The new version of the Z-Land beta is now out and on its way to you!
This beta version adds in a small (relatively speaking) change that can have some serious ramifications. This is a change that has come straight from the playtesters and is why we are so grateful to have folks playtest the beta for us.
In this beta version we have removed the Perform Skill and have added in the Might Skill. There were a few reasons for this and some adjustments that had to be made.
The biggest reason is that performing some sort of art (whether musical, acting or whatnot) is simply not that important in an apocalypse setting. That is not to say you can’t create art in Z-Land, but rather that other social skills can handle it such as Diplomacy, Insight, Deceive, etc. In Z-Land it isn’t such a crucial thing to require its very own skill. The Perform Skill works in the Sigil System because Sigil is a generic system and so has to provide for any setting and genre you can think of; and it worked in the Runed Age because in that setting you played as a career criminal who (no matter whether you are stealing, assassinating or sabotaging) infiltrates wherever you go, so Perform is a useful skill as part of your disguise.
But in the Apocalypse, survival is far more important.
So we changed Perform to Might.
Might is the skill that covers everything to do with how strong you are, so in a more traditional RPG system this would be your Strength attribute. Adding in a strength skill meant we had to adjust how Athletics work. Previously, Athletics covered anything the human body does that is physically taxing, and this included feats of strength. Now that we split off strength to our new Might skill, Athletics has become our dexterity skill. Everything you want to do that requires you to be dexterous and nimble, such as running, parkouring, acrobatics, dodging, will fall under Athletics while pure acts of strength such as lifting and pushing heavy things and climbing will fall under Might.