Deal of the Day - By This Axe I Hack! (Black Hack Hack)

I'm not a huge fan of the Black Hack, but I think I'll make an exception for today's Deal of the Day: By This Axe I Hack! I'm partial to swords & sorcery, and this may just be a good fit. Normally By This Axe I Hack! is 9.95 in PDF, but until tomorrow morning it's 4.98.

Before the dawn of recorded history, our world was a primeval landscape dotted with pockets of civilization; kingdoms, nations, and city-states surrounded by a vast and unforgiving wilderness teaming with danger and littered with the fallen ruins of an ancient empire of mighty sorcerer-lords and the remnants of older, darker civilizations.

Based on David Black’s game-changing The Black Hack, By This Axe I Hack takes its cues from Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian and Kull of Atlantis, Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor Smith’s Red Sonja, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone, and Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

By This Axe I Hack includes 18 unique Character Classes (6 warriors, 6 rogues, and 6 magicians), a magic system that makes even low-lever Magicians exciting and fun to play, 120 spells tailored to the sword and sorcery genre, over 70 special features to customize your Characters, rules for modifying existing Character Classes or creating your own, a huge assortment of men and monsters to throw at your Players, a number of optional rules to help you fine tune the game to exactly your liking (including the ever-popular roll-high option for those who prefer games where higher rolls are always better), and a variety of random tables to help Gamemasters create their own Lost Age.

 

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Kickstarter - The Black Hack 2nd Edition

Holy shit! Talk about a runaway Kickstarter hit. The Black Hack 2nd Edition Kickstarter is doing extremely well - over $44k raised from a goal just over $6,600. It's sneaking up on 1k backers and still has 11 weeks left to fund.

Let's pull out our checklist:

Well done and short video? Damn near perfect for this project. I'd give it an 'A'.

Experienced project manager at the helm? Yep, Peter Regan - SquareHex / Gold Piece Productions. Another solid 'A'

Well explained rewards section? You have no idea how often this is forgotten or overlooked. Yep, another 'A'

Ah heck, let's just give the whole thing a solid "a" :)

There is a magic to The Black Hack and it is immensely "hackable". Definitely looking forward to this one.

I'm not sure of the sweet spot is $40 or $53 (levels 3 and 4). Argh! Need to think ;)

• Level 0 - No reward.
• Level R - This is for retailers only. By selecting this pledge level you will get updates and the option to place a trade order if you wish in October.
• Level 1 - PDFs of both The Black Booklet and The Black Hack rules, plus PDFs of the 3 panel GM's screen and Character Sheets - £5
• Level 2 - All the PDFs, 20 page The Black Booklet in print, 3 panel GM's screen in print, 4 character class sheets - £12
• Level 3 - All the PDFs, 20 page The Black Booklet in print, 124 page The Black Hack rules in print, 3 panel GM's screen in print, 4 character class sheets. Beta Document access- £30
• Level 4 - All the PDFs, Black box, 20 page The Black Booklet in print, 124 page The Black Hack rules in print, 3 panel GM's screen in print, 4 character class sheets, 2 drop table box inserts, edgy black pencils, moody black dice (d4, 3d6, d8, d10, d00, d12, 2d20) & dice pouch, Beta Document access - £40
• Level 5 - All the PDFs, Black box, 20 page The Black Booklet in print, 124 page The Black Hack rules in print, 3 panel GM's screen in print, 4 character class sheets, 2 drop table box inserts, edgy black pencil, moody black dice (d4, 3d6, d8, d10, d00, d12, 2d20) & dice pouch, Beta Document access. PLUS an additional copy of the 124 page The Black Hack hardback with cloth/silver foiled covers exclusive to Kickstarter - £70

Flash Giveaway - The Ogress Hacks the Black Quests of Doom - 24 hours

Today we're giving away Quests of Doom 3, in Print, for Swords & Wizardry. I backed the KS and found myself receiving two copies instead of one. Yes, it was given away prior, but the winner was outside the States, so here it is again. Additionally, we have a print copy of The Black Hack and a print copy of The Ogress of Anubis from New Big Dragon Games (free in PDF)

Here's the rules:

1 - I'm only shipping to the US, but anyone can enter. If the winner is randomly picked from outside the states, they will get a $10 RPGNow Gift Certificate.

2 - You need to leave a comment below to enter. Thats pretty much it.

