A Witcher adaptation for Whitehack by Woland

How to Play

Preface

The goal of this hack is to present an RPG which replicates the dangerous feeling of The Witcher and to give players a platform to adventure through Sapkowski's medieval faux-Poland universe in a very player driven way. Players choose the role of an iconic witcher, or any other type of character which would fit into the witcher universe - a sorcereress, a scoia tel freedom fighter, a noble, as long as they have proper motivation to leave their home behind to adventure! This is a Witcher port first and an OSR hack second - it will probably play a little heavier than the Whitehack source material. This is a choice to make sure familiar mechanics from the Witcher games are represented.

Persons at the game take on either the role of Dungeon Master (DM) or Player Character (PC). The role of the Dungeon Master is to present an interactive world complete with challenges for the players to overcome, and Non-Player Characters (NPCs) for the players to interact with. The player's role is to act out their fantasy in the world, interacting as they think best suits their character - players act to change the world to suit them - whether they fail or succeed is up to the dice and how the story plays out at the table. ****

The core game-play loop could be something like:

• Choose a destination, usually a town (replace town with similarly sized settlement, a single district of a metropolis, or a grove of druids etc). Keep the community small so that they remain relatable.
• Enter town, collect rumors, view message board
• Uncover a dark secret about the town and its residents
• Act on your morals, ethics and your own best interest to navigate the encounter in the town - whether monstrous or grounded in humanity
• Move on to the next destination

Every bullet pointed list in this game - lists of class features, settlements, npcs, loot, equipment, etc is meant as an example. Feel free to improvise your own similar entry on any list as a player or a game master - as long as the DM and PC agree on the feature, it's in!

This rickety game is a combination of features from Whitehack, The Black Hack, The GLOG - specifically Spiked Goblin Punch, The Witcher Games, MCDM's publications, DnD 5e and my own tweaks. I hope you enjoy!

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Dice

• Dice required: 2d20, 3d6, 1d100

• If a roll has advantage or disadvantage, you make the roll twice and choose the better or worse result for you respectively

• This game uses a Roll under target, but over penalty system:

  • Penalties get added up from 1 and bonuses get added to the target.
  • You always critically succeed rolling your target number, always critically fail on a 20
  • Bonuses applied above 19 increase the critical success range for every point above 19
  • For example:
    • Mislawa stalks the griffon through the tall grass - she must roll on or beneath her dexterity of 14 and above her armor class of 3. She critically succeeds on a 14 and critically fails on a 20.
    • Golbor has honed his skills with blades and wields Llanwyllorum, a pre-conjunction elven longsword. Golbor's sword gives a +2 bonus to AV, and Golbor's managed to seize an opportunity worth a further +2 bonus. If striking an enemy with 5 armor, Golbor would roll his 17 AV, but add +4 from his bonuses to get a target number of 21. He always critically fails on a 20, but he critically succeeds on a 19,18 or 17, he misses on a 1 to 5

• Countable items like arrows and potion doses are abstracted to a usage die instead of counted individually**:**

  • Usage dice follow the progression Ud1<Ud3<Ud6<2Ud6<3Ud6
  • When you need to use an item, roll its usage die. If you roll a 1, the die steps down to the next smallest. When the Ud1 degrades, your item is expended and cannot be used again.
  • When you have a pool of usage dice, only roll one of the dice out of the pool

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The Abilities

• The 6 abilities govern the targets for your die rolls in ability challenges. Their lowest value is 1 and their highest value is 20. If an ability is exhausted, all rolls with it have disadvantage until you can find respite. You cannot pay a cost which may exhaust a stat if that stat is already exhausted

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Strength

• The Strong class gets a bonus to melee, sling and bow from high strength
• Used for tests which work out your muscles
• Your number of inventory slots equals your strength score

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Dexterity

• Used for test of nimbleness, reflexes, speed and hand-eye coordination
• A dexterity of 13 sets your initiative score to 1, 2 if you have 16 or more.
• A character with 16 dexterity or more can treat rough surfaces as ladders for the purposes of climbing as long as they are unencumbered and unarmored

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Constitution

• Used in challenges to your endurance and immune system.
• The Strong class gets a bonus to health and healing from high Constitution
• You get bonus inventory slots equal to half your constitution rounded down

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Intelligence

• Memory, reading spell scrolls and remembering facts all challenge Intelligence
• An intelligence of 13 or more grants 1 bonus language, 2 if you have 16 or more intelligence
• At intelligence 13 you gain one inventory slot used only for memorized books, at 16 you gain another

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Wisdom

• Used for paying attention to the world around you and fortification against temptation
• The Source class gets one extra inactive slot with a 13 wisdom and one more at 16
• A wisdom of 13 or more grants a +1 bonus to saves against fear and charm and sets your initiative to 1 if it’s lower
• A wisdom of 16 or more grants advantage to rolls on the panic table and sets your initiative to 2 if it is lower

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Charisma

• Challenges involving passion like public speaking or resisting domination use charisma
• Characters with above 13 charisma roll on follower tables with advantage
• Characters with above 16 charisma may attract an additional follower

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Movement

Movement Speed

• Human, Half Elves, Elves, Vran, Dopplers and any humanoid around their size move 30 feet (6MV) in a moment
• Halflings, Dwarves, Gnomes, Goblins, Werebbubbs and any humanoids around their size move 25 feet (5MV) in a moment

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Running & Sprinting

• Running lets you move twice as far in a round of exploring, but removes your action
• Sprinting lets you turn an auxiliary into a move if you succeed a constitution challenge. Exhaust your constitution as a cost.

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Flight & Swimming

• Flying creatures can fly anywhere within twice their MV on their turn
• Flying creatures cannot be the target of melee attacks
• A flying creature must end a turn in motion or on on the ground. A flying creature in motion which fails to move on the following turn instead moves straight down at 6MV. A creature which can hover ignores this rule.
• Terrestrial creatures have disadvantage on physical actions underwater
• You may swim at half your normal speed
• Holding your breath for a moment is a constitution challenge with a stacking +1 penalty per success. Characters who can no longer hold their breath take ongoing damage.

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Mounts

• A mount's turn is always after the rider's. The mount may use its move on the rider's turn
• Mounted combatants only provoke free attacks from other mounted combatants. Falling from a mount provokes a free attack
• Weapons with Reach may be used to take free attacks against mounted opponents as if they were not mounted.
• Riders may move to from their mounts using any improvised move action imaginable, but it takes half of your MV to mount or dismount
• It may be easier to seize an opportunity while mounted
• Riders may seize opportunities while mounted that they would not be able to unmounted, for example:

Time & Resting

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Challenges & Experience

• Your Abilities, Attack Value and Saving Throw can all be challenged throughout the game. To succeed on a challenge, you must roll on or below your target number and above your penalties. Higher rolls that are still below the target represent greater quality of success. Rolls on target always critically succeed with maximum quality, Rolls of 20 always critically fail
• If the party needs to use teamwork to solve a problem, the DM may call for a Composite Challenge
• Composite Challenges have three possible difficulties: 4, 6 and 8. Each player involved in a Composite Challenge explains one action they can take to help the challenge along and the DM calls for an appropriate challenge to match the action. The success or failure of the challenge is recorded and the DM resolves the rest of the table. When everyone has gone once, the DM calls for a new round and everyone can suggest a new course of action. The DM cannot accept the same action from the same player twice in the same composite challenge. If the number of successes reaches the difficulty of the challenge, the challenge is won, if the number of failures reaches three, the challenge is lost
• Critical Successes in a composite challenge count as two successes in regards to difficulty