After watching the interview with Steve on Geekout Weekly, I took a quick look again at Black Sword Hack (Ultimate Chaos Edition SRD https://blackswordhack.github.io/ ), thinking about how it compares with ToA. This is not any review but just some quick thoughts.
1. Main differences: Usage die chain (as in the "hack" tradition), high(er) magic, law vs. chaos world setting (permeating in the world generators), milestone-based character advancement, simpler combat rules 2. Notable similarities (by no means exhaustive):- Similar vibe: swords & sorcery theme, though more pulp and heavily based on the setting of Elric
- D20 roll under, crits at 1 and 20
- Low and flat HP curve
- Magic is mysterical and dangerous
- Relatively low and flat HP curve
- The Doom die in BSH is reminiscent of Luck in ToA
- "Twisted Science": shares a similar vibe with the Artificer in ToA
- Regional Adventure Seeds: similar to the approach of the regional random tables in ToA (and The Midlands), thematic, and again more tied to BSH's own world setting
- Attack Effect: can be used as examples of major/minor exploits
- Runic weapons: can offer more inspirations for custom artifacts in ToA
- City generator: Pretty useful as not necessarily tied to the "law vs chaos" theme
- Traveller's Tales: can be used as a supplement for montages in ToA.
- Very cool tips on solo/gm prep: Use your favourite S&S book/short story as a plot generator (random pick as spark words)
- Bibliography: the Appendix N of BSH
- "Advice from the Great Old Ones": with very cool quotations from those authors with commentary on how to utilise the ideas in the game
No comments:
Post a Comment