Fen Orc
  • Home
  • The Magus Hack
    • Magus Corrections
    • Magus Magic
    • New Virtues
    • Wizard Sport
  • The Vampyre Hack
    • Blood Hack >
      • Nights of Fire
  • OSR
    • Dragonslayer >
      • Dragonslayer Feats
      • Death in Dragonslayer
      • Psionics >
        • Psionic Monsters
      • New Class: Detective
      • Pooka (Swamp Goblin)
      • Nandie (Neanderthal)
      • The Gods
    • White Box >
      • House Rules >
        • Death & Dismemberment
        • Trauma & Derangement
        • City Downtime
        • Combat Tactics
        • Feats
        • Psionics
      • Character Classes >
        • Assassins
        • Barbarians
        • Demonists
        • Detectives
        • Druid Spells
        • Elves
        • Familiars
        • Fighter-Thieves
        • Half-Orcs
        • Houris
        • Illusionists
        • Necromancers
        • Rangers
        • War Smiths
      • Campaign >
        • Merkabar, City of Paradises >
          • Clans of Danaan
          • The Millennium War
          • Medusian Culture
          • Swamp Elf Culture
        • Danaan Clerics
        • Ellyon
        • Half-Ghouls
        • Living Armour
        • Medusians
        • Street Mages
        • Swamp Elves
        • Magic Items
        • Monsters >
          • Faerie Monsters
          • Psionic Monsters
          • Stonehell Monsters
  • Forge Out of Chaos
    • Rules
    • House Rules >
      • House Combat Rules
      • Quick NPC Magic
    • Monsters
    • Scenarios >
      • Competition
  • Top Secret
  • Home
  • The Magus Hack
    • Magus Corrections
    • Magus Magic
    • New Virtues
    • Wizard Sport
  • The Vampyre Hack
    • Blood Hack >
      • Nights of Fire
  • OSR
    • Dragonslayer >
      • Dragonslayer Feats
      • Death in Dragonslayer
      • Psionics >
        • Psionic Monsters
      • New Class: Detective
      • Pooka (Swamp Goblin)
      • Nandie (Neanderthal)
      • The Gods
    • White Box >
      • House Rules >
        • Death & Dismemberment
        • Trauma & Derangement
        • City Downtime
        • Combat Tactics
        • Feats
        • Psionics
      • Character Classes >
        • Assassins
        • Barbarians
        • Demonists
        • Detectives
        • Druid Spells
        • Elves
        • Familiars
        • Fighter-Thieves
        • Half-Orcs
        • Houris
        • Illusionists
        • Necromancers
        • Rangers
        • War Smiths
      • Campaign >
        • Merkabar, City of Paradises >
          • Clans of Danaan
          • The Millennium War
          • Medusian Culture
          • Swamp Elf Culture
        • Danaan Clerics
        • Ellyon
        • Half-Ghouls
        • Living Armour
        • Medusians
        • Street Mages
        • Swamp Elves
        • Magic Items
        • Monsters >
          • Faerie Monsters
          • Psionic Monsters
          • Stonehell Monsters
  • Forge Out of Chaos
    • Rules
    • House Rules >
      • House Combat Rules
      • Quick NPC Magic
    • Monsters
    • Scenarios >
      • Competition
  • Top Secret

Expanding the Hedgerow Hack

11/1/2021

4 Comments

 
The Hedgerow Hack flew from my keyboard onto the page and now it's available on drivethrurpg - pay what you want (but I think it's worth £1.99 so there!).

