The Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo Corebook, Podreczniki RPG, The Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo
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(a PDQ campaign in actual play)
by Chad Underkoler
Prose Descriptive Qualities (PDQ) System
Design by:
Chad Underkoler
Playtesting & Additional Writing by:
Andrew Byers & Scott Kane
Cover:
Scott Kane & Greg Holkan
Logo:
Greg Holkan
Interior Art:
Fred Hicks, Greg Holkan, & Scott Kane
Layout:
Fred Hicks
Editor:
Eric A. Burns
Illustration Models:
Andrew Byers (p. 132), Mikayla DeMarino (p. 51 & p. 69), Allison
Kaese (p. 129), Steven Solomon (p. 19), Aylish Walton (p. 90), and Nolah Walton (p. 120)
Peer Reviewers
Eric A. Burns
Kirt Dankmyer
Tim Gray
Fred Hicks
Ryan Macklin
Matt Rhodes
Tom Schoene
Michael Suileabhain-Wilson
Patrick Sweeney
Eddy Webb
Ross Winn
Jon Zeigler
he
Prose Descriptive Qualities (PDQ) System
and all
Zorcerer of Zo
text is ©2006 Chad Underkoler.
All Rights Reserved. Artwork is ©2006 Chad Underkoler. All Rights Reserved. Some images within
Except for purposes of review, no portions of this work may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of the relevant copyright holders. his is a work of iction. Any similarity with actual people or
events, past or present, is purely coincidental and unintentional. All mentions of copyrighted works within
the text are for reference purposes only and are not a challenge of copyright or trademark.
[1st Printing]
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he Cost of Magic . . . . . . . . . . . 50
he Catch of Magic . . . . . . . . . . 50
Tonal Efects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Enchanted Objects . . . . . . . . . . 52
Types of Enchanted Object . . . . . . 52
PC Creation of Enchanted Objects . . 53
Example of Play 54
he Stitchwitch . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
hud, Strong Guy . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Timothy, the Marquis de Carabas . . 88
Troll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Shaykosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
he Zorcerer of Zo . . . . . . . . . . 89
Table of Contents ii
About the PDQ System . . . . . . . . v
About Atomic Sock Monkey Press . . v
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Zorcerer of Zo Rules 25
PDQ Master Chart 26
Qualities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Quality Ranks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Special Moves! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Diiculty Ranks . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Upshifts & Downshifts . . . . . . . . 33
Upshifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Downshifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Shift Accumulation . . . . . . . . . . 34
Task Resolution 34
Simple Situations . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Complicated Situations . . . . . . . . 35
Conlict Situations . . . . . . . . . . 36
Basic Conlict . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Advanced Conlict. . . . . . . . . . . 38
Advanced Conlict Process . . . . . . 38
Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Zeroing Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Recovering from Damage . . . . . . . 42
Failure Ranks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Damage Ranks . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Hero Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Gaining Hero Points . . . . . . . . . 43
Heroic Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Afected By Weakness . . . . . . . . . 44
Something Bad Happens . . . . . . . 44
Good Roleplaying . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Using Hero Points . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Learning Points 46
Gaining Learning Points . . . . . . . 46
Using Learning Points. . . . . . . . . 46
Digging Down Deep . . . . . . . . . 47
ZoZ Magic 47
Gifts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Magic-Star Qualities . . . . . . . . . 48
Magic in Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using Magic-Star Qualities . . . . . . 49
Gamemastering ZoZ 90
General GMing Precepts 90
Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Running Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Story Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Canned Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Set Session Lengths . . . . . . . . . . 91
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Speciic GMing Techniques 94
Only Roll When You Have To . . . . 94
Stepping hrough PDQ . . . . . . . . 95
Improvising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Know Your Genre . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Know Your Players . . . . . . . . . . 97
Know Your PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Know Your NPCs. . . . . . . . . . . 97
Ofer Both Opportunities & Obstacles 98
Listening More han Speaking . . . . 98
Never Say No . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Rule of hree . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Reintegrate Dangling hreads . . . . 99
You’re More the Cruise Director
than the Captain. . . . . . . . . . . 100
ZoZ Characters 61
Character Generation: Build a
Hero 61
Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Background (& Nationality) . . . . . 62
Qualities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Gifts & Magic-Stars . . . . . . . . . 65
Special Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Hero Points & Learning Points . . . 67
Miscellany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Justifying Why
the PCs are Together . . . . . . . . . 68
ZoZ Improvement 70
To Increase a Quality Rank . . . . . . 70
To Purchase a New Quality . . . . . . 71
To Purchase a New Magic-Star. . . . 71
To Learn a New Special Move . . . . 71
Inhabitants of Zo 72
ZoZ Player Characters (PCs) . . . . 72
Deril, Talking Crocodile Drifter . . . 72
Horace Hogg, Gentleman Enchanter
& 4
th
Little Pig . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Pipsqueak, Horace Hogg’s Manservant 79
Non-Player Characters (NPCs) . . . 80
Zo NPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Alphonse, Count of Cobaltia . . . . . 81
he Blue Hood, Outlaw Archer. . . . 82
Blunder, Tough Guy. . . . . . . . . . 83
Cesar the Swordsman . . . . . . . . . 83
George Pieman, Ne’er-do-well . . . . . 83
Goblin (Dawn) . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Goblin (Dusk). . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Guardsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Happy Bandit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Murklebog, Human Wizard . . . . . 85
