I have a direction.

I do not believe it is necessary to defend the size of my Fictive projects. They are full of good stuff. It is not bloat, it is not splat, it is not crap. Still, I got to thinking.

I will make a version of Fictive Hack that is no more than 50 pages long; that’s 2 pages short of double the original Old School Hack game. But with a LOT more stuff in it. For example, 10 templates for normal humans, then 6 more; 4 for races, and 2 for spellcasters. The additional 6 can be used as-is or used as overlay templates on the others. From 60 templates (plus, if you count World Between and other innovations since “Talents and Templates” came out) down to 16 for the one-shot version.

I will also make a longer version of Fictive Hack with all the rest of the good stuff in it; I’m tentatively naming it “Fictive Hack, Campaign Book, Official TL:DR 2013.”

That should satisfy the one-shot itch, and also have the great resources for those who want more. So maybe I can get more of an audience among those who feel that 26 pages is the perfect length for a game and the rest bloats it up.

As part of that effort, I am working up a monster-builder to include in the one-shot book. I think it will be one of the best gifts I’ve given the Old School Hack community; so I’m clearly excited about it. More to come soon.

World Between: Adumbratis by Night play report

We played last night. Gothic fantasy, with humor and horror and violence, all blended together really well. Old School Hack can handle other genres besides silliness just fine, don’t let anyone tell you different.

The play report is here.

A few technical notes:

• Holy Water. I had a pip with this. There was a shrine to the Lady of the White Way, with a statue surrounded by a reflecting pool touching her feet. The priest blessed the water and put it in flasks with the holy symbol on the front and a prayer for the unction of transferred grace through the water etched into the back, to keep the water holy. Using the holy water, I allowed it to be splashed as a light weapon, sprinkled down stairs as a range weapon, and I allowed it to hit multiple guards using the minion rules because it was a sort of area effect. I used the combat rules flexibly for a flexible weapon, and the players got a real kick out of making vampires scream and smoke under holy water.
• Chase. The necromancer got away; I could have allowed a move action every round from one arena to the next, with him always ahead, but that’s awful for game fun. So I allowed everyone in the chase to justify an ability score to add to a d12 roll, and if they beat the necromancer by 3 they could do a range attack, by 5 they could manage a melee attack. And yes, that can be boosted with Awesome Points. So the chase in the wilderness was exciting and abstract, punctuated by attacks; that’s the way it should be.
• Counterspelling. It did just what I wanted it to (though the wizard character would not be thrilled by that, as he got kicked around by the process.) That is all.
• Vampires. Making guards into vampires worked beautifully. They were scary as hell to my poor player characters, but they also went down with satisfying ease and a flurry of attacks. Vulnerability to things like holy water made them feel like unique monsters, and their soak of 1 wound against regular attacks did too. They were a lot of fun to kill, but really scary, and that’s exactly what I wanted.

The session went really well. As soon as we’re done with the dragon hunt, we’ll move over to the World Between for open table.

As a final note, the Compendium came out on April 1. And as of May 4, I’ve got a game going. So that’s pretty cool.

Witches in the World Between

This is not about religion, it’s about Gothic horror in a setting rife with people making deals with demons.

How cool is it to have a character who has a familiar, but is not a wizard? Here’s a witch. Have some cool extra powers. But there is a price, down the road. A highly customizable system that meshes with dark secrets and darker fates makes magic available to non-spellcasters through demonic pacts. Good times, am I right?!

Witch

OSH Overlay Template: Vampire!

Now we have vampires! I’ve built a structure so you can quickly whip together a wimpy fodder vampire who still has some kick, or build a monster of the night that can rip your cocky party apart. And if your character has the misfortune of being infected by undeath, well… it could still be fun to play. This is an overlay template.

Vampire

OSH Overlay Template: Werewolf!

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

Right then! Monster hunting becomes more intriguing when you get turned into a monster. How do your friends handle it? Family? How do you react when you find out you have killed innocents, and threaten more?

So, here’s the Werewolf overlay template.

Werewolf

OSH: “There Can Be Only One.” Immortals!

I’ve adapted immortals for just about every game I’ve ever run. And now, here they are for Old School Hack. This is an overlay template.

Immortals

OSH: Overlay Templates

I admit it, I’ve done some wacky stuff for Old School Hack. And now I’ve got a whole other dimension of wackiness to share with you all.

I am giving this its own post, so I can link back to it, but there are several overlay templates to come. I think this is going to be a real hit.

Overlay Templates

Sometimes supernatural remarkable things happen to people. Overlay templates represent a magical condition afflicting a character. Examples include becoming a vampire, or a werewolf, or finding out you are an immortal.

Requirement to Level. Under the influence of an overlay template, a character must spend 15 Awesome Points to level up instead of 12. This does not affect previous leveling, and if the overlay template is somehow removed, the requirement to level returns to 12.

Inherent Abilities and Limitations. As soon as the overlay template applies, the character gains the inherent ability of the overlay template, as well as any limitations.

 Talents. You can spend 3 Awesome Points to access talents from the overlay just like you can for your base template. Taking talents from the overlay when you level does not count as a base template talent or a cross-template talent.