The Most Straightforward Modern OSR Game Available?

OSR fans might find The Black Hack from David Black interesting. Based on the original edition of D&D in the 1970s, it claims to be "the most straightforward modern OSR compatible clone available". It's short - 20 half-sized pages - and is on Kickstarter right now, already funded. David has kindly sent me along an exclusive preview of the game!

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You can find the Kickstarter here. If fast and streamlined is your thing, this is certainly an option. The rewards seem very generous - £1 for the PDF, or £5 for the print version - and bonus stretch goals like printed character sheets, a micro-setting, and a GMs screen have already been unlocked. Given the low buy-in, it seems like a no-brainer for fans of this style of game.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Not to sound overly snarky or harsh, but how many OSR clones can the hobby support? There are so many of them out there now and I wonder how many are actually played by more than a few dozen people. If you want to play White Box D&D then what is stopping you? It is now widely available. Changing terminology such as armor class to armor points or cleric to priest doesn't make the latest knockoff original or innovative in any meaningful way.

How many can the hobby support? Well, if you're correct that each new clone only gets a few dozen people playing it then it can support a LOT more, because each individually typically would have no effect on the overall hobby. There are, I suspect, a FEW OSR clones that get most of the players and attention which have some BARELY measurable effect upon the hobby as a whole. Most players still choose the currently in-print edition, or are still playing the older official editions - which are by definition not clones.

No version of the game has an expiration date. Even if it stops being published it doesn't stop people from playing it much less making a gazillion clones of it and playing those too. That either means that at some date in the future it will be impossible to have new editions or even clones because the saturation point will have been reached - everyone will have found their preferred set of game rules and won't really be interested in changing... Or else there will NEVER be a saturation point, because a large percentage of players will ALWAYS move on to the newest edition, leaving only a fraction of players behind to play older stuff and those that are left behind are made up for by NEW people entering the hobby - most of whom will go for the newest official edition and only a fraction of whom will end up choosing the older stuff instead.

And sometimes simply changing the TERMINOLOGY is what people really want. Can't tell you how much I despised the term "healing surge" in 4E. Despised with the flame of 10,000 suns. But yet I created a mechanic for my 1E game that was strikingly similar but is called "fatigue recovery". Simply by calling it something different I found I could accept the underlying principle of the rule - the underlying principle was something I actually really wanted in order to move a lot of healing responsibilities away from clerics. I don't consider my rule original or innovative as such.

D&D is - and always was - a game of INDIVIDUAL CAMPAIGN modifications made by DM's acting as their own game designers with EVERY rule they make. Just because some of them publish them as new OSR clones doesn't mean they have that much more effect on the hobby as 1000 DM's who never hear of much less care about that published OSR clone but who nonetheless make just as many changes to their own games.

 

[jerzyab]

From what I've read about the combat system so far, I gather that the GM will not roll to hit the PCs. Instead, PCs only roll to check whether they dodged the monster's attack. Is that correct? In case it is, how would you handle PvP?

(I'm actually thinking about a particular scene in the adventure from the LotFP Referee book, if you know what I mean...)

 

[EdL]

Interesting, but for me the armor system is the worst I've ever seen. YMMV, etc.

 

[R_Chance]

Is this port OGL based? Had to wonder a bit after seeing my favorite "(dis)advantage" 5E term...

And will the paper copy ship overseas?

I went in at the 14 pound / 20 dollar level. It added shipping for overseas (I'm in the U.S.), + 9 pounds / 13 dollars bringing me to $33 total. So yes, it will ship overseas, for an added cost, no problem. The additional shipping was based on location btw.

 

[DavidBlack]

..the armor system is the worst I've ever seen..

Achievement unlocked!

 

[DavidBlack]

From what I've read about the combat system so far, I gather that the GM will not roll to hit the PCs. Instead, PCs only roll to check whether they dodged the monster's attack. Is that correct? In case it is, how would you handle PvP?

(I'm actually thinking about a particular scene in the adventure from the LotFP Referee book, if you know what I mean...)

Players roll to avoid damage, so in a PVP situation - the roll to avoid would trump the roll to hit. We can safely assume that if the PC doesn't do anything to avoid the attack the other PC will hit them as they intend to.

EDIT: to clarify - just roll to avoid the damage, no to hit roll.

 

[Grimjack99]

Sounds less like on OSR and more like a combination of rules the author liked. And that's OK. Just call it what it is. Is this a good set of rules? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly a chef can improve on another's recipe. So, why can't an author take other authors works, and cobble them together for profit. Most would say plagiarism, and I agree in principal. But here's the rub, the OGL gives David the right to do this as long as the rules he takes are under the OGL, and he gives credit where credit is due.

Personally, I don't think this will be a very inventive, or ground breaking set of rules; just copying the works of others; but aren't all house rules. I do have one concern; the rule of characters rolling to avoid an attack is straight out of the Cypher System rules by Monte Cook, and not part of the OGL. Maybe that mechanic is part of another OGL system, but I'm not aware of one.

 

[DavidBlack]

I do have one concern; the rule of characters rolling to avoid an attack is straight out of the Cypher System rules by Monte Cook, and not part of the OGL.

Rolling below a number on a dice isn't covered by any copyright

The terminology and exact wording are, and as mine are different to whatever Monte is doing - it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Baumi]

I m not much of an OSR Guy, but this one looks great and I instantly baked after this preview! 8D

The Roll under (and not equal) is a bit unusual, but the system looks extremely easy and fun. I also love games that let the Players do all the roles (easier to gm and more fun for the player).

Also spellcasting and the usage die mechanic sound fun and it's great to see the Advantage/Disadvantage rule in here too

The only negative thing for me so far is the confusion that will result in the fact that positive modifiers are bad for you.

One thing that I am unclear a the moment is, if you could take another shield if yours is used up or wear another armor.

 

[DavidBlack]

One thing that I am unclear a the moment is, if you could take another shield if yours is used up or wear another armor.

The rules are open to allow some wiggle room for the GM, personally I'd rule that you'd be too tired/wounded to make effective use of the shield/ additional armor.

The warrior class has a special abilities whereby they can sunder a shield (completely destroying it) and ignoring the damage.