Zorro the roleplaying game by Gallant Knight Games Currently available for $19.99 on Drivethrurpg.com and the Gallant Knight Website

The book starts with the credits and content pages. It is on the credits page, if you didn't already know, that you see that the game system used in Zorro is the second edition of the D6 System. This system is what powered the original Star Wars game published by West End Games back in the day and is well regarded as a good roleplay system and Gallant Knights are licenced to produce a second edition of it for this Zorro RPG.

After the contents page, the prologue details the history of Zorro through film, TV, comics and even toys. We should be too old to remember Douglas Fairbanks as Zorro unless you caught it as a repeat For me, it must have been a repeat of the TV show from the 50's, I certainly have no recollection of reading the comics. If somehow you don't know the story of Zorro, it is set in the early days of California. In public he is a respectable noble but using a secret identity of Zorro, he stands up for the poor and fight against the injustice of the tyrannical rulers. As mentioned in the prologue, Zorro was inspiration for Batman.

The introduction starts on page 10 with the obligatory “what is a roleplaying game” section followed by what you need to play and a brief primer of playing the game. This covers the basics of the dice system. When you roll a number of D6's based on your skill or attribute, one D6 needs to be of a different colour. It is called the Wild Die. If it rolls a 6 you have advantage, rolls a 1 you have a complication. There will be the opportunity to gain hero points which can be spent on re-rolls of failed test, double their die code (the result of their dice roll) or avoid being stunned in combat. When you roll, there will be a target number that you need to achieve.

Next up is Attribute and Skills. There are five attributes and they each have four skills associated with them specific to that attribute. The attributes are Agility, Brawn, Knowledge, Perception and Charm. For example these are the skills associated with Agility – Acrobatics, Markmanship, Melee and Sleight of Hand. It is interesting to note Melee is under Agility not Brawn but this reflects there will be dueling, it is light swords in this game such as rapiers and sabres, Brawn affects the damage inflicted.

Chapter 2 is character creation. Two methods are provided, use a template and add 7d of skills or build the character from scratch which is spreading 12d across the five attributes and then 7d into skills. An attribute is a min of 1 ,max of 4 and each skill can't be more than 2. The templates are in Chapter 7and 15 are provided. Using a template can obviously get you up and running quicker but as long as you have a character concept in mind, building from scratch isn't going to be a long process. Every character starts with 1 hero point and you also have to create two defense numbers Dodge and Parry. Starting equipment is whatever suits the background though GM has final say.

Chapter 3 is Playing the Game. This is the core game mechanics. Test are either opposed roll (both roll and highest wins or as mentioned earlier against a target number. If you are making a test using an attribute, you roll a number of D6 equal to your attribute value. If the test is using one of your skills, the number of dice you roll is the the attribute value and the skill value. Don't forget one D6 will be the wild Die.You can gain or loss dice dependant on certain situations. A sidebar describes how to use dice modifiers if you want (present in 1st ed D6 games).

We then move onto Combat. A round is 5 seconds approx. The GM describes the scene, the place the characters are in and their opponents. Players then say what they are going to do, then the GM says what the NPC's are doing and then the actions are played out. Unlike a lot of system initiative is only used when the actions of participants would impact on someone else it's a roll off highest wins. Player characters win ties with NPCs, all other ties are rerolls.

To attack someone you roll your skill (melee or markmanship) against their defense number (parry or dodge respectively). If you hit, you make a damage roll and the character being hit makes a Brawn roll. If Brawn roll is higher, they are stunned for a round but if the damage roll is greater they are wounded, they go prone and miss the rest of the turn. A second wound incapacitates them and they have 1D penalty whilst wounded. If damage roll is higher and the Brawn roll, has a result of 1 on the Wild Die (a complication), they are mortally wounded, out of the combat and will die without medical attention. There are also some combat actions that can be used in encourage a swashbuckling style of combat to reflect the World of Zorro.

The chapter is rounded out a more detailed breakdown of skills and attributes, examples of difficulty numbers. Each skill gets a write up with examples of it's usage

Chapter 4 Gamesmaster You get an introduction on what you do as a GM. This is all very solid advice and there is also a box with 10 useful tips with Gming. A seasoned GM will already know this but it is handy as a refresher and for more inexperienced GM's. There is advice on getting the tone right, the Zorro spirit!

Character Advancement is interesting. You either spend hero points or fulfill arcs. The ratio for hero points 3 x new skill rating and 5 x new attribute rating. That will get expensive as your stats improve and I think hero points will be spent avoiding being stunned in combat a fair bit of the time. Arcs are narrative steps that your character must achieve. The number of steps in an arc is equal to the new value of the skill and they have to be related to the skill in question. I really like the idea of improving via a narrative arc rather than spending experience points that other systems use, it is more meaningful.

