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Category: The Black Hack (Page 1 of 5)

2020 Hopes

Around the holidays, I was able to post quite a bit about magic systems and a few other things. I've been quieter within the past 2 weeks, though, because I have been writing offline quite a bit. As a result, here are the things I hope for in 2020:

Words of Power Series

I plan to finish these up pretty soon. Mostly because this set of posts leads into the next project.

Regional Magic Book

I have been trying to generate D&D-ish magic systems for years. Once, I even created a system based on the Paydirt footbal game. I have finally managed to create a series of systems that different from each other, yet can inform each other. These systems include systems that feature gematria, alien scripts, spontaneous casting, spell building, artifact hacking, found magic, and more.

I've mentioned some of the systems before like salt magic, spontaneous casting, and gematria. I found that making any individual system work came from making them interrelated. I have a campaign world that explains why they are different and common threads that make them all related. It's been a long, ground-up world building that I hope is useful to others, at least for mining ideas, if nothing else.

The document should be ready for testing in Feburary and out in PDF in the Spring for Swords & Wizardry. (I would love to have it for OSE, but there are conventions is S&W that appeal to me.) If I am lucky, a month later will have a 5e version. I have one more magic system to tweak before working on editing this month.

Eye of the Needle

Using M20 Spacecraft as a starting point, I want to finish this setting in the Summer of 2020. A lot is already written, but I need to finish the trading system. This will be less of a priority than the regional magic book, but one it is a passion project for me as I love the central location in this setting, a hole in the ground that takes you to another planet.

EPiC Engines

I have written this Black Hack & SAGA-inspired game that uses only a deck of cards. I stopped work due to 52 Fates, a system that just works differently in many wonderful ways. That said, I still want to give this to the world. I had so much fun making and testing this.

No time limit on this, but if I can get other projects completed, this is a document that just needs some editing and tweaking of the magic system.

Itch.io

I plan to make some non-traditional games with all kinds of wild ideas on my nascent itch site. (No link because, well, no content.) I have a bunch of half-finished games that use odd dice combinations, tokens, and custom cards.

Tyrian Purple is an example of the types of things I want to post there. It doesn't have any custom components, pro se, but it is a competitive card game that playtested well. I still want to simplify bartering, though.

2020 Plans

Those are the plans. As I mentioned earlier, I will finish the Words of Power series of posts. The podcast will fire back up with little bits of goodness here and there. I also plan to post more on 5e as my kids want to play it. So far, I have all manner of sidekicks and creatures inspired by their adventures.

Lovechild of FASERIP and The Black Hack

I've mentioned it before, but in addition to finishing some other projects, I'd like to take 4C (TSR Marvel clone) and mix it with the Black Hack.

It would use Zak's 3d20 system instead of a universal table.

The rule of Weaker/Stronger opponents would prevent situations like Aunt May punching Galactus and causing damage. (Technically possible if Galactus was completely unarmored.)

For that rule to work, this would mean, of course, that villains would have a single ranking number besides Armor and Powers.

I'd also think that traditional armor points don't work as well as treating armor as damage reduction.

There would still need to be a table for each ability or power for what 1, 2, and 3 successes would mean.

More Runes

Working on the next set of runes: Magic, Storm, and Word. These three belong to the Axis clan.

So far, the spells in each rune are straight from The Black Hack or Pathfinder Core with the description modified to fit TBH. After they are all done, this will be a generic OSR add-on for anyone that wants to use it.

Then I'll go back and start making spells for each Rune and Clan that fit into my campaign world. Normally, I enjoy making the spells first, but I was afraid that I would get bogged down and never finish the thing.

So back I go to finish the thing. (tonight)

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