DSZC 5 is all about the player. Being the second edition of the free-form RPs in the 776 roleplay collection, it definitely has improvements on the first, being DSZC 4.
DSZC 5, like the fourth, has an entirely open world, and even beyond, if you manage it. Your game master will determine the aspects in the world. Political climates, some social stigma, characters, environments and random events, to name a few.
Creating a Character
First things first, arguably the most important thing: Creating a character.
On the player's side, creating a character is very simple. To start, you need a name, age, race and difficulty.
Name is a simple one. Relatively speaking. If you have trouble thinking of names, you can ask your game master or use an online name generator.
Age, despite what you may think, is incredibly important. A 20-year-old character has far more potential than an 80-year-old character. Your in-game level is determined partially by your age. When you start, your level is your age, plus one. So a 20-year-old would be level 21. Starting older acts as if all you did for the past time was live a basic civilian life, with nothing special happening, and therefore, you won't have many special skills starting out, unless your game master allows it, or foregoes this aspect. So, an older character has a shorter time to accomplish their goals.
Picking a race is an interesting question. There is a list of which races you can pick from. Each, obviously, having benefits and downfalls.
Upon completing the basics of character creation, we get to talk stats.
To put it simply, there are currently four main stats: HP, Mana, STR and ARM. These stats are explained more in depth in the link, above.
Each race also has specific traits. And, furthermore, you also get to pick a trait specifically for your character.