THE THULEAN HACK
A bare bones d20 system for Barbarian Antiquity low-fantasy games, optionally in Imaginary Europe.
"System writing is like sex. It may have some practical applications, but that's not why we do it."
Apologies/thanks to David Black and the Cachets, who have not been asked if I could use their ideas for this.
1. STATS: Roll 3d6 down the line for Str, Dex, Con, Cha, Int and Willpower.
All checks in the game are roll equal to or under a number, usually an attribute, on a d20. A roll of 20 is always a failure, a roll of 1 is always a success.
The Power of Will: should the GM declare something is exceptionally difficult or foolish and thus deserving of a penalty, a player may roll their Willpower, and on a success, get to roll the check with no penalty. The party may only attempt this once per problem. After a success, a character may not do this again until the next in-game day or the next session (GM decides).
A Perception check is an Int check.
2. CLASSES: Warrior, Mage*, Trickster, Peasant*
If your society be animist, Mages are called Sorcerers; if polytheistic, Druids.
If your society be hunter/gatherer, a Peasant is called a Hunter; if agricultural, Farmer.
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Warrior rolls against their Str + 3 to hit during melee and their Dex + 1 for missile attacks. They also add +1 to their Shield bonus when rolling to defend and deal Critical Hits on a 1-2. They are good at challenging people to duels.
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Mage can cast Spells (see below) and is good at singing and appearing wise and knowledgeable. They can only wear Rawhide armor and may not use shields, or lose their ability to cast spells for a full day.
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Trickster is good at lying, spreading rumors, sabotaging, stealth and stealing.
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Peasant is good at all mundane tasks necessary for life in their low-tech society, and finding things that could be improvised as a weapon. A Peasant can carry a number of items equal to their Str + 2. A Farmer gets +1 to their to-hit chances with a spear. The same is true for Hunters and missile weapons.
Anything a character is "good at" is either rolled with Advantage or succeeds automatically (GM decides).
3. ARMOR AND SHIELDS: Armor absorbs damage, shields make you harder to hit. See below for details.
4. COMBAT, MORALE: A Morale check is a Willpower check.
5. COMBAT, INITIATIVE AND ACTION SEQUENCE: Players roll a Dex check. Those who succeed act before the enemy, those who fail act after.
Attacking, casting Spells and other interaction with the environment besides moving ends your round. There are no attacks of opportunity, but Initiative should be rerolled every round.
6. COMBAT, SWORD DANCE: To attack in melee, players roll a Str check, hitting on a success, except for Warriors who roll against Str + 3.
When defending in melee, players roll a Str check, dodging/blocking/parrying on a success. If they have shields, add a bonus to their chance to defend (small shield +1, large shield +2).
For a missile attack, players roll against Dex, except for Warriors and Hunters who roll against Dex + 1. To defend against missile attacks, roll against Dex + Shield bonus.
Warriors add an extra +1 to their shield bonus.
If the enemies have shields, add the number to the players' attack rolls.
The GM may add a penalty to defending checks if the players are outmatched.
The GM only rolls for damage during combat.
Damage is reduced by armor at the following rates: Rawhide 2, Boiled Leather 4, Iron Mail 6. Once a character has absorbed damage up to the maximum for their armor, they begin taking full damage again. This resets with an appropriate amount of rest.
The dice rolled for damage depend on the size of the weapon/monster. The GM is encouraged to improvise and
come up with their own system.
7. COMBAT, CRITICAL HITS: If a player rolls a 1 while attacking (1 or 2 for Warriors), he deals a Critical Hit, which deals double damage. If a player rolls a 20 while defending (unless his target number is 19), he receives a critical hit.
A hit against an opponent who does not notice you is an automatic critical hit and ignores Armor.
8. DAMAGE: Damage is subtracted from your Con. When resting a full night, roll against your current Con, regaining 1d3 on a success or 1 on a failure. A full day's rest doubles the number.
9. DEATH: When your Con reaches zero, you are unconscious and helpless. If it goes into the negative, your spirit has fled; the party will tell the bees of your fate and sing your praises. Make your death scene a good story.
10. SAVES: Physical trauma that cannot be dodged does not get a save. Roll under Dex for things that can be dodged, Con for poison or diseases, Wil for illusions and Cha for charm. Other kinds of magic generally do not get a save.
11. ENCUMBRANCE: You may carry a number of items equal to your Strength, except for Peasants who add 2 to that number. Small shields count as two items, large shields as three. Common sense applies in the case of very bulky items.
12. SPELLS AND MAGIC: A Sorcerer must pick an Element (Earth, Water, Fire, Air) during character creation; a Druid must pick a Deity and describe its attributes and sphere of influence. When casting a Spell, a Mage rolls an Int check; on a success, the spell goes off. The Mage describes what the spell does before rolling the check. The effects must make sense thematically with the element or deity respectively. After a spell goes off, the Mage must roll a die ranging from a d4 to a d20, decided by the GM in accordance to how powerful the spell is. Their Intelligence is reduced by the number rolled until the next full night's rest.
If a character's Intelligence ever goes below 3, they gain a flaw, quirk or minor (or major) insanity.
Magical Items are objects inhabited by spirits, or imbued with the breath of a God. They never grant boring numerical benefits, but have
special uses, like instilling terror into every horse in sight, or making people believe the bearer is constantly lying (unless he is lying, in which case they believe he speaks truth). Magical Items also possess personalities and memories, and if somehow communicated with, are likely an interesting source of historical knowledge.
13. DISEASE AND EXHAUSTION: These drain Stats until things have returned to normal.
That's that!
ADDENDUM: LEVEL ADVANCEMENT: This is moot if you are running a single self contained adventure; feel free to ignore it unless you are running a campaign and your table likes level advancement. You can use whatever leveling gimmick you like, but
one tied to Reputation and Fame might fit the setting well.
Whenever a character gains a level, they increase a single stat by 1. If a Warrior is increasing Con or a Mage is increasing Int, they increase it by 1d2. No stat may go above 18.
Logical method: A random stat
that has been checked against since the last level gain is the stat that increases.
No bookkeeping method: The stat that increases is totally random. If this happens to make zero sense, it can become a running joke, running jokes being one of the best things about campaigns anyway.
Edited Oct 12 2020
