The Legacy of Zorro

The Legacy of Zorro Introductory Adventure Game
By Mark Arsenault
Gold Rush Games 2001

Availability is probably only through Ebay or on the "make it go away shelf" in your local gaming store.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Legacy of Zorro Introductory Adventure Game (LoZ, hereafter), like the Masters of the Universe game I reviewed a couple of weeks back, was intended as the first book in a line of RPG books.  

The Zorro campaign is set in 1820, in California.  Characters are cohorts of the famous Zorro.  Zorro cannot be everywhere at once so he recruits the player characters to help him in opposing the corrupt governor, comandante, and alcalde in Pueblo Los Angeles.

After the traditional "what is a rpg", websites, and all that jazz, the LoZ book gives some basic information on California in the early 19th century.  You find here forms of address for high status individuals, landowners, and rules for who can carry a gun or a sword.

Following the basic campaign information on the world of Zorro, there are 6 pages of rules, which constitutes the entirety of the rules!  This is amazing.  All games should strive for such concise rules.  The rules are based on Fuzion, which I might review at some point.  

I should note that there are no character creation rules.  Like the MotU game, these rules would have been included in a subsequent release.

Character abilities are ranked from 2 to 6, and include Mental, Physical, Action, and Movement.  Characters have special attributes, two of which make obvious sense - Hits and Defense.  There are a few other abilities that are specific to this game.  The first is Faith, which can be used so gain a bonus on dice rolls which are peaceful or beneficial to others.  The second is Pride, which the player can use to gain a bonus on dice rolls which are selfish or violent.  Both Faith and Pride can be used to reduce damage to the character in combat.  The last special attribute is called Z Points.  By spending a Z Point a character can accomplish extremely heroic feats.  Swinging from a chandelier and flipping into a triple lindy through the glass window, and landing in the saddle of your horse would be a good example.

The list of skills is very broad and very brief - which is perfect for a skill-based game.  Actually, the skill list in LoZ is about perfect.  The skills are:  Athletics, Combat, Education, Reasoning, Social, and Shady (thief skills fall in this category).  Skills are ranked from 1 to 7.  

To succeed in a task, a character will roll 3d6 and add a skill score and ability score to this.  The total of these three numbers must meet, or exceed a difficulty number.  Easy tasks require a 10, average 14, hard 18, etc.  A dice roll of 18 is a critical success while a roll of 3 is a critical failure.

Combat follows this same principle, but includes pinning opponents, breaking pins, blocking, retreating, and whatnot.

An example of play follows, along with the included characters.  The character sheets are simple and have a nice layout, along with a picture of the character.  The characters which can be played are Miguel Galvez, who is a teniente (lieutenant) in the Spanish army, Esperanza Salazar, the daughter of a wealthy land owner, Luis Valasco, a commoner thief, and Father Sebastio Miro, a compassionate priest.  Each character has a special talent that can be used during a game - Esperenza has a knack with horses and Father Sebastio can heal characters by spending Faith, as examples.

The last page of the rules portion of the game is a one-page summary of the rules.  

Following this, the LoZ book includes a sample scenario.  The scenario is 7 pages long and is followed by a 2-page spread of the fort (cuartel, in the lingo).  The scenario has the characters rescuing Zorro.  The scenario is decent but nothing extraordinary.  It functions as a good introduction to get the players into the setting.

So, is this game good?  Yes, it is good for what it is - an introduction.  A follow up book, The Legacy Continues, promised to have character creation rules.  I don't know if this book every came out.  The Fuzion rules are good enough and this book whittles them down to their base, which is a plus.

⇒ Grit:  ★★★★☆  This game is an introductory game and does not pretend otherwise.  The rules are clear, concise, and work for the genre.  I love the short skill list, the broad ability scores, and the lack of over-complicated rules.  I would rate this 5 stars if there were actual character creation rules.  I don't knock it being an introductory but the players won't get much use out of this game after a few sessions.

⇒ Vigor:  ★☆☆☆☆ Players will get very little from a Zorro campaign using just this book.  The base information for a California campaign is good, and the introductory adventure serves to get the players into the genre, but there is next to nothing here to keep the campaign moving along.  Without any rules for character advancement or character creation, players will probably get bored with playing these characters.

⇒ Grace:  ★★★★★  This book looks really good.  The cover is really cool and I like it a lot.  The character sheets are lovely and I really enjoy having examples for nearly all of the rules - remember that the entire rules section is only 6 pages!  I have no complaints with any of the layout choices.  The map of the fort is really well done, too.  The font is readable and not too small.  This short book of rules is nearly perfect when it comes to the Grace category.