Forum

On p58 - Initiative, it is now stated that you draw new cards at the beginning of each round.
In the section about swapping initiative it states that the initiative swap remains in the next turn. This seems to contradict the 'draw each round' rule or makes this sentence actually meaningless

Page 18 - creating your character box. Still mentions 'equipement' where on other places this has been replaced by 'gear'

Question: In the skill descriptions (Bonus Effect lists p44+) , one option when attacking is to use a success to swap initiative card. Is this still a valid choice now when you are using the await rule instead of the old initiative swap rule? You can't in Blade Runner for example (which also use the await rule).

edit: Tomas said that, yes those bonus effects should be removed, they where part of the old init swap system.

Some erratas regarding the upgrades. I have not listed upgrades that clearly have been rewritten like the cellar vault. I assume the Swedish rulebook will be updated as well.

• The Swedish rulebook lists resources 5 or weapons corridor as a prerequisite, the English lists resources 5 and a weapon corridor. I guess the Swedish variant is the correct one.

• The Swedish rulebook states that the botanical garden heals one mental condition. This makes the butterfly upgrade worthwhile (it increases this to two conditions). The English wrongly say that the botanical garden heals two mental conditions, which makes the butterfly upgrade useless.

• The Swedish rulebook states that a local tavern gives you +1 on the physical recovery roll while the English say +2. This should probably be +1 (the mental version of this gives +1).

Thanks!

Page 18 - creating your character box. Still mentions 'equipement' where on other places this has been replaced by 'gear'

There are a number of other places where 'equipment' is also mentioned. Most of them seem to refer to a more story-based term 'equipment' (such as on page 181 during preparations), but some feel like they might be referring to 'gear'. Those include:

Page 37:

We also describe how the test can be
made easier or more difficult by the circumstances
at hand, such as you being hurt or using your talents,
Advantage, or equipment.

Page 75, in the paragraph introducing Preparatory Gear:

Items have a cost level from 1 to 5 that indicates how
easy it is to acquire. Equipment is mostly obtained...

Here are my findings after going through the book. Some are suggestions or questions. Seeing what has already been written about initiative, I assume some changes are still coming for that. So feel free to ignore my items on that topic.
• p20 – Attributes: comma before ‘which’ on the third line
• p21 – Resources: the “resources” in italics is written with a capital, while for all other sections the italicized terms are not. (this is maintained throughout the section, so there might be a specific reason to specifically capitalize ‘resources’?)
• p33 – Servant: comma before ‘which’ on the third line (not sure whether comma after ‘year’ is needed in the same sentence)
• p54 – Dedicated: typo “a mental Conditions”
• p57 – Intro text: typo “woodd” wife
• p58 – Initiative: at the start of the section, it states that you draw a card at the beginning of each round, at the end of the section it states that initiative order is kept between rounds. This is contradictory. I believe the inclusion to draw cards each round is an error? Otherwise, it would also make the initiative-swapping options of several skills a lot less useful.
• p58 – Initiative: first sentence mentiones cards “included in this boxed set”. Since not everyone will have a boxed set, it seems odd to write this as such.
• p58 – Swapping initiative: the rules now explicitly state that you cannot swap initiative with someone who already had their turn. Does this also apply when using an extra success of a skill test to exchange initiative? If not (which I assume) it might be helpful to clearly indicate this somewhere.
• p70 – Fire: typo in last sentence: “automatiically”
• p77 – Melee weapons: for items that give no bonus, I would rather have the ‘-‘ notation instead of ‘±0’
• p88 – Gear in the Headquarters: it is correct that you no longer keep one item in addition to your basic personal gear?
• p93 – Journalist: prerequisite should be Writer instead of Author?
• p130 – Fairy: Last sentence of first paragraph, comma before ‘which’
• p141 – 2nd conflict: “fishermen” instead of “fisherman”
• p142 – Myling: “it was” instead of “it were”
• p153 – Combat: “which causing” should be “which causes”, or “which” should be removed
• p164 – Conditions: typo in ‘badly injured’ description “form”
• p171 – Intro text: typo “woodden” (since this is the second type on wood, I’m wondering whether this is deliberate)
• p173 – Conflicts: in the bullet list of examples, the third entry has no period at the end
• p198/p201: “flyer” is more commonly used instead of “flier”
• p199 – Last bullet of ‘clues’: “Cut-out paper figures are held up to a source of light which…” comma before ‘which’
• p201 – Arrival: In sentence “Olaus explains that he visited the inn…”, there should not be a possessive apostrophe for “player characters”
• p205 – Olaus Klint: comma before ‘and’ in “Hilma and Katja”
• p211 – Aftermatch: in last sentence, comma between “Broken” and “make”
• p223 – Event 6: Sentence “You created a stage name and become…” should be “became”

Firstly, there's a lot to like with the revised book.

p40. Alternative Rule. I see the desire for alternative rules to simplify the game for some tables, but having conditions not affect rolls feels like it undermines the pushing mechanic, which is such an important part of how this system works. I think this hurts the gameplay more than anything else.

p44 and p58. The extra successes for Agility, Close Combat, Force, and Ranged Combat all specify that you can outmanoeuvre your enemy, taking their initiative. I love this, and it's a common feature at our table. But if the new initiative system is employed, I'm not sure these have much use. Taking the initiative is really useful and feels dramatic, but if initiative is drawn each round there is little point. I am a huge advocate for the original initiative system because I like these options, and this nuance is lost in the 'draw each round' approach. I must admit, I like it in Dragonbane, but I feel that we lose something in Year Zero systems, where extra successes should mean something and allow dramatic effects. I'd be very happy for initiative to revert to the original system - I think it is better for Year Zero games.

p54. Dedicated. It states 'ignore a mental Conditions', but should read 'ignore mental Conditions'.

p57. I'm not sure what your style guide is here, so please ignore if I'm wrong! This title might make more sense if it were 'Combat, Fear, and Gear' making the three distinct.

p64. The simplified crits box out looks odd as it spills into the margin. Not sure if there's much that can be done, but it looks odd when compared to the rest of the book.

p230. The new character sheet is lovely!