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Review of Zero
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I initially picked this book up after seeing a half-dozen pieces of art in various magazines. I expected very little more than a thin plot and minimal rules with a handful of colorplates. Well, I got the color plates right: there were 14 amazing plates scattered throughout the book.
The Game
Zero is the game of the Anti-Borg. You play this happy little biomechanical humanoid, wandering through the underground facility you call home, when suddenly your psychic connection to the collective goes away. And then, even though you want, and I mean really want to rejoin, you can't. Worse, everyone is trying to hunt down and kill the mutant freak.
On the flip side, you now have a chance to be an individual. While before you did have your own mind, it constantly had the input of a ten or twenty thousand other individuals. (Talk about a support group.) With that mental link severed you can now see the world through your own eyes and realize that life wasn't as nice as you'd expected.
Queen Zero seems to have no regard for your fellow biomechs and orders them to various kinds of death with no hesitation. You can see that the food you used to consume so happily was an incredibly bland form of kibble and your nice little dorm room is actually covered in grime and looks like a prison cell.
The Rules
These are some of the simplest rules on creation and success-tests I've ever seen. The most suprising part is how well they seem to work.
Choose a number of skills that you want to concentrate on: these are your Focus skills. The number of skills you chose is your Focus rating. For those skills you want to roll over the Focus rating on 2d6. Other skills you'll want to roll under the Focus rating.
The fewer Focus skills you have, the better you are at them and the worse you are at everything else. The more Focus skills you have, the worse you are at them and the better you are at everything else. Elegant.
Evaluation
Zero is one of the nicest self-contained games I've had the pleasure of running into. While it's initial information is a bit too thin for most folks to run with, there are now modules available. I was amazed at how familiar the world is while getting the feeling of something original. Maybe it's too much sci-fi, but it's a nice feeling.
The game does have some sticking points: mainly motivation. The fact is, your characters have none beyond survival and little chance if played properly. Most should be played as borderline schizophrenics (trying to hear voices) or in some form of shock, at least for the first few sessions. This can be a real daunting hurdle to overcome.
Then there's the environment. You're in an underground facility, surrounded by a variety of threats, and you don't have anyone to trust. This is a world where the players will have to invent pockets. Finding food and shelter may be nearly impossible for many of these types unless they begin living in the unused sections of the facility. I'm sure everyone who's played Paranoia will feel right at home, at least until they realize they've got no clones.
Zero has the potential to be a very good game, but a dark one. The rules are fast and friendly and the world is easily grasped by anyone who's ever felt alone.
Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
