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Reviewer's Note: This is my first review. I have not played Zenobia but have only read through the materials.

Zenobia is a free roleplaying game available at http://www.eyeballkid.co.za/zenobia.html by Paul Elliot (of GURPS Atomic Horror fame). It is set in a semi-historical but also fantastical world of the "desert kingdoms" of the late Roman Empire circa 260AD. After printing out the game and introductory adventure, the total came to 200 pages. Also, two issues of "The Oracle", a companion magazine for Zenobia, have been released so far with additional information and errata.

The game has quite an interesting narrativist system, as shown in the author's design notes:

"... dice rolling was kept to an absolute minimum. That meant only one or two attributes and practically no skills! [...] The basic concept for task resolution focused on the assumption that physical actions were governed by a physical stat (MIGHT), but that all the other (more nebulous) actions, such as seduction, drowning, the progress of poison, spotting a pursuer, etc, should be governed by the gods (FATE). And to keep FATE at a healthy level, sacrifices to the gods were needed. This filled a gap in the RPGs I'd played where the gods were never treated with the same amount of diligence as they were in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Heroes were constantly sacrificing at altars, praying for good fortune, or thanking the gods for some favour. Historical Romans did this too. I wanted this frequent action to be part of gameplay."

Character creation takes 19 pages, not including priests and magicians. Each character has five attributes: Might, Fate, Hits, Craft, and Learning. Might and Fate are described above. Hits are hit points, Craft is the ability to perform basic manual tasks, and Learning is a measure of education and social skills. Might, Fate, and Hits can be rolled randomly or bought with Creation points. Both Craft and Learning start at 1. A profession is then chosen which gives the starting money, a skill, and potential bonuses. Professions listed are: archer, assassin, bandit, caravan guard, desert warrior, gladiator, gothic warrior, legionnary, and tribune.

Combat takes 11 pages and is resolved by adding the attacker's Might and the combat bonus of the weapon the attacker is using to 2d6 and comparing it to the defender's Might and the combat bonus of the weapon the defender is using to 2d6. The difference between the two totals, minus the armor rating, is the amount of damage the loser takes. If the damage is four or more, a crippling blow can also be dealt.

The bulk of the rest of Zenobia is background: people, places, religion, magic, monsters, and treasures of the various lands of the desert kingdoms (which include Egypt to the Middle East to Persia to the kingdoms located in where modern-day Turkey is located). This information is very good, giving good detail of the areas but still leaving quite a bit to the imagination. For example, Solyma (which is Zenobia's name for Palestine) takes up about a page and a half of text detailing the history, geography, attitude toward the Roman Empire, and religion. Yet there is some vagueness left with sentences such as:

"The typical traveller to Solyma ... will find a whole range of strange customs and rituals...."

The actual customs and rituals are not discussed further. Of course, you could find out the Palestinian customs and rituals yourself but the problem with this is that Zenobia is a fantastical version of the historical world. Do the same rituals and customs apply? Are there new ones we should be aware of? The GM is left to fend for himself.

In fact, the main weakness of Zenobia is the semi-historical background. We are left to guess which fantastical name represents which historical area and what details have changed in the fantastical version.

Another weakness is the lack of examples on how to use Craft or Learning. In fact, the only example given (that I could find) is an example on using Learning in the sample adventure. I couldn't find any examples on using Craft.

Also, Zenobia is only in HTML format with almost no pictures (the only pictures for the game were two hand-drawn maps of the desert kingdoms).

Other than these weaknesses, however, Zenobia is a very well done roleplaying game. I would buy it if it was published in book form.

Zenobia
Zenobia Capsule Review by Jonathan Nichol on 31/07/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Zenobia is a free roleplaying game available at http://www.eyeballkid.co.za/zenobia.html by Paul Elliot (of GURPS Atomic Horror fame). It is set in a semi-historical but also fantastical world of the "desert kingdoms" of the late Roman Empire circa 260AD. Product: Zenobia Author: Paul Elliot Category: RPG Company/Publisher: n/a Line: Cost: free Page count: 200 Year published: ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Jonathan Nichol on 31/07/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	Reviewer's Note: This is my first review. I have not played Zenobia but have only read through the materials. Zenobia is a free roleplaying game available at http://www.eyeballkid.co.za/zenobia.html by Paul Elliot (of GURPS Atomic Horror fame). It is set in a semi-historical but also fantastical world of the "desert kingdoms" of the late Roman Empire circa 260AD. After printing out the game and introductory adventure, the total came to 200 pages. Also, two issues of "The Oracle", a companion magazine for Zenobia, have been released so far with additional information and errata. The game has quite an interesting narrativist system, as shown in the author's design notes: "... dice rolling was kept to an absolute minimum. That meant only one or two attributes and practically no skills! [...] The basic concept for task resolution focused on the assumption that physical actions were governed by a physical stat (MIGHT), but that all the other (more nebulous) actions, such as seduction, drowning, the progress of poison, spotting a pursuer, etc, should be governed by the gods (FATE). And to keep FATE at a healthy level, sacrifices to the gods were needed. This filled a gap in the RPGs I'd played where the gods were never treated with the same amount of diligence as they were in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Heroes were constantly sacrificing at altars, praying for good fortune, or thanking the gods for some favour. Historical Romans did this too. I wanted this frequent action to be part of gameplay." Character creation takes 19 pages, not including priests and magicians. Each character has five attributes: Might, Fate, Hits, Craft, and Learning. Might and Fate are described above. Hits are hit points, Craft is the ability to perform basic manual tasks, and Learning is a measure of education and social skills. Might, Fate, and Hits can be rolled randomly or bought with Creation points. Both Craft and Learning start at 1. A profession is then chosen which gives the starting money, a skill, and potential bonuses. Professions listed are: archer, assassin, bandit, caravan guard, desert warrior, gladiator, gothic warrior, legionnary, and tribune. Combat takes 11 pages and is resolved by adding the attacker's Might and the combat bonus of the weapon the attacker is using to 2d6 and comparing it to the defender's Might and the combat bonus of the weapon the defender is using to 2d6. The difference between the two totals, minus the armor rating, is the amount of damage the loser takes. If the damage is four or more, a crippling blow can also be dealt. The bulk of the rest of Zenobia is background: people, places, religion, magic, monsters, and treasures of the various lands of the desert kingdoms (which include Egypt to the Middle East to Persia to the kingdoms located in where modern-day Turkey is located). This information is very good, giving good detail of the areas but still leaving quite a bit to the imagination. For example, Solyma (which is Zenobia's name for Palestine) takes up about a page and a half of text detailing the history, geography, attitude toward the Roman Empire, and religion. Yet there is some vagueness left with sentences such as: "The typical traveller to Solyma ... will find a whole range of strange customs and rituals...." The actual customs and rituals are not discussed further. Of course, you could find out the Palestinian customs and rituals yourself but the problem with this is that Zenobia is a fantastical version of the historical world. Do the same rituals and customs apply? Are there new ones we should be aware of? The GM is left to fend for himself. In fact, the main weakness of Zenobia is the semi-historical background. We are left to guess which fantastical name represents which historical area and what details have changed in the fantastical version. Another weakness is the lack of examples on how to use Craft or Learning. In fact, the only example given (that I could find) is an example on using Learning in the sample adventure. I couldn't find any examples on using Craft. Also, Zenobia is only in HTML format with almost no pictures (the only pictures for the game were two hand-drawn maps of the desert kingdoms). Other than these weaknesses, however, Zenobia is a very well done roleplaying game. I would buy it if it was published in book form.