ZA/UM Drops Free Zero Parades Prequel One-Shot for Dead Spies Fans
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is my favorite game from this year—an engrossing spy thriller packed with memorable characters and that unmistakable “what’s underneath?” style of world-building that tends to hook players who like their stories a little strange and a lot immersive.
Many people already know that ZA/UM grew out of a crew of creators coming together for tabletop roleplaying sessions, usually set in Robert Kurvitz’s Elysium. Even after a large portion of the studio’s original team moved on—often amid bitter splits—the tabletop spirit has stayed alive inside the company.
An Evening at the Palace of Culture is a Free Zero Parades One-Shot
With that in mind, ZA/UM has released a free one-shot built for Zero Parades. It includes custom rules, background material, pre-made character sheets, and everything you need to run the pen-and-paper adventure.
This module acts as a prequel set thirty years before the main events of Zero Parades. The story unfolds in the Palace of Culture, a location that’s abandoned during the game itself, but remains very much alive and active in this one-shot.
You take the role of the security team assigned to Sweet Nestor, the ruler of Portofiro, as he meets with representatives from the Superbloc. If you’ve already played Zero Parades, you’ll recognize this night—because its key moments show up later through flashbacks while you explore the Palace of Culture ruins. One line capturing the vibe is: “You say Nestor isn’t communist enough? Well, I say communism isn’t Nestor enough!”
Your mission is to stop the legendary Opera spy Probable from detonating a bomb and assassinating Nestor. Each of the module’s pre-built characters comes with their own undercover look, specific function in the operation, and distinct challenges to deal with. There are also item cards included, which grant the character using them certain bonuses.
Zero Parades is a spy thriller that keeps pulling you forward from the first scene to the last.
The one-shot features multiple NPCs, and most of them should feel familiar to anyone who played Zero Parades—among them a particular stubborn trade unionist who has shifted careers into tailoring.
I really like what ZA/UM is doing here. Exploring worlds through different formats is especially appealing to me, and getting to play An Evening at the Palace of Culture with the extra context you earn from having already run through Zero Parades—like Probable’s storied reputation—is going to be a highlight.
If you’d rather watch than play, the Zero Parades cast actually ran through the module. Their session was recorded and published shortly before the game’s release.
An Evening at the Palace of Culture can be downloaded for free from the Zero Parades website.
