My wife and a few of our non-gaming friends have recently expressed interest in trying out an RPG but with the exception of me, none of them have much gaming experience. I know from their tastes that a typical fantasy or sci-fi game wouldn't be the preferred setting/genre and I think a 'zombie apocalypse" (kind of a running joke with us and the friends) might be one of the few unifying things we have that would lead to a game setting, which leads me to wonder if this would be noob suitable either "out of the box" or via some simplistic dumbing down?

thanks in advance, if you have any other RPG suggestions, I'm all ears

I would say it's quite noob-friendly for players, slightly less so for the GM. For a one-shot - where it is okay, if not assumed, that some/most PCs will die; great. Trying to extend it anywhere beyond that and a learning curve emerges that the GM has to climb, to figure out how to use the system in a way where ppl won't die so easily.

Thank you

Oooh, old thread.

So I've come wandering over from Star Wars. Our group has been doing that for a couple of years now and thought that we might strike out for something new (at least for a little bit).

How does the End of the World engine stack up against Edge and it's brothers?

The mechanics should feel familiar for players of the Star Wars Roleplaying lines, as End of the World uses a very narrative system featuring both positive and negative dice added to a pool. Tests can inflict Stress on a character even in the case of a success. It's a much lighter system, with only two types of dice (both six-sided), and no extensive skill or talent system.

Hey D, I'm the opposite of you. I started my "career" on FFG forums here at EotW:ZA and moved to SW.

Anyway, in my opinion, after having used this system more-or-less vanilla, and with a slew of houserules to try and make it work for a long term campaign, I think this is generally a poor system. You can tell it didn't get the full "FFG treatment" I feel like, because it just isn't well balanced at all. It is an IP acquired from, I believe, a Spain-based company and they seem to have basically just wrapped the product with a beautiful book/art and sent it out the door, cuz it's nowhere near what I've come to expect from FFG. Certainly it pales in comparison to SW in pretty much every regard. It is easy to learn, but it doesn't play well. If you play it "as-is" from the book, you're gonna be killing players left and right. If you try to homebrew it, you're going to be basically recreating the system from its very base - at which point, what's the point in playing the system?

The system is close enough to a couple other narrative systems that a lot of the concepts and of course all of the fluff is easily ported over, and can still provide the basis for rewarding play. But if you don't need help with ideas, there are better systems out there for a zombie apocalypse game that achieve many of the same gameplay elements.

Ouch - that's not a glowing endorsement. Still, my FLGS had it for 30 bucks - I might roll the dice (ahem) and see what i think. Worse that happens is that I'm out the price of a pizza - it's not like buying Star Wars, where you're in for 50 easy.

Although I might go with the Aliens over the Zombies - Walking Dead has kind of burned me out on the Zed.

I am in agreement concerning the RPGs long term sustainability (meaning, running a long term campaign with it). However, it is a system that lends itself well to "one and done" adventures. I can't see playing any of the campaigns for longer than a session or two. But it is a simpler system to explain to people who are not familiar with the system for a one off session as a break from another longer campaign. In that sense, it should have been promoted as such, rather than trying to set up long term campaigns. I also think that the focus on the catastrophic is a detriment as the system can be used for a number of other types of game scenarios. I have personally used the system to create an as yet unplayed haunted house investigation scenario.

If you compare it to other media, these games are better suited for a movie with a limited run time rather than a TV series, that could go on for multiple seasons.

Ouch - that's not a glowing endorsement. Still, my FLGS had it for 30 bucks - I might roll the dice (ahem) and see what i think. Worse that happens is that I'm out the price of a pizza - it's not like buying Star Wars, where you're in for 50 easy.

Although I might go with the Aliens over the Zombies - Walking Dead has kind of burned me out on the Zed.