Zebulon's Guide Discussion

[quote=CleanCutRogue][quote=Corjay]I don't think the problem is Zeb's. As I've demonstrated with the AER
(Anniversary Edition), there's very little difference between Zeb's and
Alpha Dawn. What Zeb's did was bundle Kimber's Dragon Magazine articles
with Alpha Dawn and provide the Column Shift mechanic, individualized
skills, an extended Timeline, and 4 new races (granted, badly done
races). Though the skills were multiplied, the skills mechanic has more
freedom, so I don't really see it as compounding the problem. A little
cosmetic adjustment to the new races provided and use the timeline and
it's still Star Frontiers. Why? Because all it did was add to the story
line. You can still use the Alpha Dawn mechanics with it (as I've done
with AER). Mechanically is the only way that Zeb's messed with the Star
Frontiers game system, but it didn't do it in an entirely incompatable
way. Dump the Zeb's mechanics and the game is still playable as Star
Frontiers. I fully understand why people rank on the mechanics
and the races, but not anything else. Except for the mechanics, what
Kimber did with Zeb's is basically what is happening in the pages of
the Frontiersman.[/quote]It wasn't just that, Corjay. Zebs was supposed to help Star Frontiers,
to be a new edition, at a time when sci-fi gaming was beginning to
blossom and Traveller was taking the spotlight as the hard-science
supergame. Some of the ideas were great - but it fell so short of all
of our expectations for many reasons: a modified game mechanic that
nobody liked, artwork that fell way short of what we were used to and
what Traveller was putting out, a skill system that went for quantity
rather than quality, races that were just so silly they were unplayable
- even my 7 year old thinks they're dumb, etc. It's not that it's
unsalvagable -- I get that. It's that it was such a dissappointment we
just wish it was never put out. It did kill the line. After
lackluster interest in that book, TSR didn't publish any further SF
material, and even Dragon Magazine halted its sci-fi section. To
me, it's like that one Highlander movie that took place in the future:
it just should never have been made, and it's better to pretend it
wasn't -- just take what few salvagable elements it had that were good
and ignore it entirely. That's the opinion most StarFrontiers gamers
take.[/quote]Actually, Dragon Magazine continued to publish Star Frontiers material all the way through 1989. That's four years after the publishing of Zeb's. True, though, that no more modules were produced and most of the articles focused on Alpha Dawn mechanics. The disappointment is surely understandable, but it has been 22 years, and the community is fragmented (albeit a small fragment regarding Zeb's, but a fragment all the same), and there is some good stuff there that gets used today even by professed Zeb's haters (as Bill conceded in the Highlander analogy). The Mentalist skills were provided at the end of Alpha Dawn Remastered, because it is recognized that some would appreciate it and that it is actually done in a Star Frontiersish way. I like to look at what is salvageable even from those things I don't like. Here's a list of things I have found exceptionally salvageable: 1. Out of the six main pieces of art, outside of the races and diagrams, four were well done: The front page (which everybody loves), p.26, p.62, p.87, then there's the logos of the Mega-corporations and the Cadrés and Cults. 2. The skills list is definitely unnecessarily extensive, but the skills mechanic only needs a minor adjustment to be exceptional on its own, or no adjustment if taken in tandem with the original skills of Alpha Dawn (as demonstrated in the option in the AER). 3. Some skills were understandably, if unnecessarily, merged, keeping the
number lower than it could have been, but useful for streamlining the
classic game if those mergers are applied to Alpha Dawn. 4. Provide vehicle piloting skills 5. Made weapons skills more easily accessible 6. Separated the environmental skills from the science skills. 7. The Mega-corporations (originally in Dragon Magazine) 8. Cadrés and Cults (originally in Dragon Magazine) 9. Variety of Rafflurs (originally in Ares; though I still prefer the proton beam designation) 10. The Timeline (Just need to correct the Vrusk over Dralasite error; see the AER for solution) 11. Breakdown of planets of the Frontier 12. Lots of new equipment. 13. Maintains the flavor, story, and original mechanics of Star Frontiers, with the exception of skills and the Column Shift mechanic. 14. Mentalist needs some adjustment, but is playable. 15. I think the Osakar and Mechanon need little modification and are original (it was the artwork alone that failed these two races), but that's my opinion. The Ifshnit doesn't actually match its artwork, and it is the artwork that has colored people's interpretation of the Ifshnit and how they play them. The Humma are the ones requiring the most salvage, but are salvageable with a little cosmetic adjustment in its description. I haven't personally found fault with these races as races. It is strictly their appearance that proves unpalatable and that is the fault of poor art. As a side note, we are currently working on cybernetics and mutations
which were originally planned by Kimber Eastland to be a Zeb's Volume
II. What exactly is hated: 1. The Column Shift mechanic. The game is already simple, and I've studied this system backwards and forwards and can say with confidence that you trade die rolling for table referencing. I and most people will take the die rolling any day. It also oversimplifies damage, providing less variety and too standardized. 2. Too many skills. 3. Bad Diagrams 4. Mentalist abilities are hated only by some, others can take it or leave it, and others love it. 5. The Ifshnit and the Humma are tired and childish respectively. Some dislike the Osakar, but mostly due to artistic representation, and the only thing I ever hear against the Mechanon is the art. 6. The book was poorly edited and designed. 7. Came at a time when quality over quanity was being stressed by other gaming companies but failed in this volume. I view it from the standpoint that if Zeb's came first, the same view and arguments could have been made toward Alpha Dawn (save for the artwork, but only barely). This argument is temporal and not mechanically or aesthetically related. As you can see, there's actually quite a lot that is salvageable, and indeed has become a large part of the Star Frontiers experience. If you replace the art with quality images and turn the unpalatable mechanics (Column Shift Mechanic and extra skills) into mere options, and apply better editing and design, the book is easily turned into something worth using.

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