   2a - You could go to the Swords & Wizardry Complete 3rd Printing KS and back for a buck, which gives you the rules in PDF and all the stretch goals in PDF (currently Strange Bedfellows, the new cover as an art poster and Deck of Treasure) This also allows you to choose in Print add ons. If you do back, add a comment to the KS page stating to the effect that The Tavern sent you ;)

3 - Your comment must be made prior to 230 PM Eastern Time, Sunday, October 23rd, 2016

Good luck :)

edit - obviously 2a and 2b are completely optional ;)

Kickstarter - Kaigaku, a Samurai RPG (A Black Hack hack)

"A high-drama samurai RPG where noble courtiers, devious ninja, heroic ascetics and mighty bushi all clash for the glory of their clan."

The above is the basic description of Kaigaku, a Samurai RPG. It's a hack of The Black Hack RPG (The Black Hack has spawned a plethora of of "hacks")

I haven't played in an asian flavored RPG since AD&D 1e's Oriental Adventures. So I find Kaigaku very intriguing.

What's very nice is that you can download a no frills version of the rules for free from the Kickstarter page. Kinda like "try before you buy."

From the KS page:

Where is it Now? 

Right now Kaigaku is available as a free, no-art, barebones game, which you can download from the link in the first paragraph. Since I released the game I've vastly expanded the manuscript (it's now more than three times as long as the original) and it's been professionally edited multiple times. The premium game also boasts beautiful work from such talented artists as Lord Zsezse Works, Gennifer Bone, Peter Frain and Enmanuel "Lema" Martinez. This is truly my favorite project, and I want it to be the best that it can be. 

What's New? 

The premium version of Kaigaku features lots of new content, including multiple NPC generators, a mass battle system, rules for using your honor as a weapon, 15 new ryu and more. 

What are the Design Principles? 

-Brevity and clear rules
-Easy enough to learn in a day
-Setting that fires up your imagination without dominating it
-Fun above all else

The Black Hack and Black Hack Derived Titles Have 6 of the Top 9 Sales Spots at RPGNow

What the RPG flavor of choice for Spring of 2016?

Why, The Black Hack of course.

Six of the top nine sales spots at RPGNow are The Black Hack related. That is simply amazing. It looks like +David Black really gave us something special.

I also see that many of the titles have already opted to use The Black Hack RPG Free License that was posted about yesterday.

Nicely done, one and all.

The Black Hack RPG Licensing Guidelines Have Been Offered to the Community by David Black

+David Black reached out to me earlier today to let me know that he has posted guidelines for the community to follow if they wish to indicate that a supplement or rules set uses The Black Hack as it's basis. 

I'm going to repeat David's post here with his permission as well as link to today's post on his blog.

3RD Party TBH 

There's been a tonne of really creative and inventive uses of TBH as an 'engine' which i'm really digging and totally happy about. People have been kindly emailing me their drafts, and enquiring about what they want to do - but some haven't (which isn't an issue, mind you). But it prompts me to think now is a good time to publicly make everyone aware of how I want to approach 3rd party content that wants to reference TBH. 

The TBH rules are OGL, so you can totally use them for whatever purpose you want. The name 'The Black Hack' and the Hand logo aren't, however. But having said that, in the spirit of DIY gaming I want you to modify, create supplements and spawn spinoffs. Its what its all about. So if you want to create a supplement/module/hack, and if you want to use the name 'The Black Hack' - here's how you should go about it: 

Email me at david@8bitfactory.co.uk for a set of high resolution hand logos. Freebies?!? Kinda. 

If it's a supplement (ie you need TBH to use it), somewhere on the cover you need the hand logo and the text 'For use with The Black Hack' 

If it's a standalone product (The opposite of above), somewhere on the cover you need the hand logo and the text 'Made using The Black Hack' 

 Any questions just get in touch! 

 #HappyHacking

Mini Review - The Class Hack (The Black Hack)

Unless you've been off the net for a while, you've heard of The Black Hack RPG from +David Black and published by +Peter Regan 's Gold Piece Publications. If not, you are herby notified. It's a nice OSR hack of D&D that speeds up play and comes in at under 20 pages. If it lacks one thing, it's a large selection of class choices, but that's by design, as its influence is Original Dungeons & Dragons.

+Mark Craddock has recently released The Class Hack - 10 ‘OSR’ First Edition Classes (just a buck) for The Black Hack (which is just 2 bucks in PDF). It's pretty much what it it says on the tin, with the Cabalist being the only class that doesn't have "official" roots in the 1e Players Handbook or Unearthed Arcana. Alright, a 5th level Illusionist was a "Cabalist", but I'm not sure if that counts ;)

The Class Hack is a buck and does a fine job of adding some class depth to your Black Hack campaign. Really, not much more to say than if you want some "advanced" classes in your Black Hack, The Class Hack has you covered.

14 pages - Cover, credits, OGL, back cover and 10 classes at a class per page.

Assassin, Acrobat, Barbarian, Bard, Cabalist, Cavalier, Druid, Monk, Paladin, and Ranger.