Hi Jason, I am planning a one shot inspired by Annihilation, and was originally going to use 2400 Zone when I remembered this game exists. How would you compare the two? It seems QZ has a lot more meat on it and they seem to share genre tropes and expectations - would you say there is a reason to pick 2400 Zone over this? Also, I have been looking for inspiration for the game, what media touchstones would you recommend that is the same tone as Annihilation, or media that inspired you in making QZ (other than the two mentioned)?
Good question! They're basically the same setting with two different rule sets, and QZ has a lot more material because it's a longer game. My goal is that you could use the content from either with the rules from either. To summarize what you'd find in each....
QZ
- 70+ pages (revised edition on the way with 90+ pages)
- Into the Odd rules – hit points, 3 ability scores, saves, attacks with no to-hit rolls
- 100 alterations
- 20 compulsions to make you go adventuring
- 60 contacts split between military, science, and underground
- 100 encounters split between 5 regions of the zone, each with generators for features
- 20 sample artifacts plus random artifact generators
2400 Zone
- 3 pages + cover (deliberately super short and quick to read)
- 24XX rules – polyhedral dice with partial success, with no hit points, ability scores, or separate combat rules
- 36 alterations (redundant with the list of 100 in QZ)
- 20 contacts split between military, science, and underground (different from the ones in QZ)
- 20 encounters (some with vague overlap with some in QZ)
- Artifact generators (no sample artifacts)
Each game also has some generators for anomalies, but QZ's approach is likely to see some significant updates when I finish the revised edition. (I'm hoping to be done with that this year, but the pandemic, parenting, and my day job make that tough to predict.)
Hope this helps!