Tag: Saves

October 3, 2017

Twixt Stats and Saves

Following the brief review of Tainted Meat (which I ran at Concrete Cow) posted on Department V, I have been giving occasional thought to character stats in The Cthulhu Hack. I was less keen on the disconnect between the usual OSR six stats, and the Flashlights and Smokes. It’s easy to assume that a high INT character is going to be a top investigator, only […]

Q & A

May 12, 2017

Opposed Investigation

When you roll Flashlights or Smokes in The Cthulhu Hack, you’re checking to see if the investigator taxes their resources in discovering something key about the situation. When they throw a 1 or 2, they have pushed themselves too far, but they haven’t failed. Whatever they roll, they discover something new and vital in the progress toward their goal. However, what if getting the clue isn’t […]

Running Tabletop Games

March 3, 2017

Handling Threat

Characters in The Cthulhu Hack handle Threats in different ways. Sometimes, the situation doesn’t allow any kind of decision making; or at least, it doesn’t allow any careful finessing. A teacher battering seven shades of hell out of a bully in a car park might Save versus the Threat with Strength or Dexterity, dependent on if the teacher choosing to wrestle or evade. The same […]

Q & A

September 26, 2016

Perception Check

Got a good question from a user on the Google+ community for The Cthulhu Hack. I thought it warranted a wider post, as I imagine anyone coming from other game systems might have similar questions: How do folks handle perception checks? If there is no clue to be found in the story and a character just wants to make sure no one in a diner is a threat. […]

Mechanics Playtest

September 14, 2016

Classless Save

Character generation for The Cthulhu Hack opens up to a classless approach to shift from the Old School roots of warriors and thieves. It makes sense – and I have had some comments on why I adhered to the Class-based approach. The truth? At the time it seemed to make sense to stick with The Black Hack‘s simplicity and work from there. And in tinkering […]

Mechanics

May 16, 2016

The Save

You might not appreciate the real difference between a Save and any other non-equipment roll you make in a game of The Cthulhu Hack. They’re quite different. (Actually, the current version of the rules references Tests rather a lot and these will be switched to Saves in the next revision for absolute clarity!) Saves handle risk and danger. If your character faces the prospect of damage, […]