​There's a bundle too that includes character sheets. A softback edition will be along soon.
Picture
I'm working on a Player Pack that sums up character generation and adds a bunch of extra tables and rules to flesh out your characters and motivate them. Now your animated scarecrow can be all that's left of a Fae knight who loved a maiden who died and her grave is underneath platform 3 at Liefbury Station and once in every Age she returns and waits for the train (or carriage or palfrey, depending on the century) to carry her away and you have to be there before she leaves to tell her you love her  and... oh you get it. Lovely complex roleplaying stuff to distract you from shooting crows and battling Lord Isengrim Von Ulf with flintlock pistols over the midnight rooftops of 17th century Thornyford.
Here's a taster of what's going to be in that booklet:
Picture

An Age Called Home

PCs in The Hedgerow Hack are mysterious strangers who arrive in an Age to solve a mystery or resolve a crisis. But where do they come from?
  • From the Age of Swords, when England is being invaded by the merciless Danes?
  • From the Age of Plagues, when the Civil War tears the country apart and witchfinders terrify the population
  • From the Age of Steel, when the landscape is being torn up to make way for railways and factories?
  • From the Age of Ashes, when pollution and soulless urban sprawl blight the land?
  • From the Age of Fable, a magical realm of the Fae?

Each PC choose an Age that is the one in which they were born. For Ouzel, this must be the Age of Fable. For Wurzels it is the age in which their scarecrow body was built.
Familiarity

In their Home Age, Human PCs can test INT to know about any (non-supernatural) place or object and test CHA to know about any (mortal) person. If the test is successful, this knowledge can be related to the PC’s background.

For example, in the Age of Swords, Guyon is curious about a group of knights. He tests CHA and the GM says he recognises one of the knights as Cuthbert of Combe, because Cuthbert fought alongside his uncle to fend off a Danish raid some years ago.
​
  • Gypceans have a body of family lore, so they also count as being native to the Age before the Home Age as well. If their Home Age is the Age of Swords, they do not get this benefit.

Fae PCs can test INT or CHA to know about supernatural places, objects or persons.

  • Ouzel know about the Age of Fable but at Disadvantage
  • Wurzels know about the supernatural denizens and locations of the Age their scarecrow is from, but at Disadvantage

Ouzel and Wurzels do not know where Legendary Locations are: these must be discovered in play.

NB. The GM has the right to declare any location or object to be ‘mysterious’ or person to be ‘strange’ or ‘unknown’ in which case no Stat test will reveal anything about them.
Unfamiliarity
Although Briar Knights always speak and understand the language of the Age they visit, they don’t always grasp its norms and manners.

At the start of a story, PCs in an Age they are not native to roll 1d4, 1d6 or 1d8 depending on how far removed they are. That is the number of CHA tests with mortals they must make at Disadvantage until they settle in.

For example, Guyon is native to the Age of Swords so if he adventures in the Age of Steel he will be at Disadvantage for 1d6 CHA tests because that is ‘two Ages away’ from his Home Age.
​
  • The Age of Fables is strange for everyone, but its inhabitants don’t respond badly to strangeness, so there is no penalty here.
  • Gypceans have a culture that doesn’t change much over time; they never experience more than a 1d4 penalty, regardless of how ‘far’ from their Home Age(s) they travel.

Player Characters as Children

The Hedgerow Hack takes inspiration from some classic children’s literature of the 1960s and ‘70s – like Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen or Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising (and latterly, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials) – or TV shows like Catweazel and Children of the Stones. If you want to capture this atmosphere, then Heathen Clerks and Tinkers can be children.
If you feature children as PCs, then consider these rules changes:
  • Roll different Stats: children are not fully developed so roll STR, DEX and CON on 1d6+6; they can be preciously wise and appealing, so roll WIS, INT and CHA on 2d6+6.
  • De-emphasise violence: children are not likely to be attacked with violence, even by Daemons and Goblyns; they will instead be captured and held to ransom. Mortals, even the Witch-Harrow, are more likely to deliver children home to their families than visit harm upon them.
  • Out of Action does not mean dead: When child characters are OofA, they do not die; they are captured or left unconscious to be found later.
  • Maiming is Temporary: when child-PCs go up a level, they recover any Stats lost to OofA side-effects.
  • Allow lucky escapes: children are always wriggling out of bonds and finding unguarded exits; allow child-PCs to roll Gramarye to escape from any perilous situation, through the Hedge if need be.
The advantage of child-PCs in your campaign is that their family life becomes part of the drama. It is important to know what Age the family live in, because children need to slip away from their family to go on adventures with their weird friends.
  • In the Age of Swords, children probably have chores on a farm, but might have to escape watchful tutors, chaperones or (if they are nobility) bodyguards or priests.
  • In the Age of Plagues, children probably have some schooling to truant or else are apprenticed to a master they need to evade.
  • In the Age of Steel, schooling becomes widespread and in the Age of Ashes it is compulsory, with truant officers tracking down children who abscond and social workers getting involved if it happens too often (these people invariably report to the Witch-Harrow, knowingly or unknowingly).
Families can be placed in danger, especially if a Doom Die exhausts while a child-PC is with her family. The Feral Squires are not above threatening to harm a PC’s family, if only to coerce Briar Knights into not interfering with their schemes.