Continuing we have rules for chases and secret identities. Of course secret identities are very Zorro and so the players have them. They will have their public face, that isn't a threat to the corrupt rulers, and their masked hero, member of Zorro's Legion who hopefully is. Each time a player acts as their secret identity, the public face, they can gain hero points, this is reinforcing their identity. Acting more boldly whilst acting as your public face raises suspicion and potentially create a point of suspicion. Each time a point of suspicion is generated, a test is made to see if you become exposed. If exposed, do you try to clear your name or do you go public! Very, very cool.

The chapter is rounded out discussing hideouts, where they are located and what facilities they have. There is the option to have additional safe houses as well, probably advisable if the main hideout is well out of town. There are options like stables, a dock, false fronts etc. The player could also decent to have a group hideout but care would have to be taken to avoid the higher chance of detection.

Chapter 5 is Equipment Quite a short chapter. It is noted that ammo isn't listed. The intent is for the game to be cinematic so there isn't an exhaustive lists of things. Just concentrating on being the heroes of the day is what the game is about unless there is a story or narrative reason when money and items become important

Chapter 6 is the Bestiary A selection of the various animals you could encounter in Alta California. You are encouraged to use these entries as the basis to have a wider choice of animals. It is worth noting that the stats for Zorro's horse Tornado are here.

Chapter 7 Quickstart Characters 15 Character Choices for you to select from if you don't wish to create your character from scratch. There is a good variety here from lowly thief to a member of the family of a minor Don. As a Military Maestro you could be pretending to be trying to capture Zorro, secretly aiding him or you are a member of the clergy, helping the people when you can.

Chapter 8 Enemy Combatants We have stats for the different types of soldiers, a wide range of Bandidos ranging from street tough and cutpurses to horse thieves and even pirates. Again you are encouraged to tweak the stats after all, not everybody is the same, you may have a burly guard up his intimidation, an elderly or slightly injured soldier might lose 1d from their Agility.

Chapter 9 The World of Zorro It starts with an Adventure Seed and I will discuss them later. This chapter starts talking about Zorro/Don Diego and the stand he take against those who are oppressing the poor. He makes the decision, he cannot fix this within the corrupt system that is in place, thus Zorro operates outside the law to fight for justice. A specific distintion is made, the goal is to protect the disenfranchised and downtrodden not punish the oppressors. We then move to idea of Zorro as a symbol of the fight against oppression and this introduces Zorro's Legion, who the pc's are part of. PC's can be part of the same family or people who have banded togther. What unites them is that they all fight for justice and to protect the oppressed.

Next up is Zorro's Alta California detailing the Spaniard settlement of the area between San Diego and San Francisco. All the Spanish settlements are linked together by the El Camino Real. Most numerous are the missions with over 20 of them and they are spaced approx 30 miles apart and are always somewhat remote but always near the El Camino Real. These are the cornerstone of the Spanish and Catholic Church's attempt to covert the indigenous population. Also described is the hierarchy of Spanish Rule and the structure of local governance including a list of Governors from 1769 to 1822. The military are stationed in 4 fortresses (Presidios) and there is a list of what Presidios protect which missions. So far it has pretty much all about the invader so it is right that the book moves onto the indigenous population including examples of them trying to resist the invader. Local horses get a write up as well and closing the chapter is information regarding available food

Chapter 10 Adventures in Alta California This chapter is focused on the Missions and Presidios in Alta California. They are varied in size and have been constructed at different times. Local information to the individual Missions is also given. 11 Missions are detailed and several adventure seeds are also in this chapter. This chapter does illustrate how badly the indigenous people were treated.

Chapter 11 Personajes Dramáticos In this list of people there are the good and the bad with some in between. I think it is kind of fitting that it starts with Zorro's father and ends with Zorro. Also among the good guys, Don Ignacio Torres, friend of Don De La Vega, Sénorita Lolito Pulido betrothed of Don Diego, Bernado, Zorro's most trusted companion, La Pínzon and Padre Felipe. The two main bad guys are Governor Luis Quintero, who got Don De La Vega removed from office and took his place and Captain Esteban Pasquale who firstly has dangerous ambitions and secondly suspects that Don Diego is involved with Zorro in some capacity. I kind of feel sorry for Sgt. Demetrio Lopez Garcia. Happily married with kids, his life was on easy street … until Zorro came along and now that Captain Esteban is determined to catch him, work is stressful again. Sgt Demetrio hates Zorro because of this but is friends with Don Diego. Chapter 12 Adventures Elsewhere This chapter details New Spain. Mexico City is it's administrative heart and ranges from parts of California and Texas, down into Panama and even into the Pacific ocean encompassing the Phillippines. It history is all too typical of conquerors and how they treat the conquered indigenous people. Exploitation for profit is the order of the day, taverns selling the local alcoholic beverage Pulque. Missions are again present. A caste system is also in place which favours those with Spanish blood who dominate the upper classes. The chapter also has some adventure seeds.

