if our lives be short - the gloghack

Being an excerpt of the beating mechanical heart of Hulk Rats, themselves being a light revision of Maze Rats.

to play the game

To escape most dangers, a throw of 2d under or equal to one of your target numbers saves. If a danger directly relates to one of your regrets, roll 3d and discard the lowest die instead. When attacking, make a saving throw for the target, adding any of the attacker's bonuses to the roll.

Run is used to get away from danger as quickly as you can, damn every other consideration. Hide is used to take cover or avoid drawing attention to yourself. Trick is used to disable, distract or divert a foe with a risky gimmick.

When the danger is damage and the roll exceeds a character's save, the character loses initiative or health equal to the excess. Extra or double damage is added to or multiplies this amount, respectively. Heavy weapons, for example, deal 1 extra damage but take two hands. Characters are critically injured and will not survive if abandoned when they run out of health points.

experience

Characters mark experience once for surviving a dangerous expedition, twice for figuring out a puzzle or scheme or thrice for defeating a foe stronger than they are. After 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 and 45 experiences, they may gain another level rank during downtime.

patience

When customs (such as hospitality or vendetta) do not demand a particular reaction, the referee rolls 2d to determine a stranger's patience. If it is 6 or less, they will treat the adventurers with suspicion, and if it is 10 or more they will be somewhat impressed.

If the adventurers suggest an action or propose a deal, they make their case and the Referee rolls a die. If they play to the stranger's desires and fears, they accept on a 5 or lower. If they play to one or the other, on a 3 or lower. Otherwise, only on a roll of 1. If the stranger does not accept, reduce their patience by the number rolled; when someone runs out of patience, they become hostile (though not always violent) and are unwilling to listen to further suggestions.

You can try to use this procedure to get the price you want with a merchant, but works best when they both really want what you're offering and fear the loss of the sale.

crisis

When entering a crisis, a character can spend a number of your health points (though no more than your level) to roll that many dice and gain initiative points equal to the sum. You can't do this if you're burdened.

When you have initiative:

• you remain conscious
• you get to act before anyone with less initiative than you
• it costs one initiative to do anything carefully or deliberately
• you lose inititiative before you lose health, when taking damage

A few minutes after a crisis, a character can catch their breath to trade initiative for health: one health for every two points of initiative. Initiative disappears a few minutes after the crisis that generated it, regardless.

to create a character

1. Write a regret that describes why they're doing what they're doing.
2. For each of the three saves, roll 3d and divide the sum by two, rounding down. If you roll all 1s, you may re-roll. If the lowest single die is greater than the number of regrets already written, write a new regret.
   • Run. Regret: something you ran away, or should have done.
   • Hide. Regret: something you never told anyone, or a time you were found out.
   • Trick. Regret: a lie you told someone, or a lie you believed.
3. You health is 2 + your level, and you have one rank of adventuring skills per level. Start at level two.
4. Pick gear.

skills for classic fantasy

hey pay attention, this is the structure I have in this hack instead of ABCD templates.

• Martial arts. Add 1 to any attack roll with an art you are familiar with for every rank of martial arts you have.
  • Choose one art per rank: blades, cudgels, fists, missiles, spears.
  • After two ranks, you can invest a new rank in the ability to roll 3d and drop the lowest die when you take a foe unawares.
  • After two ranks, you can invest new ranks in the ability to attack up to one more target per turn, as long as all targets are weaker than you, instead of new arts.
• Expertise. Add 1 to a save for each relevant expertise tag you have.
  • Tags come in packages of three per rank, like: acrobatics (balancing, climbing, jumping), bushcraft (foraging, tracking, trapping), thievery (locks, pockets, sight-lines), or another that you can think of.
  • After two ranks, you can invest a new rank in never being taken unawares when conscious in a situation where one of your tags applies.
  • After two ranks, you can invest a new rank in knowing people quite well; if you're dealing with someone who wants or fears something related to one of your .
• What, no magic?
  • For starting characters? No.
  • Maybe I'll post some later.
  • Or write your own, are you a gretchling or aren't you?