules. This gives a different feel to each type. Both are atmospheric. The Tzerte Viazhe (a shadow magi coven) are very cool, so are the Illistani Battle Mages. Simply the magic is really cool.

The Gravy

SoZ is not for everyone. It’s probably too similar, in some ways to Eberron, for many people. Where Eberron is more traditionally fantasy, this is not. Its more like Exalted or a "Pulp" rpg. Its not OGL D20 (a good thing, I think)so it’s a new system too. So that too can stop some. I would like to see this system again, in another product, its that good.

The setting is both the games greatest strength and its greatest weakness. If anything, getting into the setting is hard, probably too hard. Most players are going to have a hard time, getting to know the world. It’s nearly as bad as Jorune (some one please bring that game back to life! In hardcover. I’ll even live with a OGL d20 version ;) ).

I think the Paragon guys and gals need to produce a flyer which gives a nice easy intro into the world. A Sort of SoZ of Dummies. Yep the background and Zir’An is that complex. Not game fiction, that’s not what’s needed. It needs a quick overview. In fact there should be some thing like this in the game book, but their isn’t really.

SoZ may sound like a mish-mash and it is but … G’Damn it, it works. It makes for a cool game setting with all the story elements you need and them some. If you are prepared to put in the time with the background, this is a rewarding game. This one should be on your to buy list, if you have a shelve of games.

(Upon opening the core book, there is a illustration that features, what I think, is a derelict tank. I found this shocking, having brought SoZ as a fantasy game. I think I’m over it now tho’)

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