Families will have their duplicates in other ages, albeit without the PC in them and perhaps living in different circumstances. This can make for interesting roleplaying, if a child-PC wants to save or redeem their similar-family in a different Age.
​

For example, Guyon’s family in the Age of Swords are contented farmers, but in the Age of Steel the family is being forced into the workhouse after being evicted from their land by Isengrim Von Ulf.
Childhood’s end: All children (but one) grow up. Childhood could end when a PC reaches 10th level or 6th.  GMs should decide in advance how long childhood lasts and whether the PC continues to adventure as a now-adult hero or if they forget about their childhood and settle down to a mortal life of love, labour and a family of their own, watched over by the comrades they no longer recognise.
4 Comments
Tim Fox
29/1/2021 01:00:15 am

Hello Jonathan! I chatted with you a little over Facebook about your new game the Hedgerow Hack. I found the game remarkably original and inspiring. I'm really looking forward to hearing about the first adventure you said you were working on. I mentioned writing some ideas for my own personal campaign.Sorry this may take a little time for me to do! The background will be introduced in the form of an opening for a short story with a setting loosely based on Buscot Park near Farington in Oxfordshire. Right now I am trying to work out the details of the story so it will reflect the rules and setting of your game.

Reply
DAMMY
1/7/2022 10:36:09 pm



NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR LOVE...

I am sharing this testimony to partners suffering in their relationships because there is an enduring solution. My husband left me and our 2 kids for another woman for 3 years. I tried to be strong just for my kids but I could not control the pains that torment my heart. I was hurt and confused. I needed a help, so i did a research on the internet and came across a site where I saw that DR.BALBOSA a great spell caster from USA can help get lovers back with natural spell through the Zodiac sign. I contacted him and he did a special prayer and spells for me. To my surprises, after 24 hours, my husband came back home. That was how we reunited again and there was a lot of love, joy and peace in the family. You can as well contact DR. BALBOSA from any part of the world, a powerful spell-caster for solutions on his contact below..
EMAIL: [email protected]
WHATSAPP AND CALL: +1 707 412-0096
WEBSITE: https://balbosasolutionhome.com

Reply
ALBERT MIKE
17/8/2022 09:04:19 am

How to Join the Illuminati666 brotherhood!!! Call or Whats'App +1(917) 619-0865 Are you in Germany, USA, Europe or anywhere

in the world you want to be rich, famous, and posses power..
BENEFITS GIVEN TO NEW MEMBERS WHO JOIN ILLUMINATI.
1. A Cash reward worth $500,000, 00 USD after initiation.
2. A New Sleek Dream CAR valued at USD $100,000 USD
3.A Dream House bought in the country of your own choice
4. One Month holiday (fully paid) to your dream tourist destination.
5.One year Golf Membership package
6.A V.I.P treatment in all Airports in the World
7.A total Lifestyle change
8.Access to Bohemian Grove.
9.Monthly payment of $300,000 USD into your bank account every month as a member
10.One Month booked.appointment with Top 5 world Leaders and Top 5 Celebrities in the World Whats'App +1(917) 619-0865 OR [email protected] if

you want to join.

