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Secret of Zir'an v.2

Hello all,

A certain subject has been dominating my thoughts for the last few months and that subject is a second edition of The Secret of Zir'an.

Looking back at the world and the Finesse system, it came out of an evolutionary process spread across more than ten years and hundreds of hours of play, creating a system and world that felt cohesive and internally consistent, but not perfect by any stretch.

I'd like to go back and take a new look at the world and system; expanding upon some ideas and refining others. An overhaul of the Finesse system is the biggest nut to crack but we've some clear areas we'd like to address and ideas on how to proceed.

I'd like to present some areas we're looking at for improvement and get some feedback on what you feel regarding the changes we propose and possible areas for improvement that you've noted. Perhaps even some houserule fixes you've created yourselves. The major areas we'd like to touch upon for improvement are:

• Streamlining character creation: I want to unify the skill packages, make them a set cost in factors of five, so 5, 10, 15, and 20 point packages. Additionally, I'd like to have each package have a set number of skills with each package giving bonus freebie points that can be spent on any skills of their choice.

• Expand on Battle Arts and Martial Arts: I'd like to find a way to bring these two systems together. I'd like to give non-magic characters their own suite of crowd pleasing abilities. Right now I feel the game is too heavily skewed in favor of magic, both rune and shadow.

• More combat finesse effects: This could be linked to the revision mentioned above, but I'd like to introduce something along the lines of big combat combos: combat finesse effects that the player can build up over several rounds of combat. For instance, a player could have a big fifteen point combo. One round of combat he attacks and scores six successes, he uses two on the current attack, and saves the other 4 towards building up to that big combo.

• Introduce a system that backs up the idea of the characters being chosen by Fate. This would be something like action points, but with a broader use and definition. They'd be powers, but big whammy powers that the players could use, but use sparingly.

• Social combat. I'd like to introduce a sort of three-tiered system of ability and power options based on the three Aptitudes: Personal = Combat, Knowledge = Magic, Social = well, Social. These could lead to abilities such as instilling fear, doubt, sorrow, joy, etc.

• Streamlining our attributes. So far we've got four attributes and too many derived attributes. I think we need to find a way to eliminate entirely the idea of derived stats and come up with a different solution. This includes how we figure Vitality and Lethal Wounds.

This is just a start of some of the refinements we're considering. More will likely come as this process goes on.

Chris.

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More enlightening and useful subjects to come!

Welcome to CAUTION TO THE WIND!

Greetings!
If you are a seasoned Adventurer (or perhaps a mere hopeful wondering if the Goddess of Fate Lyiss has Chosen you for great future endeavors), welcome to this first telerunic edition of the CAUTION TO THE WIND newsletter!

Here you will find postings of note to the enthusiast of The Secret of Zir'An roleplaying game. We, the game creators, plan to present selections from our vast collection of material that has never before seen the light of day - a truly Hrondic archive of Secrets that any self respecting would-be Adventurer would hock their left boot to know.



The Secret of Zir'An game consists of three books:

• The Secret of Zir'An Core Gamebook
• The Secret of Zir'An Hand of Fate Book
• The Secret of Zir'An Game Screen

All available now at your fine local retailer of tabletop game-related merchandise.

We look forward to hearing from you, so feel free to comment and let us know what you would like to see.

Evuxia!
Marty