Tzer0 Games

TZER0 Core is a versatile tabletop role-playing engine featuring… Modular Fundamentals: Play whatever fiction you choose using only the rules as written, or with one or two home-brewed innovations. Constraints and Edge make important in-game facts mechanically relevant. Apply rules when they make sense; never otherwise. Fiction-Forward Characters: No classes, no levels. Create the character you imagine in minutes with their own unique Constraints and Exceptions. Determine their Competence for Tests by pairing whichever Trait and Skill Set suit your approach to the task at hand. Expend Edge to trade off long-term gains for immediate advantages. Tweak and improve character stats and other features organically whenever it makes sense. Streamlined Action: Play with two off-the-shelf six-sided dice. Only roll to find out what happens when the outcome is dramatically significant; never otherwise. To keep the story moving, Net Effect measures margin of success or failure instead of imposing binary pass-fail results. Damage and other quantitative effects flow directly from Net Effect without additional dice rolls. Tactical Crunch: Threat mechanics make combat perilous and survival without the comforts of home challenging. Your character’s potential to roll with the punches and to deal damage in turn, both measured by Net Effect, stems from their Competence relative to the challenges they face. Protean Magic: No more Vancian “fire and forget” spells with static, predictable effects. Magic, like any other array of character Competences, requires and rewards player imagination. The quality and magnitude of supernatural phenomena vary with Net Effect. Turn poor or middling outcomes into superior ones by pushing your character to the limits of their mind, body, and spirit.