The Black Hack 2e

I recently bought The Black Hack 2e and I admit I am very excited about it. It’s a pretty great price considering what you’re getting. It’s got some nice spins on things which I really like. Although it’s tamer than the GLOG, it’s possible that I may like it more (don’t tell anyone) (probably depends on the mood I'm in anyway). I might just run The Black Hack before I run GLOG.

The attributes are nicely handled. 3d6 in order. If you roll a 14+ in one stat, the next one is automatically a 7 (so roll high on your charisma).

All tests (including attacking and defending) are made by rolling under your attributes.

In order to level up, you have to share your experiences and tell a little story about your character’s background. You don’t count XP from every little thing you kill. One of the things you can earn XP for is failing spectacularly (with the blessing of the table).

Although it has HD and hit points, they handle Armor Class very well. There isn’t an armor class. players roll vs their Strength or Dexterity to defend against melee or ranged attacks. If they miss, the damage is rolled. They either decide to sacrifice armor or take the damage. Armor is potentially broken permanently by evading damage in this way, especially if it is stronger armor. When I run GLOG, I think I might just steal this (No mods to Attack & Defense; AC is used to block blows).

I imagine that a lot of what’s in here might have been done in earlier D&D games (except for having the players roll nearly all the dice (you get to roll damage, Tim) and the armor system). The layout and the art is also really awesome. I’d suggest that if you were looking for another OSR heartbreaker, you should try this one. Once you take a look at it, you see it’s slick and intuitive. Not sure whether it’d be great for a stupendous epic campaign of 20 sessions. Maybe it would be, but I imagine it’s ideal for shorter campaigns. Please contest me and share your own stories of your games in The Black Hack in the comments below.