Adventure Seeds. Chapters 9 through 12 all contain them and they each have several episodes, a few as many as 5. They are springboards for the GM imagination and they require additional work by the GM to be fully fledged adventures. They are nicely varied and some lead into others (or can do) so there can be a continuing narrative.

Chapter 13 Introductory Adventure This is a solo adventure where you play the role of Zorro himself. It is designed to teach you the mechanics of D6 2nd edition. You have opportunity to be Don Diego and Zorro and of course an opportunity to thwart the plans of the bad guys

Chapter 14 The Black Widow This is an introductory adventure for a GM and players. A npc member of Zorro's Legion called Gazpar is accused of murder and he doesn't have an alibi. He definitely didn't do it as he was on a mission for the Legion with the players last night but of course cannot admit to that. It is up to the players to clear his name and find the real culprit. The first step is information gathering and relevant clues are highlighted in the text to assist the GM. There is no set order of locations for the players to visit but when they have concluded their investigations the adventure progresses including getting Gazpar out of jail and hopefully exposing and capturing the true culprit without being caught by the authorities.

Overall thoughts I think it is a great game. The game mechanics are light and fit a heroic setting such as Zorro. This game is not meant to be gritty realism and doesn't try to be. It is a game for sword fights, daring deeds and epic escapes. The players needs to be played with the right mindset to get the best out of it. By that I mean, as out lined in Chapter 9, the players fight for justice, standing for the disenfranchised, not punishing their oppressors. This game can proudly stand beside other heroic games, Star Wars, John Carter, Flash Gordon. I will acquire a print copy when they become available. Also I strongly recommend joining the Gallant Knight Games discord. It is helpful for queries and some are some great maps available. So don your cap and mask and ride for justice!

Regards the pdf, it is clearly layed out, two columns of text per page. Art is classic art of Zorro provided by Zorro Productions which for want of a better way of putting it, add flavour to the book. I would hope a later version of the pdf would be indexed and hyperlinked. My rating would be 4 and a half if I could do so, docking it for lack of index and in this age of sumptious art in rulebooks, the book is pretty but there are some gorgeous books out there

Fair disclosure, I backed this game at PDF level on Kickstarter

Available in print and pdf from the Modiphius website and pdf from the Drivethrurpg website. This is of course the last quadrant of the Star Trek universe and within the pages of this book are the Borg. So I may as well say it straight off, you want Borg in your Star Trek Adventures game? Buy this book.

But onwards with the review. The PDF has 144 pages, that includes covers and end papers. You also get two versions, the normal version and then printer friendly one with a white background. Chapter 1 starts on page 3 and the last page of the index is 135. The layout is the standard two column of text per page with some inserts from various characters. Art is strong and there are many half page pieces within the book

The book is split into five chapters, Introduction, The Delta Quandrant, Species of the Delta Quadrant, Starships of the Delta Quadrant and Encounters and Adversaries which is consistent with the other books in the series.

Chapter 1 - Introduction It opens with a quote from Captain Janeway from the first episode where says she doesn't accept 75 years to get back to the Federation. The chapter is short, a mere 5 pages, giving a quick synopsis of the following 4 chapters and also a section with advice regarding the books usage in a campaign. It is worth noting the default timeline has been advanced again to 2379, four years after the end of the Dominion War (the Gamma Quadrant book moved it forward to 2374). There is advice for running it in the different eras.

Chapter 2 - The Delta Quadrant By far the biggest chapter in the book at nearly 50 pages, again the chapter start with a briefing from Captain Janeway which frames the new timeline, ultimately with the instruction to boldly explore. We then have four sub sections which are written from the point of view of Starfleet. The first is a write up of the species in the Delta Quadrant, listed in alphabetical order with the structure of firstly a summation of encounters with them, their technology and weapons. Secondly a description of their physiology and lastly Starfleet's thoughts on them, often with a eye to future relationships with them.