Shawn Gruf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Stig, he Ogre Tyrant . . . . . . . . . 86
Once Upon a Time… vi
Personal Relection vi
What this Book Contains vii
How to Use his Book vii
he Beginning viii
Fairytales 1
Fairytales
& Folktales 1
Fairytale Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fairytale Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
he Kingdom Entire . . . . . . . . . . 3
Otherworldly Visitors . . . . . . . . . . 4
Talking Animals & Living Objects . . 5
Fairytale Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Happily Ever Afters . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Fairytale Tone:
Nice vs. Neutral vs. Nasty . . . . . . . 9
Fairytale & Nursery
Rhyme Adventures . . . . . . . . . . 10
Bibliography 12
Filmography 14
Ludography 15
he Zantabulous Land of Zo 16
Azul 17
Giallo 18
Rosso 19
Viola 20
Zo Proper 21
he Return of the Wolf 21
he Zorcerer! 22
Who is the Zorcerer? . . . . . . . . . 23
What is Zorcery? . . . . . . . . . . . 24
he First ZoZ Campaign 101
Session 1: August 26, 2005 101
GM Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Actual Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
For Next Session. . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Story Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Dangling Plotlines . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Session 2: November 11, 2005 109
GM Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
ii
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The
PDQ s
ysTem
he rules inside this book build upon the Prose Descriptive Qualities
(
PDQ
)
System
,
suitably modiied for fairytale play (the “Good Parts” version). PDQ
Core is available as a free download from the following URLs:
PDQ
has been designed for evocative simplicity, speed, and lexibility. It
currently serves as the core game mechanics for
Dead Inside: the Roleplaying
Game of Loss & Redemption
(
DI
);
Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: the Role-
playing Game
(
MNPR:RPG
);
Truth & Justice
(
T&J
); and
he Zorcerer of
Zo
(
ZoZ
).
Actual Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
For Next Session. . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Story Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Dangling Plotlines . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Session 3: January 20, 2006 115
GM Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Actual Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
For Next Session. . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Story Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Dangling Plotlines . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Session 4: April 28, 2006 121
GM Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Actual Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Breezedale (Andrew & Scott) . . . . . 128
On the Road (Chad) . . . . . . . . . 128
Bugburg (Andrew) . . . . . . . . . . 129
Iron Shoe Inn (Scott) . . . . . . . . . 129
Home, Slop Home . . . . . . . . . . . 130
For Next Session. . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Story Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Dangling Plotlines . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Session 5: May 12, 2006 132
GM Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Actual Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Roderick’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
For Next Session. . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Story Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Dangling Plotlines . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Session 6: June 9, 2006 141
GM Prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
NPC Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Actual Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Deril & Horace Hogg’s
Happily Ever Afters . . . . . . . . . . 152
Deril . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Horace Hogg . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Bonus Material 160
Original Campaign
Prospectus & Process 161
Player Input on the Campaign 163
Q: What do you want to see?. . . . 163
Q: What sort of game do you
want to play? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Q: How dark or light do you
want it to be? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Q: How wacky ictional? . . . . . . 164
Session Running Notes 164
Session 1: August 26, 2005. . . . . 164
Immediate Events . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Festival Night #1 . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Next Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Festival Night #2 . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Following Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Festival Night #3 . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Next Dawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Session 2: November 11, 2005. . . 166
he Letter Reads. . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Event on the Road #1 . . . . . . . . . 167
An Evening at the Golden Sheaf Inn . 167
Event on the Road #2 . . . . . . . . . 168
Arrive at Carabas Manor. . . . . . . 169
Viola Bridge and Its Trolls . . . . . . 170
Session 3: January 20, 2006 . . . . 170
Session 4: April 28, 2006 . . . . . . 172
NPC Recap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Blanca’s Hut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Possible Sorties into Viola
(Marquis de Carabas’ Ideas) . . . . . 173
Session 5: May 12, 2006 . . . . . . 174
Spicing Up the Mix . . . . . . . . . . 176
Session 6: June 9, 2006 . . . . . . . 176
Roderick Says: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Guesstimated Outline Of Events . . . 176
Castle Bluerock . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Castle Slumber . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Showdown With Shaykosch . . . . . . 180
Bonus Zo NPCs 180
Quellabaum,
King of the Winged Monkeys . . . . . 181
Captain Roderick Mus,
Zo Imperial Navy . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Shaykosch, the Deathless Wolf . . . . 182
Rules and concepts from all Atomic Sock Monkey Press games easily inter-
connect. For example, if one chooses to, the Soul Point mechanics of
DI
could be used to steal the soul of a
ZoZ
Princess, and the Powers rules in
T&J
could be used for ideas on how to interpret
ZoZ
magical Gifts into even
more sharply-deined game mechanics.
