Anyone try The Black Hack?

[Big Mac]

I mentioned The Black Hack in a topic about Kaigaku RPG a couple of years ago, but didn't think to start a topic about The Black Hack* itself.

* = The Black Hack is also available in other languages.

Does anyone play with these rules?

They seem very small to me (as a 3e D&D and formerly 2e AD&D player used to having chapters of rules for specific areas of roleplaying). Is that a QuickStart version that has been expanded upon elsewhere or can you literally pair down all RPG decisions to just those rules?

What's it like to play? Do you make lots of house rules or do you wing-it as you go along?

[Darkanth]

I mentioned The Black Hack in a topic about Kaigaku RPG a couple of years ago, but didn't think to start a topic about The Black Hack* itself.

* = The Black Hack is also available in other languages.

Does anyone play with these rules?

They seem very small to me (as a 3e D&D and formerly 2e AD&D player used to having chapters of rules for specific areas of roleplaying). Is that a QuickStart version that has been expanded upon elsewhere or can you literally pair down all RPG decisions to just those rules?

What's it like to play? Do you make lots of house rules or do you wing-it as you go along?

That's all you need to start playing. The rules are simplistic, and easily adaptable to other genres (check out DTRPG or RPGNow under The Black Hack. The Cthulhu Hack and the Wasted Hack are awesome!). Parts that I especially like are the Resources Dice. You Don't have to keep track of exactly how many torches you have, or arrows, etc. At the end of a set time frame, or after a battle, you roll the appropriate die and if you get a 1 or 2, then it downgrades to the next one. So if it's a d6, it drops down to a d4, if you roll 1 or 2 on that, then you're out of that particular resource. Armour absorbs damage, it doesn't make you harder to hit. The player makes all rolls, except Damage from Opponents, and every non-resource roll is a Save against one of the characters attributes (Str, Dex, Con, etc). This includes Combat- Characters Attack and Defend themselves.
The main thing that may throw off some people is the Roll Under mechanic used. All Task Resolution is on a d20, and the TN is 1 less than your actual score- i.e. Str 15 need to roll 14 or less to succeed. 15 or above is a failure. Most people have house ruled so its equal to/less than TN. It doesn't make much difference as far as i can tell. A Natural 20 is an Automatic Failure, and a Natural 1 is an Automatic Success. Advantage/Disadvantage is also used. There are a few other rules, but as Big Mac says, it's all stuffed into a few pages.
I'm hoping the above makes sense, but if not, Buy the Books!, they're awesome.

[shesheyan]

I like it.

[Angel Tarragon]

I didn't even know about it, until today, I'll have to check it out.

[shesheyan]

Double post...

[Angel Tarragon]

Been reading it over and it looks like an interesting lite system, I'm looking forward to either playing in the system or GMing it.

[Tim Baker]

I find that it's simple enough that I can use it for games with my younger kids, but still captures an old school D&D feel.

[Big Mac]

That's all you need to start playing. The rules are simplistic, and easily adaptable to other genres (check out DTRPG or RPGNow under The Black Hack. The Cthulhu Hack and the Wasted Hack are awesome!).

Nice.

Somebody call me when they have a Wildspace Hack.

Parts that I especially like are the Resources Dice. You Don't have to keep track of exactly how many torches you have, or arrows, etc. At the end of a set time frame, or after a battle, you roll the appropriate die and if you get a 1 or 2, then it downgrades to the next one. So if it's a d6, it drops down to a d4, if you roll 1 or 2 on that, then you're out of that particular resource.

That's an interesting mechanic.

It reminds me of something in the d20 Modern rules, where money was about what sort of stuff you could afford...rather than being about exactly how much cash you had.

[Havard]

Parts that I especially like are the Resources Dice. You Don't have to keep track of exactly how many torches you have, or arrows, etc. At the end of a set time frame, or after a battle, you roll the appropriate die and if you get a 1 or 2, then it downgrades to the next one. So if it's a d6, it drops down to a d4, if you roll 1 or 2 on that, then you're out of that particular resource.

That's an interesting mechanic.

It reminds me of something in the d20 Modern rules, where money was about what sort of stuff you could afford...rather than being about exactly how much cash you had.

This gives me some ideas for a project I am working on. Very cool!

-Havard

[Darkanth]

That's all you need to start playing. The rules are simplistic, and easily adaptable to other genres (check out DTRPG or RPGNow under The Black Hack. The Cthulhu Hack and the Wasted Hack are awesome!).

Nice.

Somebody call me when they have a Wildspace Hack.

Get the book and make your own

Parts that I especially like are the Resources Dice. You Don't have to keep track of exactly how many torches you have, or arrows, etc. At the end of a set time frame, or after a battle, you roll the appropriate die and if you get a 1 or 2, then it downgrades to the next one. So if it's a d6, it drops down to a d4, if you roll 1 or 2 on that, then you're out of that particular resource.

That's an interesting mechanic.

It reminds me of something in the d20 Modern rules, where money was about what sort of stuff you could afford...rather than being about exactly how much cash you had.

I have been using a Requisition Die in my current Hack. Specific Archetypes start with anything from a d20 to a d6. Some really expensive items automatically downgrade the Die without rolling. Haven't quite perfected a "recovery" method yet.

