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The Black Hack

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The Black Hack is a super-streamlined roleplaying game that uses the Original 1970s Fantasy Roleplaying Game as a base, and could well be the most straightforward modern OSR compatible clone available. If speed of play and character creation, compatibility, and simple - yet elegant rules are what you yearn for. Look no further!

The Black Hack is a fast playing game and the rules can be picked up in minutes. The full rules fit in a single 20 page A5 book!

Here's a few quotes from the playtesting sessions of the game:

Mick Reddick - "Black Hack... Played this in beta and can honestly say this is as much fun as you can have with a retro clone! Simple, Streamlined and Superb."

Tony Tucker - "The Black Hack is so simple and flexible I can run it off the top of my head. Think up some weird monsters, give them some hit dice and go crazy!"

Daniel Sell, Undercroft ‘zine - "David black designs with spunk. Sharp and funny, full of the old spirit.”

Chris McDowall, Into the Odd - "Blackhack is three-chord D&D. It hand picks the best parts of the game's forty year history and distills it down to its firey, addictive spirit. Everything discarded is soon forgotten."

A printed edition of the rules is now available at the Squarehex website.

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Reviews (17)
Discussions (22)
Customer avatar
Jeremy H December 15, 2021 2:53 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hello. Would you guys help me boost my current Kickstarter? I'm putting together a third volume of monsters for Black Hack. I have two other volumes here on DriveThru. it's been a few years since I published those and hope to get some additional exposure via the current crop of Black Hackers. Thanks! :^)
Customer avatar
charles B August 29, 2021 10:51 pm UTC
Could get a printed bundle with space hack?
Customer avatar
Forbidden K September 13, 2020 3:12 am UTC
PURCHASER
Come play TBH!
https://discord.gg/K5pfEEQ
Customer avatar
Jeremy H December 11, 2018 3:09 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm nearing the end of a Kickstarter for a The Black Hack monster book. It leans towards 2e but should play well enough with 1e too. What do I need to put into the OGL statement for something built on TBH? Thanks in advance.

If you want to check out the KS, search for "The CFQ Vol. 1 -for- The Black Hack QUICKSTARTER".
Customer avatar
Peter C July 21, 2018 6:59 am UTC
I made a printer friendly cover...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xc05o7fx5yvdcyc/Black%20hack%20printer%20friendly%20cover.jpg?dl=0
Reply
Customer avatar
Nick L October 10, 2020 11:00 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Not all heroes wear capes. Hail!
Customer avatar
Daniel D July 02, 2018 3:48 am UTC
How many pages this book has?
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Customer avatar
Daniel D July 03, 2018 3:20 pm UTC
20 pages, i see.
Customer avatar
Chad K October 23, 2017 7:47 pm UTC
The cover? Meh...not a good decision.
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Customer avatar
Jarad C December 13, 2017 8:07 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hurry up and change it David Black! You heard the man, it wasn't a good decision!!
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Customer avatar
Brian S January 25, 2018 7:54 am UTC
PURCHASER
what do you mean by "not a good decision"? why is that?
Reply
Customer avatar
Jack M January 25, 2018 4:29 pm UTC
I assume you mean that the cover is not printer friendly...which it certainly is not.
However, you should elaborate on such statements.
Reply
Customer avatar
Geoffrey W June 08, 2018 4:21 am UTC
Clearly this man is not ready to rock.
Customer avatar
Adam G March 21, 2017 3:54 pm UTC
how i can do it
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Customer avatar
Adam D March 14, 2018 9:17 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Do what? Explain and I can try to help.
Customer avatar
Benjamin N September 27, 2016 11:23 am UTC
I have a question about levels and hit points: I'm seeing no cap to levels. And the Pulp Hack is the only Hack (that I own. And I own most) that mentions hit points increase with each level. And it doesn't go into any detail.

My impression is that damage and hit points stay the same. Opponents simply become easier to defeat with each level increase. Am I close to the mark?
Reply
Customer avatar
Tristan T October 17, 2016 11:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hit points increase per level. Each class has an HP per level/resting value. Everytime a character gains a level, the character adds that amount of HP to their total.
Reply
Customer avatar
Adam D March 14, 2018 9:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I think you have the gist of it.

Also keep in mind that as your level increases, you're less penalized by the Powerful Opponents rule. A high-level character also probably has a magical weapon and can add those pluses to damage, but it's a small favor against a 10d8 hp creature. Make sure to take a Conjurer with the big spells, because you don't want to deal out 1d8+1 damage for 5-6 turns to kill that thing.
Customer avatar
Jack M September 10, 2016 9:45 pm UTC
Kan havz print vurshun?
Customer avatar
August 24, 2016 3:06 am UTC
Purchased bundle on squarehex,any chance I can get a PDFs also?
Customer avatar
Dorian Y August 11, 2016 11:14 am UTC
PURCHASER
A player rolls against their own state both to hit and to avoid being hit by monsters. So how do you resolve one player attacking another? If you ignore the stats of the defending player then the games mechanic is broken because thieves get advantages when defending using dexterity etc.

Maybe the attacker doesn't roll to hit when attacking another player, instead the other player defends? How can that work when the attacked player may be a higher level and the attacker should have an added penalty to their roll.

Seems like the rules paint themselves into a corner.
Reply
Customer avatar
David B September 11, 2016 8:40 pm UTC
Have the defender test their attributes to avoid the damage, if the attacker is a higher level - use the powerful opponents rule.
Customer avatar
Nathan C July 12, 2016 6:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
To my understanding monsters do not roll anything besides damage. And yet a few of the monster abilities had me confused. Succubi for example have Advantage on magic tests. Since they don't roll tests does that mean anyone casting a spell on the Succubi has advantage? That seems odd.

Owlbears also list the following: Hug for 2d8 if to-hit roll is 1-4.
Since an Owlbear does not roll to-hit does that mean they deal 2d8 when a PC rolls really well on an attack? This also struck me as odd.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S July 21, 2016 3:34 am UTC
PURCHASER
You are correct that monsters don't make rolls. Therefore, I would suggest that an advantage for them would be a disadvantage for the PCs. As for the Owlbear, just "invert" the value: 17-20.
Reply
Customer avatar
Christopher S July 21, 2016 3:39 am UTC
PURCHASER
That is to say, 17-20 on the PCs defence roll, assuming the roll was a failure.
Customer avatar
Geoff T July 07, 2016 8:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great stuff, purchased today, printing this out and having it bound tomorrow! Is there an extended spell list anywhere, as this seems to be the only thing I want in addition to the core book?
Reply
Customer avatar
Adam D March 14, 2018 9:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Spells are SOOPER easy to make up, but a little harder to balance. I suspect you'd be able to balance them about as well as anyone would, though. Let players make up their own spells. Once you okay / rewrite them for basic balance, require like 4 successful INT checks in a row (one per week) to succeed, and treat the level of the spell as a "Powerful Monster" HD.
Customer avatar
Peter H June 28, 2016 6:11 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Love the system. Any chance we can get version with a printer-friendly cover?
Reply
Customer avatar
Peter C July 21, 2018 6:59 am UTC
I made a printer friendly cover...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xc05o7fx5yvdcyc/Black%20hack%20printer%20friendly%20cover.jpg?dl=0
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 Recent History















Product Information
Mithral seller
Author(s)
Artist(s)
Rule System(s)
Pages
19
Publisher Stock #
BH1
File Size:
2.89 MB
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File Last Updated:
April 14, 2016
This title was added to our catalog on March 23, 2016.