a
bouT
a
Tomic
s
ock
m
onkey
P
ress
Atomic Sock Monkey Press
is dedicated to high-quality, of-kilter, imaginative
fun. hat means tabletop games of both the “beer & pretzels” and roleplaying
game (RPG) varieties. Check out the following webpages on the site for
ZoZ
resources and downloads:
a
bouT
The
a
uThor
Chad Underkoler is an editor for a telecommunications standards body by day
and a freelance game writer by night. He’s been gaming since 1981, to the confu-
sion of his family. His column“Campaign in a Box” appears in Pyramid Online at
<
>; he has written material for
Gamma
World
(Sword & Sorcery),
GURPS
(Steve Jackson Games), and
Unknown
Armies
(Atlas Games); and he is the author and publisher of
Dead Inside: the
Roleplaying Game of Loss & Redemption
;
Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: the
RPG
; and
Truth & Justice
. Chad currently lives in Alexandria, VA, with his
wife Beth and their two black cats.
Happily Ever After(word) 156
Post-Campaign Versions
of the Zo PCs 156
Baron Deril
. . . . . . . . . . 156
Sir Horace Hogg
. . . . . . . . 158
iv
v
T
he
Z
orcerer
of
Z
o
• i
nTroDucTion
T
he
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orcerer
of
Z
o
• i
nTroDucTion
i
nTroDucTion
o
nce
u
Pon
a
T
ime
…
campaigns I’ve ever run.
One of my players started urging me to publish the campaign. “I’d hate to
have the campaign and setting never see the light of day,” he said. I wasn’t sure
that there was enough for an entire book, other than the very short sketch of
a setting that I’d sent out as a game prospectus.
I
have always loved fairytales, as a child and as
P
ersonal
r
eflecTion
But then I recalled Aaron Allston’s classic
Champions
supplement,
Strike Force
,
which essentially detailed Allston’s long-running campaign. I realized I hadn’t
seen many game books that stepped through an entire campaign from start
to inish. Also, I thought of the increasing number of “Actual Play” campaign
threads on Internet RPG forums.
an adult. here is something in them that
drives right to the core of my reading
enjoyment.
Perhaps it’s the way they are told:
spare in detail, but evoca-
tive enough to spur the
imagination. Or maybe it’s the universal accep-
tance of wonders and miracles: talking animals,
witches working enchantments, magic tinder-
boxes, houses made of gingerbread. hen again,
it could be the strong and boldly drawn characteristics of the denizens of such
tales: noble princesses, lucky third sons, dastardly villains. Or it could be the
rush of pure emotions and concepts that really exist in these stories: Revenge,
Forgiveness, True Love. Or it might be that fairytales are
fair
: the broken will
become strong, the silenced will laugh, the voiceless shall sing, and the wicked
will be punished.
Maybe I could produce a slim book providing a description of how our
campaign came together: how ideas were incorporated into the game, how
adventures were developed, and how characters and plots formed. he book
would have information on a setting, yes, but unlike most RPG books, it could
have “behind the gamemaster’s (GM’s) screen” type notes on how I assembled
the system and setting elements, how the player characters (PCs) interpreted
and altered them, and what the players thought of all this! Suice to say, this
would be a diferent sort of gaming product.
My players thought this was a great idea.
hus, this book.
W
haT
This
b
ook
c
onTains
Inside
he Zorcerer of Zo
(
ZoZ
), you’ll ind: a discussion on fairytales as a
literary and gaming genre; the Zantabulous Land of Zo game setting with
NPCs; a complete game system (the “Good Parts” PDQ); notes on how I
started, developed, ran, and ended the irst
ZoZ
campaign (and advice on how
you can do the same yourself ); two “DVD commentary tracks” of textboxes
– one from me as the GM and one from my players; and an Appendix full of
Bonus Materials.
It’s a heady mix of lavors, one that children ind delicious, but most adults can
ind cloying. For my part, I like strong drink.
In late 2005, after the release of
Truth & Justice
, my players asked me to run
a new campaign. Given my writing and work commitments (and those of my
players), time was at a premium. I told them that we’d have to use
PDQ
for
ease of preparation and speed of play in a “seat of the pants” sort of game. I’d
provide a list of campaign concepts. We’d then vote to select one that we were
all interested in. My players agreed. We voted, and a fairytale campaign idea
came out on top. We began having monthly sessions of
he Zorcerer of Zo
.
h
oW
To
u
se
T
his
b
ook
If you are interested in using
ZoZ
to run your own fairytale campaign
, read
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
It was great. Prep was easy, the characters were vibrant and active, and everyone
was having a good time. here was a lot of laughter, snappy dialogue, and
great fun that well-matched the genre. his ended up being one of the best
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