[CLOSED] Dark of Hot Springs Island using TBH

Black powder is comprised of three basic parts: charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. Apply a bit of fire and not only do you get an explosion, you get a big puff of smoke and an aftermath that leaves a highly corrosive residue. This "explosion of consequences" can be found at the heart of the most memorable and frequently retold stories. The death of Caesar. The choice of Paris. The storming of the Bastille. In each case, a powder keg of decisions, relationships, beliefs, debts, and random chance ignites, and we retell the stories of the explosion’s flash, smoke, and caustic consequences to this day.

The Dark of Hot Springs Island contains all the materials necessary to make powder for our story. This densely populated island houses multiple factions, a multitude of interesting NPCs, and hundreds of detailed locations, problematic treasures and random encounters. Shipwrecked on the island, Your presence here is enough to throw off the island's delicate status quo. You are the spark. Every decision you make as you explore the island has consequences - ingredients that have the potential to explode when combined with each other - leaving you to figure out how to keep things from getting out of control.

At it's heart, The Dark of Hot Springs Island is an Old School hex crawl made up of twenty-five 2-mile hexes. But saying it's a hex crawl does it disservice. The island is filled with exciting and fantastical locations to explore, and re-explore. Encounters are beautifully detailed, but driven by random encounter tables. The story will be as much of a surprise to me as it will be to you.

Ruleset: The Black Hack (TBH)
I chose The Black Hack (TBH) as it's a comprehensive, rules-light Old School fantasy roleplaying ruleset. The actual rules are only about 20 pages, so it's very easy to review. At it's most basic level, it's a d20 roll under your Stat (STR, DEX, INT, etc) and all rolls are done by the player (ex. Roll under DEX to avoid being hit). I think the character progression rules are excellent for a PbP game. You earn experience by doing things that change you as a person, then level up by regaling your teammates with stories of your exploits.

✅ Length of the game: The map for Dark of Hot Springs Island (HSI) is relatively small when compared to other hex crawls, but it's dense with material. This game could last many months, if not extending into years (I am still trying to gauge the length of PbP games).

✅ Number of Players: 4 or 5. The Black Hack ruleset is simple enough to handle more players, but I would prefer to keep the number lower as it's my first PbP GMing experience.

✅ Player Experience Requirement: As this is a long campaign, I would recommend that it not be your first game. I will be looking for players with experience in PbP. I'm hoping this will minimize drop-outs.

✅ Number of Posts: 1 post per weekday. I'm okay with a slower pace, but would prefer that posts do not have multiple days in between. I don't want faster than 1 per weekday.

✅ Character Creation Guidelines: TBH has four basic classes - Warrior, Thief, Cleric & Wizard. These are enhanced with backstory & development. I will have a Character Generation thread available for you to create your PCs. No evil characters.

✅ Character Backstory: A detailed backstory is not necessary, but you should consider how your PC fits into a world like this. You should also consider how the PCs know each other. The PCs have been on a ship for over a week. They are crossing the ocean in search of adventure in uncharted territories when they happen upon an unexplored, yet inhabited island. The goal is to explore the island and find a way home again.

✅ Three Pillars: The campaign will be roleplay heavy, but there are rules for hex crawling and plenty of creatures to battle.

✅ Public/Private: The forum will be listed as public. I believe there are some people that like to read these stories. Might as well share, just in case. Hopefully it's an exciting read.

Trigger warning: I plan to work on minimizing it, but the story does present situations of misogyny, slavery, sexualized violence, drug use and racism among other things. Please send me a DM if you have any specific triggers. You can put an X in an OOC comment if the topic is getting uncomfortable for you. Also, the art in the game is amazing, but some is NSFW. I'll put it under a spoiler tag.

What to Expect from me as a GM: I love a great story. I especially enjoy stories where I feel like I'm no longer reading, but imagining the scenes in my mind. My goal is to describe the location or NPC and then let you take the narrative wherever you want. The thing I love about PbP is that I can take the time to consider how the story will play out and how the NPCs will respond. I am not a fan of murderhobos or min-maxers. It is probably tough with TBH, but I thought I should make note of it.

How to Apply: Please leave a note indicating your interest. I figured I'd do a review of your public posts to see if there's a fit. Please note that this is open to everyone. I truly hope to set up a game that is friendly to LGBT and other minorities or marginalized groups. I will reach out to everyone that applies to let you know either way.

Happy Gaming Everyone!

The recruitment post looks great McButterpants! I humbly submit my application for The Dark of Hot Springs Island.

Excellent. I will throw my hat into the ring and then awkwardly climb into the ring to retrieve my hat and lastly apply to play in the game.

I'm also submitting my official application.

Officially interested. Hat hurled into ring.

Now I'm even more interested! I love this map. Count me in, please!

This sounds like a lot of fun - if you'll have me, I'm in!

I'm just here to say that's an awesome recruitment post, and The Black Hack is an excellent OSR! Have fun everyone!

Thanks for the interest everyone. I'm very happy to see so many people apply. I'm also glad that you like the recruitment post. Len's post and the thread discussion associated with it, was a massive help.

The map is awesome! It teases you with just enough detail. There are so many details that make me wonder - what the heck is that all about?

Hey @McButterpants, what edition of The Black Hack are you using?

I'm using 2e.

I'm curious. Is this some kind of "anime-ish fetish" style game?

The art doesn't look like it, but like a balance of serious and "naughty".

I'll go with it as non-naughty wacky adventures. I'm interested to try, whatever it ends up being.

The balance of the art is your typical black and white OSR-type drawings (similar to the third piece).

I don't get an anime feel from the game. It strikes me as an old school D&D style game, but the island and its inhabitants have a high fantasy (magic) feel to them. The situations the characters will find themselves in are quite serious. Sorry if the explanation is confusing. I can see where you get that from my write up. It's hard to describe the story without giving too much away.

Zero anime feels for me in the art for either HSI or TBH.

Fair enough.

Do you have room for one more?
I'm thinking of playing a Thief/Cleric/or Wizard that is an Elf performer and poet that is kicked from his home/royal court for reasons he will not immediately share(can be discussed). He will be Chaotic Neutral, though leaning to Good. I will play him in a balance of joke and serious, as he will have personal demons and/or mental issues underneath.

I'll understand if you don't think I'm suitable with my earlier post. If I'm accepted, I can learn and adapt to whatever is needed.

Edit: Oh, I see it's closed.

Thank you all very much for the interest. Players have been selected. The game has been filled and closed off. Happy gaming everyone!

Also worth pointing out if other TBH games come along that while it’s OSR / neo-OSR, out of the box it doesn’t have elves as a playable race, and there are no alignments.