We have 14 species discussed. Delta Quadrant is not the friendliest place, quite of a few of them attacked first, being quite aggressive. One example is Species 8472 who even the Borg are afraid of. In some cases, things have improved slightly and there is hope for future co-operation. Of course some are likely to be good potential allies such as the Talaxians. Note the Borg are not in this section, they get their own, Closing out this section is Stellar and Spatial Phenomena. Oh, you have the normal weird stuff - temporal distortions, quantum singularities but also get some news ones Graviton Ellipses and the frankly very scary Chaotic Space are but two. Certainly life could be very interesting in the Delta Quadrant.

The second second section in chapter 2 is Worlds of the Delta Quadrant. As it says in it's introduction, we are talking about a quarter of the known galaxy and Delta Quadrant contains thousands of planets so this section gives a snapshot of a tiny amount of that, 20 to be precise. Where relevant the worlds are linked to the species involved. They are all quite varied. Of course the gamesmaster has the scope to create any amount of worlds that they want. If their players have watched every episode, it will still be possible to have something fresh for them.

Now it time for the Borg

A chilling site whenever one of their cubes appear, the Borg are, as the book says the single greatest threat the Federation has ever encountered. Most people recognise the phrase "Resistance is futile" demonstrating they have become one of the classic Sci-Fi bogeymen. In this section we get a thorough description of the Borg, how they are many species, altered cybernetically when they are assimilated. They are one conciousness, connected together throughout space via powerful subspace transceiver arrays on their ships. This gives them vast computational power and the communication between the Collective, as this conciousness is known, is very fast. When they assimilate new technology, it is almost instantly incorporated into other Borg.

We learn there is a Borg Queen but there is much conjecture of what this entity actually is in terms of the Collective. There is discussion on how to deal with the Borg. I suspect this part of the reason the timeline has been advanced as Capt Janeway and USS Voyager have had some success against them and Starfleet have started to develop countermeasures against assimilation.

Then there is their ships. The classic assimilation cube, the tactical cube and the Borg Sphere which is their scout ship. All are frightening and the other two, in most cases are more dangerous than the assimilation cube. The Star Trek Adventures corebook has the stats for the assimilation cube, the others have their stats in Chapter 4. The report describing the battle of Wolf 359, where in 4 minutes the Starfleet vessels were reduced from 40 to 16 by one cube, demonstrates how dangerous Borg cubes are.

The section then describes the Borg assimilation process and the drones that are created by it. It is worth noting that drones can be disconnected. They will seek other drones to re-establish a connection to the collective. If disconnect for a week or two they can potentially become liberated, Seven of Nine being an obvious example if you have watched Voyager.

Rounding off this section is Borg locations which rather than a list of planets it is how the Borg interact with planets and asteroids, as well as Borg structures in space called Unicomplexes. These dwarf Borg cubes in size. They are the Borg command and control stations. They are always heavily protected by Borg ships.

Chapter 3 - Species of the Delta Quadrant This chapter has 12 new species available for character lifepaths. At the start of each entry it says what era of play they are suitable for but the general advice is from Next generation onwards. It goes without saying these new lifepaths are only usable the GM permission. Some will be instantly familiar to fans of Voyager, Liberated Borg (Seven of Nine), Ocampa (Kes) and Talaxian (Neelix) as they have been, at some point, members of the Voyager crew. Each entry has 3 attribute adjustments, a trait and a list of their talents followed examples of names. Two of them have telepathic abilities, the Mari and Ocampa, though it is dormant with the Ocampa. Rounding out the chapter is Species Both Familiar and Strange - Disconnected Borg Drones, Silverbloods, Kobali and the last lifepath the Zahl. I guess it was to do with page layout and page count, I think it would make more sense to have the Zahl entry first.

Chapter 4 - Starships of the Delta Quadrant This starts with the Borg ships. As already mentioned the Assimilation Cube is in the corebook. Listed here is the Borg Octahedron which is a command and control ship for the Borg Queen, the Borg Probe ship which I believe is the Borg Sphere scout ship, the Borg Tactical Cube, which is quite frankly lethal compared to a typical Starfleet ship and the Borg Torus which is their contruction/transportation ship. There is also a section on Borg technology, including what they do when they assimilate starships (examples from the TV shows are listed).

The other ships of the Delta Quandrant have one entry from Starfleet, the Delta Flyer that the crew of USS Voyager designed. The Talaxians have a freighter, the Kazon/Trabe have raiders and carriers (the Kazon call them Predators). These ships were originally only Trabe but after the Kazon rebelled against they captured hundreds of ships. The Hirogen have two as do the Krenim including a timeship! Much potential for craziness there. A patrol ship and warship are the entries for the Lokirrim and they are armed with Photonic Disruptors as they are at war with holographic "terrorists". This can obviously affect holodecks and EMH programs on Federation starships. Filling out the chapter are ships from Species 8472, the Vidiian and the Voth. The Species 8472 ship is unique in two ways. Firstly it is a bioship and secondly it's weapon is capable of bypassing defense systems of the Borg ships.

