We played our first game last night and yes wild swings are possible but that's what in game story's are about. It was fun. The 'killer zombie' which ripped 2 soldiers apart (a thug and an infantryman) was a fun and silly twist- of course they were my soldiers dying but heck...
The game had 14 spells go off with starting wizards and likely slightly less failures, which seems about right.
It's a game where the best laid plans can fail - which to me feels very in character for the the D&D or those types of games.