[BlackBat242]

This is for Old D&D?

[Darkanth]

This is for Old D&D?

Yes and No? It states specifically on the inside front cover of the book that it's 'An "OSR" First Edition Hack'. I personally feel it COULD be used with OD&D material easily enough, but it would also work with BECMI and 2e. Not so sure about 3e, 4e, etc. I wasn't quite sure why Big Mac put it here tbh, but until/if it gets its own slot I guess it's fairly close to it here.

[matakishi]

I've just finished running a Black Hack campaign. We played for about a year and the characters reached 12th level.
everyone enjoyed it and liked the system so, for my Pirates campaign that we've just embarked on, I wrote a Hack instead of using Savage Worlds as I'd intended. I'm also writing some Cthulhu adventures for when we need a filler game if someone's missing for Pirates using the Cthulhu Hack (my group and I have been playing CoC since the first edition but I fancied a change).
The simple system has really gelled with my group (most of us are crusty but my daughter likes it too and she's under thirty so it appeals to kids as well!)
The campaign write up is here:
https://www.matakishi.net/frpg-adventures.html

[Tim Baker]

I've just finished running a Black Hack campaign. We played for about a year and the characters reached 12th level.
everyone enjoyed it and liked the system so, for my Pirates campaign that we've just embarked on, I wrote a Hack instead of using Savage Worlds as I'd intended. I'm also writing some Cthulhu adventures for when we need a filler game if someone's missing for Pirates using the Cthulhu Hack (my group and I have been playing CoC since the first edition but I fancied a change).
The simple system has really gelled with my group (most of us are crusty but my daughter likes it too and she's under thirty so it appeals to kids as well!)

Thanks for sharing that, matakishi. I noticed that this was your first post -- welcome to The Piazza! You may want to take a moment to hop over to the "Introduce Yourself Here" thread and let us know what types of games you play, what settings, and what got you into gaming. It's good to have you join us!

[Big Mac]

That's all you need to start playing. The rules are simplistic, and easily adaptable to other genres (check out DTRPG or RPGNow under The Black Hack. The Cthulhu Hack and the Wasted Hack are awesome!).

Nice.

Somebody call me when they have a Wildspace Hack.

Get the book and make your own

I have to finish the Spelljammer 3E Conversion Project before I even think about converting Spelljammer to anything else.

[Big Mac]

This is for Old D&D?

Yes and No? It states specifically on the inside front cover of the book that it's 'An "OSR" First Edition Hack'. I personally feel it COULD be used with OD&D material easily enough, but it would also work with BECMI and 2e. Not so sure about 3e, 4e, etc. I wasn't quite sure why Big Mac put it here tbh, but until/if it gets its own slot I guess it's fairly close to it here.

I only put it here because I got told before that it was an OD&D retroclone.

I thought that more people who like it would be hanging out here.

I can arrange for the topic to get shunted to The Crunchy BIts if it doesn't match any specific edition of D&D.

As for The Black Hat getting it's own bespoke subforum, there are almost enough people making meaningful posts in this one topic. But will people ever make other topics about the game? If the rules are pared down to the bone, does that mean that people are less likely to need to talk about those rules?

[Darkanth]

This is for Old D&D?

Yes and No? It states specifically on the inside front cover of the book that it's 'An "OSR" First Edition Hack'. I personally feel it COULD be used with OD&D material easily enough, but it would also work with BECMI and 2e. Not so sure about 3e, 4e, etc. I wasn't quite sure why Big Mac put it here tbh, but until/if it gets its own slot I guess it's fairly close to it here.

I only put it here because I got told before that it was an OD&D retroclone.

I thought that more people who like it would be hanging out here.

I can arrange for the topic to get shunted to The Crunchy BIts if it doesn't match any specific edition of D&D.

As for The Black Hat getting it's own bespoke subforum, there are almost enough people making meaningful posts in this one topic. But will people ever make other topics about the game? If the rules are pared down to the bone, does that mean that people are less likely to need to talk about those rules?

I personally would be more inclined to talk about actual Hacks done, including whatever homebrew bits I've added. I'm working on a 40k/Coriolis/SWN Hack at the moment, so would probably be more likely to "spitball" ideas on any actual sub-forum. Would also be happy to look at other folks efforts!

[david0black]

I'm here if anyone wants to pick my brain about the current or upcoming second edition

[shesheyan]

I'm here if anyone wants to pick my brain about the current or upcoming second edition

OH! and when would that be approximately ?

[matakishi]

OH! and when would that be approximately ?

The Kickstarter promises November.

[Tim Baker]

I'm here if anyone wants to pick my brain about the current or upcoming second edition

OH! and when would that be approximately ?

You can keep track of the Kickstarter here, if you're interested.

[Big Mac]

I'm here if anyone wants to pick my brain about the current or upcoming second edition

Welcome to The Piazza, David!

I will have to ask Havard to add you to his Celebrities on The Piazza list. You might also want to pop over to the Introduce yourself here topic and tell people a bit about yourself and the sort of games you like to talk about (or create).

And you might also want to edit your forum signature to add a link to The Black Hack (or your other work) or use your forum avatar to put up a picture that helps people work out you are the Black Hack person.