Year Zero Engine
The Year Zero Engine is a mechanical system for tabletop roleplaying games. Originally introduced in post-apocalyptic survival game Mutant: Year Zero, it has gone on to become the flagship in-house game system for prolific Scandinavian TTRPG publisher Free League. It uses a dice pool system, primarily with d6s, but occasionally with d8s, d10s, and d12s. Characters typically have four attributes, each of which is associated with four skills, depending on the game and setting. They often have a class, job, or role that gives them a few benefits, as well as a selection of talents that offer special skills. The core mechanic of the Year Zero Engine, or YZE is rolling a pool of dice assembled from a player character's rating in the relevant attribute and skill, any gear helping them, and any bonuses or penalties from help or circumstances. Any die that rolls six (or higher) counts as a success. Usually, one success is enough to succeed on a given roll, though opposed rolls might cancel out successes, and some rolls may care about how many total successes are achieved. If a player is unhappy with their result, they can "push" the roll, re-rolling any dice that don't show 6 or 1. If they do, there is typically a cost for every die showing 1 in the final result, usually damage to the relevant attribute and/or stress. If the 1 came from a gear die, the gear might be damaged. Games using the Year Zero Engine often emphasize survival, resource management, and overland travel, tracking necessities like food and water. Each resource has a die assigned to it, from a d12 for an abundance, down to a d6 for a dwindling amount. Whenever the resource is used or spend, the player rolls the associated die. The resource reduces in size if a 1 or 2 is rolled, and it's completely depleted if it's a d6 and would reduce. Combat in YZE is fast and dangerous, taking place in zones rather than exact distances. Initiative is decided by drawing cards rather than rolling dice, and in some games initiative is redrawn each round. Characters can move and take one action on each turn. If a character takes enough damage in combat, they are "broken," and roll on a random table of injuries based on the type of damage sustained. These injuries range from inconveniences to dismemberment to, in rare cases, the instantly lethal. The Year Zero Engine is the game system powering many of Free League Publishing's most popular games, including ALIEN, Blade Runner, Forbidden Lands, Vaesen, The Walking Dead, Tales from the Loop, and more! It's a dynamic, versatile, adventure-focused system easily adaptable to many settings and genres.
Popular RPGs using Year Zero Engine
Alien: The Roleplaying Game
The official ALIEN tabletop roleplaying game pits a crew of space truckers, scientists marines, synthetic human androids, corporate stooges, and other explorers against the cold, harsh void and the lurking horrors that haunt it. Save your oxygen—in space, no one can hear you scream.
Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game
A neon-noir wonderland that’ll take your breath away. One way or another. An evocative world of conflicts and contrasts that dares to ask the hard questions and investigate the powers of empathy, the poisons of fear, and the burdens of being human during inhumane times. An iconic and unforgiving playground of endless possibilities that picks you up, slaps you in the face, and tells you to wake up. Time to live. Or time to die. Blade Runner The Roleplaying Game propels you into the streets of Los Angeles as Blade Runners with unique specialties, personalities – and memories. The game pushes the boundaries of investigative gameplay in tabletop RPGs, giving you a range of tools to solve an array of cases far beyond retiring Replicants. Beyond the core casework, the RPG showcases the key themes of Blade Runner – sci-fi action, corporate intrigue, existential character drama, and moral conflict. It challenges you to question your friends, empathize with your enemies, and explore the poisons and perseverance of hope and humanity during inhumane times.
Forbidden Lands
Forbidden Lands is a new take on classic fantasy roleplaying. In this sandbox survival roleplaying game, you’re not heroes sent on missions dictated by others – instead, you are raiders and rogues bent on making your own mark on a cursed world. You will discover lost tombs, fight terrible monsters, wander the wild lands, and if you live long enough, build your own stronghold to defend.
Coriolis – The Third Horizon
Coriolis – The Third Horizon is a science fiction role playing game set in a remote cluster of star systems called The Third Horizon. It is a place ravaged by conflicts and war, but also home to proud civilizations, both new and old. Here, the so called First Come colonists of old worship the Icons, while the newly arrived Zenithians pursue an aggressive imperialistic agenda through trade and military power.
Mutant: Year Zero
Mutant: Year Zero takes you to the world after the great Apocalypse. Humanity’s proud civilization has fallen. The cities are dead wastelands, winds sweeping along empty streets turned into graveyards. But life remains. Among the ruins, the People live. You are the heirs of humanity – but not quite human anymore. Your bodies and minds are capable of superhuman feats. You are mutants.
Tales From the Loop
Roleplaying in the ’80s That Never Was: In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator. The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop. In this roleplaying game, you play teenagers in the late 1980s, solving Mysteries connected to the Loop. Choose between character Types such as the Bookworm, the Troublemaker, the Popular Kid and the Weirdo. Everyday Life is full of nagging parents, never-ending homework and classmates bullying and being bullied. Explore the secrets of the Loop in two main game settings – one based on the Swedish Mälaren Islands, the other on Boulder City, Nevada. The Mysteries let the characters encounter the strange machines and weird creatures that have come to haunt the countryside after the Loop was built. The kids get to escape their everyday problems and be part of something meaningful and magical – but also dangerous.
Vaesen
In dark forests, beyond the mountains, by black lakes in hidden groves. At your doorstep. In the shadows, something stirs. Strange beings. Twisted creatures, lurking at the edge of vision. Watching. Waiting. Unseen by most, but not by you. You see them for what they really are. Vaesen. Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it.
Frequently asked questions about Year Zero Engine
Blog links about Year Zero Engine
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