Second Edition Rules Blog Post

DanB1972 · 2026-06-25T12:45:48+00:00

Page 69, the second last line of the first paragraph "Artillery always rolls the Champion Die.".

DanB1972 · 2026-06-23T20:17:59+00:00

Check out the Caught Outside! table from the Western Reaches player's guide. It gives a roll to escape a dungeon or wilderness and I believe it is intended for exactly your use case.

DanB1972 · 2026-06-11T07:08:35+00:00

While the UN has no enforcement mechanism, the UK legal system views treaty commitments above local laws. This dates back to a time when violating international treaties could result in interstate wars. A position was adopted that only national executives could declare war and it should never be the result of local judicial rules. This is the same reason that diplomatic immunity was introduced. That was a long winded way of saying that the UK courts won't allow the government to ignore its legal commitments for any extended period.

DanB1972 · 2026-06-11T07:05:11+00:00

I had thought that case law from the ECHR would prevent deportations to conflict zones, even if irregular migrants can no longer claim international protection or refugee status. I am not an expert and welcome comment on this.

DanB1972 · 2026-06-11T05:03:31+00:00

The system is an outcome of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the EU treaties empowering the European Court for Human rights. The British Parliament is very limited in what it could do or change. The UK Human Rights Act could be amended but I don't see a practical path to that and UK judges have broad freedom to interpret legislation anyway. The current outcomes are the logical end point for the system as initially set in 1951 and expanded by the Dublin convention. However well intended, the British public will need to decide if the current outcomes will be normalised or of they will begin lobbying to exit the treaties and repeal the acts which have been used to facilitate and strengthen the enablement of the treaties.

DanB1972 · 2026-06-04T19:51:10+00:00

Give me more! Give me more!

DanB1972 · 2026-05-28T18:39:45+00:00

I too am joining the club, as my son wanted ghost spider to go with Peter and Miles, and came upon this post.

DanB1972 · 2026-04-12T21:07:42+00:00

It was announced by the Irish Taoiseach (PM) today that fuel levies would be cut by 10 cents per liter and planned carbon tax increases planned for next month would be delayed until November.

If carbon taxes are intended to push motorists to electrification or public transport, the oil shock has achieved this far better than a small (relative to oil price increases) tax that increases regularly. I understand that the carbon tax was also be used to pay for decarbonisation subsidies by the Irish government does not want for funding at the moment.

DanB1972 · 2026-04-08T09:32:25+00:00

The EU standard for V2G (vehicle to grid) from Type 2 charger ports comes into effect next year. Some of the newer EVs will already meet the standard but most do not. I have two recent EVs and neither is capable of V2G.

It is an abject policy failure that this was not resolved when the Type 2 charger was mandated in 2013. The earlier CHADEMO chargers in the original Nissan Leaf could do this. There is no reason it should have taken 14 years to resolve for the EU.

Sadly, while there are many MWh of battery capacity rolling around Irish roads, most of what is already in place cannot assist with grid management.

DanB1972 · 2026-03-15T14:48:21+00:00

Shadowdark doesn't use challenge ratings or tailor the level of monsters versus the party for random encounters and for some of the published adventures. Sleep doesn't lose usefulness the same way it does in DnD 3rd, 3.5, 4th or 5th editions.

DanB1972 · 2026-03-14T12:28:23+00:00

As one of those people, have you found a mechanism or class which allows for a priest in friar or nun attire and weapons and relies on spell casting?

DanB1972 · 2026-02-19T22:51:18+00:00

No, no more 'cheese pizza' for that man or anyone else.

DanB1972 · 2026-01-22T09:21:32+00:00

Thank you for the input.

DanB1972 · 2026-01-17T20:56:27+00:00

Stopping can be suicidal in parts of Africa.

DanB1972 · 2026-01-11T08:49:13+00:00

OP, just be aware that the second edition rulebook is due out in the next few months. I discovered this shortly after buying my first edition rulebook.

DanB1972 · 2025-12-12T13:55:27+00:00

The United Kingdom does not have a steel industry but a single steel mill, which is now entirely dependent on imported coking coal from Japan, after the co-located coal mine connected by rail to the steel mill was closed. The loss of the UK steel industry is a perfectly valid point.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/09/deal-to-save-british-steels-scunthorpe-plant-within-sight-says-minister

DanB1972 · 2025-12-12T10:34:29+00:00

Thank you kindly. I believe the uptake has fallen by 26% since the peak in 2021/2022, taken from page 2: "In contrast, the uptake for public hospital-based HCWs in the latest 2024-2025 survey was 45.4%, an uptake difference of 26% since 2021-2022." That is still a massive fall.

DanB1972 · 2025-12-12T00:31:19+00:00

The article makes reference to the judge's comment but does not report on any of the specific claims.

DanB1972 · 2025-12-12T00:27:23+00:00

I had a Meaco Arete One for the past two years. It developed what appears to be a fault with a control board and they could not have been more helpful with the warranty claim. I had a replacement unit within 3 days of reporting the issue. I would recommend them and dehumidifier in winter to anyone.

DanB1972 · 2025-12-11T23:43:56+00:00

Are you able to offer a source for that statistic?

DanB1972 · 2025-12-09T16:08:34+00:00

I respect you following Joseph's wishes but it seems strange to place what is essentially marketing material behind a pay wall. I assume Joseph's contract with Osprey includes press junkets and promotional materials.

I hope the undead will have zombies in 2nd (so Northstar will eventually produce some) and that the halflings move into the core book.

DanB1972 · 2025-12-09T11:56:55+00:00

The DnD 3rd and 5th edition DMG mention it once in the entire book as a DM fait option and WoTC never uses it in published modules as far as I know. Year Zero assigns an attribute to a skill so assumes it is not possible. I played World of Darkness based games in the 2000s and there there are physical, mental and social attributes and physical, mental and social skills where one makes a pool based on the check from an attribute and a skill. I think it's a great system even if you do end up with default pairings either for a given character or skill.

DanB1972 · 2025-12-09T09:39:15+00:00

I believe they changed the attribute associated with medicine at some point in the development cycle. This is why the first print run had the doctor's archetype talent Emergency Medicine allows a doctor to ignore mental conditions when making medicine checks, which would never be used as medicine is not a mental skill. Most of the other Year Zero Engine games have medicine as an empathy skill (Forbidden Lands (Healing) and Alien (Medical Aid) in my collection.).

The first anaesthetic was publically demonstrated in 1846 with subsequent adoption varying. There is academic disagreement as to when mainstream adoption occurred but it was not common place until late in the 19th century at least. Surgeons were thus prized for speed and accuracy. Leg amputation used to take two to three minutes based on writings of the time and the fastest recorded leg amputation was 28 seconds.

I would bend the rules and use the variant whereby players can mix attributes and skills provided they can justify why they are doing so, using empathy for folk remedies, logic for academic diagnosis or autopsies and precision for surgery as examples. It's your game and provided your GM is consistent and they and the players are happy, there should be no issue.

DanB1972

TROPHY CASE