Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Long-winded explanation of DMZ (was Re: FASA Catalog...)
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 12:28:10 +0100
Felix Zwingenberger said on 23:04/ 3 Jan 97...

> okay, just to ask some more stupid questions... I don't know what DMZ is...
> could someone tell me and where to get information about it? I couldn't find
> that product on the FASA homepage...
> Is it some kind of Battletech game (ie just fighting)?

DMZ is a tactical wargame for SR, based on the BattleTroops squad-level
game for BattleTech. It uses a dot-to-dot movement system, rather than
hex-based, and though DMZ's components (counters and maps) are higher
quality than those of BattleTroops, I find BT the better game of the
two...

DMZ has overly complicated rules that slow down play tremendously; for
example, if you want to shoot someone you first have to find the range to
target (as usual; nothing wrong with this); second, find the Success
Value that belongs to this range (this represents the character's skill
as well as the weapon's accuracy); then subtract the target's Defense
Value from the Success Value (representing Body, armor, and other
defenses); finally add in modifiers for the situation, and roll 2D6. If
the roll is equal to, or below the TN you hit.
To further complicate things, modifiers that make it harder to hit are
usually _positive_, because they're added to the Defense Value rather than
to the final TN. OTOH there are also positive modifiers that make it
easier to hit, because they're added to the Success Value...

BT is much simpler in that you find the range and that sets the TN
(short=6, long=8); add in modifiers; then roll your 2D6. Rolling equal to
or higher than the TN and you hit.

Furthermore, DMZ lacks rules for all vehicles except motorcycles, but
naturally it does have magic rules, which BT obviously lacks :)

DMZ is out of print, if I'm correct (it's not in the 1996 FASA catalog),
IMHO probably in part because most people find it the worst addition to
the SR line. I bought it, I've played it sometimes, and it's actually
kind of fun, but it's not a great game. If you're thinking of buying it
to make combat between large groups in SR speed up, go get two
sourcebooks for your cash instead...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Suppress it if you can.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1:
GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+ PE
Y PGP- t(+) 5+ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Long-winded explanation of DMZ (was Re: FASA Catalog...), you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.