Chapter 5 - Encounters and Adversaries This chapter is split into 2 sections, non Borg and then Borg specific. In the first section there are 6 encounter seeds including trying to escape the clutches of the Overlookers, a very strange situation on a Demon planet, straight up kidnapping and a couple that involve the crew potentially getting caught between two species. The adversaries are 30 potential NPC's that came be encountered. They are drawn from the species prevalent in the Delta Quadrant. They are categorised as either Minor, Notable or Major NPC. Most, but not all, species have at least 2 entries and they are generic like Haakonian Scientist or Hirogen Hunter. There are 3 named characters, they are all major characters. Strange being and deadly space has 3 entries, the Maw of Bliss, Photonic Lifeforms and Isomorph which highlight the strangeness of Delta Quadrant. This section also discusses running a campaign in the Delta Quandrant.

In the Borg section there are 7 encounters. The first Crossing the Hollow is a tricky journey across a sector of space due to various anomalies, one of which is a Borg transwarp conduit. The second Evacuation is about helping a planet's population get offworld - The Borg are coming! Another couple of seeds deal with Borg technology incl the ship being infected by it. Also discussed is campaign based around the Borg, the real potential for npc crew of the players starship to be assimilated.The encounter seeds continue with relevant Borg and Federation NPC's included. The Borg Queen gets a full page to herself and there is two pages on defeating the Borg Collective. After this is the index and the end of the book with two pages of adverts and the endpapers.

Overall, a very strong book. It contains the big bad of the later eras of Star Trek and closes out the known universe. The encounter seeds are just that, seeds that will require fleshing out by the gamesmaster. The Borg is this book are upgraded from those that are in the corebook especially regarding the assimilation process. Space itself has more anomalies than in the other quadrants. The PDF is well hyperlinked and easy to navigate. the book follow the same structure as the other Quadrant book I have seen so I presume it is the standard format of them all. As I said at the start, if you want Borg buy this and realistically if you plan to venture to the Delta Quadrant you are going to want this book. from the point of view of the players the Delta Quadrant is ripe for exploration with plenty of dangers that could be encountered though i wouldn't advise going toe to toe with the Borg. Fair disclosure Modiphius provided the pdf this review is based on

This is a cracking book. I purchased POD and PDF. The print version was heavyweight. Vibrent colours on the page. The PDF is properly bookmarked and you get PDF's of the character sheet. Where it works for me is the setting and the premise and what I mean by that is this

Setting Detroit (and no I am not from there). You get a fairly detailed history of Detroit (40 pages) with just a little weirdness spinkled on it. Some of this weirdness is the author's creation, some is based on local Detroit legend. It gives a meaty background and physical outline of the city.

Premise The cops of Corktown. How Corktown became the hub for the paranormal force. it is just a really cool theme. Having to do it and keep it under wraps is neat, it's the unsung heroes idea. You get the feel of them almost having their backs against the wall

A decent who's who including the paranormal beasties. I would have like a plot point campaign but you do get several adventures and an adventure generator.

A great non-Cthulhu horror setting, you get a solid backstory. Also if you buy the Player's Guide which is the first five chapters of the book, you are allowed to distribute up to 5 copies to your players which is a nice touch. I hope to see more contact for this

A very affordable RPG. A very good implentation of the Openquest system which BRP varient ie. D100 percentile system. Has a middle-earth feel to it and you could definitely run such a campaign using these rules. Recommended

The opening adventure from Goodman Games in their Age of Cthulhu line. A very solid release. I like the artwork, there are decent maps. Player Handouts are provided at the back of the book along with pre-gen characters. The adventure is good without blowing me away.

I have several of the adventures in the Age of Cthulhu line, I haven't been disappointed yet

Yes this is a reformatting of the game originally released in paperback by Corgi Books way back in the day. This system is fairly simple. What I love about this game is it's tone. I think another reviewer used the expression of "dark folklore" which is apt. It is a setting where there is a lot of superstition and fear of the unknown. Good set of monsters (you get more with the Bestiary). If you are looking for a lowish magic setting rules lite system, you could a lot worse than Dragon Warriors

Great to have these Gazetteer's available. They are all of good quality regards the writing. The rating would be 5 if it wasn't for the scan quality but the price is excellent<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Depth of background<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Quality of the scan is poor. Readable but not sharp<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>