Reply
ALBERT MIKE
17/8/2022 09:04:57 am

How to Join the Illuminati666 brotherhood!!! Call or Whats'App +1(917) 619-0865 Are you in Germany, USA, Europe or anywhere

in the world you want to be rich, famous, and posses power..
BENEFITS GIVEN TO NEW MEMBERS WHO JOIN ILLUMINATI.
1. A Cash reward worth $500,000, 00 USD after initiation.
2. A New Sleek Dream CAR valued at USD $100,000 USD
3.A Dream House bought in the country of your own choice
4. One Month holiday (fully paid) to your dream tourist destination.
5.One year Golf Membership package
6.A V.I.P treatment in all Airports in the World
7.A total Lifestyle change
8.Access to Bohemian Grove.
9.Monthly payment of $300,000 USD into your bank account every month as a member
10.One Month booked.appointment with Top 5 world Leaders and Top 5 Celebrities in the World Whats'App +1(917) 619-0865 OR [email protected] if

you want to join.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    30 Minute Dungeons
    The Coney-Cliff Crypt

    Bring Me the Heart of Finbar Forkbeard

    The Inn of the Cold Companion

    Bury My Tusks at Broken Jaw

    The Vampyr's Wedding

    Return to Deadman's Isle

    The Crypt Bell Chimes
    Essays on Forge
    Bestiary of the Banal

    Some Enchanted Magic

    A Kind of Attack Magic

    Divine Magic

    Going Shopping

    Skillful Pilots

    Crunching the Numbers

    Reviewing Forge once again
    FORGE Reviews
    The World of Juravia

    Tales That Dead Men Tell

    The Vemora

    Into the Golem-Master's Workshop

    Beyond the Door to Monster Mountain
    OSR REVIEWS
    Dragon Warriors
    Warlock!
    Best Left Buried
    Return of Zenopus
    Necropolis of Nuromen
    Blueholme & Bluehack
    Beneath the Ruined Wizard's Tower
    Hidden Hand of the Horla
    City of Karan
    Dread Crypt of Skogenby
    The Ruined Tower of Zenopus
    White Box
    The Barbarian
    The Necromancer
    The War Smith
    The Demonist
    Expanded Lore 3
    Psionics
    The Detective
    The Houri
    Expanded Lore 2
    Expanded Lore 1
    The Illusionist
    The Assassin
    The Ranger
    Trauma rules
    Death rules
    RPG Hack
    Upon a Midnight Dreary
    Hell Hath No Fury
    The Ghost Hack
    Requiem for the Ghost Hack
    Future Projects
    Blood Hack
    BLUEHOLME
    Blue Hack Barbarian
    Necropolis of Nuromen
    Oaths Not Lightly Sworn
    The Desolate Wedding
    THROUGH THE Hedgerow
    Sowing the Seeds of Nemesis
    Go Gentry Through the Hedgerow
    A World Without Violence
    Buggebers
    Through the Hedgerow We Go
    Vampyre Hack
    Vampyres with a Y
    Bride of the Vampyre Hack
    Here Comes the Bride
    Spawn of the Vampyre Hack
    KULT TAROTICUM
    "Banned in Sweden!"
    Session 1
    Session 2
    Session 3
    Picture

    Fen Orc

    I'm a teacher and a writer and I love board games and RPGs. I got into D&D back in the '70s with Eric Holmes' 'Blue Book' set and I've started writing my own OSR-inspired games - as well as fantasy and supernatural fiction..

    RSS Feed

    Stuff I'm GMing


    Stuff I'm Reading


    Games I'm Loving


    Stuff I Wrote

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2025
    February 2025
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    November 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019

    Categories

    All
    Barrowmaze
    Blood Hack
    Blue Hack
    Blueholme
    Bushido
    Cthulhu
    Daily Ghost
    D&D
    Dungeons
    Fiction
    Forge
    Ghost Hack
    Hedgerow Hack
    Kult
    Magus Hack
    OSR
    Reflections
    Reviews
    Rules
    Scenarios
    Sessions
    Setting
    Through The Hedgerow
    Top Secret
    Vampyre Hack
    White Box
    White Dwarf

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.